The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1909-12-05
Continued from Saturday,
CHAPTER XIV.
AND A KNOT TIGHTENED.


desolate thing. but the night
IA of such a day is desolate In
deed. In all his life Poleon
Doret had never sunk to such depths
of dependency. for his optimistic
philosophy and his buoyant faith in
the goodness of life forbade it. The
arrival of the freight steamer afforded
him some distraction, but there was
only a small consignment for the store,
and that was quickly disposed of; so,
leaving the other citizens of Flambeau
to wrangle over their private merchan-
disc, he wen back to his solitary vigil,
which finally became SO ~unbearable
that he sought to escape his thoughts,
or at least to drown them for awhile,
amid the lights and life and laughter
of Stark's saloon.
Runnion annoyed him with his volu-
bility, for the news of his good for
tune had fired the man with a reck-
less disregard for money, and he turn
ed to gaming as the one natural re-
course of his Fix.
It was shortly after midnight that
Stark came into the place. Poleon
was not too absorbed in his own for
tunes to fail to notice the extraordi-
nary ferocity and exhilaration of the
saloon keeper nor that his face was
keener, his n~ostrils thinner, his walk
more nervous and his voice more cut
ting thar usual when he spoke to Run
MON:
"Come here!n'
'I'l be with you when finish this
hand" said the player over his Shout
der.
"Come here.' Stark snapped his COM
mand, and Runnion threw down his
cards.
Drawing the reluctant gambler aside,
Stark began to talk rapidly to him,
almost within earshot of Poleon, who
watched them, idly wondering what
Stark had to say that could make Run
MON start and act so queerly. Well,
it wa their affair. They made a bad
pair to draw to. He knew that Run
MON was the saloon keepers lieuten-
ant and obeyed implicitly his seniors
commands. He could distinguish moth
ing they said, nor was he at all curl
abus until a knot of noisy men crowded
Vp to the bar and, forcing the two
back nearer to the table where he sat,
his sharp ears caught these words
from Runnion's lips:
mot with me! Shed never go with
mer' And Stark's reply:
"She'll go where l send her and with
ANYBODY l tell her to-"
The Frenchman lost what followed,
for a newly dealt hand required study.
He scanned his cards and tossed them
face up before the dealer; then he
overheard Runnion say:
Its the only one in camp. He
might sell it If you offered him
enough" At this Stark called n of
the men at the bar aside. and the
three began to dicker.
mot a cent less" the third man an
nounced loudly. There amt another
Peterborough in town."
Going outside. Runnion said again to
stark:
"She won't go with me, Ben. She
don't like me. You see, | made low
to her, and she got mad and wanted
me killed.
She'll never know who you are un-
til it's too late to turn back" said the
other, land you are the only man l
can trust to take her through. can
trust you. You owe me too much to
be crooked"
"Oh. I'll act square with you! But.
look here, what's all this about any
how? Why do you want that girl?
You said you didn't care for her that
way. You told me SO yourself. Any
way, l amt the safest kind Of a chap
eron for a good looking girl"
Stark laid a cold hand on Runnion'S
shoulder close up to his neck.
"Never mind what l said. She's
mine, and you've got to promise to be
straight with her. I've trusted you be-
fore, and If you're not on the level
now say so. 1t will save you a lot Of
trouble
"Oh, all right!' exclaimed Runnion
testify. only it looks mighty queer
He melted into the darkness, and
Stark returned to his cabin. where he
paced back and forth impatiently, smil-
ing eyilly now and then. consulting his
watch at frequent intervals. A black
look had begun to settle on his face,
but it vanished when Necia came. and
he met her with a smile.
81 was afraid you had weakened
he said. Everything is ready and
waiting. I've got the only canoe In the
place, a Peterborough. and hired a
good oarsman to put you through. in
structing him to Ike as fast time as
he can and to board the first steamer
hthat overtakes you. Too bad this
cS Seighter that just got In isn't going
,he other way. However, there's liable
to be another any hour, and If one
doesn't come along you'll find enough
blankets and food in the skiff, SO you
needn't go ashore. You'll be there be
fore you know it."
Then he led her out into the dark
ness. and they stumbled down to the
rivers bank, descending to the g~ravelly
waters edge, where rows of clumsy