The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-26
THE ADVERTISERS DAILY SHORT STORY

sss = sss = sS@T@S@s Down the valley through which the creek wandered rolled the sound of the conch s.toutly blown. It clambered up shook the leaves of the huisaehe trees. Little brown rabbits in thousands crouched quivering under its raucous bellowinss. yultures high in air paused from its midday bed and bounded to- ward thicker chaparral; a 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: Eattlesnake threw itself into coll and gave its chivalrous rfsd to covert. A hot sun shone from turquoise sky and the constant wind of the southwest whispered dryly
 The girl stood upon the si1e of hill tn an open space. carpcted with grass green in the fresh greennCss of spring. The rude shell was at her lips and her 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 against the foliage behind her. Her eyes were long. tender and black, calm, un- troubled. inexperienced eyes. which said that life was new to her. Under her dark cheeks the blood showed duly Her lips were crimson and1curved in a Cupids g bow, parting in ready smile to show a jetty hair was above the broad. low forehead. The ears were small, the hands small, the feet small. She had a certain delicate innocence and spirituality not uncommon with women of her race until labor and exposure have coarsened them. She was beautiful with the dark, passionate beauty of the the South-a Ia sm4tn, n,,, but which would blaze some day.
 No answer came in response to her signal, and she frowned prettily. sweep {DO ha ter-mile away she saw waving of the frondage and the front of a herd of sheep to the water A moment afterward the shepherd came in sight, saw her and waved his arm. putting aside heavy blanket to do so. Then she called clear
 iPadre! Padre mIo!'
 She stopped, swung lightly up a sack heavy with provisions and went lightly to meet tine I1an. He sat quietly on the grass, 1t being against his blood and ti aiming to stand a moment longer than was necessary. ,, him, meal. coffee, bacon from the Senor Pomfr-ret. Cheese have made; a chick en I have baked; pelonchilo. fresh from Totro 1ado (the other, side of the river Mexico): dulces> (candles); and little just little-mescal It Is not well, my father:"
 old, wrinkled and black, with white hair, batting her arm affectionately, said Tt Is very we'll by Nita," and explored the
 T go,'' she said.- bending down and kissing the rim of his straw sombrero Ut Is five miles to the ranch as thou knowest."
 Yes" with an arch smile.
 "My father, the Senor Is a sober man.
 "Put 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.
 "The drunkenness will come back. The Senor is young and wealthy. These are his lands, his sheep;; 1 am his herds-- man. He loves you. no? But beware?"
 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 cr"m1 That" ,"0 he Hs said slowly. could be ar ranged. and he is a great match-a great match
 lightly goat-path, Nita heard the steady beat of horses hoofs. Then the rider swung into sight He checked on seeing her. dismounted slowly and waited her reddish hair. lightly built, hard, wiry and positive in manner, Pomfret was 20 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 paying one, and he liked
 
 San Antonio, he saw no men of his own race He 'Ieafned to speak the Mexican dialect of Spanish with fiuency, rode. shot and fshed, and, in a dull, british had hired old Hernandez because he needed a shepherd and his wife because he needed cook He had not thought he came to think only of her.
 In all his life Bob Pomfret had not loved a woman. He had been unsOcal n n16 ri a college, an odd. retiring fellow after leav- ing 1t. He had no faculty to acquire frierds. He did not cars to make ac- quaintances. He was an orphan and in- fcrited wealth. To say truth he was something of a bo0r and it was his boor- ishness which led him into the semi- who goes most wildly off his center ln- der the centrinetal driving of lovc.
 He fought th4 passion with argument and resolve. He told himself truly that the the girl was a child in years, basely b,rn, illteratc, of different blood and beliefs. unsuited to him in every way. He determined to discharge her father, and this resulted in raising. his wages; He determined to absent himself until cured. and this resulted in his returning to the ranch within a week. He tried tried uduor and that made matters V orse. He asked himself If he was pre- pared to spend his ffe in mesquite-land, the husband of that sort of woman- he had seen Mexican-married women older than twenty-fve-and he laughed ss1,agely at the notion. II never occurred fa him that the girl could be his and stilI not be his wife. for there was q strong New England morality in him. not to sneak of the fact that she was pro- tccted thoroughly by her religion. He could not check the growth of his ab- sorbing desire for her; he would not admit that he wished to marry her; so ba driftcd. Let it be said that she un- d.rstood the status thurOughly. A maid on uf sixteen may be unlettered. but that does not take the woman out of her.
 Pnmfret, with the bridle over his arm, waited for her to approach. She hung ES. t.nad cnulv and clasned her hand5