Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1918-04-18

Haven't told you often enough?
didn't come here willingly, and won't
stay. 1 will notI 1 have a right to
live my life In my own way, and it's
not this way"
49," Roaring Bill began evenly,
"springtime with you only means get
ting back to work You want to get
back into the muddled rush of peopled
places, do you? You want to be where
you can associate with fluffy -ruf1e.
pompadoured girls, and be properly in
troduced to equally proper young men.
Lord. but I seem to have made a mis-
takeI And. by the same token, I'll
probably pay for tin a way you
wouldn't understand if you lived a
| thousand years. Well, set your mind
at rest. I'll take you out. Ye gods and
| little fishes, but / have sure been a
fooI!"
He sat down on the edge of the table
| and Hazel b1inked at him, half scared
and full of wonder. She had grown
so used to seeing him calm, imperturb-
able, smiling cheerfully no matter what
she said or did, that his passionate out
| break amazed her. She could only sit
| and look at him.
| He got out his cigarette materials
| But his fingers trembled, splitting the
tobacco. And when he tore the paper
in his efforts to roll it, he dashed pa
per and all into the fireplace with
something that sounded like an oath,
and walked out of the house. Nor did
he return till the sun was well down
toward the tree-rimmed horizon. When
he came back he brought in an arm
full of wood and kindling, and began to
build fire. Hazel came out of her
room. Bill greeted her serenely.
"Well. little person." he said, 'I
hope you'll perk up now"
'T'll try" she returned. care you
really going to take me out?''
| Bill paused with a match blazing in
his fingers.
'Im not in the habit of saying things
I don't mean,'' he answered dryly.
| 'We'll start in the morning.
The dark closed in On them, and
they cooked and ate supper in silence
Bill remained thoughtful and abstract
| ed Then from some place among his
books he unearthed map, and, spread
ing it on the table, studied it a while.
After that he dragged in his kyaks
from outside and busted himself pack
ing them with supplies for journey
tea and coffee and flour and such
things done up in small canvas sacks.
And when these preparations were
complete he got sheet of paper and a
pencil, and fell copying something
from the map. He was still at that,
sketching and marking, when Hazel
went to bed.
! BY all the signs and tokens, Roaring
Bill Wagstaff slept none that night.
Hazel herself tossed wakeful1y, and
during her wakeful moments she could
hear him stir in the outer room. And a
full hour before daylight he called her
to breakfast
''This time last spring" Bill said to
her, 81 was piking away north of those
mountains. bound for the head of the
Mas to prospect for gold"
They were camped in a notch on the
tiptop of a long divide. thousand feet
above the general level. A wide valley
rolled below. and from the height they
overlooked two great sinuous lakes
and multitude of smaller ones
"Ive been wondering" Hazel said.
This country somehow seems differ
ent. You're not going back to Cariboo
Meadows. are you?=
Bill bestowed a look of surprise on
| her.
81 should say not !" he drawled- mot
that it would make any difference to
me. But I'm very sure you don't want
to turn up there in my company"
| That's true" she observed. But
all the clothes and all the money ]
have in the world are there"
Don't let money worry you," he said
briefly. II have got plenty to see you
through. And you can easily buy
| clothes"
They were now ten days on the road.
Steadily they climbed, reaching up
| through gloomy canyons where foam
| ing cataractS spilled themselves over
sheer walls of granite, where the dim
and narrow pack trail was crossed and
recrossed with the footprints of bear
and deer and the snowy-coated noun
tain goat.
Roaring Bill lighted his evening fire
at last at the apex of the pass. He had
| Travelled long after shutdown. seeking a
camp ground where his horses could
Craze. The fire lit up huge frs, and
high above the fir tops the sky was
studded with stars. brilliant in the thin
atmosphere. They ate, and, being
weary, lay down to sleep. At sunrise
Hazel sat up and looked about her in
silent, wondering appreciation All the
world spread east and west below
She adjusted the binoculars and
peered westward from the great height
where the camp sat. Distantly, and
far below, the green of the forest broke
down to a hazy line of steel-blue that
ran in turn to a huge fog bank, snow
white in the rising sun.
ssThere'S a lake" she said