The evening world. Newspaper, December 28, 1915, Page 13

= The North } _ COopertetit, 1019, te steers a smitty) SINOPRIS OF PHECLDING CHAYTERA Welt 10 0 atehoweaphiet in the employ of lm & Bush, Bhe ty en@et te Jack , cle, Bush, the junior partner, tere oem to her, bb shin, He spreads false Gerla dour her chamiter, ‘These stewing make No fama dies) hor Barn, sotoning: te | denial, Livaba ihe enenganeate CHAPTER W, The Way of the World. HROUGH the night IMazel @ozed fitfully, waking out Of unsasy slecp to Hoe e@tar- ing, wide-oyed, into the dark, ev herve in her Body taut, her mind abaormally ace ive, She lay awake til! dawn On Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons ordinarily from two to a @oren girl friends called her up at the boarding house, or dropped in by ones Gnd twos to chat a wiile, tease her @bout Jack, ‘or plan some mild frivol- My. Hazel went home, wondering it they, too, would stand aloof. Whea Sunday noon arrived, and the phone had failed to call her once, and not one of all her friends had dropped in, Hazel twisted her chair ®o that she could stare at the image Of herself in the mirror, “You're in a fair way to become @ Pariah, it seems,” she said bitterly. “What have you done, I wonder, that You've lost your lover, and that Alice @nd May and Hortense and all the Test of them keep away from you? Nothing—not a t —except that your looks attracted a man, and the man threw stones when he couldn't have his way. Ob, well, what's the difference? You've got two good hands, and you're not afraid of work.” She walked out to Granville Park @fter luncheon, and found a seat on a @haded bench besie the lake A group of young people came seuntering along the path, Hazel Jooked up as they neared her, chat- tering to cach other. Maud Stecle and Bud Wells, and—why, she knew @very one of the party, They were ewinging au empty picnic basket and Laughing at everything and nothing, Hazel caught her brenth as they came abreast, not over ten fect away. The three young men tipped their hats Belf-conscious!y. *Hello, Hazel!” the girl said But they passed on. It seemed to Hagel that they quickenc @ trife. It made her er nger. nmin park and caus! in her room she broke down. “Oh, I'll go mad if I stay here and tis gort of thing goes on!” she cried forlornly. A sudden thought striwk | “Why should Ls s aloud. “Why? What's to kee here? I can make my living any where. Saturday of the se week her py @nvelope contained a br e that the firm no longer required her vices. When she reached her ng house a visitor was waitt her—a young woman who greet rapturously. Hazel exclaimed "Kitty Ryan! Where in wide world did you com “From the United States everywhere,” Miss Ryan ‘Take me up to ye me f where we can talk our hea fe “And, furtherm: Hane, Vi leased to have you address Mme Gite Brooks, my dear y mung woman the plump Judy laughed, as tied herself in @ ir in ws0 you're married?” Hazel sald bam that,” Mra, Kitty reeponde 1 fatically, “to the best boy t he drew breath, And so should y be, dear girl, 1 don't see how you've ° {looking gi excaped 8 ways cragy like you. ; wity y Wher you, ‘There's nothing lke hav ing a good man to take care of you, dent you'd bal my. experience of the Just two weeks you'd sing it different qune,” Hazel vehemently declared L mend then she gave way, and In- duiged in the luxury of turning her gelf loose on Kitty's shoulder, Pres- she was able to Wipe her eyes Gnd relate the whole story from the Sunday Mr. Bush stopped and mpaKe to her in the park down to that ening: “Heltty nodded understandingty the gitls have handed jt to you wo than the men, Hazel,” ele obsery pagely. ck ‘Barrow was just 9 Crazy Jealous, and a& man like, thie can't helpsacting as he did. You're feally fortunate, 1 think, because you'd not be re happy with a man Hike that. But the «iris that you nd I grow up with—they should have atood by you, knowing you as they @id; yet you see they were ready to think the worst of you. They RORY iways do when there's a man in the Case, That's a weakness of our, wex dear. My, what a vindictive Turk t Bush must have been! Well, ‘on’t working, ith me. Hubby's, &¢ contract with the Wor Company. We'll bo lo¢ Jong at least, Come me and st 4 two-year stay with us. ‘We'll show Sisee mind a folk a two, Leave it to us Ma a suidn't think of that re Mazel faitored, “You know Ic Fee elite uwfully good of you, to, you but 1 think I'm just about ready to go from ¢ pyille. “tell, come and stop with you do fo,” Kitty insisted. is til d cottage fo ing to tako a furnished cot goinfite. Though, between you and me, doar, knowing people us Ido, 1 1 for wanting to be tongues can't wound can't blame where their i yet Hagel was obdurate, Bhe ould not inflict herself an the one ond she had left. And Kitty, after a short talk, berated her affe ately for her independence, an: Por,” sald whe, "I didn't get bold of ll Addie Horton culled at t eS notet this afternoon, and T didn’t to think that it was near tea . but came straight here. Jim~ Mi think I've eloped, So (a-ta, SHANNON HIN EynN: of Fifty-Three The Romance of 2 Cave-Man ~~And a Pretty School Teacher By Bertrand Sinclair a PARR, I'l como out to-morrow about 2, 1 have to vonfab with a house agent tn att forenoon, By-by." That eventug, among some Woatern Papers Kitty had lett with her, Hagel glanced over a copy of the Vancouver World. Iirat she skimmed the news pages Then she turned to the “Help Wanted” advertisements. ‘The thing most vividly Was the dearth of demand for whlch impressed her quickly a: clerks and stenographers, and the re- peated calls for domestic help and buch, Domestic service she shrank from except aa a last resort. And down near the bottom of the column she happened on an inquiry for a school teacher, female preferred, in an out-of-the-way district in the In- terlor of the province. “Now, that’—— Hazel thought. She had a second-class certificate tucked away among ler belongings. Originally tt had been her intention to teach, and she had done so one term in & backwoods school when she was eighteen. With the ending of the term she had returned to Granville, studied that winter, and got her second certif- leate; but the same time she had taken a business college course, and the following June found her clacking a typewriter at $9 a week. And her teacher's diploma had remained in tho bottom of her trunk éver since. She sat down and wrote to several Woestern school boards. Very shortly thereafter—almost, it! seemed, by return matl—Hazel got re- plies to her letters of inquiry. The fact that each and every one seemed bent i? securing her services aston- or, choolma'ams must certainly be scarce out there,” she told herself. “This is an embarrassment of riches. ehall it bev” But the reply from Cariboo Mead- ows, the first place ehe had thought of, decided her. The member of the school board who replied held forth the natural beauty of the coun- try as much as he did the advantages of the position, thing that per- haps made the strongest appeal to Hazel was a little kodak print in I'm going somewhere, but which place i} closed in the letter, showing the| schoolhouse. The building itself was primitive enough, of logs, with @ pole-and-sod roof. But it was the huge back- sround, the timbered mountaina rising to snow-clad helghts against a cloud- that attracted her. an hour of that Miss Hazel offereé by the Cariboo Meadows school district, and was busily pack- ing her trunk. CHAPTER V. Cariboo Meadows, ‘TALL man, sunburned, slow- | speaking, met Hazel at Soda Creck, the end of her stage! jour , Introducing Bimselt self as Jim Briggs “Preity tiresome trip, ain't {t? he observed. “You'll have a chance to Man through the doorway; the young rest decent to-night, an fellow resumed his seat on the box, . aT got & aise his pipe dling. “Roarin' Bill's goin’ the Meadows in four hours 'n’ a half, killed one uh these da: Hazel started, but it was only Jim orway beside her. a ain't much used of exhibition where you Miss Weir,” Briggs's wife put in over hia shoulder. disgystin’—men street where Than, team uh bays that'll yank yuh to My wife ‘d be plumb tickled to have yu ‘They ain't much more'n half a white women ju 4 the Meadows. We keep a boardin’ house. Hope you'll like the coun- first afternoon sho spent loafing poreh of the Briggs domicile, n whi r raon of couking for the “ 4 brood of five tu n order—the her scant tine to entertain her new- ved guest, From the vantage joarders,” and kept ultuous youngsters gilinpse of the turns life occ: ta 8 no police- ch other across a wagon Two stores, a blacksmith shop, a“ feed stable, certain other nonde- script bullding#, and a few dwelllags, mostly of logs, was all, Probably not teams of ranchera stood in the streot, and a few saddled cow ponies whose listlessness was mostly assumed, Be- foro one of the general stores a pros- r fussed with a string of pack Directly opposite rding house stood a cled “Regent Hotel.” Hazel could envisage it all with a half turn of her Vrom this hotel there presently ts- be , sued a young man dressed In the ordi- nary costume of the country—wide flannel shirt, overalls, boots, He wat down on a box close by the hotel entrance. In a few minutes another came forth. He walked past the firm 4 few stops, stopped, and said some- thing, Hagel could not hear tho is. ‘Tho first man was filling a ently he made no reply: did not trouble to look up: Hy Any t least, h Tut she his shoulders lift in @ shrug. Then he who bad passed turned fedly square about and spoke again, this © time lifting he voice a trifl The young fellow sitting on the box In- stantly me galvanized into ac- out an oath that car- 1 the stree the other man, Hazel saw it quite distinotly, saw men him who jumped dodge a vicious blow eral: nd close with the other; and saw, tuoreover, something which amazed her, For the young fellow swayed with his adversary a second or two, then lifted him bodlly off his feet al. OUt being fully most to the level of his head, and much for slammed him against the hotel wall thermore, with a sudden twist, She heard the bad by thump of the body on the logs. an instant she thought him jump with his booted feet on the 1 ate form, and involunta Leld her breath. But he stepped hack, and when the other scrambled up ha Me side-stepped the firat) rush, and knocked the man down again with a Mow of his fist, This time he stayed down, The ot heard the young fellow say: Better take that fool in and bring pired that him to, If he's still hungry for trou- ble, I'll be right handy, I wonder how beauties, many raore of you fellers I'll have to phas lick before you'll get wise enough not country to start things you can't stop?” Evening World Daily Mag azine, Tuesday, December 28, 1915 Hat ABsg oo Such Js Life! # x OHN You MUST PUTON THE TIE THE BILLS GAVE YOu. THEY ARE COMING TO SEE US “H DAY AND You WILL HAVE To WEAR THE BoupoiR CAP THEY GAVE \ THAT AWFUL TG | IT MAKES NE SEA- SiCtk ILL DON "T_ FORGET fo CARRY THE CANE S GAYE You, OING To SEE | Witt HAVE TO fi STREET WITH It SO HIDEOUS | THE JOHN WE ARE & “THEM LET ME THANK You AND NR BILL For TRE ADORABLE Boudoir. AP You GAVE NE IT'S So FETCHING. (WEAR IT AW THE TINE AND IWANT. For BAG YouGAVENE , IT'S STUNNING. SOARTISTIC. So SwEET oF You LET ME % AND MRS JONN FORTHE CLASSY CANE You GAVE NE ~ JUST WHAT | WANTE! 1 At CHARNED WiTH IT ad written to accept the terms! agreed that both had desirable fea- | Which caused Mre. Briggn's gaze to aul: follow her wonderingly as she went hastily to her own room. Like other mean souls of similar pattern, it suited Mr, Perkins to seek evenge in the only way possib! lating to divers’ in- dividuals during that evening Granville episode tn the new teach- At least, Hazel guessed he must have told the tale of that am- bequest, and the sip, for as carly as the tures—and drawbacks. Perkins proposed a walk up on a three-hundred-foot knoll that sloped from the back door, #o to speak, of Hazel got her hat, She had climbed that hill by herself, and she knew that it commanded a great sweep of the rolling land to the west, They reached the top in a few min- Utes, and found a seat on a dead tree Mr, Perkins was properly im- pressed with the outlook. so very long he seemed to suffer a relaxation of his interest in the view and a corresponding Increase of at- tention to his companion, ognized the symptoms. then {t irritated her, familiarity of suddenly got on her nerv “I think I eball go down, cfed she saw a gleam fur distant in the timber. She watchod the spot fix- edly, and thought #he saw the faint " nown men to get badly reflection of light, ‘That heartened her, She advanced toward it, hoping that It might be the gleam of a ranch ted with his as- window. Ler progress was alow. Bhe oe to be ents blundered over the Litter of @ forest surance floor, tripping over unseen obstacles, boo Meadows, a But ‘ten minutes established beyond vation ite Serpomreer rey St toon: thal peradventure the fact that it big tg eee | vered herself rellaniog deed a light. Whether a house Hr! id soon disco) or the reflection of a camptire ahe the food more than any meal she hai was a fire meant human feash 00 a8, no aproned chef can duplicate. Roar- to get himeelf Cariboo Meadows. they set out Briggs in tho ¢ confidentially everybody can see ‘em. Iness, 1t don’t happen very ally when Bill Wagstaff You ain't shocked, are subsequent «: next day she caught ¢ joking at her wi had not heretofe 1 Mrs. Briggs, a fat, good- © rty, tolled at her ain't an interest thi displayed—or, said, with @ different sort of Interest. They were discussing her. She could not know it positively, but she felt it, The first Saturday after the Ver- kein incident Hazel went for a tramp in the afternoon, A mile or so distant a bare apot high on @ wooded ridge struck her as 8 likely place to get an unobstructed h some height and sit ng out over far-spread~ ing vistas, contented her, the unpleasantness of the © past, discount the possible f the future and lose her- didn’t have time to be ihined tasks leaving 6! done so quickly.” “If them fellows would leave Bill ind of the porch Hazel got her alone,” came from behind a thic fire, 9 fire'sho heard a horde sneego, Within a cup of coffee, He had @ small sack afew. yuris. of the thicket, through of augur, and hie peak Boxee yielded which wavered the yellow gleam she condens Y haite , smitten with @ sudden panic. “Maybe you'd rather have boig iord This endured but a few seconds, All said, “I didn’t think to ask you, Most that she knew or had been told of Canadians don't drink anything else. frontier men reassured her, She had ote thanks, I ike coffee,” Hazel found them to a man courteous, awk- ied, wardly considerate, And she could "You're not a true-blue Canuck, not wander about all night. then,” Bill observed. Mr, Perkins But he gocs off like a hair-trigger gun, and he'd 1p a dozen quick as one, " to seo his dnish one uh thes “Oh, I say, now, there's no burry,” Perkins responded ‘sinilingly, But ehe was already rising from her 4 double row of buildings di What a name!” caught by the appellation Briggs had d. “Is that Roaring Bill over Hazel_ observed, gauging his action according to his experience in other such situations did an utterly foolish caught her as she arose, and laugh- ingly tried to kiss her, he discovered that he had caught a tartar, for Hazel slapped him with all the Jorce she could muster—which was considerable, judging by the flaming red spot which the smack of her palm left on his amooth-shaven cheek. But he did not seem to mind that. ably he had been slapped before, and regarded {t as part of the game, attempted to draw her closer, v you're a regular scrapper,” ‘ow, I'm sure you didn't cuff Bush that way.” Hazel Jerked loc “That's him—Roarin’ Bill Wagstaff,” “If he takes a few ‘ow'll find out to-night how he Sings—just like a bull 1 total of fifty souls made Briggs permanent residence there, But the drinks To reach her Objective ~-tnt, she crossed a long stretch of rolling land, well timbered, dense in thickets of berry bushes, this she came upon a little brook, monotone 4 over pebbled reaches and bathed the tangled roots of trees along its brink. By this sho sat a while idled along, coming after considerable diMeulty to abruptly rising «row in the midst of tint got the name. Probably whip two or three men be- fore mornin’.” Rrikes's came into the dining room building ana there received her first lesso her fear of h essed gentleman seated to one side fear of the pi at table rose always seo It through the branchos and 80 gauge her | She blundered on, not admitting to herself the posstbillt to find Cariboo M 6 from his grip in ct fury. using at the same time the weapons nature gave her accord. trength, whereby Mr, Per- 4 sundry sroall re as nothing to tho bruises his conceit suffered, of him, Hazel stood her gr enough to tell a coward, an I! other epithets griev: With that she fled Incontl- nently down the hill, furlous, shamed almost to tears, and wishing fervently that she had the muscle of a man to requite the insult ag tt deserved, ‘To , Mrs. Briggs, who had glance as Mr, Howard Perkins, trav- of being unable ulows. Ax best slie could, and to the best of hor bellet, whe held in a straight line for the “ But sho walked far enough to have overrun {t, and waa yet upon unfamiliar ground Perkins was tolerably young, some one’ from home. He Joined her on the porch for a min. ute when the meal was over, succeeded in putting Hagel unquall- t her case as far as he was If he had heard any Gran- gossip, if ho knew why she had left Granville, It evidently cut no fg Asa consequence,while was #imply polite and negatively deep in her heart Hazel felt nm the disagr an he sp The crack of a br trayod her, tm that he was a oad, ‘Tho twillght deep above showed quolse blue between the tall treetop: but the woods themselves —-~ le distance ahead ure with him twilight In a@ timbered country he does not know brings confusion; uncertainty leads him far wide of his cap the elim seen the two ¢ ried and mado flendiy, Hazel's ears burn. At the same timo & bl* he leaped from his seat straight at @ sant reaction fr ° things for which Granville stood; ugh she nursed both resent- and distrust ugainst n with a curious look, travel, hurr! more, uneasy with the growing conviction that she had gone astray. Presently it was dark, and darkness In the woods is the darkness of the She found « down troe, and climbed on it to rest and think, ‘ looking at her In asked jokingly: “Pid you lose the young man tn the 0 to apply to Mr. 1, being keyed to a fearful pitch, unwisely snapped back and on the morr Belng a healthy, ousness, Pur- Perkins in his business pretty much North American co knew how to set forth his various ex- women would have ting, particula erywhere on inent, and he ONF OF THE MANY THOUSAND PEOPLE WHO ARE READING THE EVENING WORLD’S Complete Novel Each Week? 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Also, the waruth of the fire seemed good, But-——— “Td rather be home,” she confessed, “Bure! L guess you would—na urally. TV #ee that you get there, though tt won't be oasy, It's no snap » travel these woods In the dark. You couldn't have been #0 far from the Meadows. How did it come you didn't yell once In a while?” “r didn't think it was necessary,” Hagel admitted, “until it began to get a And then 1 didn't ike to.” ‘You got afraid,” Roaring Bill sup- plied. “Weill, it does sound creepy to holler in the timber after night. know how that goes. I've made noises aftor night that scared myself.” Ie dug some utensils out of his pack layout—two plates, knife, fork 1'LUNAVE To, But tle And epoons—and laid them by the fire, HIDE iT IN MY MUFF, IT'S So RIDICULOUS [Opposite the meat a pot of water bubbled. Roaring Bill produced @ small tin bucket, black with ¢ smoke of many an open fire, and package, and made coffer. Then he spread @ onnvas sheet, and laid op {that bread, butter, salt, a Jar of pre= rved fruit, bast Ll ‘oe PP Cariboo Mead- wa?” Hazel asked. . Bill looked up from bis supper prep- arations. “You've got me,” he returned care- lessly. “Probably four or five miles, I'm not positive bige doomed Ln tied in if this ernoon, ooo i Noavena! wd wae exclaimed. it you know the way?” “ Pike ‘@ book—in the daytime,” he replied, “But night tn the timber another story, a8 you've just been finding out for yourself, “L thought men accustomed to the wilderness could always Sod Par way about day or night,” Hazel ob- ys mn wre Cutr—in stories,” Bil an- awered dryly. inging of the AND I WANT To THANIC| | efi irile ue digested this. Pree “YoU AND NAS BILL FoR | |ently he ar down posite the Sree THE SUPERB TE You Philo Brick came back to the subject GAVE HE ~ So REFINED ! | | again. “m away off any trail THE COLOR IS EXQUISITE |}, 2 he anid, "and It's all woods, with who OTH her 3 ING GOULD WANE paly a little patch of open here and | , ‘© accident I happen to PLEASED NE MORE | litte ie shcotaaa neh creat unadulterated cussedness on the pare {of one of my horses. I left the Meats jows at noon, and Nigger—that’s contounded an etme brush. tte po plumb away from me, and I ber \to track him, I didn't come up pode ‘him till dusk, and then the Sr eves place Latruck, which was here, L made camp. 1 was all for catohing Of horse, so I didn’t pay much attention to where I waa going, Didn't need to. lbecause I know the country Ral enough to get anywhere tn dayiignt, and I'm fixed to camp wherever night overtakes me, So I'm not dead = 4 Mn und, But you don't nee | | worry 0 count. I'll get you KAUPS | | worry on that account |, Nome all right. Only it'll be mean travelling— and slow—unless we hap- pen to bump into some oy 08s fel - soem Jows out looking for you. ree potted rep fy ed an age, she fem- iy" etart out when you aan oane ; they kn pe ior Caries get lost in these 4 right tn this same turned | anvall, ait up and oat @ bite” country. Well, would avo her to Carl- that ned, accepting the ait ie the ough to tell. But eaten for a long time, Hunger ‘beluga of ‘one sort King of appetizers, and food cooked in an a flavor of its own which t wood wise and thereby @ means to tho open jeam ing Bill put half the piece of meat on at on her plate, sliced bi for hor, Laer eed s saw. at length, Beyond the the butter handy. Aleo, he poured her She kept on, ‘The w: She moved cautiously, however, to 5 ote Mater ndeed the edge of the thicket, to a point “Aren't you a Canadian’ where she could see the fire, A man “Well, I don't know that the mere here sat humped whereon slzz hei ver the glowing embers, aocident of birth in some partioular a plece of meat, His local iy makes any difference,” he an- 1 was bent forward, as if he were ewer “But I'm a lot ehy of betng ing. Suddenly he looked up and a Canadian, though I've been tn this she gasped—for the frelight showed country a long time, I was born in the features of Roaring Bill Wag- Chicago, the smokt windiest old staff, United States.’ Sho was afraid of him. Why she “It's a big place, ten't it?” Hassel did not know nor stop to reason. But kept the convorsati "IT don't on was greater than her know any of the American oities, but h-black night and the I have a girl friend working in a Chi- unknown dungera of the forest, Bhe cago office.” turned to retreat. In the same Inatant | “Yos, it's Digwbie and nolsy and of Koaring Bill reached to bis rifle and dirty, and ful wrecke—human stood up. derelicts in an industrial Sargasso Told on there! he sald coolly, Sea—iike all big olties the world over, ve had a look at I want a I don't like ‘en.” k at you, old feller, whoever you Wagstaff epoke casually, ag much re. Come on—show yourself." to himself as to her, and he did not He stepped sidewlse out of the Hght puraue the eubject, but began his Haz ol aturted to run, meal, h under foot bi “What sort of meat ts this?” Hasel nd he closed in bef asked after a few minutes of astience. liree stops, He caught her It was fine «rained and of @ rich the arm and yanked her flavor strange to her mouth, Sho ly Into the firelight Mked ft, but It wae neither beef, pork “Well-for the love of Mike!" n r any meat she knew, Wagstatt drawled ‘clamation in't you ever eat any out in @& rising of aston- e ne bet i cnawes ishment, Then he laid his gun down ever tastec she across a Poll of bedding and astond “Isn't tc nice? N © read of hunt~ hless wonder, &8 Cooking ventson over an open fire, but this is my first taste. Indeed, I've "y rs jever seen a real camp fire befor CHAPTER VI. Melina few minutes.” said he, “Tt i ” up and try to delive ‘ou as per A Different Sort of Man, EE ee eee eotine’ Isa “eving 't0 ee Pitan en a i, TEesita not aak her permtasion, but tact ‘a anal did not as p ‘i é oring Bil sald again. ais i pipe and lighted tt with @ y "What are you doing coal, And for the succesding fifteen andering around in the ininutes Roaring Bill Wagstaff sat Woods at night? Good staring into the dancing blage ; MY teoth are chattering, Sit Consclously or otherwise, she took fatal SOUs sae ee snet e k of Bill Wagstaff, She knew h Here ans. See Ware se to he in bad odor with Cariboo Mesdows for some unknown reasor * she explain growing had seen him fight In the street, suddenly calm. “L was out walking, knock ® man unconscious with his fists, According to her conceptions of ., behavior, that was brutal and vulgar. ng to do when you don't Hrinking came under the same head, Bil remarked. "And and she had Jim Briges's word that t had any Bil] Wagstaff not only got drunk but Y almost to wasn “holy terror’ when fn that con- of Cariboo dition. Yet sho could not quite ans = and lost my way," “Rasy know timbe: uence you hayer vve hoon pee looking. fore you. clate the twin traite of brutality and had an adventure. That's vulgarity with the man sitting close th Fetter eat a bite, by with that thoughtful look on his feel better," face, His speech stamped him as @ He turned over the plece of meat on man of education; every Tne of him the s while he spoke, Hazel saw showed breeding tn all that the word that it lay on two green sticks, like @ implies, . Nevertheless he Was “tough.” And #he had gat red enough of the West's Wide Iiberality of view in regard to Personal conduct to Know that Roar- ing Hill Wagataft must be @ hard cttt- ren indeed to be practically ostracized In a place Itke Carlboo Meadows, She wondered what Cariboo Meadows would say If it could see her altting by Bill Wagetaff's fire at nine in t evening in the heart of the woods What would they say when he pffoted midst of her recollections Roaring Bill got up. “Well, We've mako a move,” he aaid, and disappeared abruptly in the dark She heard him moving around at some distanos. Presently he was back, leading three horses. One he saddled The other two he rigged with his pack outnt, storing his varied belongings in two of kyaka, and loading kyake nd bedding on the horses with a deft speed that bespoke long practice. He Was too busy to tall, and Hagel sat Denide the fire, wan ing in stiense, hen he had tucked up the rope ond he turned to her. . “There,” he #aid: “we're ready to hit the trail, Can you ride ~ “I don't know,” Haael answered “IL never have ridden @ “My, my!" he emiled. “Your ede. cation has been sadly neglected—and Yeu (8 schoolma’am, too!” My walking education hasn’ neglected,” Hazel retorted.“ dears Reed ty ride, thank you.” “Yes, and stub your toe and fall down every ten feet,” Bill observed. 'No, Misa Welr, your first lesson in horsewomanship fa now due—if you at afrald of horses.” “Tm not afraid of horses at af,” Hazel declared. “But I don't think I @ very good place to take riding lee- fons. Tcan just as well walk, for I'm ot in tho least tired.” And then she added as an afterthought, “How do ou Bapere to know my name?” @ same way that now mine,” Bill replied, ‘even len haven't mentioned it yet. Lord bless you, do you suppose Cariboo Mead- ows could import a lady school teacher from the civilized East with- out everybody in fifty miles knowing she was and where she oame from, and what she looked lke? You furnished them a subject for con- versation and spcoulation—the same a8 I do when I drop in there and whoop it up for a while. I guess you don't realize what old granny gossips we wild Wosterners are. iy where girls are concerned.” Hazel stiffened a trife. not like the idea of Cariboo Mondens discussing her with anch freedom. She was becoming sensitive on that mubject—since the coming and goin, of Mr. Howard Perkins, for she felt that they were considering her from an angle that she did not relish, She wondered also if Roaring Bill Wag staff had heard that gossip. And if he had—— At Sry, rate, she could not accuse him of being impertinent or ourtous in @o far a8 she wee con- corned. le disappeared into the dar! 5 This time he camo. back witha the crown of his hat full of water, which he sprinkled over the dwindling fire, As the red glow of the embers fade: in a sputter of steam and ashes Hi realized more profoundly the bi ness of a cloudy night in the woods. Fae ciesets naition firelight she could see oth . put eanopy above = surrounding’ seamed a A “It'e going to be nasty travelling, Mien Weir,” Roaring Bill spoke at her elbow. “I'll walk and lead the You ride Silk, He's gentle, you have to do is ait still, and he right eee the packs, I'll 4 mount.” rr} or not @he would ride, He had settied that. Unused to mounting, ahe at the first attempt, and flushed the dark at Bill's amused chuckle. ‘The next instant he caught the arms, and, with the leverage of her one foot in the etirrup, set ber ntly in the seat of the idle. "You're such a little person,” he said, “these stirrups are a mile too jong. Put your feet in the leather above-—#o, Now play follow your leader, Give Bilk his head.” He moved away. The blurred shapes of the pack horses forged ahead, rusting in the dry grass, dry twigs snapping under foot. Obedient to Bill's command, she let the reins dangle, and Suk followed close behind hia mates. Hazel lurched unsteadily at first, but presently ebe caught the swinging motion and could maintain her balance without holding stiffly to the saddle horn, J They crossed the small meadow and plunged into thick woods again, For the greater part of the way Hazel could seo nothing; ste could tell that Wagstaff and the pack horses moved before her by the.sounds of thelr progress, and that was ail, Now and then low-hanging limbs reached « denly out of the dark, and tou her with unseen fingers, or swept rudely across her face and hair, For what seemed to her an inter- minable length of time they bore slowly on through the timber, crossed openings where the murk of the night thinned @ little, enabling her to see the dim form of Wagstaff plodding in the lead, Again they dipped down steep slopes and ascended others as steep, where Silk was forced to seram ble and Hazel kept 4 precarious seat She began to feel, with an odd heart sinking, that sufcient tme had elapsed for them to reach the Mead- ows, even by a roundabout way. Then, ‘as they crossed a tiny, burbling stream and came upon a level place beyond, Silk” bumped into th her horses and stopped, Hazel hesitated a see- ond, There was no sound of move- it. sl (To Be Continued.) 5