Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1913-01-16

She blushed furiously, threw the ring
let's 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 roadhouse and slept on feather
beds. He hadn't felt the touch Of =.
feather bed in years. He dreamed
that he was at school again. a man Of
thirty-ive. playing marbles with a
crowd of towheaded boys, and they
were beating him at the game while
Nan was standing near. her long plait
of black hair hanging down her back,
laughing at him because he was bare
footed!
They started next day at 8 o'clock
with the pack horses to make the "trip
along the dim bride trail, fourteen
miles up the sides of frowning cliffs
and over the tops of balsam crowned
peaks to the summit of Mount
Mitchell.
Nan led the way. mounted on a sure
footed young stallion. and Stuart fol-
lowed her on a little black mule he
had selected from the barn for his
exact likeness to one he had raised
as Il pet when a boy. The youngsters
same struggling after them, mounted
on 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
was dark and threatening and
suddenly poured rain. Slowly hut
surely the horses picked their way ND
the mountain side through the storm
and suddenly walked out into the
sunlight again: they looked down ON
the smooth fiat surface of the clouds
through which they had passed.
1t was dusk when the party reached
the summit. The horses were loosened
to Craze in the open field and the
guides hurried to build a fire in front
of the cave made by u projecting ledge
OF rock beneath which the party was to
sleep.
The bed of balsam boughs was too
sharp a contrast to Mans million dollar
room to 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.
tftion wall between the mems and
wonen's part of the cave. The space
was so limited it was necessary to sleep
close together. The girls and boys new.
er grew tired cracking silly jokes about
the magniticence of their sleeping quar-
ters. In vain Nan begged for quiet. 1t
was 3 o'clock before they We're still ut
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 a child. On a
distant mountain side he heard the
how of a lonely wolf. Sixteen years
ago the mountains were full of them
and they came quite close. He was re-
minded of the narrowing strip of the
savage world. fast disappearing before
the march 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 life-I was a
fool. l 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
trampled the highest law of life. Why
not smash convention now at the call
of that law?"
Again the wolf howled in the distant
darkness, and it seemed the echo of his
own mad cry. He walked from his rev.
erie with an angry start. He shud-
dered that he could have harbored the
thought for a moment.
The eastern horizon was beginning
to glow with the dawn. He rose,
walked to the summit and sat down or
the pile Of stones that marked the
grave of Professor Mitchell. He watch
ed in silence until he saw the suns
red rim suddenly leap above the blue
black peaks Of the east and drive the
last shadow of the night from the val
leys below. With their fading mists he
felt the darkness lift from his own
heart and the sunlight of reason stream
In. A new JOY welled up from the
depths of his spirit. He was alive to
his finger tips. and his Imagination
glowed with the consciousness that life
vas strong and clean and worth while.
with the help Of God I'll keep it so.
he cried. I'm ready for the fight
Let it come"
He knew instinctively that it was
coming. He felt it in every word that
had fallen from Mans lips since they
left on this trip. He felt it most keenly
Of all when she was silent, read it in
the tremor Of her mouth, the shadowy
tenderness Of her eyes. the low, deep
tones Of her voice.
XYIu