The vidette. (Iuka, Tishomingo County, Miss.) 1912-1967, 1920-09-16

Its wonderful" she said presently
apropos of nothing.
aye" he replied in his deep, melo-
dious voice. I've been sitting here, my
dear, listening to your thoughts. You
know something, now, of the tie that
binds my boy to Sequoia. 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 weariness-te have
| dreams and see them come true. That
| is life, and have lived. And now
am ready to rest" He smiled visit
| fully. "'The king is dead. Long live
the king / wonder If you, raised as
you have been, can face life In Sequoia
resolutely with my son. 1t is dull,
drab sawmill town, where life unfelds
| 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 a taste for it. you know"
81 have known the Tilt of battle,
John-partner," she answered; thence
1 think can enjoy the sweets of VIC
tory. I am content"
"And what a ran you did give that
boy Brycel"
She laughed softly. ri wanted him
to fight: had 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 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.
ut was great" Bryce continued.
"Old Duncan McTavish returned.
knew he would. His year on the
mourner's bench expired yesterday,
and he came back to claim his old job
OF woods boss"
s'Hes one year too late" Osilvytae-.
clared. II wouldn't let that big Cana
dian Jules Rondeau quit for farm.
Some woods boss, that-and his first
Job with this company was the dirtiest
you could hand him-smearing grease
on the skid road at dollar and a 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"
I'm afraid you haven't anything to
say about it, Buck" Bryce replied
dryly.
81 haven't eh? Well any time yoH
deny me the privilege Of hiring and
firing you're going to be out the serv-
ice of q rafting good general mana
ger, my son. Yes, sirl If you hold
me responsible for results ] must Sc
lect the tools I want to work with"
"Oh, very WELL" Bryce laughed.
"Have it your own way. Only if You
can drive Duncan McTavish out of
Cardigan's woods I'd like to see you
do It Possession is nine points of
the law, Buck-and Old Duncan is In
possession"
what do you mean-in possession
81 mean that at ten O'Clock this
morning Duncan McTavish appeared
at our log landing. The whisky fat
was all gone from him and he APP
peared forty years old instead of the
sixty that he is. With a whoop he
came jumping over the logs, straight
for Jules Rondeau. The big Canuck
saw him coming and knew what his
visit portended-so be wasn't taken
unawares 1t was a case of fight for
his job--and Rondeau fought"
1.-THE devil you sayw
II do-and there was the devil to
pay. 1t was rough and tumble and
no grips barred-just the kind of a
fight Rondeau likes. Nevertheless Old
Duncan fioored him. While he's been
away somebody taught him the ham
mer lock and the crotch hold and a
few more fancy ones, and he got to
| WIN On lNOllQCdu III hdAh$. IL
fact he had to, fer If the tussle had
gone over five minutes Rondeaus
youth would have decided the issue
"And Rondeau was whipped?'
ITO whisper. Mac floored him,
and choked him until he beat the
ground with his free hand IN token Of
surrender; whereupon old Duncan let
him up, and Rondeau went to his
shanty and packed his turkey. The
last saw Of him he was headed over
the hill to Camp Two on Laguna
Grande He'll probably chase that as
slstant woods boss hired after the
consolidation out of Shirley's woods
and help himself to the fellows Job.
l don't care if he does. What interests
me Ii the fact that the old Cardigan
woods boss is back on the Job in Car
| digan's woods. and I'm mighty glad of
| 1t. The old horsethief has had his
lesson and will remain sober here
| after ] think he's cured"
''rhe Infamous old outlaw
| s.Mac knows the San Hedrin ms !