Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1930-12-18

ming, these same slim .throated song.
sters found npte Of gratitude and
| of prayer In their chastpned voices.
Flowers crushed underfoat. In the
| open spaces they carpelrd the earth
with white and pink and blue. Flow
ers and birds and peare--a world
! filled with Il declining sun-a smiling
and with them u dog, boy. man.
and woman advancing westward.
Three OF these. even the dog. Ton.
teur envied.
This dog had name which fitted
him. Tontenr had thought. For he
was a wreck of dog--even more
wreck than the splendid seigneur him
self, with his stub Of shot-ofr leg
and breast that bore sword marks
which would have killed an ordinary
man. The dogs first OF all. was
homely dog. so hopelessly homely that
one could not help loving him at sight.
His hair was bristly and unkempt- His
paws huge His rail was half gone,
which left him only stub to wag.
He walked with a limp. heavy.
neyerfailng limp thaf seemed to
shake his long body from end to end,
for his left fore paw-lke Tonteur's
foot-was missing. A crooked. CHEEKY.
inartstic. lovable dog to whom the
woman-in moments visioning OF
the fitness of things-had given the
name OF Odds-and- Ends.
| So Tonteur was half right in think
Ing OF him as wreck OF q dog. but In
one other thing he was wrong. The
dog did have soul--a soul that be-
longed to the boy. his master. That
soul had a great scar scared upon 1t
by hunger and abuse In an Indian
camp where Henri Bulain had found
him four years before. and from
which. out OF pity for dying crea-
ture. he had taken him home to Jeems.
IT was a scar cut deep by clubs and
kicks, wound that had never healed
and TINT made the dog what he was
tIreless and suspicious hunter OF
scents and sounds In the woods.
or tile four who were filing west
ward. he seemed to he the only one
who watched and listened for danger
to come ont Of the beauty and still
ness Of the world about them Now
and then he glanced up at his master
Trouble lay in the hoy's face and eyes,
and the dog snnsed II after u little
and whIned In Il questioning way In
his throat
Daniel James Ruiain was the boys
name. but from habyhood his mother
had called him Jeems He was twelve
and weighed twenty pounds more than
his dog. Odds-and- Ends. called Odd
for short. weighed sixty. If the scales
in Tontenr's gristmill were right One
would have known the dog and the boy
belonged together even had they been
in q crowd. for If Odd was battered
old warrior. the boy on the other
hand. gave every evidence of an am
btion TO achieve similar physical
condition
why, he's dressed up like a bold.
bad pirate come to .abduct my little
girl and hold her for ransom" Ton
tenr had reared. down In the valley,
and Jeems' father had joined the
baron In his laughter; then. to make
the thing worse, T0nteur had turned
him round and round. slowly and ap-
praisingly. with lovely little Marie
AntOinette looking on. her dainty nose
upturned In patrician digdain--and
with Paul Tache, her detestable cousin
from the great city OF Quebec. openly
leering and grimacing at him from be-
hind her back. And this after he had
prepared himself with painstaking
care for Marie Antoinette's eyes should
she happen to.s him That was the
tragedy of It He had put on his
new doeskin suit He carried q gun
which was two inches longer than
himself. big powderhorn swung at
his waist, in his belt was knife, and
over his shoulder hung the most treas
ured of his possessions, a slim ash
WV 0n0 QUlfCA AlIEu Will dlIOWS.
He had worn his coonskin cap OF fur
In spite Of the warmth OF the day, be-
cause II looked better than the lighter
one, which was stripped. and In this
cap was long turkey feather. Odd,
the dog, was proud OF his martial-look-
ing master. but he could not under
stand the change that had come over
the boy or why he was going home
with such a strangely set and solemn
face.
From her position behind the dog,
the boy. and the man, Catherine Blu
lain looked upon her world with JOY
Gus and unafraid pride No boy, In
her opinion, could equal Jeems. and no
man her husband. One could see and
feel her happiness. and as Tonteur
secretly built up the fire OF his yearn-
Ing when he was alone, SO she loved to
eyult In her own possessions when her
men folk were ahead and could not
see all that came and went In her face.
This desire to hold within herself
some small and sacred part OF her
rejoicing was because she was Eng
lsh and not French. That was why
Daniel James had an English name.