The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1920-08-14
A BLAzED TRAIL
BY DORA NOLAN.


t@ 1920. by Mcclure Newspaper syndicate }
IF for any reason you want to get
a line on a mans true character, find
out how he treats his mother" Julia
couldn't remember where she had
heard the foregoing bit Of wisdom (:
neither could she see how II might he
brought TO hear on the present diff.
Guilty. Gilbert Downing had no moth
er. To be sure, he treated Julla's with
perfect courtesy; but so he did every
woman that was no criterion. Down
ing was lazy. And, %arousing herself
from her r~everie, Julia Benton told
him so, fatty. The man was plainly
amused.
mo, it's not because you're ldllng
this particular summer that ! called
you lazy. It's because, to quote your
own words, you never did a stroke of
real work in your life. except the year
you were in the service. worked to
the limit Of my strength last winter
and ! didn't take any one else's job.
either-nOt a cent! There's always
plenty of that sort Of work insthe world
staring one in the face"
Downing looked s~earchingly around
the deserted veranda. 81 don't see any
n looking my way just now to help
me G!sprove your assertion"
NO; you wouldn't see it II you STUN
bled over IT," Julia exclaimed, suddenly
arising. Good night" And she started
toward the hotel entrance.
when am | to have your answer,
dear?"
"Some time tomorrow, perhaps"
She vanished through the doorway.
Very early the mex morning, before
the other guests were astir, julia start
ed out on a tramp, taking a winding
wood road.
Two miles away, down this road,
lived an elderly couple whose farm
had often been the objective of Julia's
walks, ever since the day when she
had stopped there to beg a drink
The girls heart was at war with her
Judgment and a sleepleSs' night had
not helped to reconcile the two. In
the dewy freshness of the fragrant
pines the heart pleaded You're not
going to he happy without that man !"
But reason replied: Neither will you
he happy with any man who f%ritters
his life away" Julia's sense of fair
ness told her she must reach a decision
of some kind before she returned to the
hotel.
Julia found the Gardeners in trou-
BILE. There was n pile of siX-fOot birch
logs in the yard, potential tirewood.
But old Mr.. Gardner had a splinter in
his right hand and it had become in
fected; he couldn't handle Ak or saw
Mrs. Gardner hadn't the necessary
strength.
Their hired man had left the week
before. Even during reconstruction
farm help was almost impossible TO
get. The old man turned h~elplessly to
Julia in his perpleXity. She didn't just
happen-did she?-tu know anyone he
could get TO saw the wood into stove
lengths?
And right there Julia Benton arrived
at a decision. She would leave the an
Swering of DOwning's question to that
woodpile-and abide by the result.
"Why, do happen to know of a man."
she told Mr.. Gardner; perhaps he'd
come this afternoon"
Choosing a roundabout way of re-
turn, Julia followed a sinuOus woods
path, sometimes leaving 1t for a de-
tour over a rocky ledge or down into
a ravine. And always as she went
she left a trail of arrows cut into the
trunks of trees with her sharp little
pocket knife. She hurried on to the
hotel, gaining her room by a side en-
trance. There Julia wrote a short note
and dispatched it by a bellboy.
The boy, glancing at the address,
made straight for the dining room. II
vas Mr.. Downing's lunch hour, he
knew. Downing found the message to
read: "If you really care to know my
birch at the beginning of the wood
road. Follow the trail"
Leaving his half-inished lunch, Gil.
bert made a bee-line for the entrance
TO the woods road, and as he picked up
the trail recalled, with amusement, that
he hadn't tried this stunt since his
s~choOldays.
Two hours later a bewildered young
man stood staring at the Gardeners
woodpile. His immaculate white fan
nels had lost most Of their pristine
freshness. So it wasn't TO be wondered
at that n~ear-sighted old Mr.. Gardner