Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1916-02-24
THE HEART or
NIGHT W(QElS7K
a SrORY OF THE GREAT NORTH teSTN
BY VINGlE E. ROE ~ tae .~ X
ILLUSTRATIONS 6y NV~ NAETzHs Is
cooNaUHT or 0oO1 nEaD AOp coN4qNY
CO0XI2ICH| or DOO2 MEAD /4Nl0 cOIh9qNT

ters from Hampden.
He slumped in his chair, drumming
with senseless fingers on its arm.
He saw black bars across the win.
dow with the waving trees beyond
and knew himself for that weakest
among men, a woman's tool.
So, filed with excited determine
ton to beat Sandry with the Hamp-
den case and forestall his sending for
Farnsworth, which was the last thing
she wanted, Poppy Ordway again
rode up the valley. The mighty hills
were silent In the deadlock of an
Oregon summer. No breath of wind
found its way into the sheltered val.
legs and the pines were still.
The tidewater slough was gray
with the inland brine.
"GloriousI" she said to herself, lift
ing her gaze to the hazy mountains
"And I'll save it for him-even
against his Will"
She was sure she had succeeded
in her mission, and, happy in the
knowledge, was eager to be out Of
eLS wired rig.
And Sandry, as he GaLe5ted her o1t
thought simply thst rSo was r4s
most beautiful woman in the world,
for all the joy of triumph lent sparkle
to her lovely features. deepened the
slumbrous blue of her eyes,
No word had ever been spoken
about that night at the rollway and
Sandry bore a sense of guilt that he
had taken her avowal without open
reciprocation. But the face of Siletz
held him back. He scorned himself
and yet he knew he was blameless.
save for that unguarded kiss in the
glade
But did he wish to reciprocate? He
did not know.
Daily's camp droned on-getting
out its logs, flooding them down the
slough, binding them slowly into the
now familiar ocean-going raft.
The foreman himself was I'M
changed, though the world had
changed for him since that miser.
able Eyes" of Sietz in the darkened
room when he laid a gentle hand on
her shoulder. To Sandry he was the
same, for he had come, through the
slow processes of the simple nature.
to be his friend. The elusive fine
ness that had shown plain to Sandry
from the first in John Daily's heart
was solid as a rock. foundations an
abutment
They watched Hampden's trail
grow toward the East Belt with an
exaggerated slowness, Haunting OF
security.
And then. two days after Miss Ord.
ways return. the young commission
er and the Portland lawyer got off
the train at Toledo and were driven
out to the Yellow Pines. They bore
for Hampden the widest agony Of
his strong life in the revelation of his
goddess.
They were closeted together the
whole of the night in the Yellow
Pines office and 1t was strenuous
night for the two strangers, for
Hampden was man to fear in his
RACES.
At first they held him by main
force, and later by argument and rea.
son.
Fight said the lawve: IN the pink
dawn, fight Like t..Il! And bluff
It's your ONLY Chance"
"Fight?" EASrled Hampden hoarse
ly, what for? This damned driv.
eler has let her get the originals of
these letters of mine about the three
timber claims in ITO, and they
alone'd put me behind bars! You're
the damnedest ass ever scent"
And the mans small red eyes
glared at his accomplice with the
murder-lust. But the commissioner
had some spirit himself and came
back with defense.
Fools? We're two together. II
was from you she got her first knowl-
edge of the game. She fooled her
first suspicious out of you in her
horseback rides. She told me So
that's how you took her in on the
deals. she said"
Hampden groaned and flung his
head in his arms on the pine table
"All right" he said at last, "Ill
fight"
But with the last sight of the buck.
board bouncing down the hill road
with his visitors to catch the early
train back to Salem, light grew up
in his heavy face that would have
puzzled that astute man, the Portland
lawyer
Yes, by God!" he said in a voice
thick with menace, III fight! And
I'll make a fight that'll be remem-
bered all along the coast!"
CHAPTER XIV.
Fire In the Forest.