The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1911-01-31
CHAPTER II.
THE FOREST RANGER

- uOOr, six D clOCk! Sne udu uOC
slept at all till after /. She was lame,
heart weary and dismayed, but she
rose and dressed herself as neatly as
before. She had decided to return to
Sulphur II cannot endure this" she
had repeated to herself hundred
times. II tcill notv'
Hearing the clatter Of dishes, she
yentured with desperate courage into
the dining room, which was again
filed with cowboys, coal miners,
ranchers and their tousled families
and certain nondescript town loafers
Of tramp-like appearance.
Slipping into seat at the end Of the
table which offered the cleanest cloth,
Lee Virginia glanced round upon her
neighbors with shrinking eyes. All
were shoveling their food with knife
blades and guzzling their coffee with
bent heads. Their faces scared her,
and she dropped her eyes.
At her left, however, sat two men
whose greetings were frank and man.
" and whose table manners betrayed
n higher form Of life. One Of them
was a tall man with lean red face,
against which his blond mustache lay
like a chalk mark. He wore cordu-
roy Jacket cut in Norfolk style, and In
the collar of his yellow shirt a green
tie was loosely knotted. His hands
were long and freckled, but were man
ifestly trained to polite usages.
The other man was younger and
browner and Of compact, athletic fig
ure. On the breast of his olive green
coat hung Il silver badge which bore
pine tree in the center. His shirt was
tan colored and rough, but his head
was handsome. He looked like
Young officer In the undress uniform
Of the regular army. His hands were
strong, but rather-small, and the lines
Of his shoulders graceful. Most at
tractive of all were his eyes, so brown,
so quietly humorous and so keen.
In the rumble Of cheap and vulgar
talk the voices of these men appealed
TO the troubled girl with great charm.
She felt more akin to them than to
INV one else in the room, and from
time to time she raised her eyes TO
their faces.
their gaze was frankly admiring as
well as wondering, and In passing the
ham and eggs or the sugar they con
triyed to show her that they consid
cred her lady In rough place and
that they would like to know more
about her.
She accepted their civilities will
gratitude and listened to their tall
with growing interest. 1t seemed tha'
the young man had come down IRON
the hills to meet his friend and take
him back to his cabin.
II can't do 1t today, Ross" said th'
older man. 81 wish i could, but ont
meal of this kind is all can stanc
these days"
Mrs. Wetherford, selling the mo
ment. came down to do the honors
''You fellers ought to know my girl
yirginny, this is Forest supervise
Redfeld, and this Is Ross Cavanagh
his forest ranger in this district. Ho'
ought to know each other. My girl
lust back from school, and she don
think much of the Fork. It's ittl
too coarse for her"
Lee UuSll0u NhiS
and her distress was so evident Una
both men came to her rescue
The older man bowed and said "
didn't know you had daughter, MIS-
wetherford" And Cavanagh, with
glance of admiration, added, "WeN
been wondering who you might De-
Lie went on: 81 thought ia got II
of her. She's been away now &c
about ten years. ! don't know but
was n mistake. Looks like she'
grown a little too fine haired for U
doughies out here"
$50 much the worse for u.s." rephe
Redfield.
This little dialogue gave the girl tin
TO recover herself, but as CaVahas
watched the blush fade from her rae
leaving It cold and white, he symp
thized with her-pitied her from u
bottom of his heart He perceived th'
he was a chance spectator OF the ut
scene In a painful domestic drama
one that might easily become ira
edy. He wondered what the forc
might be which had brought such
daughter to this sloyen, this Vlras
To see maid of this delicate bloc
thrust into such a place as Lie wet
erfords "hotel" had the reputation
being reused indignation.
"When did you reach town.
asked, and into his voice his admin
ton crept.
"Only last night"
"You find great changes here"
mot so great as in my mother l
all'- She stopped abruptly, and
understood.
Lie being drawn back to her ca
register, Redfeld turned to say: y
dear young lady, ] don't suppose