The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-09-15

thick stick, and printing the noun
tain road with a hobnailed pattern
that puzzled those little woodmen. the
school children, for days afterwards.
mile-twO miles-and then he came
IN sight of some straggly red build
lngs on hill. The captain begged
away; the red buildings grew redder
and larger; one of them. almost a fac
tory for size, CURLY informing him. in
letters ten feet high, that it was a
WINERY.
The stranger breathed a sigh of re-
lief. He knew now that he had ar
rived at his destination. He struck off
sized private house, surrounded by a
slzer private house, surrounded by a
paling fence, obviously sheltered the
owner or foreman of the ranch The
privacy of this place was protected by
a board which said succinctly: Keep
Out" but the Englishman, undeterred
by the warning, kept on, and strobe UP
the gravel walk to the rose-embowered
porch beyond. He was a little daunt-
ed, however, by the prevailing silence.
He would have welcomed the bark of
a dog or some gruff voice demanding
what he wanted. To walk into such
a tomb-like quiet made him uncom-
Portable. He saw himself in magma
ton possibly misjudged; beset, maybe
n
and he set his feet down more loudly
than ever to assert the uprightness OF
his intentions. He tramped up the
three steps leading to the porch like
a mule battery going into action. But
the stiffness remained unbroken by
any noise but his own.
He looked about in perplexity until
at last, in the darkest and furthest
corner, he detected a hammock; and
saw, not without relief, that it was
occupied by a recumbent figure. He
went over to it, still in his heavy sol
dierly fashion. and looked down on
well, what, in his own words he used
to describe afterwards as: "Pon my
soul, the most beautiful creachaI
was ever privileged to gaze upon
Cad, a girl of 20, with her lips a
little parted on the whitest teeth you
ever saw, and her breath comm and
goin' as faint as a baby's in a cot and
beauty? Why, it was like seem the
Tai Mahal by moonlight-the same in
describable whatd'yecallum, you know,
when something seems to take you by
the throat and you gasp, my boy, posi-
lively gasp"
She was dressed in silvery gray, with
a wide lace collar about her neck, and
in her thick, rumpled chestnut hair
there lay a single red carnation. She
was as fresh and sweet and exquisite
as the flower itself, and in contrast to
the dust and heat without, the sight
of her was as refreshing as a splash
ing pool in the depths of a woody can
yon. The captain, after his first mo-
ment of surprise, began to wonder
what steps he ought to take to awak-
en- her. Every instinct as a gentle
man babe him cough. So he cOughed.
At first so gently that it was almost
a lullaby, and then by degrees rising
to an honest, growing, bull-doggish
cough that seemed TO say: Wake up,
blast you"
At last she stirred and opened her
eyes and met those of the stranger
looking down at her He said hastily.
Il beg your pardon" and betrayed
enough agitation to spill a box of
candy and a half-Opened novel from
the chair beside him. The girl sat up
in the hammock, still gazing at him
with establishment, and asked him who
he was and where he came from.
C"Gad, sir, in a voice like a Cash
miri flute on the Lake of Selangor
borne over the water at dusk, Or the
bulbul in one of those moldy old gar
dens where the Rajput princes held
high revel in the company daysrO
My name is Anstruther," he said,
picking chocolate creams off the floor
Captain Anstruther of the British
army"
She smiled at him without saying a
word.
You are. I presume, Miss Helen
Jaffrey?" he went on.
She showed the least little sign of
embarrassment and colored perceptibly
as she aSented with a movement of her
head.
Extraordinary. calculated the cap
tain. Most traordinary!"
'Why?" she asked.
1t was the captains turn TO look put
out.
I'm not accustomed TO awaken the
young ladies / call on" he said Il
pride myself on being a man of the
world but positively for once, I felt
myself staggered. 1 nearly went