The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1920-11-18

''It's wonderful" sac said presently,
apropos Of nothing.
"Aye," he replied In his deep. melo-
dlous voice, "Pve been sitting here my
dear, listening to your thoughts. You
know something. now, of the tie that
binds my boy to Sequola. This"-he
waved his arm abroad In the dark
ness-"this Is the true essence of life
to create, to develop the gifts that
God has given us-to work and know
the blessing Of wearlness-to have
dreams and see them come true. That
is life. and I have lived. And now
am ready to rest" He smiled wist-
fully. ""The king Is dead. Long live
the king 1 wonder II you, raised as
you have been can face life In Sequoia
resolutely with my son. II Is a dull,
drab sawmill town, where life unfolds
gradually without thrill-where the
years stretch ahead of one with only
trees, among simple folk. The life
may be hard on you, Shirley; one has
to acquire n taste for 1t, you know"
81 have known the Tilt of battle,
I think can enjoy the sweets Of vic
tory. l am content"
"And what run you did give that
boy Brycew
She laughed softly. "I wanted him
to fight: had a great curiosity to see
the stuff that was In him." she ex-
planned.
Next day Bryce Cardigan, riding the
top log on the end truck of n long
train just In from Cardigan's woods
In Township Nine dropped from the
end of the log as the train crawled
through the mill yard on its way to
the log dump. He hailed Buck Ogilvy,
where the latter stood in the door Of
the office.
"Big doings up on Little Laurel
creek this morning, Buck"
"Do tell" Mr.. Ogilvy murmured
morosely.
"It was great" Bryce continued.
"Old Duncan McTavish returned. I
knew he would. His year on the
mourner's bench expired yesterday,
and he came back to claim his old job
| OF woods boss"
Hes one year too late" Ogilvy de-
clared. 81 wouldn't let that big Cana.
dian Jules Rondeau quit for a farm
Some woods boss, that-and his first
Job with this company was the dirtlest
you could hand him-smearing grease
on the skid road at n dollar and n half
day and found. He's made too good
to lose out now. don't care what his
private morals may be. He can get
out the logs, hang his rascally hide
and I'm for him"
"Tm afraid you haven't anything tt
say about It, Buck" Bryce replied
dryly.
II haven't eh? Well, any time yor
deny me the privilege Of hiring ant
firing you're going to be out the serv
Ice of rafting good. general mana
ger, my son. Yes, sirl If you holt
me responsible for results l must sc
lect the tools want to work with"
"Oh, very WELL" Bryce laughed
"Have 1t your own way. Only IL yo'
can drive Duncan McTavish out o
Cardigan's woods I'd like to see yol
do II. Possession Is nine points o
the law, Buck-and Old Duncan is II
possession"
"What do you mean-in possessioni
81 mean that at ten o'clock thl
morning Duncan McTavish appeare
at our log landing. The whisky ia
was all gone from him and he ar
peared forty years old instead of tn
sixty that he is. With a whoop h
came jumping over the logs. straigh
for Jules Rondeau. The big Canuc
saw him coming and knew what hi
visit portended-so he wasn't take
unawares. 1t was case of fight 10
his job-and Rondeau fought"
"The devil you say!"
81 do-and there was the devil
pay. 1t was rough and tumble an
, no grips barred-just the kind OF
, fight Rondeau likes. Nevertheless Oh
Duncan floored him. While he's bee
away somebody taught him the han
, mer lock and the crotch hold and
, few more fancy ones, and he got
: work on Rondeau In hurry.
: fact he had to, for II the tussle ha
J gone over five minutes Rondeau
, youth would have decided the issue
3 "And Rondeau was whipped?"
r "To whisper. Mac fioored hir
5 and choked him until he beat Il
5 ground with his free hand In token
y surrender; whereupon old Duncan !
{ him up. and RoDdeau went to h
0 shanty and packed his turkey. III
last / SOW Of him he was headed ov
o the hill to Camp Two on Lagur
+ Grande. He'll probably chase that a
d slstant woods boss I hired after Il
S consolidation out of Shlrley's WOO
g and help himself to the fellows 10
e don't care II he does. What interes
r me is the fact that the old Cardigi
h woods boss is back on the job in Ca
d digans woods, and I'm mighty glad
e 1t. The old horsethief has had h
t lesson and will remain sober her
e after. / think he's cured"
e 1.-The Infamous old outlaw"