Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-07-03

y
shot at the mine and was holding Off
/ until could lay both myself and my
J gold mine ut her feet and ask her to
| take the two of us. so if one didn't pan
out the other might. But it seemed
| like I'd never get into pay. The closer
! | got the harder | worked. and, Of
course, the less ! saw Of her. likewise
the oftener Bennett came. | reckon no
man ever worked like did-two shifts
4 day, eighteen hours. with six to
and staggered when | came out into
| the daylight. At last | struck it, and
still waited awhile longer till could
be sure. Then | went down to my lit
tie shack and put on my Other clothes.
| remember I'd gone so thin that they
hung loose, and my palms were so raw
had hard work handling the buttons
and got my shirt all bloody. for Id
been in the drift forty hours without
sleep and breathing powder smoke till
my knees hucklcd and wabbled under
me- TO this day the smell Of stale
powder smoke makes u woman of me.
but that morning | sang, for was go
ing for my bride, and the world was
brighter than it has ever been fer
eighteen years. The little schoolhouSc
vas closed. at which | remembered
that the term was over. Id been liv-
| ing underground for weeks and lost
track of the days, SO that | had to
count them up on my fingers. 1t took
me long time, for was pretty tired
in my head. but when I'd figured it out
| went on tC where she was boarding.
"The woman of the place came to
| the door, Scotchwoman. She had a
| mole on her chin. remember. Il brown.
| iSh black mole with three hairs in IL.
She wore an apron, too. that was kind
of theckered, and three buttons were
open at the neck Of her dress. recall
lot more Of little thugs about her.
though the rest Of what happened is
rather dreamy.
81 asked for Merridy. and she told
| Inc she'd gone aWay-gOne with Ben
| net. the night before, while was
coughing blood from the powder
smoke; that they were married in the
front room and that the bride looked
beautiful. She had cried bit on leav-
ing Chandon and-and-that was about
all. counted the buttons on the
ScOtchwoman's waist eight or ten
times. and by and by she asked if
was sick. But | wasn't She was q
kind hearted woman, and I'd been to
her house good deal. SO she asked me
to come in and rest. ! wasn't tired, so
! went away and climbed back up to
the little shack and the mine that
hated now.
81 turned into a kind of hermit after
that, and | wasn't good to associate
with. Men got so they Stunned me,
and knew they told strange stories,
because heard them whisper when
went to the stores for grub once a
month.
From time to time heard Of her.
I but the news. instead of gladdening
me, as it would have gladdened some
men, wrung out what bits Of suffering
were left in me, and fairly ached for
her, Nobody comes to see clearer than
a woman deceived, so it didn't take
her long to find out the kind of man
Bennett was He wasn't like her at
all, and the reason he had courted her
so holly was just that he had had
everything that rightly belongs to a
man like him and had sickened Of it,
so he wanted her because she was
clean and pure and different and, real
izing that he couldn't get her any other
way, he had married her. But she was
a treasure no bad man could appreci-
ate, and so he tired quickly, even be-
fore the little one came.
when | heard that she had borne
him a daughter l wrote her letter,
which took me month to compose
and which tore up. One day story
came to me that made me saddle my
horse to ride down and kill him-and
mind you, was man who made pets
of little wild. trusting things. But |
knew she would surely send for me
when her pain became too great so
uncinched my gear and hung it up
and waited and waited and waited.
Three long, endless years | waited, al
most within sound Of her voice, with
out a word from her. without glimpse
of her, and every hour of that time
went by as slowly as if had held
nv breath. Then she called to me, and
| went.
81 tell you, was thankful that day
for the fortune that had made me
take good care Of my horse, for rode
like Death on windstorm. rode
through the streets of Mesa, where
they lived, and past the lights OF Ben
netts big saloon, where i heard the
sound of devils revelry and shrill
voiced woman singing-a woman the
like Of which he had tried to make my
Merridy. | never skulked or sneaked
in those days, and no man ever made
me take back roads, so l came up to
his house from the front and tied my
horse to his gatepost. She heard me
on the steps and opened the door
"'YOu sent for me- said l. Where
is hep But he had gone away to
neighboring camp and wouldn't be
back until morning, at which | felt
the way a thief must feel, for I'd
hoped to meet him in his own house. J
couldn't think very clearly, however.
because of the change in her. She
was so thin and worn and sad-Sadder