Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-03-12

lll2S HUH nII dhA1N -
wondering at the mans lonely life.
and in her tender heart half plying
him.
He was young and not handbook
ing, as she remembered him on that
eventful day when she had interposed
to save both from a possible tragedy.
But after all it had been a fieeting
glimpse of the flushed face and eyes
burning with anger and determine
ton. Those were exciting days when
man forgot his thin veneer of civil
cation and displayed his savage orr
gin. The wild rush across the prom
ised line, the fights and struggles to
gain possession of the best quarter
sections, the fear and lamentations
of those who had failed, and the aw-
full intensity of the calm which pre-
vailed days and weeks before the fl
nal word was given to throw open the
land to the eager public-an these
| pictures were burned on Dorothy's
brain so that they seemed like some
| horrible nightmare. How different it
all had been from the quiet New En-
| gland 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 a rebellious
tear and turned away from the front
of the shack. She had never given
expression to such parental rebellion
before, and she half s%huddered at it
By way of apology, she added in an
undertone: "Poor father! He suffers
too. He has been disappointed and II
is making hisc old. Why did that mai
want to come here?"
She looked bitterly acrCss the "deat
line" Henry Egerton had JUS
emerged from his shack, and stood
with hands shading his eyes, watching
her. Nearby she could see his CUR
leaning against the side of the shack
"He must be bad, or he would offe1
to compromise" Dorothy continued
"He is young and able, and father i
old and feeble. He might move OF
and"
She suddenly dropped her voice t.
an indistinct murmur, for an appari
ton appeared in the doorway of tn
shack which made her excited. Sh
shaded her eyes and looked NOR
, keenly. 1t was a small, toddling chile
scarcely two summers old, holdin!
uncertainty to the side of the door
way, and cooling at the big ball of fir
5 slowly disappearing below the horl
zon. The man raised his hands and tn
: child ran to him and jumped into hi
. arms.
I He is married, then, and has
, family" Dorothy breathed. "Mayb
p | have misiudged him. Has the chill
7 n mother, or -"
I Again her sentence died out in a
= indistinct murmur, but the sun ha
set and the twilight was rapid
spreading over the landscape. Dort
thy saw another form, bent of figur
and white of hair, walking across tn
field, and after waving a hand of we
+ come to him she turned to her wor
d inside.
There was seldom any mention {
their neighbours affairs betwee
O father and daughter, and to-nigi
e Dorothy merely told of the presen'
of the baby on the opposite side
It the "dead line' and then subside
Jared Wellington raised his shagg
eyebrows and grunted:
II ssThen he's married? He'll bring h
= wife next, I suppose. Maybe he hi
Heard that the courts
II A horrible suspicion entered Il
IS minds of both. Had the courts deci
a ed respecting their claims, and hi
Henry Egerton heard that he was tt
Ie sole and legal possessor of the qua
l. ter section? Otherwise, why had
ir brought his family out to this lone
&c home when he had lived witho
n them for three months?
II Jared Wellington felt the heavy o
preston of disappointment, and h
v white head dropped lower and low
1t as the evening advanced. Dorotl
tried to cheer him, but in vain. Fin;
ID ly, she decided to present the matt
r. clearly to her aged parent and she
" him that all would not be lost ev
le if the courts decided against them
IN "What of it, father?" she sat
,g cheerfully. "We can go back ca
lie and live. l will enjoy life more TIL
I'd out here. | can't stand this mu
longer. I must have companions a
he neighbors."
e, "No, no, Dorothy, it can never b'
r, he murmured. Il shall never see t
of east again. If it is true that-that
~ he owns it" pointing dramatica
he toward his enemy's shack-"it "
rs kill me. / cannot survive it,"
he The tears blinded the blue eyes
ly the woman, and she turned away
err hide them. at may not be, fathe
she murmured, in a thick voice.
nd But whether true OF not, jar
m Wellington took to his bed, and
,ir the morrow he was unable to raise
ed head from the pillow. Dorot
rs nursed him with all the skill she p
err sessed, but he needed more than S
,e- could give. Slumbering fitfully, I
nd patient would awaken occasiona
CHI and murmur indistinct sentences. 1
X fever of age and anxiety had uns
ed tied his mind, and he raved like
or child of ten.
ad Dorothy turned away in desps
,ly Impending death in the dreary sha
he made even her stout heart quail.
ty. was ten miles to the nearest ply
IN clan, but it was necessary to
zee Would the feeble patient awaken, a
anlinn himself deserted. conn