Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1903-11-25
Merton'd give you good wages, you

ton spoke about it, but / must CO."
answered Rossiter, holding out his
hand.
well, you'll come next year?"
said Parmelee, giving him a hearty
grip. "I'll keep a place for you, if
you say SOL
81 can't promis. - Rossiter replied.
Thanks just the same"
Parmelee waite led Rossiter stride
out of the gate a nd take the Hinton
vile road.
There's chap I can't make out"
he muttered as he walked towards
the house.
Rossiter recalled that half way to
Hintonville there was highway
branching towards the west. When
lie reached this he took it without
hesitation. He had no intention of
trying to catch the train, but had
spoken of doing so as a plausible ex-
cuse for his hasty departure. Plans
he had none, needed none. He was
to drift again, waif, vagrant, a
common vagabond. Now nothing
mattered. Money he had, more than
y
what special avail was it? In the
life to which he was returning he
could manage quite as easily with
out it. He trudged on steadily, his
mind a babel of emotions. One by
one he reviewed the scenes of his
hop-yard life, in which Miss Dens-
more always appeared as the central
figure, but chiefly he dwelt upon his
return to consciousness after the en-
counter in the dip of the Blue Creek
Road. 1t must have been pity not
love that he had seen in Miss Dens-
more's eyes as she had bent above
him. Yes, it must have been that,
and yet the look haunted him. and
continued to do so.
By and by he found himself near
ing the valley of the Oskenonto. AS
he halted an instant before seeking
the lower level, fierce pulsating
flame leaped up into the hollow of
the night, and he knew that he was
not far from the blast furnace of
| Harkana. Descending, he chose q
road that led him past the faring
stacks, and paused to watch the fiery
waves of molten iron pour into the
moulds of sand. He crossed the fur
| mace slag-heaps, hideous even in the
| starlight, and beyond the Oskenonto
and the abandoned Susquenango ca
nal found highway ascending into
| the hills. Whittier it wound he had
no notion, and naught did he care.
The hills appealed to him. He. would
| GO up among them as high as might
be, and so he struck into this road.
FOR n time he assembled gradually,
IL it became stony and steep. Be-
nd him, from time to time, the
| stacks of the furnace shot streamers
of red and blue and orange into the
night, illumining briefly and weirdly
the heaven and the earth. Occasion
| ally a cloud would reflect the glow
after the flame had died, mock sun
| rise or sunset. Towards midnight,
when he had won high among the
| uplands, the moon rose, crumbling
segment of pale gold.
! Rossiter was now weary, and pres
emily a straw-stack in a field adjoin-
ing the highway suggested a desir-
| able place of rest. He scaled the
fence and approached the stack, be-
coming conscious, as he did so. of the
sound of heavy breathing. Some
one, it was evident, had already
availed himself of free nights lodg-
ing. Rossiter hesitated an instant
and then went forward. Doubtless
there would be plenty of accommoda-
ton for two. On the eastern side of
the stack, revealed distinctly by the
moonlight, was the huddled body of
a man. There could be no harm,
Rossiter thought. in having a closer
| glance at his fellow-lodger. He adj
vanced cautiously a few PAGES and
peered down, to start back In amaze.
ment and dismay, for he had gazed
upon the repulsive face OF ''Whis,
kers.''
Swiftly and silently he retraced his
steps to the road, his mind swept by
a powerful reaction. Voluntarily ne
had returned to the level of this de-
testable creature, had allowed the
first disappointment to overthrow
every firm resolve of the past weeks
and had gone miserably down once
more into the very slough of degen
eracy. Out of the realization of hi:
instability, the overwhelming sens,
of his bitter shame, by some strange
and sudden revulsion his spirit ros.
triumphant. He bowed his head
With Gods help" he said, cit i.
the last time!"
He strobe downward towards tn,
valley, and a mile from the straw
stack found sleeping place in