American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1922-03-17

even as she was Of the hill blood, and
that should make them more nearly
equal. She told herself that he wouldn't
be so apt to condemn her for being
able to take a human life easily as
one Of another blood would be; he
would be more apt to understand. And
yet, the women he had known were
gentle. tender and refined, like, for in
stance. Patricia McLaurin. Soon the
ray of hope died within her, and she
bent her head and sobbed again.
One of her bare hands began to
grope idly in the snow at her side, and
she did not feel the cold. Suddenly
she realized that her hand was fun
of shavings, whittlings. Some man
had been sitting there whiting with
a pocket knife-it must have been a
man, for who ever heard of a woman
whiting? She felt in the snow with
both hands, and found more WRITINGS
there were bushels of whittlings, il
seemed to her. lying there under the
snow.
Then she wondered-wondered who
it could have been.
It was quite dark now, but the moon
was not yet up. A great, bright star
blazed above David Moreland's tomb
like a beacon fire. She heard the muf-
fed sounds of slow masculine foot
steps in the snow behind her. She
did not turn her head. In her soul
she knew it could be but one man.
Bill Dale's head was down, and he
moved as Though he neither knew nor
cared whittier he went. Then he saw
the dark heap on the rivers bank be-
fore him, and he halted. He knew in
his soul that 1t could be but one wOm-
an.
Dale went on and sat down on a
stone the size Of a small barrel that
lay at the rivers rim.
Babe" he said. 1t was the mating
call Of his heart in the springtime OF
his life.
"Who d-done all O. this whittlin'.
Bill?" asked Elizabeth.
II did," softly.
But | thought you were so busy
herel It's nobody but idlers, Of
course, that whittles-that is, most O.
the time it's nobody but idlers that
whites"
But I'm no busy on Sundays, y
know" replied Dale.
"Tell me this" Elizabeth asked
~pointedly: what made you come to
this n spot to do your whittlin'T
Couldn't you whittle up there In my
daddy's cabin yard?"
He answered her unhesitatingly
Because / like to be here. This
place is a shrine to me. 1t was here
that first loved you, Babe. Now you
tell me this: Why did you come to
this particular spot to sit down in
the snow? There's snow in your dad
dy's cabin yardr"
Said Elizabeth, In a voice that sound
ed smothered: Because / like to be
here-this place is a shrine to me,
too-it was here that l first loved you.
Bill Dalel"
Then why" he demandeda won't
you marry meT'
Because 1t was me that shOt-Ad~
am Ball."
She went on, and though emotion,
had set every fibre of her 10 ~Quivering,
she did not fall into the old hill talk,
which was proof of the magniHcenc@
Of her;
II thought you wouldn't want ms
If you knew that l did that, and I
couldn't marry you without telling you.
But you know now! And do what
ever you feel like doing or saying, you
can't hurt me; l can never be hurt
any-any m-m-m-more-"
Bill Dale shot erect. Truly, this
was a day Of surprises for him. He
stopped and caught her up.
"A real woman !" he said happily
Strengthening with her in his arms. "A
real, all gold, pure gold womanl You
loved me well enough to kill a man
to save me, and wouldn't let me know
it! Woman is a mystery, sure enough.
But perhaps it's because women ara
so fine and so far above menfoIk that
menfOlk cannot understand them
Well, Babe, kitten, must l drag you
to the altar, or will you go with me
or your own accordP"
She put her arms around his neck
and drew them tight.
I'D go with you, Bill Dale-or David
Morelsnd, whichever it is-to the very
last inch of the end of the world" she
said.
.
Early the next morning. there cams
strolling lazily up the rivers bank 8
tall and lanky m~Ountaineer who wore
among other things, a Niagara Falls
mustache and cowhide boots thai
seemed rid~iculously short because Of
the great length of his slender legs
He carried a rifle in the hollow of one
arm; he was looking for rabblt-tracks
In the snow, Near the pool above the
downtown sycamore, he came upon
tracks that had not been made by any
four-footed animals. There were the
footprints of a man coming from one
direction, and the footprints of a wom-
an coming from anofbar 3{rootao,.