The Jasper news., 1921-02-17
Prologue.

II one can Just lie close enough to the
breast OF the wilderness, he can't help
but be imbued with some OF the life that
pulses thSrein.-From a Frontiersman's
Diary.
Long ago, when the great city Of
Gitcheapolls was a rather small, un-
tidy hamlet In the middle of plain,
II 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 Gitcheapolis
In winter; and the pond was nothing
more than snow water that the inefti-
Client drainage system of the city did
not quite absorb. Besides being the
despair of the plumbers and the city
engineer, II was a severe strain on
the beauty-loving instincts of every
inhabitant in the town who had any
such instincts. II was muddy and
murky and generally dlstasteful.
A little boy played at the edge Of
the water, this spring day Of long ago.
Except for his interest In the pond, II
would have been scarcely worth while
to go to the trouble Of explaining that
II 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 a 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 fshed here,
he thought, particularly II he were
careful not to get his shoes covered
with mud. But she wouldn't let him
go down to Gitcheapolls 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 Fall.
ing wanted to fish almost as much ns
he wanted to live. He would dream
about It Of nights. His blood would
glow with the thought Of 1t In the
springtime. Women the world yver
will have a hard time believing what
an intense, heart-devourlng passion
the love of the chase can be, whether
Il is for fishing or hunting or merely
knocking golf balls into a 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
Sips. II was acquired by Just as la
bOrious process-the lives OF un-
counted thousands Of ancestors who
Hshed and hunted for a living.
1t was true that little Dan didn't
look the part. Even then he showed
signs Of physical frallty. 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 II was the
background for the earliest picture of
little Dan, the pool back Of the court
house has very little Importance in
his story. II did. however, afford an
illustration to him Of one of the zeal.
~ astonishing truths of life. He saw
shadow in the water that he pre-.
tended he thought might be fish. he
threw q stone at It.
The only thing that happened was
a splash. and then a slowly widening
ripple. The circumference OF the rip,
pie grew ever larger, extended and
widened. and finally died at the edge
Of the shore. II set little Dan tO
thinking. He wondered II, had the
pool been larger, the ripple stlll 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 Gltcheapolls was
I great and prosperous and no Longer
untidy. he was going 10 find out thai