The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1920-02-06

kew. Really
Let me have the papers. please
said Hilary, smiling. "And you neeo
have no fear that you will be held re-
sponsible for my anticipating my IN
llcritance. l imagine l have as much
right there as Mr.. Morris"
"Of course, if that is your decision
there is nothing more to say, an
swered the other brusquely. he
pulled out drawer and removed an
envelope containing some documents
You viii find the statement here, ne
said "Mr Morris has the books ana /
the map of st. Boniface. l wish you
a pleasant Journey, sir. You wish me
to continue TO represent your
''For the present. yes. Good-day
When he was gone Monsieur Lamar
tine sat back in his chair and drummer
his fingers for nearly minute. linen
he called up Brousseau.
He's just gone" he said. "And he
starts for ST Boniface tomorrow morn
ing. in spite of all my representa-
TONS"
He smiled at the suffering that
came over the wire.
1t was well into the afternoon when
Hilary reached st. Boniface on the
| small tri-weekly mail boat. For fifty
or sixty miles below Quebec the coun-
try, sparsely inhabited though Ii Is,
and primitive, contains settlements
with shingled houses. hotels. tourists
in season and it was not until the st.
Lawrence widened into the Gulf that
| Hilary realized, almost with surprise,
that the ship was sailing into terri
tory as primitive as it had been score
of years-after Jacques Cartier landed.
Something of the primeval nature OF
the land entered Hilary's heart anu
gripped il. He had never known Wha'
it was he wanted. But he knew now
II YVES to take hold of a virgin lane
and tame it. TO grapple with life, no.
among the men of cities, but some
where with the smell of the pines anf
of the brown earth in his noStrilS. rae
ing the deck of the little ship. he Eel
that his desires had come TO light
the moment when their fulfillment hat
become possible.
He looked about him with approya
when he stood upon the porch of tn
tiny hotel at ST. Boniface. Nobod
else had got off the boat. and evident
ly the landlord of the little hotel eS
> pected nobody. After an 1neffectua
{ attempt to enter into conversation wit
him, in which hardly word was mt
tually ineligible, Hilary gave up IN
. effort and started up the hill roa
which led. he surmised, toward IN
lumber mill.
The whole settlement was Sathere
about the shores of the little bay. b
yond ii were the mountains, on eitht
= side the forest-clad hills, broken. Q
y. the east by an inlet, and on the we
=. by the deep cleft of the Rocky rive
whose mouth, closed by boom, w;
"a a congested mass of legs.
Hilary crossed the bridge and a
nroached the mill Two or three me
lounring outside the store, looked
= him without any sign of interes
~ Everything was very still and peae
full; there was hardly a sound 70
T. heard except the distant hum of t
mill machinery.
Between the dam and the stol
. upon Il terrain heaped with tin Gu
"a and miscellaneous debris. were Pill
-, of wood in four-foot lengths, each co
"a prising about two hundred core
~ Kneelfuc at the narrow end of one
these piles was a little man, who
49, clean-shaven upper lip, the whitens
-, of which contrasted with sun-bla'
- ened face, indicated that mustac
had grown there recently. He
-, scaling, or measuring, the pile, a
~ muttering as he added up his fgur
Hilary surveyed the lumber. 1t "
unrossed, and most of it was bla
spruce: there was also some VIII
spruce and little pine. The mass
the river, If it consisted of wood
the same quality, hardly substantial
- Lamartine's statements.
-nu you seem TO have some good spr'
-. on the seigniory," said Hilary.
"a The little man leaped to his II
-. waving his arms. What you wi
ou' here?v he demanded. strangers
~ not permitted on the company's pr
W erty. If you want TO buy at the sts
you 90 by the road"
80 Hilary looked down coolly at
neu excited little man. I'm Mr.. fisk
and I've come TO take charge of
property" he answered
;, The little man was bereft OF "
- powers for quite some time.
"But Mr.. Morris. he amt here.
,.s+ gasped at length
- well, he ought to be here. tn
= what I'm paying him for" said Hill
a., whats your nameT
s.Jean- Marie Baptiste."
perhaps you didn't expect me. \
,a-v sieur Baptiste?"
by Holy Nalhe' no. We s..1 :,
Won had sold out TO the company.
hod "What companyT demanded Hi
,s 1.-THE company ut Ste. Marie.
80, sieur Brousseau's company
bso- "See here. Baptiste." said Hi
v or taking the other by the arm. lie
3 TO begin by understanding each othel
,eak know nothing about any company
cept myself. I own this district.
land. the timber. the mill. Have
way. got that?'
ven Jean-Marie gaped again, and
lot automatically disengRged himself.