The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-09-12

her lips parted, and her bosom slight
ly heaving with the %momentary ex-
citement. Again their eyes met; then
she turned and hurried back to the
jacal.
His gaze followed her, and half I'M
consciously he was dreamily compar-
ing her with another, a blue-eyed,
~fair-haired woman &C the north, who
suddenly he noticed that she was bare
footed.
He seated himself on a bench near
the doorway, vaguely watching his
men as they unpacked and removed
the saddles from the steaming mules,
and gazing even beyond, out over the
mountains to where rested a dense
bank of clouds, from which darted
occasional flashes of lightning follow
ed by low believing peals of thunder
that rolled with great hollow echoes
across the heavens. The rain fell on
the matched roof above him with a
muffied pattering sound, and he rested
there. lost in r~everie, dreaming Of her
who awaited him in a distant city, his
promised wife.
After a while Chonita came to the
door and told him that his supper was
ready. Dreamily he heard her voice
and raised his head. She stood with
her dark hair falling in a ~disordered
mass owe her shoulders, one bare
arm half raised and resting on the
doorsill her body partly turned, show
ing the beautiful lines of her figure as
she hesltated, as though fascinated by
his look, and gaZed into his eyes as a
little child might, and yet not, for
there was to her a strange attraction
about this Americana, this man of the
Saxon race who was so unlike the
men of her own, that caused her heart
to futter wildly. He looked at her for
a long while, and then arose. She
drew aside to allow him to pass into
the house, and, as he did so, a gust of
wind blew her hair across his face.
During the months that followed,
RawlstOn became a frequent visitor
at the little rancho, stopping yer
night while travelling between the
mines and Guadlupe y Calvo. He was
always sure of a welcome, for he had
won the lasting friendship. of Juan by
leaning him his rifle and allowing him
all the cartridges he could shoot away,
and that of the sonora, Juan's wife,
by presenting to her at the very first
the most gaudy dress-pattern, that he
could find in all Guadalupe. The girls.
Chonita's sisters, Looked forward anX
iOusly to the days of his arrival. for
he never forgot TO bring them dulces.
But with Chonita it was different; for
while she longed for his coming; it
was not for what he might bring her,
but for him alone; for at last, and
for the first time In her life, love had
come to her.
One afternoon, as the glory of the
sunset spread slowly across the valley,
Rawlston rode up to the rancho, where
finding no one at home, he left his
mule and climbed the trail hat led to
a little spring in a gulch back of the
house. ChOnita was there filling an
ola, but she did not zeal him as he
approached, not until he stood at her
side; then h started, and as she
arose, she slipped on the wet clay,
and would have fallen had he not
caught her in his arms.
He felt her tremble as he held her,
and drew her closer to him, asking:
care you hurt, Chonita?"
mo, senOr," she replied.
He saw her lips culver, and, as she
raised her face to his, he read from
the depths of her eyes her secret, and
he bent and kissed her, murmuring
"Sweetheart!" Then he released her
n stood leaning against a tree,
watching her as she descended the
trail.
He had not been totally unconscious
of her love, though at first it seemed
to him but the admiration of a mere
child; but now he understood, and it
wrought a strange influence over him.
/ He knew that his love was strong and
true for the woman who alone bound
him to the life he had left behind, vet
he felt how easy it would be, were
it not for her, to drift into the Gus
toms and modes and morals of the
people of that fair Mexican land, for
there was a certain charm in their
easy-going %languorous life, with its
beauty and it's re%stfulness, that had
appealed to him from the very first.
In some strange way that he could
not understand and vet which seemed
perfectly natural to him, he longed to
remain there, away from the world,
as it were, until the end; and he pic
tured her, his aftianced wife, there
with him, and-he laughed. His re-
verie was not broken; the woman
alone changed, and he wondered what
life would be with Chonita-just for
a time.
And Chonita!-she reached the house
and hurried to her room, where she
: 6"opped before a little shrine. ooh.
!" she said, 81 am so glad! What
l done that l should be so hap
, r., Thank you God"
Slowly night came on. Supper was
over, and the room was dimly lighted
by a suffering tallow dip and the
family Pickering blaze of the open
fire in the jacal adjoining. Rawlstor
leaned back in his chair, slowly
smoking and watching Chonita as she
moved about putting away the supper
things, and he became duly conscious
of a desire to take her in his arms
again, to hold her and feel her trem.
bic.
After awhile she brought him a cur
of coffee and took from his saddle.
bag a flask of cognac that he always
carried there, and placed it ON the
table at his side. He touched hen
hand, and into her eyes came Il look
of longing, almost passionate, and hel
lips parted as though to speak, but hel
father entering the room, she turned
away and sank in a huddled heap Oh
the loo at the kitchen door.
Juan had been cleaning his rifle
which Rawlston had allowed him t.
use for a week past, and seating him
self at the table, giving the gun a few
finishing touches with a greasy rag