Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-06-04
CHAPTER XII. fcontinued).


CHAPTER XII. (Continued).
'I will go and cook you some break
fast while you get yourself ready. II
you have not washed, you'll find a
bucket of water and basin and towel
outside the door"
He went through the inner door as
suddenly as he had come through the
outer one. He was man Of few words,
and whatever social grace he might
once have possessed, and in more Ia
vorable circumstances exhibited, was
not noticeable now. The tenderness
with which he had caressed her the
night before had also vanished.
His bearing had been cool, almost
harsh and forbidding, and his manner
was as grim as his appearance. The
conversation had been a brief one, and
her opportunity for inspection OF him
consequently limited. Yet she had
taken him in. He was tall, splendid
man. No longer young, perhaps, but In
the prime OF life and vigor. His COM
plexion was dark and burned browner
by long exposure to sun and wind, win
ter and summer. In spite of the brown,
there was a certain color, a hue OF
health in his cheeks. His eyes were
hazel, sometimes brown, sometimes
gray, and sometimes blue, she after
ward learned. A short thick closely
cut beard and mustache covered the
lower part Of his face disguised but
not hiding the squareness of his jaw
and the f1rmness of his lips.
He had worn his cap when he enter
ed, and when he took it off she no
ticed that his dark hair was tinged
with white. He was dressed in a leath-
er hunting suit, somewhat the worse
for wear. but fitting him in a way to
give free play to all his muscles. His
movements were swift, energetic and
graceful. She did not wonder that he
had so easily hurled the bear to one
side and had managed to carry her-no
light weight, indeed i-over what she
dimly recognized must have been a
horrible trail, which, burdened as he
was, would have been impossible to a
man of less splendid vigor than he.
The cabin was low ceiled, and as
she sat looking up at him, he had tow
cred above her until he seemed to
fill it. Naturally. she had scrutinized
his every action, as she had hung on
his every word. His swift and some
what startled movement, his frowning
as he had seized the picture on which
she had gazed with such interest,
aroused the liveliest surprise and GU
riosity In her heart.
Who was this woman? Why was ne
so quick to remove the picture from
her gaze? Thoughts rushed tumultu.
ously through her brain, but she real
ICED at once that she lacked time to
indulge them She could hear him
moving about in the other room. She
threw aside the blanket with which
she had draped herself, changed the
bandage on her foot, drew on the
heavy wooden stocking which, of
course. was miles too big for her, but
which easily took in her foot and
ankle encountered as they were by
the rude, heavy but effective wrapping.
Thereafter she hobbled to the door
and stood for a moment almost aghast
at the splendor and magnificence be.
fore her.
He had built his cabin on a level
shelf of rock perhaps fifty by hundred
eet in area. Ii was backed up against an
overtowering cliff. otherwise the rock
fOII In @ n
vined that the descent from the shelf
into the pocket or valley spread before
her was sheer, except of to the
right. where a somewhat gentler ac-
clivity of huge and broken boulders
gave a practicable ascent-a scrt of
titanic stairs-to the place perched
on the mountain side. The shelf was
absolutely bare save for the cabin
and few huge boulders. There we're
a few sparse. stunted trees further up
on the mountain side above: a few
hundred feet beyond them, however.
came the timber line. after which
there was nothing but the naked
rock
Below several hundred feet lay a
clear emerald pool, whose edges were
bordered by pines. where it was not
dominated by high cliffs. Already the
lakelet was trimmed with ice on tie
shaded side. This enchanting little
body of water was fed by the melting
snow from the crest and peaks, which
in the clear. pure sunshine and rari-
fed air of the mountains seemed TO
rise and confront her within a stones
throw OF the place where she stood.
On ore side of the pretty lake in
the valley. or pocket, beneath. there
was a little grassy clearing, and there
the dweller In the wilderness had
built rude corral for the burros. On
a rough beuch by the side Of the door
she saw the primitive conveniences to
which he had alluded. The water