Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-10-20

even as she was of the hill blood and
that should make them more nearly
equal. She told herself that he wouldn't
be so apt to condemn her for being
able to take human life easily as
one of another blood would be; he
would be more apt to understand. And
vet, the women he had known were
gentle, tender and refined like, for in
stance, Patricia McLaurin. Soon the
ray of hope died within her, and she
bent her head and sobbed again.
One Of her bare hands began to
grope idly in the snow at her side, and |
she did not feel the cold. Suddenly
she realized that her hand was full |
of shavings, whittlings. Some man
had been sitting there whiting with |
pocket knife-it must have been a
man. for who ever heard of woman
whiting? She felt in the snow with |
both hands, and found more whittlings |
there were bushels of whittlings, it |
seemed to her, lying there under the |
snow.
Then she wondered-wondered who |
it could have been.
1t was quite dark now, but the moon
was not yet up. A great, bright star
blazed above David Moreland's tomb
like beacon fire. She heard the muf-
fed sounds of slow masculine foot
steps in the snow behind her. She
did not turn her head. In her soul
she knew it could be but one man.
Bill Dale's head was down, and he
moved as though he neither knew nor
cared whittier he went. Then he saw
the dark heap on the rivers bank be-
4 fore him, and he halted. He knew in
his soul that it could be but one wom-
an.
Dale went on and sat down on a
| stone the size of small barrel that
lay at the rivers rim.
"Babe?" he, said 1t was the mating
call of his heart in the springtime of
his life.
"Who d-done all O. this whittlin',
Bill?" asked Elizabeth.
81 did," softly.
But l thought you were so busy
here! It's nobody but idlers, of
course, that whittles-fhat is, most o
the time it's nobody but idlers that
whites"
But I'm not busy on Sundays, v
know" replied Dale.
"Tell me this" Elizabeth asked
pointedly: what made you come to
this one spot to do your whittlin'?
Couldn't you whittle up there in my
daddys cabin yard?"
He answered her unhesitatingly:
Because l like to be here. This
place is a shrine to me. 1t was here
that first loved you, Babe. Now you
tell me this: Why did you come to
this particular spot to sit down in
the snow? There's snow in your dad
dy's cabin yard!'
Said Elizabeth, in voice that sound
; ed smothered: Because like to be
too-it was here that l first loved you,>
Bill Dale!''
"Then why" he demanded, won't
you marry me?"
Because it was me that shot-Ad-
am Ball."
She went on. and though emotioh
had set every fibre of her to quivering,
she did not fall into the old hill talk,
! which was proof of the magniicence
of her:
Il thought you wouldn't want me
> if you knew that l did that, and
couldn't marry you without telling you.
l But you know nOw And do what
ever you feel like doing or saying, you
can't hurt me; l can never be hurt
any-any m-m-m-mOre-"
Bill Dale shot erect. Truly, this
was day of surprises for him. He
stopped and caught her up.
!. "a real woman! J" he said happily,
,, Strengthening with her in his arms. "a
real, all gold, pure gold woman! You
: loved me well enough to kill a man
to save me, and wouldn't let me know
it! Woman is a mystery, sure enough.
= But perhaps it's because women are
so fine and so far above menfolk that
y menfolk cannot understand them.
q Well, Babe, kitten, must 1 drag you
= to the altar, or will you go with me
y of your own accordW
" She put her arms around his neck
4 and drew them tight.
lP | u 81 VIII yOuf ASlll AdNIN
n Moreland, whichever it is-to the very
n last inch of the end of the world" she
IS said.
lie
sc Early the next morning, there came
m strolling lazily up the rivers bank 9
- tall and lanky mOuntaineer who wore
among other things, a Niagara Falls
n mustache and cowhide boots thai
is seemed ridiculously short because oi
id the great length of his slender legs
a. He carried rifle in the hollow of one
at arm; he was looking for rabbit-tracks
10 in the snow Near the pool above the
,d blown-down sycamore, he came upoI
tracks that had not been made by any
m four-footed animals. There were thu
q footprints of a man coming from ont
lv direction, and the footprints of a WON
an coming from another direction
y, only the footprints of the man wen
~ ~ away toward Ben Littleford's cabin.
K. By Heck was puzzled. Here come
BILL he frowned, land over her
nd comes Babe. And thar, as plain a
day, goes Bill; but what become G
~, Babe? Whar in the name o. the devil
ov pet ridin'-hoss did she go to? No
~ straight up, shorelyl"
no He scrutinized the signs with tn
he understanding eye of the born woods
by man. Then he grinned broadly an
said to himself:
lie. "Well, dang my forrard and bias
Dr. my eyes The DANCED old Injun, h
jest picked her up bodily and carrie
". her off home, and 1 know what tha
ed means, thank God. / cain't pray, bu
nd 1 shore can sing
ad "Oh, when l die, don't bury me deep;
Put tombstone at my head and feet:
. Put a bears jawbone In my right hand
tS On my way to the Promised La-a-anC
Oh! On my way to the Promised Land!
,Ie (THE END)