Mower County transcript., 1897-06-09
right. All, you must!" he insisted, as
Aercer gust swept down the rough de-
file, causing the girl to crouch low over
the horses neck.
CHAPTER III.

u6T morse Oy Tue D1b sduO 5 SuAOo u1m up |
the last few feet over an almost per-
pendicular mass of loose gray rock.
II would have gone round by the trail |
If I had known it was quite so rough;
but we're all right now," he said, turn
ing to try the door Of the rude hut to
which they had come. The horses
were huddled together on q small,
rhomboidal bit'of ground formed at the
top of an old dump pile, which went
crumbling away in q sheer descent far
down among the trees, some of which
had been half buried in the lava-like
flow. At the left yawned the mouth of
a tunnel about which appeared no sign
of recent work, while the rough slab
door of the shanty was fastened by
chain and paddock so rusted that they
seemed to have been exposed to the
storms of years. BY no means daunted
by this obstacle, however, the young
man coolly caught up jagged piece of
rock and in moment the staple was
broken and the door thrown open.
IF you will just step inside while
run the horses into the tunnel" he
hastily advised, when he had lifted her
to the ground. Dorothy needed no
second bidding, but once within the
door she paused, peering about doubt
fully. 1t was nothing more than rude
smithy, obviously designed merely for
the sharpening of drills used in the
tunnel, it's floor the bare, brown earth,
it's only equipment great stone forge
in one corner with an anvil at one side,
few empty candle-boxes, small pile
of wood, and some picks and drills
thrown down with other undistin-
guishable rubbish in one corner.
1T is not quite the lap of luxury, but
! we might do worse" the stranger smil-
ingly observed. as he came back, car
rying his hat filled with pine cones,
while he was further laden with an
armful of broken sticks. "And fire
will help the looks of things amazingly"
ITO say nothing of the comfort OF it,"
Miss Meredith rejoined, her teeth chat
tering as she smiled. How cold it has
grown!"
''That is the worst of this much
vaunted climate; it has capacity for
infinite variety. When the barometer
gets started on the down grade there is
never any telling where it will stop.
The weather is always exceptional, if
one is to believe the statements of the
oldest inhabitants. But there-that
looks encouraging, doesn't it?" he said,
standing back and pleasedly surveying
his work, as tiny spiral of flame leaped
with sputtering eagerness through the
damp pitchiness of the piled-up cones
on the forge
az have seen the fire-I am warmed, >"
the girl smilingly quoted, holding out
her hands to the blaze. 1T is lovely"
"And now won't you sit down and
make yoursel If comfortable? He
turned a candlebox ON end for her as
he spoke.
; "But the box is SO low and the fire i:
} so high" she smilingly objected. '.
should only be warming the tip OF m,
nose, and am half frozen"
; Are you?" He looked as dismayet
as though he accepted the statemen
literally. "But of course you are. Wha
can l do?" He answered the question
> for himself by recklessly heaping upo1
=, the forge the greater part of all the dr..
wood that had been in the hut; from
. which he turned to fish out from tn
: debris in the corner dusty gunny
, sack, which he held up before him as i
= obviously measuring it's possibilities.
. ut won't do: it is not half BIZ
c enough" Dorothy exclaimed, divinin
/; his idea with a merry laugh.
II II suppose not; and it is so abomi1
r: ably dirty besides," he disgustedly r
y joined, his laugh by no means so gay 6
q hers, as he threw the thing back whe1
It he had found it. But you ought
s. have something around you; you wi
u have your death of cold. l am afrai
y my coat is as wet aus your Dress" an
e. iously feeling the sleeve.
Is "And I could not think of taking it
it were not" she decidedly returne
It "Please don't trouble; l am doing bea
q tifully. 1t is such a glorious fire."
IT "But still, with all the draughts
l. this sieve of a place Oh, say, wi
t. can't put the box up on the forge #
'e you, to the windward of the smoke
2 so,' suiting the action to the words, al
9 hastily adding small erection of stic]
n TO save her feet from contact with tt
ashes. "Now, Miss Meredith, you wor
lie find this half bad, l promise yo
Id Come" He confidently held out b
hand to assist her.
as "But I cannot" the girl proteste
r laughing at the idea, even though
ip she spoke she yielded the point, NEE
~ ly permitting herself 10 try the stran
Ill construction. II feel like Patience
n, a monument, smiling at grief," s
IS laughingly observed, glancing .abo
d. from the high perch.
sc "And will do to personate grief
ct he amusedly returned. "Niobe COT
is hardly have been wetter than I, FAM
But-heavens!-hear that downpo'
at We are here just in time, you see, M
ri, Meredith"
n "Yes," she replied, listening with
'et aved face to the thunderous beati
upon the roof. "And it is leaking o'