The Greeley tribune., 1905-11-02
CHAPTER l.

" summer freshness III tle HON
L ious air of the sleeping car as it
toiled like snail over the intinity of
prairie. From behind the green striped
curtains of the berths now the sound
Of restless turning and now long
drawn sigh siCniied the uneasy slum-
Der due to sitting air and discomfort.
The only passenger stirring was
girl whose youth dropped under the
unfavorable influences of foul air, IA
tigue and strained anxiety TO come
to the end of this fateful journey. She
had been up while it was yet dark. and
her hand luggage. locked, strapped and
as pitifully new at the art of travelling
as the girl herself clustered about the
hem of her blue serge skirt like chicks
about a hen. The engine shrieked but
its voice sounded weak and far of in
that still ocean of space; the girl tight
ened her grasp on the largest of the
satchels and looked at the approaching
porter tentatively.
Were late twenty-fi' minutes he
reassured her, with the hopeless pa
fence of one who has lost heart in
curbing travellers enthusiasms.
She turned toward the window a
pair Of shoulders plainly significant Of
the burdensome last straw.
-Four days and nights In this train"
they were slower in those days-"and
now this extra twenty-five minutes!'
my dear. My dear "a head In
crimpers was thrust from between the
curtains of the section opposite-"Ive
l,ola ~ SvI< 7
afraid l wouldn't see you before you
got of"
The head was followed almost In
stinctvely by hand travelling furtive-
~ to the crimpers that gripped the la
dy's brow like barnacles clinging to a
keel.
Mary expressed a grieved apprecia-
ton at the loss of rest in behalf of her
early departure and conspicuously for
bore to glance In the direction Of the
barnacles. that being a first principle
as between woman and woman.
Again the locomotive shrieked, again
the girl mechanically clutched the suit
case, as presenting the most difficult
item In the problem of transportation,
and this time the shrek was not an
Idle formality. The train slowed down;
the uneasy sleepers behind the green
striped curtains stirred restlessly with
the lessening motion Of their uncouth
cradle. The porter came to help her
with the chastened mien of one whose
hopes of largess are small, the lady
with the barnacles called after her re-
dundant farewells, and moment later
Miss Carmichael was standing on the
station platform looking helplessly aft
e the train that toiled and puffed, yet
seemed, in that crystalline atmosphere,
still within arms reach. She watched
It till its floating pennant of smoke
was nothing but gray feather blow
ting farther and farther out of sight on
the fat prairie.
The town-it would be unkind to
mention its name-had made merry the
night before at the comprehensive In
vftation of a sheepman who had just
disposed Of his wool clip and who said,
By way Of general summons, Whats
the use of temptin' the bank?' Town. y
therefore, when Mary Carmichael first
made it's acquaintance, was still sleep
ing the sleep of the unjust. Those
among last nights roisterers who had
had to make an early start for their
camps were well into the foothills by
this time and would remember with ex-
hilaration the cracked tinkle of the
dance hall piano as inspiring music
when the lonesomeness of the desert
menaced and the young blood. again
clamored for its own.
"Town"-it contained in all some two
dozen buildings-was very unlovely in
slumber. 1t sprawled in the lap of the
prairies, grimy faced urchin, with
the lines of dismal sophistication writ
deep. Yet where in all the health re-
sorts" of the east did air sweep from
the clean hill country with such re-
vivifyng power? 1t seemed a glad
world of abiding youth. Surely Town
was but dreary illusion. mirage
that hung in the unmapped spaces of
this new world that God had made
and called good, an omen of the abom-
nations that men would make when
they grew blind to the beauty Of Gods
world.
Mary Carmichael, with much the
feelings of a cat in strange garret,
wandered about the sluggard town.
and presently the blue and white sign
of telegraph office. with the mytho-
logical figure of a Fastening messen-
ger. suggested to her that a reassur-
ing telegram was only Aunt Adelaide's
due. Whereupon she began to rap on
the door Of the office scared pianissi-
mo, which naturally had little effect
on the operator, who was at home and
asleep some three blocks distant But
the west is the place for woman If she
would be waited upon. No to 1
ratio Of the sexes has tempered the
chivalry Of her SONS Of the saddle. A
lettering something in a sombrero saw
rather than heard the rapping. and, at
the sight, went in quest Of the dream
Ing operator without so much as en-
barrassing Miss Carmichael with an