The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-12-09
Tomorrow at Noon.
A

SSoSC OO1OcIllk Ou
frenzy.
He had smoked so many cigar that
the porter regarded him with appre-
hension. He had stamped up and down
the aisle SO fiercely that a baby had
shrieked in fright whenever he ap-
peared. He had cursed so horribly that
the ancient spinster in the section next
his had been on the point of swooning
several times.
He was a big, athletic fellow, with a
rudy complexion, determined lips, and
eyes like gray velvet, with black lashes
and brows. His face would have been
noticeable at any time, wi now,
crowned with an enormous silver
embroidered sombrero and distorted
with impatience, it was doubly conspic-
u0us
"That cowboy must be getting ready
to kill somebody" said the commercial
man from Omaha to the railroad man
from Buffalo.
Either that or he's going to see his
girl" replied the other.
The railroad man was a keen Judge of
AL AOAA "CA1S 4dAlC14lk1oll
from the Valley of the River of Lost
Souls, Colo. was on his way to New
York to find his sweetheart.
As he sat modify biting an unlight-
ed cigar and counting the mile posts,
he recalled, as in a dream, his meeting
with the exquisite creature he was
seeking. He remembered that clear,
hrso rno~r;~~ 1,,lox, ~ ,olo l:~o1;.-
and gathering, into Durango, just as
h train from Alamosa was pulling
into tho station; how he threw himself
off his mustang and Joined the crowd
of miners. cowboys, loafers and "greas-
,ers'' on the station platform to see the
passengers alight.
He heard again the murmur of ad-
miration as she stepped from the train
n walked through the throng with
the air of a princess.
His heart pounded madly as he re-
called the masses of red gold hair, the
luscious lips, h eyes of most unholy
blue-the blue Of the mountain sap
phires-and the graceful, svelte form.
His thoughts shifted to the afternoon
when he was introduced to her at the
ranch adjoining his own. She had
come to visit her school friend, the
wife Of his neighbor. He remembered
her wonderful pink gown with clouds
and pillows Of lace, the tiny fan she
welded so coquettishly, the rings on
her white fingers. She looked like an
angel to the big, clumsy, blushing,
stammering r~anchman-a pink and
white angel with a halo of dazzling
blonde hair.
Poor Tom Weir her and there lay
his great, unsullied, honest heart at
her feet. From the first moment she
spoke to him he was her slave.
Now he thought Of those heavenly
days that followed; the long walks and
rides in that glorious air that mounted
to their heads like champagne; the
nights when the great red moon swung
over the snow crowned peaks; the
first mad kiss, the tender confession.
the sweet surrender and the solemn be-
trothal.
And Rew he was going to see her!
Two years had gone by since the, girl
q his heart had said good-by to him;
since he had held her to his brawny
breast and with swimming eyes and
husky voice begged her not to forget I
him.
She had written him often. sweet,
kind, tender letters, letters he had kiss
ed and cried over and put under his
pillow at night. She had kept her
word. M had not forgotten him-that
radiant creature. 0, where vas a man
so madly happy as he? And @, when,
when, would this train get into New
York!
There was only one little bit of alloy
in this happiness; a mere trifie, to be
sure, but still there. A few words in
her last letter had troubled him. He
had read and re-read them, trying to
discover just what caused his uneasi-
ness, but in vain. Still q vague, in
tangible something seemed threatening
him. Some instinct sounded a note of
alarm as he pored owe the perfumed
paper in his hand.
II am tired Of teaching" the letter
ran. 1.-THE life Of a governess is so
narrow, so combining. So I have gone in
for art"
That was all.
Art-art? Art is perfectly harmless.
to be sure. But it was strange that he
had never saw her draw or paint any
thing. Indeed, he remembered that
when with the enthusiasm Of the typ
ical western ranchman. he q pointed
out the beauties Of his beloved noun