The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-01-08
LESBIA'S PIANO
BY ROBERT WADE BURTON.

HIS hGIlOA0 ~
of. hoe in hand, for the potato held.
His employer and friend stood look
ing speculatively after him. mere
was a tender glow in the GRIM haro
eyes.
what are you thinking of, Silas?
,rouirad his wife. and she looked
keenly into his own.
"That lad" was the reply. He's
a good one, too. You know how we
ioke about Lesbia's four loversT You
know. too, how everybody says that
nm her birthday, day after tomorrow
she is going to take her pick. / sort
of ioked Ransom for being IN the
group. He won't have it-says ne
don't count"
"Silas," exclaimed Mrs. cambridge,
her face earnest and working. i wish
he did"
Mary" replied Silas, quite as In
tensely, 81 wish so, too. Those three
city fellows are clean, decent fellows
but I'd rather have him round, KIND
helpful. accommodating day in and day
out. than see Lesbia marry a mar who
will take her away from this sweet
dear life to the folly and shallow ex-
element of the city"
The trio referred to were summer
boarders at the lake hotel a mile
away. They were all in love Win
Lesbia, and 1t was no wonder.
Life had gone like some fair dream
with Ransom until the three rivals in
vaded the field. He did not resent
their appearance He had little to Of
fer her. His father had left him a
small farm, so poor, indeed, that ne
rented it out for what 1t cost him for
taxes and interest on its value.
Wednesday was Lesbia's nineteenth
birthday. The week before she had
declared she would marshal her brave
knights errant at her birthday party,
TO give a definite answer to their re-
spective pleas.
II was the next morning that Lesbia
came hurrying to the field where her
father and Ransom were working, In
a great state of anxiety and excite
ment.
"Oh. father!" she said lutteringly,
'the piano has not come. | have just
telephoned over to Lloydville, and the
station agent reports no trace OF 1t.
I have so set my heart on having 1t
for my birthday Why, half u pro
gram depends on the ~piano!"
Ransom was at once interested.
eff you can spare me for the day"
spoke Ransom, after a thoughtful
glance at Lesbia's troubled face. Il
might drive down to L~loydville and
see If l can't learn something more
definite"
"Oh, IL you would, Ransom" cried
Lesbia eagerly, and Ransom thrilled
as her pretty hand clasped his arm
gratefully.
It was afternoon when Ransom
reached the little station. He knew
the man in charge and soon had the
wires busy.
"Well. l declared" suddenly ex-
claimed the station man, as he took a
final message. 81 might have thought
of that before"
whats that?" inquired Ransom.
"Why by some error the piano was
shipped to the L~loydville across o
try, in another county, and or another
line. Been there in storage for two
days"
How long would it take to get it
here?" asked Ransom.
Several days, for the two roads
have no connection this side of the
transfer belt line, a hundred miles
away
Ransom reached the other Lloyd
Vile" shortly before midnight. A
rain had set in and Ransom was
soaked through. A chill wind had
come up. He felt repaid for all his
arduous efforts, however, in fact, fair
" e~xultant, as he started back home
wards, with the piano well braced and
covered with all the old blankets and
tarpaulins he could bride the sleepy
station agent to secure.
They told a great story of the en-
suing five hours, the cambridge neigh
bors, for many a day after that: How
Ransom's horse had fallen into a rut,
was famed. turned loose. and, for the
last five miles of his weary journey,
Ransom, between the shafts tugged.
strained and strove to pull that heavy
load directly into the cambridge
barnyard-and then tainted dead
away!
1t was two weeks later that a first
CLEAN of normal consciousness re
turned to him. Mrs. cambridge, his
anxious nurse. told him of the vast
ing fever that had made life a dead
blank to him through fourteen long
days and nights. Twenty-four hours
later they allowed him TO ask a few
questions.
The piano?-yes. he had delivered
II in time, but Lesbia, In tears at the
distressing results of his self sacrihc-
ing nardihood, had refused to have the
party.
And the favored sutton? Oh, Les