The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-11-17

ne lOiueu IL up, anu put II III luc pOch-
ct Of his coat. and went out to the
back yard, where Kow was feeding the
chickens. The wet. dark day was end
ing brilliantly in a wash of red sun
set light that sent long shadows from
the young fruit trees, and touched
every twig with a dull glow.
"Kow," Peter said, after an effort
to speak that was unsuccessful. The
Chinese boy looked at him solicitous-
ly; for Peters face was ashen, and
about his mouth were drawn lines.
"Kow." he said, Il go nowP
go now other house?" Kow nodded.
CHANGING toward the valley.
But Peter jerked his head instead
toward the bare ridge.
mo, / go now-not come back ]" he
said, briefly. "Tonight-maybe Bo-
linas-tomorrow, Inverness. don't
know. BY and by the big mountains,
Row-by and by 1 forget!"
Tears glittered in the Chinese boys
eyes, but he smiled with a great air
of cheer.
81 keep house |" he promised.
The dog came fawning and spring
ing from the stables. and Peter whis-
tied to him.
Come on Buck We're going nowi"
He opened the farmyard gate where
her hand had so often rested, crossed
the muddy corral, opened another
gate, and struck off across the darken-
Ing world toward the ridge. The last
sunlight fingered IN crest and tree-top,
tangled itself redly In the uppermost
branches of a few tall redwoods, and
was gone. Twilight-a long twilight
that had in 1t some hint of spring-lay
softly over the valley; the mountain
doomed high in the clear shadow.
Gaining the top of the first ridge, he
paused and looked back at the cabin,
the little brown house that he had
built almost fifteen years ago. He re-
membered that it IA in the beginning
a sort of experiment his mother and
city house, and she had suggested,
with rare wisdom, that as he did not
care for society, and as his travels al
ways meant great loneliness for her.
he should have a little eyrie Of his
own, to which he might retreat when
ever the fancy touched him.
She liked Del Monte and Tahoe, her
self, but she had come to Mill Valley
now and then in the days of his first
wild delight in its freedom and beau
ty, silk-gowned ard white-gloved and
very much disliking dust. She had
and she had told him one day that he
had a neighbor in the valley who was
an old friend of hers, a Doctor Strick-
land, a widower, with children.
He remembered sauntering up the
opposite canyon to duly call upon this
Neutrality-suspicious. one day, and his
delight upon finding a well-read. mu-
s%ic-loving. ~philosophic, erratic man,
who had at once recognized a kindred
spirit, and who had made the younger
man warmly welcome.
Presently, on the first call, an en-
chanting little girl in a shabby smock
had come ina little girl all dimples.
occurrences and untouched boyish
beauty. She had said that "Anne wath
mad wiz her. and that Alix-" she
managed to lisp the name, 'wath up
in the madrone!
A somewhat older child, named Alix.
a freckled, leggy little person with
enormous front teeth, had proved the
claim by falling out Of the madrone.
and had received no sympathy for a
bump. but a-to him-rather surprfs-
ing censure. He had yet to realize
that nothing ever hurt Alix. but that
she always ruined her clothes. and
hurt other persons and 9TH
er things. He found her a spirited, en-
thusiastic little person. extremely ar
and quite unself-conscious, |
and she had entertained him with an
excited account of a sex feud that was
being pushed with some violence at her
and had used expressions that
shocked Peter. A quiet third
niece, he gathered-had Joined
the group, a girl with braids and clean
hands, who calculated:
"Alix and | don't like our teacher r.
"She's a sneak and a skunk! Alix
frankly contributed. Cherry, now
luietly established In her fathers lap,
smiled with mischievous enjoy
nent nobody else, to Peters surprise,
lad paid this extraordinary remark the
attention. He remembered
hat he had fancied only the smallest
# these children, and had been glad
ghen they all went out Of the room.
Looking down at the cabin, the
ears slipped past him like a flying
lin, and it was the present again. and
Alix-Alix was gone.
He reused himself, spoke to the dog.
nd they went on their way again.
1ud squelched beneath Peters boots
q the roadway; the dog sprang light
= from clump to clump of dried grass.
,ut when they left the road, and cut
across the rise of the hillside,
he ground was irmer, and the two fig
res moved swiftly through the dark
light. The early stars came out, and
bowed them, silhouetted against the
ky above Alix's beloved Tamalpais,
he mans erect form with its slight