The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-08-22

IL 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. Shouldering
the pack containing his axe and gun
and sleeping bag and such provision
as would serve to tide him over I'M
til he reached human habitations, he
set forth. He did not look up to the
hut, indeed he could not have seen 1t
for the corral was almost directly be-
meath it, but II it 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 half
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 a mechanical way
while the trail followed the border Of
the lake for time, plunged into the
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
oblivious 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 dlscov-
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 wilderness, were
the tracks of man!
He stopped dead with sudden con-
traction of the heart. Humanity 9TH
er than he and she in that wilderness?
II could not be! For a moment he
doubted the evidence of his own SEN
ses. He shook his pack loose from his
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, that
some one had gone on. Where had
he gone?
To follow the new trail was child's
play for him. He ran by the side of
it until he reached the knoll. The
stranger had stopped again, he had
shifted frcm 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, there
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 his
track. Fortunately the snow crust up
bore him. The trail ran straight to
the foot of the rocky stairs. The new
conner had easily found his way there. |
With beating heart and throbbing
pulse, Newbold himself bounded I'D
the activity after the stranger, mark
ing as he did so evidences of the 9TH
er's prior ascent. Reaching the top |
like him he ran down the narrow path |
and in his turn laid his hand upon the |
door.
He was not mistaken. he heard |
voices within. lie listened a second |
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 the
canon. Fate was bringing all the ac-
tors of the little drama within the
shadow of her hand