The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1910-10-06
Not Even an Earthquake
Gop,t.shl. DO. hy A.soeIated LlteIaly rle..
By M. j. PHILLIPS

Disbrow 4 four would beat him.
and Disbrow had been getting iives
steadily. Unless a miracle interviewed.
he was beaten.
A miracle did intervene. Disbrov
choked down his breathing and tho
beating OF his heart, His aim was
perfect But just as his finger
squeezed tho trigger. the sun-browned
hills began to blur. The ground crept
and trembled sickcningy. a bnby
earthquake was upon them.
Disbrow tried instinctively to re-
lease his pressure on the trigger: but
his brain could not get the message to
his fingers quickly enough. Just pre-
viously 1t had signaled the muscles to
contract AS the quake joggied the
muzzle Of his rifle of the target. they
did contract The shot went wild
The trembling was over In few
seconds The frightened markers re.
turned to the pit from which they had
fed. In due time they slgnaled to
the pair lying pale and thoughtful on
the firing line. Dishrow had lost by
three points.
He knew. and Tergott knew. that
he had not lost fairly. The firing
regulations do not intend that the
rinemen shall buck earthquakes. But
TerGott. the adrolt. said quickly
TOO bad about that miss. Tho
wind vcercd just before you fired
Rut you beat the earthquake"
Dlsbrow looked at him curiously,
with a lonesome ache at his heart. A
man is likely to feel bcreft when no
has lost faith In n friend
Tergott took It for granted that
| everything was settled. He began 10
talk rcgretfully OF Disbrow's early
! departure from New Vista. Next day
he wrote TO Spokane and got his rival
place with better pay. by subtle
suggestion he set Disbrow's departure
n scant two weeks ahead
Disbrow had lost q friend and n
sweetheart. and the one hurt almost
as much as the other He tried to
ease the latter wound by telling him
self phIlosophically that Belle MCNee
had never really been his sweetheart
They had been friends, and he had
taken her to tho beach and the the.
alter But she was friendly with
Tcrgott, and went to places with
him, toe. Olsbrow had intended tell.
Ing her, when he had $500 saved up,
that he loved her,
But that was all off now. lie had
made q bargain with Tergott, and
was going through with IT, That Ter
gott was not playing fairly did not
release bin from responsibility.
The night before his going-away
day he went up to the little Mission
street house whore Belle McNee lived
with her invalid mother, The gIri
was whoie5omely, daintily sweet, and
she managed to make the tiny. spot.
less home reflect her own character.
lstics, despite the fact that she worked
nil day as bookkecpcr In a depart
ment storr.
They sat on the porch and watched
the stars. Relic did not talk much.
and when she did 1t was with n queer
rippancy that made Dishrow TN
comfortable It wasn't an occGson
for hippanry.
1t was y o'clock before he got IN
to go. They shook hands. the girl
with few TESTING words that grievcd
Disbrow. There was n hard little
smile on her face. as he could sec
by the rays Of the electric Hight on
the corner His throat choked up; he
could hardly get out tho word Good.
by" But he did. somehow.
At the gate he Jumped as II some
one had stuck pin in him For n
voice was speaking to him. a strange
broken. yearnlng little voice, half
tears-a voice that sent million
mad prickles along his skin.
Tommy. It said Il know. IL
made him tell me Tommy. you silly
boy, you aren't going to let a little
old earthquake beat your"
Tommy went back in three bounds
and gathered her to him hungrlly
while her arms went round his neck
He kissed her hair and her wet
cheeks and her lips as he said, over
and over: Sweetheart, sweetheart
sweetheart! Not even an earthquake