, 1922-09-21
Luke Mclean
fconenusa frea Page ~

(C00tanUo4 fFo0 19Go
For ID lsap iato eternity hs d.
eaAea to travei 70 Q erook WAich had
NOD boea s&aked and where his re-
mains woalA not Be diAesSereA. He
Knew his arrival iato tAfs world and
HIS life while In It had not been
aDeetaenlaf, and for this reason he
wanted to slip out Of the back door
on his tip toes. ~ It wsre. quietly
and peacefully. The very Aext creek
suited him: moi . a81 OF trail. blaze
OF stake eoald DO seen. At last, he
had arrived at the place where his
departure IRON this vale Of tears
would be aecoAplished. He o 0 dug
hole throagh the SNOW 70 the sur
face. pitched tent and started . fire
% that he would be warm in pass
Ing out"
with great precision Luke pre-
pared the gruosomo details to ae-
An WAS prepared. He must pois-
on his dogs first. But before killing
them he decided to let them sat mp
all the grub.
Zone good feed. and then - we'll.
I'll be with you-wherever we're go
Ing. sizxled Luke.
Probably he threw chunks of
bacon and whole cans Of corned beef
for them to eat, They looked at
LUCE amazed. Never in their lives
had they been filled up as they were
now.
While he sats feeding the dogs he
reflected that everyone was happy
but him. 1t was q cold, brisk, sunny
day. which did not harmonic with
his feelings. and his ingrained belief
that he raj born unlucky was backed
by the fact that everyone around
him had struck It rich, and now Jack
Coleman had discovered a rich creek
and he, himself, was the first n to
know 1t. yet he was too late to stake
q claim.
He opened the last can of corned
beef and spread it with the poison
and flung 1t to the dogs. Thu dogs
shifted at the beef and raised their
eyes to Luke. He reached out to
force Polly to swallow her last piece
of meat; but the canine instinct
urged her to bolt through the tent,
followed closely by the other dog.
and without waiting to see whether
Luke followed they .galloped back
over their own trail to town.
Even the dogths leave me. Thank
God itll thoon be over" he NUT
tered:
He crawled into his sleeping bag
and nerved himself to lisp - my
lathst thstampede and thswallow."
With one long gulp his head fell
back and. with his knees making an
inverted v, he waited for the end.
AS he lay there, he thought Of the
years Of dependence, the utter use
lessness of his life; his parents how
cred before him as II they were sus-
pended on invisible strings; he
could see Sally Becky gliding across
the floor In unison with the music;
he could lei Buck, his old 'chum and
friend, lying In a pool of blood
where a bullet had felled him. Buck
was the only person, outside Of his
mother. who had eve loved him.
The flute - yes, he b~equeathed that
to Jack Coleman with the rest OF his
Junk. He thought of his enemies,
particularly those who had killed
Buck. and tried to forgive them; but
an unquenchable hate gnawed at his
heart. His brain was in q whirl: It
seemed to be intrfcately enmeshed In
q thousand irrelevant matters. Slight
pains in his stomach telegraphed the
news to his brain that It would soon
be over. This was his last fight-the
last Of everything-were the thoughts
that passed through his muddled
brain, 40 he sank into a comatose
condition.
FAY thers!" roared . familiar
voice. what In the damnation are
you sleeping for before you stake
your claim? saw your dogs in
town and I had . bunch something
happened you, % I came out. Get
up! There's . bunch OF stampeders
following me. They know that I've
struck It rich. They're on the divide
now. Get up! Get up! Come now,
get q buxying. get - buszing!"
Coleman, finding that Luke did
not move. walked ovef to where he
lay. and lifting the flap Of his sleep
ing bag palled his nose and mauled
him and urged him to get mp and
stake . claim.
Luke. bswtldered and frightened.
opened his eyes. His appalling sur
prise ut seeing Coleman nnomeiftarily
stunned him; but after having COM
WINGED himself that he was still living
and that Coleman was standing be-
fore him, he said: Don't, I'm dying. |
1've-taken-poithon."
POISON! What kind Of poisonf"|
snapped Jack.
'In the bottle, that bottle" feebly
muttered Luke. pointing to . bottle
sAt his side.
"syrup OF squills," read Coleman.
He'll. that's not poison. Brace upi"
the doSths with lathst thummerf"
Espsttsfed Luke.
.WAy, mol That's Cyanide OF
naHosG&~- . est. a sNwr~u - 0a.s1Na .