Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-01-30
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RED MOUNTAIN :
MPTIALS BY !
JOHN q
BARTON OXFORD :.
Copyright, 1903, by L. c. Mcclure I
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When the westbound stage drew up at
CraWford's that April afternoon Il soil
tary passenger alighteG-a tall, strong
featured young man who carried nm
self with an air of determination. Billy
Crawford, lounging in the doorway OF
the barrOom, languidly smoking
stubby clay pipe, looked at the arrival
critically He noted the mans face, OF
the chalky whiteness of unpublished
marble, the dark rings under his eyes
and the gaunt hollows in his cheeks.
which made the cheek bones glaringly
apparent.
Billy had seen many such arrivals
before. Generally, though, they lacked
the combativeness this mans bearing
seemed to suggest. They were prone
to wear a tired, hopeless, often fright
ened, look. Generally, too, they went
back in a few months by the stage
again-in a long box on the trunk rack
behind
Billy was mentally figuring how long
it would be before this one went back
in such fashion, when the young man
strobe briskly up the steps and accost-
ed him.
Are you the proprietor here?'
Billy ''reckoned he was
accommodate me here?" The young
man shot out his questions with no
waste of words.
How long?' said Billy, removing
his evil smelling pipe.
"As long as like the place." said the
other ''Maybe all summer, maybe a
year, maybe longer"
Billy thought to himself, Maybe
four or five months at the most but
he said, Guess so,'' replaced his pipe,
and, picking up the bullying suitcase,
led his guest within.
From behind the closed blinds in the
cond story of the little red shack
stage station which Billy Crawford
had christened the RED Mountain inn''
some one else had watched the ar
rival of the stage, and that some one
was Araminta Crawford, BilIy's daugh-
ter. She saw the determined looking
man, with his almost defiant air and
his pale, slnken checks AS her fa-
lther was showing the way upstairs she
heard the mans spasmodic- cough, and
her heart was filled with sudden pity
at the thought of his coming to that de-
serted corner of the world to die, for
despite the reputation of the climate of
the Red mountain district as a healer
of damaged breathing apparatus Ara
minta had seen the long boxes on the
trunk rack too often to put much faith
in it.
At supper time the young man was
the sole guest in the smoky dining
room. Arahinta was waitress as we'll
as cook When she came into the din
ing room the guest fixed his eyes upon
her. She was good to look upon-dark,
well formed. with q fullness of figure
and an unStudied ease which youth and
life in the open air had given her.
Crawford came into the dining room
for a moment to inquire concerning his
guests comfort. He indicated his
daughter with wave of his hand.
"My daughter, Minta Mr-er err
Mr.
"Deming,' the guest supplemented.
turning to the girl. From that moment
his recovery.
In the days that followed Deming
saw much of the girl. He found her
frank, unaffected, good hearted, yet
with keenness of mind which accord
ed i'll with the narrOwnesS of her sur
roundings. Her father and the men
who came to the inn We're gross and
coarse Aside from the old negro wom-
an who assisted about the place, there
was not woman within thirty miles.
Yet the girl was womanly, quiet and
possessed of native refinement and
simple frankness which Deming found
irresistibly charming.
The weeks flew past, and Deming i'm
proved. He was much in Minta's COM
pany, and the more he saw of the girl
the deeper grew his interest in her.
He showed hef his diploma from Yale
and told her of his life in the world
outside, white she listened eagerly for
every detail They walked together
they fished in the stream at the back
of the inn, they set up target and
tried his rifles, and the girl proved to
be Il far better shot than he. Mean
while his lungs mended, and he devel-
Oped very common form OF heart
trouble, of which AIinta was the cause.
There could be but one ending to it
all. One October night Deming sought
Crawford, who was smoking, sleepily
in the deserted barroom. Deming made
known his intentions, and Crawford
came suddenly from his somnolent
mood and swore roundly.
NO." said Crawford. "A1inta marry
a consumptive-Au tenderfoot consump-
tive? No, sir; she is going to marry
the son of old Jones, who runs the
stage route That was arranged years
ago. He's got money to burn and
nothing the matter with his lungs
Demling turned angrilY on his heel