The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-09-01

crossed the room and locked the door.
Fists rammed into pockets. he paced
the room while moisture pricked out
in tiny pearls on his face.
Fear was riding the man now. fear
and desperation. Not fear of the pos
sibility that John Belknap might be
able to prove a case against him
through either Baxter or DeForest.
Another fear gnawed at him. had
been grinding him for days. and some
thing about John Belknap's attitude
made him feel that the lad was not
thinking wholly of his own safety. He
had had the manner of one who knows
more than he tells. of one who Is wait
ing. with all confidence, for ire
mendous moment
And Nat Bradshaw had been bit
too casual the last time he came HIS
eyes had betrayed a flicker of guile
when he talked of the fire in the Rich
ards barn; and another time he had
come he had gone from this office to
the hot-pond where John Belknap
worked
For years Paul Gorbel's conscience
had not troubled him; he had taken
what he could take. by fair means or
foul, escaping detection but piling up
in his own heart cumulative burden
of fear. He had not admitted that
fear even to himself until lately. and
commenced to swell and throb. 1t
would not let him keep his mind on
his affairs during daylight; it would
not let him sleep.
Other nights he had thought that
pounding in his ears was the heavy
beating of his heart; last night it had
been like the fall of collective feet :.
thudding in awkward measure as men
marched in lock-step! Last
night and young Belknap knew
more than he had said.
He halted in mid-room and looked
about like one trapped Then he went
to his desk, opened a locked drawer.
and slipped the pistol that lay there
into his pocket. After a time he I'M
locked the door and went through the
motions of functioning as a manag
ing partner.
And over in Shoestring Ellen Rich
ards was going through the motions
of performing her daily tasks.
Evidence of strain was heavy upon
her, a different sort of strain than
that which had racked her when the
man she now knew to be John Belk-
nap came to her employ: Matters had
eased in the woods; the BeIknap &
Gorbel operation on her railroad had
slowed down on log production; her
transportation facilities had been able
to take care of both jobs handily;
reserve of logs was growing in her
yard; the dark clouds which had how
cred over her business affairs were
seeming to lift.
But things had happened to her
which robbed this turn of events of
any joy; things which Weakened her
from sound sleep with heart racing,
with feeling of having called out in
her dreams appealingly to the man
who had come into her life and gone
out of it again, leaving the job in or
der but life in chaos.
During waking hours she knew that
she thought of John Belknap only with
contempt, but at night, as she slept,
he came to her in dreams, laughter
mingling with the determination in his
eyes, and she lived again those mo-
ments in the Office at camp when she
yielded impulsively to his arms. when
she raised her face hungrily for his
lips.
Sweet, the dreams were! But she
shuddersd on Weakening. To surrender
her heart to a man who had deceived
her, who had sworn allegiance only
to undermine her worldly posses
sions, was untbinkable. And yet that
heart remained untractable. Her mind
persuaded, argued. badgered. even
stormed, in certain moments. but when
the mind dropped into deep rest that
heart went it's forbidden way.
Yesterday the woman who kept her
house had declared her ill. This
morning the old bookkeeper had eyed
her over the rims of his spectacles
and said one word: peaked ~
He left his high stool and drew his
spectacles down low on his nose
again.
"Ellen. you're comm down with
something!" he declared. "Sakes, but
you do look peakedI You better go
home an rest"
Home? To lie there in the room
where she dreamed lenderly at night
of a man who was her worst enemy?
Home? To live again and again those
moments which once had been sweet
but which now, even in memory.
whipped the heat of humiliation to her
cheeks?
Not home! A girl can't stay in the
theater of heart-break when her
nerves are rubbed raw and drawn
singing tight, can she?
TELL the barn to hitch up the driv-
ers," she said. ''Fll have them take
me out towards the Mad Woman.
day or two at VOLTS is what | need.
l guess"
And so she went, light pack-sack
and snowshoes slowed behind her.
eager to be afoot and trudging the
dozen miles that lay between the end
of this road and the trapper's camp.
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