New Britain herald., 1923-09-18
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY

The beaver was Of course not
 frozen; and the skin striped on easily
 under the little. saving strokes Of his
 skinning knife, He was rather
 surprised at It's size. It came on
 nearly round. and Il would stretch
 fully thirty.two inches In diameter.
 Washing it carefully he put it over
 his back and started on.
 Other traps yielded pelts in his long
 days march.
 Tired out, barely able to stand
 erect, yet wholly content with his
 days catch. Ned made tho cabin in
 tho twilight. built his fire and cooked
 his meager supper. After supper he
 skinned out such little animals as he
 had not taken time to skin on the trail, feshed and stretched his pelts
 then hung them up 10 dry. He was almost too tired 10 remove his wet garments when the work was done. He hardly remembered drawing the blankets over him.
 But in spite of the hardship. the wrack of cold, the fatigue that crept upon him like dreadful sickness, Ned had many moments Of compara- tive peasures. One of these mo- ments. seemingly yielding him much | more delight than the occasion war ranted. occurred at the end of the | second day of actual trapping.
 This days march had taken him to | the Forks cabin; and there. as twi- light drew about him, he was amazed to hear the nearing sound of footsteps in the snow. Some one was coming laboriously toward him. with the slow, dragging tread of deep fatigue.
 It was Bess, of course. At this point their lines coincided. It was her third stop, and since she had left the home cabin day ahead of him, she was perfectly on schedule. He could hardly explain the delight that flashed through him at the sight of her. In this loneliness and silence mere human companionship was blassing enough.
 His appearance in the doorway was not a surprise to Bess. She had counted the days carefully, as she knew his schedue would bring him here. But now she was too near dead with fatigue to give him mois than smile.
 With scarcely word he lifted her , to the cot, covered her with a blan- ,, ket, and in spite of her protests, went :, speedily about the work of cooking | her supper.
 They had a quiet hour of talk be- fore he drew the blankets about her :, shoulders and left her to drift away in sleep. He was unexplainably ex- : lltant; light-hearted for all this dread ! | waste that surrounded him. This a title hut of logs was home, tonight. : The cold could not come in; the wind z would clamor at the roof in vain. !,
 He did her work for her tonight. He skinned the smaller animals she lad brought in, then feshed and :, tretched all the pelts she had taken. :, After preparing his own skins, he made a hard bed for himself on the |. loor of the hut.
 It was with real regret that they cok different ways in the dawn. led's last office was to prepare kind ing for her use on her next visit to he cabin four days hence-hardly ealizing that he was learning a little rick of the woodsman's trade that yould stand him in good stead in nany a dreadful twilight to come.
 The trails of these two trappers ften crossed in the weeks to come. hey kept close track of each others chedules, and they soon worked out system whereby they could meet at