Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-06-22

curve: she was hollow chested, and
when she coughed, which was fire.
quently. mi Of her long.flngered, toll
worn hands was clasped to her
breast.
She was alone in the wagon. She
had come along in it from a little In
heard-of town away back in Yer
mont. The newspapers in the towns
along the route had had a good deal
to say about this lone woman going
from Vermont to the Rocky Mount
aims alone in a little old wagon, nov
ing at a snail's pace in tn s day of
siiyer" and "thunderbolt" express
trains, speeding along over the same
route.
But Martha Kenney had not seen
the papers and she did not know nor
care how often she had been referred
TO as ia lone and lorn female" nor
how many feeble witticisms had been
perpetrated at her expense. And she
knew why she had chosen to come all
those weary miles in the OLD wagon
instead OF by la,l. She was a silent
woman, and she had not gwen the
curious : minded much information
when they had asked her where she
was from and where she was going,
and why she Travelled as she did.
She would say briefly that she was
'sfrom Vermont and that she was
'.going out West" and none of her
Questioners ever knew how wildly
her heart was beating, nor what it
cost her to maintain a calm demeanor
when she sometimes asked with af-
fected carelcssness If they .'happened
to know any one by the lame Of
Dave Kinney round here:"
She continued to ask this question
in every town through which she
passed, and when asked who and
what Dave Kinney was she would say
carelessly:
ooh. he's a man I used to know
back in Vermont, acarlenter though
he could turn his hand to most any
thing. We was born in the same
town and he came West a good many
years ago, and amt never been back
to Vermont since. I don't know Just
where he settled and I thought it
might be barely possible that he'd
settled round here some place."
She would have been glad to have
been told that David Kinney was
dead. Better this than to know that
he was alive and unfaithful to the
wife hs had left in the little YER
mont town when he went .Out Vest
years ago.
He had written often at first and
his letters had been kindly and affec.
ti0nate. He had said that he would
send for her when he had ..struck it
rich" in the mountains or when
things became "a little more civil.
lied" and ga fit place for a woman to
live in" Until then it would be bet
ter for her to stay ia her comfortable,
II humble. Vermont home.
His letters had been mailed al
various postotice; and he had writ
ten about being every unsettled
and that was another reason why he
could not send for her. He was
s.prospecttnk," he wrote, and he
might ''make his pile any day."
Then his letter, ...ld become more
and more irregular and finally they
had failed her entirely. Her own
letters were returned from the dead
letter Office. and after ten years OF
weary waiting for news of David
Kinney. his wife had sold her p0ol
possessions and had bought a horse
and wagon, and had started ''out
West" to lind the husband who had
deserted her.
mot that I've any idea of finding
him alive" she had sa d to her Yer
mont friends. ''I'm satisfied in my
own mind that Dave Kinney is dead.
But it'll be a comfort for me to stand
by his grave, and to have 1t prove to
me that the lies folks have told me
about him desertin' me are lies.
Dave Kinney is dead, aud I'm going
to search the whole West over until
I've found his grave, aud there I'll
make my home. and have my worn
out body laid beside him when I'm
gone. too"
She had gone through every GENE.