The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-04-04

never be seen in that dance girls dress
again, at least not till learn more
about this Stark. 1t makes no differ
ence whether this one is the man or
not. He will come, and shall know
him. For a year l have felt that the
time was growing short, and now
know it,"
mo. nor Alluna cried. I'VE have
no strangers here No white men ex-
cept the soldiers and this one have
come in a year. This is but little
trading post"
"It was yesterday. but it isn't to-
day. Lee has made strike, like the
one George Carmack made on the
| Klondike. He came to tell me and
Poleon, and we are going back with
him tonight, but you must say moth
ing or it will start stampede"
"Other men will come-a great many
of them?' Intercepted Alluna fearful
ly, ignoring utterly the momentous
news.
Dawson if this find is what Lee thinks
it is. l stayed away from the upper
country because knew crowds of men
would come from the States. and l
feared that he might be among them,
but it's no use hiding any longer.
There's no other place for us to go. If
Lee has got a mine III have the one
next to it, for we will be the first ones
on the ground. What happens after
that won't matter much. You four will
| be provided for. We are to leave in an
hour, one at time, to avoid COM
ment'
But why did this man stop here?"
! insisted the woman. why did he not
stay on the steamboat and go to Daw
SOM"
Hes a friend Of Lees. He is going
with u.s. Then he added, almost in a
| whisper, Before we return l shall
know"
Alluna seized his arm. Promise to
| come back, John! Promise that you
will come back even if this should be
the man."
IL promise. Don't worry, little wo-
man. I'm not ready for a reckoning
yet"
AS he turned away she laid her hand
ON his arm and said:
IF you do not know him he will not
know you. Is it not SOP
Eyes"
| "Then the rest is easy
But he only shook his head doubt
| f,1Ir 7
| not sure and went inside, where he
made up light pack of bacon, -four
and tea. pail or two. coffeepot and
frying pan. which he rolled inside a
robe Of rabbit skin and bound about
in turn with light tarpaulin. 1t did
not weigh thirty pounds in all. Select
| ing q new pair of water boots, he
! stuffed dry grass inside them. oiled up
| his six shooter then slipped out the
| back way and in five minutes was hid
den in the thickcts. Half an hour
later. having completed a detour Of
lhe town, he struck the trail to the 10
terror, where he found Poleon Doret,
equipped in Il similar manner, resting
beside stream, singing the songs Of
his people.
| When Burrell returned to his quar-
tiers he tried to mitigate the feeling Of
consequences that oppressed him BY
tGckling his neglected correspondence.
Somehow today the sense of his isola-
ton had come over him stronger than
ever. His rank forbade any intimacy
with his miserable handful of men,
who had already fallen into the mo-
notOny of routine, while every friend
| ly overture he made toward the citi-
ZenS of Flambeau was met with dis
trust and GOODNESS, his stripes of office
seeming to erect a barrier and induce
an Ostracism stronger and more COM
plete than if they had been emblems
OF the penitentiary. Even Doret and
the trader seemed to share the general
feeling; hence the thought of the long,
lonesome winter approaching reduced
the lieutenant to state of black de-
| spOndency, deepened by the knowledge
that he now had an open enemy In
camp in the person of Runnion. Then.
too. he had taken q morbid dislike to
the new man, Stark. So that all in all
the youth felt lie had good reason to be
in the dumps this afternoon. There
was nothing desirable in this place
everything undesirable-except Necia.
Her presence in Flambeau went far
toward making his humdrum existence
bearable, but of late he had found
himself dwelling with growing seri-
BUSINESS on the unhappy circumstances
of her birth and had almost made up
his mind that it would be wise not to
see her any more. The tempting vision
OF her in the ball dress remained vivid
~ in his imagination, causing him
hours of sweet torment. There was q
sparkle, fineness, gentleness, about
her that seemed to make the few wo-
men he had known we'll dull and com
monplace, and even his sister. whom
till now he had held as the perfection
of all things feminine, suffered by
comparison with this maiden Of the
|, frontier. >
He was stepped in this sweet, grave
melancholy when knock came at bis
door, and he arose to find Necia her.