Charlevoix county herald., 1907-11-09
CHAPTER |.

Suip was very Iifcu. All IHdC iOnS
June day. since Tins harsh. Come.
out wild ye." had reused her to daily
toll, until now. wearied and disconso-
late. she had crept, barefoot, up the
back stairs to her room, not one mo-
ments rest or one kindly word Aad
been hers.
Below. in the one living room of
Tins Place, the men were grouped
playing cards, and the medley of their
oaths, their laughter, the thump of
knucllles on the bare table, and the
pungent odor of pipes, reached her
through the floor cracks. Outside the
6refiies twinkled above the slow-run-
ming river and along the stump-dotted
hillside. Close by, few pigs dozed
contentedly in their rudely construct
ed sty.
A servant to those scarce fit for
servants. a mental at the beck and call
of all Tins Place, and laboring with
the men in the fields, Chip, girl of
almost 16, felt her soul revolt at the
filth, the brutality, the coarse exist
ence of those whose slave she was.
And what q group they were!
First, Tim Connor, the owner and
master of this oasis in the wilderness,
60 miles from the nearest settlement;
his brother. Mike, as coarse; their
wives and half a dozen children who
played with the pigs, squealed as often
for food, and were left to grow up the
same way; and Pierre Lubec, the hired
man, completed the score.
There was another transient resi-
dent here, an old Indian named To-
NAH, who came with the snow, and
deserted his hut below on the river
bank when spring unlocked that
stream.
Two occasional visitors also came
here. both even more Objectionable to
Chip than Tim and his family. One
was her father, known to her to be an
outlaw and escaped murderer in hid
ing; the other a half-breed named
Boiduc, but known as One-Eyed Pete,
a trappcr and hunter whose abode was
a log cabin on the Fox Hole, ten miles
away. His face was horribly SCARED
by q wildcats claws; one eye-socket
was empty; his lips, chin, and protrud-
ing teeth were always tobacco stained.
For three months now, he had made
weekly calls at Tins Place, in pursuit
of Chip. His wooing, as might be eX-
pected, had been a persistent leering
at her with his one sinister eye, oft
repeated innuendoes and insinuations
Of lascivious nature, scarce understood
by her, with now and then attempted
familiarity. These advances had met
with much the same reception once
accorded him by the wildcat.
Both these visitors were now with
the group below. That fact was of no
interest to Chip. except in connection
with a more pertinent one-a long con-
ference she had observed between
them that day. What IT was about,
she could not guess, and yet some
queer intuition told her that it con-
'cerned her. Ordinarily, she would
have sought sleep in her box-on-legs
bed; now she crouched on the floor,
listening.
For an hour the game and its med
ley of sounds continued; then cessa-
'tion, the tramp of heavily shod feet,
the light extinguished, and finally
silence. A few minutes of this, and
then the sound of whispered converse,
low yet distinct. reached Chip from
outside. Cautiously she crept to her
window.
II gift you one hunerd dollars now,
for re gal" Pete was saying, IAN one
hunerd more when you fotch her."
Its three hundred down, I've told
we, or we don't do business" was her
fathers answer, in almost hiss.
A pain like knife piercing her
heart came TO Chip
But spose she run away?" came in
Petes voice.
What, 60 miles to a settlement?
You must be damn fool"
AN if she no mind me?"
oval, thrash her then; she's yours"
~'But no gif so much" parleyed
Pete; II gif you onefeefty now, an
one hunerd when she come"
You'll give what / say, and be
quick about it, or I'll take her out to-
morrow, and you'll never see her
again; so fork over
"And you fotch her tomorrow"
Eyes, told YOU" And so the bar
gain was concluded.
Only a moment more, while Chip sat
numb and dazed, then came the sound
of footsteps, as the two men separated,
and then silence over Tins Place.
And yet, what a horror for Chip!
Sold like a horse or pig TO this worse
than disgusting halfbreed, and on the
morrow to be taken-no, dragged-to
the half-breeds hut by her hated ia
Their.
Hardly conscious of the real intent
and object of this purchase, she yet
understood it dimly. Life here was