The daily Alaskan., 1906-07-28
ON THE BORDER
Original ]

grip, bis head bowed, on bis face ev- cry evidence of distress. On bed lay young girl. She was either uncOn- sCiouS or sleeping, for she was very low, and it was impossible to tell whether it was sleep or coma. .n
 They are fighting at the front yathe old man unused, and if anything should happen to Bert. it would turn the scale But if anything does hap pen she muStnot be told Still, would 1t not be better for her to Know It and die instead of living on the life of deSolation in store for her?
 The doctors opinion that. she will weather the storm and get well have little confidence in. Is it his opinion, pr does he say 1t To keep me upE"
 The uuoe came in and begged the old mau to go 10 bed. He refuSed,~ tell ing her to 20 into a room across the hall. lie down and leave him to watch alone. If anything important occurred he would call her. Sue went over to the bed. laid hcs hand on the sick girls forehead and looked at her long and. auxiouSly. Then she turned and told him that it was not best she should leave. But he firmly refused to go himself. and she took book and went Into the room he had indicated.
 Ever since her mother died" he unused on. she has been all have had to live for. Sometimes jt seems 10 me that all the love she has had for me has been merged in her love for Bert, That's natural All the love I had for my parent was nothing compared with the love bore her mother. And when her mother died I gave it all 10 my little girl
 "I wonder what's going oR down there. Last nights dispatches were that fight couldn't be put of twenty four hours We know what they do almost as soon as they do it. Bert must take his chanCeS-One out of three or four or five. I SuppoSe-while here lies the girl he loves and who loves him. having not one chance in a dozen. If he dies she will never smile again IT she dies I will never smile again. but he-he iS young. He can forget or replace the old with the new"
 Curious thoughts run through the mind of one in suspense. The old man fell to conjurinS up all sorts of possI- ble happenings. He faucied his girl again in health. her lover safely re turned. their meeting. In their happi- ness be forgot that he would be left alone or remembering it was mitigated that they were happy. He pictured Bert a physical wreck coming to find the girl he loved gone; the young mans agony. followed by settled gloom. This came the nearer home tO him, for it was what he would have to suffer himself.
 Then he went back to the period when she whose life hung by thread was jumping her rope. rolling her hoop. He >Iw her grow from child to maiden. from maiden to woman. How quickly iJ had an come about. And now tf she died. what had all his ef- forts to raise her. her studies, her ac- eOmplSLmeutS. ayailcd: All swept away at the cea>jug ot a heart To beat. And her longer ljie what of it: Every effort he had made or should make would be ueuJra..zed
 The patient stirred. The watcher was about to go into the other room and call the nurse when the girl suddenly, with a strength that aStuniShed him, sat up and fixed her eyes on vacancy or. as it seemed. some one in the center of the room.
 Bert. Oh. Bert. Hare you come"'
 She stretched forth her. arms, and the focus of her vision seemed to draw nearer To herself. Her arms folded she raised her face dS though for q Kiss. then fell back on the pillow.
 The old wlu Sprane tg the bedside and was joined moment later by the nurse. who quickly slipped her arms under the invalid and raised her. See Ing no sign of life. she placed her hand on the girls heart. Then she looked up and said: .--..-- -..-
 Shes gone" ----
 The old man went to table, sat down and. placing his arms On it, rest ed his head on them The nurse laid the dead girls arms beside her. turn ed. looked at the old man pityingly and left the room. The case was closed for her. and in a day or two she would be ready for the next one.
 The old man remained where he was. The clock struck the hours successive y-1. ?, 9. I. ,. Then there was the sound of boys running in lLG street below and shouting:
 Extra, Great battle at SantiagO.
 The old man started up. Going into the hall. he rang for a servant. One of them had been up all night to summon a doctor If needed. He responded at once. and his master ordered him to bring him a paper, In it was a tele- gram announcing the last battle of the SpanlSh-American war, with partial list of the killed and wounded. Among the former was the name Lieutenant Albert Hubbard.
 As the old man read it something like a smile fitted across his face.
 Thank God" he said, they have gone together. Providence, who re
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