Wallowa chieftain. [volume] (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909, 1902-02-06
PRIVATE LANGFIELD.


0R9 HEN the men of the service
WhW left Valdez to build the mill
tary lines through the interior
of Alaska, Langfield went with them.
lie was undeniably plain undersized
and over sensitive, and that was why
lie felt certain that Dolly could never
love him. To be sure he had had no
intention of loving her, but when six
feet two of well-developed manhood,
in the person of Tom Perry, came down
from Circle City prospecting, Langtield
found intentions and love had nothing
TO do with each other.
Tom and Dolly had known each other
in the States, and Langfeld watched
with hopeless pain the renewal of their
friendship. She had grown shy with
him since Perry came and there could
be but one reason, he argued. He did
not blame her; there was nothing in
him to inspire a wOmans love, and
Tom. So he packed his flute and
his knapsack and left with scarcely Il
farewell
The men were not fond of Langtield.
He had way of shrinking into him
self that only Shivers, the camp mas
cot, lank, mongrel Siwash with the
stump of tail, understood.
Langtield seldom joined the camp
M fires, but when the fever broke out
Langfield was the first to offer his SER
vices He was not afraid of contagion,
he told the sergeant and anyway there
was no one ut home who needed him.
After that he and Shivers took up their
quarters in the hospital tent
M The fever had its run, but only one,
thanks to the nursing, was borne up
the trail and laid away under the snow,
Langfield planed piece of spruce
scantlng and drove it in by the mound,
81 but his hand was unsteady, and his
eyes We're heavy and dull.
The top sergeant on his rounds the
M next morning, found him sitting up in
his blankets. His face was swollen
and discolored. and he was talking eX-
citedly to Shivers.
You mustn't let Dolly get the fever
M he said, shes so little. Nor Tom
promise me you won't let Tom" Shiv
ers whined and thrust his muzzle into
his masters palm. ''She couldn't help
fensively you know she couldn't
yOurselfw He fell back on the pillow
and tossed restlessly for a moment.
It'll be cool up there under the snow"
he begaa again, land | won't be heavy
TO pack And say" He sat up, pull
ing the dog close to him, maybe she'll
forget-that my hair was-red."
The men were very tender to Lang
field after that and Shivers seldom left
his bedside.
& When, some weeks later, he became
convalescent, he seemed smaller and
sighter than ever, and his hair shone
more vividly red against the pinched,
white face. They carried him out into
the sunshine, but his eyes wandered
81 regretfully up to the snow.
In month ne was at his post again,
q doing the work of two men, with
scarcely the strength of one.
He went down the mountain one
night an hour behind time. The trail
was slushy, and the early gray twi-
light lent a soft indistinctness every
where. Suddenly he paused. From
4 somewhere there came faint cry,
human.
Langfeld made trumpet of his
hands. "He-lo" he shouted, and
strained his ears for the reply.
Some ten feet down the trail a gla-
cier sire, 70 had quilted out the bank.
Its icy, shte-colored waters fell almost
perpendicularly over the rocks Creep
ing to the slippery edge, he peered over
and called again. A faint voice an
swered
A steep, shelving path was just Wis
ible, and he cambered down to it.
scratched and torn by the brambles at
every step. A little further ON a roll
of blankets impeded his way, and he
knew that somewhere in the ravne be
low he would find prospector.
The man proved to be a big fellow
hut the light was too dim to see his
face The force of his fall had wedged
one leg between the crevices of rock
and it took Langfeld's entire strength
to eXtricate him. He pressed his can
teen to he strangers lips, and rubbed
him vigorously.
Its no use" said tho man at last
81 can't make it" and sank Imply
on the bank.
The night wore on. Slowly the gray
skirts of dawn swept across the east
ern sky The prospector could not see
Langfield's face. but the slight, droop
ing shoulders seemed familiar The
pain was growing unbearable, and he
grOaned.
4 ggO