Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-04-28

he can handle EN-"
Jim had Erinned 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-
cen years around mining-camps and
ore-teams and horses for nothing.
That was a 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 a
kid; he's a man, and shall ave 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 a fine scorn for appearances, and
invariably climbed up and took a
| place by the boys side on the front
| seat, from which post of vantage he
smoked and watched the handling of
the horses. Once, hen Sanders had
gone to sleep on tho way up the long
Grade, because he had been up all night
when the baby brother died n Joined
father, Mccarthy, who happened to
be 4 passenger that day, had put his
arm around him n had driven
through before the boy knew it. Nc
Carthy never laughed at him, and Nc
Carthy was a big q 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 that h
would not laugh at him again, because
it hurt. There was something SO like
music in it that it 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 a 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 n 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, M 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 hor
drive that day, and when the stage
rolled up to the front of the super
i%ntendent's 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 ~stage-driver, after all,
aren't YOU" Sanders felt his bosom
swell with gratifed pride, but to play
the part we'll felt compelled to gaze
at her no~nchalantly, take a 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, it 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-
lions. His warmth toward the big
man increased, because he alone IN
derstood. He was a real friend.
There was something odd about 1t
all, he pondered. Mccarthy o more
pains than he used to, because he
shaved every day, and had a new hat
that h. 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 for that.
The Dream Lady didn't eem 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-
iations. True, he had heard but little,
but it was a certainty that the Dream
Lady and her mother were not on
good terms. So he hated the mother.
Worst of all, Mccarthy somehow
seemed to feel the change, and San
ders' head ached for him with a dull,
sympathetic hurt which required con.
slant repression. OF course he
couldn't talk to the man-that would
never be understood; besides, there
wasn't the same camaraderie that
there had been, because the man was
q~uieter, II possible, than he used to
pc and he spent more time working
underground, as If avoiding some