Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-12-23

fully competent and that she would up.
pear at twelve clock
He watched the Pickering flow of
lHe with intense interest. He was
afraid to leave Molly's bedside and his
heart was wrung with agony. He sat
on chair and buried his head in his
hands In few moments he was as
leep.r The strain of watching conquer.
ed him who had battled successfully
with the forces of nature.
Presently the new night nurse came
and watched while Big Silver slept She
administered the medicine and knew
that when Molly woke from her sleep
and smiled that the crisis was passed
and that the fever had burned out She
looked at the rough figure sleeping in
the chair and smiled in sympathy She
knew the story of the big miners de,
votion.
Big Silver woke with a start and anx-
iously knelt beside the bed He heard
the quiet breathing, found the fever
gone from the cheek and brow and real.
lied that tho climax had passed. AS
he was kneeling there, the flight nurse
came up behind him aud said, ''She will
! live. -
He sprang to his feet with glad cry
on his lips but he stopped, and, instead,
exclaimed, - Marjory."
. You interfere with my dntes," she
replied, ignoring his question:
She brushed by him and went to the
little table where the medicines were.
He watched her as she measured out the
feyef-killing liquid into n spoon, and
wondered at her steady hand Perhaps
he was mistaken! 1t could be no one
edsc he argued with himself No other
woman possessed such mass OF wavy
brown hair, no other had such curves or
color.
Then he glanced at his clothes, and he
realized how vitality, radically different
was his present appearance from his
earlier days She had never seen him
in this garb of blue flannel mining shirt
mud stained corduroy trousers stuffed
into laee-boots, month S old beard,
and long hair His university polish
was practically oblitcrated.
:" Have you forgotten" he repeated,
resuming the attack after brief pause,
" John Smrgis, full,back, who, bruised
and bleeding, carried your colors across
the line
She kept on mixing the medicine, but
the last question had its effect for she
poured less steady X
What about him} ;" she flung back
IN q low, even tone
Look at me, (" he commanded, with
that quality in his voice that made him
master in the mining camp of Pipestem;
/" m John Sturgis--I IN the full back
Il m~-r
She looked up and met his gaze squar-
ely The cool and disdainful light he saw
in her eyes aroused his nature to bat.
tie. She knew him; he did not doubt
/ that; and he believed that she still loved
/ him.
"You are Big Silver John, the hero |
believe" she remarked in matter Of
fact tone.
"No, No; Tn John Sturgis--John,
the man you sent away without any OK.
PLANTATION, without reason, They told
me you refused to see me and that You
did not care"
"What do YOU mean' What are YOU
saying}"
"Simply this. Marjory. They told
ME, after the night Of the ball, that you
did not wish TO see me-that il was
best we should never meet again--that
there WAS some one else-that it was
useless TO attempt to communicate With
you as your word was final.
81 did not believe them ! waited
for weeks to see you, My letters"
Your letters?f'
t'Wefe returned unopened The in.
justice OF IL made ME mad. and flung
myself out in the world Of men to try
and forget it. went out into the world
Of man and beast, where life is nothing
and gold everything. | lived with
rough men--worked with them fought
them whipped them mastered them.
"But the memory of yen I eotll not
lbanish, even In the toll and blackness
of the deepest mine, You were the light