The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-03-13
hard ride to escape wetting. Askillsd

hard ride to escape wetting. Askilled
and fearless rider, however, it was but
q new pleasure to give the horse his
! head, settling herself in the saddle for
a break-neck race with the storm; but
Just at the foot Of the first hill she sud.
denly drew rein, while her gaze wan.
dered uncertainty up the unkempt,
half-obliterated track turning off at the
left, the Old Silver. trail.
Ten years before, just at the last Of
| the Silver City excitement, her father
had brought her mother and herself to
stay for month or so at Windy Gulch,
and then, with clild's fondness for
gadding, she had learned the topogra-
ply of all the region round. She reme1ll-
| bered perfectly The line of the. old road,
which now passed directly by the Mas
| cot mine and within stones throw Of
| the Grubstake-her glance as it wan
| dered up the newer way, which ow too
| had grown old. clearly recalling the
| point of intersection. BY taking this
| short cut she could save mile or more,
| while with such gain i'll time she ought
| besides to be able somewhat to mollify
Ter fathers wrath by presenting her.
self in dry clothing. So far as she knew
the way beyond the Mascot mine was
| now never used, and, with its originally
finsy construction and the awful
grades which had brought it into dis
favor tho chances We're that it would be
in the worst possible condition for safe
travel; but Miss Meredith was not ac-
custoned to question her ability to go
wherever horse might carry her, while
the wiry little broncho she rode was
blessed with cat-like capacity for
! climbing at any angle and over any sort
Of ground which seems the essential
prerogat;ye of the mountain bred pony.
Before size had given as much time to
the argument as it has taken to tell it,
she had turned the horse and was fly ing
along the old road.
There was a pleasure in recognizing
familiar features of the landscape as
she swiftly passed them by. This nai-
row intervale, hedged in by almost par
al}el lines OF foothills, she remembered
so we'll, although, in the old springtjme
the ground had been almost carpetea
with great purple ane1nones, while now
it was masses of yellow bloom which
The wind was bending down to earth;
but this grove of quaking asps into
which she presently rode looked new
and strange; obviously they had sprung
up since her time. And they had
grown up in such amazing number;
there were myriads Of them, all in A
frou-frou hutter, their delicate wrap.
pings turned silvery side out, as though
in futile effort to cover their white
limbs from the storms rude touch. The
girl felt suddenly lost as the way closed
in among them; and she would have
fastened to get out into the open once
more, but their branches so swept
across the way that she had continual-
~ to take care lest she were caught
with singing blows from them. Plain
1y nature had been left to work her
own will with the old trail. There were
marks of wheels-wood-t teams, the girl
inferred, from the deep ruts worn here
and there; but when the way twisted
down to the bottom of a deep coulee and
up wilderness Of rocks and pine trees
on the other side, it seemed a marvel
that any wagon could follow.
On and Ola she went, scarce needing
the landscape now, except to watch for
the longed-for jancture of the tw,
roads. The roar of thunder had begun
resounding through the mountains, as
though voicing the wrath of Jove, while
with the sound O. nervous terror insici.
ous]y grew upon the girl. Utterly fear.
less in most situations, full of a
thoughtless daring due in 81 measure to
an inability properly to measure daE.
ger, and yet she always quailed before
thunderstorm; and never had the
dread sounds seemed so av,fu in her
ears as now in the weird loneliness Of
the place into which she had thought
lessly ventured. She seemed an insig-
nificent atom cast adrift in a world
given over to destruction. Mercurial in
her temperament, dcspairing convic-
ton suddenly fastened upon her that
she had somehow missed the way she
sought. To go backand take the regular
road involved a ride before which, will,
her nervous disrclish Of the now almost
incessant thunder, her soul turned
sick; though to go on appeared such
questionable adventure that she
stopped short on the brow of short,
steep hill, considering the other side il,
a misery Of uncertainty. But even as
she looked fate came to her relief re-
yealing the figure Of a man on horse
back passing between the trees, just
over the brow of the next hill. lie wag
riding from her; and ON the instant she
was urging her horse down the precipi-
tous coulee, determined to overtaiio
him and ask direction as to her way
But Ct the bottom Of the deep cut ran
small stream across which was thrown
a rude bridge Of poles; and as the horse,
in the impetus Of the mad dash down
the steep e,nbanl,nent, plunged hcav-
lily upon this finsy structure, a length
OF rotten wood snapped like a pipe
stem, one Of the animals fore-legs CO.
ing down with such force~as must in-
ev;tab1y have thrown the rider had she
not been swift to see the danger and
jump to save herself. AS it was, in
the sudden, unconsidered movement,
her skirt caught on the sadd!e-horn and
she half fell, her weight coming upon
her outstretched hands in such fashion
as severely w1enchcd one wrist. Hur-
riedly struggling to her feet. it was