The Delta independent. [volume] (Delta, Colo.) 1886-19??, 1916-04-28
THE Of :
NUMBERED 0KNS
6yFRANCI3 lYNDE
ILLUSTRATIONS by C.D.RH00E5 =

JNS
wanting to come up here once more be-
fore everything is changed?" said the
girl at length. patting the roughly-hewn
log step as If 1t were a sentient thing
to feel the caress.
Il didn't know it," Brouillard denied.
Il only knew that l wanted to get out
of Gomorrah for little while, to come
up here with you and get the reek OF
the pit out of my nostrils."
Il know" she rejoined. with the
quick comprehension which never
failed him. 1T is good to be out of it.
to be up here where we can look down
upon it and see it in its true perspec
tive-as mere little impertinent blot
on the landscape. It's only that, after
all, Victor. See how the great dam
your work-overshadows it."
That is one of the things hoped !
might be able to see If l came here
with you" he returned slowly. But
l can't get your point of view. Amy.
shall never be able to get 1t again"
You did have it once" she asserted.
Or rather. you had a better one of
your own. Has Gomorrah changed it7"
No, not Gomorrah. could shut the
waste-gates and drown the place to-
morrow for all that Mirapolis. or any
thing In 1t, means to me. But some
thing has changed the point of view
for me past mending, since that first
day when we sat here together and
looked down upon the beginning of the
reclamation construction camp-be-
fore Gomorrah was ever thought of"
know - che lV,T
that dreadful city is responsible 1t has
robbed us all, Victor; but you more
than any. I'm afraid"
NO" he objected. "Mirapolis has
been only means to an end. The
thing that has changed my point of
view-my entire life-is love. as l have
told you once before"
"Oh, no." she protested gently. ris-
ing to take her old place. with her
back to the porch post and her hands
behind her. And then, still more
gently: THAT is almost like sacrilege.
Victor, for love is sacred"
Il can't help 1t. Love has made q
great scoundrel of me. Amy; a GRIM
inal, if mans laws were as closely
meshed as Gods"
Il can't believe that" she dissented
loyalty.
1T is true. / have betrayed my
trust. Cartwright will make good in
all of his despicable schemes. Congress
will intervene and the Niquoia project
will be abandoned"
Tell me-" she begged briefly; and
since he was staring fxedly at the
scored slopes of Jacks mountain, he
did not see that she caught her lip
| between her teeth to stop its trem-
bling.
"As you know. / had a debt to pay
before I could say: Come, little girl,
let's go and get married. So became
a stakeholder in Cortwright's power
company. knowing perfectly well when
/ consented that the hundred thousand
dollars worth of stock he gave me was
bribe-the price Of my silence and
noninterference with his greedy
schemes"
But you didn't mean to keep It
you know you couldn't keep it," she
broke in; and now he did not need to
look to know that her lips were trem.
bling piteously.
Il did keep it,"
She dropped quickly on the step be.
side him and sympathetic hand crept
into his.
"Ycu kept 1t until the unhappy day
when you gave 1t to my father. and he
and he threw 1t away" She was
crying softly. but his attempt to com
fort her was almost mechanical.
Don't cry about the money. It had
tho daufI'c thnro I'M nj bn
merely claimed his own and got it,
Then he went on as one determined to
leave nothing untold. "Cortwright had
bought me. and l served him as only q
man in my position could serve him
became a promoter. a booster with
the others. There have been times
when a word from me would have
pricked the bubble. haven't said the
word; ] am not saying it now. II
should say 1t I'd lose at a single
stroke all that have been fighting for
And / am not good loser Amy"
For once the keen. appreht siding per
ception failed.
81 don't understand" she said, speak
ing as II she were cropping in thicl
darkness Il mean don't understand
\ the motive that could"
He turned to her in dumb astonish
ment
II thought had been making
plain as l went along You wante'
something-you needed it-therefor
| It must be purchased for you. An
| the curious part of the besetment 1
that have known all along that | wa
< killing your love for ne. II II WASH
quite dead before. It will Gle now-no,
that ! nave told you how ! am fingin