Courier Democrat., 1918-11-14
3earinu on His Shoulders Canoe

Bearing on His Shoulders Canoe
AL aboard for the north side" he
said boyishly. And Hazel climbed obe
diently amidships.
On the farther side, Bill emptied the
canoe, and slowed 1t out of sight in a
convenient thicket, repacked his
horses and struck out again. Hazel
drew upon her knowledge of British
Columbia geography, and decided that
the big river where Bill hid his canoe
must be the Fraser where it debouched
from the mountains. And in that case
she was far north, and in a wilderness
indeed.
: Her muscles gradually hardened tc
the saddle and to walking. Her appe
tite grew in proportion. The small sup
ply Of eatable dainties that Roaring
Bill had brought from the Meadows
dwindled and disappeared, until the!
were living on bannocks baked a Ia
frontier in his frying pan. on beans
and coffee, and venison killed by the
way. Yet she relished the coarse fare
even while she rebelled against the cir
cumstances of its partaking.
"Do you realize" she broke out one
evening over the fire, ''that this is sim
ply abduction?"
"Not at ALL" Bill answered prompt
ly. abduction means to take away
surreptitiously by force, to carry away
wrongfully and by violence any human
being, to kidnap. Now, you can't by
any stretch Of the imagination accuse
me of force, violence or kidnapping
not by long shot. You merely wan
dered into my camp, and it wasn't con.
venient for me to turn back. There.
fore circumstances-not my act, re-
member-made it advisable for you to
accompany me. OF course I'll admit
that, according to custom and usage,
you would expect me to do the polite
thing and restore you to your own
stamping ground. But there's no law
making it mandatory for fellow to
pilot home lady in distress. Isn't
that right?"
"Anyhow," he went on, when She re-
NAMED silent, II didn't. And you'll
have to lay the blame on nature for
making you a wonderfully attractive
woman. I did honestly try to find the
way to Cariboo Meadows that first
night. 1t was only when I found my
self thinking how fine it would be to
pike through these old woods and
mountains with partner like you that
l decided-as did. I'm human-the
woman, she tempted me. And aren't
you better off? Do you know that you
look fifty per cent better for these few
days of living in the open-the way
every normal being likes to live!
You're getting some color in your
cheeks, and you're losing that worried,
archangel look. Honest, if I were a
physician, I'd have only one prescrio.
ton: Get out into the wild country,
and live off the country as your primi-
tive forefathers did. Of course, you
can't do that alone. I know because
I've, tried it. We humans don't differ
so greatly from the other animals,
We're made to hunt in couples OF
packs. There's purpose, a law you
might say, behind that, too; only it's
terribly obscured by lot of other nom
essentials in this day and age"
But she would not take up the cud-
gels against him, would not seem to
countenance or condone his offense by
discussing it from any angle whatso-
ever. And she was more determined
to allow no degree Of friendliness, even
In conversation, because she recog.
nized the masterful quality Of the
man.
After a lapse Of time they dropped
into another valley, and faced west
ward to mountain range which Bill
told her was the Rockies. The next
day snowstorm struck them. It was
not particularly cold. Bill wrapped
her In heavy canvas coat, and plod-
ded on. Noon passed, and he made
no stop. II anything, he increased his
pace.
Suddenly, in the late afternoon, they
stepped out Of the timber into little
clearing, in which the blurred outline
Of cabin showed under the wide arms
of q leafless tree.
The melting snow had soaked
through the coat; her feet were vet
with the clinging fakes, and the chill
Of lowering temperature had set Ha-
gel shlverlng.
Roaring Bill halted at the door and
lifted her down from Silks back with
out the formality Of asking her leave.
He pulled the latchstring, and led her
In. Beside the rude stone fireplace
wood and klndling were piled In readl-
ness for use. Bill kicked the door
shut. dropped on his knees and started
the fire. In five minutes great blaze