Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1902-02-22

you. 1 love everything here-those
distant bleak barren hills, the great
wide valley, the sage brush, the cactus.
the toads, the range cattle, the ponies.
and-everything that goes to make up
this boundleSs western country And.
above and beyond all else, l love you
You are wonderful picture in won
derful frame. l could not separate
you from the country, nor the country
from you. Would l love it with you
out of it? 1 cannot say. 1 can't mag
inc 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 friends?'
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 I was Just
imagining you among my friends BACK
east. It-seems SO funny.
He colored under the heavy tan coat
ing his handsome face and pulled his
sombrero down more closely over lis
eyes.
l.
wild man of Borneo-that you would
hesitate to introduce me to your
friends?s
Yes, 1 would hesitate, for it would
set all the girls docking to the west
in search of other wild men of Borneo.
and there are no others-none half SO
dear as my wild man. Careful there.
Vixon, careful. careful. Oh, see Guth-
RE, rattle snake." The pony had
SHE'D to one side and trembled from
head to foot.
Quick as a flash Guthrie BlaloGk
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 ratt}es, 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. Cnder
Guthrie Blalock's tutorage she had de-
veloped into a true daughter of the
plains with marvellous rapidity- The
day she stepped off the train after
long journey from the east, and flew
into her brothers arms, every cattle
station began nourishing secret hope
in his own breast. Such a slight, will
lowy figure, such a bright witching
face. such merry blue eyes, and such
silvery, contagious laugh, all bound up
in one young woman, could not fail to
produce a sensation, especially where
women were as rare as a cloud in The
perpetual blue of the sky over head.
Every man in the country suddenly
developed desire to do business with
Bob 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.
Its funny, Genie" Bob said to his
sister, with twinkle in his eye, what
a capitalist these men take me for.
Perhaps they think you brought gold
west 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 real
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 a paper, Introduce
me to that handsome man"
He's not like the others, Genie: he
doesn't care a rap about women
would probably be rude to you
L don't care. Introduce me- she
commanded, and he obeyed
Guthrie had been merely polite, ed
avoided her, had shown for her no ad-
miration. Straightway he became the
only man in the whole country for
whose attention she cared a fig. And
the inevitable happening, she had at
last won him-more completely than
she realized. They were constantly to-