The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-11-23

No sob escaped her lips. There was no
~convulsive movement of shoulder She
rode beside him, still as the desert be-
fore the sand storm breaks, her soul
scared with white hot iron that knows
no saving grace of sob or tear
Peter drew out his watch. cts
quarter to II. Well have hard bit
of riding to reach Blind creek before
midnight
Then he knew as we'll as she per-
haps better, the route to Jim's hiding
place. She had never been there as
yet. And, if Peter knew, doubtless ev-.
cry cattleman in the country knew.
What fool she had been with her talk
of meeting Tom Lorilner! A sense OF
utter defeat seemed to paralyze her
energies. Physical WEAKNESS was tell
ing on her. She had been in the sad
die since little past noon, and it was
now not far from midnight And still
there was the unanswered question OF
Peters errand. 1t was long since Ell
Their had broken the silence a delicious
GOODNESS had crept into the air with the
approach Of midnight. Judith breath
ing deep drafts of it, reminded herself
Of the stoicism that was hers by BIRTH
right.
"Peter"-her voice lost some of it's
old ring, but it had a deeper note
''Peter, we make strange comrades,
you and I, in a stranger world We
meet on Horse Thief trail, and there
is reason to suppose that our errands
are inimical. You've pierced all my
little pretenses You know that I am
going to my brother, who is an outlaw
my brother, the rope for whose hang
ing is already cut. And yet we have
been friends these many years, and
we meet in this world Of desolation
and weigh each others words, and
there is no trust in our hearts. Our lit
tie faith is more pitiful than the cruel
errands that bring us. take it you,
too, are going to my brother's?"
''1'm going there to see that you ar
rive safe and sound, but had no in
tention of going when 1 left camp.
You've brought me good twenty miles
out of my way, not to mention accus
ing me of Interior motives. Now, aren't
you penitent?' He smiled at her, boy
ish and irresistible. 70 Judith it was
more reassuring than an oath. cts
like dogs fighting over a picked bone;
the meats all gone. The range is over
worked; it needs good long rest" He
turned toward Judith, speaking slowly
"What you have said is true. We're
friends before we're partisans of either
faction. I'm on my way TO a roundup.
There's been an unexpected order to
fill beef cOntract-a thousand steers.
We're going to furnish 500, the XIX
$50 and the Circle Star $50. Men have
been securing the enemy's country for
days rounding up stragglers. It will
go hard With the rustlers after this
roundup, Judith"
She felt a great wave Of penitence
and shame sweep over her. She had
not trusted him; in her heart she had
nourished hideous suspicious Of him,
and he was telling her, quite simply,
of the plans of his own faction, trust
ing her. as, indeed, he might, but as
she never expected to be trusted.
"Peter, do you know that sometimes
I think Jim has gone quite mad with
these range troubles? He's acted
strangely ever since his sheep were
driven over the cliff. He's not been
home to Aida and the children since
he has been out Of jail, and you know
how devoted to them he has always
been! He spends all his time tracking
Simpson. Aida wrote me that she ex-
poets him tonight, and I'm going there
on the chance"
cts the devils own hole for desola-
ton that he's come to-" Peter looked
about the cup shaped valley that was
but 4 cul-de-Sac in the mountains. A
lone group of dead cottonwoods grew
like sentinels close to the rocky walls.
Their twisted branches, gaunt and
bare, writhed upward as in dumb sup
pication. There was about them a
something that made Judith come
closer to Peter as they passed them.
'Those frightful trees, how can Aida
stand them?" She looked back. ooh,
wish they We're cut down.
Before them was the cabin, it's ruined
condition pitifully apparent even by
night It had been deserted ten years
before Jim brought his family to it.
Rumor said it was haunted. Grim
stories were told Of the death Of a
woman who had come there with a
man and had not lived to go away With
him. The roof Of the adjoining stable
had fallen in; the bars of the corral
were missing. The house was dark
but for a feeble light that glimmered
in one window, the beacon that had
been lighted, night after night, against
Jims coming
"Peter'-Judith had slid from her
horse and was clinging to his arm
"when it happens, Peter, you will have
no part in it?''
ut won't happen, Judith, If 1 can
help it,"
She kissed his hand as it held the
loose reins