Judsonia weekly advance., 1918-03-13

desire to know how far he intended to go began to take hold of her. At last they dropped into valley where the woods thinned out, and down the cen ter of which flowed sizable river. This they followed north a matter of three days. On the west the valley wall ran to timbered ridge.
 Then the stream they followed merged itself in another, both wide and deep, which flowed west through a level-bottomed valley three miles or more in width. Roaring Bill halted on the river bank and stripped his horses clean, though 1t was but two in the afternoon and their midday fire less than an hour extinguished. She watched him curiously. When his packs were off he beckoned to her. Hold them a minute" he said and put the lead ropes in her hand.
 Thea he went up the bank into a thicket of saskatoons. Out of this he presently emerged, bearing on his shoulders canoe, old and weather beaten, but stanch for 1t rode light as feather on the stream. Bill seated himself in the canoe, holding to SILKS lead rope. The other two he left free.
 Now" he directed, "when I start across. you drive Nigger and Satin in if they show signs of hanging back. Bounce rock or two off them if they lag"
 Her task was an easy one, for Satin and Nigger followed silk unhesitat- ingly. The river Tapped along the sleek sides of them for fifty yards. Then they dropped suddenly into swimming water, and the current swept them downstream slantwise for the op- posite shore, only their heads showing above the surface. Hazel wondered what river 1t might be. It was a good quarter of mile wide. and swift.
 Roaring Bill did not trouble to en- tighten her as to the locality. When he got back he slowed the saddle and pack equipment in the canoe.
 "All aboard for the north side," he said boyishly. And Hazel climbed obe- diently amidships.
 On the farther side, Bill emptied the canoe, ana Slowed it out of sight in 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 1t debOuched from the mountains. And in that case she was far north, and in wilderness indeed.
 Her muscles gradually hardened to 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 they were living on bannocks baked a la 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.
 'sDo 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 lSidnap. Now, you can't by any stretch of the imagination accuse me of force, violence or Kidnapping not by a 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 1t advisable for you to l 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 rightY'