The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-28
Our Daily Short Story

fyou are away 70 much.' I could see he was feeling bad. and ashamed. too, | for naturally he was straight goods enough. when he answered ha said, No. Jim, I haven't, and don't deserve . roof to cover me. Then he looked off over tho dry. hot sand, like he was looking for . oasis In . desert. It was a long time before he spoke again. I'm going to make some changes in my cabin, he said quietly. It's com ing down until there is just room enough to crawl In at the door. Why shouldn't it be on level with its oc- chpanty
 Going to do pennancsr sus- gested.
 Call it what you please, but the cabin is coming down. and 1t won't get a raise until elevate myself well, he went to work next day. | that cabin looked like sheep pen. Folks said he was a little touched in the upper story. but knew his think ing machine was all right.
 After that he left the boys alone and went back. to work. His cabin was terribly inconvenient, but he never complained. After a month or two he put in a log and raised 1t little. As the days went by he kept putting in more logs until 1t got back where it ought to be.
 Some time later he disappeared for 1 a week or so, and then finally I saw him at home getting the logs out. and I knew 1t had to come down again. Well, that thing went on for nearly two years. going up and coming down. Somehow 1t got onto his nerves; he was beginning to break, and his eyes had far-away look like he wasn't long for this country. I decided some- thing had to happen. I knew he was a safe craft. if he could only get the right one. to steer. and we'll worth saving.
 So I wrote the whole story out q haven't much of a fist for letter writ ing. either), and sent 1t off. You see had mailed too many letters to forget her address. Soon after that I began to watch for one of them violet scented letters to carry to him.
 l Did one come, you're asking. Not a bit of 1t. She came herself. I brought her out this road bound for a little boarding house stuck off in them trees. On the way she made me tell her the whole story over again, and when we got in sight of the cabin, 1t was one of them times when it was low. She gave a look. and then the tears began to splash down like rain. and I knew she was sure to win. She was a pretty little thing, looked like Il wax. told her this was most too rough a country for ladies, but she said he was here and nothing else mattered. It was some time before I passed again, and then I noticed the cabin was going up. It was about ten days later on. as I was driving along here at sunset, I saw a shining fort right where the tcahfu had a1wava stOnd I w0nId awear Ito 1t with my last breath. It lowered above the trees, and stood out plain lagainst the crimson sky. That was the first time I ever saw 1t. Halluci- nation? Not a bit of it. have seen 1t many a time since. That night they were walking down the road hand in hand. They didn't seem to mind me
 much, for they just looked up and smiled, and he drew her a little closer Ito him.
 Tt wasn't long before they were married, and she insisted upon living in the cabin, only 1t must be built high as high, she said, as their hopes and Inspirations.
 80 he fixed it up according to her motions.
 she knew there would be no more looming down. I said to him once after,
 MT. Lupton, your cabin stands high.'
 Yes, it does. Jim. he answered. and in his eyes was great light. but
 it's strong, for it's built of firm reso-
 lutions' and it stands on a foundation of love-
 This is good place to stop" added Lank Jim, flor the story ends here"
 As we reached the summit of the shill, with my thoughts still upon the happy termination of the story, I turned for a last glimpse of the cabin.
 But the cabin as I had seen 1t was lost to view, and whether hallucination
 or mirage, it matters not, there through
 the deepening haze stood the dim out lines of shining fort.