The Red Cloud chief., 1922-03-02
VALENTINE TRAIL
5y RUBY DOUGLAS

"Oh. Tm so tired OF lace paper
hearts and Cuplds made of chocolate,
and boxes OF violets that have been
taken out of the ice.boxl almost
wish there were no such day as Val.
entine's day"
Tho girl who made the remark had
bobbed hair and n one-piece frsck.
what would you suggest, Jane?''
asked her chum. "What is there
left?"
Jane did not reply at once. ''That's
just it; I don't know what | want.
All | know is that | don't want a lace
paper heartl"
perhaps Il real human heart, served
up on a platter as in ancient bar
barrie days. would please you more,
dear?'
"N-no. think | just want to find
some n original enough to give me
something different Jane explained.
The chum made audible signs OF
surprise. "Oh, Jane, you are funny,
you, trying to get out OF the conven-
tlonal calf path"
Neither Of the girls knew that, as
they sat talking thus over their little
tabourette and tea table before the big
log fire In the country club house a
man had been sitting close by con,
stantly reading a sporting paper.
IL think Ill be a sport myself" he
concluded quickly. II like that girls
voice. 1 like her looks. / think I'd
like her philosophy"
Thereupon he set out to find out
who she was, where she lived. He
then set his brains to- work to origl-
nate an Idea for u valentine.
His mind had created a thought.
ut depends on the snowfall, but
I'm just sport enough to think that
Cupid-though not of chocolate-will
implore the gods to see that 1 have a
snowy setting for February 14!"
Jane Hall lived in the community
adjoining the country club ut which
she was having "a tea the afternoon
that Tom Hayes overheard her pctu.
liant remark about st. Valentine and
his customs.
~ DlS lutu, lOIu utClucu, Is 10
let the girl guess who Is her yalen-
tine.
On the night Of February IL a
wonderful carpet of white snow COW
cred the ground.
Tom, feeling like Il %cut-throat or Sec
ond-story operator. stole noiselessly
through the virgin snow to the Halls
garden.
He had u garden trOwel, a package
OF large red hearts cut from paper,
some red fluid that looked like paint.
Underneath the window of Jane he
dug out a heart-shaped hole and
placed within II a great red paper heart.
Then he walked on through the gar
den, dropping drops Of red in the
snow and every few feet adding an
other heart. The trail wended on
down into the woods In the rear of
the Hall home and disappeared into
space.
IF she's anything Of a sport she'll
follow this trail, and 1t leads straight
to my heart" he said t%rlumphantly.
I'll make her notice me, anyway"
he Thought, by way of excusing him
self.
When Jane put up her shades TO
look out 1t the weather on the morn
ing of ~. Valentines day she rubbed
her eyes 7" see IL they told her the
truth.
Her heart thumped wildly as she
dressed and wen out of doors without
waking the family. She had put on
her rubbers and sport clothes, so she
followed the trail of hearts to the
woods, At the end she found a note
hung to the limb Of Il tree.
IF you want to find your Valentine
play golf in the snow this afternoon.
The red golf bail / have placed be-
Meath the last heart in the trail. I'll
be waiting for you ut the seventh hole,
and when | see the red hall driven
from the sixth | shall know that you
are on your way"
Jane did not know at first what to
do. Her conversation with her chum,
Grace, ut the country club, came to
her mind with the natural association
of ideas. At first she accused Grace
Of the idea, and then she knew that
Grace would never have had either
the energy or the originality to think
of 1t.
II shall go, anyway" she decided.
After lunch she surprised the family
by announcing that she was going to
the club for a game Of golf.
You're nutty, Sis" said her brother.
And Off She went to the golf course,
the red ball hidden in her pocket. She
kept her golf clubs in her locker.
Her cheeks were the color of the
ball she was playing with when she
reached the sixth hole and told her
caddy to so on ahead of her.
As she approached the seventh hole
across the wonderful white fairway
that led to 1t she saw a man in golf
clothes awaiting her. Her excitement
almost choked her, her daring m
what stunned her.
I'm afraid I'm not as pretty as a
lace heart the man began. extending