The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1917-01-05

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him no longer she had run away,
penniless, save for her railroad ticket.
de had one redeeming quality: he
loved his son. On this account she
knew that he would leave no stone
unturned to find them.
Jim went away, sorrowing. He
knew now that she could never be
mis-. For she shrank instinctively, he
felt without asking, from the pub
iicity OF divorce. Besides, to seek
divorce would be to put her husband
on her trail. She wanted to let the
years roll between them, creating an
ever widening barrier, until she felt
that the past could never stretch out
Its grisly hand upon her.
SO the months changed into years.
It was nearly three years since Leila's
coming when something happened
which Jim had always known to be
inevitable.
1t was morning. and he was on the
nigh pastures with his cattle when
ne saw her running toward him, with
the boy, scrambling Up the steep hill
side. She reached him; her face was
white with fear.
He has found mel" she gasped.
20, save me! Help mel"
up the road came the toot of in
auto horn. Jim saw the car climb
the grade like heavy locomotive.
The car stopped. A man leaped
cut, a man in the prime Of life, alb
surdly strong, absurdly healthy, with
the buster, and yet the sense Of pow
er, that sometimes accompanies the
successful man.
He leaped to the ground and ad-
vanced upon the woman, smiling. Jim
barred his path.
my wife," he said.
II know" answered Jim.
"See here, young man. You don't
perhaps understand. l am here to
claim my own, my legal own, my
wife and child. She has nothing to
fear from me. / have never laid my
hands upon her. Stand out of my
path"
You may have legal right" said
Jim, "but you amt going to take her."
The man laughed, whipped off his
coat, and displayed pair of muscular
arms. "Her lover~ he sneered.
"God witness, there has never been
love between us" answered Jim.
The woman sprang between them.
Jim, he is right" she said. "Now
he has found me, must 60 with him."
Jim, amazed at the change Of atti-
tude, stood absolutely mute. The man
nodded.
Good for you," he said. Leila,
the past Is past. You'll never hear
Of it from me. It's only for the boys
sake l want you back. And l guess
you'll be happier than you were."
Mechanically the girl entered the
auto. They lifted the boy inside. The
horn footed. They were gone. And
Jim stared foolishly after them.
How strong the bonds between hus.
band and wife She was gone out OF
his life. He had never dreamed OF
such thing. But why had she gone
with him, when he was ready to fight
| for her?
Jim did not understand women,
their changes, their sense of duty
coming in so oddly at critical mo-
ments. Like a man in a dream he
watched the car shoot down the hill.
1t was going very fast. The brake
was damaged by the rough road, In
fact, but Jim did not know that. All
he thought was that it was going very
fast toward the cutting. And sud-
denly there came the roar of the train
leaving the tunnel.
The auto shot forward. It was now
evidently beyond control. Jim began
| to run.
But he was much too far away to
be of any help. AS he ran he saw
the dreadful picture: the train rae
ing along the narrow cutting, the auto
caught and overturned; the desperate
efforts of the occupants to free them
Then he saw the man stagger to
his feet, lift the boy in his arms and
toss him to the farther bank. The
train was almost upon him, kissing
snorting monster with flaming breath.
But he caught up the woman in his
arms and flung her clear Of the
metals; and the next instant the train
was upon him, bearing him down,
grinding out his life beneath its
wheels, tearing the decapitated body
along the way and passing onward.
Jim was sick with horror when h
reached the scene, to find that the
woman and the boy still lived. He
kneeled before Leila, trying to shield
her from the knowledge of what had
happened. Then, picking her up, he
carried her to the top of the embank-
ment. And the look on her face told
him that she knew.
So mixed was life, so mixed the
qualities for good and evil in all.
This man she hated had given his life
for her. Some gate in Jim's brain
went down at that moment, and he
knew that life must be faced very
soberly thenceforward-even with
her.