Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-20

wondrous Thing he beheld. That same
in vision. he saw her face SO near to
him that he felt the touch Of her sweet
breath, and he knew that one of his
rough hands was clasped in both of her
own. and that after a moment it was
crushed tightly against her bosom.
Jan, my HERO
He struggled back, almost sobbins, as
he plunged out into the night again. He
wild wailing of the spruce and the storm
in his brain drowned its words. He had
seen the glorious light Of love in her eyes
her love for Dixon! And he would find
prove that the old love was not dead
within him; he would do for Melissa this
ELECTROMAGNETIC next day, and until
he fell down to die-what he had prom
ised to do on their sledge ride to Ledoqs
He went to Ledoqs now. following the
top of the mountain. and reached his
cabin in the late dawn. The Frenchman
stared at him in amazement when he
learned that he was about to set out on
search for Dixon.
You will not find him. he said, slowly,
in French; but If you are determined to
go. l will hunt with you. 1t is big
chance that we will not come back
II don't want YOU to CO." objected Jan
'One will do as much as two. unless we
search alone ] came your way to find
II II mad begun to snow before Dixon
IAN hour after he had gone you could
not see your hand before your face re-
piled l1edoq. preparing his pack. There
IS no doubt but that he circed out over
Lac Balm. We will go that far together
and then search alone
They went back over the mountain, and
stopped when instinct told them that they
We're opposite the spruce forests of the
lake. There they separated. Jan going
as nearly as he could guess into the
northwest. Ledoq trailing slowly and
hopelessly into the south.
1t was no great sacrifice for Jan, this
struggle with the big SHOWS for the hap
piness Of Melissa. What it was to Ledoq
no man ever guessed or knew for it was
not until the late spring SHOWS had gone
that the people at Lac Balm found what
the foxes and the wolves had left Of him.
far to the south
Fearlessly Jan plunged into the white
rock nor tree to guide him, for every
where was the heavy ghost raiment of
the Indian god. The balsams were bend
Ing under it. the spruces were breaking
into hunchback forms. the whole world
was twisted In noiseless torture under it's
increasing weight. Out through the still
terror of it all JAMS voice went in wild.
echoing shouts. Now and then he fired
his rifle, and always he listened long and
intently. The echoes came back to him.
fell the mirthless silence Of the Storm
Day came. only little lighter than
the night. He crossed the lake. his snow
shoes sinking ankle deep at every step,
and once each half hour he fired a single
shot from his rifle. He heard shots to
the south and knew that 1t was Ledoq
each report coming to him more family
than the last. until they had died away
entirely.
Across the lake he struck the forest
again. and his shouts echoed in futile in
quiry in its weird depths. About him
there was no sign of life no sound except
the faint fiuttering Of falling snow. Under
five feet of this snow the four-footed
creatures OF the wilderness. were snugly
buried; close against the trunks Of the
spruces. sheltered within their tentlike
coverings. the birds waited like lifeless
things for the breaking of the storm.
AT noon Jan stopped and ate his lunch.
Then he went on. carrying his rifle al
ways upon his right shoulder. so that the
steps of his right leg would be shortened,
and he would travel in a circle, as he be-
lieved Dixon had done.
Go be continued tomorrow