The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-02-03
CHAPTER vIl-contInued.

VanderVyn had arranged to De gone
a week There was no cause TO dls-
cuss the time of his return, and as Ma
RE seldom mentioned him, Hardy was
not often annoyed by the vision OF the
handsome young fellow interpoSlng De
tween himself and the girl.
From day to day it could plainly be
seen how the rides in the pure noun
tain air and the delight of the girPs
companionship were bringing back
strength and vigor to the officers
tropic-weakened body. Soon healthy
red appeared under the tan OF his
cheeks. The lines of severity and re-
pressed grief began to smooth away.
On the morning of the seventh day,
when he rode over to join Marie for
a ride out to the butte on Wolf river,
ten years seemed to have dropped from
him. Even when he lifted his hat to
the girl and exposed the silvered hair
at his temples, he looked nearer
twenty-five than thirty. He had
shaved off his bristly mustachel
Positively, captain" she bantered,
"you startle me. You are growing so
young! First thing I know, I shall
be feeling myself a grandmother in
contrast"
Impossible he CALAMITY replied.
'You are the Spirit of Youth. Being
with you is what makes me seem so
much younger than I am. Yet I shall
never see thirty-two again"
you're barely of age this morning"
she said. smiling at his shapely clean
shaver lip.
"In that case you must humor my
callowness by pretending you need
my aid to mount"
She put one small booted foot in his
hand. rose with the lightness of
feather and perched herself sideways
on her mans saddle. Unused to such
strange behavior, the pony began to
buck. Hardy sprang to seize the beast
by the head. Marie waved him aside,
and proceeded to give an impromptu
eKhiH ton of her skill as a horsewom-
an. With one knee crooked around the
horn Of her saddle, she kept her diff
cult seat like circus rider until the
pony subsidized.
you've ridden to hounds" stated
Hardy as the girl swung astride and
they started off down the valley.
She smiled with qualification. Reg
gle never notices such things; but
you The first time 1 saw a side
saddle I thought it ridiculous"
On their way down the valley they
met no one, for the families of the
police had moved back to their old
camp site opposite, the agency. Marie
suggested that they climb the butte.
with subtle coquetry, she gave Hardy
the privilege of assisting her up the
hedges. though, had she chosen, she
could have outclimbed him. They
mounted to the top Of the highest crag,
where they sat down on the bare rock
to view the plains and mountains
through Hardy's glasses. The utter
stiffness and solitude, the immensely of
the cloudless blue dome above them,
the great sweep Of the landscape-all
tended to quiet the excitement Of their
lively ascent. A hush fell upon them
Marie let the hand that held the
glasses sink into her lap. She gazed
of up the river. dreamy-eyed.
After a prolonged silence Hardy
murmured in a haIf-whisper: 'How
alone we arei The world is young-it
is the beginning of time. And in all
the new, young world, you and 1 are
aIone-Marie."
1t was the first time that he had
ever used her given name in speaking
to her. She started from her day
dream. the color deepening in her
cheeks. In the same moment she be-
came aware that she had been looking
at a moving object.
l.
to her eyes. "That must be the head
and shoulders of a man. He is rid
Ing along on the far side of the ridge
an Indian; his head is muff1ed in a
blanket"
1Mariei" softly repeated Hardy.
The girl sprang to her feet. HE
has disappeared-but we are no longer
alone in the world, Captain Hardy.
Let us go down.
With instant repression of his dis
appointment, Hardy took the glasses
and offered his hand to assist her down
the first ledge. She ignored the offer.
Nor did she permit him to help her at
all during the descent.
Her pony leaped away with the ususl
jumping start of a bronco. The mare
stepped clear OF the low scrub near
the rill edge, out upon the sandy level
OF the coulee bottom. She was in the
act of breaking into a trot when her
riders hat whirled from his head and
he pitched sideways out of the saddle
as If struck by lightning.
moment later the report of the shot
reached Marie. She glanced over her
shoulder and saw Hardy outstretcheti
on the ground. haccid and inert.
With a suddenness that almost threw
her pony OF his nImbIe feet. she
wrenched him around. The mare had
stopped within two strides, and twist
ed her head about to look at her fallen
master. The manner Ia which he had
fallen showed that the shot had come
from up the coaIee. F1inging herself
from her pony she piucked Hardy's