Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-01-10

ginia's ear. "You were with Bill
when he found it,"
coldfy. !.
Gold, gold, gold" he whispered
what I've always hunted. And
Bill had to find it. That devil had
to walk right into it,"
He was sickened by the thought
that except for his own cowardice
he would have accompanied them
into the den. Then he would have
been in a position to claim half the
mine-and get it, too.
He found a match. The white
skeleton lay just at his feet.
HI drew back, startled, but in
stant1y regained his poise. He knelt
with unexplicable intentness. He,
too, saw the CHASTITY wound and its
grim connection with the rusted
pick. And he bent. slowly, like a
man who is trying to control an un-
wonted eagerness, lifting the pick in
his arms.
Oh, it was easy to handle and lift.
How naturally it swung in his arms.
What a deadly blow the cruel point
could inflicti
Bill made plans for an early start
to his Twenty-three Mile cabin.
"Pll leave before dawn-as soon
as it gets gray" he told Virginia as
he babe her good night. "Tll come
back the next day, with a backload
of supplies. And with h little we
have left, we will have enough to go
on. We can start for Bradleypurg
the day after that"
Nireinia toni no Measure IN OlU- |
ding him goodby.
Her voice sank almost to a WINS,
per, and her tones were n
earnest IN pray for you. Here's
my hand, Bill"
He CROPPED for it. found it at last;
il vas swallowed in his w palm,
and the heart of the man C and
thrilled and burned.
He mushed on, his snowshoes
c%runching on the white crust. Inc
powers of the wilderness gave him
good speed-almost to the noon
hour.
Their he was suddenly aware that
the fine edge of the wilderness ST.
lence had been dulled. There was a
faint Std at his ear drums. The stir
grew to % faint and distant murmur,
the murmur to a long swish X a
million rustling garments. A tree
fell, with a crash, lar away ihe
the wind smote him.
1t was from the southeast. (
Nos man of the northwest prov
inces is un~acquainted with this wind.
1t is prayed for in the spring pc
cause it's breath melts the drifts
swiftly. but it is hated to death by
the traveller caught far from MS
cabin II snowshoes.
1t did not occur to Bill to turn
back. Already he was nearly half
to his destination. The food
supplies had to be secured, sooner
or later; and when the Chinook
comes no man knows when it will
away. He mushed on through
the softening snow.
The truth suddenly dawned upon
him that he was face to face with
one of the most uncomfortable STU
atoms of all his years in the forest.
He didn't believe he would be able
make the cabin before the fall OF
night.
His woodsman's senses predicted
a bitter night.
Through the black hours he
would have to fight off sleep so that
he could mend the fire and cut fuel.
Late afternoon: already the sha-
dows lay strange and heavy in the
tree aisleS. And all at once
he paused, thrilled, in his tracks.
"A little way to the east, on the
bank of a small creek, his father
and his traiterous partner had once
had a mining claim-a mine they
had tried unsuccessfully to operate
before Bronson had made his big
strike. =.
They had built a small cabin. and
for nearly thirty years it had stood
mOldering and forgotten. !
ExuItant and thankful. Bill turn
ed in his tracks and mushed over
toward it. !
There was plenty of heart-break-
ing work to do when Bill finally
reached the little cabin. He couldn't
force open the door, SO he hacked
a hole in it through which he en-
tered.
After looking about. he turned to
his toll of making a fire just outside
the hole.
Tired out, he climbed inside again
and lay down on the dry dirt, put
ting his arm under his read.
All at once he was aware that ms
eyes were fastened upon an old cigar
box on a shelf against the wall.
AS he reached to seize it, he had a
distinct premonition of misfortune.
1t contained a single photograph.
1t was a typical old-fashioned
photograph-two men standing in
stiff and awkward poses in an old
fashioned picture gallery-printed
in the time-worn way.
One of the men was his own