Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-10-01
CHAPTER IY.-tContinued.)

the olu p-p-prpVefD, young SAINT oih
]sinnerl' Gomez"
He proceeded towards the carriage;
hut Peneeta seemed rooted to the
ground, and David was equally inca
pable of motion. While they stood
thus. gazing into each others eyes,
they saw nothing and they saw all.
| That brief glance was freighted with
destiny. A subtle communication had
taken place between them, although
they had not spoken: for the eye has
a language of its own.
What was the meaning OF that
glance? What was the emotion that
gave It birth in the soul? lie knew!
1t told it's own story. To their dying
day, the actors in that silent drama
remembered that glance with rapture
and with pain.
Pepeeta spoke first. hurriedly and
anxiously: "Wha did o say last
| night about the light of life" Tell met
I must know"
II said there is a light that lighteth
oya-y man that cometh into the world
And what did you mean? Be quick.
There is only a moment"
Il meant tina there is a light that
| shine from the soul itself and that in
this light we may walk, and he who
walks in it, walks safely. He need
never fall"
Never? I do not understand; it is
beautiful; but 1 do not underestimate
"Pcpeeta!" called her husband, an
grily.
She turned away, and David watch
ed her gliding out of his sight. with an
irrepressible pain and longing. Il sup
| pose she Is his daughter" he said to
himself. and upon that natural but
mistaken inference his whole destiny
turned. Something seemed to draw
| him after her. He took a step or two,
halted, sighed and returned to his la
Dor. .
But it was to a strangely altered
| world that he went. It's glory had van
ished; it was desolate and empty. or so
at least it seemed to him, for he con-
founded the outer and the inner
worlds, as it was his nature and habit
to do. 1t was in his soul that the
| change had taken place.
Thoughts which he had always been
able to expel from his mind before,
like evil birds fluttered again and
again into the windows of his soul.
For this he u%pbraided himself: but
only to discover hat at the very mo-
ment when he regretted that he had
been tempted at all, he also regretted
| that he had not been tempted further.
All day long his agitated spirit alter
mated between remorse that he a en-"
joyed so much, and regret that he had
enjoyed so little. Never had he expo
| rienced such u tumuit in his soul. lie
struggled hard, but he could not tell
| whether he had conquered or been de-
feated.
He heard again the hooking laugh
ter of the quack. and the singing
words Of his cynical philosophy nee
Aore rang in his ears. What this
/ coarse wretch had said was true. then!
| Much of his youth had already passed
and he had not as yet tasted the only
substantial joys of existence-money.
| pleasure, ambition, love! He felt that
| he had been deceived and defrauded.
A contempt for his old life and it's
surroundings crept upon him.. He be-
| gan to despise the simple country peo-
pie among whom he nae grown up,
| and those provincial ideas which they
| cherished in the little, unknown nook
of the worlr where they stagnated.
During a long time he permitted
| himself to be borne upon the current
of these thoughts without trying to
1 stem IL, I'LL IL .SCcillCu us IL ne YOU'D
| be swept completely from his moor
ings. But his trust a been firmly
| anchored, n did not easily let 60 it's
hold. The convictions of a lifetime be-
gan 10 reassert themselves. They rose
/! and struggled heroically for the pos
| session of his spirit.
Had the battle been with the simple
| abstraction Of philosophic doubt, the
| good might nave prevailed, but there
obtruded itself INTO the field the con-
crete form of the gypsy. The glance
of her lustrous eye, the CLEAN of her
milk white teeth. the heaving of her
agitated bosom. i~nscrutable but
suggestive expression of her flushed
and eager face, these were foes against
which he struggled in vain. A feverish
desire, whose true significance he did
not altogether understand, tugged at
his heart. and he felt himself drawn
by unseen hands TOWARD this mysteri-
GUS and beautiful being. She seemed
to him at that awful moment, when his
whole world of thought and feeling
was slipping from under his feet, the
one only abiding reality. She at least
was not an impalpable vision, but SOL
i'd. substantial, palpitating flesh and
blood. Like continuously advancing
waves which n or later must UNI
dermine a dyke, the passions and sus-
picions of his newly awakened nature
were sapping the foundations of his
belief.
At intervals he gained a little cour-
age to withstand them, and at such
moments tried to pray; but the effort
was futile, for neither would the ac-
customed syllables of petition spring
to his lips. nor the feelings of faith and
devotion arise within his heart.
CHAPTER v.
Violent emotions, like the lunar tides.
must have their ebb because they nave
their flow. The feelings do not so
much advance like a river. as oscillate
like a pendulum. Striding homeward,
David's determination to join his for
tunes to those of the two adventures
began to wane. He trembled at an
unknown future and hesitated before
untried paths.
Already the strange experience
through which he had passed began to
seem to him III a alf~-forgotten
dream. The refluent thoughts and feel
ings OF his religious life began to set
back into every bay and estuary of
his soul.
With a sense OF shame, he regretted
his hasty decision, and was saying to
himself. Il will arise and go to my
Father" for all the experiences OF life