Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1918-01-31
In Deep Water.

Der curtains while they ate, revealing
a sky overcast with slaty clouds. What
with her wanderings of the night be-
fore and the journey through the dark
with Roaring Bill, she had absolutely
no idea of either direction or locality.
The Unfolding timber shut off the out,
look.
"Do you suppose I can get home in
time to open school?" she inquired
anxiously.
Roaring Bill smiled. 81 don't know"
he answered. '1t all depends"
"You know where you are now,
don't your" she asked.
"Not exactly" he responded. "But
I will before long-I hope"
The ambiguity of his answer did not
escape her. She puzzled over it while
Silk ambled sedately behind the other
horses. She hoped that Bill Wagstaff
knew where he was going. If he did
not-but she refused to entel lain the
alternative. And she began to watch
eagerly for some sign of familiar
ground.
For two hours Roaring Bill trampled
through aisles bordered with pine and
spruce and fir, through thickets Of
berry bush, and across limited areas of
grassy meadow. Not once did they
cross road or trail. Eventually Bill
halted at small stream to get drink.
Hazel looked \at her watch. 1t was
half past light.
"Aren't we ever going to get there?"
she called impatiently.
"Pretty soon," he called back, and
struck out briskly again.
Another hour passed. Ahead of her,
leading one pack horse and letting the
other follow untrammeled, Roaring.
Bill kept doggedly on, hating for moth.
ing, never looking back. .....
They crossed ravine. and slanted
up steep hillside. Presently Hazel
could look away over an area Of wood,
land undulating like a heavy ground
swell at sea. Here and there ridges
stood forth boldly above the general,
roll, and distantly she could descry a,
white-capped mountain range. They
turned the end of a thick patch Of pine
scrub, and Bill pulled up In a small
opening. From a case swinging at his
belt he took out pair Of field glasses,
and leisurely surveyed the country.
"Well?" Hazel Intercepted.
"Nothing in sight, is there?" Bill said
eff the sun was out,
now. Funny I can't spot that Soda
Creek trail"
"Don't you know this country at
all?" she said gloomily.
81 thought did," he replied. 'But
L can't seem to get my bearings to
work out correctly. I'm awfully sorry
to keep you in such a pickle. But it
can't be helped"
he took up the lead rope and moved
on. They dropped over the ridge
crest and once more into the woods.
Roaring Bill made his next halt beside
a spring, and fell to unlashing the
packs.
"What are you going to do?" Hazel
asked.
"Cook a bite, and let the horses
graze," he told her. "Do you realize
that we've been going since daylight?
It's near noon. Horses have to eat and
rest once in a while, just the same as
human beings"
The logic of this Hazel could not
well deny, since she herself was tired
and ravenously hungry. By her watch
it was just noon.
Bill hobbled out his horses on the
grass below the spring, made q fire,
and set to work cooking He worked
silently at the meal getting, fried
steaks Of venison, and boiled a pot of
coffee. They ate. He filled his pipe,
and smoked while he repacked. Alto
forty minutes at the noon halt. Hazel,
now woefully saddle sore, would fain
have rested longer, and, In default of
resting, tried to walk and lead Silk.
Roaring Bill offered no objection to
that. But he hit faster gait. She
could not keep up, and he did not
slacken pace when she began to fall
behind. So she mounted awkwnrdly,
and Silk jolted and shook her with his
trotting until he caught up viii his
mates. Bill grinned over his shoulder.
you're learning fast" he allied
back. you'll be able to run a pack
train by and by"
The afternoon wore on without
bringing them any nearer '""iboo
Meadows so far as Hazel CO.. q see.
Travelling over country swf . in
timber and diversified in cont she
could not tell whether Roar. e.: Bill
swung in circle or bore StrH. al for
some given point,
: She called a halt at four o'ci <.
! "Mr. Wagstaff'"
Bill stopped his horses III anne
back to her.
aren't we ever going to get any