The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-02
WYLIE ADAMS.
The Tmpetuous Nature Of a Child
OF the Woods.
"Ee-oh. ee-oh, ho-ee!n

What a sharp young voice it was;
/ full of character and independence, and
vet with undertoDes of underlined
sweetness, evidently needing only Gull
tivstion to bring it into power
The girl, Tor it was one, stood just
On the bank of clear, running
stream, which might have been either q
river or a creek-it was wide, limpid
and deep.
She was tall and som ewhat angular,
| q woman in height, but the short cot
! ton frock and short red hair. and some
! thing in the way she stood, spoke at
once of youthfulness, had not her voice
! been heard. She was in her eighteenth
yeor.
! With one long brown hand shading
( her eyes from the glaring autumn sun
set, she stood apparently awaiting
some one.
All about her were the forest trees
In their richest colorings, and the soft
rustic of the leaves with the ripple of
the water was ell that was heard for
@ moment after the shrill echo of her
voice died away; then the big black
dog lying at her bare feet growled and
sprang quickly to his own.
Comm at last" the girl said IN an
undertoue, as the dip of oars, at first
family and then louder, fell upon her
ears.
You're never tardy," she continued
with a slight sheer, as small skif
containing one occupant a young fell
low OF about twenty three years OF age,
rounded the point.
He wore a suit of blue denims, 3
rinle6s straw hat, and his feet were
also bare. He was dark almost to
swarthiness. and his black eyes gave a
CLEAN of satisfaction for an instant
while the rich blood suffused his mock
and face until it was fairly purple.
az amt l2te,'' he said slowly. while
wide sweep of the oars with his
strong arms and brawny shoulders
shot the little boat far upon the
pebbly shore, like an arrow from a
catapult.
awful smart" the girl said, senten-
hously, giving the huge brute at her
side several sharp cuffs on his ears to
emphasize her words and give vent to
her temper.
81 wouldn't kill the dog cause yer
mad at me-" he said.
Kill nothin'," she calculated, sullen-
ly. "What time dye reckon it is, Beech
nut Lord?"
Nigh onto six, l guess" be an
swered, quietly, stepping from the
boat and drawing 1t stin further on
shore. ''Um, UNI, it's after seven"
He fastened the little craft and then
as she started up the path he followed
her at the heels of the dog, and in
much the same DEF ected way, through
the thick, winding interlacing of leaves
and vines
The faint tiDlle of bells could 10
heard in the distance, as the trio fol-
lowed in the foot tracks Of the lowing
kline. and anon the whir of cartridges
and twitter of night BIRDS. Darkness
fell as they reached the bars, where the
big eyed cows stood in the fading grass
and weeds, quietly waiting.
Beechnut took down the bars and
drove the cows into the yard, Wylie
following with her pink sun bonnet ON
her arm, her salfow face full of discon-
tent he put UP the bars again.
Good night" he said, kindly, and
turned away.
"Ain't ye comm in7" Wylie turned
suddenly and scowled-
Not might" and be was gone.
Smart, / like that" she commented.
The big black dog still skunk at her
heels, and skulked after her as she en-
tered the low doorway Of an old log
house, and then he crept under a
coarse bed that stood IN the corner of
the low-ceilinged room, and lay down
with yawn-
Wylie Adams gave little start al
she entered the room. A bright fire
burned in the wide fireplace, over
which hung an iron pot, from which
issued savory odors.
A tall, middlc-aged woman was busy
about the room and a stranger sat be-
fore the fire in one of the few splint-
bottomed chairs the cabin contained.
He did not see Wylie when she entered,
as he sat looking thoughtfully into the
fire, but the tall woman spoke
Wall, ye're cum at lGst?"
Wylie made no reply. but nod, and
for the first time in her life, looked
down with blush at her bare feet,
which were both soiled and bruised
II was evidently something unusual
for stranger to be seen near Silver
creek, and this stranger was certainly
ont Of the ordinary. Wylie's daring
spirit quailed.
He turned and arose as Wylie's moth
err spoke, bowling and offering his
chair, his eyes resting upon the long,
brown feet the young girl was vainly
endeavoring to conceal with her skirts.
Her face was crimson. Tho stranger
slightly lifted his eyebrows.
Don't be peacock, exclaimed Mrs.
Adams as she wiped her face with her
Einghozn apron. 81 reeking this young
feiler's seez feet afo-e, though they
mout be purifier. Come. take hold and
help git supper on"
Tbs crimson never left the young
girls face during the Ito Wylie) te-
dlous supper, nor during the evening
as she helped her mother with the
work, while her father sat and
smoked his pipe and talked with the
newcomer.
The gawBy girl cast furtive glances
at the stranger, and thought how fair
and ''good-lookin' he was, how yell
low his hair and blue his eyes, so diff
ferent from Beechnut and other boys
she knew.
Once she discovered him looking
keenly at her, and if she could have
read his thoughts they would have
been In this wise: