The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-11-18
Prologue.


but be imbued with some of the life that
pulses therein.-From a Frontiersman's
Diary.
Long ago. when the great city of
Gitcheapolis was rather small. un-
tidy hamlet In the middle of a plain.
1t used to be that pool of water.
possibly two hundred feet square.
gathered every spring Immediately
back of the courthouse. The snow
falls thick and heavy in Gitcheapoiis
in winter; and the pond was nothing
more than snow water that the ineffi-
cient drainage system of the city did
not quite absorb. Besides being the
despair of the plumbers and the city
engineer, it was a severe strain on
the beauty-loving Instincts of every
inhabitant in the town who had any
such instincts. It was muddy and
murky and generally distasteful.
little boy played at the edge of
the water, this spring day of long ago.
Except for his interest In the pond. 1t
would have been scarcely worth while
to go to the trouble of explaining that
it contained no fish. He. however.
bitterly regretted the fact. In truth.
he sometimes liked to believe that 1t
did contain fish. very sleepy fish that
never made ripple, and as he had an
uncommon Imagination he was some
times able to convince himself that
this was so. But he never took hook
and line and played at fishing. He
was too much afraid of the laughter
Of his boy friends. His mother prob
ably wouldn't object If he fished here
he thought, particularly if he were
careful not to get his shoes covered
with mud. But she wouldn't let him
go down to Gitcheapolis creek to fish
with the other boys for mud cat. He
was not very strong, she thought. and
1t was rough sport anyway. and be-
sides-she didn't think he wanted to
go very badly. AS mothers are usual
ly particularly understanding, this
was curious thing.
The truth was that little Dan Fail
ing wanted to fish almost as much as
he wanted to live. He would dream
about 1t Of nights. His blood would
glow with the thought of 1t in the
WOLucu tuc WOTlu ONeT
will have a hard time believing what
an intense, heart-devouring passion
the love Of the chase can be, whether
It is for fishing or hunting or merely
knocking golf balls into little hole
upon a green. Sometimes they don't
remember that this instinct Is just as
much a part of most men. and thus
most boys, as their hands or their
lips. It was acquired by just as la
borious a process-the lives Of un-
counted thousands Of ancestors who
fished and hunted for living.
It was true that little Dan didn't
look the part. Even then he showed
signs of physical frailty. His eyes
looked rather large. and his cheeks
were not the color Of fresh sirloin, as
they should have been. In fact, one
would have had to look very hard to
see any color In them at all. These
facts are interesting from the light
they throw upon the next glimpse of
Dan. fully twenty years later.
Except for the fact that 1t was the
background for the earliest picture Of
little Dan. the pool back of the court
house has very little importance in
his story. It did. however, afford an
illustration to him of one Of the real
ly astonishing truths Of life. He saw
a shadow in the water that he pre-
tended he thought might be fish. He
threw a stone at 1t.
The only thing that happened was
n splash. and then a slowly widening
ripple. The circumference Of the rip
Pile grew ever larger. extended and
widened. and finally died at the edge
of the shore. It set little Dan to
thinking. He wondered If. had the
pool been larger. the ripple still would
have spread: and II the pool had been
eternity. whether the ripple would
have gone on forever At the time he
did not know the laws of cause and
effect. Later. when Gitcheapolis was
great and prosperous and no longer
untidy. he was going to find out that
n cause is nothing but rock thrown
into n pond of infinity. and the ripple
that is its effect keeps growing and
growing forever.
The little incident that is the real
beginning Of this story was of no
more Importance than pebble thrown
into the snow-water pond; but its ef-
feet was 10 remove the life of Dan
Failing. since grown up. far out Of
The realms Of the ordinary.
And that brings all matters down
10 1919 IN the last days of particu-
InrIy sleepy summer You would hard
ly know GiicheapoIis now. The busi-
ness district has increased tenfold.
Ana the place where used to be the
pool and the playground Of Dan Fail
ing is now laid on in as green and
pretty city park as one could wish
10 see.
Some day. when the city becomes