The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-08-11
IN APEX
CANYON
By WILLIAM
MACLEOD RAINE
Copyright. isos. bv T. C. Mcclure

After Huntly had got his sister
aboard the Rocky Mountain Limited
and comfortably settled In her section
he looked about to see IL by any
chance there were any OF his friends
aboard to whom he might confide the
care of his sister for the journey from
Chicago to Denver. His eye fell ON
Maddox-big Jim Maddox of Cripple
Greek and Seattle and Los Angeles. a
mining argonaut who knew his west
as a Boston girl does her Henry James.
A moment later Maddox's big fist
was squeezing the blood out of the
clubman's limp hand
BY thunder. Huntly. but I'm glad
to see you Let me see-last time I
saw you was on the dump OF the Mol
lie h, out in Gods country. Member
the day | drove you up Son-of-a-Gun
hill and sold you 5000 shares In the
James G. Blaine? We saw weather,
that day, young man. The blizzard
sure did hit US on the way home. You
on the way out there nowT
Huntly rescued a paralyzed hand be-
fore he ventured on explanations. NO.
I'm seeing my sister started. She has
not been well. and the doctors have or
dered a complete change. We're send
| ing her to Denver. Ii was the original
plan that l should go with her. but /
received a telegram this morning that
the senior partner OF our firm has died
suddenly. and II is imperative that I
1 should leave for New York at once.
Would IL be asking too much Of you
| to see that she doesn't get too lone
some and that she makes connections
| with my aunt at DenverT'
"Well. / guess not. That's what I'm
here for-to help out my friends when
they need me. But I'm not much of a
/ lady's man. Miss Huntly will have to
take me in the rough"
Now, big hearted. breezy Jim Mad
dox was the very man to cheer home
| sick girl who was travelling in search
| of health He was as full Of good spir-
its and wholesome energy as q Fourth
of July is of noise. He had In his va
red past experiences enough back Of
him to beggar romance, and he had the
gift Of breezy narration as few men
have it. To be sure, he didn't know
anything about young college graduates
from Bryn Mawr. but as soon as he had
seen Miss Huntly he was more than
willing to learn.
| Helen Huntly accepted the introduc-
/ ton with outward reserve and with in
| ward doubt. She was tired, and she
| did not want to have to smile and look
/ pleasant to this big. awkward man for
/ two whole days. But Maddox did not
know Of the existence of either the
i doubt or the reserve. II he had, II
wouldn't have mattered. His big brown
hand came out and buried the little
white one, and somehow the girl found
herself less lonely when she looked in
to the honest. smiling. blue eyed face
Of this tanned stranger.
Before they had reached Rock Island
she was congratulating herself ON the
good fortune that had made him her
ira yelling companion. He was the most
interesting man on her list. she decided.
More strange adventures had fallen to
his lot than to a dozen average men.
He told his experiences quite simply
and because she was interested In hear.
ing them. not at all because he wal
II
gathered into his personality the free
dom and the breadth Of about q dozen
of the mountain states. He wasn't
coarse In the least, but he was as un-
conventional as a Kansas cyclone In &C.
ton He trampled unconsciously on
her New England traditions with a Wig
or that would have shocked II II had
not amused her. They simply did moi
! exist for him; that was ALL
The emotions OF Jim Maddox wers
not a bit complex. When after two
happy days he said goodby at the Un
ion depot In Denver. where Miss Hunt
ly's aunt met her. he had already made
up his mind to marry her or know thu
reason why. As he phrased II to him
self:
You've struck the best vein Of or,
you ever unearthed. Jim Maddox, anS
J | II you don't follow IL up you're the big
gest fool in Arapahoe county"
He certainly followed II up. and L
his mines at Cripple Greek required
any great amount Of personal attention
/ during the next three weeks the!
must have suffered. for their owne
openly and patiently made 1t the bust
ness Of his life to WOO Miss Huntly
He organized picnics and excursion
galore. and he always contrived to b
the man who was paired on with her
Finally he induced party Of the eide
Miss Huntly's choosing to go camping
I'm the mountains near q new mine b
was developing.
hi As to Miss Huntly. Jr.. her feeling
were as q house arrayed against itself
She found herself falling into create
liking than she cared to admit for thi
free and easy blond Hercules. and tn
nature of her liking did not approx
itself to her judgment. She knew, o
course. that he was in love with heI
and the knowledge Of 1t sent delightful
thrills to her heart. but afterward sh
= would scourge herself for il. The thing
A that had formerly seemed to her vita
she began to find herself appraising b
his unconventional standards, and a
the instincts OF her life training tough
II against the concessions to the wester
/ spirit. Even while the charm Of hi
y easy breadth fascinated her. the Pur
J. tan and the social instincts of the gil
O rebelled at accepting them. She like
n Immensely the frank equality that e,
I listed between him and his workmel
}, but she knew that such a relatio
would not be possible for a minute
the east And sffer all abe told h