The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-22


which needed but the quickening pulse
of the coming railroad to make it a
thriving town. Peace and beauty seemed
the twin guardians of the clustered
homes and colOr-fecked gardens. With
half whimsical, half eXpectant glance,
his eyes went to the limits of the
town, as though he thouhgt to see there
the angel with the flaming sword keep
ing guard over this new paradise. The
cross upon a church Spire, bathed in
the red radiance of the dying day. be-
came a startling symbol of that greater
cross when crimSoned with the blood
of Immortality. Lesser spires were also
touched with the hue. and the statue
of Justice or the court house turret
stood out in mammoth proportions
against the beaten gold of flying
could. Was it fancy, or did Il ray from
the encrimsOned cross flash tightening
like downward to a gate where fiut-
tered the white dress of a dreaming
girl? With an impatient gesture the
man drew his hand across his eyes.
What diled him this afternoon? Then
he smiled cynically and shook his rein.
Yes" an Eden" he said Who will be
the serpent to enter it?'
AS he rode on through the gather
ing shadows he fell to dreaming of his
life. its past triumphs and its new
trials. His pampered boyhOod his
successful college career, his gay life
in the national capital, where for years
ne had drunk ceaselessly at the bub-
bling spring of pleasure-all these rose
before him with a vivid clearness.
Then that quarrel over a game of cards,
the flash of pistols. and a white face
turned toward him beseechingly. For
all the quarrel. the man was his friend
and he would not leave him TO be
caught by the officers already pound
ing at the door. The others mad fed
There was an open window. and he
had sprung to the roof with the wound
ed man in his arms. Half of that freez-
ing night The two had lain on the tiles
keeping the cold out of their veins
by hugging the chimney BOTS. Finally
relief came, and they parted With the
former friendship cemented. But the
disgrace of the affair chung 20 him
Then had come the haSty summCDs
home, and the double tr2 ge0y of his
fathers financial ruin and death lie
was wonderfully shaken by the sorrow
of it ALL for he was more pleasure
loving than vicious. and possessed that
ready quality of repentance which be-
longs to impresSiOnabfe nature, A new
scheme of life had been planned, and
he had set himself to save what was
possible out of the wreck of his faith
er's fortune. It was now a year since
the old mans death. and through his
industry had provided for his moth
er's comfort, it had not raised the
necessary funds-$S00-to liquidate some
debts standing against him, debts
called debts Of honor because rooted
in disgrace.
Until those obligations We're satisfied
it would be impossible for him to re-
turn 10 the life he loved best in the
far capital. He could not meet the
naughty coldness such a forfeiture of
his word would draw upon him. It
was in the hope of raising this money
on some lands his father had pur-
chased in primitive days that he had
made this journey into Tennessee. But
the acres Law still in the wilderness
and there was no sale for them; so
he was going home empty handed and
bitterly disappointed. Why was mon
ey so easy to spend, so hard to get?
He had always held such a Sigh head
among his comrades he would have
bartered five years of his life to meet
these notes when they fell due next
month.
But Mephistopheles makes no bar
gains with the present day Faust" he
said to himself, with a touch of the
humor which was one of his chief
charms and characteristics.
So profound had been his medita-
lions that he had not noticed the final
going of the day and the fall of the
shadowy night. He did not realize how
long he had been in the saddle until
the high weeds rappfng against his
feet drew his attention TO the road he
Travelled. 1t was not the wide, worn
highway on which he had started. but
a narrow lane, flanked on one side by
a tangle of briers and vines, and on
the other BIZ rail fence. Where was
he? How had he missed the way?
Should he turn back anc seek another
track? At that moment serf in
the lane gave to sight lNt stretch
of road ahead over which the MOON
light fell in white splendor. And,
plainly visible in the moonlight. not
fifty yards away, there went a man
and horse, man With square Shout
ders and a wide hat, and q raw bOned
white horse, now limping painfully.
"Sim HOleman. the paymaster," ne
said with a sigh of relief, realizing
that at the fork of the road he had
taken the wrong turn. 1t would be
easy to follow the trail back and rec
tify the mistake, and he opened his
lips to call after man and ask what
had befallen his horse that it was so
lame
Then suddenly into his heart there
came a pricking thought, just as a
hell-snake turns kissing in its egg.
His. elinched teeth shut back the call
and crushed the thought, but it struck
him again with its venomed fang. In
the saddle bags across the limping
horse was the money that would lift
him out of debt and give him his old
place in the esteem of his comrades.
Again he fought back the thought and
nulled his horse resolutely back Should
he forswear his better nature, go back
on the teachings of Christian motn
err? No, thousand times no,
But the tempter was still beside him.
(Does Mephistopheles make no bargains