ng comfort in
each other's company.

CHAPTER XLVII

Back to Deadwood

Two days later Jim and Belle were again on the Deadwood trail. It seemed
that each new chapter of their lives must begin on that trail. They were
in a new buckboard, the gift of Pa Boyd, driving Midnight in harness.
That same morning Charlie Bylow had left for Deadwood with his team and
wagon. The latter was loaded with gifts from Cedar Mountain friends,
some of them sufficiently absurd--for example, framed chromos, a parrot
cage, a home instructor in Spanish, and a self-rocking cradle--but there
was also a simple sufficiency of household furniture.

The buckboard overtook the wagon in the morning and arrived at Deadwood
by one o'clock. Jim was for going to the hotel and dining, but Belle
thought it better to see the estate agent first, and within half an hour
they had deposited the first month's rent for the white cottage. Strange
to tell, though the cottage had stood empty and uncalled for during the
previous six months, there were two other applications on the afternoon
that the Hartigans secured their lease.

Their furniture arrived late in the day, and those who have watched
newly-mated birds carry the sticks and straw of their first nest, will
understand the joy experienced by Belle and Jim in planning, arranging,
and rearranging this first home. Whether it is larger bliss to carry
sticks or to bill and coo cannot be guessed, and perhaps it does not
matter, for every stone in the perfect arch is bearing all the arch. The
first night in their own--their very own--home, with no one but
themselves, was a sweet contentment for the time and a precious memory
afterward. As they sat hand in hand looking from the little window down
the valley, where the golden west was blocked by the high, dark hill,
they knew calm for the first time after many days of tempest, and Jim's
fervent soul found words in the ancient text: "Truly the light is sweet;
and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun."

A very blessed thing is the sunrise on Deadwood. It means far more than
in most towns, for the shut-in-ness of the gulch makes night so very
night-like, and the gloom is king till the radiant one mounts to flood
the place with a sudden sunrise--a little late, perhaps, but a special
sunrise for the town.

It was their first real breakfast together. Jim rose and lighted the
fire in the stove. Belle made the coffee and fried the eggs. It was