The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-03-08
Continued from our last issue.)
CHAPTER vi.


III CHAPTER vi.
When Emotions Are Bottled.
One day when the sun was
warm, Ward Strengthened his ach-
ing back, waded out to dry
ground and sat down to rest a
few minutes and make a smoke.
Hang the gold! I'm going Wis.,
iting for a change.
He concealed the goldpan, his
J pick and shovel. That did not
take more than two or three min
utes, and he made them up after
he had swung into the saddle on
came gathering down the steep
\ trail into the little flat beside his
] cabin.
He turned Rather loose in the
hay corral with the bride off,
rather than spend the extra min
! utes it would take to put him in a
stall and carry him a forkful of
hay.
Then he flung open the door of
his cabin and went white with
sheer establishment.
'Lo, Ward" Billy Louise had
been standing behind the door,
and she jumped out at him,
J laughing. just as If she were 10
years old instead of nearly 20.
Ward tried to say 10, Bill, +"
! in return, but the words would
! not come. His lips trembled too
much. His mind refused to tell
him what he ought to do; but his
arms did not wait upon his par
alyzed mental processes. They
shot out of their own accord,
caught Billy Louise, and brought
her close against his pounding
heart.
Billy Louise had not expected
anything like that. She tried to
pull herself free.
stop, Ward! You-I-you
! haven't any right to
We'll, give me the right, then"
Ward managed to find voice
enough to make the demand, and
! then he kissed her many times
before he attempted to say an
other word.
You'll give me the right,
J won't you, Wilhelmina?" he muir
INJURED against her ear. You
know you belong to me, don't
you? And | belong to you-body
! and soul. You know that, don't
you? I've known it ever since
l the world was made"
Billy Louise, by a visible effort,
brought the situation down to
earth. She twisted herself free
/ and went over to the stove and
saved a fryingpan of potatoes
from burning to a crisp.
! Ward stood and looked at her
until the food was all on the
table. When she pushed box up
to the table and sat down upon it,
he drew long breath, hunched
his shoulders with some mental
surrender, and grinned wryly.
so be it," he yielded, throw
J ing his hat upon the bunk. II
most humbly ask your pardon!
He bowed farcically and took up
the wash-basin from its bench
Just outside the door.
You see, William Louise" he
went on quizzically, when he had
seated himself opposite her,
when young lady invades
strange territory, and hides be-
hind strange doors, and jumps
out at an unsuspecting but terri
J bly, well-meaning young man,
! she's apt to get surprise. When
emotions are bottled"
Never mind the bottled emo
tions. Tell me what you've been
doing all this WHILE" Billy Louise
spoke lightly, even flippantly, but
! her eyes were making love to him
! shyly, whether she knew It or not.
Working" answered Ward
promptly and briefly. He was
thinking at the rate of a million
thoughts a minute, 1t seemed to
him, and he was afraid to let go
! of himself and say what he
thought. One thing he knew be-
yond all doubt, and that was that
! he must be careful or he would
see his air-castle blow up in small
fragments and come down a hope
less ruin.
He needed time to think, and
Billy Louise was not giving him
even a minute. So he clutched at
two decisions which instinct told
him might help to win to safety:
He would not make love, and he
would not tell Billy Louise about
the gold.
"Why don't you show some hui
man inquisitiveness about my
being here?" she asked irevelant-
ly, just as Ward was hastily
choosing how he would answer
her without saying too much.
why did you come, anyway"
"To see YOU" Billy Louise lost
her nerve when she saw the light
leap into his eyes. ITO see
whether you were dead or not"
she revised hastily, so mommie
would stop worrying about you.
Mommie has pestered the life out
of me for the last month, think
ing you might be sick or hurt or
something. Sol was riding up
this way, anyway, and"
II see I'll have to ride down
and prove to mommie that I'm
very much alive. I'm sure glad
to know that somebody takes an
interest in meas IL / were a real
x,c&1b