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


strange man. Gordon Orme. and
shall need to tell yet others. Some
times my friends smile at me even yet
over these things. But since that day
/ have not doubted the tales old Aus
berry told me OF our own Indians.
Since then, too, / have better under
stood Gordon Orme and his strange
personality. the like of which I never
knew in any land.
How long it was hardly knew, for
had sunk into sort of duh apathy
in which one day was much like an
other. But at last we gathered our
crippled party together and broke
camp. our wounded men In the wag-
ons, and so slowly passed on west
ward, up the TRAIL We supposed,
what later proved to be true, that the
Sioux had raided in the valley on both
sides of us and that the scattered por-
lions of the army had all they could
do, while the freight trains were held
back until the road was clear.
I wearied of the monotony Of wagon
travel and without council with any
finally. weak as was. called for my
horse and rode on slowly with the
walking teams. / had gone for some
distance before heard hoofs on the
sand behind me.
"Guess who it is" called voice.
Don't turn your head"
II can't turn" l answered. "but l
know who it is
She rode up alongside, where could
see her, and fair enough she was to
look upon, and glad enough / was to
look. She was thinner now with this
prairie life, and browner, and the ends
of her hair were still following, like
that of outdoors men. She still was
booted and gloved after the fashion of
civilization. and still elsewise CARRIED
in the aboriginal costume, which she
filed and honored graciously. The
metal cylinders on her leggins ratified
as she rode.
.'You ought not to ride she said
''You are pale"
"You are beautiful said I; land I
ride because you are beautiful.
Her eyes were busy with her gloves.
but I saw a sidelong glance. 81 do not
understand you," she said demurely.
81 could not sit back there in the
wagon and think" said I. 81 knew
that you would be riding before long,
and 1 guessed l might perhaps talk
with you"
She bit her lip and half pulled up
her horse as if to fall back. ~That will
depend" was her comment. But we
rode on side by side, knee to knee.
Many things I had studied before
then, for certain mysteries had come
to me. as to many men, who wish log
ically to know the causes of great phe-
nomena. From boyhood / had pom
dered many things. l had lain on my
back and looked up at the stars and
wondered how far they were, and how
far the farthest thing beyond them
was. l had wondered at that indeter-
inmate quotient in my sums, where the
same figure came, always the same,
running on and on. l used to wonder
what was my soul, and fancied that
it was a pale, blue flaming oblate,
somewhere near by, back and in the
middle of my body-such was my boy
ish guess of what they told me was a
real thing l had pondered on that
compass of the skies by which the wild
fowl guide themselves. had won
dered, as a child, how far the noun
tains ran. As had grown older | had
read the law, read of the birth of
civilization, pondered on laws and Gus
toms.
Declaring that / must know their
reasons, / had read of marriages in
many lands, and many times had stud
led into the questions of dowry and
bride price, and consent of parents
and consent of the bride-studied mar
rage as a covenant, contract, as a
human and so called divine thing. l
had questioned the cause of the old
myth that makes Cupid blind. I had
delved deep as / might in law, and
history and literature, seeking to solve,
as l might-what?
All, witless, it was to solve this very
riddle that rode by my side now, to
answer the question of the Sphinx.
What had come of all my studies? Not
SO much as / was learning now, here
In the open, with this sweet savage
woman whose leggins tinkled as she
rode, whose tunic swelled softly, whose
jaw was clean and brown. How weak
the precepts of the social covenant
seemed! How feeble and far away
the old world we two had known! And
how infinitely sweet, how compelling
ly necessary now seemed to me this
new, sweet world that swept around
usi
We rode on side by side, knee to
knee. Her garments rustled and tin
killed..
Her voice awoke me from my brood
ing. Il wish, Mr.. Cowles," said she.
.sthat if you are strong enough and can
do so without discomfort, you would
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