Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-01-31

fire tipped peaks, but her ears were
open to all that passed in the group,
and once the1ine Of her lips straighten.
ed and the gray of her eyes turned
cold when Lem effort, the teamster,
spoke disparagingly of some one who
was not present.
"'Tisn't a square deal, l say" pro.
claimed Lem "tisn't
square deal, and Richards knows it
too. Here we co. Lem constituted
himself spokesman for the town board
there we go and give him the latest
mining concession in the township, and
In return he agrees to light the town
free, and now that he's got the fran
chise clinched he goes and hides him.
self on a mountain where no one can
get at him and gives US the leavin's
of the power he uses in his stamp mill.
Look at them lights now! Look at them
and say, Is it square?'
The line Of the girls lips softened
into a faint smile. It was true that
the electric lights of Silverdale had
O0cA xOA SCS Cl al AlSuCS pOSL a A1SACA-
ing mockery. They had fluctuated be-
tween full head and no head so con-
stantly that it was hard to say wheth-
er they had been mostly on or mostly
OF. She thought of this as she gazed
at the lofty little plateau on which,
when the day was fine, she could see
the CLINT of a waterfall and in one of
whose canyons she knew Richards
must be at that moment superintend-
ing the dynamo which supplied the
town with light. Richards was cut
of from the world without the canyon
as he had been ever since the winter
SHOWS blocked the trail.
There had been a telegraph line over
which she had carried on certain con-
versations with the man in the can
yon, but the big December storm had
blown down the wire. and it would be
spring before it could be repaired.
Lem effort continued his harangue,
and in the increasing darkness Of the
evening his gestures were alternately
revealed and obscured as the lights
went uncertainty up and down. Other
citizens joined the group. and among
them came Sheriff Black, an ardent
supporter of Richards. Black was a
large man, and his intellect was vigor-
Gus rather than acute. But his opin-
ion had weight in the community, and
he opened on effort without cere-
uony.
"Say, Lem effort" he began, flor a
/ahoo that's been brought up on can
dies and coal oil you make me tired.
You never saw an electric lamp before
Richards brought 'em to town. If
were you I'd keep my head shut about
It. He's done more for this town in six
months than you've done in your life.
The lights aren't right. but he don't
know 1t or you bet they would be-"
Lem effort, gazing at the ground.
said, somewhat deprecatingly:
'Hen make fortune out of it,
well, and what if he does?' return.
ed the sheriff. Doesn't he deserve it
That reservation land laid idle for
years, and the township never made a
cent out of it. It's got some silver in
IL. ~ Ue sure, Dul YOU KNOW tue mOuey
that was sunk years ago trying to get
it out. It cost them $40 ton to hau
coal. But Richards don't need coal
He had the sense to make the water
tall run his machine, and he gives thu
town light free"
Must be kind of lonely stayin' W
there in the canyon three months with
out word from the outsider"
"Well, Joe Hutchings is with him
Hutch is good company"
Eyes, when he's SOBER"
"Not much chance to get rum W
there"
The girl in the doorway still gazed
pensively toward the now invisible
mountains.
It was while she stood thus that thu
men saw her start violently and i'm
mediately afterward take to gazing
around her strangely, as though seek
Ing the cause Of her alarm. No on!