Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-04-27

s M siLetabty gIhen q. ack when a
 @ A quar.er Of an hour after the
 young loyers ecstatic ieturn to lis qulrtcrS Gale kuo ked at bis door. For the traders visit. c-uptei " tin inc ate hour and bis sombcr countenance. 'orecast new coinpl! acions.
 He's hc;e to oGject, but l. won't -o.' thcagh. the lieutenant as he made is visitor vel el-ome.
 Meade swung. lis big reading chair ont beneath the hanging lamp and, Go- ing 10 the sdcboard. brous ht Lack a bottle, some llasses and pouch of tobacco. Noting the cid mans sigh of fatigue as he sat himself Gown heavi- iy. he remarked sympatheucal!y:
 Mir. Gale, you've mace long trip today ard you mast Ee tired. If this ralk Is to be lengthy, why rot have a drink with me now and postpone 1t un. til tomorrow"
 I've been tired for eighteen years" the other replied. Tonight 1 hope to get rested."
 Well, let's get at It," the younger man finally said.
 'I suppose you'll want to interrupt and question me a heap, but I'll ask you to let me tell this story the way 1t comes to me till I get 1t out Like wise you'll want to know what ail this has to do with you and Necia Yes; she told me about you and her, snd that's why I'm here" He paused. You really think you love her. do SouT'
 Burrell removed his pipe and gazet at Its coal impersonally.
 Il love her so well, Mir. Gale, that nothing you can say will affect me. I--I hesitated at first about asking her to be my wife because-youll appre- ciate the unusual-well. her unusual history. You see. come from coun- try where mixed blood is about the only thing that can't be lived down or overlooked, and I've been raised with notions of family honor and pride of race and birth. and so forth, that might seem preposterous and absurd " yoos Dut hNap oh NOAiNNits ilGC that have been bred into me from generations back. They run in the blood of every old family in my coun- try, and so, Fun ashamed to say, hesltated and tried to reason myself into giving her up, but I've had my eyes opened, and see how little those things amount to. after all. I'm going to marry Necia, Mir. Gale. I'd like to do 1t the day after tomorrow, Sunday. but she isn't of age yet. and If you ob- ject we'll have to wait until Noyem- Der, when she turns eighteen. Wed both like your consent. of course. I'd be sorry to marry her without it. But if you refuse we'll be forced to dis please you" He looked up md met the fathers gaze steadily
 The other mans lips framed faint smile.
 wen see. wish to God I'd had your decision when l was your age. This story would be different and cas- Ter to tell" He waited moment. then settled to his self appointed task. T was mining at the time up in the mother lode country of California. which was the frontier then, pretty much as this is now. only we had bet ter things to eat was one of the first men into camp named Chandon- helped to build it. in fact-and got hold of some ground that looked real good. It was hard mining, however. and, be ing poor, l was still gripping my drill and hammer after the town had grown up.
 Vermont 1t was-and schoolteaching was her line of business. only she hadn't been raised to it, and this was her first clatter at the game. Her folks died and left her up against 1t, l gathered from what little she told me--sort of an old story. guess. and usual, too, only for her. She was plumb unusual"
 He seemed to ponder this moment and then resumed:
 Tt don't make any difference to you how first saw her and how l began to forget that anything else .in the world was worth having but her. I'd lived In the woods all my life, as l said. and knew more about birds and bugs and bees than l did about wom- en. hadn't been broke proper and didn't know how to act with them, but l laid out to get this girl, and did fairly well. There's something wild in every woman that needs to be tanned. and 1t isn't like tue wildness that runs ln wood critters. You can win that