Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1903-07-16
The b Danger
Line -
ByJRAnH1TTE Il. wALw0RTH
tcopyrisht. ~, 81 Dany story Isb. co.)

Copyright. isss. b Daily story Isb. Coz
A sa 5XIOU DESERVE the worst that
can befall, Drusilla Blake, but
it was never decreed that parents
should suffer for the folly of their
children. Your insane obstinacy
passes belief"
Il am very sorry, mother"
oh, Lord, what good does that do?
"a pleasant prospect ahead of me. To
be housed with a superior sort OF
crank with the Mississippi river slop-
ping over the front doorstep. It new
er has come any higher than that and
presume there is limit even to it's
powers for evil"
To which the girl replied nothing.
1t was inevitable that she and her
mother should share their watery
isolation with each other alone. All
of their neighbors had ''refugeed''
over in the hills or gone to the city
to be out of harms possible way.
Since that explosive sound had start
led her from her hard-won sense of
security. the girls brain had been
working very actively. She must ex-
ert every nerve to reducing the dis
aster to a minimum. Already the
larger portion of the live stock had
been sent back to the Mason hills.
But there were the cows and her
poultry to be housed in the gin
rooms. There was fuel to be stored,
and general preparations made for a
siege of uncertain duration. Four
short weeks ago escape had been pos
sible. She had put the chance away
from her, acting on a conviction of
duty from which nothing on earth
could make her swerve. She was not
given. to looking backward, but with
the frightful roar of that crevasse
making itself heard in the Stiffness
Of the soft spring morning, she al
most wished the chance might be
given her once more. x -
'That conscience of yours is always
getting in the way of your own COM
fort. I will be glad if it does no
worse this time," her mother snapped
querulously. ...s. $3.50. ..s. ...
Yes. it was certainly her conscience
that had made her say mo- instead
Of Eyes when Arthur ,Dennison had
asked her to marry him without any
feminine frippery'' and let him place
her and her mother in place Of
safety before returning to his ardu-
Gus duties as engineer in charge of
the levees along the whole front Of
one district. ..
Every fiber of her being had thrill
led with the glad affirma ton she
would not let her lips utter. She
would not let him burden himself SO
heavily because Of a generous i'm
pulse of pity. He does not know,
poor mother" the girl argued with
herself conscientiously. "After the
danger is over and we secure she
would make life unbearable for him
and he shall not come. to hate her
nor me either. will chance it with
her alone. Poor dear she is my bur
den, No one shall share her with
me-" @- s., -.-
: Which was the cruel reason why
she had looked up into the face dear
with that mendacity which only your
truly good woman is mistress Of:
II have known you such short while
Mr.. Dennison and I have never
thought of you in-in this light. It
would be great injustice to you TO
settle so vital a matter under the i'm
pulse of self-preservation."
Unprotesting he had given his hand
in farewell. There was. no time for
prolonged alliance. Lives and prop
erty were in his hand for preserva-
ton. He had smiled gravely down
into her sweet; troubled eyes as he
said:
II had hoped for a different answer,
dear, but should you see cause to re-
call your decision send for me. I
shall be found-well-a near
the danger line. am sorry I can
not be more explicit"
And conscience-up to that danger
flaught moment had sustained her.
She had done right. She reiterated
the words fercely to. herself. She
would do it all over again. Yes, she
would. 81 &.s
But all that had happened weeks
ago. And Dennison was-she knew
not where. What she did know was,
that, within few miles of them the
safest levee in the state" had Just
given way without a moments warn
ing and that she was alone with her
crippled mother in the old plantation
house so far away from neighbors or
help. Alone, but for the corps of in
capables who had remained on the
place when the hands had been en-
rolled to fight the common enemy un-
der Dennison's generalship. Her
hardest task would be managing her
mother. She assumed her gayest air
of confidence.
''The water never has come up into
the house, mother. Perhaps we
shan't lose anything but the violets
and the spring vegetables"
"What has been is no rule for the
Mississippi river. You have heard a