The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1918-02-22


hadn't known how IL would be. / wen
mere out Of sheer curiosity to take ,
! look at |ou-maybe out Of a spirit c.
defiance, too, because / knew that J
was certainly not welcome even if the,
were willing 10 take my money for {
meal. And / came away all 10 IN she
air. There was something about YOU
the tone Of your voice the way YOUR
proud little head IS set on your snoul-
ders' your makeup in general that
sent me away with a large-sized crouch
at myself, at Cariboo Meadows, ard at
you for coming in my way"
WHY she asked in wonder.
Because you'd have believed wat
they told you, and Carboo MeadoSs
can't tell anything about me that isE't
Dad,' he said quietly. "My record
there makes me entirely unfit to asso-
clate with-that would have been your
conclusion. And | wanted to be with
you, 70 talk to you, to take you by
storm and make you like me as I felt
| could care for you. You can't have
grown up, little person, without realiz-
ing that you do attract men very
strongly. All women do, but some far
more than Others"
Perhaps" she admitted coldly
Men have annoyed me with their un
welcome attentions. But none of then
ever dared go the length of carrying
me away against my will. You can't
explain or excuse that"
I'm not attempting excuses" Bill
made answer. "There are two things
L never do-apOlOgize or bully. | dare
say that's one reason the Meadows
gives me such a black eye. If they
weren't Il good deal afraid of me. and
always laying for a chance to do me
up. they wouldn't let me stay In the
town overnight. SO ycu can see what
a handicap l was under when it came
to making your acquaintance and
courting you in the orthodox manner"
you've made a great mistake" she
said bitterly, "if you think you've re-
moved the handicap. I've suffered a
great deal at the hanis of men in the
past six months. I'm beginning to be-
lieve that all men arg brutes at heart"
Roaring Bill sat up and claSped his
hands over his knees AID stared fixedly
into the fire.
mo" he said slowly, "all men are
not brutes-any more man all women
are angels. I'll convince you of that"
"Take me home, then" she crled for
lornly. THAT'S the only way you can
convince me or make amends"
NO" Bill murmured that isn't tho
way. Wait till you know me better.
Besides, couldn't take you out now If
| wanted to without exposing you to
greater hardshipS than you'll have to
endure here. Do you realize that it's
fall, and we're in the high attitudes?
This snow may not go off at all. Even
If it does 1t will storm again before a
week. You couldn't wallow through
snow 10 your waist in forty -below-zero
weather"
"PeOple will pass here, and I'll get
word out" Hazel asserted desperately.
"What good would that do your
You've got too much conventional re-
gard for what you term your reputa-
ton to send word to Cariboo Meadows
that you're living back here with Roar
ing Bill Wagstaff, and won't some one
please come and rescue you" He
paused to let that sink in, then con-
tinued: Besides, you won't see a
white face before spring; then only by
accident. No one in the North, out.
side Of few Indians, has ever seen
this cabin or knows where il stands"
She sat dumb, raging inwardly. For
the minute she could have killed Roar.
ing Bill. She who had been so sure in
her independence carried, whether or
no, into the heart of the wilderness at
the whim of a man who stood a self.
confessed rowdy, in i'll repute among
his own kind. There was a sumber-
ing devil in Miss Hazel Weir. and II
took little to wake her temper. She
looked at Bill Wagstaff, and her breast
heaved. He was responsible. and he
could sit coolly talking about 1t. Tho
resentment that had smoldered against
Andrew Bush and Jack Barrow concen.
trated on Roaring Bill as the arch Of
fender of them all. And lest she yield
to savage impulse to ecream at him.
she got up and ran iete the bedroom,
slammed the door shuH Sehind her. and
threw herself across the bed to muflle
the sound of her crying ir a pillow.
After time she lifted her head.
outside, the wind wh,s'led gustily
around the cabin corners. In the
hushed intervals she heari steady
pad, pad, sounding sometimes close by
her door, again family at the far end
OF the room. A beam of light shOne
! through the generous latchstring hole
In the door. Stealing softly over, she
! peeped through this hole. From end
to end of the big room and back again
Roaring Bill paced slowly, looking
straight ahead of him with a fixed,
absent stare, his teeth closed on his
neither lip. Hazel blinked wondering
/ ly. Many an hour in the last three
months she had walked the floor like
that, biting her lip in mental agony.
And then, while she was looking. Bill
| abruptly extinguished the candles. In
! the red CLEAN from the hearth she saw
/ him 60 into the kitchen, closing the
door softly. After that there, was no
/ sound but the swirl of the storm
] brushing at her window.