The Brunswick daily news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1903-1906, 1903-05-31
SETTLING
By CeT

4 landscape, and the hum OF
TC{ innumerable insects which
had prolonged the summer months wei
into the fall were growing fainter anG
less rhythmic with the advancing sea
son. The crops had been garnered and
the approach Of frost brought no terror
to the farmers. but in some indescriba
BILE way It affected the nerves of the
lonely woman standing before her rude
shack gazing toward the setting sun
Somehow the autumn had always
brought a shade of sadness into hel
| life. Even back in the old New Eng
land days-before this horrible night
mare had transformed her life-she hat
experienced the same feeling of de
preston.
II guess it's because / hate to sec
things dying" she explained to her
self to stifie back rising rebellion Of
sorrow. 1.-THE summer was short
enough back home, but out here it's
all too short"
There was dreary, homesick ex
preston in the eyes, and through the
struggling hair the bronzed forehead
showed little marks of premature
wrinkling. Dorothy Wellington in hel
girlhood days had been termed come
w." 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
out plotting out a certain sweet ex
preston of resignation. Eternal long
ing for the impossible, however, eats
out the heart and ambition of the
strongest, and Dorothy was daily find
ing her burden more uncomfortable.
at isn't natural. she confessed tc
herself many times. I'D rather give
up all and go back without q cent.
could work and make living Not in
Dunbary, but somewhere else-any-
where except here"
1t was strained and unnatural po
stion for young girl to find herself
In, and nothing but a strong, sterr
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
a 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 wher
the rush began he had been the frs
to settle on desirable quarter section
But while he had been busy stalking
out the section another had filed 6
claim to the same piece of land. There
was a dispute which threatened t.
end in murder, but Dorothy had been
the means of quieting 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 il
the meantime Jared wellington anG
Henry Egerton had nursed their WRATH
in silence while they planted and gath
cred their first seasons crops. Eacl
bitterly envied the other the crop:
which by right should belong to him
With alert eyes and gun loaded fol
active service, each watched the other
determined to exact the full pound
of flesh demanded in the agreement
Had accident or sickness forced either
over the dead line" the other would
unquestionably have shot his enemy
in his tracks the moment he set foot Or
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 thu
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 an6
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 tc
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 al
night time to prepare his own supper
and smoke quietly and solidarity neal
the door of his shack until the moon
was darkened by the blood-red horizon
Dorothy had watched these orderly
proceedings from her quiet retreat
often wondering at the mans lonely
life, and in her tender heart half pity.
ing him.
He was young and not hard-looking,
as she remembered him on that event.
full day when she had interposed to
save both from possible tragedy
But after all it had been a fieetlng
glimpse of the flushed face and eyes
burning with anger and determination.
Those were exciting days when man
forgot his thin veneer of civilization
and displayed his savage origin. The
wild rush across the promised line, the
fights and struggles to gain possession
of the best quarter sections, the fear
and lamentations of those who had
failed and the auflll intonSitr- Of tho