The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1914-04-10

'AN" "'A AAo 80 ~
cursed the invisible being hid
den behind the bushes.
Yer devil!' he cried. "Whoever Yer
aire. give my word ter David. or by
I'll be er waitin' for yer on Their door
step of hell when yer come"
At the awful words the trembling old
woman, with horror in her eyes, turn
ed and fed away down the path, the
broken, dying voice wailing after her:
iii be er waitin' fer yer. I'll be
waitin'."
When the two Blairs and George
Hedrick, the storekeeper, with David
reached the hollow. running hard,
Cree was speeches.. but as they started
to lift him. his dying eyes arrested
them. Dimly they flashed over the
group and settled on his son.
He's got somethin' ter say ter yer,
Davy," the storekeeper said quickly.
"Po' Teller, he's mos gone"
Don't Cree managed to gasp with
\ fierce effort, "Don't"- But then
there was a gurgle in his throat. He
choked and stopped, the blood running
V1VIu HIS ups Ill il leu IIlc. DUC la
yid flung himself beside him, crying
p~assionately:
II won't fergit, 1 won't fergit. I've
promised yer pappy, I've promised"
And so, with the boys reiterated
promise in his ears, Anderson Cree
died.
When old Martha Lamire reached
her own little log doorstep, after her
wild stumbling run through the under
growth Of Peters ridge, her thoughts
swept back to fourteen years ago when
Anderson Cree, in all his vigor Of youth.
had first come stepping up to that same
doorstep to see her daughter Amabel.
At first old Martha was proud that
Anderson Cree, the likeliest mar in the
Draft, with the inheritance of the old
Cree place to back him, should be 60
Ing with her Army; but presently,
nfter the first flush Of triumph over
the other mothers of the Draft, and as
she saw the lights fash up In ANA
bells face at Alderson's coming and
fade with his departure the old woman
began to be assailed with stabs Of sud
den jealousy. AS her jealousy grew
for days together Martha Lamf1re had
silent fits Of sullenness, or only spoke
to break out upon Anderson in vituper.
alton, and, once started, her old tongue
laid itself to many a sharp thing, max
ing Amabel vince and look at her
pleadingly, as Alderson's face whiten.
ed with suppressed anger For a long
time he stood her abuse well enough,
held in check by the girls b%eseeching
eyes, but at last there came a day
when jealousy whipped the old wo'
man into a very fury, and her words
leaped all the bounds Of self control
Stung beyond endurance, Anderson
Cree turned upon Amabel and swore
she should choose between himself and
her mother.
EFF yer keer fer me- he said, "we'lI
git married Tomorrow. But it's got
ter be me er her, fer I'll never come
under the same roof with tibet old wild
cat ergin."
"Oh, don't, DON'T the girl cried pit
eously, and would have put her arms
about his neck, but he held her away
from him %sternly, crying, Make vel
choice"
For a moment she wavered, implor
ing Anderson with dark. tragic eyes
then as his look showed no s~oftness
she turned and went owe to Martha
with a set little face. At the sight Al
derson Cree flung out Of the house, anc
once again Martha Lamfirc had sol,
possession OF her treasure.
Two weeks afterward Anderson tool
up with Judy Lester, a little rcd hair
ed thing who had sprung quite sudden
~ from barefooted childhood into wo
manhood.
Amabel had no lack for other suitors
but there was no power to respond lef
in her. Her first great passion wa.
her only one, and she was left no NOR,
than a shell of her glorified self, lik,
some. rare flower whose vitality is ex
hausted in the one perfect blossom.
The day Anderson and Judy Leiste
drove over to Wayside, the count,
town, and were married Amabel Lam
IRE slipped away. > She died holdin'