The Sunday Bee EH
FICTION j
v „ r:! OMAHA, HINHAY MOKMXH, ,slA*TK MHKR 8. 19i3._HVK I'KXTS._
^ n y • D 1% By CharIes Collins
\JT\ Paradise PeaRS * "_ A BUthsome Tale of Love and Action_
The conventional playthings of
millionaires d d not amuse old man
Angus ile had worked with the
lug fist in his time, and now he
would spend with the open hand.
Hut he wanted space for the golden
sowing: wanted to he monarch
of 'll la- surveyed.
ye, lie engaged a geologic age for
his i.indsr.ijie gardener and bought
him seif a Titan's share of the
i;,.. mountains. The water from
>i*t*'il snows had gnawed canons;
t..i-n 'does had turned Bculptor; for
.... hid painted bleak slopes with
the i.leasing of green—in order that
o! I man Angus might have ins play
thing
j inline Peaks, he called it, liav
1, , fancy for alliteration.
J .e Manor, set deep in the lodge
p . pine and aspen groves of t’lear
w -iter valley, was the heart of the
0 in. sue There old man Angus
tli ogh the sweet, thrilling months
or i he mountain summer played
g. mil host to his guests.
lie supplied ill accessories to ad
Venture, from trout flies to guns
that would slay an elephant. The
15 hunting lodges, s'-attered over
iMridise Peaks, each had its arse
nal. its library. Its store of liquors.
Its string of horses and its guides at
the disposal of gu sts
Old man Angus had a plaything
that cannot lx* matched on this
continent. He also had a daughter.
Th »■ the story really begins.
Columbine, aged ‘JO. had been
everywhere and seen everything
Angus' money had taken care of all
that; hut her soul belonged to her
native west, and she remained sine
pie wholesome and feminine
of course, this Columbifte had her
Pierrot—In plural. That summer
there were two of them. One was
strongly favored by Angus as fu
ture son-in law. Chandler was
w11 it society reporters call an "eli
gible bachelor," which means that
he was nearer 40 than SO. His ca
ise, had tjeen devoted exclusively
to the sporting achievements of the
unnecessarily rich.
The other Pierrot who had fol
lowed Columbine to her mountain
habitat fitted into the natural en
vironment. for he was a poet. Co
lumbine had discovered him at the
1 Ilivers ty of Chicago, where she
had dabbled in the Pierian spring
i| special student in Ivnglish lit
eralure the winter before, and when
a few darning parties at the Quad
Tangle (lull had warmed up a cas
ual classroom acquaintance into
something more lively, she had in
vited him out to papa's principal
ity for a summer’s airing, sin- bad
been timid in making the sugges
tion, for ho. bong a faculty man
with some exalted title, moved on
a h ghor academic plane than she
could ever hope to reach
He had accepted her invitation,
*nd with some fishing tackle, an
old riding suit, and an anthology
of Victorian verse In his kit. came
to Paradise Peaks to worship nn
tlire—and Columbine. He had not
aunpecetd that he was pursuing a
pi n.-ess of the continental divide.
dhent felt at a loss In the Para
disc Peaks crowd. Although it was
affable enough, and its wives were
pleasantly negative, its talk was
not his talk They were all like
Angus, impressively rich; and also,
like John Rualnce Chandler, th-y
w'ere apparently adept at every
extravagant amusement. They
had been all over the map. and he,
Roderick Cihent, had been no
where in particular, except to Har
va rd.
Moreover It** had not brought
Along his dr* ss suit. H«* gathered
that dinner was a full dress aff i:r
At the Manor, and h*» would have
tl**d back to civilisation and aim
pin ity Immediately* if the railroad
station had not been a hard 40
miles of motor driving away. In h
pa tile be rushed to t\»luml*ine f.»i
advice* and she calmed his cm
barrassm* tit with such tactful eym
pat by and resourcefulness that hi?
id.nation of her reached a new
summit of ecstasy. She merely
said, with her gentlest smile:
“Han't worry. I think 1 can flml
you what you want "
Then she pressed a button an*'
conferred with tin austere majoi
damn. Within a few minutes ar
equipment *>f what young Mr
{Jhcnt in his lighter moments
i'll!. 1 “soup md fish ’ was Ian
out in bis room, complete fron
41 sock* ta»ruff links What wr
Ghent Hreil from the saddle. The yellow streak collapsed. ‘Thai's shontln"* shnnted Rip.
more important, the clothes fitted
him.
• Am I in the Wild West or the
Arabian Nights?' he ask'd himself
as he studied the perfect it of some
body else's dress coat across his
•holders
Before Ghent's coming there had
l>een some teasing of Columbine
about her learned and poetic ten
derfoot. The badinage had be-;*n
led, of course, by Mr Chandler tf
New York, who knew all the
Rock} mountains by their first
names.
In the dinner table talk Ghent
was asked if he n*de.
*'I haven't been on a horse for
15 years." he answered cheerfully.
I>id he like trout fishing?
Ghent, candor itself. did not
know, never having tried it. Rut
he liked to fish.
Ah. \es. where did he do his
fishing?
Ghent mentioned northern Wis
consin and Mack bass, but his re
marks were received coldly. Bait
tasting for black lutss, he Itegan to
perceive was distinctly lower-class.
Someone, to save the situation,
carelessly referred to a sea lutss
weighing 421 pounds which he had
caught off the Catalina islands
after 11 hours of desperate battle,
l>id he shoot?
Well, ves in a sort of a way.
What did he fancy in the line of
shooting? Grouse Wild turkey
deer. elk bear? They were to be
found heronl its in abundance, and
Barad.so IVak- knew no game sea
sons
Ghent could not sptM ify his choice
of wild « re*ture for killing and Mr
Chandler saw fit to talk in a large
manner about the snow leopards he
had shot in the Himalayas the sum
mer of 1914 with his friend. LJeut.
Col Apniadoc Jones of the Bengali
lancers. The war had ended b g
game shooting. Mr Chandler eon
tinued, hut it was loginning again
with *he coming of peace, and a
man who wanted adventure could
now go out and have some sport.
Ghent then knew that his instinct
to hate Mr Chandler was a jus? and
true emotion
The talk of guns and kills ran
around the table until Ghent want
ed to shriek He managed to silence
the Ivnnker at his ell*ow who was
telling of his great massacre of
ducks last November on the Br.tr
river in I’tah.
*1 find as I grow older. *aid
Ghent, with world weary air. "that
the pleasure «>f hunting for its own
sake, dies out. 1 have come to l>e
lieve that a man has a right to kill
eat h day only enough f >r that da> s
food."
The man who had spoken of It
doxen ducks in one morning s bag
thought of eating them all within
three meals and considered himself
snubbed af a game hog
Then Columbine began to talk of
Uvok.s to Ghent Kenneth Angus
Columbine’s brother a few year*
older, who had l>een wrapped in
moody silence, pricked up his ears
and Joined in their conversation in
telligvntly.
Kenneth who had l»een blighted
in love while at Vale was in the
habit of wandering from one hunt
lug l.nlce to another, with only an
old guide for companion
Afit-r duin*! * 'wuinome iu"»k
Ghent out to a corner of the ver
anda to see what she called her
demi tasse view He began to fee!
lyric and exalted Was it because
a p.aem was coming on—or be
cause Columbine in a platonic sort
of way was letting hint hold her
hand
With heavy feet that gave satis
factory warning Angus and Mr
Chandler l>ore down along the long
veranda toward them.
Chandler had sense.! a* f - m
Ghent. He did not rate him as a
rival, hut as an annoyance? So
he adroitly proceeded to poison the
wells of this wayfarer
Ah Mr, Ghent.” he asked in
’us most clubby fashion, are you
getting an inspiration for a poem
from the sunset*’
Angus, in whose code poets were
a third and lamentable sex grunt
e-1 at this, and Ghent knew that
he had been betrayed
He became nervous and there
fore stupid. His throat becatus dry
he sneered violently, and followed
it with a hacking little cough A1
though he didn't knew it, this was
a high altitude, dry-climate reaction
from the respiratory tract of a low
lander.
Hut Mr Chandler soiled his -p
portunlty.
fours not catching cold, are
> ou. Mr Ghent* ' he asked fondly
Ghent felt himself branded as
an Invalid.
Bright and early the n.xt m .
ing Columbine sought out Jim Hip
ley belter known as old Rip fore
man of the guides to give him
certain confident >al instruct nans
For the benefit of the \ urning east*
•rTUTH old Ft p dit-nsefj hirr.^elf hkO
h- hero of a wild w>*»t film hf-vw
»ver. he was a simple, gentle soul*
master of the craft '»f mountain*
ind plains
"Well. Mins Columbine." he said
if ter she had confided in him, ' he
oust be some tenderfoot, but I II
ee that he don't come to no harm.
We and him will just play around
luiet like.”
“I don’t think he is very strong.’*
Jim/’ she ‘-a.d wistfully, "and I
lon’t want the other m^n to make
fun of him
•*I’l give him Eagle who's the
iruest horse in »he state an i if
rhere's any laughing to be done
t will be my own private picnic/*
>Jd II.p promised.
So when Ghent emerged from
:he Manor after breakfast he was
icoasted by a friendly old t ustomer
who asked if he didn't want to be
introduced to his horse and went
down to the stables to meet his
fate. He observed that Eagle, a
flea-bitten gray with a look of re
sponsibility, had an amicable eye: he
listened to a droll lecture upon the
habits and character f th.s par
ticular horse: and with an ease that
was surprising in th- v. urn of a
hacking cough, he swung up into
the saddle
Three da>- *ater «•*«! Kip reported:
"Dnn’t w rry about that tender
foot of y tura Miss Columbine I'm
.earnin' him fas:, and he seems to
;ke t. The fust momin' I took him
*ut f**r a five mile walk on Ragle to
break him gentle We just ram
hied' over the sage brush in the
front yard and he asked a million
questions. In the afternoon I “Uave
him a whirl at the ’.rout .n Willow
reek He s a rotten fly aster—
keeps snapping off the fiies an i
u-sin the man that invented 'em
Says it's a fiddlin', foolish sport
for silly old prime ministers and
heavy swells from Long Island.
Who warts to keep flippin' a snip
of feathers around in a h.zh wind'**
he says The next day w*1 did T*
miles ind got some action. And
yesterday w»- tore • ff -0 and clumb
••vme mountain* Th* > * -’ * P^P
Mjss c lumhine. and he's goin* to ^
be a rid:n' fool. He fit^
natural like
Columbine b^gan t > feel resas
su red Sh*» observed a ppr • v ng I y
hat Ghent was ti
ins- ran instead of the scarlet nosed
•auburn with which Mr Chamber
w. i «h* -v .r- the »ffe. ts f the cli
mate
As I : ...- . a mood It improve*
every hour Except for the fact
that he wasn't seeing enough and
Mr. Chandler was see ’.g too nbi h
of Columbine he was er. •• .-g hr *
self He 0' nlinued to fr* -e up
however when the mighty hunters
began to shoot big game verbally
around the dinner table
A few days later Mr ''handler
began to lust for the blood of 1
deer, and an expedition > tr*
drift ridge was planned f r h n.
Angus was giving along and s- were
two lesser huntsmen 'f she dinner
table Mr Char l ey . us «.f th
goodness of his heart suggested
that Ghent should join them
"You’ll see a deer anywa> he
remarked. ' and the otone up on
Snowdrift is recommended by Iv
tors.''
Ghent accepted promptly Then
Columb.ne said she w yu. i go te>
Nonsens Png us *
too hard a rule for you my dear "
• IVin t lie silly dal she ret ri
ed sharply. "I can ride there and
back aga.n w.thout getting out of
the caddie I want to gee Mr Chan
dier get his buck Resides. I think
that Kenneth up there at the
lodge " .
All right. grow it ,t »e 1
go up there together and chase
Kenneth out of the woods
Old Rip rode with the cava ale,
as was his duty as chief of guides.
The man regularly stationed at
| ft tnd K ’ ■ f- >'
spirit were to 1-e con« r pted into
\ ho part y on arri v&l.
Ghent made no nur and for she
first 15 miles he satisfied himself
and old R p a* a gay cavalier >’
Mr Chandler aprang another pot
to ruin him
The elder Angu* was taking
things easily and lag* rig beh n i
The two huntsmen also being men
of years straggled along to **'■■
h>n -mpany CM R p kept w th
yew Mr C i> let was pardcte