Middletown transcript., 1921-01-15
BOOK TWO
The Debt.
CHAPTER |.


the Cmpqua divide-that far wilder.
ness of endless, tree-clad ridges where
Dan Failing had gone for his last
days. Everywhere the forest people
were preparing for the winter that
would fall so quickly when these gold
en- September days were done. The
Under Plane of the forest-those
smaller peoples that live in the dust
and have beautiful, tropical forests In
the ferns-fOund themselves digging
holes and filling them with stores Of
food. Of course they had no idea on
earth why they were doing it, except
that a culver at the end of their tails
told them to do so; but the result was
entirely the same. They would have
shelter for the winter.
But the most noticeable change of
all, in these days Of summer, was a
distinct tone of sadness that sound
ed throughout the forest. Of course
the wilderness note is always some
what sad; but now, as the leaves fell
and the grasses died, it seemed par
ticularly pronounced. All the forest
voices added to 1.-THE vail of the
geese, the sad fluttering of fallen
leaves, and even the whisper of the
north wind. Of course all the tones
and voices of the wilderness sound
clearest at night-for that is the time
that the forest really comes to life
and Dan Failing, sitting in front Of
Lennox's house, watching the late
September moon rise over Bald noun
tain, could hear them very plainly.
It was true that in the two months
he had spent in the mountains he had
learned to be very receptive to the
voices Of the wilderness. Lennox had
not been mistaken in thinking him a
natural wOodsman. He had imagina-
tiOn and insight and sympathy; but
most Of all he had a heritage of wood
lore from his frontierslnen ancestors.
Two months before he had been a
resident of cities. Now the wilder
ness had claimed him. body and soul.
These had been rare days. At first
he had to limit his expeditions to a
few miles each day. and even then he
would come in at night staggering
from WEAKNESS. He climbed hills
that seemed to tear his diseased lungs
to shreds. LennOx wouldn't have been
afraid, in crisis, to trust his marks
manship now. He had the natural
cold nerve Of a marksman, and one
twilight he brought the body Of lynx
tumbling through the branches of a
pine at a distance of two hundred
yards. He got so he could shatter a
grouse out of the air in the half of q
second or so in which its bronze wings
glinted in the shrubbery; and when
a man may do this fair number of
times out Of ten he is on the straight
road toward greatness.
Then there came a day when Dan
caught his first steelhead in the North
Fork. There is no more beautiful
| thing in the wilderness world than a
steelhead trout in action: He simply
seems to dance on the surface of the
water, leaping again and again, and
racing at an unheard-of speed down
the rippleS. He weighs only from
three to fifteen pounds. But now and
again amateur fishermen without souls
have tried to pull him in with main
strength. and are still somewhat
dazed py the result. 1t might be done
with a steel cable. but an ordinary
line or leader breaks like a cobweb.
When his majesty the steelhead takes
the fly and decides to run, it can be
! learned after time that the one
| thing that may be done is to let out all
the line and with prayer and humble
ness try to keep up with him.
Dan no longer wore his glasses
Every day his eyes had strengthened.
He could see more clearly now, with
his unaided eyes, than he had ever
seen before with the help of the lens
And the moonlight came down through
a rift in the trees and showed that his
face had changed, too. 1t was no
longer so white. The eyes were more
intent The lips We're straighter.
''It's been two months" Silas Len
nox told him, half the four that you
gave yourself after you arrived tere.
And you're twice as good now as when
you came"
Dan nodded. "Twice! Ten times
as good was a wreck when came
Today l climbed halfway up Baldy-
| within a half mile of Snowbird's cab
in-without stopping to rest"
LennOx looked thoughtful. More
than once, of late, Dan had climbed up
1 toward SnOwbird's cabin. It was true