The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-10-05

1t up In half that time, but even so
| they would probably suffer not too
great discomfort before he got back.
All these preparations took some lit,
| tie time. 1t had grown somewhat late
in the morning before he started.
| There had been a fierce storm raging
when he first looked out and at her
earnest solicitation he had delayed his
departure until It had subsidized.
His tasks at the corral were at last
completed; he had done what he could
| for them both, nothing now remained
but to make the quickest and safest
way to the settlement. Shouldertng
the pack containing his axe and gun
and sleeping bag and such provision
as would serve to tide him over I'M
set forth. He did not look up to the
hut, indeed he could mot have seen 1t
| for the corral was almost directly be
meath 1t, but II 1t had been in full view
| he would not have looked back, he
could not trust himself to, every In
| stinct, every impulse in his soul would
/ fain drag him back to that hut and to
! the woman. 1t was only his will and,
did he but know it, her will that made
him carry out his purpose
| He would have saved perhaps halt
! a mile on his Journey If he had gone
straight across the lake to the mouth
of the canon. We, are creatures OF
habit. He had always gone around
the lake on the familiar trail and I'M
consciously he followed that trail that
morning. He was thinking Of her as
/ he plodded on In mechanical way
while the trail followed the border Of
the lake for time, plunged into this
woods, wound among the pines, at least
reaching that narrow rift in the en-.
] circling wall through which the river
flowed. He had passed along the trail
obliyious to all his surroundings, but
/ as he came to the entrance he could
not fail to notice what he suddenly
saw In the snow.
Robinson Crusoe when he discov-
cred the famous footprint of Man Fri.
day In the sand was not more aston.
ished at what met his vision than
Newbold on that winter morning For
there. In the virgin Whitenegs, were
4 the tracks az d man
He stepped dead with a sudden com
traction Of the heart. Humanity oth4
er than he and she in that wilderness1
4 It could not be! For moment he
! doubted the evidence Of his own SEN
SEES. He shook his pack loose from hia
shoulders and bent down to examine
\ the tracks to read il he could their
Indications He could see that, some
one had come up the canon, that some,
one had leaned against the wall, thai
some one had gone on. Where had
he gone?
To follow the new trail was chi1d-a
j play for him. He ran by the side of
1t until he reached the knoll. Tho
stranger had stopped again, he had
shifted from one foot to another, evil
IDENTIFY he had been looking about him
seeking some one, only Enid Matt
land Of course. The trail ran forward
to the edge Of the frozen lake, thepa
the man had put on his snow shoes.
there he had sped across the lake like
an arrow, and like an arrow himself
although he had left behind his own
snow shoes. Newbold ran upon hia
track. Fortunately the snow crust up
! bore him. The trail ran straight I'd
the foot of the rocky stairs. The new.
i toner had =eas i15s found big there
With beating heart and throbbing
pulse, NeWbold himself bounded ur
the ACTIVITY after the stranger, mark
ing as he did SO evidences OF the 9th
er's prior ascent. Reaching the TOP
4 like him he ran down the narrow path
and in his turn laid his hand upon the
i door.
4 He was not mistaken, he heard
voices within. He listened secnnd
and then flung 1t open, and as the 9th
er had done, he entered.
Way back on the TRAIL old Kirkby
and Robert Maitland, the storm having
ceased, were rapidly climbing up thu
4 canon. Fate was bringing all the act
tors of the little drama within shd
shadow Of her hand.
(To BE CoNTINUEnl
f 49, --S--A.-------
just Mani