St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1907-05-29
Fire and Water
By LOUISE ]. STRONG.
Copyright, 1907. by P. c. Eastment.


The fever scorched him physically
and befogged him mentally. He tossed
In hot, restless haze, at times bah
bling childishly of mother" - the
mother whose loss three years before
had sent him to the far west to try to
forget his LONELINESS The struggle to
master the new conditions attendant
on ranch life had taken him out Of him
self and done him good, and as success
crowned his efforts dreams of home
again, made so by the presence of a
sweet faced girl wife, lighted his toll.
They were only dreams as yet, for
he held himself humbly and had hest
tated to offer his love until he felt that
his affairs were on firm basis finan-
cially, as they would be when his pres
ent abundant crop was harvested.
In his partial delirium and hazy wan
dering he muttered now the long re-
pressed confession, whispering it eager
ly with feverish Impotence for the re-
spouse his heart hoped for
At length the silence which lay like
the pail of desolation upon the lonely
little shack was broken by heavy foot
steps on the planks at the door, and a
burly fellow strobe in with a noisy
greeting: Hello, Harris! Laid up,
hey?"
The sick man reused to consciousness
and smiled feebly: How do, Lamson.
Glad you came in, Yes, I've been laid
up a bit-can't remember how long
fever muddles my head" His speech
was broken and dragged thickly.
Saint wanting to eat much | s'pose.
and good thing that is, too, for an old
bach that's got nobody"
Harris WINGED Mother had been in
his sick fancy 50 much and with such
vividness that his bereavement seemed
but a few days back With an effort
he replied:
81 want nothing but water. and Slade
brings me pailful mornings, when
he doesn't forget, as he did today" He
gestured toward the empty bucket on
the chair beside the bed. but the visitor
did not notice it-nor the longing in
the fever red eyes and the cracked lips.
doctor, of course?" he intimated
briskly.
"No; Slade wouldn't go for him. and
no one else's been in"
"Slade wouldn't go! Ha, ha! Guess
not much! You don't get the old
ground hog that far from his hole back
of the hill Everybody's buster than
in sheep shearing time, you know, har'
vesting their grain. Reason no ones
been along, l reckon. I'm through in
fine shape, | tell you, and I've prom
ised myself and gang to Snyder for a
week And, man, you'd ought to he
looking after yours. It's spelling fast,
I noticed" He laughed at the startled
expression that widened the hollow
eyes. Forgot it, had you? Well, you
want to see to it right away. I must
mosey. Pm out on sweet Grand
Got my new house done. It's a beaut
too, and furnished tiptop. And now the
cage is ready I'm going up to settle
the date of taking home my bird Liz
zie's fought shy, but she'll pull steady
when we're tied all right Ha, har
"LiZzieY' Harris repeated vaguely.
his voice hesitating and troubled.
"Sure! Lizzie Bradley-L amson Kind
O. tidy name, | take it; something like
those swell New Workers. Ha, haw
He roared boisterously at his flash Of
wit. "Well, hope you'll pull up soon
So long, He stamped away, wills
Ting, leaving the door open.
In the silence that again closed upon
him Harris lay and stared out at the
quivering heat waves and little dust
eddies that whired in at times, aggra-
waiting his burning heat and thirst.
But he did not notice them. He was
striving to steady his throbbing brain
and analyze the torturing inner sense
Of pain and loss which now intensified
his bodily distress.
The crop-the c-r-o-p-that was all