The evening world. Newspaper, May 17, 1916, Page 15

ura of the Northland: Copyright, the Frank A. Munsey Co, £ if : - 5 i [ i i i ny ral i - F I g i Ff Fy i i i i Es f g i i 3 t I i 5 | z F § itE j i ate dt = Af i = . the wanderer to die, Hersoti tolls fe practically & prucuer under bis boil any, Fate it will be, at leant ce forma on the, lager lakes y be reached ly in, Lure, the two y ae ge ts diy t ‘Woodsen, irr apd Andrew Houlter, and the’ Iudian $Bapher doumey witn losted canoes. Mer. fcUirr are in the second canve, wiieb, I the, rapide, te beet, eecued 32 jerton ‘is the 8; A 5 .. 5 the rap. ron has 0 pee the CHAPTER VI. (Continued,) The Reversion. ITH a twist of his neck Met ton dropped the pack to the ground. As it struck there was a harsh, grating rattle. Merton pulled out his pocket knife and bent down quickly, One slit in the bag and his suspicions were confirmed. The sack contained only large, round stones wrapped in pieces of burlap, Instantly McGirr’s plan became clear, He would run the rapids, pick up the two packs of ammunition that had been carried across, and before Merton had carried his second burden to the lower end of the portage would be on his way. Again he would be stranded, now with the river between him and the two posts. It was the trick of which Lura had warned him, for which he had watched until he believed that nothing would happen, The trail to the river below the rapids was shorter than the stream itself, but a man in a canoe could make the longer journey in much less time than another, with a heavy pack, could walk across. Merton realized this as quickly as he saw the entire plot of the woodsman, and he turned and ran up the trail. Over a ridge, down across a swamp and then up a slight rise before dip- ping fain to the river bank, the portage led, It was less than a quarter of a mile, and Merton cov- d it quickly. Panting, he topped the rise and saw the boxes of ammunition, He had beaten McGirr, Slowly he walked down the incline toward the river, and as he walked the first wave of violent passion he had ever known swept over him. For @ moment he trembled before the fury of it. His knecs became weak, his hands clenched, his eyes closed to slits, and ethrough the slits he saw, not the trall and the river, but only the face of the young voodsman, And in his mind there was only one thought. To strike and rend, to tear and crush that sneering face would be the sweetest pleasure for which he had ever striven, Vaguely Merton wondered at this strange desire that gripped him. Never in his life had he known such thoughts, such desires, Never bad the well-arranged extst- ence of the past given cause for such emotions, And as hatred for this man gripped him until be gasped, until the blood pounded against his temples, he was glad that it was so, He felt a joy in his anger that he had never known before, and when the storm had paased it left him, not weak and sbak- ing, but steady, firm, resolved to do what he wished to do, Fear never came to him, fear of what McGirr might do, what pain he might tnfiict. Only with the recession of the first turbulent wave came caution, and he dropped quickly behind a spruce sap- ling not ten feet from the river bank. Immediately the canoe, impelled from the chute by the power of the current, stopped in the centre of the whirlpool, turned and drew in to the shore, and McGirr was out and lifting the first pack into the canoe, To Merton, as he charged, there seemed nothing new in the scene, He was the primeval man. The roaring river on one side, the hill rising from the flat space at the end of the port- age, the illimitable forest surround- ing everything-—it was all old, natural, commonplace, The city, all that it had taught, all that had been im- pressed upon him, were gone, It was not @ beautiful fight A lynx and a wolf fight as did these men, Tearing, striking, inflicting pain but never feeling it; gasping with exertion, grunting from the shock of body meeting body, each seeking with tense fingers for a grip of the throat, searching with eager thumbs for the goft, yielding cavities which hold the eyes; lifting the kne equi up, eyes bright, his chest heaving 0 in quick, powerful blows, clinging with arms and legs and with teeth bared for the coveted opportunity, they swayed and rolled and stag- @ered back and forth at the foot of the hill, Twice McGirr went down in the @hock of collision, and once Merton, caught in the huge arms of his adver- wary, felt the breath and the strength leave his body. Only a powerful thrust with his knee in the pit of McGirr's stomach released him and gave him the opportunity for a wild, vicious swing of the right fist which | caught the woodsman on the jaw and sent him sprawling backward, Instantly Merton was upon him, ‘With his fingers he grasped the other's hair and, his whole strength in the ort, he lifted the matted head and battered the face again and again on the frozen ground. Nor did be stop until the last struggle of the body between his knees had ceased, until the head which he ripped flopped back and forth with- out the stiffening of a muscle to re- sist his efforts, Merton jumped to his feet. Head above his laboring lungs, the per- spiration amarting in his eyes and a bruise on his side beginning to tingle, he looked round, The river roared and Merton heard it as the upplause of the wilderness, as a welcome to its inner shrine, The sun smiled upon him, the tips of the | spruces waved @ greeting. He was| home, He turned and rolled MoGirr over| with a thrust of his foot, The man’s face, white beneath the blood, would) have been shocking an hour before. Now it was only a proof of Merton’s| own fitness, | Still smiling, he turned away. First| he loaded the canoe, Then, with his hat, he carried water to his foe and threw it upon the upturned face, Af-| ter the third hatful the body twisted, | the arms moved, the eyes opened, | “Get up!" commanded Merton} sharply. | There was no movement, and he prodded McGirr in the ribs. | “Get up and into that canoe,” ho ordered, | MoGirr, frightened, attempted to/| rise, only to fall backward with a moan, Merton reached down and grasped the man’s collar, Then, un- mindful of the rocks and rough| ground, he dragged him to the canoe and dropped him into the bow, “Lie there,” he said, as he turned and picked up his paddle, Then, a smile still on his lips, a wild, new joy swelling within him, he pushed off and went dashing on down the swift water, out of the river and on to the lake. CHAPTER VII. Gaining Ground. T was midnight when Mer- ton, weary, aching, gave a last proud thrust of his paddie and felt the canoe grate on the sand before the headquarters of the strange band which held him virtually a prisoner. For hours and hours he had been pro- pelling the heavily loaded freight canoe with the burden which Herson found so important. McGirr etill lay in the bow, Three times Merton had aroused him to In- quire the way in the darkness. Once he had thought he would compel the woodsman to paddle, as he had been compelled to paddle, But the joy of single accomplishment came to him, and he paddled on, oblivious of the groans that sometimes issued from the bow. “Hullo!” cried Merton when the canoe stopped, In a moment lights appeared in two of the buildings. Merton straight- ened his cramped legs and stepped ashore as he heard doors opened, “Get out!" he commanded as stood over McGirr, “Crawl up your kennel.” Then, still with the exultation of his double achievement upon, him, he began to unload the ammunition, “That you, Charley?” he heard Her- son cry from the top of the bank, “MoGirr's her answered Merton, “He needs a little help, “What's the matter?" demanded the leader as he ran down to the canoe, Two other figures followed, and Merton recognized Lochrie And Lura, He continued to unload the canoe, “What's the matter?” repeated Her- son, peering at McGirr in the dark- ness as the young canoeman staggered to hig feet and began to climb the bank, Merton ceased working and waited for the answer, In his new pride he did not care what McGirr said, what Herson would think of this attaok upon ono of his men, Merton had won a fair fight, had won it decisively, and he could fight again, If Herson had instructed McGirr to leave him on the portage, he could deal with Herson as he had dealt with the other, He would net be bullied, humiliated, exultantly ne to longer, And then McGirr spoke. “I fell off that steep rock on the Chute portage,” he mumbled as he went on up the bank, “loot slipped, and the tump-line caught around my neck,” Can You \WHAT Do You WANT 2 uF aah My NTH SOU. j THE NEXT s Don't Bite sera, A SAVING ACCOUNT Ms: Beat It? me! ® abiong CY Ger ir? ps WIFE ? AND How 2 aewittthe, By Maurice Ketten tS aNSY MAIDEN NAME oF GRAND.MOTHER SisTeR Aunt > BUSINESS _ AGE. MARRIED, SINGLE OR Oworcen?} NAME ¢ ene ? WHERE Wi i 7 ; el iy ) fou gone ’ we dese “But you're badly hurt, man!” cried Herson as he supported MoGirr with an arm under his shoulders, “And you brought. this canoe from the river?” asked Lura, who had walked on past the others to where Merton stood, “Yes,” be answered as he recovered from his amazement “He couldn't paddle.” . “You paddled alone?" demanded Herson, “Yes, There was no one else, with him in that shape.” “Give me a hand with Charley, here, Jim,” Herson said to Lochrie, “Boyd, you come on up. We'll ‘tend to the load later. You've had a hard night.” *Siowly, for McGirr was weak, the litue group went on up to the cook camp. Mrs. Lochrie, earnestly solici- tous, was ready. With the natural in- tuition of the nurse she had started a fire and laid out cloth for bandages, Herson and Lochrie helping, she bathed McGirr’s face and tore a band- age for a cut on his forehead, Lura, after one jook at the Injured man in the light, turned to Merton with a curlous expression, Merton felt that she suspected something, but he was entirely unprepared for her question, What did he try to do?” othin, he answered lamely. Nonsense,” she whispered, “He didn’t get that face in a fall, Tell me.” Merton saw that she was not to be deceived, “He tried to leave me at that port- age on the river.” “And Charley is a hard man," was her comment as she turned away to the others, but not before Merton had caught a quick glance of admiration, “You did well, Boyd," said Herson, when McGirr had been attended to, “That was an important load, and I appreciate your getting it through, Sit down, and there'll be something for you to eat presently.” Lura never again referred to the fight, nor did Merton believe she spoke of it to her father, MoGirr re- mained at headquarters for two days, sullen, silent, Then, after a high wind which broke up what ice had formed in bays and narrows, he sud- denly departed alone for “One Post,” ‘The others settled down to the annual imprisonment which comes with gon- eral freezing. The morning after his fight with McGirr, Merton was again sent to the woods, Day alter day he chopped, gaining more proficiency with the ax and an accompanying pride and pleasure in ite use, For the first time in his life joy was coming to Lim through his muscles, Tennis, golf, even polo, became prosaic be- side this game of fighting the wilder- ness, Twice he was sent on short trips by canoe with Lochrie, Once he went with Ne-bau-be-nis to pack in the meat of a caribou the Indian had killed, Another day he and Lura spent long hours hunting partridge. And whether he strained at the Paddle, toiled beneath a heavy bur- den of meat, swung his ax or merely tramped through the forest with the girl, he felt the same sensations, glowed with the same pride, The wilderne had snared hin He had Proved himself fit, and each day the forest opened new vistas, found new and subtle entrances to his soul, But, added to this new joy of his physical existence, there came a series of evenings which brought equal pleasure and an equal surprise. A week after his fight with McGirr he was invited for the first time to the Herson cabin, In appearance it was much the same as the other buildings both at headquarters and at “One Post.” But, alone in their home, he found Lura and her father two entirely different Persons. There was a gentleness and refinement in thelr manner, both to- ward each other and toward Merton, that impressed him as being doubly remarkable when he remembered that this same gentle, beautiful girl had once left him to die; that she had once calmly told him that his life was still in danger, Another startling discovery for Merton was an astounding ignorance of the outside world coupled with a most evident mental development, They quoted Shakespeare and bits of Indian legends indiscriminately, and yet they had never heard of the wireless, of the graphophone, of acro- planes or motor cars, They knew ancient history, but nothing of what was happening in their own time, They had many books— books which interested Merton because of their strange old bindings and print, books of which he knew little. A quick survey of their library ex- plained what they did know wel the mystery which had always sur- rounded hid the reason for their ignorance of what to him were commonplaces. In the many evenings that followed the first visit to the Herson cabin the young man made unmistakable progress in the formation of a firm friendship, Both Tura ond her father listened, sometimes for hours, while he revelled in this strange opportun- ity to explain things which to bim were as familiar as buttoning bis col- lar, and yet which to these people were as fairy tales, them Otten, a8 he went back to his bed After such an evening, he rebelled against their continued reticence con- cerning their own affairs, their own life, Twice be had tried to open the subject, only to be shown firmly that it was impossible, But he found that something was be- coming greater than the mystery. It was his admiration for these people. Although they told him nothing, he began to sense something of the herote in Herson, and each day he ee found himself liking the man more, admiring him more. His first ideas of the leader vanished, and his first resentment became less and less. The man was stern, inexorable, at times, but he always gave an im- preasion of absolute sincerity, and, back of it all, Merton sensed a cause, What it was, what It possibly could be in such @ pla.., he could not even imagine. Neither could he believe that He son or his daughter wero connected with any criminal enterprise. He firmly believed them incapable of it, and yet, when he tried to analyze this faith in them, he found nothing to support it, while alwaya there was the picture of McGirr and Boulter and the whiskey. Merton no longer felt any resent- ment because of Lura’s actions when he first saw her, Now he only won- dered what cause could be su great, So compelling that this girl could harden her heart and assume the role of both judge and executioner, Surely @ great faith, a great purpose, must be the underlying cause of the strange acts of these stranger people, There was no effort to hide any- thing from Merton, but what he saw in no way cleared up the mystery. The headquarters was evidently only a fur trading post. “One Post” was only am auxillary. He saw the store with {ts goods, heard Lochrie and Herson discuss the Indians and the chances for a big harvest of fur, heurd Mrs. Lochrie and Lura talk of the coming of the Indian families in the early summer and the arrival of the men alone at Christmas with the early season's catch, In none of this was there anything mysterious, In the mean time winter had come to the north country a month there had been no visitors to the headquarters post. Merton continued to cut firewood, and when the snow came Lochrie, with a of doxe, began to haul it. At Jast all the lakes were solidiy frozen o' even the great lake which .., before the hoad- que ters, Herson had been waiting impa- tlently for the beginning of winter travel, and as soon as he was satis~ fied that the ice was firm he departed with Ne-bau-be-nia for still another post further to the east. L with tie first io, began to break in her dog team. Six great huskies, fierce when others were near, obeyed her ‘mplicitly, and she drove continuously, It was the third day after the de- parture of Herson that the first Jf dian arrived at (tho headquarters post Lura, who was tn charge in the absence of her father, atood in the open d@or of the store as he came up the bank from the ico, Moers ton was passing on hia way to the woods. The Indian would have delayed for several hours had he come only to trade, D Lr. toe &-. 3 Chal there was another object in his mis- sion, She spoke to him in Ojibway. Quick questions and answers fol- lowed, and then the girl turned to Merton. “Help me with my dogs, quick,” she said, “This man’s wife is very ill, and I want to reach his tepee to-night if I can. Tell Mra. Lochrie T am going.” She locked the door of the store and ran to her own home, When Merton had her cariole ready she re- turned, dressed for a ‘journey, A whistle brought her dogs, and ten minutes after the arrival of the In- dian Tura was waving goodby as the huskies dashed down the bank and out across the ice. It was after dark that night that McGirr arrived from “One Post.” It was his first trip since the fight, and he came for a conference with Her- son, Merton he ignored, Mrs, Loch- rie told him where the others were as he sat down to supper, With McGirr came the storm, By bedtime the wind was roaring down from the north and the snow was driving horizontally before it. In the morning its fury had increased, and drifts were piling up on the north sides of the buildings, Merton did not go out to work, With a book he bad obtained from Lura he settled himself by the fire, But he found that he could not read He laid the worn volume aside and talked with Mra, Lochrie, With each unusual blast of the storm he walked to the window and looked out over the lake, Twice he went out for firewood and for water, and each time he the increasing bitterness of the cold, the added velocity of the wipd, saw the increasing depth of the snow “Do you think Miss Herson will be travelling in this storm? he asked Mrs, Lochrie in middie of the forenoon “Don't you worry about he was the cheerful reply, “She can travel as well a9 any man, and she knows enough not to be out on a day like thia, In this country, lad, people are just like animals, When « storm comes they ‘hole up’ until it's over, Don't you worry about her, I wouldn't, any more than I'd worry about Jim. But Merton found that he did worry, He paced back and forth between the stove and the window, He hurried through his dinner to look out again, And then, out of the opaque wall that shut off the lake just beyond the shore Mne, a dog team, galloping madly, burst into view, “Sere she is, Mra, Lochrie," he called, “I can see her team, She must be nearly frozen facing this wind,” Mrs, Lochrie hurried to the win- dow, “The poor girl!’ she cried compas- F a beautiful mess as did the hero of sionately, “There's few men would venture out on that lake a day like this, Run out and take the dogs so she can come in right away.” Merton got his cap and mittens and went out into the storm. The snow had been ao thick he could see only a little way on the ice, and before he got the door open the dogs were climbing the bank. As he lifted his head against the Diast that eddied around the corner of the building he cried out in his astonishment, and then shouted again in a sudden, overpowering fear. “Mrs, Lochrie!” be cried. “McGirr! Come here!" Tho door was thrown open behind him just as the dogs, their coats full of snow, the white breath being snatched from their nostrils and torn away in the wind, stopped before the building, Behind them the cartole, with its rawhide laced sides and back, atood empty. The team had come out of the storm, but Lura had not come with itl e CHAPTER VIII. The Storm. R the second time since he had entered the wilderness Merton was in the grip of & new emotion. As the blind, all-dominating fury aroused by the treachery of McGirr had taken him out of himself, wiped out cen- turles of inherited trainin, atripped him of all the refining draperies of civilization and left him a@ primitive animal, o this new emotion lifted him out of himself. But while the first had driven him to an access of action, this sappod the strength of the body and mind. He fell back against the bullding. His left band was stretched out to- ward the empty cariole, and his right feebly rubbed his eyes, as though with better vision he might really behold the girl behind the mists of the storm. For Merton wa: in love. In the + jong evenings, he had spent in the Herson cabin, in converse with ber of the strange things of the outer world, {t was an undreamed of thing. As it all flashed through bis groping mind he saw that it had been from the first, that it was at the bottom of his fight with McGirr, that it was the unseen cause of his continuing at work without thought of effort to escape and reach the railroad. And now, with the realization of what she meant to him, the girl was gone, Somewhere out in the blizsard she was, perhaps even then made life- less by the cold, her body covered by the fast-forming drifts, perbaps wan- dering aimlessly, her strength gone, the end slowly approaching in the driving, whirling snow. A sob rose in his throat, only to be checked as the muscles of his jaws suddenly tightened. He wheeled about to the two who stood staring from the doorway, and for the second time since he had entered the wilderness Merton was transformed. This time he did not revert to the primitive, Unknown to him, there was some ancestor, back before the softening days, whose spirit had sur- vived, who now claimed his own, His possession was complete, even to the © of the young man, ‘ome on, let's start,” snapped Merton as McGirr looked apatheti- cally at the dogs, tart where?” find her, man! Hurry and get r did not move, He looked out at the storm sweeping across the lake, A blast turned turtle over the roof and crashed into the door with blinding, stinging volley of icy partl- Mrs. Lochrie, hardened to a life in the northland, retreated before tt. MoGirr followed her “Do you mean you are not going to find her?” cried Merton as he dashed after the “What's the use?” replied McGirr, “You couldn't find anything in that, waving his hand toward the door, “Do you mean you won't even try? Merton's tone was low, but it car+ ried a threat more sinister than the roar with which he had charged McGirr that day on the poriage, Mc- Girr looked up sullenly “A man couldn't live on that lake," interposed Mrs, Lochrie, “He could never cross It." “The dogs did,” repiied Merton sharply. “We can with our backs to it” “And what would you do when you got across?” demanded MoGirr. “Where would you look for her? We don't even know here sho went." “At loast we would try,” snapped Berton Lura went i 0 see a sick squaw on opera sing if you had all the funds of a bank at your disposal, if the President of a republic were your chum— You might or might not let yourself get into such a A Man of Mark BY ANTHONY HOPE Next Week’s Complete Novel in The Evening World It is a story that will set your heart to bea faster: ood ea by the man who wrote “The Provaer ja. jer were in love with you, Canoe River,” offered Mrs. Loohrie. “I heard Jimmy say the tepee was about three miles from the mouth. That makes about fifteen miles from here.” ‘Do you know where that ts, Mc« Girr?” asked Merton, “Ot course. Straight across thd lake, ten miles of it, There's te chance.” Merton had been possessed by am uncontrollable fury when he bad at< tacked McGirr on the portage. Now his anger was even greater, but it was in complete control. Then he had forgotten that he had ever taken boxing lessons, although he had boxed @ great deal from pure love of the exercise, In the present contest @ thread of the science he had acquired remained to aid him, Now he was cool, and equally as fearless, and his mind, working quickly, grasped everything, McGirr, he saw, was afraid to make the jour- ney, was afraid of the storm. And in the mean time Lura was somewhere out on the ice, stumbjing along to & death as certain as the setting of the oun, “Is there a trail to the Indian's teepee?” asked Merton. “There are no trails to-day,” re« plied McG.> with a sullen laugiy 1 «lng to the stove, “How do you find the mouth of Canoe River?” “Hit straight across the lake until you strike the Dozen Islands, From them the south shore is only four miles, The Canoe empties into this” lake in a deep bay straight on south.” “Then if a man travelled straight south from here he would strike tha bay and the mouth of the river?” “Not to-day, in this storm.” “And he would find Lura some- where between here and the teepee if he kept his directions?” continued Merton evenly, disregarding the eneering tone of McGirr’s last reply. “If she didn’t leave the trail, h@ might. What are you going to dof Go after her?” This time McGirr did not conceal his contempt or hatred for the other, “Yos,” came the answer in th@ same even tones, and Merton took @ quick step nearer the young woods+ man, “Yes, I'm going, McGirr, an@ I'm going to take you to handle thq other dogs out there.” McGirr turned threateningly. “I don’t know how to handle them) but I can handle you," Merton cone tinued, “Wil you go?” “No” i Merton's fist shot straight up out from his side, and MoG! dropped forward to the floor, he lay without even the twitching a muscle, 1 “You've killed him, lad!” orted Mruy Lochrie, and then she added calmiyy “and I don't blame you.” “He's not hurt,” said Merton, “He'lf get up in @ moment and never know @ he was hit.” He pulled on his mittens and them rolled McGirr on his back. There @ movement of the eyelids, and the waodsman looked up bewildered, “Get w) commanded Merton, He reached down and grasped Moe Girr by the ebirt and yanked him t@ his knees, i “Get up and come with me, Th@ next time I'll kill you.” McGirr staggered across the floor t@ get his coat, mittens and cap. “Get some food, Mrs, Lochrle, commanded Merton, “Plenty of it, and tea, with a kettle for boiling ity And a flask of whiskey.” “There's nd whisky, lad, though © wish there were some, I'll have the lunch in a minute,” “Get a blanket and lash It to the toboggan with the lunch when it's ready and get your snowshoes, and a pair for m said Merton, turning to McGirr, “And don't lose any time,” Five minutes later McGirr turned Lura's dog team and started it to~ ward the lake, Out of the shelter of the buildings the wind struck them with a greater fury than they had be~ lieved {t possessed, and the cold stung through so sharply that even the dogs whined and turned inquiringly to their driver, Merton, the tatl rope of the carole in his hands, came last, Out on the lake MecGirr, who had taken the lead, stopped, “What's the matter?” shouted Mer« ton, en as he spoke he knew that the words never reached the other, Quickly he ran forward besi¢s th@ shivering dogs. Vhat's the matter?” he repeated “I'm not going,” replied McGirr sul lenly. “You're crazy. We'll freezes and there's no chance of finding her,"* Merton did not reply, He took ong quick step forward, and there wag that in his eyes which terrified tha an more than the blizzard, » on,” said Merton, “T'll kill you if you stop again,” (To Be Continued.) woot “¢ pennies nis CRE ee a —