Daily camera., 1901-06-11
I COMMENDABLE,
BETR AYAL y
by G. N. Steyans.

q TX
Wopyrigh' 1901 by Authors syndicsteJ
nILL1E LOWE grew like n solitary
IL wild flower in a wilderness. Her
father was a Black Hills gold seeker,
and failing in that began to raise
horscs in the edge of the Dakota Bad
Lands. When the soldiers of Fort
Meade had made the place compara
lively safe, he sent for his wife and
four sons to join him. Ollie was
then too young to know much of
events, and when she was 16 there
had been little for her to remember
but horses, herders and Lieut.. James.
And yet she was far from being unac-
complished. She could lasso and Gu.
horses out of the herd equal to the
1 best of them, and she read all the
most popular magazines, although
they were two or three months old
before Lieut.. James could get them
to her.
Ollie was past Is when the interest
of Lieut.. James in her plainly passed
beyond furnishing q pretty girl with
magazines and books. The immediate
cause that brought this interest to
the surface was the shock produced
on Lieut.. James when he arrived one
day with bundle of magazines and
books tied to his saddle and found
Ollie at the lower end OF the sand
draw eating buffalo berries with How
Grimes. The lieutenant was hand
some young man whose fine military
Bearing added greatly to his appear
ancc, but How Grimes was rollick.
lag westcrner, born to the ways OF
the pioneers. and he was said to have
half dozen ranohes. each OF them
with horses enough TO make him an
acceptable suitor for any of the
bellies of the plains.
Dillie began TO introduce the two
young men when she saw look in
the licutcnant's face that froze the
words on her lips
I'VE have met before" he said, stiff
ly. perhaps Mr.. Grimes will remem-
bNi VIC aAANiii hA itsb
every WE'LL" replied How Grimes
with as polite and expressive a move
mcnt of the head and hand as the
free and easy manners of the plains
man possessed. "Old dog Tray near
" got his death that day for being
In bad company. have always wished
for chance, lieutenant, to thank
you for giving me the benefit Of the
doubt. Those horsethievcs did me
sorry trick and | would like nothing
better than to pay them back in their
own coin. Did you ever find the own
cr of the horse they traded me?'
80, yes," replied the lieutenant;
"he caught up with us about an hour
after you so cleyerly departed ard !
imagine it would have gone rather
hard with you if he had been able to
find YOU"
Lieut.. James turned his horse alb
rupily and went on to the house.
When Dillie came in he was about to
leave for the fort. although it would
be nearly midnight before he could
arrive there, and ID had always been
his custom TO stay over night. Plain
ly something was very much wrong
and Ollie had n good cry over her
first real sorrow. Her mother said
she must expect such displays OF
jealousy in men, and that the good
standing Of How Grimes was too well
verified for her or her daughter to
feel any doubts about him, besides
she was not sure that il was a good
thing for girl to marry n soldier.
who was liable to be shot almost any
day.
After that How Grimes came fre-
quently, considering that it was near
~ n hundred miles to his nearest
ranch, and the lieutenant came more
often. although his duties dt the fort
were very eSactlng.
Dillic was quite distracted, and at
the end OF year when How Grimes
asked her to be his wife, she was al
most beside herself trying to know
her own mind. Fortunately, the two
young men had not met each other
al her house since the first day, and
neither had ever mentioned the
other.
How Grimes was coming on the 1st
OF May for his answer, and the more
she thought and wept over what She
should say the more fixed became the
belief that she did not and could not
love him enough to be his wife. Her
father and mother were both furious
that she should lot such a good
chance for husband go by. They
argued that chances did not grow as
thick as sand grass.
But the eventful day had come and
Ollie heard the rollicking laugh of
How Grimes as he passed the plains
mans badnage with her father at
the stable Just over the hill. Some
Eow the laugh sounded like u menace
to her happiness. She looked out of
the window and saw her little pony
nipping the grass in the valley to-
ward the road, and an impulse seized
her to slip out to it with saddle and
bride and thus earn respite till
concerning whom there had arisen in
her SO suddenly such an unaccount-
abl, aversion,
4 few minutes later she was gal
Looping as if she were flying from
ar impending disaster. just outside
OF the valley containing her fathers
ranch was series Of sand hills, and,
when she reached these, she flung
herself from the horse upon the soft
buffalo grass and gave herself up to
thought.
The sun had just disappeared be-
hind the distant hills as she realized
that she must return home and brave
~ face her fate with the inevitable
answer against this man. Her pony
came at her call and she was about
to mount when the measured thump
of horses hoofs beat upon her ears.
The next moment o familiar form ap-