The Meeker herald., 1906-09-22

from The PEDESTRIANS on the sidewalk,
al Of whom sxpscted to SEQ the girl
man3isa to death beneath the iron.
shod team.
Evea = the gasp Of emotion ana
sympathy went up. however, tall.
athletic figure, clad in the unmstak.
able habiliments Of the west, swung
nom the car, and. with the precision Of
the trained horssman. grasped the
rearing horses by the bride reins, and
With the strength and knowledge, Of
the plains threw them sideways with
q force which made them swerye in
nearly . haf circle. Tho carriage
barely touched the unconscious form
Of tho girl ~ 1t swung around.
A second later the big man under
the SLOUGH hat had the girl In his
arms like she was baby. and was
striding toward the corner drug store
at FACE which would have made an
ordinary man run to keep up with
him.
It developed that the fainting nt
was not serious At all, and was due
wholly 70 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 a cab-she had
never been IN cab beforehand when
he paid tho cabman he pulled from his
inside pocket . roll of bills which
made Nina gasp. In all her life she
had hevef seen 20 much money.
Nina thanked him with an expires.
sion In her eyes that made his heart
beat faster than It ever had thumped
In AL m life. and emboldened him
70 ask hsf Il he might call ON the fol-
lowing svsning and ascertain II there
were my bad effects of the accident
NY hams Is Thad Bunker" said he.
bluntJ. Il live In Oklahoma, and
came hero with few carloads OF cat
tie. sold EN- at thunde.in' good
price. and thought would stay ,ver
day or two and see the sights N
all-nred glad l did. cause there dion {:
seem 10 be nobody about who knew
blamed thing about horse-and you'd
been all in in about a minute"
So no called the next night, causing
almost a. much surprise to Nina's
sister and her husband and the vari-
Gus children n the cab had caused the
night before. There was q wheezy
and puffy old melodion in the stuffy
little psrIor. and Nina played for Mr.,
Bunker. Her playing was very indif..
feren.. but Thad thought 1t was the
grandest music he had ever heard, and a
great desire came over him to buy 4
brand-Eew Eelodion and ship 1t to his
lonesome home In Oklahoma, and then
carry Nina along with him to play Il
for him forever. What he did. how
ever. was to induce her to lay on from
her work on the following day and
show him The mysteries of the park.
1t was red-letter day in Nina's
life In more ways than one. In the
hrst place she had never laid OF from
work on week day since she could
remember. Nor had she ever been es-
cort9d about by a man: nor had she
ever teen treated to such fine dinner
In 70 fine q reztaurant-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 to Ok.
lahoms With him-assuring her that
he had two sections of the best land
in tho territory all under cultivation
and paid for. plenty of cattle and
money In tbs bank.
And she placed her hands In his
and turned 70 him face 90 wonder.
fully transformed by the thrill of
now emotion. By happiness, by relief
from tbs dreadful burden of sordid-
ness-so transformed. in fact, that us
scarcely recognized 1t as belonging to
the wan girl he had picked from un.
der the horyes' feet.
Wentsrnars' ways are peculiar, and
Thad Bunker insisted that they should
be married the next day and leave at
once for home. - he wanted to know.
by ginger. what them blamed boys
arc dom to The cattle" And being q
big. dominant westerner. he had his
way. Rsfors they sought the preacher
the next day they went to . music
store aad Thad bought the most sx-
peasivs nsaodioA In the place and had
1t sAippsd By express. $50 1t will b.
there ~ he time we git there, By
sozsr." saiA he.
An1 sndsr country skiss. with an.
PIE country fars and surrounded By
love aAA rssDset, the roses cane to
Nina's eAes and tie music sang sll