The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-01-04


cataract, the pound. pound, pound Of
hammers.
Suddenly he felt himself sinking,
horribly, irresistibly- Sod! What is
it?'' as his horse went down with her
fore leg in q gopher hole. Cup, up, you
bruter' But the mares leg had crack
ed like a pipestem. In his fury at the
beast Simpson began kicking her, then
started to run as the cattle swept for
ward like black storm cloud
The next second the great sea Of cat
tie had broken over horse and rider.
When it had passed there was not
enough left Of either to warrant burial
or to furnish feast for the buzzards.
A few shreds of clothes that had once
been man lay scattered there;
something that had been horse.
CHAPTER XVI.
Il Ida awoke, knowing what was
~ to happen. She had dreamed
! Of 1t, just before daylight,
the horror Of it, living, again and
again, through each frightful detail.
| It had happened-there, in the very
room, and before the children; the
noise of it had startled them-and then
she woke and knew she had been
dreaming. In the dream the noise had
wakened the children-when it really
| happened they must never know It
wouldn't be fair to them; they needed
q ''clean start
What had she done to keep them
quiet? There had been thunderous
knocking at the door. She had expect
ed it and was prepared; because the
lock was feeble she had showed. the
old brown bureau against the door.
Nothing had happened. What fool
| she was to lie there and think of it,!
There was the brown bureau against
the wall; she could hear the deep
breathing Of Jim in the room beyond.
Jim had been unequal to the task Of
conventionally going 70 bed the night
before and she had put pillow under
his head and {. quilt over him. She
I was the last woman in the world to
worry about Jim, drunk, or to nag
him for it when sober. But she didn't
like the children to see him that way.
| What was it that she had done to
quiet the children when ''they" rode
up? She had done something and they
had gone to sleep again, and she-and
she-oh, no; it hadn't happened. What
fool she was to lie there thinking!
There were the children to rouse and
dress, and breakfast to cook, and Jim
Jim would be feeling pretty mean
this morning; he'd like a good cup of
coffee. She was glad he was alive to
make coffee for.
She got up and in the uncertainty
bred of the dream felt the brown bu-
reau, felt it hungrily, almost ineredu-
lousy. The brown bureau had been
pushed against the door when they had
come and knocked and knocked. Then
they had Numbered with the butts of
their six shooters and the children had
Weakened, and she had called out to
them:
'.sh-sh! It's only a bad dream
4 Nanny will give you some dough ia
bake tomorrow"
And she had gone to press her face
fiat to the thin wall and call, "For
Gods sake, don't wake the children!"
And they had called out, 'Let him
come out quiet, them
And then she could feel that they
put their shoulders to the door-the
weather beaten door-with it's crazy
lock that didn't half catch. The brown
bureau had spun across the floor like
a top, and they had crowded in. Then
she had done something to quiet the
children. 1t was queer that she could
not remember what it was when every
thing else in the dream still lived with
In her, horribly distinct and real.
What fool she was, with Jim asleep
In the next room. She would not think
about it another minute She began to
dress, but her fingers were heavy, and
the vague oppression Of nightmare
blocked her efficiency.
She called the children, but the sight
OF them, happy and flushed with sleep,
did not reassure her.
NANNY said Topeka, eldest of the
family and lately on the invalid list,
the victim of cactus thorn, ''my toes
all well. Can [ go barefoot?"
Topeka Rodney, what kind Of feet
do you expect to have when you are u
young lady if you run barefoot noww
Topeka, sitting on the side of the
bed, with tousled hair, put her small
feet together and contemplated them
The toe was still suspiciously insamed
for perfect convalescence, although To-
peka, with Spartan courage that won
her place in the annals of household
valor, had the day before allowed her
mother to pick out with a needle the
| torturlng cactus thorn, scorning to
| shed a tear during the operation,
| though afterward she had taken the
piece of dried apple that was offered
her and devoured it to the last bite. as
only just compensation for her suffer
| ings
"Dimmy dot a tore toe too, But
Jimmy showed strange reticence
about offering proofs Of his affection.
At the peril Of his equilibrium he clasp