Evening star., 1898-05-28
PART II.

nau gone 10 DeO, SdlONly Jane sat Oy lHe
open window of the sitting room in an ap-
parent attitude of lansuid contemplation,
but alert and intent of eye and ear. 1t
was a fine moonlit night. Two pines near
the door-solitary pickets of the serried
ranks of distant forest-cast long shadows
like paths to the cottage. and sighed their
spiced breath in the windows. For there
frivolity of vine or flower round
Salomy James bower. The clearing
too recent. the life too practical for vani-
ties like these. But the moon added a
vague elusiyeness to everything. softened
the rigid outlines of the sheds, gave shad-
ows to the lidless windows. and touched
with mercful indirectness the hideous de-
bris of refuse gravel and the gaunt scars
OF burnt vegetation before the door. Even
SalOmy Jane affected by 1t and
hailed something between a sigh and
yawn with the breath of the pines. Then
she suddenly sat upright.
Her quick ear had caught a faint "cick,
click in the direction of the wood her
quicker instinct and rustic training enabled
her to determine that it was the ring of
horses shoe finty ground; her knowl-
edge of the locality told her it came from
the spot where the trail passed over an out
crop of flint scarcely quarter of mile
from where she sat-and within the clear
Ing 1t was no errant stock, for the shoe
was shOd with iron; it mounted tres
passer by night, and boded no good to
man like Clay.
She arose. threw her shawl over her head
more for disguise than shelter. and passed
out of the door. sudden impulse made
her seize her fathers shotgun from the
corner where il stood-not that she feared
any danger to herself, but that it
excuse. She made directly for the wood,
keeping in the shadow of the pines as long
as she could. AT the fringe she halted;
whoever there must pass her before
reaching the house.
Then there seemed to be suspense Of all
n 1aOI Ilr-C nN-ny1
the moonbeams appeared no long tremu-
lous; then there was rustic of some
stealthy animal among the ferns-and then
a dismounted man stepped into the moon
light. 1t was the horse thief-the man she
had kissed,
For wild moment a strange fancy seized
her usually sane intellect and stirred her
temperate blood. The news they had told
her not true-he had been hung, aQd
this was his ghosti He looked as white
and spiritlike in the moonlight. dressed in
the same clothes, when she saw him
last He had evidently seen her approach
ing. and moved quickly to meet her But
in his haste he stumbled slightly-she re-
aected suddenly that ghosts did not stum-
ble-and feeling of relief came over her.
And it was no assassin of her father that
had been prowling around-only this un-
happy fugitive. A momentary color came
Into her cheek: her GOODNESS and hardihood
returned: It was with tinge of sauciness
In her voice that she said:
Il reckoned you were ghost.
Il mout have BEEN, he said, looking at
her fxedly; but / reckon I'd have come
back here, all the same
Its little riskier comm back alive"
she said, with levity that died on her
lips for singular nervousness, half fear
md half expectation was beginning to take
the place of her relief of moment ago.
Then il was you who was prowlin' round
and maxim tracks IN the far PASTURE"
Yes; 1 came straight here when 1 got
lway.''
She felt his eyes were burning her, but
NOT Har he
she began-hesitated, and ended vaguely:
How did you get hereT
You helped me-"
yes. That kiss you gave me put life
into me-gave me strength to get away. 1
swore to myself I'd come back and thank
you-alive or dead.
Every word he said she could have an
ticipated. plain the situation seemed to
her new. And every word he said she
knew was the truth Yet her cool common
sense struggled against IT..
What's the OF your esca ping. eff
you're comm back here to be ketched
agaIn? she said, pertly.
He drew q little nearer to her. but
seemed to her the more awkward she
resumed her self-possession. His voice
too. was broken as if by exhaustion as he
said, catching his breath at intervals:
I'll tell you. You did more for me than
YOU think You made another man o me.
never had a man, woman or child do to
what you did 1 never had n friend
'on the shares I want to quit this yer
what I'm doin'. / want to begin by doin'
the square thing TO you, he stopped
breathed hard and then said. brokenly
My hoss is over thar, staked out. want
to give him to you Judge Boompointer
Will give you thousand dollars for him
amt lyin'-it's Gods truth! l saw 1t on
the handbill again tree. Take him. and
I'll get away afcot. Take him. It's the
only thing can do for you. and ] know it
don't half pay for what you did. Take it
your father can get a reward for you-if
you can't
Such were the ethics Of this strange To-
calty that neither the man who made the
Cffer the girl 10 whom II was made
Were struck by anything that seemed il
logical or indelicate or at all inconsistent
with justice OF the horse thiefs real con-
version. SalOmy Jane. nevertheless, dis
sent,d. from another and weaker reason.
Il don't want your hOss-though I reckon
dad miSht-but you're just starvin I'll get
suthin." She turned toward the house.
Say, you'll take the hoss first" he said.
grasping her hand. At the touch she felt
herself colOring and struggled. expecting,
perhaps, another kiss. But he dropped her
hand She turned again with saucy ges-
ture. said: "Hol on: III come right back"
and slipped away-the mere shadow of a
COY and flying nymph IN the moonlight
until sue reached the house.
Here she not only procured food and
whisky. but added a long dus. coat and hat
OF her fathers to her burden. They would
serve "A a disguise for him and hide that
heroic figure. which she thought everybody
must now know as She did. Then she re-
Joined him breathlessly. But he put the
food and whisky aside.
Listen he said. I've turned the hoss
into your corral. You'll find him there in
the morning. and no one will know but that
he got lost and Joined the other hosses."
Then she burst out. But you-yOu-what
will become of you? You'll be catched."
"I'H manage to get away he said. IN a
low voice. ''ef-ef-''
IF WHAT she said. tremblngly.
"Ef youN put the heart In me again-as
you did, he gasped.
She tried to laugh-to move away. She
could do neither. Suddenly he caught her
IN his arms and with long kiss, which
she returned again and again. Then they
stood embraced they had embraced two
days before. but no longer the same. Fol-
IL. cool. lazy SolOmy Jane had been trans
formed into another woman-d passionate
CHugiHg savage Perhaps something OF
her fathers blood had surged within heI
TT that supreme moment. The man stood
erect and determined.
'-Wot's your Nance she whispered
quickly. II a woman's quickest way