The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-09-28

anne girl there could be no doubt of
that, and he ragged inwardly as she
chatted and chaffed with the man who
looked down upon her with a smiling
air of proprietorship which instilled
instant rebellion In Fairchild's heart.
Nor did he know the reason for that.
either.
After a moment they parted, and
Fairchtld gulped at his fountain drink.
She had hesitated. then with a quick
decision turned straight into the drug
store.
BUY a ticket, Mr.. McCauleyY p she
asked of the man behind the counter.
1--WE sold twenty already, this morn
ing. Only five more, and my works
over. Please take the five, won't you?
Then I'll be through"
"TIl be darned If I will, 'Nita !" Nc
Cauley backed against a shelf case in
mock self-defense. Every time you've
got anything you want to get rid of,
you come in here and shove it off on
me. There's only four in my family
and four's all I'm going to take" He
tossed four silver dollars on the show
case and took the tickets. The girl
demurred.
"But how about the fifth oneI I've
got to sell that too"
swell sell it to him !" And Fair
child, looking into the s~oda-fountain
mirror, saw himself indicated as the
druggist started toward the prescrip-
ton case.
There was a moment of awkward ST.
lence as Fairchild gazed i~ntently into
his soda glass, then with a feeling of
queer excitement, set it on the marble
counter and turned. Anita Richmond
was approaching-in q stranger-like
mannor-a ticket of some sort held
before her.
pardon me-" she began, but would
you care to buy a ticket to the Old
Times dance? It's a sort of munich
pal thing, gotten up by the bureau of
mines-to celebrate the return of sill
yer mining"
"But-I'm afraid I'm not much on
dancing"
"You don't have to be. Nobody1u
dance much-except the old-fashioned
affairs. You see, everybody's supposed
to represent people of the days when
things were booming around here.
There'll be a fiddle orchestra, and q
dance caller and everything like that,
and a bar-but of curse there'l only
be imitation liquor. But" she added
with quick emphasis, "therell be a lot
of things really real-rea1 keno and
roulette and everything like that, and
everybody in the costume Of thirty or
forty years ago. Don't you want to
buy a ticket? It's the last one I've
got! J" she added prettily.
"When's 1t to be?'
"A week from tomorrow night. Ar
you going to be here that longf'
She realized the slip of her tongue
and colored slightly. Fairchild, recov-
cred now, reached into a pocket and
carefully fingered the bills there.
Then, with a quick motion, as he
drew them forth, he covered a ten
dollar bill with a one-dollar note and
thrust them forward.
eyes, I'll take the ticket"
She handed it to him, thanked him,
and reached for the money. AS it
passed into her hand, a corner of the
ten-dollar bill revealed itself, and she
hastily thrust 1t toward him as
though to return money paid by mis-
take. Just as quickly, she realized
his purpose and withdrew her hand.
"Oh" she exclaimed, almost in a
whisper, II understand" She flushed
and stood q second hesitant, clustered,
her big eyes almost childish as they
looked up into his. "You-you must
think I'm q cadf" Then she whfrfed
and left the store, and a Slight smile
came to the lips Of Robert Fairchild
as he watched her hurrying across the
street. He had won a tiny victory, at
least.
With a new enthusiasm, a greater
desire than ever to win out in the
fight which had brought him to Ohadi,
he hurried to the courthouse and the
various technicalities which must be
COPIED with before he could really call
the Blue Poppy mine his OWL.
1t was easier than he thought. A
few signatures, and he was free to
wander through town to where idlers
had pointed out Kentucky gulch and
to begin the steep ascent up the mar
row road on a tour of prospecting
that would precede the more legal and
more safe system Of a surveyor.
The ascent was almost sheer In
places, for in Kentucky gulch the
hills huddled close to the little town
and rose in precipitous inclines al
o before the city limits had been
reached. He stepped aside to allow
the passage of ore-laden automobile
trucks, loaded until the springs had
f1attened and until the engines howled
with their compression as they sought
to hold back their burdens on the
steep grade. And it was as he stood
there, watching the big vehicles travel
down the mountain side, that Fair
child caught a glimpse of a human
figure which suddenly darted behind q
clump of scrub pine and skirted far
to n side, taking advantage Of every
covering. A new beat came into
Fairchild's heart. He took to the road
again, plodding upward, seemingly q
nan entirely bereft Of suspicion. A
quarter of a mile he went, a half.
Once, as the road turned beside q
great rock, he sought its shelter and
looked back. The figure still was fol
lowing, running carefully now along
the bank of the stream in an effort
to gain as much ground as possible
before the return of the road to open