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

II HE bleak stretches of browning
i grass gave tinge of sadness To
the landscape, and the hum OF innum-
cradle insects which had prolonged
the summer months well into the fall
were growing fainter and less ryth-
mic with the advancing season. The
crops had been garnered and the APP
proach Of frost brought no terror
TO the farmers, but in some indie
scribable way it affected the nerves
of the lonely woman standing before
her rude shack gazing toward the
setting sun.
II guess it's because / hate to see
things dying" she explained TO her
self to stihe back rising rebellion
of sorrow. "The summer was short
enough back home, but out here it's
all too short"
There was a dreary, homesick ex-
preston in the eyes, and through the
struggling hair the bronzed forehead
showed little marks of premature
wrinkling. Dorothy Wellington in her
girlhood days had been termed
"comely," n word which Just fell
short of calling her good-looking or
handsome. But with time and expe-
rience her features had grown harsh
err, and yet without blotting out
certain sweet expression OF resigna-
ton. Eternal longing for the impos-
sible, however, eats out the heart
and ambition Of the strongest, and
Dorothy was daily finding her bur
den more unendurable.
1T isn't natural" she confessed to
herself many times. I'D rather give
up all and 60 back without n cent
i could work and make n living. Not
in DunbaFy, but somewhere else
anxwhere except here"
II was n strained and unnatural
position for n young girl TO find her
self in, and nothing but n strong,
stern 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 tenn
porary quarters might not be their
own Across the dead line" there
was another shack-a second blot on
the quarter section belonged, but to
which none could say. The slow-mov-
ing 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
I'm the east TO cast his lot in with the
early settlers Of Oklahoma, and when
the rush began he had been among
the FIRST to settle on a desirable
quarter section. But while he had
been busy stalking out the section,
another had filed claim 10 the same
piece OF land There was dispute,
which threatened TO end i'm murder,
but Dorothy had been the means of
f.rieting the two combatants. They
tpreed TO let the courts settle the
claim, and meanwhile the two owners
built on the opposite sides of the
dead line" which they drew exactly
through the center of the quarter
section.
That ~ ,raree months ago, and
in theEV "a y Jared Wellington
and xopsl had nursed their
~ NE while they planted
their first seasons
,ssch bitterly envicd the other
D'crops which by right should be-
S1ong TO him. With alert eyes and
gun loaded for active service each
watched the other, determined to ex-
act 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 on his property
Such were the bitter conditions un-
der which Dorothy had lived for three
months, hoping ond praying that the
courts decision would shortly settle
the controversy, but never did the law
seem 60 LAG more cxnsperatingly. Au-
tumn 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 i'm the dis
tancc, continued 20 make life for
Dorothy and her father bitter and
dsagreeable.
Jared Wellington was rs hard and
set i'm his ways as the New England
granite hills among which he had
been reared. and Dorothy knew his
nature too well TO attempt 10 induce
him 10 compromise with his lonely
neighbor. Lonely Henry Egertou