Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-03-28


trembling lips, cutting off the plea.
flush! oh, darling, hush!' she be-
sought They will hear you at the
house. You mustn't say word about
IL any more not even to me-you
mustn't think of it ever again. Prom
Use"
IL can't promise anything" persisted
June fighting to regain her composure,
until you tell me about this mark
that.has soiled my hand-teH me what
you know of it. Just now, when l
came down stairs and to my mother,
I had to hide my right hand, for fear
she might see that awful thing. Yet,
ii you refuse to tell me about it now,
| shall so straight to her and ask her.
"Oh, no. No" o.
"Then tell mec .|>s ".
AS she got up from the bench the old
woman leaned heavily on the young arm
beside her for support. She looked eau
tiousIy toward the house, and then in
the opposite direction. With the, same
nervous fear she stared into the shrub
berry surrounding them, then sank back
on to the bench, her lips moving as If
i'm silent prayer
I'm afraid--I'm afraid, she repeated
weakly. ..'' .
Tell me-" '.-+ .-
Cog knows I've kept the secret so
far-shs. never knew nothing about it
your mother-and nobody! There isn't
anything you can keep a secret forever.
But if | could a protected you from 1t
always, precious, ] would "a given my
soul, pretty near, to do it. 1t all hap
pened so long agoLtwenty years it was
full twenty years"
Tell me, Mary" urged June, gently
pattin:y her Writhing hands.
Twenty years ago Mrs. Travis went
west on a trip with Mr.. Travis" said
Mary, speaking rapidly, as if forcing
each word. II went ,along-I was the
maid. 1t was a terrible place, out west
was, i'm those days. And the place we
went to was a mining town where there
was nothing but shacks and saloons and
rough-looking men and half-dead look
ing women. -'... =.
AT. the end of: the trip Mrs. Travis
was pretty near spent She ouShtn't to
have been travelling at such a time. But
she Just would insist on coming along.
I remember Mr.. Tavis and me had 10
pretty near carry her into the place
where we were going to stay while we
were thee. AZ wasn't a regular hotel
the sign said Gem Saloon. Also Rooms.
fake was the name of the man who
kept it, and downstairs when We went
in was nothing but a barroom all hlled
with tobacco smoke and smell of liquor
There was tables with men drinking
and gambling and they. stared at us like
we were strange animals.
Jake led the way up the stairs and
Mr. Travis and me put our arms around
Door Mrs. Travis and just lifted her up
that lickety staircase into the bedroom
on the second floor"
Mary's eyes stared DULY, back through
the mist of twenty. years. Her voice
faltered-and stopped.C.
THE bedroom on the second floor re-
peated June, land then
And then we put her to bed be-
tween us, Mr. Travis and me. He had
to go down. and speak to some men, on
business! He had gone out west on some
business about a gold mine he was inter-
ested in, you know And the reason
Mrs. Travis went along was because
she was so sick and nervous she said 1T
would "a killed her to stay behind. And
then that afternoon Mr.. Travis and most
all the men in the town went into the
mountains to see a new gold claim.
They were the toughest looking lot,
an there was a big, powerful fellow, a
gambIer-'Jim Borden they called him.
Jim Borden!" cried June. Why
And he was rougher even than the
rest of EN-; but! theyvaA minded what
he said They went off, riding on horses
and mules with packs and guns slunS
on theirs baGkss yand l. Eefnember lifted
Mrs. Travis out of bed and into a rick
ety.. old rocking chair near the window
SOS, she could wave her hand goodby
and throw a kiss to Mr.. Travis.
"That night her little. baby was born.
| was ali alone there, and it went awful
with her-I thought she was dying.
After a little while i called Jake and
I told him about the baby. He Gaid il
was fine and he'd send one of the boys
out to the mine to Mr.. Travis with a
note and tell him about the good news.
Then, just, as he was going down
the stairs again he turned around and
said he'd have to make il a double note;
because Jim Bordens wife had just had
baby an hour before. and Jim would
want to know, too"
A sharp little breeze that sprang from
nowhere rustled the branches of the
trees. and moved the low bushes with a
sudden wild touch. The old nurse jump
ed to her feet, dragging frantically at
June,s hand. .#.'-s
The unexpected break in the tension
that, had held her tortured the girl S
nerves. 1t was with difficulty she
stifled the shrek that rose to her lips.
1T was just the wind" she heard
herself saying as she pulled Mary down
on the bench beside her, Just the wind.
1t startled her And Jake sent the note
TO father and i'm Borden, you were say
ing?Ht '..t' p r.
Yes, he sent the note. oh, the night
was long,! Mrs. Travfsewas unconscious.
And every minute. of the time when l
wasn't trying to bring her to, l walked
the floor with this mite. of baby of
hers trying to save them both.
1.-THE next morning early, it seems
outlaws outside the, town heard that a
big shipment of gold was in the road
house waiting to go out. They knew
most of the men were away at the
mines, so they attacked the place. I'll
ever forget the minute heard the first
firing. Short and sharp-mostly re-
Volver shots. -~. r.
"An of a sudden Jake and another
man run out and started to gather up
the women and children from the shacks
and bring them over to the roadhouse
I watched from the window, with the
baby in my arms. And I saw Jake and
one of the miners named Joe carrying a
woman in a wrapper from one of. the
shacks-a poor white thing, she was
and right behind them ran another wom-
an with a little bundle wrapped in a
;,, har