Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1902-08-20
IN THE SUGAR BUSH
fCopyrisht. 1902. by the S. S Mcclure
CO.nDanv.l


to empty tlr brnlning troughs Of sap
and convey them IL the barrels at the
Gre it all came back to him SO forcibly
that lie seemed to Ee working in
dream. He had known Nellie Tomp-
kins since childhood. The two farm
houses stood close together, and the
children had been Zeb and Nell to each
other until he had become his fathers
"hircd man" and She had put on long
dresses. Ieb had never escorted amy
other Girl to the circus, to a picnic, to
camp mc~tiu@. t. Il harvest dance or
corn sH#el1inG. and Nell had never en-
I'D as5s'=s-.Aer Hosng man.
The old foi.a =, liked uoon ii as a
matter Of course tl.>t lho 5s,a.:s couple
would get married i! 15}." time. 1t
WAS only after The girI had been sent
away to school and her letters to Heb
had been few and far between that he
awoke to the fear of losing her.
Nell Tompkins at eighteen was
good looking. attractive girl, and Zeb
realized that education and society
would improve her still more. Other
young men would be attracted, and he
would stand no show.
AS Zeb reached the camp and emp
/ tied his buckets of sap into the bar
res he fingered and thought Of more
-ecent sorrUWs. Nell Tompkins had
returned from school two weeks be-
fore on d vacation. He had hasteued
over 10 the farmhouse in his working
| oIo+ ~ nd rAlai " Ehp
| had been shocked. There Was no
warmth in ncr handshake. 10 love IN
her eyes. Even when he reappeared
night or two later III his Sunday best
she had called him MI. Taylor and had
refused to remember how he had car
red her on his back over mudholes
and boosted her over fences. y change
had come to blast all his hopes, and
on his road home he made up his MIND
to face it like a man.
While he mended the line fence be-
tween the two farms next morning be
raised his voice in song so that Nell
Tompkins might realize that he was
not taking her conduct to heart, but
his voice sounded like Il crows. When
he met Farmer Tompkins, he made
great pretense of being jolly, and be
started report that he was stuck
on Abigail Spooner and almost in love
with Hctty Gable. He also kept away
from the Tompkins farmhouse, and II
any one asked him for news OF Nell
| it appeared to take him all Of thirty
seconds to recall her name.
Thus Zeb Taylor had tried to make
himself believe that he was getting the
! best of it.
Night had come in the sugar bush.
Zeb had eaten cold supper While the
sap in the pan boiled and foamed and
later on had cut up the wood to be
used through the hours of darkness.
Then he sat down on log to smoke
and figure out how many pals OF sfrup
would be the result of that run OF sap.
He intended to follow the sirup to the
sugar or process and count up the
pounds of sugar, but his thoughts in
sensiblv arfted away to Nell Tomp-
kins, and for a long ten minutes he
was obiyi0us of his surroundings,
Then he was suddenly called to life by
the ho0t Of an owl. He could have
suppressed the cold shiyers inside OF
two minutes had not the hOot of the
bird been followed by the scream Of
woman The sugar bush was mile
away from any house. and the voice of
a woman in the dark woods weakened
Zeb's knees and brought his heart into
his throat He was shaking with
alarm when the owl hooted again, a
boot full of the direst peril, and again
it was followed by the scream OF Wo-
man whose life was menaced. Zeb
stopped only to grab up club, ana
:hen he made rush into the darkness.
He had only fifty feet to go before dis
covering Melt Tompkns leaning up
against the trunk of a tree.
"You-you herew gasped Zeb as be
came to a halt.
"Y yes, and, oh, Zeb, the bear-the
bear!" she exclaimed as she held out
her arms to him.
.'What bear? Where? When?"
"He's just roared out twice, and you
--you'-
"Yes, heard him roar, but don't you
be afraid" said Zeb as he put his arm
around her and gently walked her to
the fire The arm still encircled her as
they sat down on the log together, and
he asked:
"Nell, did you start for anywhere
and get lost"
IL don't know" she half sobbed
81 heard YOU We're making sugar down
here all alone and that you were going
to sugar oil tonight"
Not quite SO soon.
"And ! thought-thought'-