The Greeley tribune., 1905-11-23

Rodney took doton a gun and began to
| clean 1t.
| to free it from an escaped splinter
from the snuff brush when me an
paw war keepin' comp'ny satin warn't
good enough for me. He lowed wuz
to have half creation. Sence we WIZ
married he amt never found time, en-
durin' all these years, to build me a
bird house. l wuz raised in Tennessee
an we uns had house for martins
made out'n gourds, an it was pearty."
Mrs. Rodney"-Swift leaned toward
her and whispered something in her
ear. She regarded him tentatively,
then grinned. At her time of life why
should she put faith in the promises
of men? You fix it up, an you get
your bird house." was the conclusion
of his sentence.
While this discussion had been in
progress the viands had not been neg
lected except by such members of the
company as had been bereft OF appe-
| tlte by loftier emotions-in conse-
| quence of which the table appeared to
have sustained visitation of seven
teen-year locusts. Eudora, ever eco
nomic in the value she placed not only
upon herself. but her environment, pro-
posed to her guests that they should
wash the dishes, an art in which they
were by no means deficient, being no
exception to the majority of range
bachelors in their skill in homely pur-
suits. And thus it came to pass that
| Eudora's suitors, swathed In aprons,
meekly washed dishes shoulder to
shoulder, while their souls craved the
performance of valorous deeds.
AS this was the last stage station on
the way to Lost Trail, Mary Car
michael was perforce obliged to con-
tent herself till Mrs. Yellett should
call or send for her. After supper
| Chugg, with fresh horses to the stage
left Rodney's. apparently for some
port in that seemingly painless sea Of
| foothills That there should be trails
and defined routes over this vast, I'M
varied stretch of space seemed more
wonderful to Mary than the charted
highroads Of the Atlantic.
Very lonely seemed the Rodney
home among the great company of
mountains. A brooding desolation
had settled on it at close of day. and
all the laughter and light footsteps and
gayly ringing voices of the young folk
| could not dispel the feeling Of being
adrift in tiny shell on the black wa
ters of some unknown sea, or thus 1t
| seemed to the stranger within their
gate.
Mrs. Rodney retired within the flap
of her sunbonnet after the evening
meal. settling herself in the rocking
chair as if it We're some sort of con-
yeyance. Warren Rodney took down
n gun from the wall and began to
clean it. His industry with the gun
was Of part with the impotent daw-
| ding in the garden. His eyes would
| seek for the rag and the bottle OF Oil
| In dull. glazed way, and, having
found them, he would forget the rea-
son of his quest Not once that even
| ing had they rested on his wife or any
member of his family. He had shown
no interest in any Of the small hap
peninrs of home, the frank rivalry OF
| Eudora's suitors, the chickering's of the
girls and boys over the division OF
household labor.
From one of the rooms that opened
TO the world like stage to the au-
dience Mrs. Rodney kept her evening
vigil. The last faint amethystine haze
on the mountains was deepening They
lowered about the valley where the
house lay with challenging immen-
sity. mocking the pitiful grasp Of these
nvcmies on the thousand hills.
Eudora now came to her mother with
yreot news. Hawks had taken the
first opportunity Of being alone with
her to tell her of Jim's release from
iail and of his abortive encounter with
Simpson in the eating house. He had
not deferred the telling from any feel
inu of reticence regarding the dis
closure Of family affairs before stran-
gers. News travels in the desert by
some unknown agency. Twenty four
hours after a thing happened it would
be safe to assume that every COW and
sheep outfit in q radius of 300 miles
would be discussing 1t over their camp
nres and this long before there was
an inch Of telegraph wire or rail-
road tie in the country. Hawks had
merely reserved the news for Eudora's
pr,yate ear because he hoped thus to