Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-20

>
applauded him till the rafters rang. He
knew in his heart he didn't deserve the
applause, for it was the beautiful,
bright face of this girl that made him
a dancer; it was the electricity in the
sunshine she radiated which lightened
both his heart and his heels and set
the one and the other joyously dane
ing. The electricity transformed him.
He had enough presence of mind to
realize this, and he was not a bit irri-
tated at having been so transformed
even though the transformation should,
as he very we'll anticipated, end with
the end of the dance, the care~free boy
of II depart, and surly disconnected
Yankee Dan take possession of this
thirty-four-year house again.
AS Oracle warmed to the dancing sh,
he noted, waXed even more and more
WinsOme-brighter and brighter, if any
thing could be more bright-more and
more wonderful in Dams eyes. Through
it all he marveled at his own presence
of mind; he could calmly and sanelp
analyze his own feelings; he was not
affected by that fool thing called love-
which he had so often heard the boys
talk of, for he felt not one of the calf
like symptoms; it was open and genu-
inc and legitimate wonder, admiration
fascination, if you like, but the very
sanest kind of fascination he ever
knew. He was sure that it was not
because she was a woman, but because
she was a picture, that he wondered
and marveled and kept his eyes fixed
on her, and that his legs danced as if
there was a demon in them, and that
he forgot, for several minutes to be
sullen and Surly and non-human. He
was not fOoling or acting the fool, as
people in love always do. True enough,
he felt drawn toward this girl, as he
had never dreamt that Horror! III
the energy of the dance the silken
shawl had slipped from the cailin's
brows, falling away from her Shout
ders, and revealing a head whose blaz
ing readiness spelt for Yankee Dan and
all the world disaster!
Dan could not explain himself how
he did it, but he found himself hardly
five minutes after, flying from the
dance house, and in the black night
speeding across the hillside-where, he
hardly knew, did not care, only he must
get a substantial section of the dark
ness between him and the dread dance
house. Probably it was too late -
fly now, but the instinct of flight III
spired him, and he must get far, far
from that fateful red head; the same
head-for it was the very same-which
had spoilt his luck in the search for
the Cairn CORN gold mine was now
probably spelling his luck for life.
In a house half a mile away-Manus
MacLoughlin She found refuge. Only
old Manus himself was there, for the
remainder of the household had gone to
the convoy, and Manus was both tact
turn and hard of hearing-the poorest,
indeed, of poor company. Dan hardly
noticed this, however, for he had all the
company he wanted-and too much-in
his own reflections. He was a coward
for running away; he acknowledged
that But he we'll realized that there
are circumstances under which it re-
quires extraordinary courage to act the
coward. There was no doubt about it,
Oracle O'Friel was so uncommonly Win
some that. in a manner, it would have
been mighty satisfactory to himself had
he been too coWardly to be a coward.
AS he sat with his chin in his hands,
looking very far into the heart of
Manus MacI. oughlins fire Gold Manus
in the corner pulling noiSily at his pipe,
and curiouslv observing DAM, he had
to confess to himself that ill-luck could
not be thrown in any mans way in
more bewitching shape than that in
which it had appeared to him. Sweet
Oracle dancing, her wonderfully fasci-
mating face uplifted to him; the smile
that played hide-and-seek about the
dimples of her face before it broke in
silvery ripples of laughter; the roguish
blue eyes, he-the-the-oh, what was
it?-which made man feel in spite of
his better sense, that he wanted to go
and walk the world with that match
less face beside him-all, all formed
picture that-but he must not think on
it at all, at all! There was a red head
that was enough. He ought to be
thankful to God-and so he was.
aren't we goin' to midnight mass,
Yankee DAMP" Old Manus had got to