Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-26

for the fortune that had made me take
good care Of my horse for / rode like
death on a wind storm. 1t grew moon
light as I raced down the valley, ard
the foam from the animals muzzle lodged
on my clothes, and made me laugh and
swear that the morning sun would show
IAN BENEFITS blood in its place. l rode
through the streets of Mesa. where they
lived, and past the lights of his big sa-
loon, where ! heard the sound OF devils
revelry and shrill voiced woman singing
"a woman the like of which he had tried
to make my Merridy. 1 never skuiked or
sneaked in those days. am. no man ever
made me take back roads. so came up
TO his house from the front and tied
my horse to his gate post. She heard
me on the steps and opened the door.
You sent for me- and Where Is
hep But he had gone away TO neigh
boring camp, and wouldn't be back until
morning. at which felt the way thlet
must feel for I'd hoped TO meet him in
his own house. and I wasn't the kind 10
go calling when the husband was out.
u couldn't think very clearly. however,
because of the change in her. She was SO
thin and worn and sad, sadder than any
woman I'd ever seen, and she wasn't the
girl I'd known three years before. guess
| I'd changed a heap myself; anyhow, that
was the first thing she spoke about, and
the tears came into her eyes as she
breathed:
Poor boy! poor boy! You took it very
hard. didn't your
You sent for me- said / Which road
did he take?'
There's nothing you can do to him.
she answered back. I sent for you to
make sure that you still love me-
Did you ever doubt it?' said I, at
which she began to cry, sobbing like q
woman who has worn out all emotion.
Can you feel the same after what
I've made you suffer- she said, and |
reckon she must have read the answer in
my eyes; for ] never was much good
at talking, and the sight of her. so chang
/ ed. had taken the speech out of me, leav-
I ing nothing but aches and pains and
! ashes in its place. When she saw what
! she wished to know, she told me the
story, the whole miserable story, that I'd
heard enough of to suspect. Why she'd
married the other man she couldn't ex-
plain herself, except that ii was a wo-
mans whim-I had stayed away and he
\ had come the oftener-part pique and part
/ the mans daredevil fascination, I reck-
on; but a month had shown her how she
really stood; and had shown him, too.
| Likewise, she saw the sort of man he
was and the kind Of life he lived. At
last he got rough and cruel to her, try
ing every way to break her spirit and
even the baby didn't stop HINT made
him worse. II anything-till he swore hed
make them both the kind he was. for her
| goodness seemed to rile and goad him;
and, having lived with the kind of wo-
man you have to beat, he tried it on her.
Then she knew her fight was hopeless,
and she sent for me.
| He's a fiend,' she told me- I've stood
all I can. He'll make a bad woman Of
me as sure as he will of the little one, if
1 stay on here, so have decided to so anG
take her with me-
! "'Where?' said I.
Wherever you say, she answered; ana
yet 1 did not understand, not till I saw
the look in her eyes. Then, as it dawned
on me, she broke down, for it was a
terrible thing for good woman to offer.
" It's all for the little girl! she cried.
More than her life depends upon It, We
must get her away from him.
She saw it was her only course, and
went where her heart was calling"
| The lieutenant met the look of appeal
in the traders eyes, and nodded to imply
his complete understanding and approval
I'VE love some women for their good
ness. others we love for their frailness,
but there never was one who combined
the two like her, and, now that 1 knew
she loved me, I began to believe again
| there was a God somewhere. I'd never
seen the youngster, so she led me in where
1t was sleeping, and 1 remember my
/ boots made such a devil of a humping
on the floor that she laid her slim white
finger on her lips and smiled at me- All
the fingers In the whole world
began to choke at my throat and
ali the blood in one commenced to pound
at my heart, when I looked on that little
sleeping kiddie. The tears began to roll
out of my eyes, and, because they had
/ been dry for four years, they scalded
! like melted metal. That was the only
time 1 ever wept-the sight of her baby
did it.
I love her already" I whispered, and
I'll spend my life making her happy and
, making a lady of her. which clinched
what wavering doubt the mother had, and
! she began to plan quickly, the fear COM
ing on her of a sudden that our scheme
might fail. 1 was for riding away with
both of them that night, back through
the streets of Mesa and up into the hills,
| where I'd have held them single-handed
against man or God or devil, but she
wouldn't hear of il.
1--WE must go away she said, a long
way from here, where the world won't
| find US and the little one can grow to
womanhood without knowing. She must
never learn VINO ner laIneT was or Wndl
her mother did. We will start all over,
you and / and the baby, and forget. Do
you love me we'll enough to do it?'
"I uttered cry and took her in my
arms, the arms that had ached for her all
those years. Then kissed her for the
first time
The old man tried to light his pipe,
which had gone out, but his fingers shook
so that he dropped his match; whereupon,
without speaking, Burrell struck another
and held 1t for him. The trader drew
a noisy pun or two in silence and shot
his host a grateful glance.
Her plan was for me to take the
youngster away that night, and for her
to join US later, because pursuit was
certain, and three could be traced where
one might disappear; she would follow
when the opportunity offered. saw that
he had instilled a terror into her, and
that she feared him like death; but, as
thought 1t over, her scheme seemed feast
BILE, so / agreed. 1 was to ride west that
hour with the sleeping babe, and conceal
myself at a place we selected, while she
would say that the little one had wander
ed away and been lost in the canon, OF
anything else to throw Bennett of. After
a time she would join us. Well-the little
girl never walked when took her In my