Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1912-03-28

the horses He held them now, Bob
and Nab, and in the shadow of the
watering-trough Wolf lay and looked
on. Already two days of ardent Cali
fornia sun and touched with new fires
the ancient bronze in Daylight's face.
But warmer still was the glow that
came into his cheeks and burned in
his eyes as he saw Dede coming out
the door. riding-whip in hand, clad in
the familiar corduroy skirt and leg
gings of the old Piedmont days. There
was warmth and glow in her own face
as she answered his gaze and glanced
on past him to the horses. Then she
saw Nab. But her gaze leaped back
to the man.
ooh, EIam!" she breathed.
Many persons, themselves city bred
and city reared, have fed to the
soil and succeeded in winning great
happiness. In such cases they
have succeeded only by going
through a process of savage disil-
lusionment But with Dede and Day
light it was different. They had both
been born on the soil, and they knew
it's naked simp.icities and rawer ways
They were like two persons, after far
wandering, who had merely come
home again. There was less of the
unexpected in their dealings with ma
ture. while theirs was all the delight
of "reminiscences. What might appear
sordid and squalid to the fastidiously
reared, was to them eminently whole
some and natural The commerce of
nature was to them no unknown and
untried trade. They made fewer mis-
takes. They already knew, and ii was
Joy to remember what they had for
gotten.
And another thing they learned was
that it was easier for one who has
gorged at the fesh-pots to content
himself with the meagreness of
crust, than for one who has known
only the crust. Not that their life
was meagre 1t was that they found
keener delights and deeper satisfac-
tons in little things. Daylight, who
had played the game in its biggest
there for a million years And when
the last trump sounds, and Sonoma
Mountain and all the other mountains
pass into nothingness, that old slide
will be still a-standing there, held
up by the roots"
He passed his arm around her and
pulled her down on his knees.
SSau HttIa ,ic, n
lot by living here on the ranch
music, and theaters, and such things.
Don't you ever have a hankering to
drop it all and go back?" a
So great was his anxiety that he
dared not look at her, and when she
laughed and shook her head he was
aware of great relief. Also, he noted
the undiminshed youth that rang
through that same old-time boyish
laugh of hers. q
Say" he said. with sudden fierce
ness, don't you go fooling around that
slide until after | get the trees in and
rooted. It's mighty dangerous, and /
sure can't afford to lose you now"
He drew her lips to his and kissed
her hungrily and passionately.
What lover," she said; and pride
in him and in her own womanhood
was in her voice.
Look at that, Dede." He removed
one encirCling arm and swept 1t in
wide gesture over the valley and the
mountains beyond. "The Valley of the
Moon--a good name, a good name.
Do you know, when look out oyer 1t
all, and think of you and of all it
means, it kind of makes me ache ip
the throat, and have things in my
heart | can't find the words to say,
and have a feeling that 1 can almost
understand Browning and those other
high-fying poet-fellows. Look at Hood
Mountain there. just where the suns
striking 1t was down in that crease
that we found the SPRING"
"And that was the night you didn't
milk the cows till ten o'clock" she
laughed. "And If you keep me here
much longer, supper won't be any
earlier than Ii was that night"
Both rose from the bench. and Day.
light caught up the milk-pail from the
nail by the door. He paused mo-
ment longer to look out over the val
ley.
tits sure grand" he said.
Its sure grand she echoed, laugh
ing joyously at him and with him and
herself and all the world, as she
passed in through the door.
And Daylight, like the old man he
once had met, himself went down the
hill through the fires of sunset with