The free press., 1894-01-25

man, whose place adjoined the Horse
| Creek Ranch, stood in the doorway,
breathless and specchless. His eyes
searched the room.
whats the matter, Tom? Is any
thing wrong2" said one.
'*Have any of you seen nay little
Olly?"
The men looked bhnkly at one an
other. Most Of them had seen Tom
| Stepman's sweet-faeed little seven
year-old daughter, Olivia For mo-
ment no one spoke. Then Mcclure,
the carpenter, said:
"No, Tom. She hasn't been round
here. Thar's nothing wrong, / hope?
Yer hain't lost her, have yer?'
eyes, she's gone! [ had her with me
this afternoon. On my way home
from River Bend the wagon broke
down about three miles from my place.
oily says |, would you ruther walk
in, or wait here till [ ride in to the
ranch for nay spar wagon?' She did't
want to walk, so [ left her. Twas
sundown afore L got back there, an
my little girl was gone,
"Gone"
eyes, gone clear away. [ rode to
,.i..b4 o,' T Nd, - l.f4 o,,T oo11o1 on
I called an yelled, but thar came no
answer. Then / thought she might
have headed for your light, an rode
over to see if she'd turned up here.
My wife's expectin' us every minute.
She'll be plumb crazy when L have to
tell her that Olly's strayed off
Boys" said Mr.. Mcclure, reach
ing for his spurs, ''thar's but one
thing for us to do-start out and find
that little gal, .
The men hurried on their revolvers
and spurs; caught and saddled horses
ut the corrals, and soon were sweeping
the country westward above the trail
between Horse Creek and Stepman's
ranch in the forlorn hope of finding
the lost child Out from the darkness
t. the north came the ominous howl
ing of wolves.
Oily Stephan, for time, had waited
contentedly enough for her fathers
return. Then she descended from the
wagon to the ground, and began to
search for "lady warrior" the white
flower that comes when spring begins
to green the buffalo-grass roots.
Walking with eyes bent downward,
she passed over the brow of ridge
and on into the hollow beyond. There
Oily found 1ady WARRIOR" but lost
her direction completely.
On going to the top of the ridge
that she supposed she had descended,
she could see nothing of the wagon.
Bare prairie was about her in every
direction. She kept on walking; she
meandered unconsciously she gained
one eminence after another, only to
look around in vain for the missing
wagon. And now the dimness and
chill of approaching night were IN the
air. How strange the prairie ridges
looked in the twilight
Oily stopped in the sandy bottom OF
one of the deep gttlches which the
Mexicans call arroyos. Before her
was d high steep bank with an over
hanging top. Tired and discouraged,
she sat down upon heap OF t"ileh
sods beneath the bank.
She was too much at home upon the
plains to be very much h18ht-
ened, and she was confident that her
father would soon find her. Still she
cried. The more she cried the more
she felt like crying. From the long
fit of weeping she was suddenly startled
by the rustling of an approaching am
NAL. Could that be Jip, the house
dog?
"Jipl Jip!" said oily, ioyfully
No, it was too large for Jip. Those
upright ears, the pointed noSe' ana
the gray, shaggy hair were not ups
Oily gazed at her visitor for moment
before she realized that the beast be
fore her was gray wolf
AS the child started up with Il
shrek, the cowardly beast stopped
turned tail, stopped again, then sci
down on his launches, faced her, illIeu
its nose, and gave long howl Know
ing that to attempt to run away "o''l''
be useless, the trembling child Wal'eo
in helpless horror for the dea'h 10