San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-01-15


water. must send north for brace of
good dogs"
"That isn't necessary" said Pocahon-
tas, touching the birds gently and
stroking their soft feathers. "Berke and
Royal both have, good dogs, trained re-
trievers, and used to the country.
Strange dogs don't do so well over unac-
customed ground. It's shame that you
had no dog, and dreadfully neglectful
of the boys not to have noticed. No,
no" as Thorne moved away from the
coop, ''you must not leave all those; you
have none for yourself. and you'll be dis
graced as sportsman if you go home
empty handed. They won't believe
you've killed thing. We never do when
our men come home with nothing to
show. Jim Byrd never dared face Nina
or me without at least half dozen
BIRDS"
s'Who is Jim Byrd?" demanded Thorne
quickly. 81 never heard you mention
him before"
rHaven't your regarding him with
great surprise. "Well, that is curious,
for he is one Of our oldest, dearest
friends, Berke's and mine. A year ago
couldn't have imagined life possible
without Jim's dear old face near US. He
formerly lived at Shirley: it was the
Byrd patrimony for generations. His
sisters were the closest girl friends Grace
and l ever had, and for years the two
families were as one. There were finan-
cial troubles handed down from father
to son, growing always greater; the old
place had finally to be sold, and your
uncle bought it. Jim is in Mexico now,
engineering, and the girls are all mar
ried. wonder you have never heard
me mention jim. think and speak of
him frequently. We all do"
SO perfectly unembarrassed was the
girls manner, that despite faint wist-
fitness discernible in her face, ThoTne
put aside the half thought formulated in
his brain by the familiar mention of Jim
Byrd's name. He allowed himself to be
persuaded to repocket part of the game,
particularly brace of ducks, which the
soul of the general loved. AS he rose
from his seat on the chicken coop, Poca-
hontas noticed the handsome gun beside
him, and leaning forward with a wom-
ans instructive desire to handle danger
Gus things she took it in her hands with
an exclamation of admiration.
SIS it loaded?' she inquired, raising it
to her shoulder and laying her finger
lightly on the trigger.
YES" ThOrne answered, drawing
nearer, stake care, Miss Mason. 1t al
ways makes me nervous to see a gun in
a woman's hands. Don't pull the trig-
ger, please; the charge is heavy and the
recoil will hurt you"
But the warning came too late; inten-
tionally or unintentionally she did pull
the trigger, and the gun carelessly held
recoiled sharply, striking against her
shoulder with such force that she stag
gered and would have fallen if Thorne
had not caught her in his arms. The
gun slipped to the ground, but fortu-
nately did not discharge the second bar
rel.
Thorne regarded the white face upon
his breast with trepidation, amazed even
amid his anxiety at the fierce pang that
shot through his heart at the sight Of its
pallor. Suppose she should be seriously
hurt! Brute that he had been, not to
have taken better care of her. Fool!
fool! to have let her touch that accused
gun! His hand trembled as he loOsened
her cloak and passed it tenderly over
her shoulder. Dislocated? No, such
cruel harm had not befallen her; a
bruise, little stiffness was the worst in
store. A passionate relief, bewildering
in its intensity, thrilled through him;
his dark cheek rivaled hers in pallor;
his eyes glowed.
Then her lids quivered, the gray eyes
Enclosed and the color flushed back
warmly, covering cheek and brow and
neck with mighty surge of crimson.
With a quick effort Pocahontas olsen
gagged herself from his arms and leaned
against the fence, few steps away
from him. Struggling for self mastery,
Thorne made his anxious inquiries, striv-
ing by fierce exercise of will to still his
bounding pulses and Danish from his
eyes the expression he felt glowing with
in them. And Pocahontas, with her
paleness in force again, replied to his
inquiries with tremulous but determined
putting aside his selfreproaches
and assuming the blame with eager in
conference. She made terrible mess
of it, but Thorne was past all nicely of
his only thought, now that
he was assured of her safety, was to get
himself away without further betrayal
of his feelings His mind was in a
tumult and his heart rose up and choked
him. For moment he held the small,
fingers in a strong, warm