Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-10-01

the trail to the buttes. And the desert
night holds many secrets for those who
care to hear them; but it did not whis--
per the darkest of them to Lish that
night. The air came warm and then
chill, as she passed through the different
strata that were from low, hot plain or
frigid mountain-top. Old Jim was so
slow. He minded no more the hcks
from thestrap end than he did the brush
ing of the crossword past his lean form.
He did make plunge now and then;
but that was when clctus-spiue pricked
his side.
At last the girl reached the canon,
which seemed to be done in black aud
white, so light did the moon make the
exposed parts, and so inky were the
shadows. 1t was frightfulIy quiet in
there. AS she went along, she heard
the whiDny of her fathers horse, tethered
beside the wall of rock. Sac left Old
Jim to MUNICH the mesquite near by,
while she tripped up steep trail, and
came to the cash her father had made
with pick and shovel in the lone canon
side.
There he was, sitting on the ground
and leaning against rock. The moon
shone upon his patched overalls and upon
his dusty shirt; but she could not see his
face, for his head was bent forward and
was hidden by the brim of his SLOUGH hat.
"Pap," her sharp voice stabbed the
quiet, 81 came up ter see eff you was
ever comm home. l brung blanket,
pap, case yer wanted TO stay all night.
You oughter "a come home hours and
hours ago, stead O. workin' an workin'
till you was all tagged out"
He did not lift his head. A puff of
cold wind came down the the canon,
and, striking the girls brest, made her
SILVER.
"Sleepin' on the rocks. Wal, swun!
Tux too much outen the black bottle,
I'll bet"
She stepped nearer.
"Hullo, pap You amt drunk agin.
be you3 Pap, pap, I'm clean 'shamed O.
you!"
She leaped to the rock. gave him dig
in the side of his leg with her stoutly
leathered toe, and then shook his Shout
der.
"Pap, wake up! You'll catch yer
death a-eold, sleepin' out this way. An
here we've ben a-watching' out fer We,
an watchin' till our eyes was most give
out, while you've ben up here haviu'
good OF guzzlin' time, all by yerselt,
an net carin' cuss. It's playin' us
mean, pap, an you know it."
She shook his shoulder again. His
head fell back. The face was chalky
white.
"God, papl What is it1'
She felt his face. 1t was stono cold.
The touch froze her. She felt his heart.
The throb was gone out of it.
"Pap, pap" aud all the canon heard
her sharp, desolate cry; my OF pap!
He amt deadl"
A big lizard went scattering down the
slope, an owl in a scrub oak near by
gave dismal boot, and the coyotes set
up their throaty hows.
She gulped and gasped. Her breath
seemed cut off. Sac would have fallen
at his side, but that her ear caught the
coyotes howls and caught, too, their
horrible meaning. She stayed herself
by her two hands against the rock and
tried to got her breath. The coyotes
howled again, in awful chorus, and she
shuddered.
"They shant get you, pap; they shan't
get you. III take you home"
Her breath came free as she spoke.
She grasped the dead mans shoulders,
and, keeping as much of his body from
the ground as she could, she dragged
aim down the rocky trail, toward the
spot where the horses were tethered.
She wiEced when she heard his boot
heels scratch the ground, but she pu led
and tugged with all her might, and,
painting, she laid his form near Old Jim,
who snorted aud jumped aud pricked up
his cars. Then, with a glance backward
from time to time, she went to her
fathers little camp, took his axe, and
cut two poles, with which she made a
"dust- trailer, the poles being bound to
Old Jim's sides like shafts, with pieces
OF strap and bale-rope. She lifted the
body again, to put it on the rude con-
veyauce. The moon struck it full this
time, aud, as she rolled it over gently
upon the trailer, she saw big clot of
blood on the back of the dark shirt, aud
by It was clean cut buIlet-hole. With
a shudder, she let the body fall. Then
she looked at her hands. There was
blood upon ahem and upon the sleeve of
her dress.
"ClOim- Jumpers"
She set her teeth hard when she thrust
forth the words, and clenche1 her hand
till the nails dug Into the palm.
They had killed him, then, while he
was at work. He had crawled as far as
the rock and had died. 1t was strike
"a big one-and it had cost him his
life. But
She looked up the canon with awful
eyes, and smote the air with the clenched
hand.
Then she bent down, and, taking a
long halter-strap, fastened the body
securely to the top of the trailer, aud,
mounting her fathers horse, she led Old
jim carefully down the canon aud out
upon the night-chilled plain. The coy.
otes followed her, and almost rent her
heart 10y their bowls, but she kept on,
and before midnight the sad little pro-
cession reached the cabin. The mother
was still up, and she ran to the door
when she heard the sound of the hoofs.
as that you, L sh2" she called out.
"Did sc bring pap homeG Is it dead
sure strike"
'Lish slid from her horse and ran to
the door.
"Maw, Nav, Maw!' was her cry.
'Maw, they've killed himl They We
killed poor old papl'