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