The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-12-18

: E: "''' 5 ':' W@& INH with curiosity or interest, but fear. A GAM girl alone among half-hundred men; 9S@ AE1H adventurous, daredevil, carousing! It E2ASH had been but three days since they came Fl Ee5SS A pouring into the gulch; already she had R~4 A fights and drunks, had heard &SMzzMz1z@ foul language and blasphen1y, than
 AS2Sa in all her previous existence. And this
 @gD was not the only camp; all along the
 ravine camps that had sprung
 simultaneously into life And men! it seemed to her frightened brain that there mil lions swarrng gu1ch and mountain.
 week ago there had been only her own shack. and that of the Derbys beneath her in the gulcl1. They had been there when she came four months before the tall wasted and his cherub wife The little wife had helped her the steep trail to her cabin, and every day she had up to see how she was getting along. Soon the husband had come, too, coughing with the exertion of the long climb. Then he had grown strong and big, his cheeks had rounded out his eyes had become clear and his voice vibrant. A famous hunter it had been joy to him to teach her his art; and it had been pleasure to the wife initiate her into the mysteries of does tic science. They had fingered few weeks for Loiss sake, even after the husband had pronounced himself a well man. But their interests had at last demanded that they go, and for ten days Lois had been alone that vast mountain range Alone, but not afrad-ti11
 From the first hour she had loved the mountains. Their wild grandeur had filled her with of power, of deep-soued joy. Never before in her twenty-two years had shA felt wholly at home. In a week it seemed but dream that she had ever lived in close tenement taught school in dull. bare been lonely and restless. She ceased to that she was the last of her race, ceased to remember the unhappness of orphaned child hood She blessed the day when she had seen the advertisement of the shack blessed the Derbys who reference had written her the encouraging letters that had finally determined her coming, almost blessed the disease that had made that coming inn perative.
 It had been hard enough to contemplate going away at all But to go now before she entirely curedi The thought frightened her than the presence of the rabb1e below. The Derbys had stayed only six months; and he had been in seri- ous condition herself. She felt that if she could only manage to stay two months longer, she, too, would be well and rugged
 She looked down at the rounded limbs which her wind-hipped frock revea1ed she held out her brown arms, muscular washerwoman's; she expanded her chest and beat upon it. She was well now almost. Not more than two months more, surely, would be needed to make her "safe" And to be strong again, strong in body-and with the brave spirit that the mountains had given her! What marvellous things could she not accomplish What deep wells of life might she not soundl
 Quickly she moved from the rocks where she stood, her face setting in reso1ute lines She had come of fighting stock; she would defend herself against the invaders, if necessary, courageousy she had fought the foe that threatened her life She looked up the newly risen over the lower ranges opposite. How different she felt from the Lois Frazier who had first watched that crimson ball climb from behind the hills! She laughed b1ithey then she began sing, her voice loud than musical sending back shrn echoes from the rnountainside.
 She fed the goat that supplied her milk then the cfucking fowls and 1ong-1egged chickens. Next she looked the traps that protected her domestic from the wild things of the mountains. There were big game, and the smaller animals therefore abounded. In trap she found lynx, in another a young fox. She the shack and brought her rifle Two reports quickly followed, shot lodging in the yns brain the other passing through the head of the fox-a clean shot that would have done honor to a professional gunner.
 She laughed e11u1ting1y, the deaths of the her shoot herr ability to fend off harm. A proud smile played on her red lips she proceeded to skin the dead ami r1a1s and prepare their hides She remembered her first at firing gun, her first revu1sion at touching her victims dead bodies She did not like it now; but she could do it, and do it with frn1 r1asterful hand
 Her work over, she inside the shack. In reality it not a shack, but trim though rough cottage There four comfortably fur nished and wide verandah facing the south hold ing hammock, chairs, and cot for daytime 4,se The place revealed that it's mistress was a good housekeeper well straight shot It had the tEe home atmosphere. There warmth and xividness in the cotton draperies and coverings, beauty of line and co1oring in the simple pictures the walls. One was covered on it's three sides from ceiling to floor with dressed skins. She eyed them appreciative1y. They represented her capital on which she was to begin life again outside the mountain
 ~Hev theret You insf0ei"
 Swiftly she caught up her rifle, and the door,
 It was big man who faced her, 1eering in good natured admiration.
 "Put up your gun. beauty. Can't cat look at