The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-14

2
man who cares to journey, the old
/ fashioned pole trail" comes into use.
It is merely & series of horses built OF
4 timber across which thick Norway logs
are laid. about four feet from the
ground, to form a continuous pathway
A man must be a tight rope walker to
/ stick to the pole trail when ice and
snow have sheathed its logs. If he
makes a missteD, he is precipitated
/ ludicrously into feathery depths
/ through which he must founder to the
nearest timber horse before he can re-
\ mount. In summer, as has been said,
I it resembles nothing so much as a thick
one-ran fence of considerable height,
around which a fringe Of light brush
has crown.
| Thorpe reached the fringe OF bushes.
and was about to dodge under the
fence, when he saw her. So he stopped
short, concealed by the leaves and the
/ timber horse.
She stood on a knoll in the middle of
a grove Of monster pines There was
something of the cathedral in the spot
A hush dwelt in the dusk, the long
columns lifted grandly to the Roman
/ arches of the frond, faint murmurings
stole here and there like whispering
acolytes. The girl stood tail and
straight among the tall, straight pines
/ like figure on an ancient tapestry
She was doing nothing-just standing
! there-but the awe of the forest was
/ in her wide. clear eyes.
The great sweet feeling clutched the
young mans throat again. But while
/ the ether-the vision of the frost-work
glade and the spirit-like figure of 81
! lence-had been unreal and phantasma-
goric, this was Of the earth. He looked.
and looked, and looked again. He saw
! the full curve Of her cheeks contour.
neither oval nor round, but like the
outline of a certain kind of plum. He
appreciated the half pathetic down
ward droop of the corners of her
mOuth-her red mouth in dazzling, be-
witehing contrast to the milk-white-
ness of her skin. He caught the fine
ness of her nose, straight as Gre
clans, but with some faint suggestion
about the nostrils that limited at pi-
quance. And the waving corn silk OF
her altogether charming and unruly
hair, the superb column of her long
neck on which her little head poised
proudly like flower. her sup
pie body, whose curves had the
long unduIating grace of the current in
a swift river, her slender white hand
| with the pointed fingers-all these ne
saw one after the other, and his soul
shouted within him at the sight. He
| wrestled with the emotions that choked
him. 'Ah, God! All, God,'' he cried
]
the man of iron frame, of iron nerve,
| hardened by a hundred emergencies.
trembled in every muscle before a
straight, slender girl, clad all in brown,
standing alone in the middle of the an
cient forest.
In a moment she stirred slightly, and
turned. Drawing herself to her full
height, she extended her hands over
her head palm outward, and. with an
lindescribably graceful gesture, half
| Inockingly bowed a cereuonious adieu
to the solemn trees. Then with a little
laugh she moved away in the direction
of the river
At once, Thorpe proved great need
OF seeing her again. In mis- present
mood there was nothing of the awe
stricken peace he had experienced after
the moonlight adventure. He wanted
the sight Of her as he had never want
| ed anything before. He must have it,
though to challenge any force in heaven
or he'll that would deprive him of it.
| His eyes desired TO follow the soft
| write curve of her cheek to dance with
the light of her corp-silk hair; TO de-
light in the poetic movements of her
tall, slim body, to trace the fun outline
of her chin. to wonder. at the carmine
Of her lips, red as a blood-spot on the
| snow. These things must be at once.
The strong man desired it. And find
ing it impossible, he ragged inwardly
and tore the tranQuillities of his heart.
as on the shores of the distant Lake of
| Stars, the hull moose tramDled down
the bushes in his passion.
| SO il happened that he ate hardly at
| all that day, and slept i'll, and discov-
cred the greatest difficulty in preserv-
| ing the outward sembianee Of ease
| which the presence of Tim Shearer and
| the Fighting Forty demanded.
I he 4 he Ior- -,
and the next. because the need of his
| heart demanded it, and because, simply
enough, she came every afternoon to
the clump of pines by the old pole trail
Now had Thorpe taken the trouble to
! Inquire, he could have learned easily
/ enough all there was to be known of
/ the affair. But he did not take the
trouble. His consciousness was reeeiv-
ing too many new impressions. so that
in a manner it became bewildered. At
! hrst, as has been seen, the mere effect
of the vision was enough: then the
| sight OF the girl suficed him. But now
! curiosity aWOke and q desire for some
! thing more. He must speak to her,
| touch her hand. look into her eyes. He
resolved to approach her, and the mere
! thought chOked him and sent him weak.
When he saw her again from the
shelter of the pole trail, he dared not,
! and so stood there prey to a novel SEN
tention. 1t awoke within him a vast
passion compounded part of rage at
| himself, part of longing for that which
he could not take, but most of love for
the girl. AS he hesitated in one mind
J but in two decisions. he saw that she
was walking slowly in his direction
/ Perhaps hundred PAGES separated
the two. She took them deliberately
pausing now and again to listen, to
pluck a Leaf, TO smell the fragrant
balsam and fir tops as she passed them.
Her progression was q series of poses,
the one Of which melted imperceptibly
| into the other without apprecia Bile
pause of transition. So subtly did her
grace appeal to the sense of sight. that
out Of mere sympathy the other senses
responded with fictions of their own.
Almost could the young man behind
/ the trail SAVIOR a faint fragrance. a
faint music that surrounded and pre-
ceded her like the shadows of phan-
toms. He knew it as an illusion. born
CT his desire. and yet it was noble
Illusion. for it had its origin in her.
in a moment she had reached the
fringe of brush about the pole trail.
They stood face TO face.
She gave a little start of surprise
! and her hand leaped to her breast
where it caught and stayed. Her child
like housekeeping mouth parted a
little more. and the breath quickened
through it. But her eyes. her wide.
trusting, innocent eyes, sought his and
I rested.
He did not ,,,ox-a IT, a,or,,.,.-.,. a.. .