Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1922-12-15

g looked Wnen IISt she cHtciSu A.'S III
5 "a golden-haired girl, blue-eyeC
! white skinned, red-llpped, tall an
/ slender and beautiful. He had neve
, forgotten, and an old, sickening re
morse knocked at his heart. He ros
and climbed out of the canon and t
! the top Of the mesa, where he pacet
TO and fro and looked down into thu
weird and mystic shadows like thu
darkness Of his passion, and farther
on down the moon track and the gilt
tering stretches that vanished in the
cold blue horizon. In that endless
silent hall of desert there was 6
spirit; and Cameron felt lowering
near him what he imagined to be
phantoms of peace.
He returned to camp and sought
his comrade.
81 reckon we're two Of a kind" he
said. st was a woman who drove me
into the desert. But I come to re-
member. The deserts the only place
I can do that"
@Was she your wlfe?' asked the
elder man.
mo"
A long silence ensued. The camp
fire wore down to a ruddy ashen heap
81 had a daughter" said Camerons
comrade "She lost her mother at
birth. And II didn't know how to
bring up girl. She was pretty and
II tt,o aid eto
His words were peculiarly signif.
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 long
forgotten. But the consequences Of
such wrong were far-reaching. They
struck at the roots of a home.
"Well, tell me more?' asked Cam
eron earnestly.
at was the old, old story. My girl
was pretty and free. The young bucks
ran after her. 1 guess she did not run
away from them. And l was away a
good deal-working in another town.
She was in love with a wild fellow.
knew nothing of 1t till too late. He
was engaged to marry her. But he
didn't come back. And when the dis
grace became plain to all, my girl left
home. She went west. After a while |
heard from her. She was we'll |
yorking-liying for her baby. long
ime passed. l had no ties. / drifted |
vest. Her lover had also gone west. |
n those days everybody went west. |
trailed him, intending to kill him
tut lost his trail. Neither could
nd any trace of her. She moved on,
riven, no doubt, by the hound of her
asst Since that l have taken to the
lids, hunting gold on the desert"
Yes, it's the old, old story, only
ldder, think" said Cameron; and
IS voice was strained and unnatural.
'ardner, what Illinois town was 1t
~ hailed from?"
Peoria"
And your-your name? went on
lmeron, huskily. Z
"Warren-Jonas Warren"
That name might as well have been ,
bullet. Cameron stood erect, mo- !
'nless, as men sometimes stand mo-
when shot straight through I
e heart. In an instant, when :
oughts resurge1 IKE binding flashes f
lightning through his mind, he was q
swaying, quivering, Reconstruction
IN. He mumbled something hoarse- a
and backed into the shadow. Rut
need not have feared discovery. h
viewer surely his agitation might !,
We betrayed him. Warren sat brood +,
over the campfire, oblivious of his O,
nrade, absorbed in the past.
Cameron swiftly walked away in -
gloom. with the blood drumming n
ok in his ears, whispering over and 70
sr:
'Merciful Cd Nell was his laugh %
:" co
gr
IS thought and feeling multir,lied ~,
neron was overwhelmed. Beyond
iei. indeed, was it that out of tbe In,
hons OF men In the world two who
never seen each other could have n,
n driven into the desert by memorv -,
the same woman. II brought tha ~,
so close. II showed Cameron 49,
inevitably all his spiritual life ra
governed by what had happened 80,
ago. That which made life s,g- 1T,
ant TO him was wandering IN n o..
NJ places where no eye could see s CO.,,
with his secret. Some fateful
pee had thrown him with the IN. ha,
OF the girl he had wrecked II ~ ~
ineomprehenslhle; Il was terrible hi
vas the one thing Of an possible 80" I.
'epings IN the world OF chance ,o,,
both father and lover would nav IT,
ID nnondurable 49,
'me'hipg within him cried our TO thr
70 reveal his Identity Warren n '..,'
q blU hlmj but u was nof fear m na,,
2 that ppf cameron Oh the rack rs.
laa iacfd death Too often to nj W
~. u was Che ihouahl of adalng ,s.
''' ~ in's long aunorIng inan. An 1s.
pee fnh'ion Ay0re fhal he Womb
nNflnfnl NulflnN fr1ulI. IA. l