Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-10-27

desert to remember woman. She
appeared to him then as she had
looked when first she entered his life
"a golden-haired girl, blue-eyed
white skinned, red-lipped, tall and
slender and beautiful. He had never
forgotten, and an old, sickening re
morse knocked at his heart. He rose
and climbed out of the canon and tc
the top Of the mesa, where he paced
to and fro and looked down into the
weird and mystic shadows, Hike the
darkness of his passion, and farther
on down the moon track and the gilt
terlng stretches that vanished in the
cold blue horizon. In that endless
silent hall of desert there was q
spirit and Cameron felt hoverine
near him what he imagined to- be
phantoms Of peace. .;
He returned to camp and sought
, his comrade. .- - 49,. D 's'
~ reckon we're two of kind" he
said. "It was woman who drove me
into the desert. But / come to re-
member. The deserts the only place
I can do that"
"Was she your wife," asked the
elder man.
"No."
A long silence ensued. The camp
fire wore down to ruddy ashen heap
81 had a daughter" said Cameron's
comrade. "She lost her mother al
birth. And II didn't know how tc
bring up a girl. She was pretty and
gay. 1t was the-the old story"
His words were peculiarly signifi
cant to Cameron. They distressed
him. He had been wrapped up in his
remorse. If ever in the past he had
thought Of anyone connected with
the girl he had, wronged, he had lone
forgotten. But the consequences OF
such wrong were far-reaching. They
struck at the roots of home. s.
"WelI, tell me morer' asked Cam
eron earnestly. 'r'
at was the old, old story. My girl
was pretty and free The young bucks
ran after her I guess she did not run
away from them. And I was away 9
good deal-working in another town
She was in love with a wild fellow.
knew nothing of II till too late. He
was engaged to marry her. But he
didn't come back. And when the die.
grace became plain to all, my girl left
home. She wcns west. After a whlla
I heard from her. She was we'll
working-living for her baby. A long
time passed. = had no ties. / drifted
west. Her lover had also gone west.
In those days everybody went west.
I trailed him, intending Ito kill him.
But l lost his trail. Neither could /
find any trace Of her. She moved on,
driven, no doubt, by the hound of her
past. Since that have taken to the
wilds, hunting gold on the desert"
Eyes, it's the old, old story, only
Sadder, l think" said Cameron; and
his voice was strained and unnatural.
"Pardner, what Illinois town was it
you hailed from?"
Peoria"
"And your-your name?" went on
Cameron, huskily. .'
"Warren-Jonas Warren"
That name might as we'll have been
a bullet. Cameron stood erect, mo-
tionless. as men sometimes stand mo-
mentarily when shot straight through
the heart. In an instant, when
thoughts resurged like binding flashes
of lightning through his mind, he was
Swaying, Quivering, terrOr-stricken
man. He mumbled something hoarse-
ly and backed into the shadow. But
he need not have feared discovery,
however surely. his agitation might
have betrayed him. Warren sat brood
ing over the campfire, oblivious Of his
comrade,, absorbed in the past.
Cameron swiftly walked away in
the gloom, with the blood drumming
thick in his ears, whispering over and
over:
"Merciful Cd! Nell was his daugh-
terri
AS thought and feeling multiplied,
Cameron was overwhelmed. Beyond
belief, indeed, was it that out of the
millions of men in the world two who
had never seen each other could have
been driven into the desert by memory
of the same woman. 1t brought the
past so close. 1t showed Cameron
how inevitably all his spiritual life
was governed by what had happened
long ago. That which made life sig
nificant to him was wandering In
silent places where no eye could see
him with his secret. Some fateful
chance had thrown him with the fa-
ther of the girl he had wrecked. 1t
was incomprehenslble; 1t was terrible.
It was the one thing Of all possible
happenings in the world of chance
that both father and lover would have
found uncomfortable.
Something within him cried out to
him to reveal his identity. Warren
would kill him; but it was not fear of
death that put Cameron on the rack.
He had faced death too often to be
afraid. 1t was the thought Of adding
torture to this .long-suffering man. All