The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1920-06-23

{ think ! shall refuse your compony'D
Ger. VIII you let me have the %
pers. Monsieur Lsmsrtine. Including
the last half-yearly statement and the
map Of the limItsr'
"But II Is entirely irregular, Mr.. A.
kew. Really"
@Let me have the papers. please"
said Hilary. smiling. "And you need
have no fear that you will be held re-
sponsible for my anticipating my In
heritance. I imagine have as much
right there as Mr. Morris"
"Of course. II that Is your decision.
there is nothing more to say" an
swered the other brusquely. He
pulled out a drawer and removed an
envelope containing some documents.
'You will find the statement here" he
said. "Mr. Morris has the books and
the map of ST. Boniface. I wish you
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 drummed
he called up Brousseau.
Hes just gone" he said. "And he
starts for st. Boniface tomorrow morn
ing. in spite of all my representa-
tlons.n
He smiled at the sputterlng 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 1t Is,
and primitive, contains settlements
with shingled houses, hotels. tourists
In season; and IL 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 Ii had been a score
OF years after Jacques Cartier landed.
Something of the primeval nature of
the land entered Hilary's heart and
gripped 1t. He had never known what
II was he wanted. But he knew now:
ii was TO take hold OF virgin land
and tame it, to grapple with life, nor
among the men OF cities. but some
where with the smell of the pines and
of the brown earth in his nostrils. Pac-
ing the deck of the little ship. he felt
that his desires had come to light at
the moment when their fulfillment had
become possible.
He looked about him with approval
when he stood upon the porch of the
tiny hotel at ST. Boniface. Nobody
else had got off the boat. and evident
ly the landlord of the little hotel ex-
pected nobody. After an Intellectual
attempt to enter into conversation with
him. in which hardly word was mu-
tually ineligible, Hilary gave up the
effort and started up the hill road
which led. he surmised, toward the
lumber mill.
The whole settlement was gathered
about the shores of the little bay. Be
yond Ii were the mountains on either
side the forest-clad hills, broken, on
the east. by an inlet. and on the west
hy the deep cleft of the Rocky river.
whose mouth. closed by boom, was
u congested mass of logs.
Hilary crossed the bridge and ap-
preached the mill. Two or three men.
lounging outside the store, looked at
Everything was very still and peace
full: there was hardly a sound to be
heard except the distant hum Of the
mill machinery.
Between the dam and the store,
upon terrain heaped with tin cans
and miscellaneous debris. were piles
of wood In four-foot lengths, each COM
prising about two hundred cords.
Kneeling at the narrow end of one of
these piles was a little man. whose
clean-shaven upper lip, the whiteness
of which contrasted with sun-black.
ened face, indicated that mustache
had grown there recently. He was
scaling, or measuring. the pile. and
muttering as he added up his figures.
Hilary surveyed the lumber. 1t was
unrossed, and most of IL was black
spruce; there was also some white
spruce and little pine. The mass In
the river, II 1t consisted of wood Of
the same quality, hardly substantiated
Lamartine's statements.
"You seem to have some good spruce
on the seigniory," said Hilary.
The little man leaped to his feet,
waving his arms. "What you want
here?" he demanded. strangers are
not permitted on the company's prop
erty. If you want to buy at the store.
you go by the road"
Hilary looked down coolly at the
excited little man. I'm Mr.. Askew.
and I've come to take charge of my
property" he answered.