Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1902-01-09
Belle of Bear
City ~ ~ ~ ~
By WIN. PERRY BROWN.
(cOpyrisht, 1901. by Authors syndieate.l
sirT,wo YEARS without sight of

II
woman? What hfel If one
could have two years without sight
of a man, now"
She glanced at Sterling meditatively
from the hammock, as he swung one
long leg over the arm of his chair and
twiddled a raw gold nugget doing du-
bious duty as a watch charm.
could you imagine such horror"
he quizzed.
ut would be heavenly. Men grow
wearisome when they fancy them
selves in love.
''All of them-O, most sweet sati-
ety?"
"M-m-tell me about your life up
there" she said, briskly. "Of course
the cold must have been terrific, and
with no news, no papers, no women,
no-er-"
''No anything desirable, you might
add, except the grub the fires, the
gold dust and-yes, there was one
thing else which became to me, at
least, more satisfactory than all the
rest of our meager comforts"
This last with a steady, admiring
stare that caused Miss Lamar to slow
ly droop her eyelids, as if the long
lashes might veil the faint blush that
seemed to ripple beneath the white
down of the rounded cheeks below.
"And what was this eminently desir-
able thing?" she continued, imperi-
ously.
''We called her the Belle of Bear
City. Funl" he chuckled to himself.
"You would have thought it dizzily abb
surd could you have seen us line up ev-
cry morning and make our bows. We
even reserved our smartest small talk
for her-seemed as If she could hear,
you know"
"Why not, unless she was 'dizzily'
deaf? So the most desirable thing
turns out to be feminine after all. /
might have guessed it, if there was a
get-at-able woman inside the arctic
circle. What was she-some Esqui-
mau" This last as sort of debative
challenge.
''Not on your life. Neither was she
Siwash, Chilcat-nor any other Alas
kan monstrosity. All! how we did
adore that grill"
swell, reallyi" Here Miss Lamar
evinced sundry dignified symptoms of
rising. "How do you reconcile this
with your staying two years in that hor-
rad hole without seeing a woman?"
at is solemn, lugubrious fact" he
gravely asserted, "that we did,
swift is one thing, Mr.. Sterling" said
she, adding hauteur to dignity. 'Men-
fc ~
es are supposed to know that"
She rose, darting at him final
glance, neither meditative nor deba-
tive. Had he not seen her look that
very way at the unsuccessful sutton in
"Hearts Are Trumps," her latest stage
success? Was she really going? APP
palled lest he had offended, yet thrilled
indefinably that anything he might say
could be of more than zephyrlike inn
portance to move her. Sterling timidly
put out OBTAINING hand.
please don't CO." he ventured. 81
had no idea of-of-you see, it was
only picture, after all"
Miss Lamar paused tentatively, with
her hand on his chair back.
You seem overburdened with conun-
drums to-day" she commented. ''Why
not solve them yourself?"
"But, do you not understands"
II am poor hand at guessing. Be-
sides, it is too much trouble" This
with sort of dry WEAKNESS which,
however, seemed to impel her to forget
her previous intention and sink Ian.
guidly back in the hammock.
Sterling grasped his opportunity by
linking his hands together around one
drawn-up knee and gazing sleepily into
vacancy, as if still mesmerized by the
magic memory of the elusive Belle of
Bear City.
There were seven of us fellows Gagged
in one large cabin that winter. Most
of US, being college bred, we herded
together-birds of a feather, you know.
1t was a dreary time. No sun at all
for three months, the mercury so de-
grees below or worse, with an ever
believing surf grinding the mush ice
along shore, and not a scrap of news.
nor woman nearer than Nome Civ.
40 miles away"
Always excepting the mysterious
Belle of Bear City," she interpolated.
suppressing strictly artificial yawn.
"Poor thingl Alone among all those
men-what did you say was the popu-
lation?"
Il did not say, but there must have
been hundred showed in under the
Tundra Bluffs, and every mothers SON
of us man." He grinned feebly.
Always except" she began again,
when his eyes caused her to relent.