The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-28
The
Ranchrnan
True Loves Course Did Not
Run Smooth With Him.
By +. A. Mitchell

| at one of the principal eastern uniyer-
fortune, concluded to follow ranch
| ing as an occupation and proceeded
westward 10 carry ont his purpose. lie
| found ranch for sale without any
trouble. The business was not prov
| ing profitable, and those who had put
money into it were anxious TO get il
out However. they did not commun-
cate this To Tucker. and he bought one
OF the best ranches. we'll stocked. for
what he considered low price.
Young men have a good deal to learn.
/ ana Tucker was no exception. He was
an energetic man, fun of pluck and de-
termination. attended faithfully TO all
his stock required and had it not been
| for one stumbling block in his way
might have succeeded That stumbling
| block was Il woman.
One day while lie was riding over
| his broad acres he suddenly felt his
horH sinking down under him Real
/, izins at once that he had struck
| quieksand. he made an effort to cx-
tricate himself. but his horse struggled
so that lac did not sue eed. Then he
| saw woman. mounted, ealloping to
ward him 4 lasso whirlcd and
moose fell on his shoulders. This he
I fixed under his arms. and the woman,
! tying the other end of the rope to the
| pommel of her saddle. spurred her
! horse away from the quicksand and
pulled him out,
Madge IIardesty was the woman
| who kept Tucker from being swallow
ed up with his horse, the natural con
| sequence of which was that he should
be swallowed up by the woman. espe-
cially as she was young and in her
wild western way fascinating. She
was certainly beloved by the men of
| the region in which she lived and
| would have been by the women had
| there been enough women of her class
for her TO associate with instead OF
men She had gained the respect of
| all by running ranch her father had
left her, and running 1t successfully.
| There was not n man within fifty miles
to whom she was not known and not
one of them from the most unfortu-
puncher. who would not have risked
his life to serve her
Tucker was far above them all I'm re
finement and education. There was
an affair of the heart between him and
his preseryer, and 1t would doubtless
In Ia Ian nSlal hot
lovers had not Tucker left n sweet
heart in the east Several months
passed after his being dragged from
the quicksand, and it was recognized
by all that Madge was in love with the
swell ranchman." as he was called
when he suddenly departed for the
cast.
WHY he left, when he was to return
whether or not he had Tilted Madgc
no one knew unless Ii was Madge, ant
she would not tell But what hel
tongue refused to speak was evident
from her appearance and her bearing
At first she gave vent to fits of assumed
gayety that were followed by spells OF
real depression. This was followed 10y
an uninterrupted languor. Everybody
| knew by this time that all had no
| gone well with her in the matter o
| fuckers attentions. and the feelini
| against him was hostile.
| The truth is that Tucker had beer
caught in an ENHANCEMENT witt
| Nndre IIardestv as he had beel
caught in the quicksand. lie had bee
| engulfed in each before he realizes
that he was in danger As soon as Ii
came to such realization concerning
NIadge he took himself of. He wa
bound in honor To the girl in the east
and being an honorable man. he RI
turned to her.
n Let man drink lemonade. the
wine and then return to lemonade an
the taste of the weaker beverage is il
sipid. Tucker had gone west feelin
that he had left Il dream. When h
| returned the dream had faded. and b
found a girl like other girls. no NOR
no less attractive There was no Il;
vor In her The result was that /
was a different man 10 her from whs
he had been. She was not greatly Oil
pleased at this. for she saw in him
western manner that she considere
by no means an Improvement on b
| former self. The result was that the
agreed to disagree.
One day herder who had drifte
into little town not hundred mil'
from Madge HardeSty's ranch repor
ed that he had seen Tucker Their
Herders are not models of Diplomat
or common sense \ dozen or so
them banded themselves together 4
a purpose. They rode to the TOW
where Tucker had been seen and Tor
cd him to 20 with them to Mad
Hardesty'S ranch. The first Mad
knew of what they were doing "
being called out on the veranda OF D
ranch house. where she saw Tucker
1. f,s.r ~