The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1916-09-22
The END OF NOWHERE
By SUSAN e.

yOuAkSkCAS "AAA
watching him with adoring eyes and
following closely at his heels. Tom
was too miserable to think Of any
thing but his desire to get as far
away from everybody al he could.
He had not been treated fairly. His
father had told him he could keep the
doe-the one thing in all Toms uni
verse he wanted with his whole little
heart-then had changed his mind.
He gave no reason. Just said he
wouldn't have such q looking cur
about. That he must go. and Tom
decided he would go also.
He had walked miles and miles.
Tempted by the shade Of big trees,
Tom had left the main thoroughfare
and wandered down a little-used
road that carried him farther and
farther away from the usual haunts
Of Ahen. Now he was very tired and
very hungry. With his arms about
the yellow cur, tears just g%listening on
~eyeiashes that rested lightly against
berry-tainted cheeks, he slept the
sleep of exhaustion, half hidden In the
grass by the roadside close to the end
Of nowhere.
A few yards farther on the road
ended in front of a house, a log house
with a deep, screened porch and q
gay flower border at one side.
The place was lonely. Somebody's
summer camp and that somebody was
leaning modify against a tree whit
Ting. There a q whine. Before
him was q mongrel cur paws hang
Ing, one ear cooked, the other limp.
He stopped. but the dog whisked
away from the kindly hand and sat
down farther away.
"Oh! that's it," the man said. "YOu
want me to go with you? All right.
Lead and I will follow" And follow
he did until the dog stopped close by
something lying beside the road.
The man gave q low whistle as he
looked down at the boy. Then he
gathered him into his arms and hur-
ried back to the house. AS he laid
him on a couch, Tom opened his eyes.
"You told me you lived at the end
Of nowhere, Uncle Jack, and l came
near not finding you," he murmured.
"But l just had to find you, for I'm
IN lots Of trouble"
The voice trailed of as the tele-
phone rang. 1t had been ringing for
some time, but Jack Crowthers had
not heard 1t. When he took down the
receiver the voice at the other end
made him knit his brows.
When he put up the receiver he
turned to the sleeping child.
WELL, youngster, whatever your
trouble. whatever has been mine.
neither is anything to what is before
me during the next hour. What pos
seAses the soul of women, and your
Aunt Mary's in particular, is beyond
my limited knowledge"
He threw himself into a chair and
did not move until he heard the pur-
ring of q car as it came slowly up the
lane.
The woman who entered a moment
later did not look at him al she
crossed the room and knelt beside the
child. She lifted the two dirty little
hands and laid them against her
cheeks, then she raised a white
strained face to the man who stood
beside the fireplace.
1--WE have looked for him ali day. I
| did not think of his trying to find you
until 1 phoned. You were so far
away"
"Why didn't you call me at once?"
She hesitated, the slow color mount
Ing. into her face. "How could II"
she said at last.
"Yet you are here" His tone was
ugly. "And I am here in the home I
built for you. This is the month you
chose, the very day you chose to be-
come it's mistress. Then you changed
your mind" He had forgotten the
child. "Why did you Gomez"
II was SO frightened" she repeated
slowly. Il had but n thought-to
get to you and Tom"
ITO get to met" he repeated in
credulously.
EYES,"
II do not understand"
! Sne came auu SIOOU UcSIue AAlAI1s
"Neither do I, Jack. All l know is
that something bigger and greater
than anything else In all the world
made me come" sUN
"And that is?" He would not,
could not help her.
Her answer was not direct. ITO
day was to have been our wedding
day. That thought has been with me
all through the awful hours we spent
looking for Tom. When I called you.
( when I heard your voice. I knew l
must come. and nothing on earth could
have kept me away" She slipped hor
hand within his. my dear, my DEAR"
she said, a little catch In her throat,
explanations q wait, all but this
liz
He was not listening to her. He
had taken down the receiver and was
calling for a number.
"You need not, jack" she said
soberly. Il brought him with me, our
old pastor. wAo always understands
without being told. sn5 the two girls
-NZE.--L--ak- 60. 49, 49,, - kA~~S1A~tA