Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-03-24
SANDERS THE VALIANT
By ROY NORTON
Copyright by F. L. Nelson

|
on he had driven stage and fought
his own way in mans fashion; across
the gulch was a decaying cabin, to
| which his father-years beforehand
been brought, mortally injured; in
| that cabin his brother had died, and
| from it's doors they had carried the
| body of mis- mother. And now, after
a year in the East under the care of
his foster-mother, he he'd come back
| joyously to the hills-his hills-to find
nothing but trouble. 1t wasn't that
he minded it in his own behalf, but
because the Dream Lady, as he called
her, was in grief, and because the
| grim, quiet mine-manager, her hus-
band, was in danger.
With the restlessness of his age he
| decided to take the trail along the top
| Of the hill, and come down to the
| American mine. He swung silently
with the free step Of the born noun
taineer, up the mountains side, out
along the ridge, and down across the
| crest.
| From the point where he paused on
| the top he looked back on the silent
camp, with its row of untenanted cab
ms and assay-offces, empty bunk
houses and staring, boarding shacks,
| idle mills and unanimated rows of
| ore-cars. voice from below him ar
rested his attention. It was an ex-
cited one, raised almost to shout
Sanders felt the necessity of further
| knowledge and the imperative need of
stealth. He slipped off his shoes, took
! to the brush, and crept or wriggled
toward the sound. His way led him
over small, open spaces, or through
tangles of underground, until he came
sheer out upon an abrupt ledge that
lowered up to broken ending, where
| it's hardness had defed natures ero-
sion, and left it standing solitary,
| like a little cliff on the mountains
face
With care, that no loose rock should
be sent flying down as a warning to
those below, he stretched himself on
his stomach, and cautiously worked
out to the edge.
Below him, in various attitudes,
were grouped number of the striking
miners, resting in the warmth of the
sun, and in earnest argument. San
ders noticed with joy that nearly all
were familiar, and knew them for
what Mccarthy had once been wont
to call "The Old Guard"
I'm sick Of this" said the speaker,
former shift-boss. "They always
| treated me right at the mine, and
there was never any row until this
bunch of Pennsylvanians came in
here. And why did they come? Be-
cause their own unions had fort cited
their charter, and run them out for
the trouble-makers they are"
yes, but why did Mack put them
on?" insisted another voice, that had
evidently been the speaker in a pre-
vious discussion.
Because he needed miners, and had
to take what he could get" sharply
answered the former shift-boss.
Then why didn't you kick harder
before we all went on strike, if you
knew all thfs?" sneered the objector.
IT did, but you were one of the sore
heads that wanted a fight, and had
to shut up"
YES" said another. "You wanted
a fight, and you got it, guess"
Here, here!" interrupted a gray
bearded man, seated at the side. eve
all make mistakes, and some are right
and some are wrong. The question is,
did we old hands join these fellows
with the idea that if we were shut
out there would be powder used to
kick to pieces the plant we helped
make? Are we going to stand for it?
AS man to man, did the boss ever
fight US but fair? Amt there fifty of
us that wants to drop the whole fight,
go to Mack as men, and say we done
wrong; take our medicine, and come
back"
A rumbling of assent swept over the
| crowd.
But we've got to act quick con-
| tinued the elder man. There's COM
mittee of a hundred going up there
to-day, and unless Mack gives in
| which we all know he won't do-they
will blow her up tonight"
Good Cod" came from Sanders
! dry throat Even now they might be
! there at the mine. A hundred against
three. Even now they were perhaps
on their way to try to terrorize the
man who was more than father to him.
| In an agony of careful haste the
boy wormed his way back across the
| face of the ridge, out into the under
growth and up the hillside, and broke
| into a wild run. Needless of the
| thorns that tore him, of the sharp
| stones that cut his feet, or the rug
| gedness of the mountainside, be fed
fed back to give warning. Beads of
perspiration cut rivulets down his
dust-grimed face, and his heart struck
his ribs as though battering at cita
del His breath came in gasps, and.
when he paused to scale a ledge, his