Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-10-28

| So" W o'ay out al nlSnt, no III
need blanket. I'll take him one, an'
come back with tue news, whatever it is.
Git the blanket, out, nav, an I'll 90 an
buckle the sheepskin onto or Jim"
The desert night told its secrets to the
girl as she rode the slow mustang over
the trail to the buttes. And the desert
night holds many secrets for those who
care TO hear them; but it did not wills
per the darkest of them to 'Lish that
night. The air came warm and then
chill, as she passed through tho different
strata that were from low, hot plain or
frigid mountain-top. Old jim was SO
slow. He minded no moro the fcks
from the strap end than he did the brush
ing OF the crossword past his lean form.
he dld make plunge now and then /;
but that was when cactus-spinc pricked
his side.
At last the girl reached the canon,
which seemed to be done in black and
white, so light did the moon mako the
exposed parts, and so inky were the
shadows, 1t was frightfully quiet in
there. AS she went along, she heard
the whinuy of her fathers horse, tethered
beside the wall of rock She left Old
Jim to MUNICH the mesquite near by,
while she trippcd 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. Tho moon
shone upon his, patched .overalls aud 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 Of you was
ever comm home. brung blanket,
pap, case yer wanted to stay all night.
You oughter "a come home hours aud
hours ago, stead o worlSiu' an workin'
till you was all Jagged out"
He did not lift his head. A. puff Of
cold wind came down the the canon,
aud, striking the girls brcst, made her
shivcr.
"Sleepin' on the rocks. Wal, swun
Tux too much ou.cu the black bottle,
Ill bet"
She stepped nearer.
"IIullo, pap! You amt drunl; aein,
be yoaa Pap, pap, I'm clean 'shamed o.
you'll"
She leapcd to the rock, gave him dig
in the side of his leg with her stoutly
cathcred Toe, and then shook his shout.
der.
Pap, wake up! You'll catch yer
death a-cold, sIcepin' out this way. An
here we've ben a-watching' out fer yc,
an watchin' till our eyes was most give
out, while you've ben up here havin'
good oil guzzlin' time, all by ycrsclt,
an not carin' cuss. It's playful us
mean, pap, an you know it,"
She shook his shoulder again. His
head fell back. The face was chaliy
white.
"God, pap! What is it2"
She felt his face. 1t was stone cold.
The touch froze her. She felt his heart.
The throb was gone out of it.
"Pap, pap" and all the canon heard
her sharp, dcsolatc cry; ''my OIL pap.
He amt dcad2"
A big lizard went scattering down the
slope, IN owl in scrub oale near by
gave dismal boot, and the coyotes set
up their throaty bowls.
She gulped and sasped. Her breath
seemed cut of. She would have fallen
ut his side, but that her ear caught the
coyotes howls and caught, too, their
horrible meaning. She stayed herself
by her two hands against tho rock and
tried to get her breath. The coyotes
howled again, in awful chorus, and she
shuddered.
"Thcy shan't get you, pap; they shan't
get you. I'll take you home"
Her breath came free ms she spoke.
She grasped the dead mans shoulders,
and, Keeping as much of his body from
the ground rs she could, she dragged
him down the rocky trail, toward the
spot where the horses were tethercd.
She WINGED when she heard his boot
heels scratch the ground, but she pui led
and tugged with all her might, and,
panting, she laid his for II near Old jim,
who snorted and jumped aud pricllcd up |
his ears Then, with Il glance backward |
from time to time, she went to her
fathers little camp, took his axe, and |
cut two poies. with which she made u
"dust-trailer, the poles being bound to |
Old Jim's sides like shafts. with pieces |
OF strap and balc-rOpe. She lifted the |
body again, to put it on the rude con- |
veyance. The moon struck it full this
time, and, as she rolled it over gently
upon the trailer, she saw big clot OF
blood on the back of the dark shirt, and
by It was 4 clean cut bullet hole. With
shulder, she let the body fall. Then
she looked at her hands. There was
blood upon ahcln and upon the sleeve of
her dress.
"Cluim- jumpersl'
She set her teeth hard when she thrust
fortii the words, and clenched her hand
till the nails dug into the palm.
They had killed him, then, while he
was ut work. He had crawled as far as
the rock and had died. 1t was strike
IA 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
long halterstrap, fastened tho body
securely to the top of the trailer, and,
mounting her fathers horse, she led Old
JIM carefully down the canon and inf