The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1914-12-24
CHAPTER I.

mountain clarity. the sun seemed hest
tating before It's descent to the hori.
son. The sugarloaf cone that tow.
cred above u creek called Misery was
pointed and edged with emerald trac-
cry where the loftlest timber thrust
up Its crest plumes into the sun. On
the hiilstdes IL would be light for
more than nj hour yet. but below,
where the waters tossed themselves
along In a chorus OF tiny cascades. the
light was already thickening into a
cathedral gloom. Down there the FUR.
riner" would have seen only the rough
course of the creek between moss.
velveted and shaded boe'lders OF
titanic proportions. The native would
these tortuous twistlngs. A great block
of sandstone. TO whose summit n man
standing In his saddle could scarcely
reach his fngertips. lowered above
the stream. with a gnaried scrub oak
clinging tennciously to its apex. Loft
lily on both sides climbed the moun.
tains cloaked In laurel and timber.
Suddenly the LEAKAGE was thrust
aside from above by u cautious hand,
and a shy. half.wild girl appeared In
che opening. For an instant she halt.
ed. with her brown fingers holding
back the brushwood. and raised her
face as though listening. As she
stood with the toes OF one bare foot
twisting In the gratefully cool moss
she laughed with the sheer exhilara.
zion OF life and youth. and started out
on the table top of the huge rock.
But there she halted suddenly with a
startled exclamation and drew lnstinc
lively back. What she saw might well
have astonished her, for II was a thing
b had never seen before and OF
which she had never heard. Finally,
treasured BY the silence. she slipped
across the broad face of the fiat rock
for n distance OF twenty-five feet and
paused again to listen.
At the far edge lay a pair OF saddle.
bags, such as form the only practical
equipment for mountain travellers.
Near them lay a tin box, Uttered with
small and Misunderstanding tubes OF
soft metal. all grotesquely twisted and
stained, and beside the box was n
strangely shaped plaque OF wood
smeared with = dozen hues. That this
plague was a painters sketching pal.
cite was a thing which she could not
know. since the ways OF artists had
70 do with q world as remote from
hAR NUN aa fha lf. - A -.
stars. II was n OF those vague mys-
teries that made up the wonderful life
OF down below" Why had these
things been left here In such confu.
sionf II there was a man about who
owned them he would doubtless return
TO claim them. She crept owe eyes
and ears alert. and slipped around to
the front OF tho queer tripod. with all
her muscles poised In readiness for
flight.
A haif-rapturous and utterly aston.
ished cry broke from her lips. She
stared a moment. then dropped TO the
moss-coyered rock. leaning back on
her brown hands and gazing ~Inten,ly
Hits purify" she approved, In a
low. musical murmur. "Hit's plumb.
dead beautiful"
or course IL was not a finished pic.
ture-merely a study OF what lay be
fore her-but the hand that had
placed these brush strokes Oh the
academy board was the sure. def
hand OF a master Of landscape, who
had caught the splendid spirit Of the
thing and fixed IL immutably in true
and glowing appreciation. Who he
was: where he had gone: why his
work stood there unfinished and aban
doned. we're details which 70. the mo
ment this half.savage child.woman for
got 10 question. She was conscious
only OF a sense Of revelation and "
Then she saw other boards, like the
n upon the easel. piled neor tho
paint box. These we're dry, and rep
resented the work OF other Gays; bu'
they were all pictures OF her owl
mountains, and IN each Of them, a,
In this one. wac something that mad,
her heart leap.
To her own people these steep Hill
sides and "coves" and valleys were
matter or course. In their stony sol
they iabored by day. and In their shad
ows slept when work was done. Ye
someone had discovered that they hel,
a picturesque and rugged beauty: tina
they were not merely steep field
where the pillow was useless and tn,
hoe must be used, She must tell Sam
aon--Samson. whom she held In al
artless e~xaltation OF hero worship
Samson. who was 30 Smart" that h
thought about things beyond her uu
derstandlng; Samson. who could no
only read and write. but speculate Of
problematlcal matters.
Suddenly she came 20 her feet wit
a swift-darting impulse OF alarm. He
a had caught a sound. She cas-
searching g~lances about her, but th
tangle was empty OF humanity. TIL
water still murmured over the rock
undisturbed. There was no sign Q
human presence, other than hersel
that her eyes could dIscover-and ys
20 her cara came the sound again. an
this time more distinctly. II 4 ID
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