Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-01-02
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TiS hAcro anu tudIlleSL dNkWaTOneSS IN
her presence. The West itself az
pealed to her. its bigness, its nearne &
to the absolutely prinieval but not thu
people she had so far met. And so
she looked at Roaring Bill wagstaff.
over the way, with quite impersonal
interest.
He came into Briggs place for s.
per. Mrs. Briggs was her own w
ress. Briggs himself sat beside Haz
She heard him gruat, and saw a niiia
look of surprise fit over his counio-
nance when Roaring Bill walked
and coolly took a seat But not un.
Hazel glanced at the newcomer did she
recognize him as the man who hatl
fought in the street. He was looking
straight at her when she did glance
up, and the mingled establishment and
frank admiration in his clear gray
eyes made Hazel drop hers quickly to
her plate. Since Mr.. Andrew Bush.
she was beginning to hate men who
looked at her that way. And she could
not help seeing that many did so loo.
The next Saturday Hazel went for
q tramp in the afternoon. The few
walks she had taken had dulled all
sense Of uneasiness in venturIng into
the Unfolding forest. She felt that those
shadOwy woods were less sinister than
man. And since she had always kept
her sense OF direction and come
straight to the Meadows whenever she
went abroad, she had no fear or
thought Of losing her way.
To reach her objective point, she
crossed long stretch Of rolling lard
veil timbered, dense In parts with
thlckets of berry bushes. Midway In
ing monotone as 1t crawled over
nebhled reaches and bathed the tangled
roots of trees along its brink. BY this
she sat while. Then she idled along,
coming after considerable difficulty to
abruptly rising ground. She could not
see the town. but she could mark tho
low hills behind it. At any rate, she
knew where it lay, and the way back.
SO she thought. But the short after
noon fled, and, warned by the low dip
Of the sun, she left her nook on the
hillside to make her way home.
Though it was near shutdown. she felt
no particular concern. The long
northern twilight gave her ample time
to cover the distance.
But once down on the rolling land.
among the close-ranked trees, she be-
gan to experience a difficulty that had
not hitherto troubled her. With the
sun hanging low, she lost her absolute
certainty of east and west, north and
south.
She Numbered on, not admitting to
herself the possibility Of being unable
20 find Caribeo Meadows. AS best she
could, and to the best Of her belief,
she held in straight line for the town.
But she walked far enough to have
oyerrun it, and was yet upon unfarnil.
lar ground.
The shadows deepened u. il she
tripped over roots and stones, and
snagged her hair and clothing Ga
branches she could not see in time to
fend off. AS last resort, she turnpa
straight for the light patch still SHOW
Ing in the northwest, hoping thus Pr
cross the wagon road that ran
Soda Greek to the Meadows
west, and she had gone northe
town. And as she hurried,
gan to tug at her that she haa
ihe Meadows unknowingly.
Presently it was dark, and dae
IN the woods is the darxr
pit itself. She found a fallen ts
climbed on it to rest and think
What seemed an age she f;se~
saw CLEAN far distant IN s.
| she watched the spot fix
thought she saw the faint reflec.,
light. That heartened her. She 8
yanced toward 1t, hoping that 1t mlg
be the CLEAN of a lanch window f
progress was slow. She blunde
over the llttertof forest floor
ping over unseen obstacles. y
minutes established beyond per
tlire the fact that 1t was indeed
She kept on. The wavering
came from behind thicket--an o.
fire, she saw at length. Beyond the
fire she heard horse sneeze. Within
few yards OF the thicket through
which wavered the yellow CLEAN she
halted, smitten with sudden panic.
/ This endured but few seconds. All
that she knew on had been told of
frontier men treasured her. She had
/ found them to a man courteous. awk-
wardly considerate. And she could not
| wander about all night
She moved cautiously, however. to
/ the edge of the lhicket. to . point
where she coula see the fire. a man
Fat bumped over the glowing einl.
lwhereon sizzled a piece Of meat H
head was bent forward as If he wet
listening. Suddenly he looked up, atisl
/ She gasnedfor the freight showed
the features Of Roaring Bill Wagstaf
/ She was afraid of him. Why. she did
not know nor stop to reason. She
turned to retreat. In the same instant
Roaring Bill reached to his rifle and
stood up.
s'Hold on there" he said coolly.