The Huttig news., 1911-04-29
CHAPTER I.
De stiny and the Rahu.
I 6F LoLlh3 aOsL,97 NaNcE

Breaking suddenly upon the steady drumming ot the trucks, the prolong- ed and husky roar of a locomotive whistle saluted an immediate grade crossing
 Reused by this sound from his soli- tafy musings fn the parlor car of which he happened temporarily to be the sole occupant MT David Amber put aside the magazine over which lie had been dreaming, and looked out oi the window, catching a glimpse of woodland road shining white between sambef walls of stunted pine. Lazily h consulted his watch
 It's not TOT nothing he observed pensiyely, ''sls1t this railroad wears its reputation; we are consistently late.''
 His gaze, again diverted to the fly ing countryside, noted that it had changed character, pine yielding to scrub-oak and second growth = the rugged vestments of an area some years since denuded by fire. This. too. presently swung away, giving place to cleared land-arable acres golden with the stubble Of garnered haryests or sentinelled with unkempt shocks of corn
 In the south a simmer Of laughing gold and blue edged the faded hori zon.
 Eagerly the young man leaned for ward, dark eyes Tightening, lips part ing as if already he could taste the savour of the sea-
 Then, quite without warning, deep elbow of the bay swept up almost to the railway, it's surface mirror-like, profoundly blue, profoundly beautiful.
 T think, said the traveier softly T think it's mighty fine to be alive and--here."
 He lounged back comfortably again. smiling as he watched the wheeling landscape. his eyes glowing with ex- l rectancy. For his cares were negli- I gihle. his content boundless; he was experiencing, for the first time in many years, a sense of freedom akin to thai felt by schoolboy at the be- ginning of the summer vacation The work of his heart and hand for little time belonged equally to forgotten Yesterday and an uncontemplated To- morrow; he existed only for the con fident Today He had put behind him the haunts of men, and his yearning for the open places that lay before him was almost childlike i'll it's fer vency; he would indeed, have been quite satisfied if assured that he was Ito find nothing to do save to play aim 1 lessiy in the sum- But, in point Of fact. he looked forward to an employ ment much more pleasurable; he was off to shoot duck with his very dear friend, Mir Anthony Quain of Tangle- wood lodge, Nokomis, Long Island.
 Again the whistle bawled uncannily. and the train began to moderate it's speed. Objects in the foreground that 1 otherwise had been mere streaked blurs assumed recognizable contours. North of the line string of squat, square. u2lovely frame ediices, | aligned upon country road drifted i back A brakeman popped head and | shoulders into the car and out again. leaving the echo of an abrupt bark to be interpreted at the passengers leisure.
 Slowly iolting across rutted, dusty road, the cars stopped. Amber. alight- ing, found himself upon a length of boardwalk platform and confronted by a distressingly matter-offact wood en structure, combining the functions of waiting room and ticket and tele- graph offices. From it's caves de pended weather-worn board bearing the legend: "Nokomis."
 The train, rausing only long enough to disgorge from the baggage car a trunk or two and from the day coach es thin trickle of passengers, flung on into the wilderness, cracked bell clanking somewhat disdainfully
 By degrees the platform cleared, the erstwhile patrons of the road and the station loafers-for the most part hall marked natives of the region-strag g'iHg off uron their several ways, some afoot, a majority in dilapidated surreys and buckboards Amber watched them go with unassumed in difference; their type interested him little But in their company he pres ently discovered one, figure so thoroughly foreign and aloof in atti- tude. that it caught his eye, and. hav- ing caught held 1t clouded with per plexity.
 Abruptly he abandoned his belong ings and gave chase, overtaking the object of his attention at the far end oI the station.
 ~Doggott!s he cried. T say, Dog gottl7
 His hand, falling lightly upon the mans shoulder, brought him square. k about. his expression transiently startled, if not shade truculent. j ~DoSgott, what tie deuce brings you here? And MT Rutton ?'' f Amber's cordiality edaced no re sponse. The gray eyes, meeting eyes dark. kindly, and penetrating. flicker ed and fell; so much emotion they be trayed, no more. and that IS disingen uons as you could wish.
 'Dcggott! insisted Amber. ds concerted. Surely you haven't for