The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-02-10

plCkeu IL up.
Without volition, Sandry glanced at
the white page, which held a few
neatly tabulated notes.
I'VE ought not to read It, ma" he
was saying, 1T may be private"
Then a change came over his fea-
lures and i~nvoluntarily he peered
closer.
Mas keen, old eyes were upon his
face and she saw it slowly lose what
little color returning life had given it,
saw a look Of bewilderment. of amaze
and something very like fear settle
down upon it. drawing the features,
Tightening the skin. He stared hard
at the few scant notes, then raised
dilated eyes to her.
Are you sure. ma, sure-?" he
asked in a strangely altered voice.
Sure? Ever know me to speak
when l want sure, son? 2" said the gen.
eral grimly.
For, though the notes on the page
were so few and SO meaningless to an
outsider, 1t was plain that they had
fallen under the n pair of eyes
whose owner they most vitality con-
cerned.
This was what Walter Sandry read:
Tuesday night: Ruined! Ruined! Help
less, and he does not know!
Wednesday: %Scoundrels all-James g..
Whitby-Musseldorn-Copper and Zinc.
Consolidated Legitimate! My God, it's
lone legitimately! Within the law! May
such law be damned, James b.. Whitby-
l a0n the law this night.
Thursday: Dad. old chap!
When he had finished, his weak
hands tremblsd on the sheet and there
was the look of a cornered animal In
the bright. blue eyes that sought the
old woman's pleadingly.
Ma said Sandry h%oarsely, take 1t
back and put it where Miss Ordway
will casually find it, and don't say
saw it."
Without a word, Ma Daily picked up
her bowl, put the little red book in her
pocket and took SiletZ away to the
noon work, leaving the man for the
first time alone. OF a wide and cum
ming knowledge was this old handler
Of men. She knew that he would
think best in solitude.
Mother said Siletz as they passed
UP the path, she never dropped that"
Course not. | lied an stole both,
but it's worth while. There's some
thin threatenin' Sandry. an though
he's pretty weak to be worried, it's
best he should know"
And in the meantime Poppy Ordway
was talking to Hampden on the Siletz
road. The man was passionate force
full, a little worried by her long alb
sence from their rides, and he used
every persuasion at his command to
win her from the Daily camp.
What for do you want to stay
there?" he begged.
Don't you know I am writing a lum'
Der story?"
Sure. But why can't you come to
the Yella Pines?"
And have the country talking?
ride with you too much for that.
have a reputation in the great worl(
that | can't afford to lose in the little
one"
But they say you're goin' to marry
that da-beg yer pardon-that john!
Eastern. That SO? For Gods sake
girl, don't say it,"
Hampden's red face was pale, an(
she enjoyed seeing this coarse, bull
like man shaken to his foundations.
And what If it ISL"
I'll kill him! So help me heaven
I'll get him next tell you l can
stand for that!"
Get him next time" she was sayinl
swiftly to herself, "oh, Hampden,
fancy therell be a lot of getting
whether or not Walter Sandry want
me to quit-now, after all I've gon'
through with you to get my line stakes
out!"
Aloud she said at the same time
Mott isn't true" And Hampdel
caught her hand and kissed it.
March crawled by and April-Ma,
came in with the feel and look of sum
mer-as it does in the western hills
warm and bright and e~ternally sunny
Sandry wondered IL 1t had aver rained
Any exertion tired him cruelty, SO h
loafed about the office, sat on the cas-
porch at the cook-shack, and talke'
idly with the three women, for Popp
Ordway, despite Ma Daily's coldnes
and hints, and Siletz' silence, stil
stayed on at the camp. Often Sandr
watched her with a puzzled look in hi
eyes which all her cleverness ha
failed to fathom.
There was a slight constraint b.
tween them.
The work Of the camp went o
well. A bunch of lumberjacks fror
Sacramento had come In during Apri
and Sandry took them on. The Por
land Lumber company received tn
second raft, a smaller one, by tn
middle OF May. and followed It's n
ceipt with another order that woul
keep all hands and extra help at wor
until August. The pressing mortgag
had been lifted by that first big chez
and the young owner felt his spir
- ---I-