Evening star., 1923-07-22

I
to the water. All around him he
could hear its boiling. Like seal
he slid his body into the canoe. and
he lay down fiat on his stomach. He
was blind as q bat, but it didn't
matter down there in the darkness.
He was moving out now, very rap
idly. 1t seemed as though he had
leaned his ear against the heart of
the river. He could hear the things
grind under him. and shudder and
tremhle. He was tossed from side
to side; he was plunged head fore
most.
He had no idea of time any more.
az he lay on his face in the shallow
bark. his blind eyes shut fast against
the blackness.
IT was dawn when he finally came
to. He was swinging gently, for
there was no current. Very slowly
he turned over. There was light
against his eyeballs. Finally he
opened his eyes and saw the gray
sky overhead and the thin gray
clouds OF early morning scudding
over il.
He. could see. Al last ne sat up
straight. Before him. lay the village,
built up against the wall OF forest.
1t was as peaceful as a Sunday All
at once he thought of the forest fire
that awful thing from which he
had fed. But the horizon was clear
and the air was fresh with the morn
ing sharpness Slowly his thoughts
groped back to his awakening and
his stealing out OF the cabin. He
had left the others in thereto die
for all he ocared--and he had escaped
in the. canoe. a.....t = >.
Rudi tAgatin saw Johnny Geraldy
as he walked up the street Of the
village, He looked at him blankly.
Name of a name" he said; "or do
I dream? But how. are you here?'
he demanded. -. ~. -
"By. the Devils Creek way" he
sal i'd. ..t...r. =.
Name, o. ,namer' the old man
repeated. .>.-You have come back for
the gayeth tonight, Youshave~ come
back to, watch Jeanne Beaumont.
Man. he. said. ..'''you must have
drowned your wits before starting.
But you have done something no man
has ever done before" -
Inside of thirty minutes Rudi
Agatin had told all the village how
Johnny Geraldy was there and how
he had come down DEVILS Creek in
the night time And all the people
stared at Johnny Garaldy.@ and the
children, followed him around the
str eet, at 9, distance, siiently, whis.
pering. '-- .-f'--. -.'--.a' -, .-..--.-s:
That night he went up to the
tavern. He had not wanted to go,
but it seemed. somehow. part of
this strange role he found himself
playing.
Jacques Duval saw Johnny Ger
aldy as he stood a moment silent at
the threshold.
Bravo" he cried, "it is Johnny
Geraldy, and he has come down the
DEVILS Creek alone in the night time.
We will drink him a toast in his
honor
Then they passed around a pitcher
Of applejack, and every one drank
and cheered. but everybody looked at
him little strangely. 1t was uncanny.
that thing he had done.
Late that evening Jeanne Beau
mont sat down on the bench beside
him. Man alive" she said. that
was a crazy thing to do. You were
a fool to do 1t. Of course. But
cannot but look UP to you with ad-
miration."
Jeanne
She looked at him as a woman
does who is convinced against her
instincts of the quality Of a man.
1t was a mixture Of reluctant ad-
miration and atonement. She had
wronged him in her thoughts.
Johnny Geraldy." she said. you
are a brave man. When you go
back to the woods again have some
thing for you to take with you. a
charm that is very effective against
cuts and chilblains."
THAT night he walked up the road
1 beside her to her fathers cottage.
She had never seemed so little before,
or so yieiding-or 80 unattainable.
They stopped before the white gate
that shut off the withered garden.
"Good.by," he said. ct am going
back tomorrow-over the trail by st.
Pierre way"
oh" she said; then. after a
moment: you will be back in the
spring with the othersr
NO" he said: II go north still
farther to blaze the tract for the cut
next fall.
She went into the cottage and
brought him out the tiny figure of
st. Anthony that held a charm
against cuts and chilblains. keep
this by you" she said. Not but
what st. Anthony himself seems to
go beside you. st. Anthony she
laughed, "or-the devil"
Jeanne"
She turned her face up toward him
in the moonlight.
"Good-by." he said.
In that moment he knew she was
waiting for him. as he had never
dared dream she would-because he
had done a brave thing.
"Good-by," he said--and no was
gone.
Next day he started up the trail
before sunrise. He was alone again
under the twilight of the spruces. He
hated 1t here in the forest. It played
such tricks on you. 1t had drugged
him and blinded him and made him
mad-and he had done something in
that madness that had turned him
into a great man. Jeanne Beaumont
had lifted her face to his In the
moonlight because she had thought
him brave. But up here in the for
cot ha hod loF$ fuyo man To ha hIfr, "A