The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1905-10-27

Ing and coming forward; AN
thought If could lend ye a hand.
, The eyes were frank and blue. and III,
face smooth and boyish, under thu
~turncdup brim Of the broad sOmbrero
I'm jest a herder, miss" he wen
on. but folks in trouble are AWAY.
my folk. especially II they're il
lfocks. | saw the situation from ;
little way out and took the liberty O
droPpin' Il few O the aggrayatin
IA coyotes, though they were only aftel
the dead boss, an maybe, the-the-'
The man glanced toward the corpse
IT'S your father. is It, miss? ;" In a
tone which bore the true ring of sym.
patby.
Sylyine nodded and. while tears be.
gan 70 fall from her eyes. she made a
step toward her wouId.be protector.
1T was awful she said. being
here alone and unable to die, too"
ITO die, too? Well. hardly. The
Lord knows His business. There are
flowers He cant quite afford TO have
cut down. They light up the blank
spaces. you know, and make folks re.
member there's a heaven. / thought
Of that the moment | looked over the
grass here and saw your face in the
Hight Of the camp fire. seem how
death had been at work around ye."
Sylyine had drawn a little nearer
10 the young a with a feeling of
unhcsItating confidence.
u know it was wrong to wish for
death, but all was so terribly. awfnlly
lonely. There seemed nothing left in
life for me-
We'll, ! don't know about that
I've been Twin lonely for some years
myself, an | guess I've enjoyed It
fairly well, though there has always
seemed to be something Iackin'.
conidHt tell jest what-till-tiIl a few
minutes ago. hut maybe I'm talkin
too much. My ranch is not far off.
The boys call me Lonely Lem I've
got a dolby of here to myself. and
yc.rc welcome to the whole inside of
it. for as long as We want to stay, an
I'll stand night guard on the outside.
An when ye want to 90. I'll take We
across country to the railroad. 40
miles from my ranch"
Lem stopped, gently lifted the corpse
from the ground and placed it in the
wagon. Then, Harvesting his W and
The remaining team horse to the van
he assisted Sylyine to a place in front
ana drove away, with only the star.
light to guide.
Lonely Lem had found a new occu
patton in life, He vas guarding
treasure in his DOLBY that to him
grew more precious each day that
Sylvine remained under his protec
tinn, And he began to look forward
with an accompanying heartache to
The day when the girls grief had
grown old enough for her to care to
leave the vicinity of her fathers
grave. Each day added strength to
the conviction in LENS mind that the
one thing needed to piece out his life
was a woman's love, and that woman.
At this point in his thoughts, Lem
would Invariably shrug his shoulders
IN awe of the gap that seemed to lie
between them.
At last the day came. Sylvlne stood
n the doorway looking out across the
prairie toward the sunrise, while Lem
'at at her feet,
Il feel began S~ylylne, slowly,
that | have imposed upon your good.
as long as | should, and it is
ime for me 10 go away-away-some-
where. But heaven only knows where
shall go" The girl suddenly ,
jropped her head upon her arm and I
Durst into tears. |
Lem sprang to his feet and lowered |
'ver Sylvine in the doorway.
is it as bad as that, little 'un?" he {
ried, close to her ear. Because, if '
ere lonely, I guess it won't offend
Q II | tell ye about what's been
urnin' inside O me ever since | first I
aw your face in the light o. the camp a
re, with the coyotes yelpin' round i
\
Sylvine was silent. But something h
aUsed her to lean toward Lem.
i knew all the time, little 'un. u
omothin' had been left out o. my life. h
that moment | found out what it c
as, But never meant to take any h
iYantage of ye, an KEEP my love to n
IyselG But I've lain out there under s
ne stars, nights, an gazed into the d
KY for hours an hours, ~wonderin',
IS wonderin' to myself il it was pos, Il
bic one like you could ever find it in b
ar heart to love one like me-" v
And /" Sylvine now leaned
his breast, and her arms. r
irown back over her head, had @
'ught LENS neck, i've been loving ii
u all these days" b
LENS face was now drawn down, q
It'll his cheek and Sylvine's were Il
'essed together, And Lem wills. Ell
red; Fl
Little 'un, we've made me so hap Il
:, | don't reckon I'll ever want to do
else but laugh an sing v,
.erican Queen. GO
An Engraver's Feat. o,
An engraver of Odessa has engraved al
- Antt. n4 -