Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1903-01-17

{ WOLF RANCH 8
8


~
Edward Bleecker of New York city
went TO Colorado on a hunting trip. He
put mp at Wolf Ranch. a picturesque
place on southern mountain slope.
Blocker was 90 years old, good look.
ing and wealthy. or his character
New York acquaintance caustically
said to group Of club fellows
"Bleecker's principle is all in the
bank"
Edward Blocker with his guide
hunted In the mountains back of Wolf
Ranch. and whipped every mountain
side stream within thirty miles with
his line and leader to take the gamey
trout. He mad been n month at Wolf
Ranch, and yet he fingered. It was
old Dad Perkins's ranch and Dad had
an only and pretty daughter. Phoebe
who was tust turning twenty. There
weren't any flowers to be found in the
sunny spots in the mountains that
We're prettier than Phoebe Perkins,
and she was as shy and as retiring as
any blossom hidden away among the
mountain Businesses.
The big handsome New Yorker,
with his city-bred airs. was a revela.
ton TO Phoebe Perkins. Blocker
knew that he had made an impression
on the heart Of this mountain maiden.
and Blocker was glad of II. He was
out for sport and here was game Of
the kind of which he had no thought
when he had left the railroad station
behind him. He talked books and
poetry and all sorts of things that
made the girl believe he was of a diff.
ferent mold than the rough ranchmen
around her. Blocker played his hand
well. He held trump cards and he
felt that the odd was his. though the
honor might go by default.
Old Dad Perkins smoked his pipe
and was unsuspicious. Blocker and
Phoebe would stroll through the twi.
light. and he would talk ever and again
about the delights of the life in the
great cities beyond the mountains
wall. The pulse of Phoebe Perkins
stirred at the sound of his subtle
voice.
On Wolf Ranch. employed as a
sheep herder. was young fellow nam
ed George Wilson. He was an litter
ate man. The reading of books was to
him an unknown quantity, but he could
read nature, and her page is broader
and fairer than that of any book which
ever came from the press. Not only
could George Wilson read nature as
she spread her lesson on plain and
mountain side, but he could read ma.
ture in man-human nature, or inhu'
man nature, as you will. This sheep
herder for more than year had in his
own way loved Phoebe Perkins. He
loved her as he loved the stars that
glittered above him, while he kept his
vigil by the fold knowing full well
that while he loved the girl, like the
star, she was far above his reach. He
had seen more than anyone else on
that ranch of Edward Bleeckers atten.
ton to Phoebe, and more than anyone
else on that ranch he felt that he knew
the purport of these attentions.
George Wilson's heart was hot with
in him. He alternated with another
herder his nights on duty with the
sheep fold When not on guard he
stayed at the great ranch house.
Blocker and Phoebe sometimes sat
under the great reaching roof of the
ranch porch after the sun had gone
below the mountain and the forbidding
shadows filled the valley. Wilson, or
dinarily silent. had now for a week
past been making little advances to-
ward a closer acquaintance with
Blocker. He had volunteered on one
occasion to guide him on a hunting trip