The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1904-02-05
UNDER THE
COPPER MOON
By CHARLES
SLOAN REID
copyright, 1903, By t. 9. Mcclure.

copyright, 1903, By T. @. Mcclure.
*+-s**.a.s-.-s*-.-.h
: The hot, spiritless night was lighted
by a copper moon whose rays were
filled with uncanny figures Of miasma
arising over the swamp that stretched
away southwark from "A cabin on q
knoll. From the muffied distance came
the sound of the pile drivers sinking
timber on top Of timber into the marshy
soil Of the swamp. 1t was the night
shift Mt work. The construction of the
railroad was being pushed as rapidly
as the situation would allow, and men
there were yielding up their lives ev-
cry day to the insinuating grasp Of
malaria.
On the steps of the cabin sat young
woman, gazing with hollow eyes to-
ward the moon, while from beyond in
the deeper darkness Of the cabins in
terror came sonorous sounds from the
nostrils of man in drunken sleep.
At last the young woman arose and
walked across the yard to the dense
shadow of palm, and she limped with
pain. At the roots Of the palm she sat
down and rested her chin in her small
hands. The sound of a light footstep
neached -her-aar a moment later, but
-she did not raise her head until her
name was called close to her eur.
"Gus," she murmured, "I've been
hopin' yed come, though don't reckon
it's hardly right to do 1t. But how can
q body help 1t, Gus, when he does the
way he doesY
"Can't, Mag, an I'm proud We can't.
reckon it's selfishness in me, an it
may not be right for me to be steppin'
in between a man an his wife an
showin' We my love the way do, but
ye warn't mated right, Mag, an Jim
knows 1t as well as you do. But, little
un, what I'm thinkin' about is where's
the help"
'That's so, Gus. Where's the help?
took Jim for better or for worse, an
II it's worse reckon it amt for me to
complain-that is, to anybody but ye,
Gus"
II notice ye're limpin', Mag. More
OF Jin,'s meanness, reckonT
"Nothin' much, Gus. I-I"--
II reckon ye'd as well tell 1t, Mag
to me-"
eyes, / know. But Jim didn't know
what he was doin' hardly, an the ta-
BILE was rickety anyhow"
"Jest about made ye run over the ia
bic, guess. But Mag, I been won
derin' IL ye had any rations. know
Jim amt struck lick since-I mean
in the last two weeks"
II know what ye mean, Gus. Ye
mean since ye give me the last money.
An'-an' I'm obliged to say it's so. I
don't know nuw, Uur somehow ne rounu
out I had the money, an he wanted to
borrow it, an didn't see any way to
refuse him."
.T reckon not. He always gets
enough to get drunk on. But what
want to know is how long ye'ye been
without anything to eatr'
Mag gazed for a moment toward the
copper moon in the heavens and was
silent, the muscles Of her gaunt face
twitching slightly at a suggestion OF
the hunger she felt
Mag, I reckon ye'd jest as well tell
me-"
"I know, Gus, know-but"- Mag
dropped her face into the crook Of her
arm and began to cry.
Gus sat on the ground few feet
away, gazing upon the woman, with
all the love and yearning of his soul
in his eyes, and allowed her to cry IN
silence. But at last he spoke again.
"I know it's been long enough" he
said, lingering a gold piece he had tax
en- from his pocket.
Mag looked toward him. ''Since yes
terday mornin', Gus, an I reckoned
I'd die this time. An, though ye'd
hardly. like to hear 1T, was kind OF
hopin' would"
"Magp Gus was on his knees and
had seized the girls hands. Il was
afraid It was comm to this again, an
I tried to get back sooner, an / know
now I should have sent Tom Bolus IN
my place"
"No, ye shouldn't, Gus. What right
had We to be sendin' any one In yer