The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-06

Copyright, 1902 by Daily Story Pub Co.
Down the valley through which the
creek wandered rolled the sound of the
conch, stOutly blown. It clambered up
and over the mesquite-Swathed hills and
shook the leaves Of the huisache trees.
Little brown rabbits in thousands
crouched shivering under it's raucous bel
lowings. Vultures high in air paused In
their steady Greetings. A deer leaped from
its midday bed and bounded toward
thicker chaparral; q road runner darted
in and out Of the underbrush, a. flock
of blue quails, picking their way in
single file through the patin bushes, rose
and Whirred away; a rattlesnake threw
itself into coil and gave it's chivalrous
warning then, stunned by the blast, hur-
ried to covert. A hot sun shone from a
turquoise sky and the constant wind Of
the southwest whispered dryly.
The girl stood upon the side of a hill
in an open space, ,earpeted with grass
green in the fresh greenness Of spring,
The rude shell was at her lips and her
head was thrown back. Every curve Of
her slender, beautiful figure was outlined
from her firm throat and the virgin swell
Of her bosom to the maiden roundness,
though not amplitude, of hip. Singularly
light and graceful she looked, framed
against the foliage behind her. Her eyes
troubled, inexperienced eyes, which said
that life was new to her. Under her dark
cheeks the blood showed DULY Her lips
were crimson and curved in a Cupid
bow, parting in a ready smile to show
teeth Of a bright whiteness. A mass Of
jetty hair was above the broad, low fore
head. The ears were small the hands
SMALL the feet small. She had a GER
tain delicate innocence and spirituality
80 h ~
until labor and exposure have coarsened
them. She was beautiful with the dark,
passionate beauty of the South-a
smothered fire whose crust had not been
broken, but which would blaze some day.
No answer came in response to her sig
nal and she frowned prettily, sweeping
the hillsides with her eyes. A quarter
mile away she saw a waving of the fkpn-
dage and the front of a herd of sheep
made it's appearance, vending downward
to the water. A moment afterwards the
shepherd came in sight, saw her and
waved his arm, putting aside heavy
blanket to do so. Then she called clear
ly:
Padre! Padre mio!
She stopped swung lightly up sack
heavy with provisions and went lightly
to meet the man. He sat quietly on the
grass, it being against his blood and
training to stand a moment longer than
was necessary.
81 have here, she said, on reaching
him, meal. coffee, bacon from the Senior
Pomfr-ret. Cheese I have made; chick
en- 1 have baked; pelonchillO, fresh from
Fotro lado (the other side of the river
Mexico); dulces (candies); and a little
just a httle-mescal. Is it not well, my
father?'
Trinidad Hernandez, sixty-fve years
old, wrinkled and black, with white hair
patting her arm affectionately, sand
1T is very well, my Nita," and eX-
plored the bag.
Il co. she said, bending down and
kissing the rim of his straw sombrero
ut is five miles to the ranch as thou
knowest."
rs the Senior Pomfr-ret at homer
Yes" with an arch smile.
rs he drunk?"
my father, the Senior is a sober man.
but that is long ago-so long ago.
She gestured by putting the slender tips
of her fingers together, then stretching
her arms as far as possible.
1.-The drunkenness will come back The
Senior is young and wealthy. These are
his lands, his sheep; am his herdsman.
He loves you, no? But peware!"
She tossed her pretty head and smiled
again. He has not said that he loves
me. Besides, he is not a good Catholic. .
Trinidad smiled sourly and brushed a
crumb from his gray moustache.
That" he said slowly, could be ar
ranged, and he is a great match-a great
match
A mile from the ranch-house, treading
lightly a goat-path, Nita heard the
steady beat of horses hoofs. Then the
rider swung into sight. He checkeds on
seeing her, dismounted slowly and wait
ed her coming. OF serious freckled face,
with reddish hair lightly built, hard,
Wiry and positive in manner Pomfret
was thirty years old. He was Yale
man who had buried himself and his
capital in the country of the lower Rio
Grande. The money was safe enough,
the sheep industry being a paying one,
and he liked loneliness. Save for oc-
caslonal trips to San Antonio he saw no
men of his own race. He learned to
speak the Mexican dialect Of Spanish
with fiuency, rode, shot and fshed, and.
in dull, british way, was contented
II not happy. He had hired old Herman
qez because he needed shepherd and
gus wife because he needed a cook He
had not thought especially of the girl
In little while he came to think onlv
of her.
In all his life Bob Pomfret had not
loved a woman. He had been unsociai
and secretive, an odd retiring youth at
college, an odd, retiring fellow after leav.
ing it. He had no faculty to acoIIira