The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-07

ly prairie cabin, typical western ranch
mouse, long, low and unsightly. No other
building was in sight; in fact there was
no human habitation between il and Cor
don City. But the frame house had stood
there when Gordon City was uudreamed
or and when the nearest town was 20
the south instead of to the north, and
twenty miles away.
In front of the ranch house on an early
october day stood woman talking to a
ooy VINO mad just harnessed a mule team
10 the wagon. The woman was under 40
ana her face was only beginning TO assume
the yellowish tint so frequently seen in the
women of the plains 1t was the boys
race, older and firmer perhaps, but bear
ING a look OF ineffable sadness, as of a
sorrow long repressed. The boy himself
formed picturesque figure as he stood
beside the team. in one hand the goad, in
the other a huge bandanna handkerchief
with which he occasionally mopped his
race. on his head he wore a big Mexican
nat and his flannel shirt, carelessly left
open at the collar, displayed the spreading
muscles of his chest In a moment NOR.
ne had mounted TO the wagon seat. had
cracked the long goad over the backs
OF the mules, and was disappearing in a
cloud OF yellow dust along the trail The
woman gazed after him with look half
-.
she would have liked to call him back.
long time she stood there until the little
cloud That marked the progress of the
inule team mad disappeared in the WIDEN
ing e&panse of prairie; then, with a sigh.
sne turned and went indoors. Inside A
young girl was rafting the morning
dishes and singing a hymn In a high.
clear voice In looks the girl favored
helther her mother nor her brother Rath-
er her roguish, laughing eyes and finely
chiseled features resembled a portrait hid
oen away In the mothers bureau drawer
ana seldom looked at Yet sometimes
when she was alone the woman would
draw out the portrait and gaze long and
earnestly at it; and when she put il back
she always knelt and breathed a silent
prayer to heaven
AS she moved about, engaged in vari
ouse household tasks, she often STONED
90 look anxiously up the track that the
BOY had taken, though she knew that
would be hours before his return. I,
was Just as the sun was sinking behind
1re distant yellow bluffs, huge red ball
OF hre, that frightened even the drearv
sand stretches with its golden glow. that
she heard the welcome clatter of the roula
wagon, ana hurried to prepare supper. for
sue knew the appetite of a boy. But to-
nlgnt Park Raymond scarcely tasted his
1000. His eyes were strangely bright and
restless, and he could speak of nothing
but the sights of Gordon City II was
pam mat he had caught the fever. that
suDtie, dangerous disease of gold that has
Played the will-o the-wisp to many a man
until it led him into a nameless desert
grave on the alkau plains.
II was some time before he summoned
up courage to tell his mother that he
wanted TO try his luck at the diggings
ana then her sudden outburst of tears
ana the uneasiness of his own conscience
persuaded him to postpone the plan for a
tirne' at least. But he went more and
more frequently to Gordon City. Often.
Wheh the necessary work upon the ranch
was zone, ne saddled his pony, and went
away, to be gone almost till the next
morning. The cheap display the noise the
air and hustle of the place fascinated him
Ihere he met rough men and brazen wo.
men, unlike any he had ever seen he
lore, His eyes were opened to MANY
things that no gallop across the plains
would ever have revealed to him. IF was
his first glimpse Of life. And yet, unlike
most butterflies who first see the light
ed wick, he was not singed by its flame
He liked TO lounge about the dance halls
and gambling houses, but he was content
to renlsin merely a spectator. If he had
out known it, he could not have gone very
far without protest or interference. for
every movement was watched with ron.
slant, almost painful interest by the erav-
haired man whom everybody knewsas tbA
judge.
Park Raymond had never known anv
girl except his own sister before he visited
Gordon CITY, and he was disappointed in
most OF those he saw there, but there was
one whose beauty fairly held him speech-
Ina h.
the daughter of Bill Price the faro king
and as the latter had the reputation of
being Just as ready to shoot a man as to
shake hands with him, his daughter was
treated with unusual respect, even by the
rowdies, of whom there were not a few
in Gordon City. She was the one person in
the world whom the faro king loved Her
mother had died years before, and she
had always been accustomed to the wild
life of the new western towns. Yet in spite
of such rough associations, she had grown
up like a single fair flower in a garden
given over to weeds.
Gordon City had not reached the point
where rigid conventionalities are insisted
upon, so it was not long before Park RAY
mond and his divinity were excellent
friends They were attracted toward each
other by an innate natural refinement
which both craved, but which was lacking
in most of their acquaintance. 1t must not
be supposed, however, that these two
young people were in love. Park Raymond
was, perhaps, very near 1t, though he him
self had never dreamed of such a thing
The girls beauty and natural grace were
wholly charming to his nature, which,
though he did not know 1t, had been cast
in an artistic mold Her figure filed his eye
very pleasantly, and for the time he was
content to think of her as being from an
other world, to be looked up to and ad-
mired. AS for the girl, she had found an
agreeable companion, and that was
enough. Love, as she had seen It in the
mining camps, did not appea, to her. If the
young pfainsman was disposed to worship
her, she did not object, although she did
not understand IT,
One morning Park Raymond, having
driven to town for a load Of supplies, was
sauntering along the main street of the
town, when he saw ahead of him the faro
kings daughter. 1t was the time of day
whoE Gordon City seemed almost deserted: ;
the working population was away at the
digglngs and the moths who futtered so
boldly at night were all asleep. Besides