Girls High School - Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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The girl looked up quickly and came to his side. With a voice as soft and sweet as a m0ther's. she asked You are not in pain, you are not suf- fering? 'ASuiIering.'i he replied perplexed, Suffering from what?l' He tried to rise, but she stopped him. Don't, you will hurt your sideg you must be very still or your wound will openf' Ol now I remember that fight and that beast I killed. I am not sorry. f'Please try to forget it. You must have all the 'rest you possibly can get. VVithin a week you will be able to walk and probably ride a horse. A week passed, and only food for another day remained. Major was restless in his stall and Fitzo was gone. The stranger was almost able to ride as well as ever. She had received a note from her father by Fritzo and she knew she had to go home. She knew she was suspected of the murder. The one thing she could do for the man who murdered was to take thc blame herself. She loved this man and she would give him her life. She had been meditating, her thoughts were so far away that she didn't know he was standing over her until he touched her. A'What are you plan- ning to do? Command and I shall obey. She looked up at him. 'ATomorrow you must leave the country. I will give you Major and you will reach another town in a few hours. You are perfectly free, for I covered up your tracks. No one knows you in this section. You are free to go where you will without the law trailing you. She turned her head away for her eyes filled with tears. He caught both her hands. Tell me your name. Please don't deny me that before I leave you. f'My name,'I she said looking at him, is Lucy Connely. I live on the Connely ranch with my father and housekeeper. I have my horse, which I give to you, I have my dog, I have all the country to ride in and several rendezvous including this one, which I found when Fritzo chased a rabbit into it. I think it once belonged to the Indians from what I found in it. No one but me knows about it. I have all that I desire and I am happy. She moved to put on her hat and coat, she called Fritzo who had just arrived, and turning to him said, I am going home. I will travel with the help of these skees. Tomorrow you ride Major and leave this country. May heaven bless you and guide you safely on and pardon the law you have broken for me. With tears in her eyes she turned to leave. At the en- trance he came up beside her. Lucyl he cried Lucy! after all you have done for me, there is but pne thing that I can say-1 love you. I love you truly, I would give my life or you. Turning, she gave him her hand and looking up in his eyes, she said I am proud, you don't know how proud I am, to have your love. I will always think of you as a true friend, but on account of your future and the circumstances we must never see each other again. I-Ie watched her until she turned the bend and, waving her hand, disap- pearedl. Yes, he was not worthy to have her. but what a torture it was! He slept little that night. The next morning he was up preparing for his journey. He buckled on his belt and saddled Major. He was about to leave when something white fluttered in the doorway. Picking it up he read: My darling Lucy: No matter where you are, 01' what you are, I trust you. But Con- way and his posse suspect you and are combing the mountains for you. Come home and tell them you are innocent. Your affectionate father. lfVith one bound he was in the saddle. Major, old boy. You will have to lead me to her. but hurry, hurry. 28

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WYOMING AND --, Continued was-was carrying more than his share, as were the trees. He stepped slowly but surely, stooping for the long low branches, zigzagging his way up the hill He was near the top and as though he scented shelter, he hurried his lagging steps. A girl sat astride the horse using her utmost strength in holding a man to the saddle Often she called the horse to rest, but while resting she kept a continual watch from the rear as though she feared pursuit. After a few minutes of rest, she called to the horse to proceed. Nearing the top of the mountain they reached a small stream trickling down over the rocks and winding down to the opposite side of the mountain. Into this stream she urged the thoroughbred and, following the stream for twenty minutes. came to a sharp turn. A tenderfoot would have stood and gasped-where did the stream flow to?-for there it seemed to disappear. But the native of the woods pushed back a large bush and swept through out of sight. The under- ground course had worn, during the decades, a passage large enough for a horse to passthrough. The horse tramped steadily on as though the course was not a new one to him. Coming to a small opening in the rocks, the girl turned her horse off and entered a cave cut from solid rock. At the entrance it was barely wide enough for a horse to pass. A hundred yards on, the cave gradually widened until at the end of half a mile, it was twenty feet wide. Oddly enough, the temperature in the cave was almost normal, in contrast to the zero weather in the open. The man moved in the saddle, shivered and nearly fell. She tried her best to hold him but he was gradually sliding off. She let him down easily, laid him on a blanket and, tying one end to it and one end to the saddle, dragged him along very slowly. This means of travel did not seem to harm him, for the floor of the cave was almost as smooth as a wooden floor. By these means she moved him along for almost a half a mile when she came to what seemed the end of the cave. Two massive rocks barred further travel. They reached up to the top and to both sides, fitting tightly together at their joining. Running quickly to the side, in the corner, she lifted a slab of stone a half inch in thickness and broad enough to enable a man and horse to pass. An incline reached down to a fioor beneath. After man and horse were through, she carefully closed the opening. What she had just entered was a large cave room. A bed of boughs with blankets was in the far corner, besides a cook stove and stock of provisions, a coal-oil light, some clothing, several chairs, and in the far end a stall with plenty of straw. ' . Gently she laid the man on the bed and, heating some water, dressed his wounds. She covered him with blankets and standing up, she gazed long at him, his long, muscular body, black wavy hair, straight Roman nose, well chiseled lips and firm, resolute chin. His skin was dark, probably from the sun, and, as she remembered, his eyes were black. Yes, he was worth this troubieg he was worth saving. A man with those features could not be a criminal. There seemed to be no opening to the cave but at on-3 end there were rauntles brushes. Walkiiig to these, she pushed back a small portion and disclosd a boulder in the opening, giving her but enough room to pass. She crawled out and peered over the boulder, long and motionless. Silently she came back, her blue eyes sparkling and her cheeks filled with color. She pushed back a strand of her light curly hair. She was concealed where they would not find her. She lighted the stove, put some herbs into the boiling water, and made a dressing for his wound. With steady hand and gentle touch she applied the herbs to the wound. It was a fight for life or death. CHAPTER III Night settled over the mountain. A girl stole from her retreat and crept steadily along, reaching a small blotch of ice. Taking a stone she cracked an opening large enough to enter a dipper. She filled her bucket and stole quietly back to the brush, pushed it aside and disappeared. A man stirred on his bough bed and opened his eyes. Gazing wonderingly about him, his eyes rested on the crouching form of a girl writing a letter. She fastened it to the dog and let him out at the opening. 27

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CHAPTER IV I tell vou I did, I did, I killed that brute! Don't ask me any morefl Lucy was the bravest of all among them, pleading guilty. She had arrived home the night before and going immediately to the Sheriff in the morning told him she had killed Pete Sted and was glad of it. She was kept prisoner at ConWay's house until. afternoon. The posse and most of the men of the community gathered innhis office for the hearing. She replied to nothing they asked her. All she said was that she murdered that brute. ','But why did you run to the hills for a week and then come back and give yourself up to me. Why did you do that ? 'Conway was trying her with one question after another, but all with no avail. Lucy, he inquired, although he was a man of no high standing that you killed, it was murder, and as an officer of the law I must obey the law. Your father -a rustling was heard among the men. Wait l Swinging around, the sheriff beheld a man taller than the ordinary, with wild black piercing eyes, and a dark complexion. His intentions seemed bent on some very, yes, very definite purpose. Wait, you must hear what I have to say. I am the true murderer of Pete Stedl I am here as your captive and for the purpose of releasing your innocent prisoner! He stretched his hands before him to be tied. My daughter, my daughter, I knew you were innocent l Rushing to her, the father took her in his arms. But only for a moment. She rushed between the stranger and the Sheriff, shielding her lover with her outstretched arms. She said, Yes, he is the murderer of that brute, but he is just as innocent as I! You must listen to me. You must hear what I have to sayf' She told all-of this brute stopping her and insulting her, of his trying to pull her off her horse, of her delivery by the stranger, of Pete's unfair fighting with a concealed knife and last of all of his killing. She told them of her escape to her home, hiding him in the barn until after the storm, getting him away to the moun- tains in her rendezvous and nursing him back to health. She told them how she determined to take the consequences of the murder because it was all her fault. She had to save him, for he was as innocent and more so than she. A murmur rose through the audience. The Sheriff's eyes were blazing. And you say that this stranger was stabbed in the side first by that black heathen? HO yes! stabbed before the weapon .was revealed to his eyes. A coward he was, and like a coward he fought l The Sheriff walked over to his posse and conversed in low tones. Lucy threw her arms around the stranger's neck and said, Why did you do ltr They never would have known? Because, my dear, found the note your father sent to you, and I would rather die I1 hundred times than have you hurt. No matter what happens, please remember that I love you. And I love you, loved you dearly from the first time I saw you. It was mostly because of that that I saved youf' He kissed her in fond fare- well, for the Sheriff was returning. n The Sheriff seemed to be smothering a smile by dropping the corners or his mouth. 'tYou.ng man, I can see you are not from Wyoming. You may think that all men in our state are as black as that coyote you killed. You have only done what any other one of us would have done for Lucy and under these circumstances. You killed him in self-defense and you are free. When you get the full significance of this pardon, just try and remember that we would like to have you as a citizen in our state of WYOMING AND JUSTICE, and NVYOMING AND MEN. 29