, 1906-05-16

der broadly smiling. Inc saloon was
packed with men, all in high spirits
over the precipitate flight of the sheriff.
Munro sighted him at last and called
out: Hello, Rob, How goes it?"
Raymond did not reply till he reached
his side. 81 want to talk with you,
Jack" he said in n low voice.
Munro studied him for Il moment,
then turned to Dan. Take my place a
minute"
Dan compiled, and Raymond led the
way into the open air, and when they
were well out of the crowd he turned
and said:
you Intercepted Miss Rupert to-
day.
81 met her, yes. What about it'll"
"Just this. You're not fit to shake
the hand of Il decent girl. much less Il
cultured, high bred woman like Ann
Rupert, and you know itr'
Munro was staggered. What bust
ness is it of yours?" he asked. with
instant anger.
Raymond's wrath was self contained.
"Keep your temper, Jack. We've sum-
mered and wintered together, and you
can't make any mistakes abou what l
mean. | know the kind of women you
live with and the kind of life you lead,
and | tell you to keep away from the
Kelly cabin"
Munro did not snarl as Raymond ex-
pected. His voice became softly in
sinuating as he said; suppose the
lady invited me to call? Suppose she
was interested in my conversation?
The lady had Il chance to go. The path
was open, but she fingered, she smiled
you're u liar!'
Munro was now very confident. Am
II Ask the boy; he saw her talking
with me. | say the lady was gracious
The gambler took on the air of an in
jured comrade. Nov, see here, Rob;
you're away out of limits. | acknowl-
edge I've known Il whole lot of cheap
ONE but that's all the more reason
why l should be able to tell when !
meet the real thing. Her name is as
safe with me as with you. Probably
she's tied up back in the states any
way, so that neither of US has any
chance of interesting her. But it's an
open course and no fayors, and so long
rs she doesn't hand mo out the icy
mitt' I'm going to make the most of
my chance, and from this momont"-he
took off his hat-"I reform, l throw up
my job ut Hanley's, | cut off booze
and | shake Eau Claire"
Raymond was impressed by his RI
yal's manner. you can quit gam
bling, and l hope you can leave liquor
alone. but | see trouble when you
shake Claire. Rut that doesn't matter.
For the sake OF cid times | want to
avoid a quarrel with you, Jack. But I
warn you that if Miss Rupert finds
your presence d~isagreeable you go, and
you stay. AS you say, h is probably
engaged to a better man than either of
us. But she is here because of the boy,
and | feel Il certain responsibility for
them both. and the man who presumes
on Il chance acquaintance with her will
answer to me-"
"All right. Leave it to her. Rob-"
said Munro almost jocularly. IF she
turns me down I'll pull out of my own
accord, lightning sure. Good night"
Raymond walked away with a sense
of failure. Munro had adroitly writhed
out of his grasp and vas probably ex-
ulting ut his own cleverness. He was
troubled, too, by the confident tone
which Munro had taken in saying, The
way was open; she fingered"
Out of the tumult of his doubt he
emerged with an accession of conf
dence i'll himself. IF it comes to a
choice between us, my chances are as
good as Jacks. Her tolerance of him
S due to ignorance of his real charac-
Ter. Mrs. Kelly must tell her"
He saw the light in Kelly's home,
and its allurement was stronger than
ever before, but he resolutely held his
way to his own Preside, there to bit
terly muse the entire evening over his
poverty and the false position in which
Munro had cleverly placed him.
He repented of his resolute passing
of her door when he heard next day
that a couple of the Independent opera
tors had spent the entire evening with
Kelly and that one of them talked a
great deal to Ann. The sting of it lay
in the fact that Tracy was n fine young
fellow, studious and capable. You are
a fool" Raymond said to himself. You
threw away a chance to be happy.
Don't do II ooain