Cheyenne record., 1916-03-23

seemed to me that the man looked at
me. but he did not appear to wave
Then l laid my hand on my arms
there in the saddle. | was afraid to
look again. for knew 1t was an hallu-
cination, and | knew that II | looked
the man would be gone. And so pre-.
cious was the hallucination that |
wanted it to persist yet little while.
l knew, too that as long as | did not
look it would persist.
THUS remained until heard my
dogs snarling. and mans voice. What
do you think the voice said? l will
tell you 1t said: Where in hell did
you come from?"
Those were the words, the exact
words That was what your grand
father said to me. Hare-Lip. when he
greeted me there on the shore OF Lake
Temescal fifty-seven years ago And
they were the most ineffable words
have ever heard opened my eyes.
and there he stood before me. large.
dark. hairy man. heavy jawed. slant
browed. fierce eyed How ! got off
my horse | do not know. But 1t
seemed that the next ! knew ! was
claspirg his hand with both OF mine
and crying would have embraced
him. but he was ever a narrow-mind-
cd. suspicious man. and he drew away
from me. Yet did l cling to his hand
and cry"
Granser's voice faltered and broke
at the recollection, and the weak tears
streamed down his cheeks while the
boys looked on and giggled
Yet did | cry" he continued. land
desire to embrace him. though the
Chauffeur was a BRUTE perfect brute
the most abhorrent man | have ever
known. His name was strange.
how l have forgotten his name.
Everybody called him Chauffeur-it
was the name of his occupation. and
it stuck That is how. to this day.
the tribe he founded is called the
Chauffeur tribe
He was a violent, unjust man
Why a,the plague spared him | can
never understand. 1t would seem. In
spite OF our old metaphysical notions
about absolute justice. that there is
no justice in the universe. Why did
he live?-an iniquitous. moral mon
ster. a blot on the face of nature.
cruel. relentless, bestial cheat as well
All he could talk about was motor
cars, machinery, gasoline. and garage
and especially with huge delight. Of
his mean pilferings and sordid swim
dlings of the persons who had en-
ployed him In the days before the
coming of the plague. And yet he was
spared, while hundreds Of millions.
yea, billions, of better men were de-
stroyed
and there l saw her. Vesta, the one
woman. 1t was glorious and
pitiful. There she was. Vesta Van
Warden, the young wife Of John Van
Warden, clad in rags. with marred and
SCARED and toil-calloused hands. bend
ing over the campfire and doing SOUL
lion work-she Vesta, who had been
born to the purple of the greatest
baronage of wealth the world had
ever known John Van Warden, her
husband. worth one billion eight hun.
dred millions, and president OF the
Board of Industrial Magnates. had
been the ruler of America Also sit
ting on the Industrial Board of Con-
troll. he had been one of the seven
men who ruled the world And she
herself had come of equally noble
stock Her father. Philip Saxon. had
been President of the Board of Indus.
trial Magnates up to the time of his
death THIS office was in process OF
becoming hereditary. and had Philip
Saxon had a son that son would have
succeeded him. But his only child
was Vesta. the perfect flower of gen.
erations Of the highest culture this
planet has ever produced. 1t was
not until the engagement between
Vesta and Van Warden took place that
Saxon indicated the latter as his sue
cessor. 1t was. | en- sure, a political
marriage. l have reason to believe
that Vesta never really loved her hus-
band in the mad. passionate way of
which the poets used to sing 1t was
more like the marriages that OBJ
tanned among crowned heads before
they were displaced by the Magnates
And there she was. boiling fish
chowder in a soot-covered pot. her
glorious eyes intiamed by the acrid
smoke of the open fire. Here was a
sad story She was the one survivor
in a million. as I had been. as the
Chauffeur had been On a crowning
eminence OF the Alameda Hills. over