The Greeley tribune., 1905-12-21


,nsii''"" was no very great undertak.
ing W her' nut II was part of her prim.
ltiVe dlrectness to accomplish It with
rs little expenditure of fatigue md
comfort us possible.
she might have inspired Kitty Cole
brooke TO sonnet rs she stepped out
into the glad morning light in short
skirt and jacket, green clad as the n,nss
that girdled the mountains. with n
knapsack with rations of bread and
meat and the wherewithal to build n
nre should she wander belated. She
softiy closed tho door, not to awaken
Leander and his slumbering lady and
broke into the running gait that tbn
Indians use on their all day JOURNEYS
the elk hide moccasIns falling soft as
snowfakes on the trail. Dolly she
missed chiefly for her companlonshin
for Judith had not the white mans
utter helplessness without a horse in
this country of high attitudes When
she walked she breathed, carried her
self, covered ground like her mothers
people, and loved the inspiration of it.
The eerie shadows of the desert
drew back and hid themselves in the
mountains. The day began with splen-
did promise-the day of the wolf hunt
OF which no word had been spoken to
her py feter. She. too, was going
hunting. but silently and unbidden she
would steal through the forest and see
this mysterious woman who PLAYED
fast and loose with Peter. who loved
her apparently all the better for the
game she played. What manner of
woman could do these things? What
manner of woman could be Indifferent
to Peter? Judith was consumingly Gu
rious to see
And, apart from this naked and un-
ashamed curiosity. there was the DOS
sibility that at sight of Miss Cole
brooke there might come relaxation
of Peters tyrannous hold upon her
thoughts, her life, her very hearts
blood. Would her loyalty bear the test
of seeing Peter made fool of by a
woman she could dismiss with shrug
softly speaking shrew perhaps, who
played waiting game with her finger
on the pulse of Peters prospects? For
there was talk Of partnership with
the Wetmores. Or Il fool, perhaps, for
all her sonneting. for there are men
who relish weak headpiece as the
chiefest ornament of women, especial
ly when its iDdeterminate vagarles
boast an escape valve remotely con
nected with the fine arts; or devil
woman, perhaps-an upright wanton
who could think no wrong from very
poverty Of temperament. yet kept him
dangling. The possibility of Kltty's
honesty Judith in her jealousy would
not admit. Had she gone to the devil
for him, stood and faced the drift of
opinion for his sake-that Judith could
have understood But what was the
spinning of verses to n woman's por-
tion of loving and being loved? Wlthal
Judith was forced to admit that there
was something simple and true about
man who would let woman make
fool OF him, whoever the woman
was.
Perhaps with this hunting would end
the long reign Of Peter as divinity.
Judith was tired, not in her vigorous
young body, because that was strong
and healthful us the hill wind, but
tired in heart and mind and life. Her
destiny had not been beautiful or hap
py before he invaded 1t, but 1t 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 ffe," to be lived
or left, and yet she fek herself poor
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 wen
worth trip across the foothills to see
and yet, Judith reflecteu, IL WAS 'he
portion OF her mothers daughter 10
make of loving the whole business
of life, even II she rebelled and fought
against it rs 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, prtthee, Judith, IL 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
DAVIS Journey to catch glimpse OF
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 aions
the ground like the nucleus OF WHIT
ing dust devil. At least she was sure