Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-06-04

choking back a lump; why, well all
love We ten times more fer all this, an
ez fer bein' a nobody. ye're a blessed
hev." And then he kissed her. while
Aunt Mandy wiped her eyes on her
apron.
The shower, violent for a moment,
was soon over; for as Chip raised her
wet eyes, a s~rnshiny smile illumined
Uncle Jud's face.
IF Cyrus is alive" he said, "as We
callate, I'll thank God till l set y e
on him, and then l think I'll lick him
fer not huntin' me up all these years.
But mebbe he found Abby was mar
ried n didn't want to-" interposed
Aunt Mandy. I'VE mustn't Judge him
yet"
mo, I won't judge him." asserted
Uncle Jud; 'Ill jest cuff him, good n
hard, an let it go at that.
"Ez fer you, grille, an jest to set yer
mind at rest, we found out what your
right name was and where We run
away from last fall, but never let on to
nobody. Twas your business and no
body else's, an made no difference in
our feelin's, ez ye must see; an now
I'll tell ye how l found out.
Il was down to the Corners one day
arter we went to Christmas Cove, n
a feller-nice-lookin' Teller, too, with
honest brown eyes-was askin' If any,
body had eel OF heard O. a runaway
girl by the name O. MCGUIRE. Said
she'd run away from Greenvale--
That's bout a hundred miles from
here he said-an' he was huntin' for
her. Nobody at the Corners knew
about we n l kept still, believin' We
had reason fer not wantin' to be found
out"
And now another tide-the thrill of
l~ove-surged in Chips heart, and her
face became glorified.
And SO the clouds rol.eG away. That
night Chip wrote a brief but curious
letter, SO odd, in fact, it must be
quoted verbatim:
Mr., Martin Frisbie:
Please send word at once to Mr.. Cyrus
Walker that his brother Judson, who
lives in Riggsville, wants to see him. No
one else must be told of this, for it's Il
secret. ONE WHO KNOWe.
But Chips secret was a most trans.
parent one, for when this missive
reached Martin three days later, he
recognized its angular penmanship and
similarity to the note Aunt Comfort
still treasured, and knew that Chip
wrote it.
1t startled him somewhat, however,
for Old Cy's youthful history was I'm.
known to him, and suspecting that
some mystery lay beneath this infor-
nation, he told no one, but started
for Riggsville at once.
The tide of emotion that had upset
the even tenor of Uncle Jud's home
life slowly ebbed away, and a keen
sense of expectancy took its place.
Chip, after giving him her letter, ex.
planned that Old Cy was most likely in
the wilderness, and that the letter
might not reach him for weeks"
And then one day a broad-shoulder-
ed, rather commanding, and somewhat
cititied man drove up to the home of
Uncle Jud.
Does MI. Judson Walker live
here?" he inquired of Aunt Mandy
who met him a THE door.
Her admission of that fact was
scarce uttered when there came a
rustling of skirts, a why, Mr.. Fris
bie!" and Chip was beside her, at
which Martin, collected man of the
world that he was, felt an unusual
heart-throb of thankfulness.
A little later, when Uncle Jud had
been summoned into their newly fur
nished "keeping-room," disclosures
astonishing to all followed.
we have been searching for you,
Chip, far and near" Martin assured
them, "and Old Cy is still at it. He
left US at the camp, almost a year ago,
came to Greenyale, found you had run
away, and came back to tell us. II
upset us all so that we broke camp
at once, taking Amzi with us, and re
turned to Greenvale. Old Cy there
babe us good-by and started to find
you. Ray also began a search as we'll
I've advertised in dozens of papers
have kept Levi on watch for you at
Grindstone ever since, and nov l hope
you will return with MI to Greenvale."
Il thank you all, oh, so much" an
swered Chip, scared a little at this
proposal, but l don't want to. I'm
nobody there and never can be. I'd
be ashamed to face folks there any
more"
81 guess she best stay with us" put
in Uncle Jud, "fer we sorter 'dopted
her, n not meanin' no disrespect to
you folks, l callate she'll be more con.
tent here. I'd like ye to get word to
Cyrus, though, soon's possible.
hain't sot eyes on him fer 40 years,
m" his eyes twinkling, I'm jest spill.
in to pull his hair n cuff him."
II will help out in that matter at
once, and more than gladly" replied
Martin, again looking at Chip and not
ing how improved she was; "but ]
still think Miss Runaway had better
return with me. We need you, Chip"
he continued earnestly, "and so does
some one else l can name, more than
you imagine, | fancy, and my wife will
welcome you with open arms, you
may be sure. AS for that foolish Han.
nah, she's the most penitent person
In G~reenyale. There's another reason
STILL" he added, glancing around with
a smile, land no one is more glad of it
than we all are. It's a siXty-thousand-
dollnr xonnnn-unlr horitnnn Micn