Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-11-12

"DOnt you remembers And ] said |
should do az | liked till died"
nodded my head and said But you
know you didn't mean it,"
"But did, and do" she cried, with
passionate vehemence, land | will do
as | like. will not lie here! / will
ride. will will. | will" and she
struggled up, clinched her fists and
| sank back faint and weak 1t was not
a pleasant sight, but grcwsome. Her
rage against that Unseen Omnipotence
was SO defiant and so helpless.
/ Those were dreadful weeks to Gwen
| and to all about her. The constant
pain could not break her proud spirit;
she she'd no tears. but she fretted and
| chafcd and grew more imperiously ex-
acting every day. Ponka and Joe she
drove like slave master. and even her
| father. when he could not understand
her wishes, she impatiently banished
| from her room. Only the Duke could
please or bring her any cheer and even
the Duke began TO feel that the day
was not far off when he. too, would
| fail. and the thought made him despair
Her pain was hard to bear. but harder
| than the pain was her longing for the
open air and the free. flower strewn
breeze swept prairie But most pitiful
of all were the days when In her utter
| WEAKNESS and uncomfortable unrest
she would pray to be taken down into
the canyon.
ooh, it is so cool and shady" she
would plead. land the flowers up in the
rocks and the vines and things are all
so lovely | am always better there.
know I should be better" till the Duke
would be distracted and would come to
ME and wonder what the end would he
One day. when the strain had been
more terrible than usual, the Duke
rode down to mo and said:
Look here. This thing can't go on
Whore is the Pilot gomez Why doesn't
he stay whore he belongs? | wish to
| heaven he would get through with his
absurd rambling"
He's gone where he was sent" I re-
! piled shortly. You don't set much
He is gone on an exploring trip through
the Dog lake country. He'll be back
by the end of next week"
II say, bring him up. for heavens
sake" SAID the Duke. HE may be Of
some use, and anyway 1t will be a new
| face for her, poor child" Then he
added, rather penitently: II fear this
thing is getting Oh to my nerves. She
almost drove me out today. Don't lay
1t up against me- old chap"
1t was a new thing TO hear the Duke
confess his need of any man. much less
pentence for a fault | felt my eyes
growing dim, hut said roughly:
You he hanged. I'll bring The Pilot
up when he comes"
| 1t was wonderful how we had all
come to Confde in the Pilot during his
year of missionary work among MS
Somehow the cowboys name of "Sky
Pilot" seemed to express better than
anything else the place he held with
us. Certain II is that when. in their
dark hours. any of the fellows felt in
need of help to strike the upward
tral' they went to the Pilot and so
the name first given in Chaff came to
be the name that expressed most truly
the deep and tender feeling these
rough, big hearted men cherished for
| him.
When the Pilot came home care
fully prepared him for his trial, telling
all that Gwen had suffered and stiv-
| ing to make him feel how desperate
was her case when even the Duke had
to confess himself beaten. He did not
seem sufficiently impressed. Then l
pictured for aim all her fierce willful-
ness and her fretful humorS. her impa-
| thence with those who loved her and
bodies for her In short" | concluded,
she doesn't care rush for anything
in heaven or earth, and will yield to
neither man nor God"
! Tho Pilots eyes had been kindling as
talked, but he only answered quietly:
what could you expect"
"Well do think she might show
some signs of gratitude and some gen
tleness toward thvse ready to die for
her"
"Oh, you do" said he with high
scorn. You all combine TO ruin her
! temper ana disn0Siton with foolish
fattery and weak yielding 10 her
wilkins. right or wrong; you smile at
her iInperious pride and encourage her
willfulness, and then not only wonder
at the results, but blame her. poor
| child, for all Oh. you are fine lot,
the Duke and all OF you
He had most eXaspcratlng ability
! for putting one in the wrong, and |
could only think of the proper and suf
| ficient reply long after the opportunity
for making it had passed | wondered
what the Duke would say to this doe
trine. All the following day, which
was Sunday | could see that Gwen was
on the Pilots mind. He was strug-
Cling with the problem Of pain.
Monday morning found us on the
way to the Old Timers ranch, and
what a morning il was! How beauti-
full our world seemed About us
rolled the round topped, velvet hills,
brown and yellow or family green,
spreading out behind us TO the broad
| prairie, and before, clamborlng up and
up to meet the purple bases of the
great mountains that lay their mighty
length along the horizon and thrust up
white, sunlit peaks into the blue sky
On the hilSides and down in the shell
tering hollows we could see the