American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1922-08-24

he Said quite Clearly, THE way to
Mrs. Ross Cabin"
be expected when one of their num-
Der achieves repartee on a tenderfoot.
Nevertheless, the tension was broken.
Bruce turned to the merchant.
81 would like to have you tell me-"
ne said quite clearly, "the way to
Mrs. Ross cabin"
The merchant seemed to wait a long
time before replying. His eyes stole
to the giants face, found the lips
curled in a smile; then he flushed
stake the left-hand road" he said
with a trace Of defiance in his tone.
at soon becomes q trail, but keep
right on going up 1t. At the fork In
the trail you'll find her cabin"
How far is it, p~lease2"
1.-Two hours walk you can make
1t easy by four O'clock"
THANK you" His eyes glanced over
the stock of goods and he selected a
few edibles to give him strength for
the walk. "IT leave my suitcase here
if / may" ne said, land will call for
it later" He turned to go.
wait just a minute" a voice spoke
behind him. 1t was a commanding
tone-implying the expectations Of
obedience. Bruce half turned. "Simon
wants to talk to YOU" the merchant
explained.
"Tn walk with you a way and show
you the road" Simon continued. The
room seemed deathly quiet as the two
men went out together.
They walked side by side until a
turn of the road took them out of eye
range of the store. "this is the road"
Simon said. "All you have to do is
follow it. Cabins are not so many
that you could mistake it. But the
main thing is-whether or not you
want to 60"
Bruce had no misunderstanding
I about the mans meaning. It was sim
ply a threat, nothing more o less.
1--WE come a long way to go to that
cabin" he replied, "Tm not likely to
turn off now
There's nothing worth seeing when
you get there. just an old hag-a
wrinkled old dame that looks like a
WITCH"
Bruce felt a deep and little under
stood resentment at the words. Yet
since he had as yet established no
relations with the woman, ne had no
grounds for silencing the man. "Tn
have TO decide that" he replied. "Pm
going to see some n else, too"
"Some n named-Linda?"
eyes. You seem quite Interested
They were standing face to face i'm
the trail. For once Bruce was glad Of
his unusual height. He did not have
to raise his eyes greatly to look
squarely into Simon's. Both faces
were flushed, both set; and the eyes
of the older man frightened slowly
II am interested" Simon replied.
you're a tenderfoot. You're fresh
from cities. You're going up there 10
learn things that won't be any pleas
ure to you. You're going into the
real mountains-a mans land such as
was a place for tenderfeet. A
good many things can happen up
there. A good many things have hap
pened up there. I warn you-gO
back -
Bruce smiled, just the faint flicker
Of a smile, but Simon's eyes narrowed
when he saw it. The dark face lost q
little of its insolence. He knew men,
this huge son of the wilderness, and
he knew that no coward could smile in
such a moment as this. He was ae-
customed to implicit obedience and
was not used to seeing men smile
when he uttered a threat. "Tve come
too far to go back" Bruce told him.
Nothing can turn me-
"Men have been turned before, on
trails like this" Simon told him.
Don't misunderstood me. / advised
you to go back before, and I usually
don't take time or trouble to advise
any one. Now l tell you to go back.
This is a mans land, and we don't
want any tenderfeet here"
"The trail is Open" Bruce returned.
Il was not his usual manner to speak
in quite this way. He seemed at once
to have fallen into the vernacular Of
the wilderness of which symbolic ref
erence has such a part. Strange as
the scene was to him, 1t was in some
way familiar too. It was as II this
meeting had been ordained long ago;
that it was part Of an memorable des-
tiny that the two should be talking to-
gether, face to face, on this winding
mountain road. Memories-all vague,
all observation-disclosures through
him.
Many times, during the past years,
he had wakened from curious dreams
that in tie Light of day he had tried