Blazed Trail Stories

by White, Stewart Edward

  The people, the room, the sounds seemed to her to come and go in great bursts. Between these bursts Anne knew nothing except that she was happy; above all else she was happy. As incidents men kissed her and she drank; but these things were not essentially different from the lights and the bursts of consciousness. Anne began to take everything for granted.

  After a time Anne paused again to look gravely at strange lights. But this time they seemed not to be red or green, but to be of orange, in long, fiery flashes, like ribbons thrown suddenly out and as suddenly withdrawn. The noise stopped, and was succeeded by a buzzing. For a moment the girl’s blurred vision saw clearly the room, all still, except for a man huddled in one corner, and on the floor a slowly gathering pool of red. Someone thrust her out of the door with others, and she began to step aimlessly, uncertainly, along the broad street.

  She felt dimly the difference between the hot air of the dance-hall and the warm air out of doors. The great hills and the stars and the silhouetted houses came and went in visions, just as had the people and the noise inside the hall. The idea of walking came to her, and occupied her mind to the exclusion of everything else, and she set about it with great intentness. How far she went and in what direction did not seem to matter. When she moved she was happy; when she stopped she was miserable. So she wandered on in the way she knew, and yet did not know, out of the broad streets of the town, through a wide cleft in the hills, up a long grassy valley that wound slowly and mounted gradually, following the brawl of the stream, until at last she found herself in a little fern-grown dell at the entrance of Iron Creek Pass. She pushed her fingers through her fallen hair, and idly over the shimmering stuff of her gown. Far above her she saw waveringly the stars. Finally the idea of sleep came to her, just as the idea of walking had come to her before. She sank to her knees, hesitated a moment, and then, with the sigh of a tired child, she pillowed her head on her soft round arm and closed her eyes.

  *

  The poor-wills ceased their plaintive cries. A few smaller birds chirped drowsily. Back of the eastern hills the stars became a little dimmer, and the soft night breeze, which had been steadily blowing through the darkened hours, sank quietly to sleep. The subtle magic of nature began to sketch in the picture of day, throwing objects forward from the dull background, taking them bodily out of the blackness, as though creating them anew. Fresh life stirred through everything. The vault of heaven seemed full of it, and all the ravines and by-ways caught up its overflow in a grand chorus of praise to the new-whitening morning.

  The woman stirred drowsily and arose, throwing back her heavy hair from her face. The flush of sleep still dyed her cheek a rich crimson, which came and went slowly in the light of the young sun, vying in depth now with the silk of her gown, now with the still deeper tones of a mountain red-bird which splattered into rainbow tints the waters of the brook. She caught the sound of the stream, and went to it. The red-bird retreated circumspectly, silently. She knelt at the banks and splashed the icy water over her face and throat, another red-bird, another wild thing pulsing and palpitating with life. Then she arose to the full height of her splendid body and looked abroad.

  The morning swept through her like a river and left her clean. In the eye of nature and before the presence of nature’s innumerable creatures she stood as innocent as they. She had entered into noisome places, but so had the marsh-hawk poising grandly on motionless wing there above. She had scrambled in the mire, and she was ruffled and draggled and besmirched; so likewise had been the silent flame-bird in the thicket, but he had washed clean his plumes and was now singing the universal hymn from the nearest bush-top. The woman drew her lungs full of the morning. She stretched slowly, lazily, her muscles one by one, and stood taller and freer for the act. The debauch of the last night, the debauches of other and worse nights, the acid-like corrosion of that vulgarity which is more subtle than sin even, all these things faded into a past that was dead and gone and buried forever. The present alone was important, and the present brought her, innocent, before an innocent nature. As she stood there dewy-eyed, wistful, glowing, with loosened hair, the grasses clinging to her, and the dew, she looked like a wide-eyed child-angel newly come to earth. To her the morning was great and broad, like a dream to be dreamed and awakened from, something unreal and evanescent which would go. Her heart unfolded to its influence, and she felt within her that tenderness for the beautiful which is nearest akin to holy tears.

  As she stood thus, musing, it seemed natural that a human figure should enter and become part of the dream. It seemed natural that it should be a man, and young; that he should be handsome and bold. It seemed natural that he should rein in his horse at the sight of her. So inevitable was it all, so much in keeping with the soft sky, the brooding shadow of the mountain, the squirrel noises, and the day, that she stood there motionless, making no sign, looking up at him with parted lips, saying nothing. He was only a fraction, a small fraction, of all the rest. His fine brown eyes, the curl of his long hair, the bronze of his features mattered no more to her than the play of the sunlight on Harney.

  Then he spurred his horse forward, and something in her seemed to snap. From the dream-present the woman was thrust roughly back into her past. The sunlight faded away before her eyes, oozing from the air in drop after drop of golden splendour, the songs of the birds died, the murmuring of the brook became an angry brawl that accused the world of wickedness. The morning fled. From a distance, far away, farther than Harney, farther than the sky, the stranger’s brown eyes looked pityingly. Her sin was no longer animal. It had touched her soul. Instead of an incident it had become a condition which hemmed her in, from which she could not escape. Suddenly she saw the difference. She dwelt in darkness; he, with his clear soul, dwelt in light. She threw herself face downward on the earth, weeping and clutching the grass in the agony of her sin.

  Then a new sound smote the air. She sat upright and listened.

  Around the bend she heard a high-pitched voice declaiming in measured tones.

  “‘Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations,’” the voice chanted.

  “‘The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth all that he bowed down.’”

  The speaker strode in sight. He was one of the old-fashioned itinerant preachers occasionally seen in the Hills, filled with fanatic enthusiasm, journeying from place to place on foot, exhorting by the fear of hell fire rather than by the hope of heaven’s bliss, half-crazy, half-inspired, wholly in earnest. His form was gaunt. He was clad in a shiny black coat buttoned closely, and his shoes showed dusty and huge beneath his carefully turned-up trousers. A beaver of ancient pattern was pushed far back from his narrow forehead, and from beneath it flashed vividly his fierce hawk-eyes. Over his shoulder, suspended from a cane, was a carpet-bag. He stepped eagerly forward with an immense excess of nervous force that carried him rapidly on. Nothing more out of place could be imagined than this comical figure against the simplicity of the hills. Yet for that very reason he was the more grateful to the woman’s perturbed soul. She listened eagerly for his next words.

  He strode fiercely across the stones of the little ford, declaiming with energy, with triumph:

  “‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in due season.

  “‘Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing.

  “‘The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.

  “‘The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.

  “‘He will fulfil the desire of all that fear Him: He also will hear their cry and save them.’”

  Anne saw but two things plainly in all the world—the clear-eyed stranger like a god; this fiery old man who spoke words containing strange, though vague, intimations of comfort. From the agony of her soul but one thought leaped forth—to make the comfort real, to find out how to raise herself from her sin,
to become worthy of the goodness which she had that morning for the first time clearly seen. She sprang forward and seized the preacher’s arm. Interrupted in his ecstasy, he rolled his eyes down on her but half comprehending.

  “How? How?” she gasped. “Help me! What must I do?”

  She held out her empty hands with a gesture of appeal. The old man’s mind still burned with the fever of his fanatical inspiration. He hardly saw her, and did not understand all the import of her words. He looked at her vacantly, and caught sight of her outstretched hands.

  “‘And to work with your hands as we command you,’” he quoted vaguely, then shook himself free of her detaining grasp and marched grandly on, rolling out the mighty syllables of the psalms.

  “To work with my hands; to work with my hands,” the woman repeated looking at her outspread palms. “Yes, that is it!” she said, slowly.

  *

  Anne Bingham washed dishes at the Prairie Dog Hotel for a week. The first day was one of visions; the second one of irksomeness; the third one of wearisome monotony. The first was as long as it takes to pass from one shore to the other of the great dream-sea; the second was an age; the third an eternity. The first was rose-hued; the second was dull; the third was filled with the grayness that blurs activity turned to mechanical action.

  And on the eighth day occurred the monthly pay-day dance of the Last Chance mine. All the men were drunk, all the women were drunker, but drunkest of all was the undoubted favourite of the company, Bismarck Anne. Two men standing by the door saw nothing remarkable about that—it had happened the last week. But in that time Bismarck Anne had had her chance, she had eaten of the fruit of the Tree, and so now was in mortal sin.

  THE END

  THE McCLURE PRESS, NEW YORK

  *

  STANDARD FICTION

  *

  A selected list of the Standard Fiction published by McClure, Phillips and Company, 44-60 East 23d St., N. Y.

  Cloth, 12mo. Each $1.50, unless otherwise indicated.

  ADE, GEORGE

  IN BABEL

  BURGESS, GELETT [with WILL IRWIN]

  THE REIGN OF QUEEN ISYL

  THE PICAROONS

  CONRAD, JOSEPH

  LORD JIM

  YOUTH

  FALK

  ROMANCE [with F.M. HUEFFER]. Illustrated.

  CROCKETT, S. R.

  THE FIREBRAND

  FLOWER O’ THE CORN

  THE BANNER OF BLUE

  CUTTING, MARY STEWART

  LITTLE STORIES OF MARRIED LIFE

  DASKAM, JOSEPHINE

  THE MADNESS OF PHILIP. Illustrated.

  DOUGLAS, GEORGE

  THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN SHUTTERS

  DOYLE, A. CONAN

  THE GREEN FLAG

  THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES [$1.25]. Illustrated.

  THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD.

  DUNCAN, NORMAN

  THE WAY OF THE SEA. Frontispiece.

  FINDLATER, MARY

  THE ROSE OF JOY

  FRASER, W. A.

  THOROUGHBREDS. Illustrated.

  HARLAND, HENRY

  MY FRIEND PROSPERO. Frontispiece.

  HARRIS, JOEL CHANDLER

  GABRIEL TOLLIVER

  THE MAKING OF A STATESMAN [$1.25].

  A LITTLE UNION SCOUT [$1.25].

  HOPE, ANTHONY

  TRISTRAM OF BLENT

  JEPSON, EDGAR

  THE ADMIRABLE TINKER. Illustrated.

  KEAYS, H. A. MITCHELL

  HE THAT EATETH BREAD WITH ME

  LESSING, BRUNO

  CHILDREN OF MEN [$1.25].

  LONDON, JACK

  THE GOD OF HIS FATHERS

  MARTIN, GEORGE MADDEN

  EMMY LOU: HER BOOK AND HEART. Illustrated.

  MERRIMAN, HENRY SETON

  BARLASCH OF THE GUARD

  MEREDITH, ELLIS

  HEART OF MY HEART [$1.25].

  PHILLIPS, HENRY WALLACE

  RED SAUNDERS [1.25] Illustrated.

  PHILLIPS, DAVID GRAHAM

  GOLDEN FLEECE. Illustrated.

  THE MASTER-ROGUE. “

  ROSEBORO’, VIOLA

  THE JOYOUS HEART

  ROWLAND, HENRY C.

  SEA SCAMPS

  SPEARMAN, FRANK H.

  HELD FOR ORDERS

  TARKINGTON, BOOTH

  THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA

  THE TWO VANREVELS

  MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE [1.25]. Illustrated.

  TOLSTOY, COUNT LEO

  ANNA KARENIN. 2 vols., each, net, $2.00

  WAR AND PEACE. 3 vols., each, net, $2.00

  IVAN ILYITCH. 1 vol., $2.00

  WEYMAN, STANLEY

  THE LONG NIGHT

  WHITE, WILLIAM ALLEN

  THE COURT OF BOYVILLE. Illustrated.

  WHITE, STEWART EDWARD

  THE BLAZED TRAIL. Illustrated.

  THE SILENT PLACES. “

  WYATT, EDITH

  EVERY ONE HIS OWN WAY

  TRUE LOVE

  YOUNG, ROSE E.

  SALLY OF MISSOURI

  On net books add 7 per cent. to list price for postage.

  End of Project Gutenberg’s Blazed Trail Stories, by Stewart Edward White

  *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLAZED TRAIL STORIES ***

  ***** This file should be named 22233-h.htm or 22233-h.zip *****

  This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:

  http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/2/3/22233/

  Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed

  Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

  Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions

  will be renamed.

  Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no

  one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation

  (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without

  permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,

  set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to

  copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to

  protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project

  Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you

  charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you

  do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the

  rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose

  such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and

  research. They may be modified and printed and given away—you may do

  practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is

  subject to the trademark license, especially commercial

  redistribution.

  *** START: FULL LICENSE ***

  THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

  PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

  To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free

  distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

  (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project

  Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project

  Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at

  http://gutenberg.org/license).

  Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm

  electronic works

  1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm

  electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

  and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

  (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all

  the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy

  all copies of Project Gu
tenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.

  If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project