The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-05-09
- THE :
1}JDARRlER1
\ BIZ
(It<% REX BEACH
" 81 copYR,eHrieoss BY HARPER & BROTHERS
Continued From Last Sunday)

-. coal tupersonaliy.
- ,,,ro her so well. Mr.. Gale, that
J ~. Won can say will affect me.
H, ,'r+,ifated at first about asking her
- ~ wife because-yOu'u appre-
/" III. ugusual-well. her unusual
o." you see, come from a coun-
'9,, .bora mixed blood is about the
y! .rtnr that can't be lived down or
- J.orpd and I've been raised with
D .'ags Of family honor and pride of
~. and birth, and SO forth, that
~ w, seem preposterOus and absurd
w. rou But heap of conceits like
y. have been bred into me from
90 -.-,tions back. They run in the
Nd Of every old family in my coun-
y and so, I'm ashamed to say,
..s,stod and tried 10 reason myself
~ irving her up, but I've had my
-, ononcd. and l see how little those
.,,ss amount to. after all. I'm going
!, marry Nccia, Mr.. Gale. I'd like to
.tbe day after tomorrow. Sunday,
t,+ che isn't Of age yet. and if you OBJ
=. neil have to wait until Novem-
~ rbpp she turns eighteen. We'd
Nth like your consent, of course. I'D
4, ,arrr to marry her without it. But
ro7 refuse we'll be forced to dis
/ ,-rsa YOU" He looked up and met
tp fathers gaze steadily.
rta other mans lips framed 81 faint
4 SMILE
We'll see. | wish to God I'D had
rrr decision when was your age.
Tts story would be different and cas-
Rr 70 tell" He waited moment,
then settled to his self appointed task.
Il was mining at 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
wthings to eat. was one of the first
men into camp named ChandOn-
he1el TO build it. in fact-and got hold
Of some ground that looked real good.
Twas hard mining, however, and, be-
il. por, l was still gripping my drill
and hammer after the town had grown
~
a woman came out from the east
Vermont it Was-and Schoolteaching
vas her line OF business. only she
hadn't been raised to it, and this was
Der first clatter at the game. Her
folks died and left her up against it.
| gathered from what little she told
me-SOrt Of an old story, guess, and
usual loo, only for her. She was
l plumb unusual"
He seemed to ponder this a moment
and then resumed:
1t don't make any difference to you
bow | first saw her and how / began
% forget that anything else in the
world was worth having but her. I'd
A'ed in the woods all my life, as /
sad and knew more about birds and
Jugs and bees than | did about wom-
e. l hadn't been broke proper and
ulun Know how TO act with them, but
! -ald out to get this girl, and / did
!aIly well. There's something wild in
every woman that needs to be tanned,
4lu Il isn't like the wildness that runs
IL wood critters. You can win that
"u py genuenesS, but you have to
'aAe II away from a woman. Every
ave lhlng that couldn't talk was my
-''eAu' but made the mistake Of
curling my own kind the same way.
W AhoWlng that when two of any
oPe'ieS mate the male must rule. /
"~S 100 gentle. Even so, | reckon I'd
lave won out only for another man.
'H bennett was his name-the kind
.1'' uulnO animals hate, and-well.
'na' takes his measure. His range
1'0'1eu nine, and, though I'd never
:. uIul' l heard stories now and
Tue sort Of tales you can't tall
=, eoVd Woman-So it worried me
r r-eA heard of his attentions to this
s.''' Sll, | thought she'd surely find
I1 Ou' and recognize the kind of fell
~, =" LIE was; but. Lord, a woman can't
49, n man from a dog. and there
@T u any one to warn her.
ho,'1 u'S Bennett came from the town
Nv Nv where he ran a saloon and =
raS 1.e game or two; but, being as he
tho nv nv our camp and out again in
rr. Nlsht and as didn't drink nor
ha 1Su 10 the music of the little rolling
bagor NY We never met even after he
s,s s11 coming to Chandon Under.
s~n lu' l wasn't too good for those
hantor -s[ l just didn't happen to
With !. after them, for was livinc
mq,an' '1e Image of the little school,
wbsr ta ,I my mind. and that DESTROYED
49, ~ oou habits I'd formed
She n vas along in the early spring that
her E to see had notions ahont
wor,s Du' my ID backwardnoSs
ton ~ let me speak. and. in ada.
shot at tbs getting closer to ore every
until 7 o lue mine and was holding off
sold m, you'd lay both myself and NV
q
III, n, "a, other might = P que alon pan
got the h ToE gel into pay. The closer
course. the L Ia I worked, and. Of
the oftener Iess saw of her. Likewise
nan ever n,a bennett came. l reckon No
a day oi "pIAed like I did-two shifts
sleep. The s ~ hours, with six 70 e
and s tps skin came off of my f hands IS
the dol. ssered when 7 cop,o