The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1923-01-04

miles from the cabin. The hour was
about siX-thirty in two hours more
It would be too dark to make his way
at all.
He examined the mud about the
spring, and there was plenty of evil
dence that the forest creatures had
passed that way. Here was a little
triangle where a buck had Stepped
and further away he found two pairs
Of deer enthusiastically those Of a
doe with fawn. A wolf had stoned
to cool his heated tongue in the wa
tiers, possibly in the middle of some
terrible hunt in the twilight hours.
Then he found IA huge abrasion in
the mud that puzzled him still more.
At the first he couldn't believe that
II VAS a track. The reason was sim
ply that the size of the thing was in
crcdihle-aS if some one had laid u
flour sack in the mud ana taken il up
again. He did not think of any of
the modern-day forest creatures as
being of such proportions. 1t was
very stale and had been almost oblit-
Grated by many days of sun. Perhaps
he had been mistaken in thinking il
IN imprint of "A living crt.rture. He
went To his knees to examine il.
But in n instant he knew that he
had not been mistaken. II was a
track not greatly different from that
of an enormous human foot and the
separate toes were entirely distinct.
1t was ii bear track. of course, but
me of such size that the general run
of little black bears that inhabited
the hills could almost use il for a den
of Information,
He got up and went on-farther
toward Trails End. He walked more
swiftly now, for he hoped to reach
the end of Pine-Needle Trail before
nightfall, but he had no intention of
battling in case night came upon him
before he reached ii. He had waited
too long already to find Linda.
Another hour ended the days sun
light. The shadows fell quickly. but
1t was a long time yet until darkness.
He yet might make the trail end. He
S''' Nv u W i'liSh' III tll'
first place, he had stood up remark
ably well under the days tramp for
no other reason than that he had al
ways made a point of keeping in the
best Of physical condition. Besides,
there was something more potent than
mere physical strength to sustain
him now. 1t was the realization of
the nearing end of the trail-a knowl-
edge Of tremendous revelations that
would come To him in n few hours
more.
Already great truths were taking
shape in his brain; he only needed a
single sentence Of explanation to con
meet them all together. He began
to feel a growing excitement and i'm
patience.
1t was quite dark now. and he
could barely see the trail. For the
6rst time he began to despair, feeling
that another night of overpowering
lmpatience must be spent before he
could reach Trails End. The stars
began to push through the darkening
sky. Then, fainter than the CLEAN Of
a FREELY, he saw the faint light Of a
far distant camp fire.
His heart bounded. He knew what
was there. 1t was the end of the
trail at last. And it guided him the
rest of the way. When he reached
the top of a little rise in the trail, the
Nrln1n n.,1 I,t1 a,- "
below him.
The fire had been built at the door
OF a mountain house-a log structure
Of perhaps four rooms The freight
played in its open doorway. Some
thing beside ii caught his attention,
and instinctively he followed it with
his eyes until it ended in an incred-
ible region of the stars. 1t was a
great pine tree, the largest he had
ever seen-seemingly a great sentinel
over all the land.
But the sudden awe that came over
him at the sight Of 1t was II short
by the sight Of g. girls figure in the
freight. He had an instant's sense
that he had come to the Wilderness
heart at last, that this tall tree was
its symbol, that if he could under
stand the eternal watch that II kept
over this mountain world, he would
have an understanding of all things
but all these thoughts were submerged
In the realization that he had come
back to Linda at last.
He had known how the mountains
would seem. All that he had beheld
today was just the recurrence OF
things beheld long ago.. Nothing had
seemed different from what he had
expected; rather he had a sense that
a lost world had hSen returned to him,
and IL was almost as If he had never
been away. But the girl In the fire.
light did not answer in the least de-
gree the picture he had carried Of
Linda.
He remembered her as a blond
headed little girl with irregular fea-
lures and a rather unreasonable al
lowance of LONELINESS. All the way
he had thought of her as a baby Sis
ter-not as a woman in her flower.
For n long second he gazed at her in
speechleSS amaZement.
Her hair was no longer blond.