The evening world., 1916-02-17


stubbornly, hoping to stir
his dormant recollection. I'VE crossed
Slave Lake at the Neck not
q week ago. We haven't had
time TO get far from the east
shore. You know where The Neck Ia.
don't your" / asked insinuatingly. but
he gave no heed to my question.
For a minute or two he seemed to
be studying deeply, making little dia-
grams with bit OF stick IN the ashes
about the fire.
I'm not quite lost" he declared
hesitatingly, but I'm away out in my
reckoning. Now. thought 1 was in
the Peace River country, somewhere
10 tho north OF st. Anne's, and can't
figure out how the blue blazcs l got
here. There Is something the matter
with my head; l don't seem to get
things right. IL could get a whack
at the dirty scut that put me In this
shape rd-well, never mind. Slave
Lake, you say?"
st. Anne's! That name sounded IA
miliar. Ah--now | had i'll j remem-
bered the story Howe had told me on
the river bank at Edmonton, OF his
grandfather's wanderings In the
North sixty years before. But now
i
hensiblc. Personalities don't shuttle
themselves about TO suit the need.
We ceased trying To impress upon
him that we were his friends. that We
had ever met before. 1t seemed TO an
yer him and rouse suspicion of us.
His mind was a blank, so far as every
thing up to and including our trip
from Seattle TO the musk OK country
was concerned. Somehow ne mao
NJ hi
IL no was cropping after II he gave no
sign. Ill.,, ~,
How he'd managed to adjust him
self TO his environment Is not for me
10 say, but he appeared TO accept his
present position as perfectly natural
as IL he had faced the wilderness be-
fore, sharing rabbits with string
and building fires in the manner OF a
hundred years ago; striking sparH
from tho back Of his knife piade WIN
a ninty piece Of stone-he mad no
matches.
II was some time before he spoke
again: not till Dick had unfolded our
You see" Dick finished, our only
show is 10 make Fort Resolution. We
can't live out here without gruo or
shelter, and IL one of us should freeze
a hand or foot, why, that would De
tho last OF MIN. -. ,,
refiectiyely. "Yes, I've heard OF IL,
from traders or somebody. And It's
away 10 tho south OF here-lt beats
me. it beats me! We might as well
strike for there. The company drives
a hard bal gain, but they'll always
Seed A hungry man. IL l had an ak
and a gun, I could live Ike nghtlns-
cock in the woods; but you telloWs-
we'll, you're a helpless lott! ne broke
of explosively. ,.,.
ins nut our hands" Dick agreed, "a
humor him. but you can gamble al
your spare pennies that II we get oul
of this deep snow country once, we
won't be In hurry TO come back.
'Well, it's no trick TO get OUT
Howe grunted. "Just matter o.
travelling. Wen tackle it together
you say So ,,,,.,,
YOU may be sure. IL was what We
had been fishing for, an, feared tc
propose lest he take It amiss. Howe''
brain had taken a queer turn, and We
dared not risk antagonizlng him. Hav
Ing found him alive we meant to sta!
nv him, and 1t would have beer
mighty awkward II he had taken
notion to quit us and go 1t single
handed. We would have had n pretty
peck OF trouble, for he was big and
hard fighter. armed with keen-edge'
jack-knlfe and full OF now, acut'
cunning.
On the strength OF our compsct o
trail friendship | got him TO let m
look at his head, and gashes foun'
there fairly gave me the creeps. HoV
he managed TO travel Is beyond me
His scalp in half dozen places wa
laid open TO the bone, and across hi
face was long cash stretching IRON
,bove one eye to below his cheek
bone. | melted some snow III the III
cup and washed clean the cuts AM
bruises as best | could, and tore OF
piece OF my shirt to bandage his hea
afr n.
" hen I'd finished my clumsy minis
trations he showed us how 20 build
: wind-break Of brush, banked on u,
outside with snow, on three sldes {
the fire. 1t turned what little WIN
there was, and the brush caught an
held a bit Of the heat. He ordered
about emphatically and sometimes pre-
fanely. SO that when II was done, an
he commanded us to lie down and slice
while he stood first watch as /
phrased il, we obeyed without
murmur.
II wasn't exactly TO be compared
a hair mattress ana n dozen par
blankets for either warmth or sol
ness, that bed of spruce boughs, but
managed to get fair amount of slee
When the side Of me that was ava
from the Are grew unbearnhy cold
would wake up, turn over and drop q
again. | was dead to the world, dream
ing of luxuriously furnished apar
ments, steam heat and all the "omfor
of home, when Howe wakencd n
with a light touch on my shonlae
He pointed to the Big Dlpper, SWIM
ing on its eternal circle In the sta
fiecked sky, just above the GorSoo'
Northern Lights.
"Lookee." he said briefly, when t!
handle points down and little = q
east, you call the other fellow" Th'
he stretched himself in the place | IN
vacated and In two minutes was sour
asleep. His had not been an idle wat
/ shortly discovered. Four cotton-ta
hung stark from a nearby limb.
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