The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-12-18

queen? I jest want to see if we kin buy some eggs at your price,"
 "IH shoot you if you nearer," she said, calm 1y- Understand for all that I intend to be left alone. I told the yesterday that l had nothing to sell"
 "An' you think good-1ooker like you is goin' to be left alone herei Us fe11ersn risk more'n shot to talk to purity girl beauty"
 Please" she pronounced grave1y. N1 not well. This is my home. Won't you men be kindly enough to respect my wishes?"
 The man grinned That's all right, beauty. But we jest nachera11y can't keep away. Come, now be a good feler,' he coaxed advancing Come, give a chap kiss.'
 "Stopw The word and the shot rang out together.
 You little wi1dcat' cried the man, picking up hIs hat, through which holes bored.
 That's what every will get who comes around here. And if I'm bothered much more it won't be the hat I'll aim for. T will stay here, and will not be bothered"
 Lois spoke evenly, though her face was blanched and quivering. She watched till he slouched out of sight Her next movements fraught with sig nihcance. First she went to drawer and took out a mans belt and ho1ster-the Derbys last offering; this she fitted to her smaller waist size and fastr ned it on, then she hung the big Colts re- vol yer in place. From this she proceeded to do some carpentry in her sleeping-roon1. One window she screwed in securely, then nailed heavy boards at intervals across To the other she fixed a con- trivance by which she could suspend her Colts night in such way that the least jar about the window would discharge its load down upon the sill. This the window she always left open beside her bed. For her door she made extra braces that could be inserted in holders that she fixed on the frame.
 It was sundown by the time her work was com- p1eted. Her eyes heavy with fatigue-but tri- umphant. She safe against surprise by night. And once awake, her rifle stood loaded by the head of her bed where she could reach it in instant.
 She slept soundy, and walked still grirny deter mined to fight the wolves" in the gu1ch till they left her little plateau in peace That all she required. She would stay her preserves, the strip of land a fourth of mile long and fifty feet at the widest point. There gold there; they had looked every foot of for signs the first day, while she stood beside her squawking chickens. gun in hand.
 The days that followed tried her patience and fortitude almost beyond her physical endurance. Like a sentinel she walked the length of the p1a- around and about her shack. Every head that appeared her place occasion for bang from her gun. But without notice She had roughly painted big sign: .Keep Ofl Shot Upon Sightl' .ssS
 At length it came to her that this was an excite ment they liked too well ever to give up; that it suited well tn cir reckless take chances that she really affording them entertainment. Yet what could she do she asked herself, despair ing1y. She did to njure then1.- Her girl ish heart shrank from giving painnot to thenl but to some one "at home" to whom they were not wolves, but brother, husband, She had aimed always at some mark near them just to show that she could shoot true and to frighten them into not advancing farther. At the end of the week she
 
 from the straggly hair of Mexican half breed Still they caae often evading her vigilance, almost inside her cabin before she saw them. And always the noxious compliments, the coarse testing; even they retreated before her rifle they continued their fu1some love making. bts
 But the old fighting blood of her frontiersman ancestors made her grit her teeth afresh each day and not-not to be driven away. With it all there blissfu1 thrill in her heart at the new evidence of her regained health. Despite her wor- ries she gained flesh and strength, and slept peacefully as baby. Not once did the old cough attack her.
 "I1 stay my two months longer" she cried, vehement1y-"stay till know I'm we'll, truly well even f-yes, if I have to wing of them.,
 Flushed with wrath, tired from her walk ing about she sat her veranda, her eyes turning from her book every few minutes the elbow before she him, face and form.
 Pardon me" His voice calmly conversa- tona1 'I have merely to tell you that we shall not intrude upon you any more If we do shoot us-to kill. Don't forget-to kill"
 As he spoke his gaze traversed her face critically then scanned her sharply from head to toe. And Lois stared at him, and found him different from the others-sonlehow. His face devoid of disspated lines, the eyes cynical the mouth rather bitter and he the miners rough garb; that he master of She liked the way he held his tall, sinewy body; she admired his cool ness, his resonant voice.
 He waited moment for her to speak, his eyes resting in ha1f-hungry tenderness on her girlish face. H raised his cap.
 ''Rernenber-to ki11,'' he repeated, and walked lightly down the trai1-
 The day following, and the next, and the next and till the days weeks, she left strictly At first she could scarcely believe it. But length she rested content, enjoying to look down the excitement in the gu1ch- There