Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1918-02-28

! south"
/ There's everything that one needs,
almost, in the wilderness, isn't there?"
Hazel observed refiectively. "But still
the law of life is awfully harsh, don't
you think, Bill. Isolation is terrible
thing when it Is so absolutely COM
plete. Suppose something went wrong?
There's no help, and no mercy-abso-
lutely none. Nature, when you get
close to her, is so memorable"
Bill eyed her a second. Then he put
his arms around her, and patted her
hair tenderly.
'Is 1t getting on your nerves already,
little person?" he asked. "Nothing's
going to go wrong. I've been in wild
country too often to make mistakes or
get careless. Life isn't a bit harsher
here than in the human ant heaps.
What does the old, settled country do
to you when you have neither money
nor job? 1t treats you worse than the
worst the North can do; for, lacking
the price, 1t denies you access to the
abundance that mocks you In every
shop window, and bars you out of the
houses that line the streets. Here,
everything needful is yours for the TAX
ing. No, little person, / don't think
the law of life is nearly so harsh here
as 1t Is where. the MOB struggles for it's
daily bread. It's more open and
aboveboard here; more up to the indi-
vidual. But it's 1anely sometimes.
guess that's what affs. you."f
"Oh, poufi" she denied. "Pm not
lonely, so long as I've got you. But
sometimes I think of something hap
pening to you-sickness and accidents,
and all that"
Forget itp' Bill exhorted. That's
the worst of living in this big, still
country-it makes one retrospective,
and so confoundedly conscious of what
puny atoms we human beings are,
after all. But there's less chance of
sickness here than any place. Wait
till l get that cabin built, with big
fireplace at one end. Wen be more
comfortable, and things win look a
little roster. This thing of everlasting
hurry and hard work gets on every
bodys nerves"
The best of the afternoon was still
mated, and Bill declared a holiday.
When the fire had sunk to dull en-
bers, aHd the stars were peeping shyly
in the open flap of their tent, she whis-
pered in his ear:
"You mustn't think I'm complaining
or lonesome or anything, Billy-boy,
when / make remarks like did today.
/ love you a heap, and I'd be happy
anywhere with you. And I'm really
and truly at home in the wilderness.
Only-only sometimes / have q funny
feeling; as If were afraid. I look up
at these big mountains, and they seem
to be scowling-as if we were tres
passers or something"
II know" Bill drew her close to
him. "But that's just mood. I've felt
that same sensation up here-a foolish,
indefinable foreboding. All the out
of-the-way places of the earth produce
that effect if one is at all imaginative.
It's the bigness of everything, and the
eternal stiffness. 1t would be hard on
the nerves to live here always. But
we're only after a stake-then all the
pleasant places of the earth are open
to US; with that little old log house
up by Pine river for Il refuge when
ever we get tired Of the world at large.
Cuddle up and go to sleep. You're a
dead-game sport, or you'd have hol-
Tered long ago."
And, next day, to Hazel, sitting by
watching him swing the heavy, double
bitted ak on the foundation logs Of
their winter home, 1t all seemed fool
! ish, that heaviness of heart which
! sometimes assailed her. She was per-
fectly happy. They had plenty of food.
In few brief months Bill would wrest
sack of gold from the treasure house
of the North, and they would journey
home by easy stages. Why should she
brood? 1t was sheer folly-a mere
| ebb of spirit.
Fortune favored them to the extent
of letting the October storms remain
in allegiance until Bill finished his
cabin, with cavernous fireplace of
rough stone at one end.
Followed then the erection of O
stable to shelter the horses. Midway
of its construction cloud bank blew,
ouL VI the HoTlIleaSl, anu IooL III
snow fell. Then 1t cleared to brilliant
days of frost. Bill finished his stable.
AT night he tied the horses therein. By
day they were turned loose to rustic
their fodder from under the crisp
snow. 1t was necessary to husband
the stock of hay, for spring might be
late.
=. After that they went hunting. The
third day Bill shot two moose in an
open glade ten miles afield. 1t took
them two more days to haul in the
frozen meat on q sled.
He also laid in a stock of frozen
trout by the simple expedient of locat-
ing a large pool, and netting the
speckled denizens thereof through a
hole in the ice