The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-29

and winged their way upward till they scared aloft, pn-points in the blue sky
 Caleb was startled by loud cry from Ephrain His brother came running toward him, caught his and dragged him to the vehicle There both men stood, lost in astonishnent.
 Upon the mattress in the interior lay the body of woman The eyes were closed the face greatly enaci ated by famine, and a wealth of golden hair of dazzling hue and ofest texture fell over her shoulders and coled itself high upon the Hoor She seemed all alive
 "she is aliver' cried Caleb. "Looki"
 A sigh came from her lips She stirred then, very slowly her lids unc1osed, revealing two of golden brown. The brothers, each overpowered with novel and ine1plcable emotions watched her in silence At last avertiug their eyes each Eom the others they carried the stranger to their own wagon and revived her.
 Three days sfterward she told them her story in broken English. She of French percentage, she said, the wife of Spanish settler, who had moved north from Texas to find gold, of which run1ors had spread throughout all Mexico. Three weeks journey northward they had been attacked by band of wan- dering Indians and with whom they two singlehanded had carried on running fight for whole week. Had their antagonists possessed horses guns they would have been massacred it they had e1uded thenl riding by night and lurking by day within the ho1lows of the hills until they lost their Their food became exhausted, her husband wandered away in his deliriunl and have perished At last she had fallen into stupor and knew more until she awakened.
 Search was instituted for the missing man, but trace of him could be found It determined that the should share their fortunes, keep camp and cook for them finally returning whence she could take ship for Spanish America. Digging between the pools and washing out the sand in the assayng the brothers upon gold Then small nuggets of pure metal obtained; 1t became evident that here wealth in incredible quantity Days into weeks, and still they labored amassng their golden hoard which sufficient to stock them farms the best sections of the old country But by this time their provender running low; they had had poor luck in shooting, and only few bullets and handful of powder remained
 "Come, Ephrairn," said Caleb one day. "We have barely food enough take back the Carolinas. Our oxen fat and in condition for the journey. We return year. What will be the ot gold to us if starve here.
 "Go, then," said Ephraim 'I stay" And Caleb remained and 1abored on his brothers side The day they killed of their oxen; afterward another.
 They had ceased to talk much together, except at night, when they drank heavily They awoke wearied, and yet nsensate in their desire go down to the river bed and wash, wash out those nuggets of gold add their increasing stock They could not cease; they that there of the old love between them; and staring at each other duhiousS, they would remain long absorbed in silent speculation, unable to understand what had befal1en them. Then they would seize their spades and their work feverishy against the declining two black and lonely figures in that immensty of land and sky At last without word as if by simultaneous impulse. each would throw down his spade and gather up his pan and they would go up the wagon, where the woman, as silent either, was cooking supper for them.
 Under the enormous moon, which filled the land with cold light they would play cards together At first they played for the game; afterward, by nut tered understanding, for stakes of dust But neither much Their luck and their lives had always been singularly even, and there was no change now. Per haps this well. For once after they had been drinking heavily, when Caleb had than usual, Ephraim 1eaped to his feet and struck him with an upward blow. Caleb 1eaped back; then, glancing down he that his sleeve slit by something that gilt tered in Ephran1's hand They eyed each other in silence for few moments til with muttered apoI- ogy Ephram put the blade away and crawed under the wagon to the place where he slept. Then the woman departed to her wagon in silence, and Ephraim lay still hugging the ground listening his brothers light breathing inside the vehicle above trembling and shak ing as though fever-stricken. He was afraid for great hatred had come into his ife-a hatred of Caleb
 They grew to hate their gold still more than each other, and yet they toiled unendngly, amassing it. They hated the golden heaps the golden sum- golden sands they hated the wonan's golden hair and her great golden eyes. There seemed other color than this anywhere, and it infamed and infuriated them