The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1913-01-17

| advantage VI yOu-
81 thought you were an awful ZOO
moi TO accept more gracefully and
Thankfully the providence which threw
n pretty girl your way.
The coach gave sudden lurch and
threw her into Stuart's arms again.
And now?" he cried laughingy. as
he held her firmly for a moment 10
prevent her falling.
She bIushed f,lriously. threw the ring
lets of dark hair from her face and
drew back to her position.
Now. of course. it's unlawful. she
answered with sober playfulneSs.
The man watched her slyly for the
next half mile She was very, very
quiet.
They spent the night at the same
old roadheuse and slept on feather
beds. He hadn't felt the touch OF
feather bed IN years. He drsAmed
that he was at school again, man OF
thirty playing marbles with
crowd Of towheaded boys. and they
were bea tiRg him at the game while
Nan was standing near. her hong pIait
Of black hair hanging dewn Der back
laughing at hin because No was bare
foe ted:
TAey started next Gay at 5 o'clock
with the pack horses to make che er1D
along tbs AiM bride tFah, fourteen
mfses u9 the sides of fFownfRg chRs
ana ever the tops Of balsam crowned
Of
Mitchell.
Nan LED tho way. mounted on sure
footed young stallion. and Stuart fol-
lowed her on little black mule he
had selected from the barn for his
exact likeness to one he had raised
as a pct when a boy. The youngsters
came struggling after them, mounted
IN an assortment Of shaggy, scrubby
looking animals that knew the noun
tain path as a rabbit knows his trail
in the jungle.
At o'clock they passed through the
FIRST series of clouds and out into the
sunlight beyond. The next line of
clouds was dark and threatening and
suddeaIy poured rain. Slowly but
surely the horses picked their way up
the mountain side through the storm
and suddenly walked out into the
sunlight again: they looked down on
the smooth hat surface Of the clouds
through which they had passed.
1t was dusk when the party reached
The summit Tho horses were loosened
to craze in the open field and the
guides AurTied to build a fire in front
Of tho cave made by projecting ledge
of rock beHeath which the party was to
sleep.
The hea OF balsam boughs was too
sharp a cOatrast to Mans million dollar
room 10 permit Stuart much sleep. Be
sides, the youngsters were giggling
and laughing and joking most Of the
night. Only a big log marked the par
tition wall between the mems and
womea's part OF the cave. The space
was SO imited it was necessary to sleep
close together. The girls and boys rev
er grew tired cracking silly jokes about
the magnifcence Of their sleeping quar-
terS In vain Nan begged for quiet. 1t
was o'clock before they were still at
last and she fell into a deep sleep.
Stuart rose. sat before the log fire and
watched the regular rise and fall Of her
bosom as she slept like child. On a
distant mountain side he heard the
howl of lonely wolf. Sixteen years
ago the mountains We're full of them
and they came quite close. He was re-
minded of the narrowing strip of the
the mareA of civilization Somewhere
inside Of him he heard the lonely cry
of another wolf.
shes mine-mine, Nature gave her
to me in the morning of ltfe-I was a
fool. should have taken her by force.
If need be. and she would have thank
ed me in after years. She has complied
with the conventions Of society and
tranpled the highest law of life. Why
not smash convention new at the call
Of that law?''
Again the wolf howled in the distant
darkResS. AID it seemed the echo Of his
SwA mad cry. He walked from his rev
erie with an angry start. He shud-
deied that ne could have harbOfed the
thought fer moment.
The eastern horizon was beginning
10 glow VITA the dawn. He rose.
walked to the summit and sat down on
the pile of stones that marked the
grave of Professor Mitchell. He watch
ed in SiieAce until he saw the suns
red dm suddenly leap above the blue
black peaks Of the east and drive the
last shadow OF the night from the val
legs below. With their fading mists he
felt the darkness lift from his own
hea1t and the sunlight OF reason stream
I'm. A new jey welled up from the
deptAAs sf his spirit. He was alive te
his finser tips. and his Imagination
glowed vita the consciousness that life
was stzeng and clean and worth while.
with the help OF Ged III keep it SO,
tSo." he cCie&. "I'm ready for the fight
new. Let il come"
He knew iaatiAotively that it was
comiAg. He felt ii in every word that
had fAEen from Mans Iiqw sincS they
left on this trip He felt it'mest keenly
Af all VwAhaN nhM was as9n,aA ~nod If I'm