The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1918-07-26
CHAPTER xViii-Continued.

CHAPTER xViii-continued.
is
"I am pleased to welcome you back
TO Gott's country, Mrs. yagstafr," he
said. "Und let me carry dot suid case
alretty"
They walked two blocks to the
Kings hotel, where Lauer's family
was housed. He was In for supplies,
he told her, and, Of course, his wife
and children accompanied him.
Not dat Gredda iss afraid. She iss
so goot q man as / on der ranch ven I
am gone," he explained. "But for dem
II iss q change. Und bring by der
town a vaigonloat Off bobadoes. BY
aAsh. dem bobadoes iss sell high"
II Gashed into Hazel's mind that
here was heaven-sent opportunity to
reach the cabin without facing that
hundred miles In the company Of
chance-hired strangers. But she did
aot broach the subject at once. In
stead she asked eagerly Of Bill. Lauer
told her that Bill had tarried a few
days at the cabin, and then struck out
alone for the mines. And he had not
said when he would be back.
Mrs. Lauer, unchanged from a year
earlier, welcomed her with pleased
friendllness. And Jake left the two
Of them and the chubby kiddies in the
Kings office while he betook himself
about his business. Hazel hailed his
wife and the children to her room as
soon as one was assigned to her. And
there, almost before she knew 1t, she
was murmuring brokenly her story In
. a-s SzHS ..ssssss s4ss...:::e1 s4ss...:::e1 nth ssranathy
Sa undcpstnG61ng. Only @ woman
an grasp some Of q wOmnD'S neeS9.
dreiia Lauer patted Hagefs sfoI;SeT
with a motherly hand, and bade her
cheer up.
Homes the place for you. dear"
she said, smilingly. "You just come
right along with us. Your man will
come quick enough when he gets
word. And Wen take good care of you
In the meantime. La, I'm all excited
over It. It's the finest thing could hap
pen for you both. Take II from me,
dearie. know. We've had our trou-
bles. Jake and L And, seeing I'm only
six months short Of being graduate
nurse. you needn't fear. Well, well !"
'Tll need to have food hauled in"
Hazel reflected. "And some things /
brought with me. wish Bin were
here. I'm afraid I'll be lot Of both
er. Won't you be heavily loaded, as Il
isY"
She recalled swiftly the odd, make
shift team that Lauer depended on
the mule, lop-eared and solemn, "und
Gretchen, der cow" She had cash
and drafts for over three thousand dol.
lars on her person. She wondered II
II would offend the sturdy independ-
ence Of these simple. kindly neighbors,
If she offered to supply four-horse
team and wagon for their mutual use?
But she had been forestalled there, she
learned in the next breath.
"Oh. bother nothing" Mrs. Lauer de-
clared. "Why. we'd be ashamed II we
couldn't help q little. And fars the
load goes, you ought to see the four
beautiful horses your husband let
jake have. You don't know how much
Jake appreciates 1t, nor what fine
man he thinks your husband Is. We
needed horses so bad. and didn't have
the money to buy. So Mr.. Wagstaff
didn't say thing but got the team for
us, and Jake's paying for them in
clearing and blowing and making i'm
provements on your land. honest,
hey could pull twice the load Wen
Save. There's q good wagon road
most of the way now. Quite lot of
settlers. too, as much as fifty or sixty
miles out. And we've got the finest
garden You ever saw. Vegetables
enough to feed four families all win
ter. Oh, your old citiesi / never want
to live In one again. Never q day have
the kiddies been sick. Suppose n, Is
DIT out of the world7 You're all the
more pleased when somebody does
happen along. Folks Is SO different In
q new country like this. There's plen-
ty for everybody-and everybody
helps, like nelghbors ought to-"
Lauer came up after q time, and
Hazel found herself uneQuivocally In
their hands. With the matter 6f trans
porting herself and supplies thus
solved. she set out to find Felix Cour-
voiseur-who would know how to get
word to Bill. He might come back to
the cabin In month or SO; he might
not come back at all unless he heard
from her. She was smitten with
sreat fear that he might give her up
xs lost to him, and plunge deeper into
the wilderness In some mood Of reck-
tessness. And she wanted him. longed
for him. II only so that she could make
amends. .9 N
She easily found Courvoiseur. q tall
spare Frenchman. past middle age.
Yes, he could deliver message to Bill
Wagstaff; that is. be could send q
man. Bill Wagstaff was In the Klap-
pan range.
"But II he should have left there"
Hazel aursgesfed uneas silv