The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1900-06-07
UNDER THE TAMARACKs.

Darcie Thought that he had cleverly
outwitted his friendly double, on the
night of Tuesday, and sped away alone
through the woods to the place of meet
ing, avoiding the railroad track in the
gulch as likely to bring him more com
pAny than he wanted. The Big Horn
men keep the track hot" as Mike ex-
pressed it.
The risk he was taking, he argued.
was quite the ordinary one; he, with
many another man at that time in the
Occur d'Alene, was taking it every day.
About the other risk, of not going,
there could be NO reasoning. His heart
closed with a pang, and stopped his
thinking, whenever he fancied that
girl wanting him, waiting for him. per-
haps,; and he not there. It was not, he
owned, message or messenger be-
fitting his mountain lily; but by that
token the name was enough, and was
he to quarrel with happiness because it
came little sooner or otherwise than
he had expected or deserved? 1t was a
time of general uncertainty and peril.
Who could tell the needs, the fears, of
girl so isolated, and in such company
as that "outfit" at the Big Horn?
Knowing what he knew, Darcie thought
Of the mine as Circe's palace of the
wild and woolly west, with Abby Steers
for the enchantress, and his lily as the
Lady Una, beset by british types of
humanity in shapes of unblushing de-
formity. But he had plenty of magma
ton, and he was living the life of soil
tude and repression which breeds exag
gerated fancies. Moreover, in his
thoughts the charm of the girl, like
strong light, blackened the adjacent
shadows. >/N
The moon, which had ftfully lighted
their way down the trail on the night of
the storm, was too old and debated to
assist at this meeting. Under the
tamaracks the darkness was impene
trable. The lone cedar whispered to
itself, and seemed to pause and listen
for responses from the ranks of stand
ing timber that mounted the gulch, file
above file, with a wedge of night sky
opening a way to the zenith.
The car that was to carry the dinner
guests back to Wallace stood on the
track, the engine steaming. Darcie
took his station under the cedar, and
waited in silence. The alternate whis-
pering and hushing of the forest con-
tinued; often the sound was that of feet
carefully lifted. and cautiously set
down in the rustling underbrush. Mo
1nently his errand there seemed NOR
and more preposterous and foolishl,
unreal; he could have laughed alout
had the place and the hour been mer
rier. 'l;ar
When he considered that at least hal
an hour must have passed, and no soun'
that he could distinctly interpret wa
heard, he took out his watch and strucl
match to look at the time. AS tn
spark famed up, volley OF pistol-shot
battered about him and pecked at tn
tree above his head. The flashes cam
from the edge of the tamaracks tina
darkly environed the small cleare
space where he stood on every side, bu
that next the gulch; on that side wa
the trail.
He jumped behind the cedar, an
emptied his pistol in the direction 9
the flashes. At the same instant thre
or four shots in rapid successio
cracked from across the trail, and wit
a characteristic yell and bound Mix
was at his side, holding forth with h
gun from his own side of the tree. III
men could hear each Others breathing
but neither spoke till Darcie said:
Load for me, Mike; my right iipp<
is hit"
The beggars il leAvin'," said Mix
"Are We hit bad?" m 2lGEl
Mikes counter-ambush had discsl