Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-02

widely read A leading review said it
! was as refreshing as a breeze from the
mools: an intimate and astonishing
revelation of Wild life and a welcome
change from those innumerable pottering
volumes on the garden.
Before three months were past
small fortune was at the disposal OF
pathfinder at the Office Of publication.
if ne but called for it. but he did not call.
John Stobcross was q man seldom baf-
fled. and the continuing mystery put him
on lis metal. He examined carefully
the envelopes that brought in the manu-
scripts. They had been posted from a
small group of villages in the north of
England - Sutton Marbury, Fernlea,
Kings Bootle. Purlbrook. Saggat's Bend
Peaceberry Trimnal.and Piumpton Cross.
All these places We're in the same district
. and King Boote was railway station.
Kings Bootle. The name came home to
Stohcross at once: his laugh rang oat.
ana he smcte his fist on the table before
him calling himself fool never to have
suspected. The one man in England with
the knowledge Of wo1craft. ana the
love of wild creatures to have written
such a book. and yet man who pretend
ed 10 despise books and writer's, lived
near King Boot,e. and consequently near
al the other villages whose postmarks
had decorated the several envelopes.
Fluff Old Squire -Acresciffe, the owner of
a domain man rich enough to care
nothing for the monetary product of his
pen; Or more proba bly, ignorant of book
ish ways that he la no suspicion there
was any money in volume about things
so fan1ilisr TO him. was We'll qualified to
be lha authors of And Pastures New"
Often had Stobcross been a visitor at
Acrescliffe Manor. for the Forest and
Fiold was the che paper that the squire
swore by; all others WIRE tommyrot in
his opinion; and Kings Boot.e was the
station at which the squires trap Or
carriage met the editor when he Went to
stay week at the Manor. The letters
had not been in the squire's handwriting,
but the Old man would naturally wish to
conce al his descent into authorship. and
the enga eing of an uncultured amanuen-
sis is an easy matter: one of his game
keepers very likely. Stobcross resolved
to write a letter to the squire, letter
that would draw out his opinion of the
articles: if he criticised them severely
then he was all but certain he was their
author, for this course would probably
throwing dust IN the editors eyes.
My Dear Acrescliffe Che Dictated:
entitled And Pastures New, which has
Il am sending you by this post book
been the success of the season. l know
your contempt for city-bred writer's. but
I wish you would read this work and tell
ms what YOU think of it. How are you
ana have you caught the Demon
poa chpr veto Ever yOllrS
JOHN STOBCROSS.'
The reply came in due time and it left
the c litor in much the same 'Quandry
in which he had been before its arrival.
My Dear John:
NO city-bred man ever wrote that
book. l bought it when it first came out,
and several copies since. Gave 'em away
TO friends. 50 l thank you for this extra
copy. I was going to write you about
the letters when they We're appearing in
The Forest but have been so busy, and
YOU know am not handy with the pen.
l would rather meet Pathfinder than any
other man in England. Can't you bring
him down here with YOU? He'd be de-
lighted with this place. I'm sure, indeed,
i, sesms 10 me when | read his book that
l know the very giades and dells and
bits of streams he's writing about.
The Demon Poacher, dammum we
haven't caught yet. but We're going to:
you'll see. I've got a trap for him now
that's costing ME hundreds of pounds.
can't give you particulars yet, for if ii
doesn't come off ] don't want to be
laughed at again by the whole country
} side. Curse that poacher, he'll see the
: inside of a Jail before long, or I'm n,
, magistrate. We're going to spring tn,
trap on the night of the 21st. If it works
it will make the greatest page you eve
4 printed in The Forest If it doesn't
don't want anything said about it, Brin,
3 Pathfinder. He is the man to writ
e about it, although ! think he favor
=: poachers little too much. but that's tn
e only fault ! find with him. Wire you
t train. Yours. as usual.
: GEORGE ACRESCLIFFE."
e Thus it came about that John Stoh
t cross was met at Kings Bootle by tn
squires carriage. but Pathfinder" wa
not with him. Arriving at the Manor
d the squire greeted him cordially, bu