Williams news., 1921-07-08
By EDISON MARSHALL
Copyright. 1920. by Little. Brown & G


 the mountain men are not saved by their women without mourning obliga- ton. She attempted no barren de- nials. She made no effort to pretend he had not incurred a tremendous debt when she had come with her pistol. It was an unavoidable fact. life for a life is the code of the mountains.
 1.-TWO things I must do before I can ever dare to die," he told her soberly. "One of them is to pay you; the other is to pay Cranston for the thing he said. Maybe the chance will never come for the first of the two; only I'll pray that it will Maybe 1t would be kinder to you to pray that it wouldn't; ; yet pray that 1t will Maybe I can pay that debt only by being always ready. always watching for a chance to save you from any danger, always trying to protect you. You didn't come in time to see the fight made. BesideS-I lost, and little else mat ters. And that debt to you can't be paid until sometime fight again-for you-and win" He gasped from his weakness, but went on bravely "I'n never be able to feel at peace, Snow bird. until I'm tested in the fire before your eyesI I want to show you the
 
 true-that my courage will stand the test.
 'It wouldn't be the same, perhaps, with an Eastern girl. Other things matter in the valleys. But I see how 1t is here; that there is only one standard for men and by that stand ard they rise or fall. Things in the are down to the essen tfals"
 He paused and struggled for strength to continue. And I know what you said to him." he went on. ''Haf-unconscious as I was, I remem- Der every word. Each word just seems to burn into me, Snowbird, and I'll make every one of them good You said am a better man than he, and sometime it would be proved-and it's the truth Maybe in a month, maybe In a year. Pm not going to die from this malady of mine now, Snowbird. I've got too much to live for-too many debts to pay. In the end, I'll prove your words to him." His eyes grew earnest, and the hard | ire went out of them. Its almost as | f you were a queen, a real queen of | tome great kingdom," he told her, remulous with a great awe that was stealing over him. as a mist steals over water. And because I had kissed | 'our fingers, for ever and ever I was ,our subject, living only to fight your ights-maybe with a dream in the ind to kiss your fingers again. When -ou bent and kissed me on that hill- him to see-it was the same: hat was sworn to you, and nothing nattered in my life except the service nd love I could give you And it's | nore than you ever dream, Snowbird. ts all yours, for your battles and our happiness.",
 The great pines were silent above hem. shadowed and dark. Perhaps hey were listening to an age-old tory. those vows ofs service and self aimed worth by which the race has upward from the darkness. But I kissed you-once before," he reminded him. The voice was 1st a whisper, hardly louder than the tfr of the leaves in the wind.
 But that kiss didn't count" he told CT. "It wasn't at all the same. I ,ved you then. think, but it didn't lean what it did today" J And what" she leaned toward fm her eyes full on his. "does if ean now7" "An that's worth while in life, all lat matters when everything is said lat can be said. and all Is done that |, m be done. And 1t means, please cd, when the debts are paid. that ay have such a kiss again." Mot until then" she told him, { ' Until then, I make oath that I T ont even ask 1t. or receive it if you T lould give 1t. It goes too deep, dear I t-and 1t means too much.' 6 This was their pact. Not until the r .bts were paid and her word made ,od would those lips be his again. r here was no need for further words. 1th of them knew.
 In the skies. the gray clouds were 2 thering swiftly, as always in the ountains. The rafndrops were fall 2 one and one. over the forest. The inner was done, and fall had come earnest. a
 (TO BE CONTINUED h
 Ancient History. d