The Ordway new era. (Ordway, Colo.) 1902-1927, 1914-06-12

AS he pushed back his chair he smote
his hands together and laughed aloud
Back to the soil!" he said. "Johr
Valiant, farmer! The miracle Of It Il
that 1t sounds good to me. want to
raise my own grub and till my OWE
soil. want to be my own man! And
I'm beginning to see my way. Crops
will have to wait for another season
but there's water and pasture for cat.
tie now. There's timber-lots of IT.
on that hillside. too. ! must look into
that"
He filled his pipe and climbed the
staircase to the upper floor. There
were many bedrooms with great four.
posted. canopied beds and old-fash.
Toned carved furniture OF mahogany
and curly-maple. and in one he found
great cedar-lined chest filled with
bed-linen and napery. In these rooms
were more evidences OF decay. The
bedroom he mentally chose for his
own was the plainest of all, and was
above the library, fronting the vaga-
bond garden. 1t had a great black
desk with many glass-knobbed draw
ers and book-rack.
He fingered longest In a room
whose door was painted The Hilarium
1t had evidently been a nursery and
schoolroom. Here on the walls were
many shelves wound over with net.
works OF cobwebs, and piled with the
oldest assemblage OF toys. There
were school-books. too. thumbed and
dog-eared. from First Reader to
Caesars Gallo Wars. with names Of
small Valiants scrawled on their fly
leaves. He carefully relocked the door
OF this room; he wanted to dust those
toys and books with his own hands.
In the upper hall again he leaned
from the window, smiling the far
flung scent Of orchards and peach
blown fence-rows. The soft whirring
sound of a birds wing went past, al
most brushing his startled face, and
the old oaks seemed to stretch their
bent limbs with a faithful brute-like
yawn of pleasure. In the room below
he could hear the vigorous sound Of
Aunt Daphne's hard-driven broom and
the sound flooded the echoing space
with a comfortable commotion. J
He went to his trunk and fished out
a soft shirt on which he knotted a
loose tie. exchanged his Panama for
a SLOUGH hat. and whistling the bar
carole from Tales of Hoffman,. went
gatly out. 81 feel tremendously alive
today" he confided to the dog, a. he
tramped through the lush grass. "If
you see me ladle the muck out of
that fountain with my own fair hands,
don't have. q at. I'm liable to do any
thing"
His eye swept up and down the
slope. There probably isn't finer
site for house in the whole South"
be told himself. THE living.rooms
front south and west. Well get
sunsets from that back
porch. And on the other side there's
he view clear to the Blue Ridge"
He skirted the lake. only to grub
tut some of the lilies-there's too
many Of them-and straighten the
inland weed the pebble margin to
give those green locks a show. I'll
,uild little wharf below them to dive
rom, and-yes. III stock 1t with
Ipotted trout
He was but Q few hundred yards |
rom the house. yet the silence was SO \
leep that there might have been no |
labitation within nfty miles. All at
nee he stopped short: there was q
'udden movement In the thicket be-
'ond-the sound OF light fast footballs,
- OF some one running away. |
He made lunge for the dog, but |
With a growl Chum tore himself from
he restraining grasp and dashed into
he bushes. "A child. no doubt" he
bought as he plunged in pursuit, land
hat lubberly brute will scare It half
o DEATH"
He pulled up with an exclamation.
n narrow wood-path little way
rom him. partly hidden by a wind
all. stood a girl. her skirt transfi-ed
With wickedly Jagged sapling. He
aw instantly how 1t had happened;
he windfall had blocked the way, and
The had sprung clear over It, not
loting the screened spear. which now
leld her - effectually a. any railroad
pike. - Llttl
In sncther moment Valiant had
cached her and met her face. flushed.
lalf defiant. her eyes blue CLEAN Of
moldering anger as she desperately.
lmost savagely. thrust wild tendrils
t aame-colored hair beneath the
road curved brim Of her straw hat.
It her feet lay great armful Of cape
A little thrill. light and warm and
oyous. ran through him. Until that
Instant he had not recognized her.
CHAPTER XIII.