Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-03-08

the wherewithal. And since 1 know
now TO manage that with q minimum
amount of effort, I'd like to be about
1t before somebody else gets ahead of
me. Though there's small chance of
that"
We be partners" said she. How
will we divide the profits. Billum?"
We'll split even" he declared.
THAT is, I'll make the money. and
you'll spend it,"
Ihey chucllled V this conceit. and
as the dusk closed in slowly they fell
to planning the details. Hazel lit the
lamp, and in its yellow glow pored
over maps while Bill idly sketched
their route on a sheet of paper. His
objective lay east of the head of the
Nahs proper, where amid a wild tangle
of mountains and mountain torrents
three turbulent rivers, the Stikine, the
Skeena and the Mas, took their rise.
A GOd-forsaken region, he told her.
where few white men had penetrated.
The peaks hirted with the clouds, and
their sides were SCARED with glaciers.
A lonesome, brooding land, the home
of a vast and seldOm-broken silence.
But there's all kinds of game and
fur in there" Bill remarked thought
fully. "And gold. Still, it's a fierce
country for a man to take his best girl
into. 1 don't know whether 1 ought
to tackle It,"
"We couldn't be more isolated than
we are here" Hazel argued, eff we
were in the Arctic. Look at that poor
woman at Pelt House. Three babies
born since she saw a doctor or another
woman of her own color! What's a
winter by ourselves compared to that.
And she didn't think it so great a
hardship. Don't you worry about me.
Mr.. Bill. I think it will be fun. I'm
a real pioneer at heart. The wild
places look good to me-when you're
along
She received her due reward for
that, and then, the long twilight hav-
ing brought the hour to a lateness that
manifested itself by sundry yawns on
their part, they went to bed.
With breakfast over. Bill put a COM
pass in his pocket, after having ground
his ak blade to a keen edge.
"Come on" said he, then I'm going
to transact some important business"
what is it," she promptly demand
ed with much curiosity.
"Thls domicile of ours, girl" he told
her, while he led the way through the
surrounding timber, "is ours only by
grace of the wilderness. It's built on
unsurveyed government land - land
that / have no more legal claim to
than any passing trapper. But I'm
going to remedy that. I'm going to
formally stake a hundred and sixty
acres of this and apply for its pur-
chase. Then we'll have q cinch on our
home. Wen always have a refuge to
fly to, no matter where we CO."
She nodded appreciation of this. The
cabin in the clearing stood for some
Of those moments that always loom
large and un~forgettable in every wom-
ans experience. She had come there
once in hot, shamed anger, and she
had come again as q bride. 1t was the
handiwOrk of a man she loved with a
passion that sometimes startled her
by its intensity. Just the mere pos
sibility of that place being given over
to Others reused In her a pang of re-
sentiment. 1t was theirs, hers and
Bilps, and. being a woman, she viewed
Its possession jealousy.
SO she watched with keen interest
what he did. Which. in truth, was
simple enough. He worked his way
to a point southeast of the clearing
till they gained a little rise whence
through the treetops they could look
back and see the cabin roof. There
BIZ cut off an eight-inch jack pine