Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-02-15

counting you in the orthodox manner"
you've made a great mistake" she
said bitterly, "if you think you've re-
moved the handicap. I've suffered a
great deal at the hands of men in the
past six months. I'm beginning to be-
Iieve that all men are .brutes at keGrt."
Roaring Bill sat up and clasped his
hands over his knees and stared fixedly
into the fire.
"'So," he said slowly, call men are
not brutes-any more than all women
are angels. I'll convince you of that"
Take me home, then" she cried for
Iornly. That's the only way you can
convince me or make amends"
mo" Bill murmured, that isn't the
way. Wait till you know me better.
Besides, I couldn't take you out now If
I wanted to without exposing you to
greater hardships than you'll have TO
endure here. Do you realize that it's
fall, and we're in the high attitudes?
This snow may not go off at all. Even
if it does it will storm again before a
week. You couldn't wallow through
snOw to your waist in fOrty-belOw-zerO
weather."
people will pass here, and I'll get
word out" Hazel asserted desperately.
what good would that do you?
You've got too much conventional re-
gard for what you term u reputa-
ton to send word to Cariboo Meadows
that you're living back here with Roar
ing Bill Wagstaff. and won't some one
please come and rescue you" He
paused to let that sink in, her con-
tinued: Besides, you won't see a
white face before spring; then only by
accident. No one in the North, out
side of a few Indians, has ever seen
this cabin or knows where it stands"
She sat dumb, raging inwardly. For
the minute she could have killed Roar
ing Bill. She who had been so sure in
her independence carried, whether OF
no, into the heart of the wilderness al
the whim Of a man who stood d self
confessed rowdy, in i'll repute among
his own kind. There was a slumber
ing devil in Miss Hazel Weir. and il
took little to wake her temper. She
looked at Bill Wagstaff, and her breas
heaved. He was responsible, and h,
could sit coolly talking about it. TIL,
resentment that had smoldered agains
Andrew Bush and Jack Barrow concen
trated on Roaring Bill as the arch of
r fender of them all. And lest she vel,
I to a savage impulse to scream at him
I she got up and ran into the bedroom
, slammed the door shut behind her, an,
threw herself across the bed to muf1
I the sound of her crying in a pillow.
Y After a time she lifted her heaG
. Outside, the wind whistIed gustil
e around the cabin orners. In tn
hushed intervals she heard a stead
r pad, pad, sounding sometimes close b
her door, again family at the far en-
OF II room. A beam of light shon
h through the generous latchstring hol
It IN the door. Stealing softly over, sh
peeped through this hole. From en-
TO end of the big room and back agai
It roaring Bill paced slowly, lookin
IS straight ahead of him with a fxe
t absent stare, his teeth closed on h
d neither lip. Hazel blinked wonderin
D ~. Many an hour in the last thrt
IT months she had walked the floor III
h that, biting her lip in mental agon
" And then, while she was looking, Bi
1t abruptly eXtinguished the candles.
re the red CLEAN from the hearth she Sa
him go into the kitchen, closing Il
door softly. After that there was
If sound but the swirl Of the stor
brushing at her window.
n In line with Roaring Bills forecaG
m the weather cleared for a brief spa
lg and then winter shut down in earne.
IT Daily the cold increased, till a ha
inch layer of frost stood on the cab
Ill panes.