The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1915-05-20

that knows me in New York except
the Lescotts, is laughing at me be-
hind my back"
He worked fiercely, and threw into
his work such IRE and energy that it
came out again converted into bold
ness of stroke and an almost savage
vigor of drawing. The instructor
nodded his head over the easel, and
PASSED on to the next student without
having left the detacing mark of his
relentless crayon. To the next pupil,
he said:
Watch the way that man South
draws. He's not clever. He's elemen-
tally sincere, and, if he goes on, the
first thing you know he viii be por
trait painter. He won't merely draw
eyes and lips and noses, but character
through them
And Samson met every. gaze with
smoldering savagery, searching for
some one who might be laughing at
him openly, or even covertly, instead
CT behind his back. The long-suffer
ing fighting lust in him craved oppor-
tunity to break out and relieve the
pressure on his soul. But no one
laughed.
One afternoon late in November,
hint of billiards swept snarlins down
the Atlantic seaboard from the polar
foes, with wet flurries of snow and
rain. Off on the marshes where the
K OF club ha &c no live
decoys stretched their clipped wings.
and raised their green necks restively
into the salt wind, and listened. With
dawn, they had heard, faint and far
away, the first notes of that wild
chorus with which the skies would ring
until the southerly migrations ended
the horizon-distant honking of high
flying water fowl.
Then it was that Farbish dropped
in with marching orders, and Samson,
yearning to be away where there were
open skies, packed George Lescott's
borrowed aphernalia, and prepared
to leave that same night
While he was packing, the telephone
rang, and Samson heard Adrienne's
voice at the other end of the wire.
Where have you been hiding?" she
demanded. I'll have to send truant
officer after you"
I've been very busy said the man,
''and l reckon, after all, you can't
civilize wolf. I'm afraid I've been
wasting your time
Possibly, the miserable tone of the
4D1I 81 l,n
words.
You are having season with the
blue devils" she announced you've
ben cooped up too much. This wind
ought to bring the ducks, and"
I'm leaving tonight" Samson told
her.
1T would have been very nice of
you to have run up to say good-by,'
she reproved But I'll forgive you,
if you call me up by long distance.
You will get there early in the morn
ing. Tomorrow, I'm going to Philadel-
phia over night. The next night,
shall be at the theater. Call me UP
after the theater, and tell HE how
you like it,"
IL was TIC SdIAC Oiu IL anu
friendliness of voice, and the same
old note like the music of reed in
strument. Samson felt so comforted
and treasured that he laughed through
the telephone.
I've been keeping away from you"
he volunteered, because I've had a
lapse into savagery, and haven't been
m toll fN Whom hoply
Pm coming up to explain. And. in the
meantime, I'll telephone"
On the train Samson was surprised
to iscover that, after all, he had Mr..
William Farbish for travelling com
panion. That gentleman explained
that he had found an opportunity to
play truant from business for a day
or two, and wished to see Samson
comfortably ensconced and introduced.
The first day Farbish and Samson
had the place to themselves, but the
! next morning would bring others.
The next day, while the mountain
eer was out on the flats, the party Of
men at the club had been swelled to
total of six, for in pursuance Of
eAS NoASA oA1odSCu ploho VI -h' :
| Farbish. Mr.. Bradburn 10 d succeeded
in inducing Wilfred Horton to run
down for a day or two of the sport
he loved. When Horton arrived that
afternoon, he found his usually even
| temper ruffied by bits of maliciously
| preached gossip, until his resentment
against Samson South had been
| famed into danger heat. He did not
know that South also was at the club,
and he did not that afternoon go out
to the blinds, but so far departed
| from his usual custom as to permit
himself to sit for several hours in the
club grill.
And yet, as is often the case in care
fully designed affairs, the one clement
| that made most powerfully fer the
success of Farbish's scheme was pure
accident. The carefully arranged meet
| ing between the two men, the alroltly
melted passions of each, would still
have brought no clash. had not Will
fred Horton been affected by the flush
ing effect of alcohol. Since his college