Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1916-12-22

doctor shook his head and Fat Joe rose 10
20 for the girl, as he had promised he
in the hast extremity. He continued
10 i've. and with the coming of the second
dawn suddenly he was no longer deliriou>.
Stephen O'NaIa opened his eyes and gaz-
"a feebly hui very mderstandingly into
the eyes % Fat Joe, vho was watching nj
that moment.
Joe tried TO hush him. but he would talk
a little.
Il know" he pronounced each word with
calculated effort. IL have been very sick.
and / must not waste my strength. But ]
have TO re clear first, on one point. Have
| dreamed it, joe, Orr did she bring me
With his voice alone. when all else seem
ed failing. Joe had kept his friend alive.
The doctor believed il: Miss Sarah knew
it to be %. And first Of all Joe had t.
voice his thankfulHess, for it was an ex-
thing.
Didn't ! tell her so." he demanded IL
his whining tenor. Didn't | say so, all
along? And | let that doctor worry me,
Just because he's got u diploma in a frame
hanging on his wall!'
Then he answered Steve'- question.
sShe found you,' he said. "She brought
you home"
A long time the sick man lay and ponder
ed. And finally he found it possible to
smile.
II have not cared whether ! lived or
died. he said in little more than a whis-
per. "All along / have seemed to know how
near | wa~-to going across, and ! have
been near to quitting-at times. For l
was happier than I'd ever dared let myself
be. beforehand then. with the first shot
that dropped Big Louie. | knew He
shook his head. still smiling vaguely. 81
have not wanted to live, but | am looking
nj thincs-more like a man now. You need
not worry any longer. JOE. Ill sleep a 1T
lie while, | think. and then III put my
mind hard on getting well, when ! awake"
That marked the end of dellrium. and
with sleep which came almost while he
was talking the fever began to abate. lie
s.pui his mind on getting Well when he
awoke twelve hours later. Strength was
flowing in a steady tide back into his body
long before Barbara's knee would again
bear her weight. For She had s~quandered
her endurance without counting the cost.
and she paid the full penalty. She lay
three DAYS and three nights railing at her
weakness before she could get up at all,
ard even then Cecile. her little maid. cluck-
I'd di,crcetlv III the dark circles beneath
eyes.
Joe was several days absent IN that err
rand which had all but emptied the seeth-
ing town Of men. lie returned the same
day Barbara was about again, forced to
admit that lIarrigan and Fallon and
Shavne bad won clear. And there was
left t. the diSeruntled groups
which struggled in behind him, save tall
and heated conjecture. Some said that
they must hav managed to cross the Dor
der. Others maintained that they had found
in the lumber camps OF the lake
10 the west. but no matter which
guess was right the net result stood un-
changed. For il j. upon the one who runs
that the blame i always laid. and
Archibald WickerSham knew fully a well
as did Caleb and Allison and Fat Joe that
without narrigan. they could no hope to
touch him. TInrriean had disappeared from
TIE ken Of men. and Wickersham DELAYED
only until hi~ departure could no longer be
construed w. flight. Then one evening
modestlv he boarded 4 train.
After ~hc had rested Barbara proscd
hnmblv amenahlc to reason. until il
was best for her To 90 to him she would
wait as patiently "a she was able.
Mi Sarah ordered q week of unbroken
rest for her patient. and Steve. and not
Barbara. proved the difficult one to man
age during that period. For with return
mo strength there came to him recollec;icr
of many things which required his atten-
ton. lie fretted over his work: he sworf
humorou~ly at Fat Joe, who. coming Z
daily reports NJ soon az Miss Sar
nh realized that the good in such visits la
exceeded the benefits Of sleep and soil
tude. assured his chief that they had ac-
much. unhampered az the'
were by carping authority.
But he lay and brooded, no humor II
his eve, when he was left alone. Fat Jo'
had assured him that she had brought hir
home. but Fat Joe. who was ever avcr-e 4
anti climax. had told him 70 more thar
that. His efforts Mt entertainment wer'
only the more spontaneous in those day'
because of the soberness Of hi friend
And then the same day that 10
him against the pillows 50 that h
might watch the string Of flat cars hiei
piled with logs. roll into the yards. The
lex her 60 TO him.