Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-12-30
twisted about bis Il Id q 4 4, q


eyes looked through earnestly.
"A woman always makes laws from her
personal experience She has not the
faculty of generaization--I fancy that's
the word to use" This was her reply.
She rose now with little shaking mo-
tion, one band at her belt, and rested
shoulder against pillar Of the rcranda.
He rose also at cnce, and said, rGsiching
her hand respectfully with his finser tips,
eve may be sorry one d;;g that we did not
believe in ourselves more"
sob, no." she SAID. turning and smiling
at him, q think not You will he in Eng
land hard at work; j here hard at living;
our interests will lie far apart am Ger.
tain about it ALL We might have been
what my cousin calls 'trusty pals'-no
more.'
81 wish to God felt sure of that. Nellie
Ashforth.''
She held out her hand to him. IT believe
you are honest in this. expect both of us
have played hide and seek with sentiment
in our time, but it would be useless for us
to masquerade with each other; we are Of
the world, very worldly"
"Quite useless-here comes your cousin!
Now for the actors game. hope l don't
look as disturbed as feel.''
"You look perfectly cool, and l know !
| do. What an art this living isl That
cousin of mine comes about the boar hunt
| tomorrow. can see it in his eye
"Shall you join us?"
"Of course | can handle rifle as well
as any of you. Besides it is your last day
here
| "Who can tell what tomorrow may
bring forth?" he said.
| She smiled strangely and then greeted
| her cousin.
The next day the boar hunt occurred.
| They rode several miles to a little lake
! and a scrub of brigalow, and dismounting
| soon had exciting sport Miss Ashforth
| was capital shot, and was, without loss
| of any womanliness, thorough sports
| man. Today. however, there was some
| thing on her mind, and she was not as
| alert and successful as usual. Sherman
kept with her as much as possible-the
| more so because he saw that her cousins,
believing she was quite well able to take
care of herself, allowed her to her own re-
4 sources. :, Presently, however, following an
animal, he left her short distance be-
hind. On the edge of a little billabong she
| came upon a truculent looking boar. 1t
turned on her, but she fired and it fell. .
/ CGelug dnOUuCT, tlucdu Suc puouCo vi
| quickly to secure it too. AS she went she
half cooked her rifle. Had her mind been
absolutely intent OH the sport, she had full
| cooked it. All at once she heard the thud
of feet behind her. She turned swiftly
aDd saw the. boar she had slot bearing
upon her, it's long yellow tusks standing
up like daggers. A sweeping thrust from
| one of them leaves little chance of life
She dropped upon a knee, swung her
| rifle to her shoulder and pulled the trigger
| The rifle would not go off. For an instant
| she did not understand what was the
| trouble. But, with singular presence OF
mind, she never Lowered her rifle or took
her eyes from the beast, but remained i'm
| movable. 1t was all matter of seconds
| Evidently cowed. the animal, when within
a few feet of her, swerved to the right, then
| made rs though to come down on her
| again. But meanwhile she had discovered
her mistake and cooked her rifle She
| swiftly trained it on the boar and fred It
was hit, but did not fall, and came on
| Then another shot rang out from behind
her, and the boar fell SO near her that its
| tusk caught her DRESS
Tom Sherman had saved her.
She was very white when she faced him,
She could not speak. That night she spoke,
however, very gratefully and almost ten
derby.
To something that he said gently to her
then about a memory, she replied, ''Tell
me now as candidly as if to your own soul,
did you feel at the critical moment that
life would be horrible and empty without
me?'
81 thought only of saving you.n he said
honestly.
''Then l was quite right. You will never
! have any regret" she said.
81 wonder?" he added sorrowfully
But the girl was sure.
The regret was hers, though he never
| knew that.
1t is lonely life on the dry plains Of
Nindohar.-Gilbert Parker in Speaker.