The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1914-12-03
II shall Not Be Afraid"

to much, 'cept to look pretty. An this
| little cuss will take you safe as a
rockin' hoss."
She smiled up At the rugged, kindly
face that was dimly visible by the
flashes OF light.
Il shall not be afraid of anything
with you to take care OF me. ! re-
member how good you were to Dick"
"Sho', now! didn't do anything
for him. He was mighty good to me
when hit the Stag pile; that is, when
/ was down on my luck, you know"
Il know what you did" she said,
softly, and her voice was like q strain
Of music across the wind that drifted
down from the mountain. He told
me how you were his friend when he
first came to the mines, 'tenderfoot,'
he called II, and how you Knocked
out Big Stoker when he tried to play
pranks on him. Then he told me
about the time you went prospecting
together on the west slope. 1t seems
to me that have gone over that trail
scores OF times. have felt the desert
sun blaze down on me till every drop
OF blood in my veins turned to fire.
And then the climb away up the
mountain, stumbling over rocks and
slipping on smooth slides and scaling
almost vertical slopes, and then the
top, shiyering In the cold, freezing in
the sharp winds"
1T is a little coldishlike nights,
waitin' fer the sun to rise; but, lordy!
amt II fine sight when she does git
up? 1t kind o. pays fer settin' round
on top o. the hill tryin' to keep warm
by brush fire that goes out mos as
soon as II kindles."
Then that time Dick slipped on q
glare Of ice and fell down the side of
the mountain into crevice. and you |
crawled down and found him there |
hurt so that he could not move, and
you put your own coat around him to
keep him warm and sat against the
wind to shelter him from 1t. You set
his broken ankle and nursed him
through all the days that he was help
less, watching him day and night.
You scarcely ate anything in all the
time that Dick could not be moved,
lest the food that you had brought for
the journey should give out and Dick
might suffer. Then, when he was
able to bear the motion, you carried
him in your arms down to the plain
and to the little station and took care
Of him till he was we'll"
"Sho'. now, Did Dick tell you all
that stuff?"
HE would have died that time II it
had not been for you"
That's nothin' fer man to do"
Il think 1t III great thing for a
man to do. 1t shows friendship, and
think that is not common thing
n life"
Dicks my pardner." he said, quietly
Miss Lyleford had heard men say
he is my brother" with less of the
lnality OF self-surrender that was ex-
PRESSED in the simple statement OF the
OF this miner with his
riend. She heard soldier say once
He is my comrade," with something
II the deep, soft, earnest information Of
er escort.
A note In the sound of her voice re-
minded him OF voice he used to
now away back In the years-his
oyhood years-when he used to play
With girl in the schoolhouse yard.
hat voice had drifted away in ST.
ence long ago and he had not thought
I 1t for years, except sometimes
fhen he lay awake nights and heard
soft wind sweep through the pine
rees. To his ear the wind had an
of sadness, as If 1t might
ave dristed over a grave.
A blaze of lightning lit up the noun
ain pathway. From the narrow ledge
hat wound around steep wall of
ock the girl looked down into the
epths OF a canyon that seemed to
pen into the heart of the earth.
BALKAN will take you safe through,
o matter how shaky it looks"
She looked up into the kindly, reas-
uring face, and smiled confidently.
II am not afraid; but 1t all seems
o strange and 80 beautiful, and aw-
ul. 1t is uplifted so far above the
world that / do not seem to belong
0 earth any more. l wonder how the
leople who are used to such scenes