The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-12-11
BY ROBE19T SZzEAD


burning; 1t was brass lamp, with
shade of some old gold color. 1t stood
on shelf which he had built In
corner of his only room; Its subdued
but cheerful light touched the objects
in the little shack with CLINT Of color
which was in sharp contrast to the
drab day outside Spoofs couch had
been made up; his steamer rug lay
tucked about 1t. The walls were a
maze of firearms, prints, curios. There
was the warmth off fire and the odor
of something cooking.
In the corner opposite to the lamp,
on the floor, on a mat, sat Jean. Her
knees were propped up in front Of her
and her long, supple fingers were
linked about them 1t was as she had
sat that day-what, only yesterday
with me under the great drift on the
bank of the gully. A tapestry affair of
some kind, hung on the wall, sheltered
her from direct contact with the cold
boards, and a cushion with a yellow
dragon further protected her. She
looked up at me as / entered and her
face was a riddle too enigmatic to
analyze. Annoyance, defiance, pleas
ure, humor, indifference, were strange
ly and inextricably interviewer.
Hello, Frank" she said, quietly.
you see, Je-Miss Lane is an early
caller" Spool explained. Although
not frequent one" he added, "any
more than you are. If she had known
you were coming no doubt you would
have come together"
Eyes, that might have been BETTER"
l said, pOintedly.
"The trail is gone" Spool continued,
ignoring the jab in my remark. at
must have taken some skill to find the
direction"
Particularly before daylight" l
said, more pointedly than before
"Oh, don't quizz, Frank" Jean pro-
tested. "I'll tell you all about it pres
emily. l was just saying to Spool,
when your knock interrupted me, how
much the wiser the Japanese are than
we. They sit on the floor, as nature
intended them to do, and how graceful
they are! am playing the part"
"But not for shat reason,a l am
afraid" said Spool. "You see, re-
joice in only one chair, called easy
by way of courtesy. Miss Lane re-
fused to sit in it while l stood, and 1,
of course, could not sit in it while she
stood So she solved a deadlock by
sitting on the floor"
Nothing very discriminating about
all this. They were just chatting nat
urally; surely they couldn't be such
actors as to stage this dialogue with
out a moments notice. Still had
had to knock the second time.
'You have breakfasted?" Spool in
quired.
"Why, l am afraid l must confess I
| haven't. l left home rather uneX-
pectedly." 1 was not disposed to beat
about the bush, and the commonplace
ness Of their talk irritated me. Surely
here was situation bad enough with
out making it worse by pretending
there was nothing bad about it,
Spool glanced at clock which
| chuckled away amiably on his wall.
| 1--WE can have lunch within an hour"
he said. With fork he prodded some
| thing stewing on the stove. Eyes, the
rabbit is almost done. By Jove,
good fat one! Fancy how they pick so
lordly a living viii you wait, or
| would you rather have bite now? l
| can only give you bread and marm2-
lade at once. You must be hungry"
"No, I'm not hungry" 1 said, ruth
fully enough. The fact is, couldn't
keep my eyes off Jean. Now and again,
when she didn't know / watched, her
| face seemed to take on something of
melancholy; but mostly it was bright,
responsive, vivacious. She seemed to
fit so wonderfully-physically and
mentally she fitted so wonderfully into
Spoof's shack.
| So we waited for the rabbit to stew,
| and Spool and Jean chatted on. was
| more the audience than one of the
players. They were away into some
dispute about atmospheric colorings;
something that had to do with rain
bows, sundogs, ice prisms, light radia-
ton. It was beyond me; so obviously
beyond me that Spool had mercy and
brought Jean back to earth.
''What do you think Of the scheme
! to form new province here-two
new provinces" he shot at me, sin
stead of our present districts? More
autonomy and more taxes, as l see it. !"
"Yes, / suppose" 1 CROPPED. The fact
is l knew nothing about it.
"Would seem more natural to follow
the old district boundaries, though"
Spool commented. "They say they are
going to run the provinces from south
! to north-as far as the sixtieth paral-
lei. There'll be an election next year.
You ought to think about that, Frank.
1t would be some honor to sit in the
first parliament of Saskatchewan"
The idea struck me as grotesque. /
said so
"Why not?" Jean demanded, and
there was fire in her voice. Perhaps
not the first parliament, but some
parliament" she qualified.
"Some parliament" l said to my
self. "Perhaps. If 1 had Jean to
goad me on l might do-anything.
Spool scraped a corner clear on the
window pane, and said some lines
about "Snow cold-in snow" 1t was
something about a soldier dying in the
trenches; not wounded, or fighting, but
just dying in the snow. / saw jeans
rapt attention; the glisten of her eyes
the gulp of her white throat. What
power was this the man had over her:
Was this all thing of mind or was il