The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-04-30
SETTLING THE CLAIM.
By George E. Wash.


III 4 landscape; and the hum l,.,oi, of
had prolonged the summer months well
into the fall were growing fainter and
loss rhythmic with the advancing sea-
i son. The crops had been garnered and
1 the approach of frost brought ,,o terror
. IN the farmers. but I'm some indescriba-
ble way II affected the nerves of the
ionely woman standing before her rude
shack gazing toward the setting sun.
Somehow the autumn had always
brought n shade of sadness into her
life. Even back In the old New Eng
land days-before this horrible night
mare had transformed her llfe-she had
expericnccd the same feeling of de-
preston.
81 guess it's because I hate to see
things dying" she explained TO her.
self to stifc back a rising rebellion of
sorrow. "Thc summer was short
enough back home but out here it's
all too short"
There was dreary, homesick OK
preston in the eyes. and through the
struggling hair the bronZed forehead
showed little marks of premature
wrinkllng. Dorothy Wellington in her
girlhood days had been termed "come-
IT," word which just fell short of
calling her good looking or handsome.
But with time and experience her fea
lures had grown harsher and yet with
Dut botting out certain sweet eX-
preston of resignation. Eternal long
Ing for the impossible. however, eats
put the heart and ambition of the
strongest, and Dorothy was daily find
ing her burden more uncomfortable.
1T isn't natural" she confessed to
terself many times. 'Td rather give
mp all and go back without cent. l
could work and make living. Not in
where except here
1t was strained and unnatural po-
stlon for young girl to find herself
In. and nothing but a strong, stern
sense of duty could hold her to the
bargain another day. 1t was not home
on the bleak Oklahoma plain. The
very quarter section on which they
lived was in dispute. The shack which
they had built for temporary quarters
might not be their own. Across the
"dead line" there was another shack
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 an 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. and when
the rush began he had been the first
to settle on desirable quarter section.
But while he had been busy stalking
out the section another had filed
claim to the same piece of land. There
was n dispute which threatened to
end in murder, but Dorothy had been
the means of quleting the two combat
ants. They agreed to let the courts
settle the claim. and meanwhile the
two owners built on opposite sides of
the dead line" which they drew ex-
actly through the centre of the quarter
section.
That was three months ago. and in
the meantime Jared Wellington and
Henry 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
Had accident or sickness. forced either
over the dead line" the other would
unqucstiona have shot his enemy
In his tracks the moment he set foot on
his property.
Such were the bitter conditions under
which Dorothy had lived for three
months, hoping and praying that the
courts decision would shortly settle the
controversy. but. never did the law
seem to lag more eXasperatingly.
Autumn was changing the whole face
of the landscape and winter was ap-
preaching with its long period OF
gloomy weather, but the dead line"
and the Egerton shack in the distance.
continued to make life for Dorothy and
her father bitter and disagreeable.
Jared Wellington was as hard and
set in his ways as the New England
granite hills among which he had been
reared. and Dorothy knew his nature
too well to attempt to induce him 10
compromise with his lonely neighbor
Lonely Henry Egerton appeared to be
In his shack, for neither wife, mother
nor child appeared around his home.
DAILY he had toiled in the fields all
summer, returning to his rude home at
night time TO prepare his own supper,
ana smoke quietly and solitarily near
the door Of his shack until the moon
was darkcned by the blood-red horizon.
Dorothy had watched these orderly
proceedings from her quiet retreat.
oiten wondering at the mans lonely
liie, and in her tender heart half pity
Ing him.
lie was young and not hard-looking.
as she remembered him on that event
tul day when she had interposed TO
save both from possible tragedy.
but after all 1t had been a fieetlng
glimpse of the flushed face and eyes
burning with anger and determine tion.
Those We're exciting days when man
forgot his thin veneer of civiliza tion
ana displayed his savage origin. The