The Mena weekly star., 1912-04-18

SNAhV uds ne should burst these grave clothes self-wound about him and be once more a man and master among men, rather than the hermit and the recluse of the soli- tudes.
 He did not allow these thoughts to come into his life; indeed, 1t is quite likely that he scarcely realized them at all yet; such possibilities did not present themselves to him. Perhaps the man was little mad that morn. ing, maybe he trembled on the verge or break-upward. downward. I know not so it be away-uneonscious ly as he strode along the range that morning
 He had been walking for some hours, and as he grew thirsty 1t oc. cured to him to descend to the level of the brook which he heard below him and of which he sometimes caught flashing glimpse through the trees. He scrambled down the rocks and found himself in a thick grove of pine. Making his way slowly and with great difficulty through the tangle of fallen timber which lay Tn every di- rection, the sound of human voice, the last thing on earth to be expected in that wilderness, smote upon the fearful hollow of his ear.
 Any voice or any word then and there would have surprised him, but there was a note of awful terror in this voice, sound of frightened ap- peal. The desperation in the cry left him no moment for thought, the de- mand was for action. The cry was not addressed to him, apparently, but to God, yet it was he who answered. sent doubtless by that Overlooking Power who works in such mysterious ways His wonder to performi
 He leaped over the intervening trees to the edge of the forest where the rapid waters ran. To the right of him rose huge rock, or cliff. in front of him the canon bent sharply to the north. and beneath him a few rods away speck of white gleamed above the water of a deep and still pool that he knew.
 There was a woman there!
 He had time for but the swiftest glance: he had surmised that the voice was not that of a mans voice instant y he heard it, and now he was sure. She stood white breast deep in the wa ter staring ahead of her. The next second he saw what had alarmed her "a Grizzly Bear, the largest, flercest. most forbidding speciman he had ever seen. There were a few of those mon sters still left in the range; he him self had killed several.
 The woman had not seen him. He until he came to place where 1t was easily fordable. stepped through it without a glance toward the woman shivering in the water, whose sensa- tion so far as a mere man could, he thoroughly understood and appreciat. ed, and whose modesty he fain would spare, having not forgotten to be gentleman in five years of his own so- ciety-high test of quality. that.
 He climbed out upon the bank, up rooted a small tree, rolled the bear clear of the heap of woman's clothing and marched straight ahead of him up the canon and around the bend.
 Thereafter, being man, he did not faint or fall, but completely unnerved he leaned against the canon wall. dropped his gun at his feet and stood there trembling nightly, sweat be- dewing his forehead, and the sweat had not come from his exertions. In one moment the whole even tenor of his life was changed. The one glimpse he had got of those white shoulders, that pallid face, that golden head raised from the water, had swept him back five years. He had seen once more in the solitude woman.
 Other women he had seen at dis tance and avoided in his yearly visits to the settlements. Of course, these had passed him by remotely. but here he was brought in touch intimately with humanity. He who had taken life had saved it. A woman had sent him forth; was a woman to call him back?
 He cursed himself for his weakness. He shut his eyes and summoned other memories. How long he stood there he could not have told. He was fight ing a battle and 1t seemed to him at last that he triumphed. Presently the consciousness came to him that per haps he had no right to stand there idle; 1t may be that the woman need- ed him; perhaps she had fainted in the water; perhaps. He turned ts- ward the bend which concealed him from her and then he stopped. Had he any right to intrude upon her privacy? He must of necessity be an unwelcome visitor to her; he had sur prised her at frightful disadvantage, he knew instinctively. although the fault was none of his, although he had saved her life thereby. that she would hold him and him alone re- sponsible for the outrage to her mod esty, and although he had seen little at first glance and had resolutely Kept his eyes away, tie mere conscious ness of her absolute helplessness ap- healed to hir-to what was best and noblest in him, too. He must go to her; yet gay, she might not yet be clothed. in which event.. But no. she must be dressed. or dead. by this time. and in either case he would have A duty to discharge.
 IL devolved upon him to make sure of her safety; ho was in certain sense responsible for it. until she got hack to her friends. wherever they might be; but he persuaded himself