Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1913-08-22
WAS TRUE TO HIM
ConWct's Mountain Sweetheart
Chung to Him Through All
His Troubles.
BY GEORGE A. 5AFFIN.

CAUTIOUSLY parting Tic puShCS "ASo
one hand to peer out down the noun
tain side. He was a ragged giant of
a man, clean-limbed, yet with a
strange pallor upon his face. Upon
each wrist, too, we're half healed
scars. These had been caused by
the heroic efforts which he had used
to free himself from his manacles.
But he was free at last. He had es-
capped from the state penitentiary
three weeks before and his pursuers
had never beer able to discover his
secret hiding place upon Bear noun
tain
He had heard them seeking for him
sternally; on the very day after MS
escape he had come upon one OF the
guards doing under a fir tree. He
had taken his rife and then, awaken
ing him, s~cornfuly ordered him to de-
par. The man had obeyed fearfully,
and the rife and a box of matches had
enabled the fugitive to live. But
every time he brought down a rabbit
or partridge the sound of the shot,
echoing through the valleys, at once
Informed his pursuers of his where
Abouts.
Re looked round cautiously. No n
was in sight. High up on the opposite
hill he saw the outlines Of a tiny
cabin. 1t was his s~weetheart's home
-Mollie Stark's. 1t was to avenge
an insult to her that he had shot and
crippled Seth Baldwin. That was
two years before, and he had been
sent up for ten. Mollie had sworn to
be true to him.
But since his fight he had not dared
10 near her home. 1t was too des-
perate a chance to take. But a visit
on his part to the wild glen in which
they had plighted their troth had re-
suited in the finding of a package OF
food placed there by Mollie. In it was
little note.
Deere Ben" it ran. Il hid this and
brout it here thinking you would come
here. Come to the cabin on Monday
mite at nine. Lovingly, Mollie."
The full moon gave almost as much
light as the sun. The fugitive crawlet
down the slope and approached the
opposite height, worming his way VI
kuIOuSu IuC Id ~ NNO0S AAA0@
vines. At last he emerged upon a Lit
ne rocky eminence a hundred yard
distant from the cabin. From Mol
He's window a rag futtered. The fugi
dive understood that sign. She wal
alone. Grasping his rife he went for
ward boldly.
He was within ten yards when tn
door opened. His heart leaped. Mo
Ne stood in the doorway, her arms gu
stretched, to welcome him. Benin
her was the Pickering candle. But a
he drew near, suddenly a sight froz
his blood. The shadow of a man ha
passed the candle; another, and 81
other. He halted in his tracks. b
hind Mollie he saw a rife barrel.
With an oath he flung back int
the brushwood. He would have fire.
but, treacherous though she was, b
Oould not bring himself to kill he
He heard yells behind him, Mollie
screams, the shouts Of his pursuer
II they had fired before he won Il
woods they might have brought hi
down as he had brought down tn
rabbit the afternoon before. But, cd
ty enough, they forebore, and with
shout Of defiance he gained the fore
path and was speeding like a stag
ward Bear mountain.
An hour later he dropped exhaust
upon the ground inside his cave.
was a bears hole, c~unningly hidd
on the mountain side. Among tb
waste of burned-over pine STUN
lone could hit upon it save by &C
dent, and that IN did not anticipa
It was not fear hat made him pa
Hike a marathon runner, but wrath a
self-contempt.
Mollie was a traitress! He had be
fooled by a chit of a girl, for WIFI
sake he had suffered two years
the pentitentiary. Anger overcame
other feelings. He would show h
He would show them! What sho
he do?
For an hour he lay thinking, gni
ing his lip in rage. His passion
her had been so strong, his love
large a part Of his existence, that
revulsion was terrible. He must
trive some punishment commensul
with the crime. Among the hill
men there could be none other
base as to betray her lover, as Nj
had sought to betray him. He
recognized one Of the men in the
Tor as Frank Merriman, the sheriff,
had been a sutton for Mollie's b
before she promised herself to
Doubtless he had persuaded her.
Ha! He had his plan. 1t iai
into his brain ready-forged in the
mace of his wrath. Doubtless M
man would be at her home the foI
ing night. Her father, the bedri,
old man, would be helpless. He W
steal in and shoot the man b.
Mollie's eyes-and then-then-cu
her hair, leaving her to the derisit
the hill folk.
His plan consumed him. He pc
the outstanding hours like a man
Aas3rium Day daWned the sim n