Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-07-23
CHAPTER vi.
VVhArAIn RorAaa Taken Hand

All that day the men busted them
selves in preparation for the start.
Bait was ferociously exultant, Elmer
son was boiling with impatience, while
Fraser, whose calm nothing disturbed,
slept most of the time, observing that
this was his last good bed for while,
and therefore he wished to make 1t
work.
Beneath her quiet cheerfulness,
Cherry nursed forlorn heart; for
when these men we're gone she would
be left alone and friendless again, bur-
led in the heart OF an inaccessible viii
derness, given over to her fears and
the intrigues of her enemies. She had
eyes mainly for Emerson, and although
in her glance there was good-fellow-
ship, in her heart was hot resentment
first at him because he had awak-
ened in her the warm interest she felt
for him, and, second. at herself, for
harboring any such interest. Why
should this self-centered youth, wrap
ped up in his own affairs to her own
utter exclusion, give her cause 10
worry? Why should she allow him to
step into her quiet life and upset her
well-ordered existence?
and upset her well-ordered existence?
How do you like him." she asked
Bait once.
"He's my style, all right" said the
big man. He's desperate, and he'll
fight; that's what l want-somebody
that won't blench at anything when
the time comes" He ground his teeth
and his red eyes famed, rejecting the
sense of injury that scared his brain.
What he don't know about the bust.
ness, l do, and we'll make 1t win. But,
say. amt he awful at asking ques-
tons? MY head aches and my back is
lame from answering him. Seems like
he remembers it all, too"
Goaded by the wrong he had suf-
fered, and almost maniacal in his Gag
erness for the coming struggle, the
giants frenzy told Cherry that the
fight would be an unrelenting one, and
again vague tremor Of regret at hav-
ing drawn this youth into the affair
crept over her and sharpened the
growing pain at her heart.
During the evening Emerson left
the two other men in the store and,
seeking her out in the little parlor,
asked her to play for him. She con-
ScuLcu Sloulyb 0Ao, as OiA IhSAi III os
evening together, he sang with her.
Again the blending Of their voices
brought them closer, his aloofness
wore off, and he became an agreeable,
accomplished companion whose merry
wit and boyish sympathy stirred emo
lions in the girl that threatened her
peace Of mind. This had been the only
companionship with her own kind she
had enjoyed for months, and with his
melting mood came a softening Of her
own nature In which she appeared be-
fore him, gracious and irresistible.
Banteringly, and rising out Of his Ella
ton, he tried to please her, and, in
the same spirit that calls the bird to
its mate, she responded. It was their
last journey together before embark
ing on his perilous journey in search
OF the Golden Fleece, and his starved
affections clamored for sympathy,
while the iron in his blood felt the
magnetic propinquity of sex. When he
said good night 1t was with a wholly
new conception of his hostess, and OF
her power to charm as well as manage
men and affairs; but he could well
have dispensed with an uncomfortable
feeling that came over him as he re-
viewed the events Of the evening over