Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-03

Of the berth, and had flung his great frame
from one side to the other with a grim
determination to sleep in spite of agitating
thoughts and the rumble Of the train.
At last he had given It up and lay look
ing out Of the window into the wind-swept
night. The track followed a thread of
shadowy, misty stream, and beyond it
doomed the black line OF the mountains.
Something in the wildness of the scene
suited Olmsteadis mood. In another day
he would be away from it-at his desk,
he who loved every breath OF freedom,
that a man draws on the plains or in the
mountains.
Suddenly out Of the darkness sprang n
great square OF yellow light. In SOM,
house a door had opened, and in the dooe
Olmstead saw a girl. Her arms were beat.
ing the air above her head in seeming
agonized fright, her mouth was open as Il
she screamed. but the roar Of the train
made silence Of the sound. Then tho
train swept on.
Olmstead sat up and groaned. Bacit
there something was happening and he was
helpless.
He slipped on his clothes and made his
way to the smoking compartment. A sleepy
porter nodded In one corner. BY much
questioning Olmstead discovered that in
q rev minutes a stop would be made for
orders. The spirit Of adventure was upon
him. he crowded his things into a bag.
and with the eyes of the porter and con,
ductor following him susplciously, at the
next station plunged from the Drosaic Pull
man straight into the unknown.
At the end Of a little platform there was
. tiny point OF light. Near the lantern Ohm
stead found the telegraph operator. He
nunattpnnA tonNF,1I, ~ az
unearth any family skeleton for the benefit
OF inquisitive neighbors.
His friends, he explained, lived near the
track.
"You don't mean the old Talliaferro
house ?"
On a venture Olmstead nodded.
The operator expanded at once.
Amy friend of the eolonel's," he began.
Olmstead felt guilty.
ITS a business NATTER he asserted.
and decided that he would make good his
statement.
With a nod to the agent. he started AWAY
with a long. swinging stride. As the sun
rose the mists Of the early morning rolled
up the mountain side and chung to Ohm
stead with soft, warm touch. There was a
spicy scent of pines and the subdued occa-
sional notes of belated birds.
AhNh al ut butt there rose n song that
was not the song of a bird. Olmstead took
q step forward and stopped. Coming down
q little path toward the road was the girl,
who, two hours before, he had seen in the
sudden picture, her face convulsed with
fear.
Now, with the song on her lips. she
seemed the incarnation OF care-freo youth.
She was strangely attired for early morn
ing. Under the folds OF an enveloping cape
he caught a glimpse of a flmy gown, and
as she held her rufles up from the wet
grasses, she showed slippers, dainty and
thin-soled.
All at once she saw him and hesitated.
"Oh!" she said. Evidently young men
IN correct tweeds were not OF daily occur
renee. Then she came on. all bushes, but
holding her head high.
II beg pardon"
or direction. Her ~oyes-gray eyes-were
lifted. startled.
Colonel Tarhaferro2"
eyes"
II am going there. ! am Miss SalIie
Taliaferro. You wish to see my father?"
Olmstead's brain CROPPED for an excuse.
All at once he know that It was Fate that
had brought him. But that was a foolish
reason to offer to a girl whom he had known
but a possible sixty seconds. However, the
gray eyes demanded explanations.
81 wish to see him about a book-that-
we think OF polishing understand his
library"
He was safe, he thought. All southern
colcnels have fine Libraries, or the remnants
and knowledge Of one.
"Yes. he is interested in books" Ohm
stead fancied a shade OF GOODNESS In Miss
Sallie's tone. which puzzled him until the
solution flashed through his brain. He had
announced himself a book agent, and Miss
sallie was undoubtedly descended from gem
e%rations OF gentlemen who had neither
spun nor toiled.
He explained hastily that he was seeking
Information, not selling books, and Miss
Sallte's bushes came out again. She had