The Coolidge examiner., 1932-11-25

The Texan shook his head, but II
was Jasper who spoke.
mo use I'm going fast E.
He shot Dad, too, Gitner did"
The girls arm plllowed his head
tenderly. She forgot he was a ne'er-
do-well and worse. that he had been
discredted and disgraced. All she
remembered was that he was her
brother, the little boy, with whom
she had played and quarreled and
made up. one around whom hun
dred dear memories twined.
I've been bad lot" no
murmured. IF you'd-pray for ma.
Sis"
She did, brokenly, with a heart
from which welled love and tears.
Within the hour, peacefully, he
passed away.
The two men were grateful to
him. He had not told the whole
truth. If he had been guilty Of
completely In his fathers death Julia
would never know 1t now. She could
not wear her heart out in bitter
shame, since both of those who
knew the facts were lying here
dead. Her grief could be clean sor-
row.
b They carried the body Of Jasper
TO the cabin and laid 1t on one of
the hunks.
Hours later In the middle of the
night, while Julia lay sound asleep,
worn out by her exertions and her
sorrow. Dominick Rafferty, and his
posse reached Horse Thief park.
Not till morning did she know that
they had come.
While she was asleep their plans
had been made. They would bury
Gitner on the edge of the rock field
and bring Jasper's body back to the
Circle cross. Meanwhile Stone and
McCann would ride with her to the
sheep ranch.
To her anxious inquiries Dom
inick reported Phil doing well.
After breakfast the three started
homeward.
In Julia's grief there was an ele-
ment OF relief that at moments dis
tressed her. For months she had
been oppressed by fears and doubt
and shame. These were gone. The
end had come. and il was not so bad
as she had dreaded. Wilson McCann
had explained TO her that her broth
er was not rustler but had been
brought there by Gitner and killed
! because he knew too much. She was
anxious TO believe this, to believe
that he had been weak and not
wicked. The conviction that he
would have gone from bad TO worse
she pushed from her and refused
to consider. but II was this feeling
that made the loss of Jasper bear
able. In the hour of his death at
any rate he had come near ts her
and clung TO the comfort she had
to offer.
They rode through the golden
dawn. for the most part In silence
below them the lilac lakes of light
in the shadowy hollow of the hills.
Julia. riding knee to knee beside
her lover. felt him very close TO her
Words were not necessary to tell
/ hnF xrffh nh tnndnr to
sympathy enfolded her. She knew
that the barriers built between then
had been swept away as though they
had never existed.
Out Of the fierce and ruthless des-
ert he had come to her, bringing its
strength and endurance, the deep
hidden tenderness and the imagina-
tion that transforms II from a de
vouring and rapacious Sahara to
! fairyland of light and shadow.
She knew he would not speak to
her yet while her grief was green
Today was TO be for her dead broth
er. All the years to come were to
be for him and her. Not even the
eyes that met hers would tell the
story that filled his heart, not until
he felt the time had come.
Julia loved him for 1t, for the
strength that held repressed the
| emotion of this straight backed
brown-faced rider Of the plains.
Once only she yielded to the feel
ing that surged up in her. 1t was
when they came to an opening in
the hills and looked down on the
Painted desert set in its rose and
golden envelope of air.
THE morning of the world" she
whispered.
He looked at his Eve, for one
vivid moment the mask off. Their
eyes fastened, plunged to the bot
tom of each others heart.
"Of our world" she added. and in
her dusky eyes was reflected the
glow of the newborn day, warm, vi
tai, sparkling with hope.
Wilson McCann drew a deep
breath of JOY. Never in all his hard
years had he known a soul so radi |