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my broken fortunes and my broken heart? Ill never leave these purple slopes I
love so well.
I reckon I ought to ve knowed that. Presently you ll be livin down here in
a hovel, an presently Jane Withersteen will be a memory. I only wanted to
have a chance to show you how a man any man can be better n he was. If we
left Utah I could prove I reckon I could prove this thing you call love.
It s strange, an hell an heaven at once, Jane Withersteen. Pears to me that
you ve thrown away your big heart on love love of religion an duty an
churchmen, an riders an poor families an poor children! Yet you can t see
what love is how it changes a person! & Listen, an in tellin you Milly
Erne s story I ll show you how love changed her.
Milly an me was children when our family moved from Missouri to Texas, an
we growed up in Texas ways same as if we d been born there. We had been poor,
an there we prospered. In time the little village where we went became a
town, an strangers an new families kept movin in. Milly was the belle them
days. I can see her now, a little girl no bigger n a bird, an as pretty. She
had the finest eyes, dark blue-black when she was excited, an beautiful all
the time. You remember Milly s eyes! An she had light-brown hair with streaks
of gold, an a mouth that every feller wanted to kiss.
An about the time Milly was the prettiest an the sweetest, along came a
young minister who began to ride some of a race with the other fellers for
Milly. An he won. Milly had always been strong on religion, an when she met
Frank Erne she went in heart an soul for the salvation of souls. Fact was,
Milly, through study of the Bible an attendin church an revivals, went a
little out of her head. It didn t worry the old folks none, an the only worry
to me was Milly s everlastin prayin an workin to save my soul. She never
converted me, but we was the best of comrades, an I reckon no brother an
sister ever loved each other better. Well, Frank Erne an me hit up a great
friendship. He was a strappin feller, good to look at, an had the most
pleasin ways. His religion never bothered me, for he could hunt an fish an
ride an be a good feller. After buffalo once, he come pretty near to savin
my life. We got to be thick as brothers, an he was the only man I ever seen
who I thought was good enough for Milly. An the day they were married I got
drunk for the only time in my life.
Soon after that I left home it seems Milly was the only one who could keep
me home an I went to the bad, as to prosperin I saw some pretty hard life
in the Pan Handle, an then I went North. In them days Kansas an Nebraska was
as bad, come to think of it, as these days right here on the border of Utah. I
got to be pretty handy with guns. An there wasn t many riders as could beat
me ridin . An I can say all modest-like that I never seen the white man who
could track a hoss or a steer or a man with me. Afore I knowed it two years
slipped by, an all at once I got homesick, an pulled a bridle south.
Things at home had changed. I never got over that homecomin . Mother was
dead an in her grave. Father was a silent, broken man, killed already on his
feet. Frank Erne was a ghost of his old self, through with workin , through
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with preachin , almost through with livin , an Milly was gone! & It was a
long time before I got the story. Father had no mind left, an Frank Erne was
afraid to talk. So I had to pick up what d happened from different people.
It pears that soon after I left home another preacher come to the little
town. An he an Frank become rivals. This feller was different from Frank. He
preached some other kind of religion, and he was quick an passionate, where
Frank was slow an mild. He went after people, women specially. In looks he
couldn t compare to Frank Erne, but he had power over women. He had a voice,
an he talked an talked an preached an preached. Milly fell under his
influence. She became mightily interested in his religion. Frank had patience
with her, as was his way, an let her be as interested as she liked. All
religions were devoted to one God, he said, an it wouldn t hurt Milly none to
study a different point of view. So the new preacher often called on Milly,
an sometimes in Frank s absence. Frank was a cattle-man between Sundays.
Along about this time an incident come off that I couldn t get much light
on. A stranger come to town, an was seen with the preacher. This stranger was
a big man with an eye like blue ice, an a beard of gold. He had money, an he
peared a man of mystery, an the town went to buzzin when he disappeared
about the same time as a young woman known to be mightily interested in the
new preacher s religion. Then, presently, along comes a man from somewheres in
Illinois, an he up an spots this preacher as a famous Mormon proselyter.
That riled Frank Erne as nothin ever before, an from rivals they come to be
bitter enemies. An it ended in Frank goin to the meetin -house where Milly
was listenin , an before her an everybody else he called that preacher
called him, well, almost as hard as Venters called Tull here sometime back.
An Frank followed up that call with a hosswhippin , an he drove the
proselyter out of town.
People noticed, so twas said, that Milly s sweet disposition changed. Some
said it was because she would soon become a mother, an others said she was
pinin after the new religion. An there was women who said right out that she
was pinin after the Mormon. Anyway, one mornin Frank rode in from one of his
trips, to find Milly gone. He had no real near neighbors livin a little out
of town but those who was nearest said a wagon had gone by in the night, an
they though it stopped at her door. Well, tracks always tell, an there was
the wagon tracks an hoss tracks an man tracks. The news spread like wildfire
that Milly had run off from her husband. Everybody but Frank believed it an
wasn t slow in tellin why she run off. Mother had always hated that strange
streak of Milly s, takin up with the new religion as she had, an she
believed Milly ran off with the Mormon. That hastened mother s death, an she
died unforgivin . Father wasn t the kind to bow down under disgrace or
misfortune but he had surpassin love for Milly, an the loss of her broke
him.
From the minute I heard of Milly s disappearance I never believed she went
off of her own free will. I knew Milly, an I knew she couldn t have done
that. I stayed at home awhile, tryin to make Frank Erne talk. But if he
knowed anythin then he wouldn t tell it. So I set out to find Milly. An I
tried to get on the trail of that proselyter. I knew if I ever struck a town
he d visited that I d get a trail. I knew, too, that nothin short of hell
would stop his proselytin . An I rode from town to town. I had a blind faith
that somethin was guidin me. An as the weeks an months went by I growed
into a strange sort of a man, I guess. Anyway, people were afraid of me. Two
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