The Washington herald., 1912-06-23

Hawkins ball-he had surrendered &
her He half closed his eyes, and as thu
logs cracked in the fireplace and tn,
wind roared outside, he saw her again
as he had seen her that night-glori
ously beautiful; memory of the witch.
cry of her voice, her hair, her eyes FIR
ing his blood like strong wine And
this beauty might have been for him
was still: his, if he chose A WORD
from out of the wilderness. few line:
that he might write tonight
With a sudden jerk Steele sat bolt
upright. One after another he crump,
led the sheets of paper in his hand and
tossed all but the signature page into
the FIRE. The last sheet he kept, stud
led it for a little-as if her name were
the answer to a problenl-then laid il
aside. For a few moments there re-
manned still the haunting sweetness OF
the hyacinth. When it was gone, he
gave a last searching sniff, rose to his
feet with laugh in which there was
some return of his old spirit, hid that
final page of her letter in his travelling
kit and proceeded to refill his pipe.
More than once Philip Steele had told
| himself that he was born a century or
two after his time. He had admitted
this much to a few of his friends, and
they had laughed at him. One evening
he had opened his heart little to the
girl of the hyacinth letter, and after
| that she had called him eccentric.
Within himself he knew that he was
unlike other men, that the blood in
him was calling back to almost forgot
ten generations, when strong hearts and
steady hands counted for manhood rath-
er than stocks and bonds, and when ro-
nance and adventure were not quite
dead. At college he took civil engineer
ing, because it seemed to him to breathe
! the Spirit of outdoors; and when he
had finished he incurred the wrath of
those at home by burying himself for
a whole year with a surveying expedi-
ton in Central America.
1t was this expedition that put the
finishing touch to Philip Steele. He
came back big hearted, clear minded
young FELLOW, as bronzed as an Aztec
"a hater of cities and the hothouse
varieties of pleasure to which he had
been born, and as far removed from
anticipation of his fathers millions as
though they had never been. He pos
sessed a fortune in his own right, but
as yet he had found no use for the in
come that was piling up. A second
expedition, this time to Brazil, and then
he came back-to meet the girl of the
hyacinth letter. And after that, after
he had broken from the bondage which
held Moody, and Fordney, and White
more, he went back to his many adven-
tures. +,
1t was the North that held him. In
the unending desolations of snow and
forest and plain, between Hudson's
Bay and the wild country of the Atha-
basca, he found the few people and the
mystery and romance which carried him
back, and linked him to the dust-oov-
cred generations he had lost. One day
a slender, athleticly built young man
enlisted at Regina for service in the
Northwest Mounted Police Within
six months he had made several rec
ords for himself, and succeeded in hav-
ing himself detailed to service in the
extreme North. where man-hunting be-
came the thrilling game of One against
One in an empty and voiceless world.
And no one, not even the girl of the
hyacinth letter. would have dreamed
that the man who was officially listed
as Private Phil Steele, of the n. w.
NJ. P" was Philip Steele, millionaire
and gentleman adventurer.
None appreciated the humor of this
fact more than Steele himself, and he
fell again into his wholesome laugh as
he placed a fresh pine log on the fire,
wondering what his aristocratic friends
and especially the girl of the hyacinth
letter-would say if they could see him
and his environment just at the pres
ent moment. In a slow, chuckling sur
vey he took in the heavy German socks
which he had hung to dry close to the
fire; his worn shoe-packS, shining in a
thick coat of caribou grease, and his
single suit of steaming underwear that
he had washed after supper, and which
hung suspended from the ceiling, look
ing for all the world, in the half dusk
of the cabin, like very thin and head
less man. In this gloom, indeed, but
one thing shone out white and distinct
the skull on the little shelf above the
FIRE As his eyes rested on it. Steele's
lips frightened and his face grew dark.
With a sudden movement he reached
up and took it in his hands, holding it
for a moment so that the light from
the FIRE flashed full upon it In the left !
side, on a line with the eyeless socket |
and above the ear, was hole as large
as small egg.
the man who did this. eh?" be muttered, |
lingering the ragged edge. Il could |
kill him for what happened down there |
at Nelson House, M'sieur Janette. |
Some day. may"
He balanced the skull on his finger |
tips, level with his chin.
Nice sort of chap for a Hamlet, I |
am" he went on, whimsically. 'T be- |
lieve I'll chuck you into the fire, |
Janette. You're getting on my
He stopped suddenly and lowered the
skull to the table.
mo, L won't burn you" he continued.
I've brought you this far and I'll pack
you up to Lac Balm with me. Some I
morning III give you to Bucky Nome
for breakfast And then, Msieur-I
hen we shall see what we shall see"
Later that night he wrote a few
words on a slip of paper and tackled the
PAPER to the inside of his door. To any
who might follow in his footsteps it
this information and advice
NOTICEl
This cabin and what's in it are
luasheed by me. Fill your gizzard but
lot your pockets. 49,
STEELE, Northwest Mounted.