The Western news., 1903-04-22

NOulu StlJlc lA0
controversy, but never did the law
seem 10 lag more exasperatingly. Au-
tumn was changing the whole face Of
the landscape and winter was ap-
proachlng with its long period Of
gloomy weather, but the dead line,"
and the Egerton shack in the distance.
continued to make life for Dorothy and
her father bitter and 'disagreeable.
Jared Wellington was as hard and set
IN his ways as the New England gran
lite nils among which he had been rear
ed, and Dorothy knew his nature too
we'll to attempt to induce him to COM
promise with his lonely neighbor.
Lonely Henry Egerton seemed to be In
his shack, for neither wife. mother nor
child appeared around his home. Daily
he had toiled in the fields all summer,
returning to his rude home at night
time to prepare his own supper, and
smoke quietly and solitarily near the
door of his shack until the moon was
darkened by the blood-red horizon.
Dorothy had watched these orderly pro-
ceedings from her quiet retreat, often
wondering at the mans lonely life, and
in her tender heart half plying him.
He was young and not hard-looking,
as she remembered him OH that event
full day when she had interposed to
save both from a possible tragedy. But
after all it had been heeting glimpse
Of the flushed face and eyes burning
x,,it Jo%n
were exciting days when man forgot
his thin veneer of civilization and dis
played his savage origin. The wild rush
across the promised line, the fights and
struggles to gain possession of the best
quarter sections, the fear and lamen-
tations of those who had failed, and the
awful intensity Of the calm which pre-
vailed days and weeks before the final
word was given to throw open the land
to the eager public-all these pictures
were burned on Dorothy's brain so that
they seemed like some horrible night
mare. How different It all had been
from the quiet New England village
where she had been reared!
"Why could she not have lived there
forever? What right had her father to
tear her from her home, root and
branch, and plunge her into this wild,
lawless caldron Of unrest and bitter
striving?"
Dorothy brushed back rebellious
tear and turned away from the front
of the shack. She had never given ex-
preston to such parental rebellion be-
fore, and she half shuddered at 1t. BY
way Of apology, she added in an under
tone: poor father! He suffers, too
He has been disappointed and it Is
making him old. Why did that man
want to come hereY'
She looked bitterly across the "dead
line Henry Egerton had Just emerged
from his shack. and stood, with hands
shading his eyes, watching her. Nearby
she could see his gun leaning against
the side of the shack.
''He must be bad, or he would offer
to compromise Dorothy continued
''He Is young and able, and father is
old and feeble. He might move on,
and"
She suddenly dropped her voice to an
indistlnct murmur, for an apparition
appeared in the doorway of the shack
which made her excited. She shaded
her eyes and looked more keenly. 1t
was a small, toddling child, scarcely
two summers old, holding uncertainty
to the side of the doorway, and cooling
at the big ball of fire slowly disappear
ing below the horizon. The man raised
his hands and the child ran to him and
jumped into his arms.
HE is married then, and has a fam
ily," Dorothy breathed. Maybe l have
misjudged him. Has the child a mother,
Or
Again her sentence died out In an in
| distinct murmur, but the sun had set
and twilight was rapidly spreading over
the landscape. Dorothy saw another
form, bent Of figure and white of hair,
walking across the field, and after wav-
| ing hand Of welcome to him she turn
ed to her work inside.
There was seldom any mention of
their neighbor's affairs between father
and daughter, and tonight Dorothy
merely told of the presence Of the baby
on the opposite side of the dead line
and then subsidized. Jared Wellington
raised his shaggy eyebrows and
grunted:
''Then he's married? He'll bring his
wife next, suppose. Maybe he has
| o,>xI t1,Of tho rtS
A horrible suspicion entered the
minds Of both. Had the courts decided
respecting their claims, and had Henry
EgertOn heard that he was the sole
! and legal possessor of the quarter sec
ton? Otherwise why had he brough,
his family out to his lonely home whel
he had lived without them for three
months?
Jared wellington felt the heavy op
preston of disappointment, and his
white head dropped lower and lower
as the evening advanced Dorothy tried