Evening star., 1923-09-20


work upon it, but with the dispatch
| ing of workmen to the Dead Horse
(and he could think of no other mean
ing in the tracks on the trail by
Hatty's shack) he feared that the
blasted rock, too, would soon be
cleared away.
On the morning of the tenth day
Pete arose stiff and cramped from
cold and busted himself over a
coffee
He had never tired of the glories
| of early morning, especially wssen the
sun rose clear and bright. sending
its magic touch, like the brush of a
master painter, over the vast, rolling
mountains about him. The very
greatness of the picture 1t unfolded
gave to him a sense of security and
safety, in spite of his intense loneli-
ness.
Now, as he sat before his breakfast
fire after ten days of constant strug-
| gle with the elements, the grandeur
of the panorama seemed to suggest
a new and different meaning. For
the first time, 1t seemed, the over
whelming odds against which he
waged his lone struggle stood out in
! the very vastness of the wilderness
4 about him. For the first time, too,
since he plunged into the snow
4 covered mountains, he began to ques-
he had gone to Moppa to fight his
i enemies where he knew they were.
Only the deep-rooted conviction that
| Hawkins was still alive and must be
found, and that Tamarack Sue was
with him, somewhere in the very hills
1 about him, prevented his immediate
| departure for the pass. AS he con-
| templated such a journey he pictured
his meeting with Jenkins and Butler
and perhaps with Demons or even
| sciously expanded his muscle-ribbed
| chest and felt the vigor of new
| strength course through his veins.
What pleasure 1t would be to meet
them, one or all! He craved an op-
portunity to test his newborn
Imurderous gang and crush them be-
meath his heeli
Nor was the temptation to quit his
vigil on the hills and carry the battle
to his enemies wholly without support
| of reason. For ten, nights he had
built fires and signaled; he had built
! them on vantage points from which
| his eye could sweep the mountains
| for miles. and the valley below even
] to Moapa itself, yet he had received
not even a hint of answer. He
| thought long and hard, first favoring
| his impulse to be among men, then
/ yielding finally to the old arguments
of reason that had sent him on his
present mission ten days before.
| AS he sat and pondered thus the
\ sun burst forth with a flood of light
| that made even the distant peaks
seem close and friendly. There had
been no snow for two days and Pete
could see his trail of the day before
running for hundreds of yards down
| the mountain side. 1t was the hrst
time he had left a trail, and the full
| significance of the thought came over
him with a sudden rush as he recalled
that always before show had fallen
lat least sometime during each twenty
four hours Even the tracks of many
men by the Indians cabin were half
filled with it. and IT was still snow
ing when he had left there, he re-
called Then came a premonition, a
feeling, odd enough. that he might
not have to go to the valley below, after
all, to meet his enemies With burst
of sudden energy, he rolled his pack Sc
icurely, threw 1t over his shoulders, and
making a trail more to his liking
| than the one he had left the night
before.
/ With the deftness and assurance OF
| a native mountaineer coupled with
the cunningness of a hunted man, he
made his way, circling this way and
that, directly over high points that
| stood fearlessly above the rest, and
plunging through little clumps of
! stunted mountain cedar, always
| working with definite object in
| view, until he reached a location that
| seemed to suit his fancy.
| As the afternoon approached he SET
about preparing camp for the night
1 For the first time he selected spot
| well hidden from view, yet one from
1 which his eyes could sweep several
| of the high spots of his recent trail
| AS the evening shadows gathered
he felt more and more CONVINCED thai
| some one was on his trail. Not that
| he had positive evidence; but because
| it was such an obvious way for
| Browning to wreak vengeance upon
KIM He wondered what type of man
| would be selected for such a mission
Would il be one who would steal upon
him in the night and end matters
quickly and silently, while he slept.
| AS darkness slowly settled over the
mountains, Pete became more and
| more convinced of the nearness oi
some one on his trail, and with the
thrill of near-combat in his veins, he
threw his provident scrimping of ra-
| tions to the winds, and set about pre-.
lparing "A meal fit for the role he hoped
| soon to fill. With almost reckles:
abandon he cut deep into his preciou:
supply of fat bacon, leaving scarce
lily enough for a morning meal. Into
| melted snow water he poured hand
full after handful of finely ground
corn. stirring 1t as it boiled with the
! Whitfield end of cedar spoon. Their
| came the most reckless act of all, the
opening of a can of preserved fruit
How carefully had he cherished thit
delicacy against the day when hi
could serve it, together with mea
of his own cooking, to Hawkins ant
SuSiel
| AS he finished the meal, there besid,
the dying embers of the campfire, ht
tlooked long and far into the dull rec
of the setting sun What short cry
lit was after all. he thought, from mar
as God intended him, to man as ht
himself had been only a few shor
months before! Now, even as he toy.
ed with his guns, cold. deadly re-
minders of imminent battle, his sou
seemed satisfied and for a moment IN
accord with nature unspoiled by man
Yet only a day before, 1t seemed, ht
had been tossing about on an unnat
ural sea of conflicting emotions, com
ing he knew now from the ever-in-
creasing struggle of man living or
man rather than nature. True, all OF
4 the intrigues and vfllainies of de-
lprayed manhood were within stone;
throw of his very camp fire, and as
he slowly limbered the hammers OF
his guns he knew full we'll that with
| all the purity of nature about him
his very life, for the present at least
| was devoted to a bitter struggle
Iagainst his fellow men. Neverthe-
less. it was this very thought thai
brought home to him the full sig.
4 nf the SlnnharinU