The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1900-04-06

air until the wagon had disappeared,
rumbling across the bridge where the
road turned toward the town.
Presently a snatch of song, brokenly
accompanied by the clatter of tin, came
from the house. A flash of light from
bright buckets frightened the hall n
a tall girl came out on the porch.
AS she beheld the sleeping pair the
notes of the song dropped and she
came rapidly forward across the grass,
humming still the air Of the hymn,
and, bending over the hammock, print
ed a kiss upon the child's forehead.
Then she deity rugged a handkerchief
to protect the faces Of the sleepers
from the sunlight, and, smiling,
stepped softly to the tune she was
humming and went down the slope to
the whitewashed springhouse by the
great sycamore tree.
AS the summer aged 'Bobs" and his
Man grew closer. At times they
slept entwined in each others arms on
the shady side of a hay cock or on the
great mound of fragrant hay in the
NOV, where the pigeons cooed them to
sleep. At night when Bobs had said
his Now l lay me down to Sleep" the
man and the girl sometimes sat to-
gether on the porch. Sometimes they
talked in low tones, while the breezes
sang lullabys in the naples and the
stars hung like golden russell apples in
the blue-black summer sky. Sometimes
they sat silent as the f%refiies danced in
] otrvfofpe of ooFf 1fuhk orro. Tho n1,rrav
and the chirr of the cricket and the
song of the frog came up to them.
During those evenings they came to
know each other closer. and she told
him of her life, how, while she was
away at college, her sister, the mother
of "Bobs," had died and she had given
over all her hopes and ambitions TO
come home to care for John Alloway's
motherless child.
One night as they sat silent there
came a patter of bare feet upon the
oilcloth in the hall, and "Bobs," array
ed in innocence and red flannel, burst
out upon them.
The woman snuggled the child close
in her arms, and for 3 long time he
lay locking from n face to the Other,
and when he wen reluctantly to his
trundle bed he kissed Man" good
night.
When the woman tucked him in his
couch she kissed the spot where
MANS" lips had touched, but she
came no more to the porch where
"Man" smoked restlessly and waited
as he watched the mists rise over the
valley as the moon came up.
After many days, when the grass had
burned brown all along the big road
and the cattle painted knee deep In the
branch, there came one morning, an
unusual stir in the farmhouse.
Man" was going back to his Wills
and titles-back into the big world.
Dinner was served carly, but all
during the morning the woman went
about her work with no song. "Bobs"
hung onto her skirts almost unauticed.
and when she did kiss him she did so
absently and without thinking.
At noon the big farm wagon was at
the door. the trunks were thrown in,
and the good-by was said Man"
kissed "Bobs," promised ito come
again soon" and The wagon whirled
away down the lane in n cloud Of dust.
The stood m%otion.ess, with
her elbows on the top Of the rail fence.
When 'he wagon reached the hill
where Tie big road turned n was
lost, Man" stood up ana waved his
last good-by.
The woman's head sank up0n her
arms and she remained ~motionless un-
tl "Bohs' tugged ct her dress u
whimpered,
me cry. too. Man dawn away"
Then she took the child in her arms
and went down into the s~pringhouse.