The Heart of Thunder Mountain

Edfrid A. Bingham

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• Publié par: ustla
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: English

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Project Gutenberg's The Heart of Thunder Mountain, by Edfrid A. Bingham This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Heart of Thunder Mountain Author: Edfrid A. Bingham Illustrator: Anton Otto Fisher Release Date: August 15, 2009 [EBook #29697] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HEART OF THUNDER MOUNTAIN *** Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net “He tried to shoot once more, into the very face of the oncoming brute.”––FRONTISPIECE. See Page 245. The Heart of Thunder Mountain By EDFRID A. BINGHAM With Frontispiece in Colors By ANTON OTTO FISHER A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by Arrangements with LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY Copyright, 1916, BY EDFRID A. BINGHAM. All rights reserved Published, March, 1916 Reprinted, March, 1916 (twice) July, 1916; August, 1916 April, 1917 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII THE FORBIDDEN PASTURE THE ROAD TO PARADISE SETH HUNTINGTON’S OPPORTUNITY THE HIGHEST BIDDER “HE SHALL TELL ME!” THE STORY OF THE SCAR THE WAY OF A MAID WITH A MAN THE END OF HER STRATAGEM HEARTS INSURGENT STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL AVALANCHE SUNNYSIDES HILLYER’S DILEMMA COALS OF FIRE THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS INTERLUDE THE CHALLENGE OF THE BRUTE SMYTHE’S LAST BUDGET “THE TRAIL HELD TRUE” IN THE HOLLOW OF THE STORM THE NARROW PASSAGE THE MIRACLE HAIG’S ARGUMENT DIANA THE SNOW THE VOICE IN THE HURRICANE THE MAN WHO DID NOT FORGET 1 15 26 37 50 60 71 86 99 112 121 133 144 155 166 176 186 193 202 215 228 238 252 264 278 288 302 316 XXIX GHOSTS XXX THE LAMP RELIGHTED XXXI SANGRE DE CRISTO 330 344 359 THE HEART OF THUNDER MOUNTAIN 1 CHAPTER I THE FORBIDDEN PASTURE She sat hunched up in the middle of the silent pasture, where the tall, thin grass ran ripening before the breeze in waves the hue of burnished bronze. Her cow pony grazed greedily a few yards away, lifting his head now and then to gaze inquiringly at her, and then returning to his gluttony with a satisfied snort, commendatory of this long rest. The girl had removed her small sombrero to adjust the masses of tawny hair that had become disordered in her morning ride; and the breeze now played with it, and the sun sought out its glints of gold. She was fair, of a curiously rich complexion with soft golden tints beneath the skin, as if the rusty gold in her hair was just the outcropping of what ran in solution in her veins. And there was a certain air about her that contrasted strangely with the scene upon which she now gazed intently, with her head bent forward, and her hands clasped round her upthrust knees. It was a little valley she had come upon by chance, snugly tucked away among the hills. Below the bronzecolored slope there were lush meadows of a brilliant green, and a shallow, swift stream that flashed over black bowlders and white sand; beyond the meadows lay more shining pastures rising to pale-green aspen groves and then to dark-green pines; and above all these the foothills climbed swiftly to the mountains, and the mountains more swiftly to the sky. There were faint blue mists in the foothills, fainter violet shadows on the distant fields, an icy whiteness on the peaks; and in the sky no more than two small puffs of cloud like eiderdown adrift in the depths of blue. What at first had seemed an utter silence laid upon that summer landscape had now become, as she looked and listened, a silence full of sound; of that indefinable humming undertone of nature maturing in the sun; of insects busy at their harvest; of birds in the distance calling; of grasses rustling in the breeze; of pines on the long ridge droning like an organ in the Recessional. Yes, it was very beautiful, she thought. And sweet. And peaceful. She had come a long way––halfway across the great continent––to find that peace. But why should there be a touch of sadness in all that beauty? And why should there be need to search for her handkerchief to press against her eyes? For the first time since she had come to Paradise Park she felt a little lonely, a little doubtful about the wisdom of her brave revolt. She sank back at last, and lay curled up in the grass with her head pillowed on one bent arm. There, to her half-closed eyes, the grass seemed like a fairy forest, soon peopled by her fancy, the fancy of a girl who still retained the quick imagination of a child. An Indian paintbrush flamed at her with barbaric passion; nodding harebells tinkled purple melodies; and a Mariposa lily with a violet eye seemed like a knight in white armor, bowing himself into her outstretched hand. Her eyelids drooped more and more. The music of the pines and the murmur of the pasture blended in a faint and fading lullaby.... Tuesday’s shrill neigh awakened her. She sat up shivering, for the warm air was underlaid with cold; and quivering, for the alarm had fallen pat upon the climax of her dream. She rubbed her eyes, a little blinded by the sunlight, and saw that Tuesday stood with head high and nostrils distended, gazing past her toward the upper end of the pasture. She was not surprised, being yet under the spell of her dream-fairyland, to see a horseman galloping straight toward her. If not the white knight, then––For some seconds she stared, awakening slowly; and smiled at length at her childish fancy. It was only a cowboy, doubtless, riding upon his own prosaic business. And yet––She became gradually aware of something unusual, something disquieting in the manner of the man’s approach. The horse was leaping under the spurs; the rider sat upright and alert in the saddle; and suddenly, as she watched him, the man’s hand went to his hip, and there was a gleam of metal in the sun. She was not afraid. Seth Huntington had assured her there was nothing to be feared in Paradise Park. But for all that, it was not without uneasiness that she hastily arranged the meager folds of her divided skirt, and passed her hands quickly over the still disordered masses of her hair.