Williams news., 1921-04-29


 found a telegram waiting him:
 Any relation to Dan Failing of the
 Umpqua divide?"
 Dan had never heard of the Ump-
 qua divide, but he couldn't doubt but
 that the sender of the wire referred
 to his grandfather. He wired in the
 affirmative. The head of the Chamber | of Commerce received the wire, read
 it, thrust it into his desk, and in the | face of a really important piece of | business proceeded to forget all about
 it. Thus it came about that. except l for one thing, Dan Failing would have l probably stepped off the train at his 1 destination wholly unheralded and un- met. The one thing that changed his l destiny was that at a meeting of a | certain widely known fraternal order the next night, the Chamber of Con- merce crossed trails with the Frontier in the person of another old resident who had his home in the farthest reaches of the Umpqua divide. The latter asked the former to come up for a few days shooting-the deer be- ing fatter and more numerous than any previous season since the days of the grizzlies.
 '"Too busy, I'm afraid" the Cham Der of Commerce had replied. "'But Lennox-that reminds me. Do you remember old Dan FaflingT'
 Lennox probed back into the years for a single instant. strengthened out all the kinks of his memory in less time than the wind straightens out the folds of a flag. and turned a most interested face. Remember him i' he exclaimed. "I should say I do." The middle-aged man half-closed his pierc- ing, gray eyes.
 Listen. Steele" he said, 'T saw Dan Failing make a bet once. I was just a kid, but I wake up in my sleep to marvel at 1t. We had a full long glimpse of a black-tail bounding up long slope. It was just a spike-buck, and Dan Failing said he could take the left-hand spike off with one shot from his old Sharpe's. Three of us bet him-the whole thing in less than two seconds. With the next shot, | he'd get the deer. He won the bet, | and now if I ever forget Dan Failing, | I want to die"
 You're just the man I'm looking for, then. You're not going out till the day after tomorrow?''
 "No."
 ''On the limited, hitting here tomor- row morning, there's a grandson of Dan Failing. His name is Dan Fafl- IIS- lOO, anu He NtlnlS IO SO up to your place to hunt. Stay all summer and pay board.'
 Lennox's eyes said that he couldn't believe 1t was true After a while his tongue spoke, too. Good Lord," he said. 'I used to foller Dan around like old Shag, before he died, followed Snowbird. Of course he can come. But he can't pay board"
 It was rather characteristic of the men-that the grandson of Dan Failing couldn't possibly pay board. But Steele knew the ways of cities and of men, and he only smiled. He won't come, then,". he explained. Anyway, have that out with him at the end of his stay. He wants fish, ng, and you've got that in the North fork. Moreover, you're a thousand , niles back"
 "Only one hundred, If you must Snow. But Steele-do you suppose le's the man his grandfather was be- ore him-that all the Failings have ,een since the first days of the Ore ,on trail? If he is-well, my hats ,ff to him before he steps off the rain."
 The mountaineer's bronzed face was f .arnest and intent in the bright lights {; if the club. Steele thought he had z ,nown his breed. Now he began to lave doubts of his own knowledge. He won't be; don't count on it, he aid humbly. '"The Failings have done I, much for this region, and Pm glad : nough to do a little to pay it back, f ut don't count much on this eastern oy. He's lived in cities; besides, he's
 sick man. He said so in his wire O You ought to know it before you take i'm in.''
 The bronzed face changed; possibly shadow of disappointment came in- 0 his eyes. "A hunger, eh?" Lennox epeated. "Yes-it's true that if he'd cen like the other FaiIfngs, he'd never ave been that. Why, Steele, you ouldn't have given that old man old if you'd tied him in the Rogue iver overnight. Of course you couldn't ount on the line keeping up forever. s!lt I'll take him, for the memory of is grandfather
 You're not afraid to?"
 Afraid, h-li He can't infect those 7 xo strapping children of mine. Snow ird weighs one hundred and twenty r ounds and is hard as steel. Never f new sick day in her life And you E now Bill, of course"
 Disappointment turned into
 ~s-hk ~E L.. M