The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-04-05


fur havin sand. He wouldn't take his
gun aluag cause Dan had left his'n.
With a creet,r like Dan it pears to me
that's leetle reckless. Dan over
weighs Rad matter of % pound the
very least"
In the gulch things were as usual to
all appearances. The little mountain
brook that dashed down the steep
rocks puzzled in the deep shade and
sent out diamond flashes where stray
1 fecks Of sunlight dived into it, and the
| birds in the redwood trees whistled
away as though there was no such in
| harmonious and degraded thing as Ari-
| IONA Dan somewhere below trying to
conceal his desecrating presence. The
I little, Reeds were at school. and such
noises as might have been heard by
!, that legendary and overworked crea-
ture the casual observer We're sylvan
and well attuned. A critic in sight
harmony would also have found little
| to cavil at, unless his too fine drawn
4 perceptions had deemed the aspect of
Miss Boadicea Reed, who sat negli-
4 gently in a grapevine swing, too I'M
I sylphlike for perfect accord.
Miss Boadicea-called "Dicey" by her
immediate family and friends a dimin-
utive evolved from their original and
arbitrary pronunciation of her name
sounded a note which may have been
! dissonance, but it had it's true power
of accentuating the soft melody of the
wood. AS she half reclined upon the
+ giant vine her freshly starched white
muslin cracked about a form whose
measurements faltered not an inch
from the modern standard Of perfec-
ton. Her glossy black hair was ar
ranged in the latest fashion shown in
the most recently arrived ladies maya
zine in Lava Canyon. Her features
1 were clear cut and regular. She had
the eyes of Melpomene and the heart
of the ancient British queen whose
name she bore.
Miss Boadicea Reed also had Sc
cret. Being a woman, her dearest
friends had often heard it divulged,
. but as it was secret there needs must
be those to whom it was not impaired.
t That portion Of humanity was the one
J denominated by Miss Reed as THE gen
J tlemen." This awful secret was that
: she had never-no, never-felt the
slightest sensation of fear or abash-
ment at any person or thing since she
could remember.
Miss Boadicea despised and contemn-
+ ed all the little feminine weaknesses
and terrors of her sex with all the pref
e udice of one who did not understand
| al,o INN
f and circumstances in her favor she
r would have led the oyerturning Of 4
s dynasty OF two, captured by force the
a crown of some social queendom or at
d least have gone up in balloon as the
special female representative of one OF
i the several greatest newspapers on
e earth. Snakes, mice, dogs, spiders, Cos
|. sip, lightning, men, the partial list OF
: the things regarded by Miss Reed with
d serenity approaching contumely, will
e afford slight conception of her in
:. trepidity of spirit. In the presence OF
IS man. the lord of CREATION she felt NJ
IS awe. Living in frontier mining town
e and possessing the attractions she did
is offers of marriage had come years be
n fore, but her suitors had never awak
= ened in her a feeling softer than com
radeship. She had laughed at most OF
e them, pitched one out of the window
% and informed them all that they "madt
e. her tired" In fact, there was nothing
1t in all creation, with or without life
a that had ever caused her a qualm o.
n tremor. She regarded robbers as vul
ID gar persons beneath notice, serpents
le horned toads, mice and ella monster!
a as embarrassing and ,unterrifying yer
le min too insignificant to dread. Her Sc
1T cret ambition, cherished in good faitl
e. until she was Is, had been to dress il
lie mans clothes and travel round TIL
II world selling soap, or diamonds, 0
N patent quartz crushers - anythin,
I'd would do. Since she was 20 her idea
ct had toned down, to a firm resolve Z
H. be prima donna of an opera troupe
n and the gulch had for many month
in echoed daily warblings that for clear
N ness and volume, if not righteousness
lie surpassed easily any voice in Law
er Canyon. The form within the crinklin
a, white muslin was a storage battery @
!. impetuous life and force that needle
IN continually some object upon which l
ae exhaust its energy.
III AS Boadicea swung in the grape
IS vine, some 300 yards up the gulch frol
II the house, she turned her gaze idly tt
ss ward thick clump of bushes and sa,
III an eye with good deal of red in til
90 normally white portion of it lookin
ar at her between the leaves.
n She sat bolt upright, on the vine, an
SIS as it appeared to be a mans eye he
hand without any special volition {
IT'S her brain went to the knot of hair !;
ng the back of her head, smoothed it
p little and thrust in the pins securely.
no "Come out of there" she said.
cd Red faced and heavy eyed fro
VI drink, Arizona Dan, hitching up
ma revolverless belt, shutfied his hug
al form through the flexible branches
m the bushes into the path.
M "Sh-sh-sh!' he said. his heavy fat
Ter folding into dull smile intended to