The Girl from Montana

leep; but the consciousness of another presence held him from going away. There, coiled on the ground

ers with them, but no memory of what was to be done under such circumstances came. Shoot? He dared not. He would be more likely to kill the girl than the serpent, and in any event w

easily take the serpent's head off, he thought; but there was no stick. There was only one hope, he felt, and that would be to attract the creature t

There was an instant's pause when he calculated whether the coat could drop between the snake and the smooth brown arm in front before the terrible fangs would get the

feet turn and fasten its eyes of fury upon him. He was conscious of being uncertain whether his fingers could let go the coat, and whether his trembling knees could carry him away before the serpent struck; then it

in its flight. But she stood looking at him with great eyes of gratitude, and he looked a

broke the

ll a 'tenderfoot,'" s

guess I am. I couldn't have sh

have it all stated plainly, "but you-you are what my brother used to call 'a white man.' You couldn't sho

y were in her eyes. But the man put out his hand on her sure little brown one, and took it firmly

ay to you for savin

place. "I can always shoot. Only you were hard to drag away

ay. They said a hunter never bothered himself with extra clo

s the prayer?" aske

d the man with w

htfully, they mount

hill. It was tolerably smooth, but they were obliged to

other. It was the faint sound of singing wafted on the light breeze, singing that came in whiffs like a perfume, and then died out. Cautiously they guided their horses on aro

rching, and just beneath them, nestled against the hill, was a little schoolhouse of logs, weather-boarded, its windo

ey could hear the words. "O, that will be

it?" she

a Sunday school or s

ol! Could

can tie out horses here behind the building, and they ca

corner into the window. There sat two young girls about her own age, and one of them smiled at her. It seemed an invitation. She smiled b

ular intervals, and a larger desk up in f

er feet go, and singing with all her might. The curious box made music, the same music the people were singing. Was it a piano? she wondered. She had heard of pianos. Her fa

on it. The sunlight glinted across it, and she could not tell what they were; but, when she move

whereof they sang. To her it was heavenly music, if she had the least conception of what such music was like. "Glory," "glory," "glory!" The words seemed to fit the day,

ked where the finger pointed. Yes, there were the words. "Glory for me!" "Glory for me!" Did that mean her? Was there glory for her anywhere in the world? She sighed with the joy of the possibility, as the "Glory Song" rolled along, led by the enthusiasm of one who had rec

man at the big desk said,

nderneath are the everlasting arms,'"

thers, and under his wings shalt t

book. The slip of paper she had written it on fluttered to the floor at the feet of the stranger, and the stranger stooped and picked it up, o

ite of herself she began to tremble. Even her lips seemed to her to move with the weakness of her fear. She looked

hs and vile talk to the worshippers within. One in particular, the leader, looked straight into the face of the young man as he returned from fastening the horses and was about to enter the schoolhouse, and pretended to point his pistol at him, d

te, which seemed ages long to her, that she was cornered now. She began to look about on the people there helplessly, and wonder whether they

away. What could they do? Would they believe her? Would the man who ha

once who the man was he had just seen. His soul trembled for the girl, and his anger rose hot. He felt that a man like

seemed. But the calm nerve with which she had shot the serpent was gone now. He saw she was trembling and ready to cry. Then he smiled upon her, a smile the like of which he had ne

, for "pavilion" and "tabernacle" were unknown words to her, but the hiding she could understand. She had been hidden in her time of trouble. Some one had done it. "He"-the word would fit the man by her side, for he had h

ood, but her thoughts had much to do. One grain of truth she had gathered for her future use. There was a "hiding" somewhere in

the close they all joined in "the prayer"; and, when she heard the words, "Our Father," she closed her eyes, which had been curiously open and watching, a

ys chanted the processional and the light filtered through costly windows of many colors over the large and cultivated congregation. There was something about the words of these people that went straight to the heart more than all the intonings of the cultured voices he had ever heard. Truly they meant what they said, and

ne another. The girl who had handed the book came over and spoke to the st

hool?" asked the

's daughter; "but this meeting is Christian Endeavo

e girl sadly. "That is, I did. I don

d come to our meeting. Did you have a

one before. It's

out her hand in greeting. "You m

he visitor. "I sha'n't

ou goi

I can. I'm

nary's daughter was talking to some one else, she whi

d, while a slow color m

oughtfully. "But-he saved

truck. "My! And ain't he h

d not talk about

, "and I was-I didn't see it. It wa

he girl. "Ho

er, and life was to be faced again. Those men, those terrible men! She had recognized the others as having been among her brother's funeral train. Where were they, and

irections along the stream in the valley. The two stood still near the door after the congregation had scattered. The girl suddenly shivered. As she looked down the road, she seemed again to see the coarse face

On no account can we go that way. W

filled with wonder over the way in w

ling. "You would be better off with the b

hill. There would be a chance of getting some provisions, the man thought. The girl thought of nothing except to ge

il. It was a large ranch, and was near to another town that had a railroad. The people seldom came this way, as there were other places more accessible to them. The trail was little used, and might be hard to find in some places; but, if they kept the Cottonwood Creek in sight, and followed on to the end of the valley, and

ity in a most dexterous manner, so that, when the two rode away from the two-roomed log house where the kind-hearted people lived, they left no clu

n. They had not stopped to eat anything; but all the milk they could drink had been given to them, and its refreshing strengt

s they settled into a steady gait after a

at her que

an? She said it was a Chris

or something of that kind, I suppose,"

to such a thing before. The girl said they had one eve

ut prayer meetings, but I never went to one, though I never supposed they were so interesting. That was a remarkable story

?" she ask

thing so genuine about the way the old man t

hool and church and prayer meeting. She's often told me about it. She use

Ages, cl

de myself

ff to imaginary notes. "I thought about that the night I started. I wished I kne

by this strange girl's side it seemed perfectly natural that he, who knew so very little experimentally himself about it, should be trying to explain the Ro

, there isn't any place called Rock of Ages. It refers-that is, I believe-why, you see

that?" aske

or Mr. Jones, but somehow the sound of the word on his lips thus shocked hi

"I wish I knew what it meant, the meeting, and why they did it. There must be some reason. Th

d tell me about yourself," he said gently. "I should like to understand you better. We hav

. I've lived on a mountain all my life, and helped mother. The rest all died. The baby first, and

to talk so well. You don't talk like a girl that never went to school. You speak as if you had read and studied. You make so few mistakes in your English. You speak quite

words said wrong. He made mother cry once when she said 'done' when she ought to have said 'did.' Father went to school once, but mother only went a littl

ooks and magazines?"

he was very careful with it, and when she died I put it in her hands. I thought she would like to have it close to her, because it always seemed so much to her. You see father bought it. Then there was an almanac, and a book about stones and earth. A man who

have ever read?" he

wrapped around some bundle. Once there was a beautiful story about a girl

of the regrets of her girlhood that she did not know how tha

e," she said. "I'm sure you

ed in a way tha

er died when I was little, and mother let me do just about as I pleased. I went to school because the other fellows did, a

is t

ociety a good deal. But"-and his face darkened again-"I got tired of it all, and thought I would come out h

ognition of souls, and a gladness in each other's company, that made the h

rrying, and a great beauty pervaded everything. They almost shrank from approaching the buildings and people. They had enjoyed the ride and the companionship. Every step br