Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1912-06-20


| tell her Of Grace Sheraton. She must
| know But each time saw her face
] could not tell her.
! Each day she placed clean white
! pebble in little pile at her side. Pres
| emily there were seven.
/ John Cowles." she said to me that
morning. "bring me our writing, and
bring me my pen Today must sign
/ another letter" And, smiling, she did
so, looking up into my face with love
| showing on her own. Had the char
coal been living flame and had she
written on my bare heart she could not
have hurt me more.
| On the fifth week she called once
more for her charcoal pen and signed
the last letter Of her Christian name.
'.See, there she said; lit is all my
/ girl name. E-l-l-e-n." looked at it..
! her hand in mine,
| ''Eleni' murmured. 1T is sig.
nature enough, because you are the
only Ellen in the world" But she put
away my hand gently and said. wait. :
| She asked me now to get her some
sort of cut branch for crutch. say
ing she was going to walk. And walk
she did. though resting her foot very
little on the ground After that daily
she went farther and farther, watched
me as guddled for trout in the strea ~
aided me as l picked berries In the
thickets. helped me with the deer I
| brought into camp.
You are very good to me-" she said,
are man. John Cowles. love you"
But hearing words so sweet as these
to me, still l did not tell her what
secret was in my SOUL Each day that
other world seemed wagner and farther
away.
Each day, too, it seemed less worth
while to speak Now could not en-
dure the thought of losing her.
One day we wandered in dense
berry thicket, out of which rose here
and there chokecherry trees. and we
began to gather some of these sour
fruits for use in the pemmican which
we planned to manufacture.
! All at once our dog began to growl
and erect his hair. shifting not at the
foot scent, but looking directly into the
thicket just ahead. He began then to
bark. and as he did so there rose. with
a sullen sort of grunt and a champing
of jaws like great hog, vast yellow
gray object whose head topped the
bushes that grew densely all about.
| The girl at my side uttered cry of
terror and turned to run as best she
might. but she fell and lay there cow
ering.
The grizzly stood looking at me vim
/ dictively with little eyes, it's ears back.
its jaws working. its paws swinging
loosely at its side, the claws white at
the lower end, as though newly shar-
pened for slaughtering. | saw then
that it was angered by the sight of the
dog and would not leave us. Each mo-
ment expected to hear it crash
through the bush in its charge. Once
down in the brush, there would be
small chance of delivering fatal shot.
whereas now, as it swung its broad
\
sible opportunity for killing it present.
ed itself Immediately. Without hesita-
ton swung up the heavy barrel and
drew the small silver bead directly on
| the base of the ear where the side
bones of bears head are fatter and
thinner, directly alongside the brain.
The vicious crack of the rife sounded
loud there in the thicket, but there
came no answer in response to 1t save
a crashing and slipping and breaking
down Of the bushes as the vast carcass
fell at full length. The little ball had
done its work and found the brain.
We were two savages, successful now
In the chase successful, indeed. in win
ming the capital prize of all sayages, for
few Indians will attack the grizzly If
! it can be avoided. She laid her hand
wonderingly upon the barrel Of the
rifle, looking at it curiously, that it
had been so deadly as to slay crea-
| ture so vast as this. Then she leaned
contentedly against my side, and so we
sat there for time. "John Cowles,"
she said. you are very much man.
/ am not afraid when you are with
me-" / put my arm about her. The
world seemed wild and fair and sweet
to me. Life. savage, stern, swept
through all my veins We were very
busily engaged in cutting up the
slaughtered grizzly, when all at once
we stopped and looked at each other
in silence. We had heard sound. To
me it sounded like a rife shot We
1 listened
1t came again, with many others.
There was volley Of several shots,
sounds certain beyond any manner of
question. Her eyes were large and
startled. ! caught her bloody hand in
my bloody one, and for an instant /
believed we both meditated fight deep
er into the wilderness.
SIT NAV not be any one we know"