Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1900-07-11

room and, swinging che long, awk.
wardly modelled fabric TO his broad
shoulder, started back just as huge
wave heav-d suddenly under the coun-
ter, heeled the steamer far over toport,
threw him off his balance, and, his foot
catching at the bottom of her chair,
| hurled him, load and all, straight at
Amy's reclining form. One instant,
and even her uplifted hands could not
have saved her face; but in that instant
| Armstrong had darted in, caught the
| stumbling Briton on one arm, and the
full force Of the. shooting chair crash
ing upon the. other, already pierced by
Filipino lead.
When, a moment later, she emerged,
| safe and ~unscratched, from the con-
fused heap Of men and furniture. it was
to cut off instantly the stutter and
stammer of poor Shafto's apologies, to
bid him go instantly for the ships doc
tor, and. with face the color of death,
to turn quickly to Armstrong. The
| blow had burst open the half-healed
wound, and the blood was streaming to
| the deck.
Both liner and transport turned back
without Stanley Armstrong, Doric and
Sedgwick sailed unheeded, for the
highest surgical authority of the de-
| partment of California had remanded
him to quarters at the Palace and for
hidden his return to duty with an I'M
healed wound. He was sitting up again,
somewhat pallid and not too strong, but
with every promise, said the "medico,"
| of complete recovery within two
months. But not month would Arm
strong wait. The Puebla was to start
within the week, and he had made up
his mind. &C.," said he, 81 must"
They had been sitting about him, the
night this opinion was announced, in
the parlor of the suite of rooms the
Primes had taken. Billy Gray had gone
with his father to the club, Shafto had
been hanging about in the agonies of an
Englishman's first love. Gov disap-
peared moment and came back with
dred get her hat and gloves at once, and
whispering to Shafto that he had seat
for him. AS the little mantel clock
struck eight Amy Lawrence, lifting up
her eyes from the book she was trying
hard to believe she meant to read, saw
that Armstrong was rising from his
easy chair, and, springing to his side,
laying her white hand on his arm, she
faltered: "Oh, please! You know the
stipulation was that you were not to
STIR
But then her heart began to flutter
uncontrollably. The blood went surg
ing to her brows, for all of sudden,
as through impulse irresistible, her
hand was seized in his-in both of his, in
fact-and the deep voice that had
pleaded at her behest for the cause of
Billy Gray was now, in impetuous flow
of words that fell upon her ears like
some strain of thrilling music, pleading
at last his own. Ever since that day in
the radiant sunshine of the park she
had learned to look up to him as a tower
of strength, man of mark among his
fellows, man to be honored and
obeyed. Ever since that night at the
Palace, when she saw his glowing eyes
fixed intently upon her, and knew that
he was following her every move, she
had begun to realize the depth of his
interest in her. Ever since that day
when the China slipped from her moor
ings. with Witchie Garrison singing
him out for lavish farewell favors, she
had wondered why it so annoyed and
stung her. Ever since the day she read
the list of killed and wounded in the
first fierce battling with the "insur-
rectos'' she knew it was the sight of
his name, not Billy Gray's, that made
her for the moment faint and dizzy and
taught her the need of greater self-con-
troll. Ever since that moonlit night up
on the Nfarsdens' lanai, when her heart
leaped at the sudden sound of his voice,
she had realized what his coming meant
to her, and ever since that breezy day
upon the broad Pacific, with the sailors
song of Land, no! ringing from the
bows, and he, her wounded soldier, had
sprung to shield her from the crash of
Shafto's hapless stumble. and the deck
was stained with the precious blood
from that soldiers reopened wound,
shed for her-for who so revered him
she had longed to hear him say the
words that alone could unlock the gates
of maidenly reserve and let her tell him
tell him with glad and grateful heart
that the love he bore her was answered
by her own. lowering over him only
one minute, her lips half parted, her
eyes still yelled. her heart throbbing
loud and fast, with sudden movement
she threw herself upon her knees at the
side of the low chair, and her burning
face, ever 50 lightly, was buried in the
dark blue sleeve above that blessed
wound.
THE END.