THE WE8T SHORE. 147 self was raving in the delirium of brain fever, and for weeks thereafter he hovered upon the brink of the grave. I never left him, for an hour, through the whole time; but my vigils, day and night, were shared by black Martha, She never spoke to me when she could possibly avoid doing so; but once, when I re monstrated with her, and strove to induce her to take some much-needed rest, she burst forth so suddenly as to startle me " Keep still; I'll not leave him; she loved him; even the dog loves him," pointing to Bayard, where he lay close beside the bed, " when he is well, or in his grave, I'll rest, and not before." These words, succinct and decisive, silenced me, and I let black Martha alone, while 1 came to regard her with an awe that betook somewhat of reverence. Weeks later, when Roy Mason came forth once more into the light of heaven's sun, with white hair and strangely aged face, Martha disappeared one night, without a word of explanation or farewell, and it was only by questioning the stage driver that I learned she had crossed the mountains on her way to Portland. We at once inferred that she was en route to her old Eastern home, and subsequent letters sent to that place proved the correctness of the inference. They were answered by an attorney, who announced himself as authorized to assume control of Mrs. Mar. tha Johnson's affairs financial. Edith Mason had left a will, in which her dusky, faithful old servant was remembered so generously as to enable her to end her days in independent com fort The remainder of her possessions were bo queathed, without reserve or condition, to her hus band, making him a wealthy man, but heaping coals upon the already undying fire of remorse. " Oh, Blake," he said, piteously, " I must get away from here as soon as I am strong enough to travel; everything reminds me of her; even tho birds and the mountain streams murmur reproaches as I pass, and the crags frown down upon me savagely. I think, sometimes, it will drive me mad. I must get away away." The words struck a pain through my heart, and involuntarily my eyes turned toward the white shafts of the little cemetery, on a gentle slope not far away. I remembered that she had journeyed thousands of miles for the privilege of dwelling in tho wildernetn beside his grave. Now, he would journey as far, doubtless, to get away from that little sloping mound of earth, and tho scenes that must ever remind Lira of her. " Verily," I thought, " she was right-there are, indeed, some strings in the harp of a woman's soul that no man's hand can touch." The year was beginning to fade into the sero and yellow leaf, when once more I wrung Roy Mason's hand, and saw him depart upon his wanderings, far from the little valley that nestles in tho bosom of tho Blue mountains. The next day I went away, shaping my course over tho mountain trail; and when I had reached tho highest point overlooking tho valley, I paused and looked down, with a quoer sensation of pain at my heart, upon that little whito shaft, gleaming in the autumn sunlight, and thought of tho harp that lay shattered thoro, its unbroken strings vibrating with deathless melody down tho ages of eternity. I never again saw the littlo valloy, nor tho gravo of tho woman, who had been, in lifo and in death, "A Law Unto Herself." More than a quarter of a century elapsod loforo I again clasped hands with Roy Mason. When I did so, wo stood upon a thronged street of Oregon's me tropolis. It was tho eighth day of Novomber, 1837. As my dear old friend extended mo his right hand, I noted that in his left ho held a ballot, to bo cast for or against tho issue of tho day tho prohibition amendment For or against 1 Which would it Ik ? I wonder, ed, as my mind ran back over his darkened pniit. At length tho question formed itself upon my lips " Which way do you vote, Roy?" I asked, but in an instant was sorry I had sicken, for ho lifted his dim eyes to my face, with a pitiful look of reproach. " Blake, that question from you?" Then, baring his whitened head, ho lifted his eyes to heaven, and added, solemnly u With a murdered wife and child looking down upon mo from thoso eternal heights, is it likely that I can vote for tho perpetuation of tho curso that killed them? " C. Bukk Mouoax. HEL80N DENNETT. AMONG tho men who are most prominently con nected with tho development of tho Pacific Northwest is Nelson Bennett, who has built more miles of railroad connected with tho main lino and branch of tho Northern Pacific railroad, than any other ono man. Umfrr tho firm narn of Wanhiiig. ton, Dunn k Co., ho built two hundred mil of the main line, in Montana. Of tho CWwlo division ho built ono hundrol and sevcnty.fivo mil. Pur the Oregon Railway k Navigation Company, he built the Pendleton and Blue mountain branch, cormUtinx of twenty-eigbt mil, and alio twenty-eight rail of tho P&louso branch, running from Colfax to Farrnhgton. In addition to tho construction work ou tho m&iu lino