Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-06-07

and running in q wide semicircle to
reach their hope of retreat unslain, if
that might be. 1t was all very brutal
and barbarOus, no doubt, but the
coloneps daughter was Western born
and bred, and she clapped her hands
and laughed IN sheer enthusiasm when
she saw Smith make a show of chaS-
ing the c1rcling runners.
He did not return to her until after
he had pulled up the freshly driven
stakes and thrown them away, and by
that time the wagon, with the horses
dashed to a keen gaIlop, was disap-
pearing over the crest Of the northern
ridge.
That's one way to get rid of them,
isn't it?" said the emancipated bank
man, loosely, upon taking his place
in the car to cramp it for the turn.
''Was that something like the notion
you had in mind?"
mercy, nor she rejoined. And
then: care you sure you are not hurt?"
"Not worth mentioning" he evaded.
'"Those buffers couldn't hurt anybody,
% AOIiS dS ILCS SOuluH get 10 LllSlI
guns"
'But you have saved the company at
your own expense. They will be sure
to have you arrested"
"We won't cross that bridge until
we come to it," he returned. IF we
were back in the country from which
have lately escaped, it would be
proper for me to ask your permission
to drive you safely home Since we
! are not, shall assume the permission
and do it anyway"
ooh, is that necessary" she asked,
meaning, as he took it, nothing more
than comradely depreciation at putting
him to the trouble Of it.
"NOt absolutely necessary, perhaps,
but decently prudent. You might drop
me opposite the dam, but you'd have
to pass those fellows somewhere on
the way, and they might try to make
1t unpleasant for you"
She made no further comment, and
he sent the car spinning along over
the hills to the westward. A mile
short of the trestle river crossing they
overlook and passed the wagon. Be
cause he had the colOnePs daughter
with him, Smith put on q burst Of
speed and so gave the claim jumpers
no chance to provoke another battle.
In the maze of crossroads opposite
the little city on the south bank of
the river, Smith was out of his reck-
Oning, and was obliged to ask his COM
paniOn to direct him.
II thought you weren't ever going
to say anything any more" she sighed,
IN mock despair. stake this road TO
the right"
II can't talk and drive a speed
wagon at the same time" he told her.
twisting the gray car into the road she
lad indicated, and he made the asser-
ton good by covering the four remain
Ing miles in the same preoccup1ed
fashion.
There was a reason, of a sort, ZOE
his silence; two of them, TO be exact.
For one he was troubled by that
haunting sense of familiarity which
was still trying to tell him that this
Baldwtn's daughter; and the other
much bigger and more depressing, was
the realization that in breaking with
his past, he had broken also with the
world Of women, at least to the extent
of ever asking one Of them to marry
him.
He pushed the thought aside, com,
4y,O- Lra - h. 10
Of familiarity - when Miss Baldwin
pointed to a transplanted Missouri
farm mansion, with a cOlumned pOr
ticO, standing in a grove of cotton
woods on the left-hand side Of the
road, telling him it was HilIcrest.
There was a massive stone portal
fronting the road, and when he got
down to open the gates the young
woman TOOK the wheel and drove
through; whereupon he decided that
It was time for him to break away
and said so.
But how will you get back to the
camp| she asked.
81 have my two legs yet, and the
walking isn't bad"
Nv DuG SOh 1hIShL l1ICCI b1AOor
two men again."
THAT is the least Of my troubles"
Miss Corona Baldwin, like the Mis-
souri, colonel, her father, came upon
moments now and then when she had
the ultimate courage of her impulses,
Il should have said you hadn't a
trouble IN the world" she asserted,
meeting his gaze level-eyed.
The polite paraphrases Of the cof-
fined period were slipping to the end
Of his tongue, but he set his teeth upon
them and said, instead: "Thats all
you know about it. What if I should
tell you that you've been driving this
morning with an escaped cOnvfctT
81 shouldn't believe it, she said
calmly.
well, you haven't-not quite" he
returned, adding the qualifying phrase
IN sheer honesty.
She had united her veil and was
asking him Hospitality if he wouldn't
come In and meet her mother. Some
thing in the way she said it, some little
twist Of the lips or look of the eyes,
touched the spring Of complete recog-
milton, and the familiarity puzzle van
ished instantly.