Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-07-20

sequent little idiot was than for any
other reason. Didn't you, really?"
He laughed in quiet ecstasy at this
newest and most adorable of the
moods.
Honest confession is good for the
soul: l did" he boosted. "Now beat
that for frankness, if you can"
II can't" she admitted, laughing
buck at him. But now you've accom-
plished your purpose, hope you are
not going to give up. That would be
little hard on cOlonel-daddy."
"Oh, no; I'm not going to give up
until have to-"
Does that mean more than it says"
'Yes, Pm afraid it does"
She was silent for the length of time
that it took the flaming crimson in the
western sky to fade to salmon. The
colonel had mounted the steps and was
coming toward them. The young wom-
an slipped from the hammock and
stood up.
Don't CO." said Smith, feeling as If
he were losing an opportunity and
leaving much unsaid that ought to be
said. But the answer was a quiet
good night" and she was gone.
Smith went back to town with the
colonel the next morning physically
rested, to be sure, but in a frame of
mind bordering again upon the sar-
donic. One thing stood out clearly:
he was most Enthusiastically in love
with Corona Baldwin.
Hence there was another high re-
solve not to go to Hillcrest again until
he could go as a free man; resolve
which, it is perhaps needless to say
was broken thereafter as often as the
colonel asked him to go. Why, in the
last resort, Smith should have finally
chosen u confidant in the person of
William Starbuck, the reformed cow
puncher, he scarcely knew. But it was
to Starbuck that he appealed for ad-
vice when the sentimental situation
had grown fairly desperate.
"rve told you enough so that you
can understand the vise-nip Of it,
Billy" he said to Starbuck one night
when he had dragged the mine owner
up to the bathroom suite in the Hophra
House, and had told him just a little,
enough to merely hint at his condition.
"You see how 1t stacks up. I'm in q
fair way TO come out of this the big
gest scoundrel alive-the piker who
takes advantage of the innocence of a
good girl. I'm not the man she thinks
am. am standing over a volcano pit
every minute Of the day. If 1t blows
up, I'm gone. obliterated, wiped out"
"Is it aiming to blow up?" asked
Starbuck sagely.
II don't know any more about that
than you do. 1t is the kind that usual
ly does blow up sooner or later. I've
prepared for 1t as well as can. What
Colonel Baldwin and the rest of you
needed was a financial manager, and
Timanyoni High Line has its fighting
chance-which was more than Timan.
yoni Ditch had when took hold. If ]
should drop out now, you and Maxwell
and the colonel and Kinzie could go or
and make the fight; but that doesn't
help out in this other matter"
Starbuck smoked in silence for 9
long minute or two before he said: II:
there another woman in it, JohnY'
"Yes; but not In the way yor
mean"
"Corry's a mighty fine little girl
John" said Starbuck slowly. IAN.
one of a dozen fellows / could nam,
would give all their old shoes to swal
chances with you"
"That isn't exactly the kind of ad
vice I'm needing" was the sober re
joinder.
mo; but it was the kind you wer
wanting, when you tolled me off u
here" laughed the ex-cowpuncKer. ="
know the symptoms. Had 'em mysel
for about two years so bad that coul
wake up in the middle of the night an
taste 'em. Go in and win. Maybe tn
great big stumbling-block you're wol
Z rying about wouldn't mean anythin
at all to an open-minded young woma
! like Corona; most likely 1t wouldn't
|. "If she could know the whole trut
. and believe it," said Smith musingI,
"You tell her the truth, and She
take care of the believing part of i
all right. You needn't lose any slee
about that"
Smith drew a long breath and r
O moved his pipe to say: II haven't Il
o nerve, Billy, and that's the plain fac
70 1 have already told her a little of
% She knows that L"
Starbuek broke in with a laug
D. Eyes; it's a shouting pity about yo1
N nerve! You've been putting up such
% blooming scary fight In this irrigati,
v business that we all know you haver
NJ any nerve. If l had your job in tn,
a I'd be going around here toting tv
guns and wondering If l couldn't ma
q room in the holster for another"
10 Smith shook his head.
re- 81 was safe enough so long as Sta
ie ton thought was the resident mar
ger and promoter for new bunch
n big money in the background. But
We has had me shadowed and tracked l
id til now l guess he is pretty well &C
NJ vinced that l actually had the audac
OF | W pay Il lohC anu u Olulll
ak hand, at that. That makes a diff
ence, of course. Two days after h
,el climbed into the saddle here, he sem
IN couple of his strikers after me. do
to know just what their orders were,
they seemed to want to fight-and th
to got 1t. 1t was in Blue Pete's dogge
ur up at the camp"
tn "Guns?" queried Starbuck.
IN "Theirs; not mine, because I did