The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1917-02-01
PAGE SEWN

Dusk had come and gone. for il WIS
growing dark. Uncertain, more and
more unnerved as she stood and gaze /
at the forbidding. black shadowed
| ridges beyond her, the girl had to tight
| suddenly against an impulse TO turn
| and race back to the lower country
and Morrison and home. Even thea
the rife shots meant nothing TO her
and pride would not let her run. She
remounted and rode on rod or two
and stopped to look back at the tea n
which was watching her. She presse
on and rounded the curve. Ragtimc
| reared and snorted there. and she bare.
| ly stif1ed the cry which his strange be-
havior brought TO her lips. Because OF
her senseless panic she punished him
the more severely and sent him OH
And then she saw what the horse had
alreaSy seen.
A blue shirted figure lay half in the
road, half In the underground that
| fringed it, one arm crooked under hil1
and his face prone in the dust. A
bulkier mass was stretched wholly
within the trail-and she recognized
him too. Big Louie's face was UP
turned. and the explanation of the two
rife reports and the driverless team
was here, for Big Louie's hand still
clutched the handle of canvas pail
They had stopped to water the horses
they had been shot down from behind
And first of all. unable to move. while
horror parched her lips, the girl re-
| memhered words which the limp one
half in the road and half in the under
brush, had spoken to her in q moment
of sternpess.
He has fired upon me from cover"
the man who loved her had said. He
| has been taking money from a man
who was bent on beating me at any
price!''
BLOOD sickens mer' she whimperel
aloud. BLOOD sickens mer But sha
managed to turn him over upon hi,
back. With brown head against HI.
heart she hstened-listened and would
not believe that her tomorrow might
come too late. And then she caught
the slack pound of his pulse.
From there on she was less panic
stricken. She gained control of facul
ties shocked for a time into useless
ness. Method marked her acts-delib
GRAFTON mechanical. but sure She was
horribly afraid of Big Louie, but she
| finally disentangled the handle of the
pail from those loose fingers and ran
| to the brook which babbled near at
hand. Returning, she drenched SteveS
| face with icy water. She lifted his
head and propped it as comfortably as
| she might upon one thigh and opened
his flannel shirt. The ball had passed
through, for back and front the shirt
became Immediately wetter with fresh
blood. Blood sickened her, but she
whipped off the coat of her boyish rid
ing habit and wrenched the sleeves
from her linen blouse. They were des
perately scant. yet they provided pads
with which to check that dreadful ooz-
ing. And when they were In place
she turned again to bathing his fore
| head.
| A folded sheet of paper came to view
| when she tried once TO ease his heavy
body from the position which was
numbing her leg, and she seized upon
bidding him come to her. but II bore
her name With instant, bodiless clari-
| ty which had marked all her mental
| processes so far, its purport WAS hers
| She had not written-the hand that
had traced her signature had been IN
| strung for once. She understood.
| though such knowledge seemed of lit
! tie moment now.
! She kept the pads cold and wet She
went for fresh water and stumbled
and fell more than once because of the
| treacherous footing in the deepening
shadows. But she was no longer
afraid Of the dark. She had grown TO
! fear Big Louie less. even though there
was no help for Big Louie any more
| 1t was the first time that Barbara had
looked upon the face of a man who had
died in violence. Big Louie's face was
growing indistinct now, but she knew
| that he was smiling-knew that his
| eyes were dreamy and mild. Death.
| like life, had been a quite incompre
| hensible puzzle to that slow witted one
who had no name But he had smiled
seldom in life. In death his smile was
almost childish, almost sweet and
! questioning beyond all else.
Alone with him who still lived, the
pallid girl sat and waited and wonder
ed how long-or how soon-it would be.
When she babe him wait until she
could bring the team he nodded his
comprehension He was watching for
| her return. And he came to his feet
with a readiness that made her heart
leap with hope But he fell twice be-
fore she lifted him. half with her
hands, half with her voice. TO the seat
She crawled in beside him. and the
next moment she had to struggle mad
| " to prevent his returning TO Big
Louie.
He will wait quiet until we come
for him." she protested. There isn't
room for Big Louie-and he won't
mind
Her logic made an impression upon
him. for he smiled. There was no Sc
| ouanca IN his ncouiescpncp however