Part 24 (2/2)
But he continued, deliberately: ”Love is the biggest thing in the world; it's the only thing worth while, and she has got to have a fair show at it This has been onI wouldn't have to do it; but to-day I caain, and it's up to me She'll have to know some time, so the sooner the better”
”She would not believe you,” said the woht of that I wonder if she would doubt! I couldn't stand that”
”There is no proof, and it would reat price to pay for the happiness of one girl--”
”I gave it once before,” said Gale, a trifle bitterly, ”and now that the ga out; but--I wonder if she would doubt--” He paused for a long ot a lot of things to do first--you and the youngsters must be taken care of”
”And Stark?” said Alluna
”Yes, and Stark”
Burrell took his prisoner to the barracks, where he placed hi instructions to hold hi ild and reckless huht, for it is ht upon their necks who run wildest when it is rerown old on the frontier adhere id code than do tenderfeet who feel for the first time the liberty and license of utter unrestraint, and it was these strangers whom the soldier feared rather than nize the mercy of his intervention and let the matter drop
After he had taken every precaution he went out into the night again, and fought with hiht before; in fact, ever since old Tholy shaped his talk that Burrell never suspected his object until he perceived his position in such a clear light that the young man looked back upon his ith startled eyes
The Corporal had spoken garrulously of his officer's family; of their pride, and of their love for his profession; had dwelt enthusiastically upon the Lieutenant's future and the length he was sure to go, and finally drifted into the sa of the crafty old soldier's strategy and dismissed him, but not before his work had been acconer like Corporal Thonize the impossibility of a union between Necia and hi man must have been blind indeed not to have seen it for hi and virile passions, but he was also well balanced, and had ever followed his head rather than his heart, holding, as he did, a deep-seated conteenerations of discipline back of him spoke to his conscience He had allowed hiirl until--yes, he kne he loved her If only he had not awakened her and hioing back now, no use for regrets, only the greater necessity ofout a course that would cause her least unhappiness If he could have run away he would have done so gladly, but he was bound here to this ca her
When he drove his reason with firm hands he saw but one course to follow; but, when his mind went slack for a ly than ever, and he heard voices arguing, pleading, persuading--she was the equal of any woman in the world, they said, in mind, in purity, and in innocence He hated hi; he railed at his own indecision; and then, when he had justified his love and persuaded hi this union, there would rise again the picture of his people, their chagrin, and ould result froe He kne they would take it; he knehat his friends would say, and hoould be treated as the husband of a half-breed Indian; for in his country one drop of colored blood ro, and his people saw but little difference between the red and the black It would mean his social ostracism; he would be shunned by his brother officers, and his career would be at an end He swore aloud in the darkness that this was too great a price to pay for love, that he owed it to hiive up this dark-eyedthis debate, clear past the town, and out through the Indian village; but now that he believed he had co with himself, he turned back towards his quarters He kneould be hard to give her up; but he had irrevocably decided, and his path began to unfold itself so clear and straight that he lad he had conquered, although the pain was still sharp He felt a better man for it, and, wrapped in this complacent optimism, he passed close by the front of the trader's store, where Necia had crept to be alone with her h irl sat huddled, staring out into the unreal world, waiting for the night wind to bloay the fears and forebodings that would not let her sleep It was late, and the hush of a suht lay upon the distant hills Burrell had almost passed her when he was startled by the sound of his name breathed softly; then, to his amazement, he saw her come forth like a spirit into the silver sheen
”Necia!” he cried, ”what are you doing here at this hour?” She looked up at hi inside him snapped and broke Without a word he took her in his ar with the joy of his strong eainst his
”Little girl! little girl!” he whispered, over and over, his tone conveying every shade of sy she had craved He knehat had made her sad, and she knew that he knew There was no need for words; the anguish of this long day had whetted the edge of their desire, and they were too deeply, too utterly lost in the ecstasy ofto care for speech
As she lay cradled in his arms, which alternately held her with the soft tenderness of a mother and crushed her with the fierce ardor of a lover, she lost herself in the bliss of a wo doubts and fears What were questions of breed or birth or color nohen she knew he loved her? Mere vapors that vanished with the first flutter of ings
Nor did Meade Burrell recall his recent self-conquest or pause to reason why he should not love this little wisp of the wilderness The barriers he had built went down in the sight and touch of his love and disappeared; his hesitation and infirmity seemed childish now--yes, more than that, cowardly He realized all in a moment that he had been supremely selfish, that his love was a covenant, a coht to dissolve without her consent, and, strangely enough, now that he acknowledged the bond to hi
”Your lips cling so that I can't get free,” sighed the girl, at last
”You never shall,” he whispered But when she s, and said, ”I o
As he went lightly towards the barracks through the far-stretching shadows, for the ladly to hiht before hih wholly at variance with the one he had decided upon so recently But he knew not that his vision was obscured and that the moon-madness was upon hiht nextthe new arrivals had disappeared into the hills--the women in spite of the by-laws of Lee's Creek, which discriainst their sex When a stampede starts it does not end with the location of one strearound for old will be found; each creek forms a new district, and its discoverers adopt laws to suit their whims The women, therefore, hastened to participate in the discovery of new territory and in the shaping of its governuard the tents and piles of provisions standing by the river-bank In two days they began to return, and straggled in at intervals for a week thereafter, for an a new era for Flambeau--an era of industry such as the frontier town had never known The woods behind rang with the resounding discords of axes and saws and crashi+ng ti in a day The sluggish air was noisy with voices, and the edge of the forest receded gradually before the busy pioneers, replacing the tall tih-banked homes of spruce and white-papered birch Fro floor lumber to the tune of two hundred dollars per thousand; and with the second steamer came a little steam sawmill, which raised its shrill co the busy day with its piping whistle