The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1914-02-05
| IN The The REALMS !!
OF ROMANCE
Maiden Saved From Dire Fate
by Her Faithful Lover.

made his rounds of the sugar busf
with pals suspended from a neck yoke
to empty the trimming troughs Of saL
and convey them to the barrels at the
fire it all came back to him so forcibly
that he seemed TO be working in q
dream. He had known Nellie Temp.
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 a
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 be-
fore on vacation. He had FASTENED
over to the farmhouse in his working
clothes to welcome her, and plainly she
had been shocked. There was nc
warmth in her handshake, no love in
her eyes. Even when he reappeared q
night or two later in his Sunday best
she had called him Mr. Taylor and had
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 a man.
While he mended 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 q
great pretense of being jolly, and he
started a 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 a cold supper while the
sap in the pan boiled and foamed and
later on had cut up the wood to be
used through the hours of darkness.
Then he sat down on a log to smoke
and figure out how many pals Of strip
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 minutes he
was oblivious of his surroundings
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 a 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 rush into the darkness.
He had only fifty feet to go before
discovering Nell Tompkins leaning up
against the trunk of tree.
"You-you here" gasped Zeb as he
came to halt.
"Y-yes, and. oh, Zeb, the bear-the
bear!' she exclaimed as she held out
her arms to him.
"What bear? Where? When?'
"Hes just roared out twice, and you
you
Eyes, 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 encircled her as
they sat down on the log together. and
he asked:
"Nell. did you start for anywhere
and get lost?''
I'll don't know" she half sobbed
II heard you were making sugar down
here all alone and that you were going
to sugar off tonight"
''Not quite so soon.'
'And ught-thought'-
What did you think, Nell?'
81 thought if I came down you'd give
me some maple wax on white chip
and that would say that I was sorry
if I hurt your feelings the other night. "
"And you got lost in the woods:
queried Zeb as his heart began to melt.
IL guess so. 1t was awfully dark. -
"And a bear growled at you?''
"Such awful growls! Oh, Zeb. was
so glad to see you! might have been
eaten alive" ...
eyes. Say. Nell. you are sorry. I'm
sorry. and what!' ..-.-...1 s.. ..--s
.sWhy, you'll go home with me, won't
your
eyes, and what them
ssWhy, if pa and ma haven't gone to