The indicator., 1904-10-08

yield. and. indeed. her pride and her
imperious teinpers he met with surprise
and sometimes with pity that verxed
toward contempt. With this she was
not well pleased and not infreque ptly
Ahc broke forth upon him. One OF
these outbnrsts is stamped upon my
mind. not only because of Its unusual
violence. but chiefly because Of the
events which followed. The original
cause Of her nge wns some trtfiins
misdeed Of ths unfortunate Joe; but
when l came upon the scene 1t was
the Pilot who was occupying her at
tention. The expression of surprise
and pity on bis face appeared to stir
her up.
"How dare you look at me like
thatF" she cried.
How very extraordinary that you
can't keep hold of yourself betterv be
answered.
Il CAM" she stamped. "And l shall
do as liker
ut is great pity" he said, with
provoking calm, "and, besides, 1t II
weak and silly" His words were un-
fortunate.
Weak" she gasped, when her
breath came back to her. "Weakv'
Yes" he said; "very weak and child
ish."
Then she could have cheerfully put
him to slow and cruel death. When
she had recovered a little she cried
vehemently:
I'm not weak! I'm strong! I'm
stronger than you are! I'm strong ~
asa mani"
i do not suppose she meant the in
sinuation. At any rate the Pilot iS-
nored 1t and went on.
you're not strong enough to keep
your temper down" And then, as she
had no reply ready. he went on: And
really. Gwen, 1t is not right. You must
not go on in this way"
Again his words were unfortunate.
Must notw she cried. adding an Inch
to her height. who says SOP
God" was the simple, short answer.
She was greatly taken back, and
gave quick glance over her shoulder
as If to see him who would dare to
say must not" to her; but, recovering,
she answered sullenly:
"I don't care"
Don't care for GodT The Pilots
voice was quiet and solemn, but some
thing In his manner angered her, and
she blazed forth again:
81 don't care for any one, and I
shall do as like"
The Pilot looked at her sadly for 4
moment, AMI then said slowly:
"Some day, Gwen, you will not b
able to do as you like"
remember well the settled defiance
in her tone and manner as she took q
step nearer him and answered in q
voice trembling with passion:
Listen! have always done as
like, and shall do as like till der
And she rushed forth from the house
and down toward the canyon, her
refuge from all disturbing things and
chiefly from herself.
l could not shake OF the impression
her words made upon me. Pretty d.
rect, that" l said to the Pilot as We
rode away. 'sThe declaration may be
philosophically correct, but It rings un-
commonly like challenge to the Al
mighty; throws down the gauntlet, 70
to speak,"
But the Pilot only said: "Don'tl
How can your
cepted. and how fiercely and how gal
lantly did she struggle to make 1t goodl
1t was the Duke that brought me the
news. and as he told me the story bis
gay, careless self command for once
was gone. For in the gloom Of the can
yon where he overlook me I could see
his face cleaning out ghastly white,
and even his iron nerve could not keep
ohe tremor from his voice.
"I've Just sent up the DOCTOR" was
his answer to my greeting. u looked
for you last night couldn't find you and
30 rode of to the Fort"
whats up2" said, with fear In my
heart, for no light thing moved the
Duke.
Haven't you heard? It's Gwen" be
said, and the next minute or two he
gave to Jingo, who was indulging In a
series Of unexpected plunges. When
lingo was brought down the Duke was
master of himself and told his tale with
careful self control.
Gwen, on her fathers buckskin bron-
co, had gone with the Duke to the big
plain above the cut bank where Joe
was herding the cattle. The day was
hot, and storm was in the air. They
found Joe riding up and down. singing
to keep the cattle quiet, but having
hard time to hold the bunch from
breaking. While the Duke was riding
around the>far side Of the bunch cry
from Gwen arrested his attention. Joe
was In trouble His horse, half bro
ken cayuse, had stumbled into badger
hole and had bolted, leaving Joe to the
mercy of the cattle. At once they BE-
gan to sniff suspiciously at this phe-
nomenon, man on foot, and to follow
cautiously on his track. Joe kept his
head and walked slowly out till all at
once young COW began to bawl and to
paw the ground. In-another minute
one and then another Of the cattle b.
gan to toss their heads and bunch and
below till the whole herd Of 200 wero
after Joe. Then Joe lost his head and
ran. Immediately the whole herd broke
into laundering gallop with heads
and tails aloft and horns rattling like
the loading of regiment Of rifles.
1.-TWO more minutes" said the Duke,
.would have done for Joe, for l, could
never have reached him. But in spite
of my most frantic warnings and sig
naIings, right into the face Of that
mad. believing, laundering mass OF
steers rode that little girl. Nerve! l
have some myself, but couldn't have
done 1t. She swung her horse round
Joe and sailed out with him, with the
fail Of her hrOfN-