Williams news., 1922-12-22

Bruce. The QayS naQ DeeH IuII ol little nerve-tingling adventures, and the nights full of peace And beyond a1l these, there was the hope of seeing Linda again at the end of the trail.
 It was strange how he remembered her kiss, He had known other kisses in his days-being a purely rational and healthy young man-but there had been nothing of immortality about them. Their warmth had died quickly, and they had been forgotten. They were just delights of moonlight nights and nothing more. But he would wake up from his dreams at night to feel Linda's kiss upon his lips. To recall 1t brought a strange tenderness - softening of all the hard outlines of his picture of life.
 But aside from his contemplations of Linda, the long tramp had many de lights for him. He rejoiced in every manifestation of the wild life about him. whether 1t was a bushy-taiied old gray squirrel, watching him from a tree limb, a magpie trying its best to insult him, or the 1eeting glimpse of a deer in the coverts- But he didn't see the Killer again. He didn't particularly care to do so.
 Both days of the journey home he Wakencu SndTpIy AI d"A. AhC COOIs morning hours were the best for travel. He was of naturally strong physique, and although the days fatigued him un- mercifully, he always wakened re freShed in the dawn. At noon he would stop to lunch, eating a few pieces of jerkey and frying a single hapjack in his skillet. And usually, during the noon rest, he would practice with his rife.
 He knew that if he were to fight the Turner's, skill with a rifle was an ab- solute necessity; such skill as would have feIled the grizzly with one shot instead of administering merely flesh wound, accuracy to take off the head of a grouse at fifty yards and at the same time, an ability to swing and aim the weapon in the shortest possi- ble space of time. The only thing that retarded him was the realization that he must not waste too many car tridges. Elmira had brought him only q small supply.
 He would walk all afternoon-going somewhat easier and resting more of ten than fin the morning; and these were the times that he appreciated fragment of jerked venison. He would halt just before nightfall and make his camp.
 And the best hour Of all was after his meal, as he sat in the growing shadows with his pipe At this hour he felt the spirit of the pines as never before. He knew their great, brood ing sorrow, their infinite wisdom, their inexpressible aloofness with which they kept watch over the wilderness. The smoke would drift about him in soothing clouds; the glow of the coals was red and warm over him. He could think then. Life revealed some of its lesser mysteries to him. And he be gan to glimpse the distant gleam of even greater truths, and sometimes It seemed to him that he could almost catch and hold them Always 1t was some message that the pines were try ing to tell him-partly in words they made when their limbs rubbed togeth- CT, partly in the nature of a great ale gory of which their dark, fmpassfve forms were the symbols. If he could only see clearly, But it seemed to him that passion blinded his eyes, More and more he realized that the pines, like the stars. were living symbols of great powers who lived above the world powers that would speak to men if they would but listen long and patiently enough, and in whose creed lay happiness.
 The last afternoon he travelled hard. He wanted to reach Linda'S house be- fore nightfall. But the trail was too long for that. The twilight fell, to find him still a weary two miles dis tant. And the way was quite dark when he plunged into the south pas ture of the Ross estates.
 Half an hour later he was beneath the Sentinel Pine. He wondered why Linda was not waiting beneath it; in his fancy, he thought of 1t as being the ordained place for her But per haps she had merely failed to hear his footsteps He called into the open door.
 Linda" he said, 'Fve come back"
 No answer reached him. The words rang through the silent rooms and echoed back to him. He walked over the threshold.
 A chair in the front room was turned over. His heart leaped at the sight of it. Linda" he called in alarm, 'where are you? It's Bruce"
 He stood an instant listening, a great fear creeping over him. He called once more, first to Linda and then to the old woman Then he Ieaped through the doorway.
 The kitchen was similarly deserted. From there he went to Linda's room. Her coat and hat lay on the bed, but +bora was m Linda to stretch her arms