Evening star., 1898-05-28

-
But, though tie Ssh ssins Of Il her fathers Ts:
70 need q the liter to know what had
dim s st s e41 the sns sesSs ss
the figure Of Dart sliding from the shadow
Of pine toward A4r The unaffected cry
Of JOY that rose frbha her lips died there as
light.
You the hurt" ~ she said, clutching his
arm passionately. e,,s
thai NGi" 9iL he said'E E-Put I wouldn't mind
You're thinkin:SI was afeared to come
back last night. when heard the shootin' /,
but I did come" she went on, feverishly.
.! ran back here when 1 heard the two
shots but you we're gone. went to the
corral. but your hoss wasn't there, and I
thought you'd got away"
Il did get away. said Dart, gloomily
-, - Killed the man, thinkin' no was hunt
IN me, and torgettin' was disguised. He
thought l was your father
Yes" said the girl, joyfully, "he was
after dad. and you-you killed him. She
again caught his hand admirnsly.
But he did not respond. Possibly there
were points of honor which this horse thief
felt vaguely with her father Listen he
said, Grimly. 'Others think it was your
father killed him. When l did it-for he
1lred at me first-I ran to the corral again
and took my hoss, thinkn' l might be fol-
lered / made a clear circuit of the house,
and when l fired he was the only one, and
no one was follerin'-I come back here and
took off my disguise Then l heard his
FRIENDS find him In the wood and l know
they suspected your father. And then an
other man came through the woods while
was hldln, and found the clothes, and
took them away He stopped and stared
at her gloomily.
But all this was unInteligible to the girl.
Dad would have got the better of him eff
you hadn t., she said eagerly, so what's
the difference?"
"All the same" he said gloomily, II must
take his place"
She dia not understand. but turned her
head to her master. Then you'll go back
with me and tell him all?' she said obedi
emily.
Yes" he said.
She put her hand in his, and they crept
out of the wood together. She foresaw a
thousand difficulties, but, chiefest of all,
that he did not love her as she did. She
would not have taken these risks against
their happiness.
But alas! for ethics and herosm AS
they were issuing from the wood they
heard the sound of galloping hoofs, and
had barely time to hide themselves before
Madison Clay, on the stolen horse of Judge
Boompointer, swept past them with his
kinsman.
Salomy Jane turned to her lover.
And here l might, as a moral romancer.
pause, leaving the guilty, passionate girl
eloped with her disreputable lover, des-
tined to lifelong shame and misery msun-
derstood 10 the last by a criminal, fastidi-
Gus parent. But l am confronted by GER
tain facts on which this romance IS based.
A month later a handbill was posted on
one of the sentinel pines announcing that
the property would be sold by auction to
the highest bidder by Mrs. John Dart.
daughter of Madison Clay, Esq, and 1t was
sold accordingly. Still later-by ten years
the chronicler of these pages visited GER
tain Stock or breeding farm in the
lar racers it had produced. He was told
that the owner was the best judge of horse
flesh in the country. Small wonder" add
ed his informant, for they say as young
man out in California he was a horse thief,
and only saved himself by eloping with
some rich farmers daughter. But he's
straight-out and respectable man now,
whose word about horses can't be bought;
and as for his wife,>shes a beauty To
see her at the 'Snringe.' rugged out In the
latest fashion, You'd bever think she had
ever lived out Of New York or wasn't the
wife Of one of its. millionaires."