The Western news., 1903-04-22
Settling the Claim.
@HE bleak stretches Of browning


grass gave tinge Of sadness to
- the landscape, and the hum OF
innumerable insects which had pro-
longed the summer months we'll into
the fall were growing fainter and less
rhythmic with the advancing season.
The crops had been garnered and the
approach of frost brought no terror to
the farmers, but in some indescribable
way it affected the nerves of the lone
ly woman standing before her rude
shack gazing toward the setting sun.
Somehow the autumn had always
brought shade of sadness into her
life. Even back in the old New Eng
land days-befOre this horrible night
mare had transformed her life-she
had experienced the same feeling Of
depression.
II guess it's because l hate to see
things dying" she explained to herself
to stitie back rising rebellion Of sor-
row. "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
glrlhood days had been termed come
ly," 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
without blotting out certain sweet
expression of resignation. Eternal
longing for the impossible. however
eats out the heart and ambition of the
strongest, and Dorothy was daily find
Ing her burden more uncomfortable.
1T isn't natural" she confessed to
herself many times. I'D rather give
up all and 60 back without cent.
could work and make n living. Not in
Dunbary, but somewhere else-any-
where except here"
1t was strained and unnatural posi-
tion for young girl to find herself In,
and nothing but strong. stern sense Of
duty could hold her to the bargain an
other day. 1t was not home on the
bleak Oklahoma plain. The very quar-
ter 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 belonged, but to
) which none could say. The slow-movns
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 In with the
early settlers Of Oklahoma, and when
the rush began he had been among the
first to settle Oh desirable quarter
, section. But while he had been busy
, stalking out the section, another had
filed Il claim to the same piece Of land
, There was dispute. which threatened
to end In murder, but Dorothy had
+ been the means Of quieting tho two
combatants. They agreed to let the
courts settle the claim and meanwhile
AhS WV "" hVAS puIit oH TIE ODDOSltG
, sides Of the dead line" which they
drew exactly through the center Of the
quarter section.
That was three months ago, and In
, the meantime Jared Wellington and
Henry Egerton had nursed their wrath
In silence while they planted and gath
cred their first seasons crops. Each
bitterly envied the other the crops
which by right should belong to him
; With alert eyes and gun loaded for &C
tive service each watched the other
determined to exact the full pound OF
flesh demanded in the agreement. Had
accident or sickness forced either oyel
the dead line" the other would un
questionably have shot his enemy In his
tracks the moment he set foot on hi.
: property.
Such were the bitter conditions unde,
/. which Dorothy had lived for thre,