The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-12-21

ne nlSnb was as perfect as nlSnL
can be in region where both night
and day are beyond the imaginings
of the dwellers in lower attitudes.
The hazeless air was tremulous with
the murmurings OF natures silences.
1t seemed that l had never before
realized how white the moonlight
could be, nor how black the shadows.
The wind, what zephyr's-breath there
was of it, was up the valley; and
son it's wings came the scents of SUM-
cured grasses and the distance
softened notes of an accordion
played by one of the workmen in the
engineers camp. The very atmos-
phere was eloquent of peace, and the
restless urgency of the latter-day
struggle for existence seemed far
removed. After time the moon
rode higher, and the hammock I'M
der the porch-roof swung in the
blacklist of the shadows. The night
air began to grow cooler, and but
toned my ovcrcoat and filled and
lighted my pipe.
1t must have been nearly ten
o'clock when Nan returned. ! heard
her step in the road and eXtinguished
MY pipe. She came up the walk with
footsteps tagging, as one who fights
with fatigue; and she let herself into
the house silently and without look
ing to right or left. One thing. and
one thing only. had I learned by be-
ing silent witness of her home
coming e.. She had come from some-
where down the valley; otherwise
the wind would not have brought
me the warning of her approach.
1t was fully half an hour later be-
fore l could make up my mind to go
to bed. There was less than nothing
to watch for now, and, despite the
overcoat, the chill of the night struck
deep. I climbed out of the hammock
stiffly and took turn in the door
ward to start the blood little. From
the gate could see the foaming tor
rent of the Torolito rushing past on
the opposite side ofathe road in its
final qplungings to the level of the
lower valley. ! had long since re-
tiidg Liz liSCI was always
much higher at night, and been puz-
'zled to account for it until Macpher-
son had explained that the night
'tloodtide in n snow-fed stream is
proportional to the heat of the pre-
ceding day.
The August day had been UNUSUAL
ly hot. and the river was in full flood.
Its thunder filled the silence of the
night-made it, had almost said
but not to the exclusion of other
sounds. While I fingered at the gate
the click of horses boots came
windborne from the direction of the
engineers camp. There was low
cottonwood growing on the cmbank-
ment of the ditch just outside the
gate, and crawled between the
wires of the fence and crouched in
the shadow of the tree.
The horscman was the engineer.
He was riding slowly, and his face
was turned from me rs if he were
inspecting the turbulent stream as he
followed it's course in reverse toward
the upper canyon. ] OWNED his pur-
pose. Some one-Selter. l think it
was-had commented upon the I'M
safety of the timber coffer-dam
which WylSamp had put in to divert
the course OF the stream while the
worlimen were making the excava-
ton for the foundations of the per-
mancnt structure; and the engineer
was on his way to see how the
temporary barrier was standing the
pressure of the night flood.
1t was no concern of mine, and but
for the fact that in the act of rising
heard the house door open l should
have gone in to put idle speculation
to bed. But it did not seem worth
while to arouse curiosity touching
my late vigil and Icrouched still lower
in the shadow ofmy cottonwood when
man crept out at the slowly opened
door and went off at a shutting run
across the nearest field. 1t was
Setter. and wondered if he had been
sharing my vigil. and to what end.
He came out into the road at the
point where the ditch crossed it; still
running; and when he held on up the
dry bed of the ditch instead of keep
ing to the road. understood his OBJ
iect. BY following the line of the
ditch and crossing the canyon on it's
hume above Macpherson's placer, a
man on foot might reach the dam
workings in the upper canyon in adj
vance OF horseman on the trail.
Again said it was no concern of
mine; and if Setter had carried his
riffe-as he did not-he should have
gone unfollowed by me. Once more
my hand was on the gate-latch, and
once more the warning wind brought
the click of horseshoes on the hard
surface of the road. Looking east
ward could make out the figure of
horseman rising and falling in q
rapid gallop up the gentle ascent
from the schoolhousc. Some vague
'premonition drove me to the shadow
of my tree again, and l saw the
horseman as he cantcred past; saw
his face and caught glimpse of the
short repeating rifle of the cowboys
unslung and lying across the saddle.
1t was Macpherson; and Mans long
absence was explained as clearly as
need be. 1t was to the young stock
man that she had carried the proof
of Wykamp's villainy, though to- what
end no man might guess. But the re-
suit was before me. Macpherson had
forgotten his promise to Winifred;
forgotten that vengeance belongs to
God and not to man; and was on his
MaY to call the enTincerA to his nc.