The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1906-08-23

IRON the pedestrians on tne sidewalk, b
all OF whom expected to see the girl
mangleo to death beneath the IRON
shod team.
Even as the gasp of emotion and
sympathy went up, however. tall,
athletic figure, clad in the unmistak-
able habiliments of the west, swung
from the car, and, with the precision OF
the trained horseman, grasped the
rearing horses by the bride reins, and
with the strength and knowledge OF
the plains threw them sideways with
force which made them swerve in
nearly halt circle. The carriage
barely touched the unconscious form
OF the girl as 1t swung around.
A second later the big man under
the SLOUGH hat had the girl in his
arms like she was a baby, and was
striding toward the corner drug store
at a pace which would have made an
ordinary man run to keep up with
him.
1t developed that the fainting fit
was not serious at all, and was due
wholly TO fright and to the nervous
strain the girl had been under, There
was no physical injury at all, and she
soon recovered.
The tall stranger, however, insisted
on taking her home In cab-she had
never been in a cab beforehand when
he paid the cabman he pulled from his
inside pocket a roll of bills which
made Nina gasp. In all her life she
had never seen so much money.
Nina thanked him with an express
sion in her eyes that made his heart
beat faster than 1t ever had thumped
in all his life, and emboldened him
to ask her II he might call on the fol-
lowing evening and ascertain If there
were any bad effects OF the accident.
my name is Thad Bunker" said he.
bluntly. II live in Oklahoma, and
came here with few carloads of cat
tie. | sold 'em at thunderiD good
price, and thought | would stay 1ver
, a day or two and see the sights i'm
all-firea glad did, cause there didn.
, seem 10 be nobody about who knew q
, blamed thing about "A horse--and you'd
been all in in about minute"
So he called the next night, causing
a almost as much surprise to Nina's
sister and her husband and the vari-
r Gus children as the cab had caused the
, night before. There was a wheezy
!. and puffy old melodion in the stuffy
> little parlor, and Nina played for Mr..
Bunker. Her playing was very indif-
., ferent, but Thad thought 1t was the
|, grandest music he had ever heard, and a
!, great desire came over him to buy q
:, brand-new melodion and ship 1t to his
lonesome home In Oklahoma, and then
;. carry Nina along with him to play 1t
!, for him forever. What he did, how
!, ever, was to induce her to lay off from
her work on the following day and
: show him the mysteries of the park.
. 1t was a red-letter day in Nina
: life In more ways than one. In the
:, first place she had never laid off from
:, work on week day since she could
= remember. Nor had she ever been es-
:. corted about by man; nor had she
= ever been treated to such a fine dinner
. in so fine restaurant--in fact, never
had money been spent for her personal
pleasure
But the great thing was when he
> asked her to marry him and go 10 Ok
= lahoma with him-assuring her that
he had two sections of the best land
y in tho territory all under cultivation
y and paid for, plenty of cattle and
y money in the bank.
- And she placed her hands in his
y and turned to him face SO wonder
y fully transformed by the thrill of a
- new emotion, by happiness, by relief
from the dreadful burden of sordid-
~ ness-so transformed, in fact, that ne
scarcely recognized it as belonging to
" the wan girl he had picked from I'M
u der the horses feet.
Weoterners' ways are peculiar, and
- Thad Bunker insisted that they should
:" be married the next day and leave al
i' once for home, as he wanted to know
- by ginger, what them blamed boys
are dom to the cattle" And being {
70 big, dominant westerner, he had his
way. before they sought the preacher
"a the next day they went TO must,
~ store and Thad bought the most ex
~ pensive melodion in the place and hai
y it shipped by express, so it will be
~ there by the time we git there. b!
III ginger" said he,
81 And under country skies, with am
pie country fare and surrounded b!
- love and respect, the roses came t
40 Nina's face and the music sang al
=, the tine in her heart-and she worked
~ so hard on the melodion that after
time she could really play nearly a
NC we'll as her husband thought she could
Au (Cspyris bG. 1906. by Daily Story pub. ca