Nogales international., 1936-09-26

In Nevada, the woman in the
saloon told me my lingering wasn't
SO good; took the guitar and
showed me. That interested me a
lot | ask her to have supper with
me.
"She had sung in the camps in the
Seventies, when mining was a big
game on both sides of the Sierras. In
Placerville, on the California side, she
had met young adventurer named
Dalton. She took him at first to be
a prospector, and he did prospect to
some extent. But a little later, when
she became his sweetheart, she learned
that he often took the road with
route agent he called Reeves. They
worked the mountain passes, holding
up pack trains and wagon shipments
of gold till the country got too hot
for them, and they disappeared
$50 Mays love affair didn't last
long. l gathered it was she who did
most of the loving. Dalton was
staggering young rascal, with lot
Of life and good looks, and no heart
to speak of. 1t was that, I think that
attracted her. She was used to being
courted.
After Dalton left her she had a
baby girl. Whether it was his or not,
she didn't know for certain. Shed
known him that short time. 1t in
terfered with her work, so she sent
it away to be. cared for, shut it out OF
her life and forgot about it, as she
tried to forget about Dalton
'Then she met a rancher named
Owens, who was taking up a grazing
claim on the Nevada side, south OF
the Carson Valley. So she married
Owens, and went with him to Nevada,
to settle down and be faithful wife.
"Her marriage to Owens was un-
happy. He was ungenerous and I'M
Sociab1e-almost a miser. The ranch
was days journey from any neigh
! Dor. No one, hardly, came near 1t.
He was jealous of that old lite OF
hers-had suspected when he married
her, what it had been. He worked
the ranch himself, so there was no
one to talk to but him, and he didn't
talk.
"One night in summer, when Owens
had watered the stock and she was
watching him for the umptieth time
draw a lamp alongside the table, tlx
the wick and read some month-old
newspapers, she heard faint tapping
on the door. She opened it, and there
stood visitor For herl
"A little visitor about three years
old, and small for her age, with a
cute, solemn baby face, and wet eyes
blinking in the lamplight, looking lost
"'Nice mans said you know where
is my Daddy?'
"The woman gave smothered cry
and gathered the child hungrlE in her
arms, not asking yet how nor why ii
had come there.
"Owens lit a lantern to go out ailo
see who had brought the little one tc
the door. The rider was out of ear
shot now, but on the porch was a sack
of gold and a note saying, This baby
wandered off train during hold-up
Keep her till the posse comes looking
for her. The gold is from the robbed
train, and Is yourn if you want pay
for your trouble
"That was ALL The rest they tried
to piece together from what they could
make of the child's talk.
For hours Owens pored over that
note and over the gold, handling it,
counting it. And the woman was
yearning over the treasure IN her arms
Suppose, by some great fall Of chance,
it was never claimed?
Neither of them slept that night,
and the next day they waited and
watched the trails. The same hope
was in their minds, though their rea-
sons for hoping we're far apart.
of the posse. Finally Owens made a
trip to the nearest freight station to
get the news. In his absence, the
woman started making little suit OF
overalls for the girl.
Toward sundown she went into the
barn to look for eggs for the baby's
| supper. While she was groping t9E