The Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Ark.) 190?-current, 1911-04-28

jim had grinned as he handed the
boy the reinS, and Sanders smiled ex-
ultantly as he remembered how he
had gritted his teeth. throwing the
big horses back into line with a Jerk.
and, because of his own shortness of
leg, had ordered Jim to set the brakes.
Oh, no-he hadn't passed all his thir-
teen years around mining camps and
ore-teams and horses for nothing.
That was triumph worth while
when the big superintendent gravely
recognized his ownership and sub
scribed more than all the others put
together, saying as he did so: "A kid
that has got that much nerve isn't
kid; he's man, and shall have a
| mans chance"
That wasn't all that Mccarthy had
done. He had stopped the miners
from laughing at him openly, and had
always thrown all the patronage to
Sanders line that he could Mccarthy
had fine scorn for appearances, and
invariably climbed up and took
| place by the boys side on the front
| seat, from which post of vantage he
| smoked and watched the handling of
| the horses. Once, when Sanders had
| gone to sleep en- the way up the long
| grade, because he had been up all night
| when the baby brother died and joined
| father, Mccarthy, who happened to
| be a passenger that day, had put his
arm around him and had driven
through before the boy knew it. Nc
| Carthy never laughed at him, and Nc
| Carthy was a big man. A real super
intendent who worked many men and
who was a king up there where all
| those men worked Mccarthy was a
| trump.
| But the Dream Lady, in the seat be-
| hind him, had laughed. Sanders felt
that he hated her, but with 1t all there
was a usefulness and a wish thai she
would not laugh at him again, because
| it hurt. There was something so like
music in 1t that 1t made Sanders wish
she would take him in her arms.
The stage-driver's mind went ram
! bling away to the stories he had read
in the ten-cent books he had secured
! from the miners, where the heroine
was always a beautiful young lady
who always fell in love with the hero,
| who, if not a stage-driver, was brave
young detective They always mar
ried, and, as far as he could recollect,
lived happily ever after. Sanders
wasn't quite sure that he wanted to
marry the Dream Lady and live hap
PLY ever after, but he was quite posi-
tive that If she would give him a
chance he would love her-would love
her very much indeed
Why didn't Mack Mccarthy, who
was so big and so strong, and who had
such dark eyes and whose black hair
was fringed with gray, marry the
young lady? He would ask him. He
did.
McCarthy's pipe almost dropped
from his mouth in establishment, and
his only reply was "Huh," Then he
smoked again, and somehow Sanders
| felt rebuffed.
1t really seemed like a very short
drive that day, and when the stage
rolled up to the front of the super
intendents Office, which had been pre-
pared as a temporary home for the
visitors, Sanders was quite surprised
at the speed they had made.
The Dream Lady relented as she
alighted, and showed her appreciation
by smiling at him and saying: why,
you are a real stagedriver. after all,
aren't you" Sanders felt his bosom
swell with gratified pride, but to play
the part we'll felt compelled to gaze
at her nonchalantly, take fresh chew
| of tobacco, and make no reply.
The days changed for Sanders.
| There was no longer a WEAKNESS In
the drag uphill from the American
| TO the Golconda This was because of
the Dream Lady Really, If he could
only talk to her when he went there
| and saw her. 1t would be different; but
| speech left him with abruptness in her
presence, and he felt that all he could
/ do to preserve his dignity was to re-
frain from grinning broadly, even
| though he could not answer her ques-
| itons. His warmth toward the big
man increased because he alone un-
| derstood. He was real friend.
mere was SOluetHii6 ouu dpou' IL
all, he pondered. Mccarthy took more
pains than he used to, because he
shaved every day. and had a new hat
that he wore when not going through
the mine The Dream Lady, too, show
ed signs of the summers progression.
She looked at the superintendent diff
ferently, and there was something in
the look that led Sanders to know
that she saw in this white-hatted. ST.
lent man a master Of men and things.
All, he could love her Tor that.
The Dream Lady didn't seem to be
as happy as she had been, and there
was trouble between her and her
mother. The boy wondered at that.
and spent his idle time in vain specu-
fations. True, he had heard but little,