Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1914-04-16
IN THE REALMS
OF ROMANCE
Maiden Saved From Dire Fate
by Her Faithful Lover.

to empty the trimming troughs of sap
| and convey them to the barrels at the
| Are it all came back to him so forcibly
! that he seemed 10 be working in
dream. He had known Nellie Tomp-
| kins since childhood The two farm
| houses stood close together. and the
children had been Zeb and Nell to each
other until he had become his fathers
hired man" and she had put on long
dresses.
The old folks had looked upon it as q
matter of course that the young couple
| would get married in due time. 1t
was only after the girl had been sent
away to school and her letters to Zeb
had been few and far between that he
awoke to the fear of losing her.
Nell Tompkins at eighteen was a
good looking. attractive girl. and Zeb
realized that education and society
would improve her still more. Other
young men would be attracted. and
he would, stand no show.
AS Zeb reached the camp and emp
tied his buckets of sap into the bar
rels he fingered and thought Of more
recent sorrows. Nell Tompkins had
|"returned from. school two weeks he
fore on vacation. He had fastened
over to the farmhouse in his working
had been shocked. There was no
warmth in her handshake. no love In
her eyes. Even when he reappeared
| night or twoSlater in his Sunday best
she had called him Mr.. TAYLOR and had
refused to remember how he had car
! ried her on his back over mudholes
and boosted her over fences. A change
had come to blast all his hopes. and
on his road home he made up his mind
to face it like man.
| While he lnended the line fence be-
tween the two farms next morning he
raised his voice in song so that Nell
Tompkins might realize that he. was
not taking her conduct to heart. but
his voice sounded like crows. When
he met Farmer Tompkins he made
great pretense of being jolly. and he
started report that he was stuck"
on Abigail Spooner.
Thus Zeb Taylor had tried to make
| himself believe that he was getting the
best of it.
Night had come in the sugar bush.
Zeb had eaten cold supper while the
sap in the pan boiled and foSmed and
later ON had cut up the wood to be
used through the hours of darkness.
Then he sat down on log to smoke
and figure out how many pals Of silup
would be the result of that run OF sap.
He intended to follow the strip to the
sugar Off. process and count up the.
pounds Of sugar. but his, thoughts in
sensibly drifted away to Nell Temp
kins. and for long ten Jml1iInnuttesi he
was oblivious Of his sunrrohndings.
Then he was suddenly called to life by
the boot of an owl. He could have
suppressed the cold shivers inside of
two minutes had not the boot of the
bird been followed by the scream of a
woman. The sugar bush was mile
away from any house. and the voice Of
"a woman in the dark woods weakened
Zeb's knees and brought his heart into
his throat. He was shaking with
alarm when the owl hooted again. a
boot full of the direst peril. and again
it was followed by the scream OF wO-
man whose life was menaced Zeb
stopped only to grab up a club, and
then he made a rush into the darkness.
He had only fifty feet to 20 before
discovering Nell Tompkins leaning up
against the trunk of a tree.
'.You-you here gasped Zeb as he
came to halt.
yves. and oh, FEB. the bear-the
bear-' she exclaimed as she held out
her arms to him.
What bear: Where? Wheny'
J., Hes just roared out twice, and you
you :
YES heard him roar, but don't you
be afraid. said Zeb as he put his arm
around her and gently walked her to
the fire The arm still encirced her as
they sat down on the log together. and
he asked:
II '.Nen did yon start for anywhere
and get lost?" Z
III don't know she half sobbed
II heard yoil were making sugar down
here all alone. and that you were going
to sugar off tonight
l Not quite so soon.
'...And l thought thought
r What did you think. Nell?"
II thought If ! came down you'd give
me some maple wax on white chir
!, and that ! would say that l was -sorry
iif 4 hnl.t yOur fe>efinps the sOtfer NIGHT .