Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-02

He knew that if j shpan should elect to
turn somersaults while diamond -hitched
under her pack big goodnatured Bruce
Otto would do nothing more than make the
welkn ring with his terrible, bloOd-curdling
protest
one after another the six horses Of their
outfit appeared out Of the timber and last
of all rode the mountain man. He was gath
cred like "A partly released spring in his
saddle, AN attitude born Of years in the
mountains, and because Of certain diff
Guilty he had in distributing gracefully his
siX-fOUt-twO-inCh length of flesh and bone
astride mountain CayuSc,
Upon his appearance Langdon dismountcd
and turned his eyes again up the valley
The stubby blond beard on his face did
not conceal the deep tan painted there by
weeks of exposure in the mountains; he had
opened his shirt at the throat. exposing a
neck darkened by sun and wind his eyes
were Of keen, searching blue-gray and
they questcd the country ahead Of him now
with the joyous intentness of the hunter and
the adventurer.
Langdon was thirty-fve. \ part of his
life he spent in the wild places; the other
part he spent in writing about the things
he found there. His companion was five
years his junior in age but had the better
Of him by six inches in length Of anatomy,
II those additional inches could be called an
advantage. Bruce thought they were not.
The devil OF it is l amt done CROWN
yet !" he often explained,
lie rode up now and unimbered himself.
Langdon pointed ahead.
did you ever see anything to beat that?"
he asked.
Fine country" agreed Bruce. mighty
good place TO camp, too, Jim. There ought
to be caribou in this range, an bear. We
need some fresh meat. Gimme "A match, will
you?"
1t had come to be a habit with them to
light both their pipes with one match when
possible. They performed this ceremony
now while viewing the situation. As he
puffed the first luxurious cloud of smoke
from his bulldog, LangdOn nodded toward
the timber from which they had just come,
Fine place for our tepec." he said. DRY
wood, running water, and the first good
balsam we've struck in a week for our
beds. We can hobbe the horses In that
little open plain we crossed "A quarter of a
mile back, | saw plenty Of buffalo grass
and a lot Of wild timothy"
He looked at his watch,
ITS only 3 o'clock. We might 20 on
Rut-what do you say? Shall we stick
for day or two and see what this country
looks llke2"
Looks good to me-" said Bruce
lie sat down as he spoke, with his back
to rock and over his knee he leveled a
long brass telescope. From his saddle
from Paris. The telescope was relic of
the Civil War. Together, their shoulders
touching as they steadied themselves against
the rock they studied the rolling slopes and
the green slides of the mountains ahead
OF them.
They were in the big game country and
what Langdon called the Unknown. SO far
as he and Bruce Otto could discover, no
other white man had ever preceded them,
II was a country shut In by tremendous
ranges, through which II had taken them
twenty days Of sweating toll to make a
hundred miles.
That afternoon they had crossed the
summit of the Great Divide that split the
skies north and south, and through their
glasses they were looking now upon the
first green slopes and wonderful peaks Of
the Firepan Mountains. To the northward
and they had been travelling north-was
the skeena River; on the west and south
were the Babine range and waterways ;
eastward, over the Divide, was the Drift
wood, and still farther eastward the Omin-