Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

14 articles on this Page

OUR SHOUT STORY ...

News
Cite
Share

OUR SHOUT STORY A DESERT ROMANCE. Christopher Morgan sat upon a box in the kwl e, of some large boulders and within whip- reach of the circular path about the arastra, and at eail rota-fcou of the nuile stimulate' him by a touch of tha whip-lash. It was a drowsy occupation. TIe was about falling into a still d'iep^r doze when ho was made alert in a mo- ment at the sound of voices fro-ni a little rnesa above the camp Presently. riding down tiie steep aiyi almost obliterated trail. came first a. lank, eldeliy moa in f-v,"ed overall)? and a. flan- nel shart, arid niter him a. girl d:e.s.\ed in ccars.e blue denim asd a. sun-bonnet of the same material, ridrng astride on a m-an's saddle. She had a light. givilsh figure, and her face was to Morgan a revelation of loveliness. The e'deriy man hailed. Morgan in a loud ) voice, which woke t 'te echoes all about: "GGGd Bttoming eompan-a How goes it '?" Morgan acknowledged the vociferous greeting, and went to meet his visitors as they rode up toward the arastra. "My name's Bas- oora," said the man, "and this here's my daughter 'Boly,' shoit for Bolivyer. A man passing along the road, night before last. said as how you'd bought in this here Bekhaz>;ar property, and Boly and mc 'lowe,, it'd be the square thing to came over a.nd get acqua-.ated." "You done well when you bought this here property," continued Baseom. "I've known the ledge this ten years, and if you go slow, you 11 come out ahead of the game. Then there fellers, the creditors, shut down on and busted up all natural enough, as I seen tiiey would when 1 first aet eyes on 'em. Bull Horn 3 all right." Miss Boly said nothing, but fixed her grey eyes on Morgan, and sat silently regard- ing him in a. frank and interested way, which somewhat embarrassed him. Mr. Bascom was not only curious as to the past, present, a.nd I future of his host, but was loudly overflowing I with information as to himself. "My place is jwt ;>vsr t'other fdt; of this here ridge in the other canon." he explained. "I took up land there ten yaws ago, never thinkin' I'd stay there this time. And I wouldn't if it hain't been for a thievin' pardner of mine." "How that ?" "W'"ny. this a-way. I'd made a stake before I ever I'd cone in here, iandin' arms for Boli- vyun insurgent* and this pardner, this 'ere I' tsriftin' feeler Meeks, was in with We had fifteen thousand dollars proStE between us, mostly is lwi-r. yellow twenties and he oomes up to my place liere sayin' as he'd help develop I toe claims back over the ri-lge or which we Lad located together. We was gain to put that coin all in to devvlopin', bu-t one mornin' I wakes up to find him dean gone, along with his share 01 the money, and mine teo. I tracked him out on to the desert down Mud Springs way, aad then lost his trail altogetlier, and 1 n-^ver seen hide nor hair of him or beard 'where he werlt to. Since then Fve lied to rustle for a livin'. Boly, here. she helps out faerdin' a few cows I've got. on th'e bunck-grasa fats (;fi t'other side the ridge." Boly blushed, laughed, and cast down her eyes at this lauda- itory and pointed personal reference. When hL guests had remounts! and slowly elimbad the trail again, Morgan watched them fell they were out of sight, with an unaccount- able mixed feeling of wild joy and deep 'repres- sion in his heart to which he had hi'.herto been ft stranger, and it was with an impulse to sing, which (sided with a sigh, that he flickered up hia mule and recalled his attention to the re- •Sjuirements of the arastra. During the next few days the image of Bolv grew more and mure deeply impressed on his hitherto imsus- eeptible heart. This state of mind was pro- .fjres*»*e; and when, on the third day after Boly's visit, lie had made a. most satisfoetory test, clean-up, it was in the hu<t of crpi rits that Ibe dftermicbud to knock otf from work ai.d Hr- tam Bascorn's visit. On his way ovt-r the ridge he diverged from his route to Bascorn's tnwai-d a iittie thai., where he saw three or four cows feeding and a pony near by. which, even at a distance, he recognise! as Boly's. A few yard.. away, seated in the shadow of a. great tock, he recognised the blue-clad of Boly herself. I "I allowed be oyer before long," she said, with a jruiie; "I kind of expected you J be in yesterday eveuin." Morgan's courtship progressed wit-h ra.pid strides. Withia a fcrtr. 'ht after his visit- he fcad ben over to see Boly several times, and she, after an interval of a week when he did not come, knowing him to be tied down by his Vork at the Befehazzar csjtijj. with a, natural disregard lor empty crrnvtution. had herself gone over to chai witt). h m at, the arastra. It was on the occasion of this visit that Morgan dtciared himself. Tlie ara.-tra was .stopped. The mule, still discreetly blindtd, roettl in the twg-path, aitd Morgan, in beatitude, sr.t with his arm around what for the time being was the only waist in t- world. ""Th'-re's one thing I ought to tell yen, continued Morgan. before evei" you says yes or uo. You see, M'Jh?n I &rst Dot the a.ki man he kind of jumped at the idee that I was the owner of t-b s here prcp)rty. 1 didn't isav so, but sohe took it that a- wav, I die n't see no Cit..0. to underceive nhn But I ion i no owner. I'm jusA up he~e, workin' br B4g^. an p-»'. pard cf mine, -.ci wages, and I simply uwo nc-tb'.n" "That don't iaake »i,v difference to me, Chris, s.d Boly, wiUh a »\«ii; "but I rediun it. will with Por about ('I'nsentin'. He f9et^ ^uch aheap on a man's ber. "ell hred." Tliere WaI) silenc*: for a moioect, and then Boly con- HHued "I've been thinkin' this a-way. Why don't you bnvn«h out for yourself and git gome property of your ovm ? Then you'd be ei'gible." "That's easy to say a-yvut branckm' out and gettin' property," resp-^Jed Obris. despon- dently, "but hove'/efm L to do it? 1 d see no opanin' "You'll never sse no r>penin' «it«*ng arotuvd ifljts avasnra bclougin' to another man," rt- ,toI-tal Boly, with WIlle fpUTt. ;'IlI tefl you what I'd do if I to a man, and wanted to make a stake- fd quit here too qciek. iind go right away ever into tliis here new Mud Eprmga deestreciA that they're -aQ runoin' to,. oud stake -"xit. bome olaros h»r myself. That ■would nu-ice it all right with Por. Ht'd ?ay your bein' a man with jast wages is aae things iMn. you hein' a. man wiUi some pramisia: claims is another." "But, said Morgan, inspirited by the pkva but yet awrre oi obstaoleii, "what'd I sav to I • J>igg" if he should come back hore ;.od find I',l quit workin' the arasira arvl pulled uut with has mule. H»- done a heap for me, and f couldn't 70 back on him." "Fve got a plan about that, too," said Boly, contemplatively drawing Jines in the tailing' dust with heat riding-switch. "You 'jtot right iu and .Jean up this here run and theii go and get rock down from tlie drifts, and I'll come owr CV?ry mornin' arid run the .M'"<I.'icr¿ wiiile you're gone, with Gyp' (lodioaitiing her nony). "He's amail for the work, bat he'll do, and f you tako the mule and sl.ut off for the. new |"tMnd Springs range. I'il hard the cows into La Jifetic rincoa that I know of, where the, fetsd's £ good and they won't kst/e tali I ocine for 'cm. f For is repiirmg the rrnd c-verv day now, and he'll never su^>ici-on what' up." Ttius it was that-, on the third !norn>n^ ^ftar this conversatkin. Morgan was on yp&y on the trail to Hud Spii-ngs district, with a fixed determination to find somtrthing rich I end becorno "el'gible" or die in the .'itteTOT>t. He wasted no time in entering actively on his vrork. He rode her* aiid there over the I cojr.tirr, working up dry gu'ehes in search of l pl- c r i and diml1Í11g rocky buttes aud ridges m the hope ot finding vwne rich ledge. Pro- ir*;sing thsaoverie^ were bemg consoantiy made y ufihers, but his omt. lock W'a6 af the wo^si. lie had laboured hard :crd paAienth- day after '.la_>, and was witiKKi« his reward. 1 :e month .>• time which he iNtd allowed himself "ft as already drawimg to oi ose, and he seem e l 0,3 i:ar from his goal as ever and it was in a ^•ate of cieep despondency and (li.=c ^uragcaient lh..t h3 .starteu upon his last trip iinto the adjacent itMunraaDK. He fonc-wed for several hour; an old, deeply-worn Indian trail t^dia* towards the Colorado. The trail had evidently ben-n but bttle travelled for years, for hi many "lace"; it was q n tte blocked with boulders wfiir-h ha 1 roiled down the hillside, and Gnatly came co a .poaisfc where it had been completely burled r,- in en.)niK,)j<. slide of loose rock. Here he dianotHited, and Ued his mule to a stunted pinon. He was anxious to proceed in the direction he ted been going, for, not more than a mils ahead., there was in plain view a reeky bluff, curiously >arksd and mottled Ül dnil reds and faded yellows, that sruggested strong mineral -oossibilities. °° :1 Morgan had clambered half-way acrsss the rough and difficult barrier, still followim^ the general line of the trail, when, as he pansed tor a moment to take breath, be saw with some surprise a few yards above him on the hillside a high, narrow opening in the rocks. It was partially blocked by a few fragments of broken boulders, arc1 war, evidently the mouth of one of those nv -nntain caverns not infrequently found near the summit of time desert mountains. With but little difficulty he pushed away a few of the larger stones that blocked the way, and found room to enter. He had with him a small supplv of matches. and, as he lighted one after another, he saw that he was in a faixlv good-sised chamber, seven or eight feet in height, and perhaps thirty feet in k-ngth, and half as broad. He advanced to the centre of the rave, and by the dim match-light saw that there were clear evidences of former habitation. AL one side on the floor were two broken ollas and other fragments oi pottery. Juafc some dd Indian hiding-placr-, thought Morgan, and, lacking antiquarian tastes, he was about abandoning further px- ploration, when his attention was attracted to certain dark bundle-like objects at the car of the cave. He approaclieJ them with a mingled feeling of curiosiy nd distrust. He i was not impressionable, but when his first near view assured him that one was a tumbled roll ot blankets and the rrther a partially- clothed skeleton of a man. the damp chill of the cave seemetl to penetrate to his very marrow. Stung by the flame of the match which, unnoticed in his excitement, had burned to his linger tips, he dropped it and was left in darknea. It was but a. second be- fore he lighted another, and then for the first time he noticed that ckse to the blankets lay a. pair of leathern saddle-ba#s. He stooped to lift them, and was surprised at tiieir great weight. They were unstrapped, and his curiosity now overmastering all other feelings, he thtrw back the fta-p of one and, holding a freshly lighted match do»? to the opening, was specciiless with amazement at. what he saw. The bag was half filled with coiaed gold. For the second time, in his -excitement, he had nearly allowed his niaton to burn out. His stock v-iu; now reduced to four; and, realising that he must make haste to. leave the cave, he seized the ieath r neck connecting the two bags and dragged ih. in to the opening. In another moment he was again standing in the yjalight Mid threw th remainsd hi" last match among the rocks outside. It waa all so strange and passed so qu'ckiy that it seesned to him almost hat ho, ,a,ad b.on dreaming and Ku)i dreamed. On he iirje of each d the icavy oa/fskin bags, in sprawling, pen-printed letters, was j th nan-#a "H. Meelci*' iU:i a. date soma tw&lc*} years back. "That's t':o name of th: fHow tha.t robbed old man Baacom, and it was «<> ,vn in this Mud Spring country that the old man k«t the trail. As he neared the camp his spirits sank for the moment, as he recognised the load voice oi ok1 Bascom raised to eytii a. higher pitch tnan ONuai. He hurried his animcj and m ano^ter moment was in camp. Boer's po.\y, '3"P- "was in harness in tiie a^aetra. iJhti her- self was sitting despondently on a flat rock rear by, with tier face buried in her hends, and s-'bbmg at short mtervak, ^hile oid Bascom was vociferously apbraidang hta- for the in- fatuai-ion which had led her to deceive her hnner and clancestine?y operate the arastra in cer penniless lover': absinoe. The t si -ti however, was soon changed to one of vhd txatement and friendly .g^eting and con- gratulation when Mvrgan a^p&red, and bnetiy recounting his I theni with the sign-t of the coin in the saddle- "And all this cobks," said Morgan later 07: f°i, V' giad m{irc»ssivener-s. "0f mv inst fdlenn yo^ advice, and ruatlin' round Ll gettin ■ el gible. m ■tdil IXTEI.LIGEKC'i-J.

PPlNG -IXTEI.LIGEKC'i-J.----I

! ATHLETIC NOTES,i i--------I

SPECIAL HOME READINGS.

j SWANSEA POLICE COURT.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

Advertising

{ WHAT O-S BOY DID. ;I,d

Advertising

-------------.------...------..-----¥iOUR"…

RUGBY C0t'P0N.~-N™4.

! SWEEPSTAKE COVVO^

NEW FOOT BA\jh COMPETITION…

THE DISTRESS AT CWMBWRLA.…