Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1919 — Page 8

PAGE EIGHT

North of Fifty-Three

SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I—The atory open* !n ths town of Granville Ontario, where Mis* Hasel Weir is employed as a stenographer In the office of Harrington and Bush. She Is engaged to Jack Barrow, a young real estate agent, and the wedding day Is set. While walking with him one Sunday they tneet Mr. Bush, Hazel’s employer, who for the first time seems to notice her attractiveness. Shortly afterward, at hla request, she becorpes his private stenographer. After three months Mr. Bush proposes marriage, which Hazel declines, ana after a stormy scene In the office Hazel leaves her employment, Mr. Bush warning her he w’ould make her sorry for refusing him. CHAPTER ll—Bush makes an effort, by a gift of flowers, to compromise Hazel in 'the minds of her friends. She returns them. The next day Bush is thrown from his horse and fatally hurt. He sends for 'Hazel, who refuses to see him before he 'dies. Three days afterward It Is announced that he left a legacy of $5,000 to Hazel "In reparation for any wrong I may have done her." Hazel recognizes at once what construction will be put upon the words. Bush had his revene-e. CHAPTER 111-Jack Barrow, in a fit of lealous rage, demands from Hazel an explanation or Rush's action. Hazel's pride Is hurt, and she refuses. The engagement is' broken and Hazel determines to leave Granville. She sees an advertisement for a school teacher at Cariboo Meadows, British Columbia, and secures the situation. CHAPTER IV—Cariboo Meadows la in a wild part of British Columbia and Haul, shortly after her arrival, loses her way while walking in the woods. She wanders until night, when, attracted by the light of a campfire, she turns to it, hoping to find somebody who will guide her home. At the fire she recognizes a character known to Cariboo Meadows as "Roaring Bill Wagstaff," who had seen her at her boarding house there. He Jiromlses to take her home in the mornng. but she is compelled to spend the night in the woods.

CHAPTER V. In Deep Water. The dawn thrust aside nlghfs somWr curtains while they ate, revealing a sky overcast with slaty clouds. What with her wanderings of the night before and the journey through the dark with Roaring Bill, she had absolutely no Idea of either direction or locality. The Infolding timber shut off the outlook. “Do* you suppose I can get home In time to open school?” she Inquired (anxiously. Roaring Bill smiled. “I don’t know,” foe answered. “It all depends.” ! "You know where you are now, don’t you?” she asked. “Not exactly,” he responded. “But 5 will before long—l hope.” The ambiguity of his answer did not *scape her. She puzzled over It while Silk ambled sedately behind the other foorses. She hoped that Bill WagstafT lenew where he was going. If he did not—but she refused to entertain the alternative. And she began to watch eagerly for some sigh of familiar .ground. *■•»*.•** For Two hours Roaring Bill trampled aisles bordered with pine and ®pruce and fir, through thjekets of berry bush, and across limited areas of meadow. Not once did they fross a road or a trail. Eventually Bill halted at a small stream to get a drink. Hazel Toofceij at her watch. It was half past eight "Tj/vj£r*J£, -ffir 3?. er going to get there?” she called impatiently. so op,” to (jelled back, and struct out brfsVly^ v Another hour passed. Ahead of her, leading one pack horse and letting the other follow untrnmnieled. Roaring Bill kept doggedly on. halting for nothing. never looking back. ! They crossed a ravine and slanted <up a steep hillside. Presently Hazel could look aw T ay over an area of woodland undulating like a heavy ground ivwell at sea. Here and there ridges (Stood forth boldly above the general roll, ansl distantly she could descry a white-capped mountain range. They turned the end of a thick patch of pine ißcrub, and BHI pulled up In a small opening. From a case swinging at his belt he took out a pair of field glasses, ;and leisurely surveyed the country. “Well?” Hazel Interrogated. "Nothing In sight, is there?” Bill said thoughtfully. “If the sun was out, now. Funny I can’t spot that Soda Creek trail.” “Don’t you know this country at tall ?” she said gloomily. “I thought I did,” he replied. “But !I can’t seem to get my bearings to work out correctly. I’m awfully sorry to keep you in such a pickle. But it ican’t be helped.” He took up the lend rope and moved on. They dropped over the ridge crest and once more into the woods. Roaring Bill made his next halt beside la spring, and fell to unlashing the {packs. “What are you going to do?” Hazel tasked. “Cook a bite, and let the horses (graze,” he told her! '“Do you realize ithat we’ve been going since daylight? ilt’s near noon. Horses have to eat and irest once in a while, just the same as Ibnman beings.” The logic of this Hazel could not Well deny, since she herself was tired end ravenously hungry. By her watch It was Just noon. Bill hobbled out his horses on the Crass below the spring, made a fire, «ad set to work cooking. He worked silently at the meal getting, fried Meaks of venison, and boiled a pot of «ofltee. They ate. He filled his pipe, «od smoked while he repacked. Altogether, he did not consume more than {forty minutes at the noon halt. Hazel, 'mow woefully saddle sore, would fain feave rested longer, and. < n default of

Sinclair

Ccpmtft to UTULmm XCa

resting, tffed to walk and le&d Silk. Roaring Bill offered no objection to that. But he hit a faster gait. She could not keep up, and he did not slacken pace when she begnn to fall behind. So she mounted awkwardly, and Silk jolted and shook her with his trotting until he caught up with his mates. Bill grinned over his shoulder. “You’re learning fust,” he called back. “You’ll be able to run a puck train by and by.” The afternoon wore on without bringing them any nearer Cariboo Mead ows so far as Hazel could see. Traveling over a country swathed in timber arul diversified in contour,, she could not tell whether Roaring Bill swung in a circle or bore straight for some given point. She called a halt at four o’clock. “Mr. Wagstuff!” Bill stopped his horses and came back to her. “Aren't we ever going to get anywhere?” she asked soberly. “I’m afraid I can’t ride much longer. I could walk if you wouldn't go fast. Aren’t there any ranches In this country at all?” He shook his head. “They’re few and far between,” he said. "Don’t worry, though. It Isn’t n llfe-and-death mutter. If we were out here without grub or horses it might be tough. You’re In no danger from exposure or hunger.”

“You don’t seem to realize the position It puts me In.” Hazel answered. A wave of despondency swept over her, and her eyes grew suddenly bright with the tears she strove to keep back. “If we wander around in the woods much longer. I’ll simply be a sensation 'when I get back to Cariboo Meadows. I won’t have a shred of reputation left. It will probably result In my losing the school. You’re a man, and it’s different with you. You can’t know whnt a girl has to contend with where no one knows her.” „ P Roaring Bill looked up at her Impassively. “I know,” he said, as If he lmd read her thought. “But what’s the difference? Cariboo Meadows is only a fleabite. If you’re right, and you know you’re right, you can look the world In the eye and tell it collectively to go to the devil. Besides, you’ve got a perverted idea. People aren't so ready to give you the bad eye on somebody else’s say-so. It would take a lot more than a flash drummer’s word to convince me that you’re a naughty little girl. Pshaw—forget It!” Hazel colored hotly, but for the latter part of his speech she could have hugged Bill Wagstaff went a long way. In those brief sentences, townrd demolishing her conviction that no man ever overlooked an opportunity of taking advanfage of a wolMn. le_£s get somewhere,” he said abruptly, “if you’re tbolbuddle sore to ride, walk a while. I’ll go slower.” She walked, and the exercise relieved the cramping ache In her limbs. Roaring Bill’s slower pace was fast

She Walked and the Exercise Relieved the Cramping Ache in Her Limbs.

enough at that. till her strength began to fail. Anil when in spite o( her determination she lagged behind, he stopped at the first water. “We’ll etunp here,” he said. “You’re about all in, und we can’t get anywhere tonjght. I see plainly.” Huzel accepted this dictum as best she could. She sat down on a mossy rook while he stripped the horses of their gear and staked them out. Then Bill started u fire and fixed the roll of bedding by it for her to sit on.' Dusk crept over the forest while he cooked the supper, making a bannock in the frying pan to take the place of bread; and when they had finished eating and washed the few dishes, night shut down black ns the pit. They talked little. Hazel was in the grip of utter forlornness, moody, wishful to cry. Roaring Bill bumped on his side of the -fire, staring thoughtfully into the blaze. After a long period of abstraction he glanced at his watch, then arose qbd silently arranged her bed. After that he spread his saddle blankets and, lay down. Hazel crept into the covers and quietly sobbed herself to sleep. The huge and silent land appalled her. As on the previous night, she wakened often and glanced over to the fire. ■. \ *

THB TWICB-A-WBBK DEMOCRAT *

Roaring Bill kept his accustomed position, flat In the glow. She bad no fear of him bow. Night passed, and dawn ushered In a clearing sky. Ragged wisps of clouds chased each other across the blue when they set out again. Hazel walked the stiffness out of her muscles before she mounted. When she did get on Silk, Roaring Bill Increased his pace. He was long-legged and light of foot, apparently tireless. She asked no questions. What was the use? He would eventually come out somewhere. She was resigned to wait. After a time she began to puzzle, and the old uneasiness came back. The last trailing banner of cloud vanished, and the sup rode clear In an opal sky, smiling benignly down on the forested land. She was thus enabled to locate the cardinal points of the compass. Wherefore she took to gauging their course by the shadows. And the result was what set her to thinking. Over level and ridge and swampy hollqw, Roaring Bill drove straight north in an undeylatlng llDe. ■ She recollected that the point from which she had lost her way had lain northeast of Cariboo Meadows. Even If they had swung In a circle, they could scarcely be pointing for the town In that direction. For another hour Bill held to the northern line as a needle holds to the flole. A swift rush of misgiving seized her.

“Mr. Wagstaff!” she called sharply. Roaring Bill stopped, and she rode Silk up past the pack horses. “Where are you tuking me?” she demanded. “Why, I’m taking you home—or trying to,” he answered mildly. “But you’re going north,” she declared. “You’ve been going north all morning. I was north of Cariboo Meadows when I got lost. How can get back to Cariboo Meadows by still* farther north?” "You’re more of a woodsman than I Imngined,” Bill remarked gently. He smiled up at her, and drew out hla pipe and tobacco pouch. She looked at him for a minute. “Do you know where we are now?” she asked quietly. He met her keen gaze calmly. “I do.” he made laconic answer. “Which way Is Cariboo Meadows, then, and how far Is it?” she demanded. “General direction, south,” he replied slowly. “Fifty miles more or less. Rather more than less.” “And you’ve been lending me straight north!” she erled. “Oh, what am I going to do?” “Keep light on going,” Wagstaff answered. r “I won’t —I won’t!” she flashed. I’ll find my own way back. Wliut devilish impulse prompted you to do such a thing?” “You’ll have a beautiful time of It,” he said dryly, completely ignoring her last question. “Take you three days to walk there —if you knew every foot of the way. And you don’t know the way. Traveling in timber is confusing, ns you’ve discovered. You’ll never see Cariboo Meadows, or any other place, if you tackle It single-handed, without grub or matches or bedding. This is fi whopping big country. A good many men have got lost in it — and other men have found their bones.” _ He let this sink in while she sat there on his horse choking back a wild desire to curse him bv bell, book and candle for'what hie had done, and holding In check the fenr of what he mljght yet do. She could hot esdhpe the conclusion that Roaring Bill Wagstaff was something of a law unto himself, capable of hewing to the line of his own desires at any cost. She realized her utter helplessness, and the realization left her without words. had drawn a vivid picture, and the Instinct of selfpreservation asserted Itself. “You misled me.” She found her voice at jast. “Why?” "Did I mislead you?” he parried. "Weren’t you already lost when you fame to my camp? And hnve I mistreated you In any manner? Have I refused you food, shelter or help?” “My home Is In Cariboo Meadows," she persisted. “I asked you to take me there. You led me away from thCre deliberately, I believe now.” “My trail doesn’t happen to lead to Cariboo Meadows, that’s all," Roaring Bill coolly told her. “If you must go back there, I shan’t restrain you in any way whatever. But I’m for home myself. And that,” —he came close and smiled frankly up at her—“ls a better place than Cariboo Meadows. I’ve got a little house hack In the woods. There’s- grub there, and meat In the forest, and fish In the streams. It’s home for me. Why should I go back to Cariboo Meadows? Or you?” “Why should I go with you?” she demanded scornfully. “Because I want you to,” he murmured. | They matched glances for a second, Wagstaff smiling, she half horrified. "Are you clean mad?” she asked angrily. “I was beginning to think you a gentleman.” Bill threw bnek his head and laughed. Then on the Instant he sobered. “Not a gentleman,” he said. “I’m a plain man. And lonesome sometimes for a mate, as nature has ordained to be the way of flesh." “Get a squaw, then,” she sneered. “I’ve heard that such people as you do that.” “Not me,” he returned, unruffled. “I want a woman of my own kind.” “Heaven save me from that classification !” she observed, with emphasis on the pronoun. “Yes?” he drawled. “Well, there’s no profit In arguing the point. Let’s be getting qn.” - - > " s S, He reached for the lead rope of the nearest pack horse. “ - \ Hazel urged Silk up a step. “Mr. Wagstaff.” she cried, “I must go back)’ “You can’t go back without me,” foe

sant. "Ann nn not traveling tnat war. . thank ypu.” “Please —oh, please 1” she hegged forlornly. Roaring Bill’s face hardened. “I will not,” he said flatly. “I’m going to play the game thy way. And I’ll play fair. That's the only promise I will make.” She took a look at the encompassing woods, and her heart sank at facing those shadowy stretches alone and unguided. The truth of his statement that she would never reach Cariboo Meadows forced Itself home.. There was but the one way out, and her woman’s wit would hnve to save her. “Go on, then,” she gritted. In a swift surge of anger. “I am afraid to face this country alone. I admit my helplessness. But, so help me heaven, I’ll make you pay for this dirty trick! You’re not a man! You’re a cur—a miserable, contemptible scoundrel!” “Whew!” Roaring Bill laughed. “Those are pretty names. Just the same, I admire your grit. Well, here we go!” He took up the lend rope, and went on without even looking to see If she followed. If he had made the Slightest attempt to for»-e her to come. If he had betrayed the least uncertainty as to whether she would come. Hazel would have swung down from the saddle and set her face stubbornly southward In sheer defiance of him. Blit such Is the peculiar complexity of a woman that she took one longing glance backward, and then fell In behind the packs. She was weighted down with dread of the unknown, boiling over with rage at the nmu who swung light-footed In the lead; but nevertheless she followed him.

All the rest of the dny they bore steadily northward. Hazel had no Idea of Bill Wagstaff’s destination. She was too bitter against him to ask, after admitting that she could not face the wilderness alone. She knew nothing of the North, but she thought there must be some mode of comqmnlcatlon ox transportation. If she could once get In touch with other people—well, she would show Roaring Bill. Of course, getting back to*Cariboo Meadows meant a new start In the world, for she had no hope, nor any desire, to teach school there after this episode. She found herself facing that prospect unmoved, however. The Important thing was.getting out of her present predicament. Roaring Bill made his camp that night as If no change In their attitude had taken place. To all his efforts at conversation she turned a deaf ear and a stony countenance. She proposed to eat his food and use Jiis bedding, because that was necessary. .But socially she would have none of him.

Thereafter, day by day, the miles unrolled behind them. Always Roaring Bill faced straight north. For a week he kept on tirelessly, and a consuming desire to know how far he intended to go begnn to take hold of her. At last they dropped Into a valley where the woods thinned out, and down the center of which flowed a sizable river. This they followed north a mutter of three days. On the west the valley wall ran to a timbered ridge.

Then the stream they followed merged Itself in another, both wide and deep, which flowed west through a level-bottomed valley three miles or more in width. Roaring Bill halted on the river bank and stripped his horses clean, though It was bht two in the afternoon and their midday fire less than an hour extinguished. She him curiously. When his packs were off he beckoned to tor. “Hold them a minute,” he said, and put the lead ropes In her hand. Then he went up the bank into a thicket of saskatoons. Out of this he presently emerged, bearing on his

Bearing on His Shoulders a Canoe.

shoulders a canoe, old and weatherbeaten. but stanch, for it rode light as a feather on the stream. Bill seated himself in the canoe, holding to Silk’s lend rope. The other two he left free. “Now," he directed, “when I start across, you drive Nigger and Satin in If they shotv signs of hanging back. Bounce a r >ek or two off them If they lag.” Her task was an easy one, for Sa.tln and Nigger followed Silk unhesitatingly. The river lupped along the sleek sides of them for fifty yards. Then they dropped suddenly Into swimming water, and the current swept them downstream slantwise for the op•posite shore, only theit heads showing above the surfnce. Hazel wondered what river It might be. It was a good quarter of a mile wide, and swift. Roaring Bill did not trouble to enlighten her as to the locality. When he got back he stowed the* saddle and pack equipment in the canoe. “All aboard for the north side,”' he said boyishly. And Hazel climbed obediently amidships.

I On the farther aide. Bill emptied the I canoe, and stowed It oat of sight In a convenient thicket, repacked hla I horses and atrnck oat again. Hazel drew upon her knowledge of British Colombia geography, and decided that the big river where Bill hid his canoe must be the Fraser where It debouched J from the mountains. And In that case she was far north, and In a wilderness indeed. j Her muscles gradually hardened to the saddle and to walking. Her nppe- ( tite grew In proportion. The small supply of eatable dainties that Roaring Bill had bronght from the Meadowfe dwindled and disappeared, until they were living on bannocks baked a la frontier in his frying pan, on beans and coffee, and venison killed by the way. Yet she relished the coarse fare even while she rebelled against the circumstances of its partaking. “Do you realize,” she broke out one evening over the fire, “that this Is simply abduction?” “Not at all,” Bill answered promptly. “Abduction means to take away surreptitiously by force, to carry away wrongfully and by violence any human being, to kidnap. Now, you can’t by any stretch of the imagination accuse me of force, violence or kidnaping—not by a long shot. You merely wandered into my camp, and It wasn’t convenient for me to turn back. Therefore circumstances —not my act, remember —made it advisable for you to accompany me. Of course I’ll admit that, according to custom and usage, you wduld expect me to do the polity thing and restore you to your own stamping ground. But there’s no law making it mandatory for a fellow to pilot home a lady in distress. < Isn’t that right?” ________________ “Anyhow,” he went on, when she remained silent, “I didn’t. And you’ll have to lay the blame on nature for making you a wonderfully attractive woman. I did honestly try to find the way to Cariboo Meadows that first night. It was only when I found myself thinking how fine it would be to pike through these old woods and mountains with a partner like you that I decided —as I did. I’m human —the womap, she tempted me. And aren’t you better ofT? Do you know that you look fifty per cent better for these few days of living In the open—the way every normal being likes to live? You’re getting some color In your cheeks, and you’re losing that worried, archangel look. Honest, if I were a physician, I’d have only one prescription: Get out into the wild country, and live off the country as your primitive forefathers did. Of course, you can’t do that alone. I know because I’ve tried it. We humans don’t differ so greatly from the other animals. We’re made to hunt in couples or packs. There’s a purpose, a law you might say, .behind that, too; only it’s terribly obscured by a lot of other nonessentials in this day and age.?’ But she would not take up the cudgels against him, would not seem to countenance or condone his offense by discussing it from any angle whatsoever. And she was more determined to allow’ no degree of friendliness, even in conversation, because she recognized the masterful qualify of the man. After a Jppse of time they dropped Into another valley, and faced westward to a mountain range whi€h Bill told her was the Rockies. The next day a snowstorm struck them. It was not particularly cold. Bill wrapped her in a heavy canvas coat, and plodded on. Noon passed, and he made no stop. If anything, he increased his pace. Suddenly, in the late afternoon, they stepped out of the timber into a little, clearing, In which the blurred outline of a cabin showed under the wide arms of a leafless tree. The melting snow had soaked through the coat; her feet were wet with the clinging flakes, and the chill of a lowering temperature had set Hazel shivering. Roaring Bill halted at the door and lifted her down from Silk’s back without the formality of asking her leave. He pulled the latchstring, and led her in. Beside the rude stone fireplace wood and kindling were piled in readiness for use. Bill kicked the door shut, dropped on his knees and started the fire. In five minutes a great blaze leaped and crackled into the .wide throat of the chimney. Then he piled on more wood, and turned to her. “This is the house that .Tack built,” he said, with a sober face and a twinkle in his gray eyes. “This is the man that lives In the house that Jack built. And this”—he pointed mischievously at her —“is the woman who’s going to love the man that livesi in the house that Jack built.” “That’s a lie!*' she flashed stormily through her chattering teeth. see,” he answered cheerfully. “Get up here close to the fire and take off those wet things while I put away the horses.” And with that he went out whistling. (TO BE CONTINUED.;

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, fIS

€ldo!n Vale 1 Mrym w isn>e w- y i 1 1 ■

Optimistic.

First Hobo (at early dawn) I dreamed last night dat I fouod a quart bottle of alcohol. Just as I removed de cork pnd raised de nectar to my lips a rooster crowed somewhere and I woke up. •Dbat’s bard luck. Second Hobo —Not so, pardner; in de first place probably It was wood alcohol, and, secondly, we may to locate dat rooster add have him for breakfast.

Valuable Connections.

“You treat your cook as if she wer» a privileged character.” “As long ns she is here we expect to be well taken care of.” “In a culinary way?” “Not entirely. She has a brother on the police torce, another brother dftyes a coal truck and her sweetheart Is our Iceman.”

What's a Tip for, Anyway?

Noah (bossing the ark building) Day dreaming on the job again, son? What’s the idea? Japhet—With the inside Information we’ve got, dad. can’t you think of someway we can beat the market for a few thousand simoleons? —Buffalo Express.

Even It Up.

Jones —I understand that you have promised that one job to twenty different men if you are elected. Politician—True. But as I have but one chance in twenty of being elected they all stand as good a chance as I do.

Diffidence.

“Do you dictate your speeches to a stenographer?” , “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “My stenographer is a grammarian and a rhetorician and a logician. I’d' rather write ’em out myself and try ’em for the first time on an easier audience.”

TRUE.

He—Much is forgiven man because he’s a man. She —Yes, and a woman’s much condemned because she is a woman.

Then She Laughed.

His freshness she could not abide. She lashed him with her tongue. “How dare you call me ‘Bel’ " she crledHe quailed and murmured “Stung!”

Its Use.

“Did you read where some American firms Ip China are encouraging their younger employees to study Chinese?” “Well, it must be one advantage to be able to rend your laundry ticket.’*

A Misdeal.

Weary Traveler —Say, my friend, there’s no meat in this sandwich. Waitress —No? Weary Traveler —Don’t you think you’d better give that pack another shuffle and let me draw again?

His Business.

"So Hack gave up his part. Wasn’t It a good one?” “No; he expected to be quite prominent in the cast, but they gave him the role of a cook, and he found he was to be only a feeder."

Their Way.

"It wouldn’t do for farmers to get control of the national finances.” “Why not?" "Because from force of habit they would always be watering the stock.’*'

An Objection.

“Pop, a pugilist fights In rounds doesn’t he?” “Sure, son.” "Then how can he ever put up a square fight?"

The Retort Courteous.

He —I was going to offer a pehny for your thoughts, but perhaps they’re not worth It. She —They’re not. I was thinking of y° u - V . ‘