The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-19

him. but she was examining the wagon
tire and seemed to have no such inten-
ton.
Say" looking at him from the top
of the load of hay to which she had
climbed with an agility which had
made his jaw drop. IF you are going
! to live in that shack over yonder, and
use this road, let's get together and put
up a bridge. This is a mean crossing
when it rains.
Sure" replied Stout amiably. He
had very clearly defined desire to
stand well in the estimation of this
capable person.
"Pll furnish the team and you get
out the timber" She added, "Ill help
you lay the poles.'
Sure" replied Stout again, little
bewildered by the vision which came
to him of himself and this buxom lady
building a bridge.
AS he drove into town next day his
curiosity as to the identity of his eX-
traordinary neighbor increased until he
determined to make a few adroit in
quiries
In town the first person who nailed
him was the editor of the Paint River
Record. He shook hands with Stout as
vigorously as though Stout had just re-
turned from q perilous trip to the
Klondike and asked him if he couldn't
give the paper an Item" from Paint
River.
We're going to build a bridge over
the crick," said Stout.
''Who is 'we?' inquired the editor
briskly, his pad making a prompt APP
pearance.
'Well-me and a neighbor lady" re-
piled Stout. hesitatingly.
"OE-Bates." said the editor, writing
rapidly.
IS. B.?" asked Stout with a sudden
inspiration.
The editor nodded. ''Tell her thanks
for that cabbage she left on our desk;
veil mention it in our next issue. Bet
ter let me put your name down, Stout,
for the Record. You get the House
maids Own for fifty cents extra if you
subscribe now"
But Stout was walking rapidly away,
bordering over the remarkable cOinci-
dence which made S. B. Bates, whom
he detested, and the self-sufficient
| lady whom he admired one and the
same person.
| And so it came about that S. B. Bates
and W. Stout, ''the hustling young
rancher from Paint river" owned
! jointly the bridge over that conspicu-
GUS cash in the earth's surface which
gave the locality its name.
| During the construction of the bridge
the newcomer and the pioneer became
good friends. She called him STOUT
and he called her rs. B." as they
| sawed and hammered. He would have
called her Miss" but as she swung
her trusty AK and moved logs which
would have taxed his own strength
the words seemed to die on his tongue.
The only feminine trick Stout OBJ
served in his fellow worker was her
propensity for holding nails in her
mouth.
'@Why don't you go in for sheep?'
| inquired S. B. Bates when the bridge
was completed. Get a permit and
range them in the forest reserve.
| There's nothing in cattle. and wool is
! going up. You can't raise anything
without water, and when the Smyth
ditch is far enough along to irrigate
your land you and l will be dead of
old age. Have a whirl at sheep.
Stout"
So sincere had become his belief in
| the judgment of S. b. Bates that Stout
accordingly had "a whiri at sheep. -
He bought 500 head and thereafter his
appearance in town invariably evoked
the following paragraph in the Paint
| River Record:
Walter Stout, the sheep king from
! Paint River, made a flying trip to our
| berg on Saturday last. Come again,
! Walter; we are always glad to see
| you"
! When the thermometer crept below
zero and the west wind blew a gale of
| sixty miles an hour he passed many
! pleasant evenings with his feet in the
| oven of $ B. Bates kitchen stove dis
| cussing the ruinOus effect of sugar
4 beets upon the soil and kindred topics
! of mutual interest.
/ Spring had come and a chinook was
! expected. any day, when Uncle Sam
Boucher issued verbal invitations for
a ranicabOO in his log house five miles
/ up the river.
Thought maybe I'd take it in said
/ S. B. Bates, in speaking of it to Stout
| one evening, and she looked at him
| rather eXpectantly.