The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1906-01-24
CHATTER XIV.

JUDITH awakened with all the
starry infnitudc of sky for n
canopy. In the distance doomed
~ the foothills. watchful sentinels
Of her slumbers. and sloping gently
away from them rolled the plain. like
some smooth. dark sea flowing deep
and silently. Judith, solitary figure
adrift In that still ocean Of space. sat
up and watched the stars fade and saw
the young day peer timorously ut the
world that lay before it, Her mind. re-
freshed by long hours of dreamless
sleep. turned to the problem of lmpcnd-
Ing things serenely contemplative. The
way OF the Indian was ever her way
when circumstance raised no BARRIERS;
the four walls of n house were a prison
to her after the days heightened and
the summer nights grew warm. 10
the infinite dlsnpproval OF that Gus
todian of propricty. Mrs. OAK. she
would make her bed beneath the stars
night after night and battle in the cold.
clear waters Of the stream that puzzled
| from the white capped crest of the
mountains.
| Judith, going to her favorite pool to
battle. saw that It had shrunk till II
seemed but fairy well hid among the
willows. A quarter of mile above
was another pool hidden like jewel
In Its case Of green, broidered with
scarlet rOseberrics and white clematis,
and toward this she bent her steps. IA
time was a-plenty that morning. 1t
lay half hid beneath n shelving rock,
n fount for the tiny white fall that
cr0oned and sang ns 1t fell. And here
she bathed as the east famed where
the mountains blackencd against II.
She had kept postoffice the day be-
fore, and II would not be till day after
tomorrow that the squires of the lnriat
would come again to offer their hearts.
their worldly goods, their complete
reformation. II she would only change
her mind. 1t was all such an old story
that she had grown to regard them
with tenderness almost maternal.
But today was all her own, and the
spirit Of adventure swelled high in her
bosom as she thought of what she had
planned. 1t was warm ami close and
still In the OAK house rs Judith made
her way softly to her own room and
began her preparations for the long
journey she was to take afoot. To
walk In the Nominations devised by
the white man for the purpose Of
crampiug his feet would have been a
serious handicap to Judith. The twen-
ty miles that she would walk before
nightfall was no very great undertak-
J ing TO her. but II was part of her prim-
Tive directness TO accomplish it with
rs little expenditure of fatigue and
comfort as possible
She might have inspired Kitty Cole
brooke 10 II sonnet as she stepped out
Into the glad morning light, in short
skirt and jacket, green clad as the pines
that girdled the mountains, with Il
knupsack with ratlons of bread and
meat and the wherewithal to build a
; lire should she wander belated She
softly closed the door, not TO awaken
Lcander and his slumbering lady. and
broke into the running gait that the
: Indians use on their all day journeys,
the elk hide moccasins falling soft as
snOwfakes on the trail Dolly she
, missed chiefly for her cOmpanionship,
for Judith had not the white mans
, utter hclplessncss without horse In
this country of high attitudes. When
shtT walked she brcathcd, carried her
self, covered ground like her mothers
people, and loved the Inspiration OF It.
= The eerie shadows of the desert
drew back and hid themselves in the
mountains The day began with splen-
, did promise--the day of the wolf hunt
of which no word had been spoken to
her by Peter. She. too, was going
hunting, but silently and unbiddon she
would steal through the forest and sec
this mysterious woman who played
fast and loose with Peter, who loved
! her apparently all the better for the
, game she played. What manner OF
= woman could do these things? What
: manner OF woman could be Indifferent
to Peter? Judith was consumlngly GU
rious 10 see.
= And apart from this naked and un
. ashamed curiosity, there was the pos
sibility that at sight OF Miss Cole
= brooke there might come relaxation
y Of Peters tyrannous hold upon hei
thoughts. her life, her very hearts
i blood Would her loyalty bear the tes
/ of seeing Peter made a fool OF by q
woman she could dismiss with a shrul
:. softly speaking shrew perhaps, who
l played a waiting game with her fingel
i on the pulse Of Peters prospects? Fol-