Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1901-07-27

convinced him that bis own way was
preferable and had dispatched him on
supposedly important errand TO a
herdsman who had charge % an outly-
ing bunch VI cattle.
Richard Maxwell was a natural mar
tiDet. Clockwork was not more exact
than were the rules OF bis lHe. from
which he never cevisted His employ
ees liked him bot az the same time
they feared him The slightest disobe-
dience Yves regarded as a resignation
from his employ. and Ils}e was In this
respect as subservienx to him as they
were. Maxwell vas handsome man
too. Although his hair and perfectly
trained mustache were as white as
snow, there was not a line upon his
perfect face His eyes were bis most
reynarkable features. for there was
within their depths something so sora-
Der, so threatening. so fierce and 90 re-
pellent that strangers instincSiveiy
avoided them and then looked again to
discover the cause. But Il was undis-
coverable. The more one booked the
more obscure seemed the reason for
avoidance, for the surface glance upon
them, although searching and deep,
had nothing in IL OF those qualities
which at first repelled. BIS eyes were
undeniably large. and they described
perfect oval II eyes can be intensely
black, his were so, and in hue the hong
lashes which fringed them and the
rather heavy brows that shaded them
were blacker still.
You would not have said that Lisle's
eyes We're like his fathers. but you
would have insisted that Richard Max
wells eyes were like his sons, with the
difference that where the glance OF the
elder man repealed that OF the younger
attracted
Isle Maxwelfs training had been all
that the heart OF young man could
desire, and his father had been his tu-
tor in everything Particularly had his
instruction been thorough I'm every
branch OF knowledge which properly
should belong to young manhood, and
Isle could not remember when any
body save his father had waited upon
his wishes-at least until he was old
enough 10 60 abroad. After that the
cowboys instructed him In riding and
lasso throwing He could ride like an
Apache Indian. rope the widest steer
that ever trod the ranges OF Nevada.
shoot from the back of his galloping
horse with revolver or rife infnltesi-
NAL articles thrown into the air by his
admiring Instructors; he could leap
from his horse TO the ground and
mount again while the creature was
upon a mad run and could east his
handkerchief or his hat upon the plain
and then. dashlng past at the topmost
speed OF his horse. pick IL up again: he
could catch and mount and successful
ly ride the widest and mos, untamed
horse that ever belonged on Crescent
and Cross ranch. There was nothing
along those rauges that man could do
which he had not been taught TO do and
to do we'll better even than his In
structors. and as a proficient In every
manly sport-in craftsmanship, horse
manship and courage--he was known
and admired throughout that wide cir
Gle which had its yearly rendezvous In
the Smoky valley.
Richard Maxwell had lived up to the
statement he made to his lawyer IL
years ago. Lisie Maxwell was a boy In
every generally accepted sense OF the
word. BE had grown up as boy and
lived ae boy. He had studied as a
boy and thought as boy, and he had
no'conception OF what girls and women
were other than that they were some
thing 70 be relsg!ousIy avoided. Re
garding .he question OF sex. his father
had kept him as profoundly ignorant
as babe, and the words girl and
woman" were TO him only terms for
the expression OF thought, and that
thought be had been taught to regard
as repugnant Indian women-squaws
he had seen frequently. but be haC
not observed much difference between
them and the men except that they
were uglier, more brutal and dirtier.
Throughout all his studies, and they
were manifold and thorough, books
calculated TO direct his thoughts into
channels which might reveal to him his
real identity had been vigorously ex-
cluded. and he had no more idea who
and what he really was than he DOS
sessed II years ago when sleeping upon
his fathers arm he was stolen away
from his mothers loving care. That is
why the masculine pronoun is used
now In referring to him.
One can understand how such man
as Richard Maxwell might accomplish
all this without once making a mis-
take Every question asked by the
growing child was answered directly.
concisely and decisively aud with
words that bordered so nearly upon the
vN~l-
which was unrevealed apparently IN
worthy OF mention. There was q code
OF morals % that ranch compared with
which the rigid rules OF Shaker set
Element would be travesty. and the
cowboy who once forgot or neglected
them related his sorgetfulness there
after In the employ OF another man
than Richard Maxwell.
The interior OF the house where Lisle
had passed all these years was lavish