South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-12-16
THE SKY LINE
OF SPRUCE
b, EDISON MARSHALL

A~ ~- - -" 90 49,
cles.
Wen need someone 20 cook and
took after Us. when we get Up there.
Who should e be but Beatrice ? She
uou1dn't want TO etay here; you
know how she loves the woods
There wouldn't DO any OF the other
boys up there 20 trouble you. You'd
have a clear field"
Al a little town at the end Of steel
Ben and Ezram ended the first lap
OF their journey.
4 ca noe was bought for a reason
a0ie suia-tbey were told they had
q good chance of seihng II again
when they left the river near Snowy
Guich. For q ridieulously small
sum which he mysts-iousiy pro-
dueed from the pocket OF his faded
Jeans Ezram bought a second hand
rihe-an ancient gun OF large cali
Der but OF enduring quality-and a
box Of shells 20 match.
"Old Hiram EFT me gun, but
Vol each need one" Ezram ex-
planned.
They would have need OF good ca
nOe-craft before the journeys end,
tho villagers told them. Ezram had
not bOssted OF any such ability, and
~ first Ben regarded the plan with
considerable misgivings And it was
with The most profound amazement
that, when they pushed off, he saw
Ezram deliberately seat himself In
the bow. leaving the more inpor-
tant place 10 his young companion.
Good heavens. I'll capsize you In
a minute" Ben said. How do you
dare risk it"
Push of and stop botherin' me-"
E2zram answered. There's a paddle
go ahead and shoot 'er."
The waters caught tho canoe,
speeding il downstream; and In ap-
prehens!on OF imm ediate disaster
Ben seized the paddle. Swiftly he
thrust it into the streaming water
at his side.
do you remember when you shot
the Athaiba.ska Raplds?" Ezram had
/ asked. It was all clear enough. In
: that life that was forgotten he had
evidently lived much in a canoe.
knowing every detail Of river life.
Late afternoon, and they work ed
closer 10 the shore. And now. in the
gray OF twilight, Ezram saw the
place 10 land.
lt was a small lagoon into which
a creek emptied, and beyond was an
open meadow. found so often and
80 Unexpectedly in the North woods
Swiftly Ben turned the canoe into
shore.
All at once a great clarity seemed
/ TO take possession OF Ben's mind.
Here, in these forests, were the
! stimuli of which Forest, the aIienist.
/ had spoken; and his brain seemed
Z TO leap. as in one impulse, 10 the
| truth. Suddenly hs knew the an
swer TO all the questions and prob
lems that had troubled him so long.
lie sprang up, his eyes blazing.
L remember everything" an m
audible voice spoke within him.
| Then he whispered. fervently. to
his familiar wilds. And 1 have
come home"
CHAPTER "
\ Bolt From the Blue.
Everything was as 1T should be,
: as he and Ezram made the camp.
I ''rts all come clear again" he
: told Ezram He RENE mbered now
that Ezram had always been the
/ most intimate friend OF his own
I family; a spry old godfather to him
\ self and young sister, a boon com
( paniOn co his once successful rival
/ Ben's father. Ben did not wonder
( now. at his own perpleXity when
! Forest had spoken of Wolf" Darby
That was his own name known
f.. throug bout hundreds OF square
miles of forest and in dozens Of 1T
tie river hamlets IN an Eastern
/ province.
The journey ended at last. They
I saw the white peak they had been
told 10 watch for, and soon after
they came TO a green bank from
which the forest had been cut away
l They pushed up and made landing
Z on the banks OF a small stream.
1 This stream, Ezram knew, was
Poor Mans Creek. the stream OF
I which his brother had written and
which they must ascend to reach
1 Spruce Pass. Only five miles distant,
. in a quartering direction from the
river, was Snowy Gulch, the village
/ where they were 20 secure supplies
and from steve Morris, the late
( Il,ramH gun and his pet, Fenrs.
Before they were fully unpa OK ed
/ they made OUT the figure OF mid
/ dle-aged frontierSman, his back
/ .oaded. advancing up the road to-
ward them.
'Howdy' Ezram began pleasant
/ ,y
4 Howdy," tho stranger replied.
HOW was goin'?"
"Oh. good enough"
Come all tho way from Salts.
Y.lle7"
Continued i'm our Next Issue)
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