Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-01-08
CHAPTER WI.
The Fires Of srrinn.

! became softly, miStily blue. All tEEt
forenoon Hazel prowled restlessiy CIT
Of doors without cap or coat. There
was new feel in the air. The deep
winter snow had suddenly lost It's
harshness.
! Toward evening d mild breeze fresh
ened from the southwest At ten o'clock
a gale whooped riotously through the.
trees. And at midnight Hazel Weakened
to sound that she had not heard in
months. She rose and CROPPED her wey
| to the window. The encrusting frost
| had vanished from the panes. They
| were wet to the touch OF her fingers.
She unlocked the fastening, and swung
| the window OFT. A great gust of darn,
| warm winS 5.ew strands of hair across
/ her face. She leaned through the case
| ment, and drops of cold water struck
| her bare neck. That which she had
heard was the dripping caves. gba
| chinook wind droned its spring song.
and the bare bcughs of the tree beside
| the cabin waved ana creaked the tiian.
At dawn the caves had ceased their
| drip, and the dirt roof lay bare to the
| cloud-banked sky. From the Southwest
the wind stifl blew strong and warm.
The thick winter garment of the earth
| s0ftened to slush, and vanished with
amazing swiftness. Streams OF water
poured down every depression. Pools
| stood between the house, and stable.
| Spring had leaped styongarnied upon
old Winter and yanqHisnad him at tae
/ first onslaught
| All that day the chinook blew work.
Ing Its magic upon the land. When div
broke again with clearing sky, and
| the sun peered between the cloud riffs,
his beams fell upon vast areas of
brown and green, where but forty-eiglit
hours gone there was the cold retely
Of frost, sprites upon far-1ung fields
| of snow. Patches of earth steamed
| wherever hillside lay bhre to the sun.
From some mysterious distance lone
crow winged his way, and, perching on
a nearby treetop. cawed raucous greet
| ing.
| Hazel cleared away the breakfast
things, and stood looking out the kitch-
en- window. Roaring Bill sat on log,
shirt-sleeved, smoking his pipe. Pres
emily he went over to the stable. led
out his horses, and gave them their lib
erty. For twenty minutes or so he
stood watching their mad capers as
they ran and leaped and pranced back
and forth over the clearing. Then he
walked of into the timber, his rifle
over his shoulder.
Hazel washed her dishes and went
IL <1t
all at once a terrible feeling of utter
forlornness seized her. 1t was spring
and also it was spring in other lands.
The wilderness suddenly took on the
characteristics of prison, in Which
she was sentenced to solitary confine-
ment. She rebelled against it, rebclled
| against her surroundings, against the
manner of her being there, against
everything. She hated the North, sha
wished to be gone from tt. and most
Of all she hated Bill Wagataff for con-
straining her presence there.
All the heaviness of heart, a,ll the re-
sentiment she had felt in the first. fsw
days when she followed him parforce
away from Cariboo Meadows. ,cnlne
back to her with redoubled force that
| afternoon She went back into the
house, now gloomy without d fire,
slumped forlornly into chair, and
cried herself into condition approach
ing hysteria. And she was sitting there,
/ her head bowed on her hands, when
Bin returned from his hunting. Tie
sun sent q shaft through the south
window, a shaft which rested on her .
dropping head. Roaring Bin walked
slowly up behind her and put his hand
on her shoulder.
"What is it, little pefson?" he asked !
gently.
She refused TO answer.
"Say," he bent a little lower. "you
know what the Tentmaker said:
"Come fill the cup. and in the fire OF
spring
Your winter garment Of repentance ding;
The Bird Of Time has but little way
To fiutter-and the Bird IS on the wing"
"...fs's too short to waste any OF Il
In being uselessly miserable. Come On
out and go for ride on silk. I'll take
you up a mountainside, and show you
waterfall that leaps three hundred
feet in the clear. The woods are wax
ing up and putting on their Easter bon
nets. There's beauty everywhere, Come
along!n
But she wrenched herself away
from him.
4 want to go homer she walled. Il
bate you and the North. and every
thing In II. If you've got spark OF
manhood left in you, you'li take me out
pf here
i Roaring Bill backed away from her.
DO you mean that2 Honest Injun?s
he asked incredulously.
T dol DOR she cried vehemcntiy
'sHasen't told you often enough r
j.didat come here willingly. and won't
! win notl have q right to
my life in my own WY, and ia
. d thiE way -....
(Ip ~ Continued Tomorrow)