Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-08-24

BY REX BEACH.
ceyyr.Eht By Otis I. Wood.
Z eyyr,sht BY Otis L wood.

Then she and McGin set out for Ophir.
trip he never forgot. The sled was
laden with things to make bride COM
Portable, so they were forced to walk.
but they might have been flying for an
he knew. Alice was very ignorant Of
northern ways, childishly 80, and It At
lorded him the keenest delight to ini-
tiate her into the mysteries Of tran life.
And when night drew near and they
made camp what Joy Il was to hear
her exclamat,ons Of wonder at his
adeptness! She loved to witch his Ak
sink to the eye in the frozen ar trunks
and to Join his shout when the tree fell
crashing in great upheaval OF white.
Then when their tiny tent nesting IN
some sheltered grove, was glowing
from the candlehght and the nedhot
stove had routed the cold he would
make her lie back on the fragrant
springy couch OF boughs while he
smoked and did the dishes and told her
shyly Of the happiness that had come
upon him. He waited upon her hand
and foot. he stood between her and
everyFpern Of the w1lds.
/ And while # was all delightfully."- BE-
wilderingf to him, II was likewise very
strange and exciting 10 his bride The
deathiy silence Of the bitter nights, a.
lumined only BY the awesome aurora
borealis: the terrific immensely Of the
solitudes, with their white burdened
forests Of hr that ran up and over the
mountains and away to the ends Of the
world; the wild wolf dogs that feared
nothing except the voice Of their mas
ter and yet fawned upon him with a
passion that approached ferocity-h all
played upon the woman's fancy
strangely. For the first time in her
tempestuous career she was nearly
happy. It was worth some sacrifice to
possess the devotion of man like NC
Gill; It was worth even more to know
that. her years Of uncertainty and strife
were over. His gentleness annoyed
her at times, but, on the other hand,
she was grateful for the shyness that
handicapped him rs q lover. On the
whole, however, It was good bargain,
and she was fairly we'll content.
As for McGin, he expanded, he e.
fioresced. II such q nature rs Ids could
be said to bloom he explored the
innermost recesses Of his being and
brought for&A hA secrets for her to
share. He told her all about himself
without the slightest reservation, and
when he was done she knew him clear
to his last, least thought It was an
unwise thing to do, but McGill was
not q wise man, and the stories seemed
to psease her. Above all, she took an
interest in his business affairs, which
was gratifying. Time and again she
questioned him shrewdly about his
mining properties. which made him
think that here was woman who
would prove helpmate.
4 Their arrival at Ophir was the occa.
sion for rough, spontaneous welcome
that further turned her bead McGill
was loved, and once her townsmen had
recovered from their amazement they
did their best TO show his wife courte-
sizes. which all went to strengthen her
belief In his importance and to add
to her complacence.
McGill was ashamed Of his cabin 1t
first. but she surprised him with the
businesslike manner IN which she went
about fixing 1t up. Before his admir-
ing eyes she transformed it by few
deft touches into what seemed to him
a paradise. Heretofore he had wit
messed woman's handfwork only from
q distance and had never possessed a
real home, so this was another wonder
that it took time to appreciate. Even.
tnally he pulled himself together and
settled down to his affairs, but in the
midst Of his tasks it would sometimes
come over him with a binding rush
that he was married, that he had q
wife who was no sQuaw, but a white
woman, more beautiful than any dream
creature and 10 young that he might
have been her father. The amazing
strangeness of it never left him.
But the adolescence Of Ophir was
short. It quickly outgrew It's age Of
fictitious values, and its rapturous de-
lusions vanished as hole after hole was
put to bed rock and betrayed no pay.
Entire valleys that were formerly con-
sidcred rich were abandoned, and the
driving SHOWS erased the signs Of hui
man effort. Men came in out Of the
bills cursing the luck that had brought
them there. The gold bearing area
narrowed to proved creek or two
where the ground was taken and where
there were ten men for every job. The
snlnons began to fill WITT idlers. who
Iaiked much but spent nothing, ana o..
day the camp awakened to the fact
that it was: "a failure. There n nothing
more CHASTITY than a broken mining
town, for In place Of the 1rst feverish
exhilaration there Il naught but the
wreck OF hopes and the ruin Of am
billions.
McGilrs wife was not the last to ap-
preciate the truth. She saw 1t coming
even earlier than the rest. Once she
had lost the first glamor and fully at
tuned herself to the new life she was
sufficiently perceptive to realize her
great mistake. But McGill did not no
tice the change and saw nothing to
worry about in the towns affairs. He
had been poor most of his life, and his
rare periods of opulence had ended
briefly, therefore this failure meant
merely another trail. Ophir had given
him his prize, greater than all the riches
Of its namesake, and who could be 9th
Or than happy with wife like his?
His very optimism, combined with her
own fierce disappointment, drove the
roman naa rly fra ntic She felf nhIlseli