Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-06-16
! e THE J
lA|AAy|BARRlER
i IL BY
VS. R. REX q :. :. nn "a EN-,
opYRleALisos, BY HARPER & bRoTHE?3
CHAPTER XIV.
A MYSTERY IS UNRAvELEp.

his quarters Gale knocked ut his door,
for the traders visit, coupled with the
late hour and his somber countenance,
forecast new complications.
Hes here to object, but 1t won't
CO." thought the lieutenant as he made
his visitor welcome.
Meade swung his big reading chair
out beneath the hanging lamp and, 60
ing to the sideboard, brought back n
bottle. some glasses and a pouch of
tobacco. Noting the old mans sigh of
fatigue as lie sat himself down heavi-
ly, he remarked sympathetically
mir. Gale, you've made long trip
today and you must be tired. If this
talk is to be lengthy, why not have
drink with me now and postpone 1t I'M
til tomorrow"
I've been tired for eighteen years."
the other replied. 'Tonight hope to
get rested"
well, let's get at it," the younger
man finally said.
II suppose you'll want to interrupt
ind question me a heap but Ill ask
.ou to let me tell this story the way
1t comes to me till get it out Like
wise you'll want to know what all
chs has to do with you and Necia.
Yes; she told me about you and her,
and that's why I'm here" He paused.
You really think you love her, do
you?"
Burrell removed his pipe and gazed
at its coal impersonally.
II love her SO well, Mr.. Gale, that
nothing YOU can say will affect me.
I'll hesitated at first about asking her
TO be my wife because-you'll appre-
ciate the unusual well. her unusual
history. You see. come from a 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
to you.- But a heap Of conceits like
that have been bred into me from
generations back. They run In the
blood of every old family in my coun.
try, and SO, I'm ashamed to say, i
hesitated 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, Mr.. Gale. I'd like to
do it the day after tomorrow, Sunday,
but she isn't of age yet. and if you OBJ
ject we'll have to wait until Novem-
Der, when she turns eighteen. We'd
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 and met
the fathers gaze steadily.
The other mans lips framed n faint
smile.
'.Wc'll see. wish to God I'd had
your decision when was your age.
This story would be different and cas-
Ter to tell" He waited Il moment.
then settled to his self appointed task
Il was mining ut 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
1t was hard mining. however, and, be-
ing poor, l was still gripping my drill
and hammer after the town, had grown
up.
"A woman came out from the east
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.
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:
ut don't make any difference to you
how first saw her and how began
TO forget that anything else in the
world was worth having but her. I'd
lived In the woods all my life. as
said. and knew more about birds and
bugs and bees than i did about wom-
en-. l hadn't been broke proper and
didn't know how to act with them, but
/ 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 the wildness that runs
in wood critters. You can win that
over by gentleness. but you have to
take lit away from II woman. Every
live thing that couldn't talk was my
friend, but made the mistake of
counting my own kind the same way,
not knowing that when two of any
species mate the male must rule.
was too gentle. Even so, reckon I'd
have won out only for another man.
Dan Bennett was his name-the kind
that dumb animals hate, und-well,
that takes his measure. His range
adjoined mine. and, though I'd never
seen him, heard stories now and
then-the sort of tales you can't tell
to good wOman-so 1t worried me
when heard Of his attentions to this
girl. Still, l thought she'd surely find
him out and recognize the kind of fell
low he was; but. Lord, woman can't
tell II man from dog, and there
wasn't any one to warn her.
This Bennett came from the town
below, where he ran a saloon and
brace game or two; but. being us he
rode into our camp and out again in
the night and as i didn't drink nor
listen to the music of the little rolling
ball, why, we never met even after he
began coming to Chandon. Under
stand, l wasn't too good for those
amusements. just didn't happen to
banker after them, for was living
with the image of the little school,
ma'am IN my mind, and that destroyed
what bad habits I'd formed.
at was along in the early spring that
she began to see had notions about
her. but my ID backwardness
wouldn't let me speak, and, in addl-
tioh. was getting closer to ore every
shot Mt the mine and was holding off
until could lay both myself and my
gold mine at 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 Id never get into pay. The closer