The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-17
Stories of an Inland State.

4 WneIN6I
| or near night. Some dragsied chickens
were shiyer.ng beneath nearby shed. anC
below the horses were stomping over the
| attacks of flies, driven in and made tena-
c:ous by the rain. The barn-yard was a
little world of newly created rivers and ep-
hemeraI lakes red from the compost wash.
The RAIN was dripping with drowsy cluck-
| ings from the caves. She was stin and
sore.
Should she start again? No. She would
wait for night-falI. Perhaps the rain would
| have ceased then.
| She waited and satisfied herself from the
increasing darkness that she had slept all
day. She was profoundly grateful she did
not have long TO stay. Then she heard
voices and crept beneath the hay. Sfe
| could hear two farm boys showing the
| horses below about and feeding them. Then
| they went away for a while and later COM
| ing back, both climbed TO the loft. Hei
heart beat wildly. She could not satisfy
herself but that some part of her dress was
showing. The hay was dry and dusty and
choked her.
The boys were brothers and having
long argument as to which one had the
larger share of the chores to do. She
seemed to hear everything with abnorma
clearness, even the break and rustic of the
dry hay as the pitch-forks were pushed
into it. And fear overcame her that one
of these unsuspecting boys would pierce
her through with the sharp prongs of his
fork Now she felt a pressure above her.
Her heart throbbed with anguish. Her
eyes opened in sudden fear and then closed
with consciousness fed. But the faint was
only for moment. The preventative In
stinct mounted supreme and crowded down
ner expeditions sense OF secrecy She moved
her hand to her breast. A prong rested
there. 1t had not penetrated the dress,
but its point seemed heated red-hot and
was burning her like a brand.
The discussion between the two boys
had reached the point where one had rest
ed his fork in the hay 20 better gesticulate.
Madge did not know this. But present1
she heard them clambering down again, still
talking loudly, and then she heard them
lock the door, both claiming that that par
ticular act was the others duty and at last
when their voices died away, she crept out
from under the cruel prong and stood erect.
She examined her breast where the pres
sure of the prong still stung, but realizing
with sense Of ridicule that she was no
hurt, looked out the window again to find
the rain increasing and the surrounding
country glimmering in the dripping twi-
light.
So she climbed down out Of the barn and
went on her way in the night and the rain.
Already she felt the exhiiration of hard
duty completed, an exhiliration which no
fatigue can stile. and walked on quickly,
sometimes even running in her eagernes'
to read his side. But now as the night
grew oder and she came nearer him, an
anxiety that he had died. while she was
gone. seized her and she stopped with des-
peration in the road, and turned about to an
indefnable presence with a curse on heA
lips for she felt that if some Fate had done
this thing, she would condemn and defy IT,
The exhiliration Of returning died when
that anxiety appeared and as she drew
nearer the little cabin she felt strange
impulse 10 turn back and not to foolshly
go to his side to satisfy that Fate by finding
him there dead.
So strongly then came this conviction
that he was dead that she burst into angry
tears. She was in the woods, feeling heI
way among the trees, fearful that she had
lost her way. and persuading herself that 1t
made little difference IL she had lost it.
Now she came upon the draws. They
were full of water and running swiftly She
began to run madly. The little cabin must
be flooded. 1t was located in the bank Of
draw. What had become of him? A
woman feels the same concern for a lover
as a mother does for a baby. She cried
Joey" Historically and ran on breathless-
ly. Through the successive draws she
plunged. sometimes sinking in the water to
her waist.
Here was the little clearing and down
there was the cabin. She sped on fran
tically, filled with the dread certainty that
he was gone With little cry she crept,
down on her knees, close to the draw where
the cabin had been. It was running full
Of water. She gave a little cry and sank
upon her knees.
Then she arose with terrible feroc,ty.
her hands buried in her wet hair and gave
the awful cry which is the last Of hope
and the first Of despair:
joey
"Madge," came the answer through the
night.
Joey" she cried again with bursting ten.
derness.
"Iass up to the head Of TIE draw, Madse.'
he answered. Don't attempt to cross
here"
But already she had started on the round
about course and answered with a certain |
coldness: "All right" |
"Madse," he cried again to guide her.
Yes here. Here is your medicine
But she did not hand him her medicine. |
His great arms enwrapped her and she sank |
upon his breast. !
And great as she knew his obligation 70
be, much as she had suffered on the long
journey. the night. the rain, the singing |
wet, the sudden fear of capture, the fight. |
the thought Of death in the loft, the agony !
she felt when she found the draw running |
fun ard the cabin gone, she did not feel |
the sacred exaltation of that obligation as |
Joey did
lie held her close and sinking back or |
the grass under great spread ding tree COW
cred her rain-soaked face with kisses.
And she did not resist as she had intend |
ed. The couarge she had held In the Jour- |
ney, the determination 10 help him, the |
uniiasGing sense of duty she had felt and +,
which alone had kept her on her feet and |
annulled fatigue and discomfort. yes abso.
iutely exhaustion, fed and her womanly na-
ture sank trus,ful unprotesting, unoues-
ioning. upon his sustaining heart.
She sank into that state of somnoicnce
which Is neither sleeping nor walking. but Is
a biissful confidence OF protecting love. a
sense denied men. but experienced at some
time in their lives by all women.
And as he pressed her lips 10 MS. her IA.
tigue seemed so much an integral part of his
love. of hers, that she wished that she
might remain wear;ed forever
he spoke TO her again. but she wrapped
her arms closer about his neck and nesting
nearer seemed to voice an unw!llingness tc