The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-10-26
n RS. DENNtSON had begun life
Nv by choosing the wrong man.
V In the resulting misery. the fact
AVA Of having plenty Of company

i'iu UlHnN SullOTS. UOth DetduSt
d" wts the only girl within a radius
~ 1t half-hundrcd miles and because
was very nice and pretty one.
.' only Leslie and Dennison had ever
",d a chance. and Dennison had won
iG-no one could quite tell why. Mag
/" herself least Of all. probably. Les-
ia would have been the better match.
d" cd financially, and looks were in
III favor very decidedly.
Isut Maggie chose Dennison with the
usual wisdom of her kind; and having
no particular religious preferences one
way or another, went with him to the
nearest adobe town and had herself
married by n padre, az being the easi-
est and quickest way out of 1t. And
thereafter for three years Dennison
had treated her abominably. He made
nothing whatever of beating her: he
overworked her: he drank His con-
duct was the scandal Of the surround
ing country. Knowing Maggie's pro-
genitors and her own disposition. the
wonder To- every one was that she did
not shoot DennisOn and have done with
II. Since nothing Of the kind hap
pened. the only possible conclusion was
that she loved him. Which she did.
n he had neglected her she might
perhaps have had recourse to a six
shooter: but it is at least having some
notice taken of you to be knocked down
and Maggie frequently was.
The treatment told on her good looks
after a while the more especially as
they were of the sort that are of
youth alone. The plains and hard us
age age a woman early So when Mag
sic was twenty-four she looked ten
years older than that.
Then Dennison left her. He found
somebody he liirl better nnc day
when he went over to the railroad
town seventy-tlve miles away. and
took her away with him. Maggie had
no notion where he had gone. else she
would probably have followed him. In
stead. she stayed on the iahch and
hoped and pined. She carried on the
ranch alone. it being one of those plain
ranches having no especial boundaries.
no especial field" ~ ciuUs and only 4
scrawny mich cow or two and few
chickens. There were a couple of hun
tlrcd head of stock. cattle that roamed
the country and wcrc, to all intents.
wild. and some "ronros of much the
same sort. These required no care. so
Maggie spent most cr ncr days sitting
adobe and staring off toward the
mountains and thinking about Denni-
son.
The Mexican woman whC lived with
her squatei ON tic grOund-in the
shade In su,nm.,. in the sun In vim
tor-with II black topalo over her head,
smoking cigarettes until the hard soil
in her ncighborhoou was strewed with
IN She ho1
teen children. Maggie had none.
There had neen a baby, hut it had
died. A whitewashed board fence
upon the top of a knoll that was to
be seen from the back door marked
where the grave had hc'n before the
coyotes had torn it up. Besides the wo-
man and the fourteen children there
were two 'graaser' vaqueros, whose
duties were nor burdnEson?c. who ate
ierked beef and frijoles. and helped
Maggie wait for Dennison to come
back.
Eut though she sat day after day
with her fading eyes looking toward
the mountains beyond which was the
railway and from which came the road,
no Dennison appeared. Other people
came by at long intervals Twice Les
lie had ridden up. There had been a
years space between the visits. And |
at the second one Maggie had seemed |
no nearer consolation or common
sense than at the first. Then he had !
let eighteen months elapse.
When he came down the road this |
time he saw Maggie from afar off. sit |
ting on the doorsll with her chin in |
her hands, the Mexican woman hug
ring narrow strip of shade. for it !
was near noon. and some chickens and !
children variously disposed. He dis |
mounted with a canking of spurs and |
led his bronco to the water-trough.
Maggie rose without haste and Went |
over to him. She might have seen him |
five minutes before from any sign of |
surprise or pleasure she made Hers |
Was the apathy of the woman of the |
frontier rancho. to whom life is as her |
outlook upon the world-dead. fruitless |
and dry. She took him into the house |
when the pony was turned over to a
Napuero. Had he heard news of Dem
nSon. she wanted to know. Leslie
looked serious, so serious that she
leaned forward With her yellow hands
rlasped hard. What was it, she ask
ed. Dennison was dead. 1t was that |
he had come to tell her. He had just |
returned from the other side of the |
colorado and had had news of her
husband there. quite by chance.
Tell me-" said Maggie, tell me the |
whole thing. | want to know"
Leslie told her. tipping back in his !,
chair with his hands clasped behind |
his fine head. and his buckskinned legs |
crossed with a swing.
Well" he started. 'it was this way,
you see. He lit out with woman
s bad egg from over Central way"
Central city was the Railway town. |
"'rhey Went into California, and they
set to keeping RESTRAINT at Meyers |
mine. He got tired of her by and by; |
and he Vamoosed the rancho there, too,
and went down near to Los Angeles. |
lie got into a scrap there--and the 9TH |
vr fellow was a better shot, l guess. |
That's ALL"
Who told you?" asked Maggie.
Two fellows that was on the coro- |
nar's jury" he answered her.
What did he fight for?"
Woman" he told her, curtly. "She |
was the other mans Wife" |
Maggie's face was so near the color |
of the alkali sand outside that it could |
not tnrn pale, And the only expression |
OF which her eyes hade Yer been cap |
able was a dull hopelessness So |
there would have been no guessing |
how the news affected her except that |
her fingers strained until the joints of |
them were Iivid. where's he plant |
ed?" she asked. |
lie told her the nameof the town. |