The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-04-16
The Laurens Advertiser
ST.. o per Year in Advance.
A Man of
the Plains.

make up this boundless Western coun-
try. And, above and beyond all else,
/ love you. You are n wonderful
picture in a wonderful frame. L could
not separate you from the county, nor
the country, from you. Would L love
1t with you out of it? / can't say. L
can't imagine you out of it," She
patted her pony's neck as she talked.
"Would you love me anywhere else,
/ wonder, in your far.away Eastern
home, for example, among your more
cultured friends2"
She answered him by a peal of sill
very laughter which rang down the
canyon and startled the lizards bask-
ing in the sunshine. He looked up
quickly.
"Pardon me, dear, but / was just
imagining you among my friends back
East. It-seems so funny"
He colored under tho heavy tan
coating of his handsome face and pull
ed his sombrero down more closely
over his eyes.
cam L, then, so different-such a
wild nan of Borneo--that you would
hesitate to introduce me to your
friends2"
eyes, L would hesitate, for 1T would
set all the girls flocking to the West in
search Of other wild men of Borneo,
and there are nc others-none half so
dear as my wild man. Careful there,
Guthrie, a rattlesnakel" The pony
had SHE'D to one side and trembled
from head to foot.
Quick as a flash Guthrie .Blalock
drew his revolver from his belt and
shot the serpent dead. Then hastily
dismounting he knelt among the
stones and cactus, detached the string
of ~rattles, ten In number, and handed
them to the girl. She received them
calmly and fastened them in her belt.
A few months ago she would have
shuddered and screamed. But she had
learned much during her short stay at
her brothers. cattle ranch. Under
Guthrie Blalock's tutelage she had de-
veloped into a true daughter of the
PLAINS with marvellous rapidity. The
day she stepped off the train after a
long journey from the East, and flew
into her brothers. arms every cattleman
and rancher standing around the
station began nourishing a secret hope
in his own breast. Such a slight,
willowy figure, such a bright, witchine
faCa, such merry blue eyes and such a
sil cry, contagious laugh all bound up
in ne young woman, could not fail to
produce a sensation, especially where
women were as rare as a cloud in the
perpetual blue of the skies overhead.
Every man in the country suddenly
developed a desire to do business with
BCb Lyman. They all had punches OF
cattle to dispose of, but, strange to say
they could never come to terms. Each
visit called for another.
"It's funny, Genie,'' Bob said tc
LIS sister, with a twinkle in his eye.
what q capitalist these men take me
for. Perhaps they think you brought
gold with you for investment. Can't
imagine what else heads all the ponies
for my ranch"
Genie laughed and was pleased, but
not until Guthrie Blalock came on reaI
business with no intention of meeting
the lily of the valley" as the men
called her, was she impressed.
"Bob," she whispered, as he came
into the room for paper, "introduce
me to that handsome man"
Giles not like the others, Genie; he
doesn't care a rap about women-would
probably be rude to YOU"
"I don't care. Introduce me,'' she
commanded and he obeyed.
Guthrie had been merely polite, had
avoided her, had shown for her no ad.
miratlon. Straightway he became the
only man in the whole country for
whose attention she cared a fig. And
the inevitable was happening. She
naG at last won him = more com
pletely than she realized. They were
constantly together on large rides over
the hills and the plains, and Bob was
highly pleased at the prospect of keep
ing his sister in the West. They were
orphans and she had remained in the
East with a younger brother, who had
needed her care until the past year,
when, his school days being about
over, she felt free to visit Bob, whom
she had not seen since she was "a little
child.
Guthrie Blalock had been an enigma
to the men with whom he transacted
buslness-for he met them on no other
footing-since he first came to the
country ten years ago., n engaged
himself as cowboy to one of the cattle
kings. Silent, morose, gloomy, he had
ridden the PLAINS and lassoed steers till
now he was one of the biggest cattle
owners i'll that region, but yet he held
aloof, understood n loved by no one.
Many mistrusted him and whispered
of black deeds committed in some more
civilized cline. Could they have lift
ed the mask they would have found
only a sore quivering heart, that,
shrinking from contact with the world
of men, sought solace In nature. From
his earliest memory he had craved love
and had gone loveless through the
years. His mother had died during
his infancy. AS he grew into young
manhood the first girl who caught his
attention received from him a wealth
of silent, all-absorbing devotion which
oshe was not capable of understandings
A few years OF welded bliss and she
w ecked his life by running away with
an artist who could sing sentimental
songs and make pretty speeches.
Guthrie heard of her death, but 1T
could not add one throb to the already
bleeding heart that would not break.
"a the years passed over his head
he imperceptibly grew into the calm
induced by the wide Western plains,
and not until Genie crossed his path
did be arouse himself TO any interest
bavOnd hia monica Graduallu Ohio |