The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1906-02-16

haps If he had let us alone we might
have got over it in time without max
ing ninnies Of ourselves. AS it was,
he drove us into one of the silliest per-
formances on record-an elopement.
1.-THE time we chose for this absurdity
was in midwinter, just after one of the
heaviest snowstorms we had had In
years. Our plan was for me to pick
up Nancy IN The road, take her in
my sleigh to the junction, get spliced
there, drive her back and say nothing
about the matter till we had finished
! education. Nancy was at the place
Of rendezvous all done up in furs and
with a pair of cheek which the frost
t1nged with the hue of red apples.
She jumped into the sleigh, 1 pulled
up the robe. and we started.
Nancy told me that her father was
suspicious of her, and she thought he
had been watching her, so 1 had bet
ter drive pretty fast. This 1 did so
far as 1 could, but the road between
our college town and the junction is
billy, and the snow was deep and un-
trodden with occasional bad drifts. So
our progress was necessarily slow.
Nancy kept looking back uneasily, and
when we reached the top Of q rise
about a mile from the town Nancy,
upon glancing to the rear, gave my
arm a grip, exclaiming:
"tOh. my goodness gracious!'
Turning my head, 1 saw a sleigh
descending the ext slope behind us
drawn by two horses, who were galIop-
ing through the snow, scattering it k
spray. OF curse l knew we were fol-
lowed, and. giving the horse a cut, we
started down our decline, scattering
snow in the same fashion. But 1
knew that n horse vas no match for
two horses with an equal load, and it
occurred to me that our plan would be
nipped unless 1 could hit upon a STRAIT
agem.
Nancy 1 said, I'm going to drop
you in a drift
"'What forr she asked.
"TIl do it when your father is on
the other side of the rise and can't see
u.s.
"fBut what will 1 do there?'
ellie low till he has passed, then
walk home. He hasn't seen who is in
this sleigh; the back is too high, and
the robe behind is above our heads
".A1I right said Nancy. This looks
A4hO u SOOo a VIZ &c I'LL ~.
81 pulled up beside a drift more than
ten feet deep and, that 1 should not
show any tracks, took Nancy up and
tossed her feet foremost into it. The
snow was light. She went down three
quarters of her length and wriggled
down the rest of the way. / drove on
and when I got to b top of b ext
hill looked back. In a few minutes the
,-,-i. -Iat~h vol nn6 T E1nr
I had not been seen dropping Nancy.
I kept up a good pace, hoping to draw
her father on SO far that he wouldn't
run against her on the way back. I led
him as far as the bridge, when 1 slowed
up and let him overtake me. When he
saw no one in the sleigh he looked
somewhat mystifed for a moment, then
said savagely:
You young rascal, what have you
got under that ober
Nothing
ayes, you have. You students think
you're a match for Satan in deviltry,
but you can't fool me. Pull up b
robe
ST drew up the robe so tina he could
see the bottom Of the sleigh. he was
thunderstruck. But, too ~disgruntled to
apologize for his mistake, he turned
about without q word and drove back
to town. It's four miles between b
town and the junction, and since 1 had
dropped Nancy a mile from the town l
knew she would have plenty of time to
get back home.
when I saw her again b told me
that when her father came in he said
nothing to her about her ride, but later
asked her where she had been
"dTo Aunt Sarah's,' she answered"
ssThe little nart" put In Eleanor Not
kin
"Liarr' exclaimed the mother In
dignantly. mot at all. She stopped at
Aunt Sarah's on her way home SO that
Aunt Sarah would confirm what she
intended t. tell her father"
why, mother" asked Eleanor. what
do you know about itr'
The mother, with a vexed smile, bent
again over her work.
@She ought to know" said the Ia
Their, with q twinkle in his eye.
Nancy"
The daughter ~Iaughingiy embraced
her mother.
But when were o marriedT'
asked Frank.
sOh, we tried It again In a week I'M
m~ucceeded,p safd the father.
You soere a pair OF ~sillies." said
Eleanor.
cor course we were. said the ia
Their, s1but ] fancy you and Frank r
now too old and venerable to follow
our example so l don't mind your
knowing the facts"
LENA NJ BROOKS