The Ely miner., 1925-11-06

was masked IN snow, put MS HIST
glance was at me, and / knew by the
sudden drawing of his lips the relief
it was to see me safe and well.
81 was afraid for you, Frank" he
said; "afraid you'd try it."
II did try it." And then l told him
the story of my attempt.
"We have great deal to be thank
full for" Jack said, soberly, when !
had finished. "a very great deal, in
deed"
"Yes, more than you know" I re-
turned. joyously, eager to spread the
good news. "Jean has consented to be
my wife"
Jack refused to be excited. "Con-
gratulations, old boy" he said. pressing
my hand, 'but, really, that is hardly
the point of consent for long, long
WHILE"
"Oh, Jack, that isn't fairi"
Sorry, sister. perhaps 1t isn't quite.
But you two have been so beastly slow
over this business you've. tied up the
whole progress of events, and now you
want me to be surprised about some
thing that's long overdue"
swell, it's settled now, anyway"
said l, "and as soon as you and Mar
jorie can make up your minds we will
fix date"
"As soon as Marjorie and l can make
up our minds y Jack exclaimed. "Son,
our minds were made up months ago.
We've been waiting, waiting. At last
we concluded that we really must
speed things up little, so 1t was ar
ranged that Marjorie would send you
over here last night, and / would ac-
cidentally miss you in the gully and go
over to Marjories OF course, we
didn't know there was storm coming.
1t rather overdid things from con-
ventional point of view, but fortunate
ly Mrs. Grundy hasn't moved out here
yet"
'Why, i never thought of such
thing!" cried Jean, Indignantly. "How
can you-T"
: ''Of course you didn't, you old DEAR"
said Jack, drawing her within his arm.
land, I'll bet wedding present, neither
did Frank. And listen, little woman,
you're getting one of the best little
chums and one of the whitest men be-
yond the Red river and the Rockies
and beyond. And as for you, you old
son-of-a-gun," punching me in the ribs,
IF there are two angels in the world
today one Of them is Jean Lane"
Although the storm still ragged day
light now struggled through the wind
swept screen Of snow, and there was
no great danger in making the short
Jack confessed that Marjorie was un-
easy for me SO i went home very soon
after his arrival.
Marjorie flew into my arms as I
opened the door. II was so frightened,
Frank, so frightened!" she whispered,
going to be such a storm. / was al
most sure you'd come back and when
you didn't l couldn't help wondering,
and every little while through the night
| would waken and see you fighting In
the snow; fighting, and stumbling, and
falling" She wrapped her arms about
me and pressed her cheek against my
face "Oh Frank, Frank, it's good to
have you here," she murmured.
had never known Marjorie to be so
demonstrative. She came of solid old
Eastern stock that carries its heart
long, long way in. was not psy-
chologist enough to realize that if ever
there was to be time when Marjorie
would be very human she was now en-
-tering it.
There, there" l said, comforting
her as best could. Its all over now.
And Hsten-I have great news. jean
and / are to be-"
"At laStw she interrupted. swell,
that shows what little planning will
do. You dear old silly, did you sup
pose
II know all about it-now. Jack
confessed. But your little joke nearly
cost me my life" and went on to tell
of my battle with the storm, taking
care that it should lose nothing in the
telling. In this / hope / measured up
to the established standard of the
typical Westerner.
Marjorie was penitent. 81 am so
sorry" she said. II had no idea that
might happen. Oh, Frank, wouldn't it
have been dreadful?"
"It would, but it isn't. On the con-
trary, il is worth it."
Spool drove over one Sunday early
in December after an absence of three
weeks. We saw his oxen breaking
trail for an hour or more. before they
came up to our door. Jack and Jean
had also seen them coming, and rushed
over to Fourteen to share in extending
welcome. 1t is only among the pioneers
that real welcomes occur. Jack swept
Spool into the house, and turned our
own oxen out and put his in the stable.
We were soon to learn the cause of
Spoofs absence from our threshold
to protect his extensive supply of per-
sonal effects Spool had bought pad
lock for his shack, and one frosty
morning this paddock fell to the
ground. Spool picked it up, and. wish
ing to use his hands for some other
purpose, thrust the iron link Of the
lock in his mouth, thinking to hold 1t
there moment. He had no trouble
holding it, but suddenly found to his
dismay that he couldn't give 1t up !!
The frost in the iron had, with an
effect very much like fire, scared his
tongue and hung on so tenaciously
that when at last he wrenched it out
| 1t carried some of the flesh of that