The Spokane woman. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1921-1935, 1927-10-13
CEDAR SWAMP
Continued from PAGE 81

we've got about sixty" he went on
with IA rueful smile. This car is worth
mighty little. All of our belongings
wouldn't bring much"
''The land itself, Eddie. Couldn't
we sell part of it and pay off the
taXesf
He shook his head. ITS dozen
miles from town and the railroad, if
it We're worth much for farming pur-
poses, which ii isn't. There are some
jackpines which would produce rail
road ties and fence posts, only they'd
bankrupt you, getting them to mar
ket. Some city sportsman might like
it well enough to buy it as a summer
home, or for the deer season. But he
wouldn't give you a great deal for the
whole thing, the house included"
ooh, dear!" mourned Patsy Jane. II
don't want to sell the whole thing.
want it! | want it, I'm just crazy
to live here!"
$50 am |, Pat. Well, maybe we can
make the rifle. I'll get a job and
we'll pinch and squeeze. That won't
be very pleasant"
81 don't care" returned Pat. SUR.
Oily. This place is worth sacrificing
for"
A fine insistent rain was falling next
morning when they awoke and there
was a chill in the air which seemed
to penetrate the marrow. The jack
pines wilderness looked particularly
desolate and forbidding, as though it
We're sufficient unto itself in its i'll
hospitality, and resented the human
beings who attempted to live within
ii.
Eddie had dragged several black
ened logs into the woodshed the pre-
vious day, and after breakfast he at
tackled them with axe and bucksaw.
until the pile of billets of stove-length
grew to respectable proportions.
Patsy Jane sang lightheartedly
within the house as she arranged and
rearranged the scant furniture, and
swept and scrubbed. But reaction
had set in with her husband. He felt
depressed and shivery. He was home
sick for Scottdale, Scottdale the I'M
generous, the narrow and unkind,
which had convicted him even before
the jury had. From a distance of some
hundreds of miles the little town had
taken on endearing and desirable
qualities. He wanted to go back
where he could see familiar faces,
even though they were turned from
him, cold with disapproval
He worked doggedly away, hoping
that the mood would pass, while the
rain drummed monotonously away on
the leaky roof of the log woodshed. II
was approaching noon when he heard
the exhaust of heavily-laden vehicle
on the north and south road; and
later, voices.
When the voices persisted he went
out to investigate. A big truck from
the north had attempted to make the
turn out of the sunken road into the
Long Prairie highway. But there was
muck instead of sand for a footing
near the creek and muck squashed
treacherously under moisture. One of
the rear wheels had sunk to the hub.
The two hurley hard faced men in
short, waterproofed coats; the tar
paulined truck, the bulge at the hip
of each of the truck attendants-all
these were easily-read signs. This
was booze-truck. Apparently the
main line of entrance from Canada
ran past his very door.
want some help?' he asked, with
smile. They looked up suspiciously,
but his friendliness dsarmed them,
and they accepted briefly his proffer.
He welcomed the break in the days
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