The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-03-17

course, the less. I saw of her, likewise
the ofteper Bennett came. / reckon no
man ever worked like did-two shifts
a day, eighteen hours, with six to
sleep. The skin came OF OF my hands.
and staggered when came out into
the daylight. At last struck it, and
still waited awhile longer till could
be sure. Then l went down to nv 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 I'd
been In the drift forty hours without
sleep and breathing powder smoke till
my knees buckled and wabbled under
me. To this day the smell of stale
powder smoke makes a woman of me.
but that morning sang, for / was 60
ing for my bride. and the world was
brighter than it has ever been for
eighteen years. The little schoolhouse
was closed. at which l remembered
that the term was over. I'd been liy-
| 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 l was pretty tired
in my head. but when I'd figured it out
l went on to where she was boarding.
'The woman of the place came to
the door, a ScOtchwoman. She had
mole on her chin. remember. a brown
ish black mole with three hairs in it.
She wore an apron. too. that was kind
of checkered. and three buttons were
open at the neck Of her dress. | recall
a lot more of little things about her.
| though the rest of what happened is
rather dreamy
Il asked for Merridy. and she told
me she'd gone away-gone with Ben
nett 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. I 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 a
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
I 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 l knew they told strange stories,
because heard them whisper when l
went to the stores for grub once a
month.
From time to time l heard Of her.
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 l fairly ached for
her. Nobody comes to see clearer than
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 l heard that she had borne
him a daughter l wrote her letter.
which took me a month to compose
and which tore up. One day a story
came to me that made me saddle my
horse to ride down and kill him-and,
mind you, was man VINO made pets
Of little wild. trusting things But l
knew she would surely send for me
when her pain became too great, so l
uncinched my gear and hung 1t up
and waited and waited and waited.
Three long. endless years l waited, al
most within sound Of her voice, with
out q word from her. without glimpse
Of her, and every hour of that time
went by as slowly as If | had held
my breath Then she called to me. and
/ went.
II 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. l rode
through the streets Of Mesa, where
they lived. and past the lights Of Ben
nett's big saloon, where / heard the
sound Of devils revelry and a shrill
voiced woman singing-a woman the
like of which he had tried to make my
Merridy. l 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 a
neighboring camp and wouldn't be
back until morning, at which l felt
the way thief must feel, for I'd
hoped to meet him In his own house.