The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-30

thicknesses of oiled cloth When he Hooked at the dynamite he smiled as when he noticed the lower level of the
 snow-Ene.
 , Casting frequent glances at the sky, which now showed slate-color instead fof blue as on the previous day, he spent the day cutting small pines, which he
 rapidly trimmed. For two days he 1 worked without internission. On the
 third he moved his possessions and the contents of the cache into well-made log cabin. The next day brought snow
 Working furiousiy in the spell of clear
 weather that followed, he threw together another rough building against his own, | and hanl1ed the whole double structure with a thickness of boughs against the tcold. The whole locality showed traces I of his previous handiwork and he short fly opened another cache, that contained
 provision for the two horses. This he
 handled with even greater care than his
 own supplies. His preparations had been
 thorough and systematic. He welcomed
 the gray days; and when the real winter
 and the deep snow came together one wild night he was ready. An intimate
 knowledge of the locality had enabled
 him to choose site for his cabin where
 no great amount of snow could drift;
 and there was timber aplenty.
 He did not need to watch the trail.
 None knew better than he how irnpos- sible 1t would be for any one to travel there while the snow remained. The po-
 sition was for the present practically in accessib1e-ar1d almost invisible, even if
 some evil chance should bring a visitor his way.
 The days of the long winter passed
 slowly. He used his snow-shoes much, bringing in fresh meat from time to time. The unwonted freedom to be idle
 at pleasure gratiied him.. His nature L. L ii I L1.--
 solitude, which would have been irk-
 some to most men, satisfied a real desire
 in him. As his life had been essentially one of action, he was not given to books. Yet there was mental vigor about him -an innate curiosity regarding things that predisposed him to take a certain joy in them He possessed several he
 had picked Up once in a dismant1ed cabin
 on a deserted placer claim. The owner left-why, when, or where was merely
 one of the thousand mysteries of the
 mountain country, and had, therefore,
 not aroused his curiosity He had taken the books with a vague idea that he. might sometime read them, and had car
 ried them since that time with the same
 idea. So they remained in his posses
 sion awaiting that combination of the
 time and the place that had now arrived
 for the first time
 He read slowly. One was Bunyan's | with interest through the purely narrative
 portions of the first part; but after that he lost interest. There were a few
 stories which he read many times with
 childish delight; there was treatise on
 phrenology, the crude philosophical mat ter of which found in his mind recep- tive if uncuitivated soil But always he would return to the stories with fresh
 delight; and one of them was Treasure IsIand' It was the first touch he had
 ever had with the world of ideas.
 So the months passed, Time slid by
 so smoothly that there were whole days when he would all but forget the purpose that had brought him there. This pleased him; for any extended breeding upon 1t made him moody, and there was cer-
 tain nervous strain connected with the
 mere thought of it that he had grown to
 dislike. It was never absent from him l for very long, however; and with each recurrence he found that the spells last ed longer, so that he learned to dread them, and look with impatience upon the small calendar that was among his sup plies-
 One morning, issuing from the door of l the cabin, he stopped short and looked
 around him with his body very still and
 an intent look in his eyes. It was the l first thaw; the signs were unn1istaIzab1e. 1 As the truth came home to him, his eyes
 blazed as if some sleeping purpose with
 in had leaped once more into life. His l face became crimson with excitement i; the ha1f-spiritual mask he had worn in
 the winter solitude dropped from him in that instant; he was again as on the day he came, only more savage and intent on his thoughts by reason of the nearness Iof the time, and from the fact that for the first time he now completely gave lway to this growing tendency of his pur- pose to hold his mind to the exclusion of all else-a tendency which he had found returning again and again through the winter with growing force. Therea fter
 he did not read the stories in his leisure
 moments, and through the evenings
 would pace rapidly up and down his
 cabin, weaving the warp and wool of . savage dream, while he waited for the trail to clear.
 One day he heard the rumble of ar avalanche. He had heard many of tI1err during the winter, but this one, at this time, was peculiarly significant to hi: mind. Within week the trail was req sonab1y clear; and one morning he start ed with the earliest dawn along what wa. a continuation of the path by which ht had originally come. The footing wa preearious. The soil was wet and slip pery under the rays of the sun, now dail, ! increasing fn power; and numberles rocks had been 1reacherously loosened b. . the frost. He made his way rapidly
 however, with the skill of a trained mountaineer, and came within a fev : hours to the place he sought.
 5 In this locality the side of the noun !. tain took on an appearance that was Il s curious contrast to its ruggedness a1ona 2 every other part of the path. Free iron Instructions, and still covered with g mass of snow that had collected througl the winter, it rose at sharp angle iron the trail to the summit, without breal or irreg1larity in its smooth surface. y twas known as one of the most treacher y ous localities in that region by reason 0 : threatened avalanches that might swee y down on the trail from the smooth in