The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-06-06
BY BATTERMAN.LINDsAY.



z,igh-schooI football team. 1t per
college days, when both inevitabl,
wished to be class president, AM
always wanted to dance the sam,
dances with the same girl. On thu
one hand the rivalry was conducted
openly with a good-natured accept
.ance of occasional defeat; tn,
other side proceeded on the prin
ciple that alPs fair in love and war
and a residium of bitterness Away.
remained in the heart after a check
innate.
On leaving college their ways par
ted, and it was half a decade before
they met again. Neither of then
:, had yet reached the goal which
seemed so fairly within kicking dis
Lauce on commencement day; one
was riding the range for his uncle
and the other was section-boss on o
stretch of desert railroad, when to
their mutual surprise they rubbed
shoulders before the cigar counter
AN Harvey Benefits Drug, Notion
aao Ily uOouS III Dull
War was declared again on the in
,6fant, even while they were clapping
one another on the shoulder and re-
calling ancient friendship; for be.
hind the cigar-counter stood lima
Anderson.
CHANGING at lima casually, you
might not have thought her remark
able; you would probably have dis
missed her from your mind as a
pretty Americanized Swede, with
perhaps a somewhat superfltous
allowance of the rosy tinting and
unguenchable coquetry of her sis
1ers- But to begin with, she was
not a Swede, but Dane; and when
she should once have lifted her long
flashes and looked you full in the
face with her clear, gray eyes, you
would have gone up with the rest
and bought fne-cut and dropped
znickles in the slot as long as your
small change held out.
By virtue of his occupation, the
section-boss was able to see much
more of lima than was his rival, the
cowboy; but to even things uE
whenever Brownlee was in town
lima bestowed all her spare time
and the greater proportion. of her
smiles upon him, because she is
only going to be here such little
while, you know" she would naively
say to McNair.
In the course of a few months
things had come to such a pass
that all other pretenders tactily
withdrew from the contest, and the
running was left to the ex-colleg-
.ians, neither of whom, as matter
thing so serious as matrimony
lima did not. suspect this, for it was
aone of her most dangerous charms
that she took all love-making quite
seriously. In her simplicity she
supposed that 81 love you" was
equivalent to ''Will you marry me?'
and this assumption lent her &
eonfidingness-one might even say q
reciprocity-of manner that was one
of her most fetching qualities.
Both young men had set theil
minds on taking the girl to the
Fourth of July ball, but Nelson
Brownlee got his invitation in first
and was, of course, accepted
equally, of course, he could not re
frain from haunting his rival at the
first opportunity.
Cali right" said McNair, ''but II
bet you don't take her, all the same
"What1l you bet?"
Anything you like" cried George
tWell," Brownlee replied, deliber
@ately, "the loser quits"
''Good enough!" agreed McNair.
On the evening of the third o.
July, McNair went to lima and said
It makes me sick to think o.
you standing here all day tomorrow
and taking cheek from every
drunken brakeman and cowboy il
Uhcompaghre county. You dom
have to! Make Harvey give you +;
day off and We'll drive down to the
ranch and spend the day with your
folks. Be ready to start by five, ant
we can get there before it's too hot
Oh, I'll have you back here in plenty
of time to dress for the dance; yo,
needn't be afraid of that. I've go
a girl of my own. You're not TIT
only persimmon on the tree. There
are Others"
So it was when Nelson Brownie,
rode into town the next morning
and went around to look in on lima
he found instead a mad storekeeper
and a note from the girl assuring
him that she would be back in am
pie time for the ball. He knew
however, that she would not be back
lima and McNair spent pleasan
day with her people down on tn
Goshute river, and between thre,
and four o'clock started on their re
turn to Bod, thirty miles away
Georges livery team logged alons
over the barren plain at a ten-mil,
gait, with but little to break the mo
notony of their environment excep
their own long, oblique shadows ac
complaining them on their RICH
hand. The crunch of the wheels il