The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1903-03-14


clothing, surmounted by a shock OF
light-brown hair. The pair of inno-
cent eyes looking up at her suddenly
CLEANED with a newborn happiness.
"Muzzerl Muzzer. Use found you
at last. Where's you been so long?
Baby's been cryin' an cryin' fur you.
Hug baby, an tell him you'll nebber,
nebber leave him again"
A pair of arms were raised be-
seechingly upward. Dorothy picked
the little child up in her arms and
Rugged and kissed IL. The longing in
her heart for some one TO love and
speak TO was almost too much, and
she broke into violent sobbing. The
child cuddled close 10 her and said:
Don't cry, muzzer, fur won't leave
you ag'in. Use goin' to stay forebber
an ebber with you"
The hands, chubby and warm,
strol1ed the hair of the weeping wo-
man. Dorothy raised her eyes to
look at the little face pressed to
hers, and then she started. A dozen
feet away stood Henry Egerton, an
expression of confusion and uncer-
tainty on his face.
lie raised his hat and said:
pardon me, I've come for Virginia.
She ran away, and l could not catch
her until she crossed-crossed over
here"
Dorothy still held the child in her
arms, and Virginia suddenly ex-
claimed:
use found muzzer I'ze found
muzzer, Uncl' Hen'y. Here she is"
The face of the man worked
strangely. A softening Of the firm
outlines made him look tender and
sympathetic.
poor Virginia lost her mother a
week ago" he murmured, and she
has come to live with me. / could
not bear 10 tell her the truth. But /
suppose / was wrong. Come, Nir-
ginia, come with Uncle Henry"
"Not unless muzzer comes too"
pleaded the child.
The embarrassment Of the man in.
creased. Dorothy, understanding the
position of the two, suddenly raised
her eyes from tho shock of brown
hair and said quickly:
Leave the child with me short
time. She is happy, and IL need
some one"
There was a break in her voice, but
she continued with more self-control:
but l must go away for a doctor.
Father is very sick, and he needs
help and medicine"
Henry Egerton had been thinking
of the picture the two made framed
in the doorway, and he started at the
mention of her father. Then, APP
parently without thinking, he said:
"I'll go for the doctor if you'll keep
Virginia until l return. I'll be back
soon"
lie strobe away rapidly without
CHANGING again at the picture, which
somehow had strangely affected him,
and within ten minutes he was riding
fercely toward Oklahoma City. Dur
ing the ten miles he hardly saw ar
object on the landscape, and when
he returned in company with the
physician he was quiet and taciturn.
Virginia and Dorothy were not in
the doorway To greet him on his re-
turn, but unmindful of the fued be-
! tween the two families, he strobe
into the small shack behind the ply
stefan. Then, while that individual
examined his patient. he waited pa
tiently at the foot OF the rude bed.
furtively watching two faces which
seemed inseparably associated to-
gether.
Jared Wellington was n long time
in bed, and the fever wasted him to a
skeleton. Nature had robbed him OF
the power and strength to protect
his shack from the approach Of the
enemy. But before his complete re-
coyery the dead line" had been OBJ
| liberated. The little footsteps of Vir-
gnia had worn smooth path across
| il from shack TO shack, and often
Henry Egerton followed after his
tiny niece, "to go an see muzzer."
| Somehow there was as much attrac-
ton for him as for the innocent child,
who had found in it's bereavement
another who quickly healed the
wound.
Then one day Henry Egerton
walked 20 the old shack with lines
drawn tighter around his mouth, and
with eyes hardened to bear a new
burden. The decision Of the courts
in their respective claims had been
handed down. The ownership of the
valuable quarter-section was decided
forever. Beyond the hearing OF the
convalescent man, who sat in the sun
in the doorway, Egerton told the
news 10 Dorothy. Under the blunt
announcement she paled and flushed
by turns. Then pity for the drawn
face before her made her exclaim:
"Oh, I'm sorry for you, Mr.. Eyer
ton. ! think you should own half"
mo, il was all or none. Now the
courts have decided IL all belongs Go
your father. I'm an interloper, and
must leave at once. You have the
right 10 order me off before night"
"But | won't do il, Mr.. Egerton,
i n ....itaI nth :. h,svbf 10