Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-10
CHAPTER V-CContinuedD

'Nt "pBN"itu II Ollt Ol the low lDt
buildings which contained the tw,
Offices of the Keewatin Mines an,
Lands Company. The light, and tn,
bulky shadow of old Pearcc, which
appeared for a ONE on one of tho
drawn curtains, aroused Philip tC
other thoughts. Since his arrival a
Churchill he had made tho aicquaint
ance of Pearce, and 1t struck him now
that just such a man as this nigh,
be Lord Fftzhugh Lee. The Keewatiu
Mines and Lands Company had nc
mines and few lands, and yet Pearce
had told him that they were doing a
hustling business down south. selling
stock on mineral claims that couldn't
be worked for years. After all, was
he any better than Pearce?
The old bitterness rose in him. He
was no better thar Pearce, no better
than this Lord FitzhuPh himself, and
it was fate-fate and people-that had
made him so. He walked swiftly now,
following close along the shore in the
hard stretch kept bare by the tides.
until he came to the red Goals of
half a dozen Indian fires on the edge
OF the forest beyond the company's
buildings. a dog scented him and
howled. He heard a cultural voice
break in a word of command from one
of the tepees, and there was silence
again.
He turned to the right, burying
himself deeper and deeper into the
great silence of the north, his quick
steps keeping pace with the thoughts
that We're passing through his BRAIN.
Fate, bad luck, circumstance-they
had been against him. He had told
himself this a hundred times, had
laughed at them with the confidence
of one who knew that some day he
would rise above these things in tri.
umph. And yet what We're these olc.
ments of fortune, as H." had called
them. but people? \ feeling of per.
sonal resentment began to Cypress
him. People had downed him, and not
circumstance ana bad luck. Men and
women had made a failure of him.
and not fate. For the first time il
occurred to him that the very men
and women whom Brokaw and his as.
sociates had duped, whom Pcarcc was
dipping would play the game in the
same way if they had the opportunity.
What if he had played on the win.
ming side, if he had enlisted his fight.
Ing energies with men like Brokaw
and Pearce, fought for money and
power in place of this other thing,
which seemed to count so little? Other
men would have given much to have
been in his favor with Eileen Brokaw.
He might have been in the front of
this other fight, the winning fight. the
possessor of fortune, a beautiful
woman
He stopped suddenly II seemed TO
him that he had heard Il voice. lie
had climbed from out of the shadow
of the forest until he stood now on a
gray cliff of rock that reached out into
the bay, like the point of u great knife
guarding Churchill \ block Of sand
stone rose in his path, and he passed
quietly around it. In another instant
he had fiattened himself against it.
A dozen feet away, fun in the moon.
light, three figures sat on the edge of
the cliff, as motiouloss as though hewn
out of rock. Instinctiyely Philips
hand slipped to his revolver holster.
but he drew it back when he saw
that one of the three figures was that
of a oma Beside her CrOuched a
huge wolf-dog; on the other side Of
the dog sat a man. Tn" man was
resting in the attitude Of an Indian.
with his elbows on his knees, ms chin
in the palms Of his hands, gazing
steadily and silently out over the bay
toward Churchill.
1t was his companion that held
Philip motionless against the face Of
the rock.
She too, was leaning forward. gazing
in that anne steady, silent way toward
Churchill. She was bareheaded. Her
hair fell lose over her shoulders and
streamed down her back until it piled
itself upon the rock, shining dark and
lustrous in the light of the moon
Philip knew hat she was not an In.
dian.
Suddenly the girl sat erect, and then
sprang to her feet, partly facing him.
the breeze ripping her hair about
her face and shoulders her eyes turn.
ed to the vast gray depths OF the
world beyond the forests. For an IN.
slant she turned so that the light Of
the moon fell full upon her, and in
that moment Philip thought Una her
eyes had searched him out in the
shadow of the rock and were looking
straight into his own. Never had he
seen such a beautiful face among the
forest people. He had dreamed OF such
faces beside camp fires, in the deep
loneliness OF long nights in the forests,
when he had awakened to bring be.
fore him visions of what Eileen Bro.
kaw might have been TO him If he had
found her one OF these people. He
drew himself closer to the rock. The
girl turned again to the edge Of the
cliff, her slender form s~ilhouetted
napfnst the starlit sky. She leaned
the dos. and he heard her voice,