Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-02-08


much longer, I'll simply be a sensation
when | get back to Cariboo Meadows.
l won't have n shred of reputation left.
1t will probably result in my losing the
school. You're man, and it's differ
ent with you. You can't know what
| girl has to contend with where no one
knows her."
Roaring Bill looked up at her i'm
passively. 81 know" he said, as if
he had read her thought. 'But what's
the difference? Cariboo Meadows is
only n fleabite. If you're right, and
you know you're right, you can look
the world in the eye and tell it col
lectively 70 go to the devil. Besides,
you've got a perverted idea. People
aren't so ready to give you the bad eye
on somebody else's say-sO. 1t would
take lot more than Il flash drum
mer's word to convince me that you're
q naughty little girl. Pshaw-fOrget
itr'
Hazel cOlored hotly, but for the lat
ter part of his speech she could have
hugged him. Bill Wagstaff went a
long way, in those brief sentences,
toward demOlishing her conviction that
no man ever overlooked an opportunity
of taking advantage of u woman.
"Well, let's get somewhere" he said
abruptly. 'If you're too saddle sore to
ride, walk while I'll go slower"
She walked, and the exercise re-
lieved the cramping ache in her limbs,
Roaring Bill's slower pace was fast
enough at that. She followed till her
strength began to fail And when in
spite of her determination she Jagged
behind. he stopped at the first water.
"We'll camp here" he said. you're
about all in, and we can't get anywhere
tonight, see plainly"
Hazel accepted this dictum as best
she could. She sat down on n mossy
rock while he stripped the horses of
their gear and staked them out. Then
Bill started fire and fixed the roll
of bedding by it for her to sit on
Dusk crept over the forest while he
cooked the supper, making bannocB
in the frying pan to take the place OF
; bread; and wheH tney had finished eat
ing and waslssd the few dishes, night
| shut down black as the pit.
! They taiKed little. Hazel was in the
} grip of utter forlornness, moody, wish
full to cry. Roaring Bill bumped on his
! side of the fire, staring thoughtfully
, into the blaze. After long period o.
abstraction ne glanced at his watch
then arose and silently arranged hel
] bed. After that he spread his saddle
J, blankets and lay down.
4 Hazel crept into the covers and qui
etly sobbed herself to sleep. The hug,
[ and silent land appalled, her.
AS on the previous night, she wax
{ ened often and glanced over to the fire
o Roaring Bill kept his accustomed posi-
Y ton, fiat in the glow. She had no fea
I of him now.
Night passed, and dawn ushered in
d clearing sky. Ragged wisps of cloud
e chased each other across the blu
5. when they set out again. Hazel wake
e the stiffness out of her muscles befor
e she mounted. When she did get o
Silk, Roaring Bill increased his pace
Il He was lOng-legged and light of foo
apparently tireless. She asked no que.
IS tiOns. What was the use? He wOul
.e eventually come out somewhere. Sh
/? was resigned to wait.
ID After time she began to puzzl
IS and the old uneasiness came back. III
last trailing banner of cloud vanished
Of and the sun rode clear in an opal SIX.
ID smiling benignly down on the foreste
n land. She was thus enabled to locat
the cardinal points of the compass
10 Wherefore she took to gauging the
o course by the shadows. And the resu
al was what set her to thinking Ov,
ID level and ridge and swampy hollo,
of Roaring Bill drove straight north
No an undertaking line. She recollectC