Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-05-27


I - Y browning grass gave
8 s tlngc of sadness to th'
q 4 ) landscape, and the hum OF
TcE innumorabic insects whicl
had prolonged the summer months wei
into the fail were growing fainter Gnt
less rhythmic With the advancing sea
son. The crops had been sarncrcd ani
the approach OF frost brought no terror
to Tie farmers, but in some indescriba
bic way it affected the nerves Of the
lonely woman standing before her ruGc
shack gazing toward the setting sun
Somehow the autumn lad always
brought shade OF sadness into he!
life. Even hack in the old New Eng.
land days-Bcforc this horrible night
mare had transformed her life-shc had
experienced the same feeling Of dc.
preston.
81 guess it's because hate to sec
things dying" she explained TO her
self to stife back Il rising rebellion OF
sorrow. "Thc summer was short
enough back home, hut cat here lis
al tco short"
There was Il drcary. homcsick OK
preston in tic eyes, aid through the
struggling hair the bro-Zcd forehead
showed little marks of premature
wrinklins. Dorothy Wellington in her
girlhood days had been termed "eome-
ly." word which just fell short Of
calling he: good looking or handsome.
But with time ard experience her fca-
lures had grown larshci' and yet with
out blotting out certain sweet cx-
preston OF resignation. Eternal long
Ing for the impossible, however, cats
out the heart and ambition Of tho
strongest. and Dorothy was daily find
ing her burden more uncomfortable.
at isn't natural" she confessed TO
herself many times. I'D rather give
Up all and go back without a cent. l
could work ard make living. Not in
DEn6ary, but somewhere clsc-any-
where except here"
It was a strained and unnatural po-
nition for g young girl to find herself
IN, and nothing but strcng, stern
aense Of duty could hold her to the
bargain another day. 1t was not home
on the bleak Oklahoma plain. Tie
very quarter section Gil which they
sivedwas in dispute. The shack which
they had built for temporary quarters
might not be their own. Across the
"Gead line" there was another shack
q second blot on the landscape. TO one
or the other the quarter section be-
longed, but to which none could say.
The slow-moving courts would in time
decide, but for the present there was
only ali armed truce, and neither side
dared venture on the property Of the
other.
Jared Wellington had left Dunbary
in the East to cast his lot with the
early settlers of Oklahoma, ard When
tho rush began he had been the first
TO settle en- a desirable quarter section.
But while lie had been busy stalking
ont the section another had filed a
claim to the same piece OF land There
was q dispute which threatened 10
end in murder. hut Dorothy had been
che means Of qlieting the two combat
ants. They agreed to lot the courts
scttle the claim. ard meanwhile the
:wo owrers built or opposite sides OF
Gle "dead line" which they drew cx-
actly through the centre OF the quarter
Eection.
That was three months ago, ard in
Tic meantime Jared Wellington and
Eenry Egerton had nursed their wrath
In silence while they planted and gath
cred their first seasons crops. Each
bitterly envied the other the crops
which by right should belong to him.
With alert eyes and gun loaded for
active service. each watched the other,
determined to exact the full pound