The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1899-06-24
The POstnistress
-oP- as~.
Laurel Run.
by BRIT HHRTH.
oopyrlehs. lsoi. by ,hoAusaon An Rights ns''rv'd

There was a good two-mile level be-
fore the rise of the next range. Now,
Blue Lightningl All you xnowl And
that was mnch-for the little chip hat
and 1luttering ribbons well bent down
over the BLUSH name, and the stream
ing gauze of her mantle, almost level
with tho horses back, swept down
across the long table-land like slssm-
ming blueiay. A few more bird-lil1e
dips up and down the undulations and
then came the long, cruel ascent Of the
Divide. ~
Aerid with perspiration, calSing with
dust, slithering in the slippery impa1-
pablo powder Of the road, groggily stag
gering in rcd, dusty dream, coughing,
snorting, head tossing, becoming sud-
denly detected, with slouching haunch
and limp legs on easy slopes, or wildly
spasmodic and agile on sharp accliv-
tiles, and Blue Lightning began to have
ideas and recollections! Ah she was a
devil for a larlS-this lightly clinging,
caressing, blarneying, cooling creature
up therel He remembered her now.
Hal very well, then. Hoop Ia! And,
suddenly leaping out like a rabbit,
buclSing, trotting hard, ambling lightly,
walking on three legs and recreating
himsef-as only Californian mustang
could-the invincible Blue Lightning
Mt last stood triumph antly upon the
summit. The evening star lad just
priched itself through the golden mist
Of the horizon line-eight o'clocl1l She
could do it now! But here, suddenly, her
first hesitation seized her. She knew
her horse, she knew the trail, she knew
herself-but did she know the man
To whom she was riding? A cold chill
crept over her, and then she shivered in
a sudden blast; 1t was night at last,
swooping down from the invisible
Sicrras, and possessing all it touched.
I'ut it was only one long descent to
Hickory Hill now, and she swept down
securely on it's wings Half-past eight!
The lights Of the settlement were Just
ahead Of her, but SO, too, were the two
lamps Of the waiting stage before the
post Office and hotel. ss4s s,iss-.
HAPPY the lounging crowd were
gathered around the hotel, and she
slipned into the post Office from the
rear unperceived. As she stepped be-
hind the partition, its only occupant--a
good-loolsing young fellow with red
dish ustache-tmnedt towards herwith
a flush of delighted surprise. But it
changed at the sight of the white, de-
termined face that had never looked
once towards him, but was fixed upon a
large bag, whose yawning mouth was
still open and propped up beside his
desk.
''Where is the through money letter
that came in that bag9" she said,
quickly,
neutrality-suspicious." he STAN
mered, with face that had suddenly
grown whittier than her own.
81 mean that it's a decoy, checked at
Heavy Tree Crossing, and that Mr..
Home, of San Francisco, is now wait
ing at my office for to know if you have
taken it,"
The laugh and lie that he had at first
tried to summon to mouth and lips
never reaehed them. For, under the
spell of her rigid, truthful face, he
turned almost mechanically to his desk
and took out a package.
Good God! You've opened it al
rcadyp' she cried, pointing to the
broken seal.
The expression on her face, moro
than anything she had said, convinced
him that she knew all. He stammered
under the new alarm that her despair
ing tone suggested: ''Yes-I was owing
some bills-the collector was waiting
here for the money, and l took some
thing from the packet But / was go-