The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1914-07-17
f~ergit-an' I Civ hit with all my SOUL"
DAVID she said. ''ef yer break

fergit-an' 1 Civ hit with all my SOUL"
David" she said, ''ef yer break
your promise ter me hit'll kill me. Oh,
Dave" she pleaded; put yer love be-
fore yer hate. Hit ought ter come first
yer know hit ought" Again she
kissed his hands, looking up at him
with wet, beseeching eyes.
Put Yer love first" she whispered.
David's face was tortured with suf-
fering. nevertheless he spoke steadily.
MARY he repeated, Il can't so back
on my promise"
At his words the tender pleading
went out of Mary's face, and she got
to her feet with a quick spring.
NO." she said, low and fierce, "no,
yer can't break Their promise yer made
ter Anderson Cree ten years ergo-er
bad, wicked promise-but yer can
break Their one Yer made ter me jest
this mornin' easy enough" Her tone
was very bitter, and an angry, proud
look settled about her mouth. david
Cree" she said, bending close to him,
all the appealing sweetness gone out
Of her face, 1--WE laid my very heart
IN soul at your feet an you've jest
tramped on 'em. Now listen ter me
Onct fer all-ef yer kill Kip Ryerson-
no. eff yer so much as try ter kill him,
Yer sha'n't ever hev me. Dover on
derstan':' she cried vehemently, her
eyes flaming.
For a moment she looked into his
face, her own dead white: then, with
a passionate gesture, she flung his
! hands from her and, bursting into bit
ter sobs, she turned and ran blindly
down the path up which they had just
come.
David stood and watched her 80 with
a doomed look upon his face, as though
Fate had slammed ineXorable doors
upon him.
Yet the woods had scarcely lost the
last pink flicker of her gown before
suddenly they gave it back again, and
in a moment she flashed forth from
the green bushes and fled back to
him, tiinging her arms about his neck
and clinging to him again.
Dave she cried distractedly,
"Dave, l amt really mad, l amt,
Dave. But eff yer-ef yer keep yer
promise yerll be err murderer. An eff
yer do hit, Dave-ef yer do, yerll kill
me-"
She lay against him, exhausted and
painting and very piteous, the hardness
nnl onro. ,rorn fror, 1n, f,,o o,J oil
the tender pleading and sweetness
come back again.
"Hitll kill me-hit'n jest kill me"!'
she whispered, gazing up at him like
a pathetic child, tears upon her cheeks
and her eyes dark with terror. And
vid's face softened with a culver OF
emotion, and he made Il quick gesture
as though to comfort her with kisses.
But the next moment he checked him.
self, and, raising his hands, he un-
clasped her clinging fingers and, put
ting her resolutely from him without
a word, he climbed over the fence and
went slowly down the hillside. But
though he went firmly and steadily, his
head was bent, his face was haggard
and his eyes began to burn with an
almost d%istraught light.
Mary stood looking after his retreat
ing figure in an utter bewildered stu
pefaction, and the fact that in spite
OF everything, in spite Of all her an
guishcd endeavor and her agony of
pleading, in the end her love and Da-
vid's that had seemed just that morn
ing such an overwhelmingly strong
thing, should in a few short hours
have been swept aside by another pas
sion as though it had never been was
to her appalling and unbelievable and
crushed her ont of all her familiar
paths Of thought.
At the foot of the hill David turned
to take Il last look at the place of
: their parting, and in doing so he caught
!, sight Of Mary's figure sunk down by
the fencc-just Il faint splash Of pink
showing between the gray rails. Da-
vid stood suddenly still, looking up ut
her with a sharp desire in his eyes. In
the silent appeal of her little broken
figure, all her vanished gayety and
wistful. frightened sweetness rushed
upon hin and called him madly; and
that he who had brought upon her the
first sting Of suffering cOuIl nnt 90 m