Evening star., 1924-04-27

hair aWkWardly with his left
hand The right sleeve of his
freshly laundered white shirt hung
empty from the shoulder. His care
fully pressed blue serge trousers were
Sallused high with pale blue suspen-
ders The sides of his unbuttoned
vest hung loose. The pencil in one
Of its pockets was held in place by
an ornate clip. There was a band
ot blue embroidered elastic about his
arm, to hold up his sleeve
lie was as compactly and power
fully built as a Russian wolf hound;
thin-ftanked. deep chested wide of
shoulder. long of limb. His face was
lean and rather weak
Tho bedroom of the little frame
ranch house was full of the blended
odors of talcum powder and bay rum,
ripening alfalfa, sage brush and that
unnamed, heart lifting something &
that is the breath Jcf the summer
prairie For Sam was getting ready
10 go on journey, and the window
was open to the blue Colorado day
that sparkled outside like a jewel.
As he brushed his hair his eyes met
his wife's in the mirror
Ella Pavitt sat by the window near
the foot of the bed with Sans open
Nallse on it: keen. clean-muscled,
vigorous, brown-skinned girl, in "a
gray sweater. short wool skirt, man S
felt hat, and rubber irrigating boots
with fresh mud stains on them. The
carly morning sunshine edged the
bold, strong CURVES of her figure with
q blurred line of gold.
This hero business" Sam Pavitt
said, gets my goat! Makes me feel
like a darned fool"
But Ella knew it didn't. You're
The only sure-enough hero 1 ever
saw
Forget it. That's what I'm going
70 do just as soon as they'll let me.
I'm going in to Denver today and let
tho brotherhood gimme the medal,
and the railroad gimme the dough.
and then I'm going to stick the medal
in my pocket and the five thousand
bucks in the bank, and come home
and forget it,
And he would, too. She knew that.
He forgot everything. He loved ad-
miration; worked for it; lived on it,;
had to have it. When he hadn't at
tracted it unwittingly by something
he'd done, he'd fall into funny strutty
little ways to get it. as naive and
innocent as SamuellaS But after
he'd done something heroic he'd for
get it. He had pulled the engineer
and fireman of his train-Sam was
a brakeman-out of the river into
which they had plunged with their
engine when the spring rains took
out the bridge. And he swan the
river with a broken arm in order to
flag the train from the other direc-
ton. Tho whole country rang with
it. but Sam himself could forget it.
THERE were meretricious things in
him, and this quiet girl he had
married saw them as clearly as if
She had been his sister; but his gall
lsntry wasn't one of them. Flamboy-
INT, ringing, spectacular, it was as
real as old Gray Dome's granite peak
off there across the plains. Throw
things into the sphere of action, un-
furl the banner of danger. and Sam
stepped out, clean and simple, hero.
He stood with his legs wide apart
md tried on new green velour hat
jaunty, with the unhealed ends of the
severed shoulder muscles still twitch
ing. He was jaunty because they
twitched He'd risen TO meet the
challenge of pain. And he'd go on
meeting tiff it didn't last too long.
lie always breasted the hills. 1t was
the level stretches that wore him
down.
An automobile siren cut through
the song OF the meadow lark outside.
That's Tom now" said Ella.
Tom Grierson was their neighbor
on the hundred and sixty to the
north. They had arranged with him
TO take Sam to the train.
Sans great arm encircled his
wife's shoulder, and she thrilled to
the touch of it's muscles as hard as
oak. The flesh of her ached where
the other arm should have gone. They
had been SO close during those iso-
lated summer weeks of Sans recov-
cry. The railroad had paid all the
doctors bills, and the neighbors had
taken turns in relieving her of the
farm work, She had sat for hours
at Sans bedside, sewing, talking a
little, or in silence, the windows wide
70 the summer. the sweet air CULVER
ing with the jubilant songs of the
meadow larks, the far blue mountains
dreaming in the west A perfect IN
rcrIude in the midst of life's imper-
fcctions. She hated to see 1t end ana
the old. conflicting influences have
way again.
.You won't forget" she said, TAX
ing refuge in the things that could
he talked about You'll raise the
mortgage first. And then you'll get
the tractor-if you find that you can
drive it with your left hand" Csc
eretly she was sure he could drive it
with his teeth if he tried; there
weren't many things of that sort he
couldn't do.) "And then youH ouy
the things on the list-you're sure
you've got it?
.Yep. Inside pocket of my coat
over there. And, so help me John
Henry, I won't say howdy to the
mayor, if 1 meet him on the street.
till I've tended to it."
over his shoulder her eyes fell upon
. handkerchief box Of speckled pink
and pale green stuff that looked ike
sbavings, with tiny strip OF mirror
dropped into the lid, like a slice OF
c;tron in a sugar cooky, and ner
arms grew tighter about him.
And nothing else, Sam! Nothing
else! Only the things on the hs''
You promise?"
~Yes, honey. Only the things on the
list. promise"
X X j
cyHE didn't look at the fragile How