The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-07-11

them In dead earnest next day that
Whitley Lewis and his partners must
: have what was due them, or I'd wreck
| the bunch of them If II took ten years
, and every dollar had to do 1t. And
| could have put them on the tramp,
! too-they'd already dipped their fin
/ gers In where they couldn't stand litl-
CATION. I'm sure of that-or they
would never have come through which
they did.
"But I'm sorry ever got mixed up
with them. I'm going to sell my stock
and advise Lewis and the others to do
the same while We can get full value
for II. Lorimer and that bunch will
manipulate the outfit to death, no mat
ter how the mine produces.
That's all Of that. don't care two
whoops about the money. There is
still gold in the Klappan Range and
other corners of the North, whenever
need Ii. But 1t nauseated me. l
can't stand that cut-throat game. And
Granville, like most other cities of its
kind, lives by and for that sort Of
thing. The pressure of modern life
makes 1t inevitable. Anyway, town
Is no place for me. | can stomach II
about so long, and no longer. It's TOO
cramped, too girded about with petty
larceny conventions. If once you slip
and get down, every one walks on you.
Everythings restricted, priced, tin
kered with. There Is no real freedom
of body or spirit. | wouldn't trade II
comfy log cabin in the woods with a
big fireplace and shelf Of books for
the finest home on Maple drive-not If
| had to stay there and stife In the
dust and smoke and smells. That
would be a sordid and impoverished
existence. cannot live by the dog
eat-dOg code that seems to prevail
wherever folk get jammed together in
an unwieldy social mass. have said
the like to you before.
by nature and training I'm untitled
to live in these crowded places. love
you, little person, | don't think you
realize how much, but | can't make
you happy by making myself utterly
miserable. That would only produce
the inevitable reaction. But | still
think you are essentially enough like
me to meet me on common ground.
You loved me and you found content
nj lou NJ IittIa galip
Don't you think it might be waiting
there again?
IF you really care, If l and the old
North still mean anything to you,
few days or weeks, or even months Of
separation won't matter. An affection
that can't survive six months is too
fragile to go through life on. don't
ask you to jump the next train and
follow me. 4 don't ask you to wire me,
Come back, Bill Though | would
come quick enough If you called me. l
merely want you to think it over So
berly and let your heart decide. You
know where | stand, don't you, Hazel,
dear? | haven't changed-nOt bit
I'm the same old Bill. But I'd rather |
hit the trail alone than with an un-
willing partner. Don't founder about
in any quicksand of duty. There is
no L ought to- between us.
$50 1t Is up to you once more, little
person. If my way Is not your way l
will abide by your decision without
whining. And whenever you want to
reach me, message to Felix Cour-
voiseur, Fort George, will eventually
find me. I'll fix it that way.
80 long, little person. like you a
heap, for all your cantankerOus ways.
BILL"
She laid aside the letter, with
lump in her throat. For brief instant
she was minded to telegraph the word
that would bring him huyrying back.
But-some Of the truths he had set
down in cold black and white cut her
deep. OF a surety she had drawn her
weapon on the wrong side in the min
ing trouble. Overhasty?-yes. And
dlsloyal. Perhaps there was
in 1t, after all that is to
say, 1t might be they had made a mis-
take. She saw plainly enough that
unless she could get back some of the
old enthusiasm for that wilderness life,
unless the fascination Of magnificent
Of silent, breathless forests,
Of contented, quiet days on trail and
stream, could lay fast hold of her
again, they would only defer the day
Of reckoning, as Bill had sald.
No. she would not attempt to call
him back. She doubted II he would
come. And she would not go-not yet
She must have time to think.
Altogether, as the first impression OF
Bill's letter grew less vivid to her she
her grievances more. And
she was minded to act as she had set
out to do-to live her life as seemed
best to her, rather than pocket her
pride and rejoln Bill. The feminine
instinct TO compel the man to captu-
late asserted itself more and more
strongly.
A month passed.
During that thIrty-day period she re-
ceived brief note from BIZ. Just
few lines to say:
Hit the ranch yesterday, little per-
son, Looks good to me. Went fishing
last night about sundown. Trout were
rising fine. Nailed ten-pounder.
Woke up this morning at daylight and
found buck deer with fwn lndu