The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-09-25

Il
be buster there than out walking with
you and your policeman"
Marjorie! How can you"
"And he told her he would call on
her after we were settled"
'He did no such thing He asked
me where we were going to settle, and
told him didn't know, and he said
he hoped he would be patrolling there.
He's going to be sent out from bar
racks, soon, and he said it would be
safer for me-for us-if someone were
patrolling our district"
"Not for you, dear" said Marjorie,
meaningly, and there was a little sting
in her words which brought me into
action.
II believe you're jealous, Marjorie, y
l said, in tones intended tn be severe.
"And aren't your" she retortedI "You
ought to be-"
The truth is, / was. Jean had al
ways belonged to me so absolutely that
had never thought of the possibility
of a rival. Even now / did not think
of such thing seriously. 1t was true
that there was no engagement be-
tween us, unless the word of man of
six and a woman of four can be taken
as binding, but looked on Jean as
mine, nevertheless, and / resented the
action of the mounted policeman in
seeking her acquaintance l resented
too. the fact that she had gone walking
with him, and l told her so at the first
opportunity.
1t came that afternoon. Jean said
she was tired riding, and got down to
walk, on my side of the wagon We
trudged along for some distance in
silence. save for my occasional words
of rebuke and eyhortation to the oxen.
you're cross at me-" she said at
length.
Pm not" Why said that / can't
imagine. was, and wanted her to
know it.
81 didn't mean to offend you," she
went on. Marjorie was just a little
Bit spiteful."
81 know she was" l agreed. But
you shouldn't have gone walking with
him."
"Why?"
"He~was stranger. You didn't even
know his name"
Il do now. It's Harold Brook. Be-
sides. in this country, you don't have
to know peoples names. You just
speak anyway"
"Oh, do your" / said, sarcastically
$50 l see.'
Don't be cross" she coaxed. "See,
I can beat you to that badger hole.
One-two-three-"
She was off like the wind For a
moment l heSitated, then joined in the
race. But she had too much start, and
besides, she was almost a match for
me. She reached the little mound first,
and as she turned she swerved little
from her course, and 1 happened to
plunge into her. To save herself from
falling she seized me about the neck,
and her hair brushed against my
face.
We walked back slowly, arm in arm
and l had a sense of being very much
of brute. f. Jean had wound me
around her little finger.
There are certain thrills of accom-
plishment, certain epochs of develop.
ment, which come only once in a life
time. One of these is when a young
man writes his first check, or first
turns his key in his own door, or first
sees his name on an office signboard
But the greatest is when he first looks
upon land he can call his own. True,
this land was not yet ours, but it was
pledged to us if we carried out our
part of very simple agreement, and
already we had proprietary interest
in it. We showed it to the girls with
the pride of mother displaying her
first born. We were desperately anx-
ious that our choice should be justi-
fed.
We waited for their verdict, but
neither spoke. well, what do you
think of it," Jack asked at length.
at looks all right" said Marjorie.
II suppose it is as good as any. But
don't see how you are going to tell
it from other peoples land. It's all
alike"
What do you say, Jean?
But Jean was looking at the sunset,
where the Master Artist was splashing
pastels of bronze and copper against
background of silver and champagne
Wonderful, wonderful" she muir
INJURED.
Fourteen is Franks and Twenty
two is NINE" Jack explained. "We'll
pitch the tent for the girls here, and
Frank may do as he likes, but I'm GO
ing to cross the gully and sleep to-
night under my own vine and fig tree,
so to speak. My six months residence
begins tonight ~
Fig tree!" Marjorie exclaimed.
"The trees around here are just about
high enough to tickle your ear-when
you're lying down."
"You haven't seen the trees yet"
said Jack, knowingly "Now, let's
pitch camp"
We dragged the tent close to the
brow of the gully and pitched it on the
spot where we had planned that my
shack should be. We also unloaded
part of our equipment so that we
could make use of it in the housekeep-
ing operations. 1t was with great zest
that we carried our cookstove to the
door OF the. tent and strung up two or