Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-02-23

son Bay railroad. It's one of the
widest jobs we've ever had, and Greg
son and Thorne don't seem to catch
on. They're bridge builders, and not
wilderness men. We've got to lay a
single line Of steel through three hun
dred miles of the widest country in
North America, and from this hour
your motto Is DO 1t or bustl' o can
report at LIE Pas as soon as you get
your traps together"
These words had broken the slave
dom for Rowland. He had peer fight
Ing for an opportunity and now
that the opportunity had come he
was sure hat he would succeed.
Swiftly, with his hands thrust deep in
his pockets, he walked down the one
main street of Prince Albert, putting
out odorous clouds of smoke from his
cigar, every fbre in him tingling with
the new joy that had come INTO his
life. Another night would see him in
LIE Pas, the little outpost sixty miles
farther east on the Saskatchewan.
Then a hundred miles of dog-sledge
n he would be In the big wilderness
camp, where three hundred men were
already at work clearing a way to the
| EISdI Ddy u ire nOIln. what IL BIOIl-
Gus achievement that road would bel
1t would remain for all time al a
taph to his ability, his courage and
indomitable persistence.
1t was past 8 o'clock when Rowland
entered the little old Windsor Hotel
The big room, through the windows of
which he could look out on the street
and across the frozen Saskatchewan,
vVaC a1Fondf anntU Tho NlarK had
locked his cigar-case and had gone to
he'd. In one corner, partly shrouded in
gloom. sat a half-breed trapper who
had come in that day from the Lac la
Ronge country. and at his feet crouched
one of his wolfsh sledge-dogs. Both
were wide awake and stared curiously
at Rowland as he came in. In front of
the two large windows sat half a dozen
men, as silent as the half-breed, clad
In moccasins and thick caribou skin
coats. One of them was the factor from
a Hudson Bay post at Lac Balm who
had not been down to the edge of civil
zation for three years.: the others, IN
Guiding two Crees and a Ch~ippewayan,
were hunters and post men who had
driven in their furs from a hundred
miles to the north.
For a moment Rowland paused in
the middle OF the % and looked
about him. Ordinarily he would have
liked his quiet, and would have gone
to one of the two rude tables to write
a letter or work out a problem of some
sort, for he always carried a pocketful
of problems about with him. His If
teen years of study and ~unceasing slav-
cry to his ambition had made him
naturally as taciturn as these grim men
Of the Moth, who yer born to silence,
but tonight there had come a change
over him. He wanted to talk. He
wanted TO ask questions. He longed
for human companionship, for some
kind of mental e~xhilaration beyond that
furnished by his own thoughts. Feeling
In his pocket for a cigar he seated
himself before one of the windows and
proffered it to the factor from Lac
Balm.
you smoker" he asked companion
ably.
II was born in a wigwam," said the
factor slowly, taking the cigar. THANK
you"
"Deuced polite for a man who hasn't
seen civilization for three years"
thought Rowland, seating himself COM
fortably, with his feet on the window
sill. Aloud he said: 1.-The clerk tells
me you are from Lac Balm. That's u
good distance north, isn't it?"
-Four hundred miles" replied the
factor with quiet ~terseness. Were
on the edge of the Barren Lands"
"Whew." Rowland shrugged his
shoulders. Then he volunteered, I'm
going north myself tomorrow"
Post mani"
mo; engineer. I'm putting through
the Hudson Bay railroad"
He spoke the words quite clearly and
as they fell from his lips the half
breed, partly concealed in the gloom
behind him, Strengthened with the alert
quickness of a cat. He leaned for
ward eagerly. his black eyes cleaning,