The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-10-03
(Contiuued from Last isSuO)

! (Con1uQed from 0S1 01Q0y
Yes, I will 60. ! wanted to tell you
J something. but my regret at going is
so deep that ]: forget what It was. But
1 must come again when the sunis not
so low. No, tell me please, when that
shall be?'
"Neyer would man before talk like
this to me .ta..But If you must: come
when I beg you no. t1et it be next
Thursday. Ny father then will be in
the hills to'buy cattle"
This is Friday, and that will be a
week, lacking one day. 5You, have set
doomsday for my return j
IF .you come before, you will not
find me. And now it Is the good-by."
She drew back quickly through the
cane he went, parting his way to the
canoe that7lay ,nosing the messy bank.
Only now that she, was gone and
night had come did he -remember-re-
member that this girl who had be-
witched the swift minutes with him
was the daughter. Of his sworn enemy
Stepho Ia Vitte. ..
A voice called him as he was ours
ing himself for q traitoreto his fathers
memory. On 4 point of land he saw
three men standing. One2G Of them
beckOned him, and aheo turned in to.
ward them. One Of them. spoke:
would you be kind to- set US
across? The night he5comes and we
would not be lost in the swamp. We
will get, to the rivers =. Would you,
pleaseT 4, .+::sSz-4, t-,s"
Eyes, but I,don't know that my ca
noe will hold four: We may get
ducking." -: +,:t>
He pulled alongside and steadied the
canoe while they got in. Now he pad
died carefully. The man who had
talked, and whom the, other two ad-
dressed as Toner, requested to be set
on a bushy shore where the water was
so shallow that the canoe was almost
stuck in the. ooze. With his paddle
Drace propped his craft steady, for
them, to get out. .rone2 got out--and
with the quickness Of 4 cat esnatehed
4 rope from beneath his coat and
threw a moose about. braces arms.
Then the two men in the boat threw
themselves upon him. There was a
hard struggle lin the canoe and then
out into the wateB abut: they brought
him ashore, wound fabout with the rope.
Now they made haste to tie him Sc
curely. e The canoe. was dragged
ashore ,Drace stretched out in it, and
now they took it on their shoulders
and FASTENED through, the. tangled I'M
derbrush. :. He had fought hard, but
had not cried oft. But as he was
carried along, he ;swore bitterly ut
himself for not looking at, first with
| suspicion on the brutes who now had
him in, their power.
| "Ah, you would steal about and
spy said Toner. But you steal about
no more. The carpetbaggers. they say.
You brave? and you say, Yes. I am
brave Then they say, You find old
Stepho.' And you 20 to find him. He
Is not at home.3 But his men, they
come just in time"
"You are liars. T was"
"Ah, you come with the joke. To.
morrow, we will laugh. VIII you? No,
you will not laugh" 90
| * ci,+zaa.55 .f',,.'' .
! Drace lay quietly tugging at the
ropes that bound him. If he could
spring out free, what a scattering he
would make OF them! They stopped,
entering some sort Of, doorway, and
rested the canoe on the giound. Tonez
lighted a candle, !and Drace saw that
he was in an old cabin, almost. ready
to fall. They rolled him out on the
door, face; down, and beneath his arms
they passed the pdddle Of the canoe
50, that lie could not turn over. Then
the others wentr,out, leaving Tone7
holding the candle. t..
= Does the kind gentleman know why
they. gone? They 60 to. get the dry
rushes and the dead bark.@ For why:
To make the IRE. Itsissnot cold. no;
But they will make the fire Of the cab
in, and when the morning come, there
Will be the ashes5ef the kind gentle
man.. and the people they will say
All, he lie down to Sleep and burn
up' f''s'=zs''> Sc SD. X "a. y" So --~~~'r'
! BRACE, heard them piling their muir
,derous fuel into 2 corner. Again he
! appealed to them, tried threats, toto
fthem that his friends would hang
them, but they laughed, Toner bend
J. ing over him with the candle. . 4
fs:z-: M q Few minutes Tight the blaze
Eahd stakestne candle away : -. Yot
talk of Stepho's daughter. Remember
she may love me some. too" -
'You Spanish deyif!"
1.-THE kind gentleman. he come close
I'm Portuguese But no matter. Wher
Stepho come, we tell him what We do
and he pat us, on the back and give u:
money But the light would hurt thu
kind gentleman's eyes when he liz
that way on his jaw. will not stool
so low with the candle :. Oh, wha
a fine pile they get! 1t will make thu
blaze beautiful. sssAh ready, year Twill
touch it Ia ------- =
- - = ..-ss'.'. .et,rss' s