The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-12-28


a man who would let a woman make
a fool Of him, whoever the woman
was.
Perhaps with this hunting would end
the long reign of Peter as a divinity.
Judith was tired, not in her vigorous
young body, because that was strong
and healthful as the hill wind, but
tired in heart and mind and life Her
destiny had not been beautiful or hap.
Ply before he invaded it, but it had
been calm, and now serenity seemed
the worthiest gift of the gods. 1t was
not that she loved him less, but that
she had so long reflected upon him that
her imagination was numb. Her
thoughts, arid, unfruitful as the desert,
turned from him to the problems that
beset her, and from them back to him
again in dull, subconscious yearning.
She could no longer project an an
guished consciousness to those scenes
wherein he walked and talked with
Kitty. Her Indian fatalism had in
tervened. Life was life,'' to be lived
or left, and yet she felt herself a DOOR
creature, one who had lived long on
illusion, who had bent her neck to the
yoke of arid unrealities. The pale
haired woman who kept him with her
miserliness of self, who intruded no
somber tragedy of loving, was we'll
worth a trip across the foothills to see.
and yet, Judith reflected, it was the
portion of her mothers daughter to
make of loving the whole business
Of life, even if she rebelled and fought
against it as an accursed destiny.
Her light feet scarcely touched the
ground as she sped swiftly through all
the network Of the hills, and more than
once her woman's heart asked the ques-
ton, "And, prithee, Judith, if from
henceforth you are only to hold fellow
ship with the stars and have no part
in the ways of men, why do you walk
days journey to catch a glimpse of
a pale haired woman?'
She knew the probable course of the
wolf hunt. She had been on scores of
them, galloped with Peter after the
fleeing gray thing that swept along
the ground like the nucleus Of whirl-
ing dust devil. At least she was sure
OF the place of the nooning-a limpid
stream that ran close to many young
pine trees. Here was a pause in the
rugged ascent, level space of open
green, thick with buffalo grass. Many
times had she been here with Peter,
sometimes with many other people OH
the chase, sometimes-and these occa-
slons were enshrined in her memory,
each with it's own particular halo-with
Peter alone, and they had fshed for
trout and cooked their supper on the
grassy levels. 1t was in Judith's plan
ming to arrive before the hunting party,
to hide among the thckets of scrub
pine that grew along the steep cliffs
and overlooked the grassy level, to take
her fill of looking at the pale haired
girl and the hunters at their merry
and, when he had seen, to
steal back across the trail to the
Daxes'.
They would not penetrate the thick
cts where she meant to hide. and
should they she was prepared for that
contingency too. She had brought With
her bright colored shawl that she
would throw over her head. and with
the start Of them she could outrun
them all, even Peter. Had she not out
danced him easily many times in fun?
Through the tangle Of tree trunks thai
grew not far from the thicket thew
would think she was but q DOOR Sho-
shone squaw lying in wait for the bro
ken meat of the jewellers.
BY crossing and, recrossing the tiny
creeks that trickled slow and obstruct-
ed through the gaunt levels Of plain
ana foothill she had come by Il direct
route to the fringes of the pine coun-
try. And here she found a world dim,
green and mysterious. 1t was well
nigh uncomfortable that the land OF
sagebrush and silence could within
walking distance of desolation show
such wealth of young timber, such
shade and beauty. Her noiseless foot
fails scarce startled sage hen that
realizing too lat, her presence, frozc
to the dead stump-a ruffled gray ex
crescence with glittering bead eyes that
stared at her furtively, the one live
thing in the tense body.
The sun wanted an hour of noon
when Judith rested by the stream.
bathed her face and hands, flushed
from the long walk, ate the bread and
meat, then lay on the bed of pine nee
dies, brown and soft from the wealth
erlng Of many suns and SHOWS. She
had been all day in the company she
loved best-the earth, the sky, the sun
and Wind-and in her heart at last was
a deep tranquility. Thus she could
face life and ask nothing but to watch
the cloud tleeces as they are spun and
heaped high in the long days Of sum-
mer, in soberer moods to watch the
thoughts of the Great Mystery as he
reveals them in the shifting cloud
shapes; to penetrate farther and far.
Their into the councils of the great
forces. Thus did she dream the mo-
ments away till the sun was high in the
blue and threw long, yellow snlashos