Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1907-08-21

Jim rose and. lirnping slowly over to
where the girl sat stood looking down
uppn her inten,ly. She shifted uncoin-
fortabIy under his gaze and finally
sill ped from her chair and fed igno-
m;Giousiy to the far;hest window,
where. she felt sure. Jim. suffering
from his swollen ankle. would not fol-
low her
"And. besides" she continued loftily
as he subsidized into the chair she had
vacated-"besides. | have no intention
of ever marrying. feel that l have
a mission which is altogether too i'm
portant'-
"Huhr'
''Oh. of course you are shocked
scandalized, in fact. Tom and Sally
were both.seemingly outraged when l
told them what had decided on. Ev-
cry one seems to think it's plainly a
girls mission in life to marry the first
man who eondeseends to ask her. but
l have entirely different ideas on the
subject. and | really feel that it is my
mission TO go and help teach those
poor, ignorant Chinese
ITO lie and cheat alice samee Mel
lean man instead of guileless hea-
then
Jim Brinson had never before pro-
posed to girl. and her calm refusal
hurt.
Where are you going?" he asked
presently as Miss Amber in naughty
silence commenced to pin on her hat.
''To the postoffice,s icily The letter
announcing my appointment has GER
tainly arrived by this time"
you surely amt going to attempt to
Il surely am"
But look at the weather. Can't you
zee there's storm comingy
mo, cannot" answered Isabel. dom
ming light jacket. THE day IL beau
tiful"
wait until tomorrow, and one Of
the boys can go. And, besides. Tom
has taken your pony out on the range.
There amt horse left that you can
ride"
II intend to ride FREELY" said Miss
Amber shortly.
Don't attempt to ride that cayuse."
warned Joe. He needs a firm hand
Or he's liable to take the bit In his
teeth any old time and go looping of
after any stray horse he'd spy grazing
on the range. He amt got lick Of
sense and would be sure to balk and
pitch you OF soon's the storm strikes
him. And there's a blizzard coming.
and that right soon"
'As said before" replied Miss Am
Der, ''the day is perfect-a trifie hay,
but that Is caused by smoke. Firehy
is as gentle as one could wish He
suits me-"
"Some people appear to have as little
knowledge about weather and horses
rs they have common sense" returned
Dim In no genial tone.
well, as the weather and horses and
cattle evidently comprise the extent of
a cow puncher's knowledge one ought
not to be expected to excel them In
their limited sphere answered the girl
tauntingly AZ she abruptly left the
room.
4AC III was 0tHifodcis AANSa diieA
clear. Not the slightest indication Of
q storm, and it's as warm as one could
WISH" Isabe. murmured to herself as
she cantered blithely along the deeply
marked trail. How contrary man is
II he's thwarted in any little thing.
And Tom and his wife are just as
unreasonable. They think l ought to
consider myself in great luck to marry
prosperous cattleman and settle
down as their nearest neighbor. Well
I must admit I'll hate to leave them
80 soon. How quickly those two
months have passed! | never thought
/ would like Colorado SO we'll" glanc
ing approvingly around the undulat
ing country. How near the noun
tains seem. Yes. it's big and free and
inspiring. but it's not for me-" and she
sighed unconsciously.
Absorbed with her meditations, lisa.
bel failed to notice that misty veil
was suddenly drawn before the far
foothills. She was rudely brought to
q realization Of her whereabouts as the
storm swooped down upon her malig
nantly. Fireny was aimlessly picking
his way up the side Of decidedly un-
familiar looking hill. Not sign Of the
trail was to be seen. And it was SO
plain child could follow IT," his rider
dolefully reflected.
The earth became blanketed with
white. and surrounding objects grew
DINNER 1t was new world-a threat.
ening. confusing, shifting white world
At the top of the hill they met the
full fury Of the first blizzard of the
season.
"Joe was certainly right about the
weather Isabel admitted shiveringly,
rbut he was entirely wrong about Fire
ny. He behaves admirably II was
not his fault that we are lost He
hasn't the slightest disposition to
buck
The storm gave whistling shrek.
Suddenly there was tumultuous up
n1oavaI nf something SoY,lay bprp-a