The evening world. Newspaper, January 29, 1916, Page 11

ee eR RR SS ‘Roaring A Romance of Love and Fortune in the Big Northwest 3 By Bertrand M. Sinclair ‘Author of “NORTH OF 53,"' Ete.) eT OEE TY ST ee pee ee tanh & Saath Co) which passes in 18 OF PRI NG CHAPTERS well, I'm on the r 0 Weir, learing her Granville home, bas girl, 1 wish you were with me feat to teach schoo! There she has been by Nt Thi” Weastatt aud car wilderness cabs tmnt ~« rampage in Granville, i, done Ko before, should have inal on making it cle to you, Buta 9 Toves INI, ret him, ‘They tont. Bil nak apeead to Til Sto heli orpanis thing at the proper time. All too fre- ‘company ster ‘he pe fiuanciers ntly we are dominated by our ernie | tore Uy\ig to detracsd tle puutic thrmah this tions 1 a iy oot usmments Tt Mie th ‘city te he gone Uacky j A ia reftues (0 ao was so with me. The other side had| heen presented to you rather clev t the right time. And your ready ptance of it is, You CHAPTER XVII. A Letter From Bill. bls were prejudiced. Bill had left her; trying to fave taken the ia absolve herself from blame; against you, right or w ing up in eld Anyway, here it ix Attitude, even while she 1 You got anger at his uny was ut he di 20ks, n't tell it all: bornly unytelding. If he had truly Th d her, she reiterated, he would * mi f have made tt an ismue between et eee eee ee ehat m. But that was like a n—to 7 couldn't restrain on “his own desires being made being Op mount; to blunder on headlong, Their chief ob the four of them, it seems, sting as soon as J shipped “8 minority of two or three friends in anlaactae he on the gre matt what antagonism floor of a good thing: v' , they wi wed. And he was completely 1 oq each a good bundle of that a wrong, she reasserted While it was cheap—figuring that with Ihe recapitulated it Through the prospects [ had opened up cut an as ito would t good had ended by outraging both them dried before T got there. her, and on top of that demand- that she turn her back, at twenty- r hours’ notice, on Granville and {ts associations and follow him in- woh on thes have made a small be full right to her resentment. As )0 fv iner in the chancy enterprise olarriage were not her feelings and S¢t off with a flve-thousand-dolla: Ps entitled to equal consideration? ‘terest had assumed the role of dictator. “To be sure, a « 4 she had revolted. That was all. of the money ‘derived from the e was justified. of this stock should be mine, B Eventually she slept. At 10 o'clock, goes into the treasury, and they vy-eyed, suffering an intolerable It arranged to ke dache, she rose and dressed. Beside her plate jay a thick letter doing the operating. iroom before she opened the en- By the postmark she saw that and secretary respectively. Me, had been mailed on @ train. Proposed to quiet with a mana, ‘Dear Girl: 1 have caught my th, eo to speak, but I doubt if @ more forlorn cuss listened to up. iMerminable clicking of car is. I am tempted at each sta- to turn back and try again, {tr #o unreal this parting in hot could make sundry clean- 90 miserably unnecessary, But dry clean-ups use in another appeal. 1 could me dubious, They were stor ‘back—' Only the certain Ket gamblers, manipulators pure and owledge that giving in ike that simpie. But I might have let tt eo d send us spinning or more in at that, seeing it was . us circle prevents me. I didn't and not one that I Heve it possible that we could get far apart. Nor that @ succession little things could cut so weighty figure in our lives. And perhaps are yery sore and resentful at me morning for being so precipitate. couldn't help it, Hazel, It seemod only way. I seems so yet to me. 5) v Was nothing more to kenp me they bad the Granville—everything to make me {" 4 Party to it. i away. If I had weakened and jo i¢ ay b understand that nporized with you it would only {f° °! the company the deferring of just what has (i) company’s ag jppened. When you declared your- flatly and repeatedly it seemed peless to argue further. [ am a pleader, perhaps, and IT do not yes in compulsion between us Whatever you do you must do of our own Volition, without pressure om meé. We Couldn't therwise. If I compelled you to fol- nould It was their game. “But they capped the climax dirty fraud L ev r encountered Ml to try and n and actin Mt, Krubst in and stake those claims, 1 empowered to arrange with $5,000 in stock for assigning claims to the ¢ mpany, and sh thi celal were operated. earned it the north is in the dead of me against your desire we » ‘{ drag misery in our train, Bill” Wagstaff: RY 1 1e ‘city’ for brains! ad. And, oh, itl, | i} “L must explain this mining deal—| td that phase of it which sent me on the tid at Ia I should have low doesn't always do the proper angered me beyond rred mo to a perfect fury to think IL through the long nicht you couldn't be absolutely loya sho lay awake, struggling your pal, When you took that p with the incredibte fact that on 1 simply couldn't attempt e: planations, Do you think I'd ever entials, Up to a certain point, from} onwolous that she herself had been Kind never coes, not by a long shot at gold and put through that stock. | was legitimate. them from that, t, however, was to let e ‘i re would se high. So they had it on Winter he had consistent! Fish ¢ market, and in addition had wn into his shell. Hor her friends everything framed up to reorganize for most of her pleasures he had with « capitaliation of two hundred best only exhibited tolerance, And and fifty thousand dollars, ‘This all Rinally stood, the five of us Klappan claims. They're But with a quarter of a million she dreaded. She /" outstanding stock—woll, it would j@ wilderness that she drea i right for the fellow with a big But you can see where I would p it in the treasury, 4s «& fund for operations, with them They had ai- dressed in Hill's handwriting. She ready indicated their bent by ‘voting her coffee and went bagk to the an annual stipend of $10,000 and $6,000 to Lorimer and Brooks as president wage cf $5,000 a yoar—after I got on the ground and began to get my back! “Free Gold would have been a splendid Stock Exchange possibility. They had it all doped out how the spective of the mine's actual T atop to sum it up again, I se ‘That was the first thing that made thelr game or anybody [ cared about would get fleeced at, I didn't approve of it, you understand, 3 | 4! =| sted fel- erly a Itt 1 to posi- ex the —his held! out one. pund ‘ant-) tock | ptt Now for- rin-| rtain proportion | sale jut it bad they gor's irre- mar- with what { must cold-bloodedly charac- terize as the baldest attempt at a And make To make this clear T, on be- Kas waked Whitey Lewis and four others to go was these ‘ive men that if the claims made a decent showing each should receive their vould he happy BAve employment at top wages while You know win- The Evening World Daily Magaz ot ter eg OF COURSE MR TOM WON'T PLAY POLITiCs HE CONTROLS NO VOTES, NOT EVEN HIS OWN, HIS WIFE CONTROLS THAT . BUT ——~y a POLITICAL ' —— OF Course MR DICK HAS NO BUSINESS ABILITY HE CAN'T HARDLY WRITE OR READ RUT jPouricat L Boss ine, Saturd HE CAN SAVE THE STATE $1000000 A YEAR -HE ISA REAL BUSINESS _ MAN ~ HE IS WILLING { SACRIFICE HIS WATE INTERESTS OR THE GOOD of THE STATE - HES UPRIGHT, HONEST AND HAS AT HEART THE WELFARE OF OUR COUNTRY HE CONTROLS THE 99 VOTES mar Hi RAM Neen oF A GANG Bere ner bes P STATE AND EIS A DARN Good PourTiciAN MAKE OUT PAPERS _ APPOINTINCr MR DICK POLITICAL] Boss restless to make plans. W: use of planning when but myself to plan for? “So lone, Uttle person. a heap, fo wa: he bud set down in cold black and white cut her deep, So she did noth- Ing. She laid aside the letter, with a lump in her throat, Yor stant she was minded to the word that would bring him hurry- ing back. at's the here's nobody happy I'd compel you to do eo, if I had the power, You couldn't under- stand that kind ofa love. Oh, I could choke you for your stupid disloyalty. I could do almost anything that would opur you to action. [ can't rid my- nelf of the hopeless, reckless mood he was in. There are so fow of his kind, the patient, strong, loyal, kquare-dealing men, with « svoman’ ‘hs tenderness and a lion's courage. Any woman should be proud and giad to be his mate, to mother Lis children, And you"---~ She threw out her hands with a sudden, despairing gesture. The blue 1 like you all your cantankerous BILL. a brief in- telegrapi But—some of the tr CHAPTER XVIII. eyes grew misty, and she hid her face The Spur. im her palms. Before that passionate ]] month passed. outburst Hazel sat dumbly amazed, During that thirtyday staring, uncertain, In a second Vesta period she received a brie¢ lifted ler head defiant “L had no notion of br note from Bill, like this when J came up,” uking out she said Just a few uildn't even say goodby, 1 vy bucked their way through lines to say: quietly. “l was going to be very aa't know if I could etick to my Apel “ppihd snow and staked — “Hit the ranch yesterday, little per- adroit, I intended t) give you a termination to go unless T went a8 titled te what ween Quen were e8* son. Looks good to me, Have had friendly boost along the right road, ; And my reason told me that ue! t’ what was due them, they Tien gy some work t this sum. Hf 2 could, But it has all been there must be a break it would [rr And not one of them stuttered vee me HS bubbling inside me for a long time. ter come now than after long oe - ay pargaln, even though they me| Went fishing last night about you perhaps think it very un- out Dickerings und bitterness, Te", Viking oul Weekly as much gold sundown, ‘Trout were rising fine. womanly—but T don't care much we are so diametrically oppos re. Thoy'd given than, (helr full Natied a two-pounder. I loafed a few What you think. My little heartacke Wwe thought we stood together they ‘were whi nol Mord ANd aayn in Fort Goorge, sort of thinking #8 Incidental, one of the things life have made a mistake that no FOr a Ite teanetes. Tee, Ook seorge, sort of deals Us Whether we will or no. But int of adjusting, nothing but (B°fer a white man also, ‘They took I might hear from you, Ain sending if vou care in the least for your hus- parate roads, will rectify. Myself |! word that th vould get what this out by Jake. Wl start for the wand, for God's sake make some ef. efuse to believe that we have made {42 Comme to them, and gave me In Klappan about day after to-morrow.” — fort, some sacrifice of your own petty cha mistake. I don't think that (he comp name clear title to She had not answered hiv first let- yetle desires, to make his road a little ently and deliberately you p REAR at 1 put th titles on She had tried to, Bur somehow pjeasanter, a little than it exotic, useless, purposeless, par teh iv Hazleton, and came home she tried to set pen to paper the must be now. You" 1) repatd tio existence to the normal, whole. . @rimer and | deliberately Tight words would not come {f you are the kind that must alwaya 1 tee te ply mlannes Tine propowed to withhy ick, todes _ Slowly it dawned upon her, With @ bo paid in full, Don't. be a stift are obsessed, intoxicated—T can't raud these men, to —oh, I can't bitterness born of her former experi- yocked idiot. That's al! 1 wanted to “I¢ I'm wrong, if Jove and Pull's anionship can't lure you away n these other things—why, I sup- will consider it an ended anything te lelay, Bro ‘The prope adjusted late serve a8 un excuse for ks sald to me with @ grin: ty's in the company's name t it any better—and nothing but Bhat Words strong enous’ They hock will sober you Wanted the matter stand; (rahe ' v4 Wanted me et it & iH net Jet the rou cks sw a hile, hat case you will not piel, 4 while, epter. in that, onge JOu.. Maange Ties"ve Kol No come-back anyhow. Ml be a relief to you. If, on the | “That was when I smashed him, Do her hand, it's merely a stubborn You dlame me? Td taken over those ‘that won't let you admit that [elows’ cluiiny in good Could u've carried your proud little head | #0 back there and face those men ‘an over-stiff neck, do you think it's 4nd si Boys, the company's got orth the price? I don't your cla und they won't pay for “I'm not ecolding, Iittle person. Im thems = Du you think for @ minute ck and sore at the pass we've come Td let a vu oti ed crooks No dagun-fool pride can close my Dit ng like that over on simple, es to. the fact or keep me from at- sauare-dealing Ws sro too {tting freely that I love you Just é 2 P terests uch and want you as longingly ry tet of @id the day [ put_you abourd the d w up tanley D. at Hella Coola. 1 thought lols omer . le those bu were stepping iadly out of my others wallowed th senesatiae fe then. And I let you go free snow for tice weeks, on bacon Mthout anything but a dumb protest andtheans, to grab w pot of gold fo ninst fate, because it was your them! Ii makes my fist double up eh. J can step out of your life when T think about it pin—it it 1s your wish, yt Tean's | “And 1 wouldn't be put off or pl self in your citie cated by a chance to fatten my own maeen ware even for your sake, to bankroll, 1 didn't care if | broke the y the game they call bupiness. Tm Free Gold Mining C ana ce e1 er nor can I become a self like rie t docanesr I have nothin “That's all of that, 1 ‘contempt for those who are. Mind two whoops about the , this is not so sweeping a state- No gold in the Klappan nt as it sounds, “No one has & and other corners of the North w mer appreciation of what civiliza- ever I need But it nay m moans than I. Out of It has 1 can't stand that cutthroat en culture and knowledge, much And Granville, like mo ¥ what should make the world a of its lives by a er place for us all, But somehow of th doesn't apply to the mass, and inakes i n't 1 fe © of mode noney., The ci ange hen- ated me. Anyway, a town Jcularly not to the circles we in- js no place for me, [ean stomach it fd in Granville. With here and about so lon, Mag later nites a solitary exception that class is cramped, too girded about with petty- eless in its smug self-satisfaction larceny conventions 8 narrowness of outlook, and un So it is up to you once more, litt hing exploitation of the less for on, If my way ta not to be your ate, repels me, U will abide b decision And to dabble my hands in th ithout whin And whenever you k, to settle down and live my life want to reach me, a message to ording to their burgeois standards, felix Courvolseur, Fort George, will ave Krossness of soft flesh replace eventually tind me, Nl fix It that was sinews, to submerge mentality tn of a specious craftinees of mind “I don't k make that Klappan trip, Um p aeees oe ee ater sa ow what I'll do after I too ence lost something of the standing that certain circles had accorded the wife of @ successful mining man. It made her ponder, wrong, after all, in his estimate of endured, a sudden them eluate that grow blew gaine worth playing? An hour or One afternoon, feeling + se ng on a lounge in her living room when Vc.ta Lorimer calied on her and ly! proc frankness just wha with Granville, that she had gay, Goodby!" She departed, Havel her a8 her in dumb amaze. She lay down on the lounge again. Was Bill 80 far Phe old pains were back. And aa she startling thought ? Tt was @ disheartening COM flashed across her mind. A possibility ? an. She had com: a family — yee, She hurrled to dress, wonder- stood well In Granville; she had ing why it had not before occurred to nb up there; if lifctime friends her, “and, phoning up a taxi, rolled hot and cold like that, was the downtown to the office of Dr. Hart so later she returned. A man stoi on the man- and stared at | stared after Was picture of he She took it down with « tremulous: sr ith great = "Oh, Bill vught of lecture d to tell Have r deserting Bil). The Was uot gentle, You've bad quite enough," Mare cried. “If you have any more ins please get rid of them elvewh: t think you are” “Oh, I don't care what you think of — me Birl interrupted recklessly - IR NIN. “If L did 1 would here, V'd hide CHAPTER MIN behind the conventional rules of the Home Again. blind that OM ue w enou go with hin ashamed ment, in he tion And man, yeul and n't blunder along. But gifted WELVE months works many with yor egotism, Whatever you ‘are, a change on a changing Bill of yours loves you, and if frontier, Hazel found thie ure anything for him you should Re atin ana Gama ts Cia ith him. would, if 1 were lucky bide ay " Bh tos! in your shoes, I'd hev route she found the itself T. P. bridging the last gap in @ trans: continental system, it traing west- bound already within striking distance of Fort George, She could board @ sleeping car at le and detratn within a hun of the ancient trading post ha fast river boat to carry her the ing distance, Fort. Georg: ied up & jumbled area of houses und tents, log buildings, frame structures yellow in thetr new- hess, strangers to paint as yet, On every hand otners stood in” varying stages of t Folks hurried down into wanted me to! “Are you Aare rstand, I'm not to own it, Im no sent al prude to throw up my hands orror at a perfectly natural emo- But he is not for me, widn't give him fitricd, And I uch pride--strange as to your=to try, so long as he jy about the sturd 4 y of w future 1 hand and foot to your char- greatness, And » left the boat rh you're making him suffer, and followed wa of 1 enough to want him to planks toward Jake Lauer a days happily, He is a stepped out of a store, squarely tate ind there are 80 few of them her path. men Lf you cama make bim His round face Ut up with a smile of recognition. And Hazel, from the long and lonesome jour: was equally to set eyes on @ fam- ilar, a genuine friendly tace “I am pleased to welgome you back to Gott's country, Mrs, Vagstaff,” he said. Und let me carry dot suld case alretty.” They walked two blocky to the King’s Hotel, where Lau were housed. He was in for supplies, he told her, and, of course, his wife and children accompanied him. She arranged to go back to the ranch with them, then set out to tind Felix Courvolseur, to send word to Bi. Bho easily found Courvoiseur, a tall, spare Frenchman, past middie age Yor, he could di ‘& Message to Bill Wagstaff; that 1s, he could send a man, Bill Wagstaff was in the Klap- pan Range “But if he should have left thore Hazel suggested uneasily “"E weel leave weeth W'itel Lewees word of w'ere 'e go," Courvoiseur re- assured her, “An’ my man, w'ich ees my bruzger-in-law, wich T can mos’ fully trua’, ‘e weel follow 1. So Heol '# ees arrange. 'E ees say mos? parteecular if madame eas come or weeah for forward message, geot hs to me queeck, Ou}, Long-tam know me, [am for depend Courvoiseur kept a trader's stock of woods in a w + beaten old house which sprawied a hundred feet back from the street. Thirty years, he told her, he bad kept that store tn Vort George, She suggested that Bill had selected him because he was a fixture, She sat down at his counter and wrote her message. Just a few terse lines. And when she had de- Ivered it to Courvoiseur she went back to the hotel. There was nothing now to do but wait, And with tho message under Way she found herself impatient to reach the cabin, to spend the waiting days where shy had first found happiness, She could set her house in order against her man's coming, And if the days dragged, and the great, lone land seemed to close in and prass upon her she would huve t be patient very patient Jake was held up, waiting for sup ples, Fort George suffered a rugar famine. Two days later, tue belated freight arrived. He loaded bis wugon, 2 ton of gods for himself, a like Hazei's supplies afd be- A wodiy load, but he drove out of } George with four strapping bap ching ther power. ful necks, and champing o1 the bit “Pour days ve vill make it by der ranch,” Jake chuckled, “Mit der mule und Gretohen, der cow, von veek it take me, mit half der loat." Lauer pulled up tefore his own cabin at mid-afternoon of the fourth day, unloaded his own stuff, and drove to his neighbor's with the rest “Pi walk back after a little,” Hazel told him, when he had piled her goods in one corner of the kitchen, The rattle of the wagon d She was alone—at home, Her eyes filled ax she roved restlessly from kitchen to living room and on into the bedroom at the end, Bill had un- packed. The rugs were down, the books stowed in famillar disarray upon thelr sh , the bedding spread in semi-disorder where he had last slept and gone away without troubling to smooth It out im noune y fashion, ame back to the ated herself in_ the nud expected to be lonely, very y, But she was not. Perhaps thut would come later. Mor the pres- nd away, ent it seemed as if she had reached of something, as if she were very tired, and had gratefully «ome to a welcome resting place. Kaze oul the end She turned her By Maurice Ketten| door where the forest capped autumn haze, and a vert had on i "Oh, to feel the Where the Trail 1 could ni She blinked the gladness of enough to ever black there alone. She would gladly supper in the Kitchen fireplace, laid down to sleep It seemed the do, But she had not ex arrange the Lauers the night with the she closed the door und walked a! through the woods. CHAPTER XX. After Many Days. EPTEMBER trooped pa: roof. the cabin livably had promised marched ots and poplar groves grew yellow and brown, and car 4 the woods with had rescued her from h tree bared November peted fallen leaves waunt limba to every Only the spruce and pine stood forth w, in their year-round babiliments The days shortened steasily and bitter with green The nights grew long, blanketing Winter orack- over all the frost. Snow fe he the floor of Shrub and autumn wind purple ted came back to her Wind grow leaps or learn the way And wisdom of the Town. The town to have grown remote, a fantasy \n which she had played a puppet part But she was home again it endured strong rry her through what- might come to her Yoods have cooked her and normal own dink de «1 thing to todern, d to find makes for der he man iss & mi to spend brewery. oO ently der mind pra way logic It vil content find in der simple under her natu and between ed the dead leave ed bis whip masterfully north Day by day, often she wor would ling ing. Often herself op sound, her heart oxpuctation, And « down again, her clench ijured herse! doggedly ax Ul to make due a of distance for which faring 4 man across th would come. that he inight not Meantime, with sciousness of a marvel c Golf-rest She wort, tasks such as at that ence. All her old found silenc the which infoide tances whi span, had va len over an mace, of security winds whistling ab a restful lullaby Nfted their rd, tu the cold, star. listened without he edges night she at some leaping wild way would urrying to things might bold him bs as one. only ,ahe wu tu ey tne manif might overtake silent his ho 1 She marveled It was unique tn her experi- id dread pathless like a prison wail, din- im Int the These thingy, which were wont to op- ee ay. January 29, 191 —_.!he bad borrowed to the open in. terrible conditions: Vast undulations to a range of suow- inountaing it seemed If only true October they Huzel's eyes with wld 4 or Many sion inconceivable *t terwent a a Ke housewife finds self-imposed in her own hor She was seldom lonely pro- forests What Would YOU Do— If you were on this earth and your sweetheart lived on Mars? That's one of a hundred queer and original complications in NEXT WEEK’S COMPLETE NOVEL IN THE EVENING WORLD, By Edgar Rice Burroughs (Aathor of “TARZAN OF THE APES,” &c.) Did you read “UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS,” by Edgar Rice Bur- rougs, in The Evening World a few weeks ago? “THE GODS OF MARS" is @ sequel to that great serial. It is also a complete story by itself, Don’t mias it. Remember “THE GODS OF MARS" will begin tn Monday's Evening World. press her, reeling along aforbid ways, seemed but @ natural aspect of life, of which and bewildered. she herscif was a part. With that she opened the door and Often, sitting before her glowing fire- ran to him. He started, aa If she had place, watching a flame kindled with been a ghost. Then he opened his ine n bands with wood she nad 4 arms and drew her close to him, r Fried from the pile outside, she — "3i1l, Bil, What made you sodone?® pondered this. It defied her powers of ate whispered. “I ‘guess 1¢ Hare self analysis, She cowld only accept tt right, but it ever- ana fact and be glad. Granville ald tme. Da Se all that Granville stood for had with- "What made me so ‘tong? he drawn tog: more or los remote back eohoed. bend! as eae ground. “Nhe could look out over geniecs bed watcn smmoatnuees of Bie tho from-apangied forests and feel that “Eorg: T'didn't Know oer waned she lacked nothing—nothing save ber y ain't no tolepathler, hon. You necee mate. There was no Impression of yeeped one ittle word snes t loft transient ablding; no chafing to b© flow long you been hacer e elsewhere, 4 do Hagotaboss ft was “Since last September. She smiled home, she reflected; perhaps that was “Dian : (Fe she reflected; perhaps up at him. “Didn't Courvoiseur'’s man to send her imagination down at them like a man fresh- wakened from a d: .m, unbelieving deliver & message from n A simple routine served to fill her ine? Didn't yo ‘ me to the day Sho kept ber house shining, my moray * YoU come in answer to » covuked her food, carried in her Bi ok his head, ol Except on days of forthright Groene case storm she put on her snowshoes, and teinbercalonsle, whost—since - | with w little rifle in the crook of ber ye"nurmuone: YOU boar Httle. gint” pdom through the i gave her © me through | arm prow! ©, If you sent word vooda—partly because It irvoleeur, Teaaure to, rapge, aturdily afield, Kot It. Maybo something Pe Pawise partly for the physical brace of exer MM Man. T left the Klappan’ with tion In the crisp al Otherwise she 1 e std snow. Went al: titled’ comfortably before tho fre- 1Y over around the Finiay Miser oinn place and aewed, or read souething & Couple of trappers. Coudmeesetts pat down. Never hear out of Bill's catholic assortment of rT heard a word from yor | books. Vd wiven you up. ‘I Sust blew fa thie Jt was given her, also, to learn the aout y sheer accident, Girl, srl, you true meaning of nelghboriiness, ‘Sat Tle Know how good ‘it'ls to see you Kindiiness of spirit which in stifled by G¥aln, to have this warm body, of stress int crowded plac and Yours cuddled up to me again, ‘4 stimulated by like streas amid sur- YU came righ: here and plagt roundings where life Ix non-complex, Yourself to wait tif turned ro | direct, Where cause and effect: tre: jure!” She la up ughed 1 oiwach other's heels, Every day, if 1 sent you word even ipeDuys “But | She tailed to drop into thelr cabin, Kot it.” Oh, well, ‘it doce, eever | came one of her nelghbors to see tf all Nothing matters now. “your etter: | were well with her. Quite as a mat- lter of course Jake kept st | plenished for her # great pile Wood, Or they would come, babies and I'm here, and bity erst 4 p= Oh, | tee ‘ae pi6-headed ‘Byer. chance with m ee oe 4 and all, bundied in furs of Jake's ay"—he held h fe ling up of an evening length a ! off at arm's trapping, Jingling up ‘Aad while know h dmiringly-"do you want. to the frisky bays. crap Rear ee munched hay in Roaring chance with chi f 1 oF taking a Bil Wagstaff» sueble, they would , . I was on my cluster about the open hearth, pop- ping corn for the children, talking, | Riways with cheerful optimism, \"ehind Lauer's mild blue eyes lurked a mind that: burrowed in , if you two pins; to gee if thought You atti mines | Yur game was better than “Well, you don't hay | Weis co the roots of things. He had eastbound trae ne and tne take any jTived wud Worked and read, and, pon~ oried gayly. “ny hety net out” she | Goring tt all, he had summed Up ® care a lot more thaneane eu you L | fow of the verities : 1 bins, “One ren tiat, any number of | ""Lite, tt las giffen us, tind ve must ix months, Bille Than a one {oft it make der beat vo can,” be anid Self. and your too, 2 i, f@ hurt my- [Once to Tugel, fondiine a few Book® to Jar me out we iy ist to, Reta Jolt fs ne nae soot yust der iting. o urtit, 2 Selfacen tema life, if only ve go not astray afder 1 wot it, and’ ty And its funny.’ Toame wana der voolish dings—-und tf der self. a fresorvation struggle vears us not cause I thought 1 ought to, because, out #0 dot ve gannot enjoy being alife. was our home, but rather dread And I've been quite contented and ‘ ‘any las struggle und slave under So many {sa Und it iss largely happy: only hun, Hungry, tor yout Oh #0 drogatulky Bill kissed her, because off ignorance. Ve know not the vot ve can do-und ve shrink vrom int make ay be any i d. * Bul der unknown, partner, Youre Us a real “Here iss acres by der dousand vree [Pt right stuaee to dermun vot can off it make une-- f0¥@ You more than ever. “Te you tte Und dousands vot liff# und dies und & mistake vou paid for it, Ika @ neffer hasa a home. Here ise goot, Kome short. What's a few months glean air—und in der shmoke und Seve al! our lives before us, and it shivells und dirty streets (aw 4 ravage fo) te Wow We've pol atereenee of tuberculosis, Der balance iss not ‘N68 agai Und in her own vay der rich | “Amen!” she whispered, “f Jrouble—drunk mit eggeite- #@Y, man of mine, you've been at \t Aob, der (mil, and I know what the traif i mountains und streams, You must be hungry. I've Bot all Dlenty off food und a Kindly neighbor Kinds of goodies cooked in the kiteh. jas not dot_enough? Only der ab- 6. Take off your clothes and It ge ants more as dot. ont 1 you something to eat, uuble tse largely dot der “I'l go you," cifilization gry, Maude a’ lou sald, abnormal, vedder 4 for the night. | got x ust re = IMonaire or vorks in der ning loose outside, so 1 Contentment tas a state off scuffing arou 80 Lf you heartem und if der mind vorks mit the wolve: surprise ¢ tes full ment, veary mit bleasures: “T am hua- find a fire when J cam, dings” in, Thought first somebody Tt sounded like a pronouncement of ling through had put up, sThenh see Will'w., But Lauer did not often OW those slippers lying there. Thar sae werious, Mostly Ire sure and I wife likewise, manheipated them to the source of making 4 9 you stepped out," > ar ate Lied he ohuckled at the recollection” eir del axel lit the la a Hagel und P od Lewres fire, plying tt tn wool he HH ; t had fou vid land slipped a heavy bath r r OO ebeatag ihindly te silence nightgown and went into the eats reatful In its forested peace, @ CUP Kitchenemerging therefora: or sickness of woul, Twiea now It with a tray of food and a wattinse self. t their Water to make coffee. This she und Decomber went thel get uu the fire, Wherever she appointed way~-and still no word of inoved Bill's oyes followed her with Hill, If now and then her pillow Wa9 a gleam of joy, tinctured with smi! she struggled mightily against ing incredutousness. When the kettle ke noticed When of depression, She was not lonely in the was mately bestowed on th dire significance of the word—but 888 drew her on his knee Th oy) he longed paxsionately for him, And #he minute she perched ii rich sontias ray Rela fast to her £ t he would ‘Then sho rome content, softly come, hes ee ctiatie weil ho lant of the old year she went gho whispered, withey matt ttle abroad, ventured a bevels fo"? wane to mae the clearing. 1 Now Year's thing. Hive Jake Lauer's wife came to the “sure, What is it?” he asked. and cabin to stay “Come and see," she smiled Ce SEN etn ph ey cig took up the lamp. Hill tetloees Mazel up, wide awake on the obediently. > N followed lite instant was not the slightest Close Uj beside her bed stood a y sound al been deep in sleep. » ware cri, Hagel wee ene Nevert! sho felt rather than ja A table, and turnings $28 knew that sone ono was in the ving bundle of blankets which hed’ te sound of the door new through her corner, reveal lumbe She hesitated an Inetant up Infant face not through fear, because in the For the love of Mike! és months of living alone fear had ut. tered Te itis tr" Bill mut terly forsaken her; but hope had — “It's our son,” she whispere: , isaied no often, only to fall sicken- ly, “Horn the tenth oe pe peeud: ingly, that she was half persuaded three weeks ago to-da Doi {t_muat bea dream, Still the impres- ~-you great be strengthened. She slipped out For Bill was of bed, The door of the bedroom tiny morsel of humanity with ml slightly ajar. nge, abashed smile on his face, Hill stood before the fireplace, his his big, clumsy fingers touching the shagey fur cap pushed far back on Soft pink cheeks, And when he stood his head, his gauntlets swinging from UP he drew a long breath and laid one the cord about his neck, She had left 4m across her shoulders, it bed of coals on the hearth, | "Us two and the kid." he sald whim- and the glow shone rediy on his frost- sically, It should be the hardest woabbed fac But the marks of bit oy meeion |p ee word ia bust, Are tor tratl bucking, the marks of frost. ¥° ® perso’ bite, the stubbly beard, the tiny icicles J pedaed, sUbging to him, word that still clustered on his eyebrows: grea’ the Saby'e’ fase nea tee ©OVe while these traces of hardship tugged back to sit before the great hey weal at her heart they were forgotten When where tho kettle bubbled cheerfully sie waw the expression that over- and the crackling blaze sent forth, i adowed his face. Wonder and un- challenge to the bevy of frost sprit ef and longing were all mirrored that held high revel outside, m § » of opening had filtered urnitu irew back ane round, puckered nw a f there, She took a shy step forward — And, after a time, the blaze dted to to see What riveted his gaze. And na heap of glowing embers and the despite the oh king sensation in her forerunning wind of a northeast stor; ‘at sie smniled—for she had taken soughed and whistled about the hoube beaded house moccasins deep Wrapped in contented slumberta aud left them lying on the bearskin house no longer divided against itself, before the fire, and he was staring (THE END) % ase