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U I IkCT
A STORY Of THE GREAT NORTH Wt'ST
0*/ VINCIE e. ROE
ILLUSTRATIONS 6y fayUotfrsfcak
i . COPYP/C/iT OY POOP, YIOAD AdO COMPANY ' ^
SYNOPSIS.
CHAPTER I—Siletz of Daily's lumber
rarno watch* s a stranger mishandle hi'
nurse in climbing the ridge and directs
lam to the camp.
CHAPTF:R II—Walter San dry Introduce
himself to John I>aily. foreman, -is “th*
lJillingwoith Lumber Co., or most ul it.”
CHAPTER III—Sandry mak“s acquaint
ance With tLe camp and the work he has
come from the East to superintend anti
make successful.
CHAPTER TV— Sandrv wisely decides tr»
leave immediate supervision in tie l ands
of Daily and writes to his father that
he intends to get. a handful of the we a ah
in the uncut timber of the region.
CHAPTER V -Sandry gives SHetz per
mission to ride Black Bolt, his saddle
horse.
CHAPTER VI—fiandrv In an emergency
finds himself no lumbeLman. but piu\*s
to the foreman that he does not la. k
judgment. Siletz tells Sundry of the
Preacher.
CHAPTER VTT—Sandry discovers that
Siletz bears the sign .»f the Siletz tnb»*
of Indians and wonders what her stir- ,
name is. In the Hush of a tender moment 1
he calls her “the Night Wind in the
pines” and kisses her.
CHAPTER VIII—Poppy Ordwav. a mag
azine writer from New York, comes to
Daily’s to get material for a romance of
the lumber region. Hampden of the Yel
low Pines Co. wants Sandry to keep off a
tract of stumpage he claims title to and
Sandry thii ks he has bought as the East
Belt.
CHAPTER TX—Hampden sets up a
cabin on the East Belt and warns tr s
passers off. Sandry can find no written
*\ idence of title to the tract. I! men,
pull down the cabin. Sandry compares
Siletz and Poppy.
CHAPTER X—Sandry's and HampdenV
•men fight over the disputed tract. The
Preacher stops the fight,
i
CHAPTER XI—Sandry finis that the
deed to the East Belt has never been r—
icorded. He decides to get out his « *n
• tract first and fight for the stumpage aft
jerward.
CHAPTER XTT—Poppy Fronts trickery
and ftirts with Hampden to gain his "ri
fldence. She tells Sandry that Hampden
is crooked and that she’ll get him.
CHAPTER XIII—Poppy goes to Salem j
In search of evidence against Hampden
Sandry and Siletz ride to the seashore 1
and Siletz sees the or* an for the fir t !
time. Sandry’s men desert him for Hamp
den. who has offered more money.
CHAPTER XIV—Siletz goes to her;
friends the Si washes and persuades them ;
o work for Sandry to save his contract, j
CHAPTER XV—Poppy tells Sandry that !
slm has proof of Hampden’s filing bogus !
entries in collusion with tin* commission
er. She sees Siletz and Sundry talking
together and becomes Jealous.
CHAPTER XVI—The big timber raft is
started on its way. but is blown up and
Sandry is dangerously injured.
CHAPTER XVIJ—Poppv Insists on tak
ing care of Sandry and vs she is his
promised wife. “No," «• Siletz, “he
kissed me and I am his woman.”
CHAPTER XVIII—In Sandry’s delirium !
he gives Poppv a clue to hi- pa. t. O i |
recovering Daily tells him of the suc
cessful filling of his contract and he s.rc '
that he is going after Hampden hint '
and “get him straight.”
CHAPTER XIX Mn Daily shows Rin i
dry Poppy’s notes of his delirious talk j
Poppy plays with Hampden and a ' - j
Sundry when he will let her Vse her in
formation to stop the crooked dealing
He refuses her aid and she tells him she
is going East for. a while.
CHAPTER XX-Back East Poppy fimls
that Sandry held up an associate of a j
crooked partner of his father for the
price of the Dillingworth Lumber Co., th*
associate dying the same night.
CHAPTER XXI—Poppy goes back to 1
Daily’s and hints to Sandry that she
knows his secret.
CHAPTER XXII—Sandry Is called East
by his father’s sickness and is with him
when he dies.
CHAPTER XXTTT Sandry sends money
to Musseldorn. in a letter which pnr»pv
steals and copies. Siletz in turn steels
that and other papers from Poppy.
CHAPTER XXIV To prevent Sandrv
from sending East for a lavv-er to tight
Hampden. Poppy engages a lawyer who
betrays her to the commissioner and
Hampden. Tn the agony of a man he
trayed by the woman he loves Hampden
decides to “make a tight that will be re
membered all along the coast.”
CHAPTER XXV-Devastating forest
fires, mysteriously kindled, threaten Sun
dry’s holdings and every available man
turns out to fight them.
CHAPTER XXVT—Sandry. leading the
forlorn hope against ihe fires, wins his
spurs with the lumbermen, who have al
ways held him in contempt as a tender
foot.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Sh'-t in the Hills.
At camp they met a party, headed
by the foreman, just starting out in
search of them. Their absence had
been discovered on'y when Daily, com
ing in from the north, where his work
had been laid out, had asked for San
dry.
At sight of him the three women
standing together at the loot-lag gave
evidence, each in her way, ot those
emotions which the suspicion of his
fate had stirred.
On Ma’s face was an unbounded
pride that he had come through a
man of parts, abundantly able to care
far himself among a hardier crew. < mi
Miss Ordway’s there lay a vast relief,
while Siletz played with the collar ;f
her blue shirt with trembling lingers
and moistened her dry lips.
Sandry turned and looked up at the
darkened east with a profound Joy, He
swept nis eyes north 10 where the red
heaven flared and staggered to nis
office.
“Three hours, ma," he croaked in a
voice of warning, “only throe Hours
sleep for all of us. If you give us
longer I’ll never forgive you ’
It was true, as Collins said, that
they had only begun to light.
Through the hours, days, nights th?.!
[ ‘cllovvvd the saving 01 the blast Holt
hey took no note ot time, t p along
the blackened, devastated valley the
oidiers moved their camp, .'da Daily
shut, ihe cook-shack and suborned a
vagon to haul h>-r big range up and
deposit it alongside the camp stoves
of Company H, where she dispensed
coffee to her men and all others with
impartial zeal. Miss Ordway, her skirts
tucked up from the contamination of
the burned earth which rose in hot.
black puffs at every moving foot was
compelled to help if she would hoi 1 that
espionage over Siletz from which ?lie
hoped to realize her ambition. A t»»t
ter hatred sharpened her blue eyes
upon tne girl, and she ached to seize
her and tear out of her blouse th.a'
packet of proofs. She was angered
at herself that all ih-r cleverness had
faih d to recover them before this
Sc the hours passed with smoke and
heat and a sun like a copper shield
Men came and went in relays, sleeping
upon the ground for short shifts, rig
idly apportioned and observed. The
flood of flame, runner alter an arrant
w ind, had piled its forces in leaping j
billows in among the northern hills It
seemed a thing of irresistible might
but the toilworn men hung to its flank :
with a dogged persistence, emboldened |
and encouraged by the success on the
east ridge.
bandry, limping painfully, and hag
gard as a ghost, stuck with the van- \
guard despite Ma s commands and '
Daily's warnings. At each fresh sight
of his face the girl Siletz was wrung j
with anguish. It seemed as if he could :
bear no more and yet the spirit in him .
drove him on.
Once she ventured a timid protest.
“What is the timber worth if you
Tie?’’ she asked plaintively, and Sun
dry, still somewhat of a hoy, parried
the yearning questmn.
“Who w"iild care?” he laughed
wryly, “would you, Little Squaw?" j
The girl did not answer, but ns she
turned away the ready mist sprang to
her eyes and he reached a contrite
hand to her shoulder.
“Forgive me! "l know you would!-'
It seemed to Siletz as the horror
swept north and the m a were lost
for hours in the dim fastnesses, that
something was about to happen.
She felt a pr< science of disaster
which Corsnah shared, and they two
stood apart for 1 eg spaces of time, j
silent, listening, the muscles of each
drawn taut. From time to time the
great tnorgr- 1 w-nitd squat upon his
haunches, lift his h. avy muzzle toward
She Felt a Prescience cf Disaster
Which Cocsnah Shared.
the dun-srhcke heavens and bay with
a long-drawn, silver nrte that was the
very acme of melancholy
And then came a dawn wh« n no one
came in for breakfast, when the sun,
| coming over the ridge 10 the east,
was n 't visit le. Only a pale light
turn- d the heavy ca? py t • sha 1 wed
pearl. The three women waited in that
! silence which over attends the waiters
i for men who face danger. They were
used to the silence, for there was n i
accord between them. Mi Daily hid
lr;! g ago shut this "bird o’ th’ earth"
out of her gc 'd heart and Siietz hated
her with the fury of the woman whose
mate is threatened.
At last a solitary Indian came down
the valley, running, his mouth full ol
exciter...lit ai d dolorous prediction.
The \vh do of the Siietz would go. It
was the wrath of the Great Spirit
turned loose upon a wicked world. It
was the judgment. There was nothing
like it. He fell int* jargon and re
verted to the ancient gods, and Siietz
checked fciro sternly.
“What d you mean, Quanna?” she
said, 'have you forgotten the Preacher
and the Bible? There is only one God
and he holds us in the hollow of his
han 1. It is not the destruction of the
wir’d. It will stop. What more has
happened, and where is Sundry of the
Everythin* had happened. The
whole country was aiire. Not only a
ridge or two, a valley in between, as
it ha ! been hero, a day, two dnvs back,
but rid;'.; ai't“r ridge, valley arte?- v.-l
It y—the world, the ep.rth, the heavens.
Samiry was sotuewhr re up behind t ,
Hcg Back.
For n moment the girl ’oak-d out
across th slough, lying like a dirty
rib'en Wwetn its array and wilt: d
barks Then she turned troubled eyes
to the general.
•'Mother,” she said, "I know it row
There’s danger tc. Sundry, and I'm So
ing.”
"Child you’re wrong this time. San
dry’s a man. Well as you know th
bdis I can’t let you go. 1 forbid it."
They fac'd each other a moment
while SiJetz tossed back her u raids
and tightened her belt.
“I'm going.” she said quietly. Ma
Daily, who Ind raised re r, said no
more; hut as she turned to ttie stove
aimlessly as was her wont in every
time of trial, there was a deeper line
about her tremulous'old mouth.
Swift as, the wind the girl ran down
the valley toward the d sorted ramp.
Miss Ordway watched her and against
her will, drawn by some subtle excite
ment, some urging po\v >r, she. too.
gathered her skirts and began to run
across the pulling ashes. At the icair
to she came upon tne other just lead
ing out Black Bolt, a shining beauty,
eager fot the turf.
'Tm going too,” panted Poppy
reaching lor a bridle that hung behind
the bay.
Siietz had always ridden bareback,
but now, why she did not know, she
took down Sundry's saddle and slung
it oil Black Bolt. Poppy tollowen her
movements, and by the time Siietz hart
put foot m stirrup and swung up. she
had caught up her wide skirt and
mounted. Siletz flared around at her
and her eyes were beginning to
sparkle in a face paie with rage.
w ithout a word they galloped up
across the lonesome valley and took
to what had once been a tiail tn the
nodding ferns. Now it was hut a
slight, depression running sun id the
blackened trunks, the endless‘neaps
ot ashes. Poppy Old way followed Si
letz, on a chance a dare, a mere haz
ard. She did rot know the danger, the
menace ot the hills.
She was saying to herself after her
enticing habit of self-communion:
“I’ll have my precious packet soon
I know I shall. The gods are with
nie. 1 feel it.”
Once Siletz turned upon her.
"Go back!” she cried fiercely, "some
thing is about to happen,’
"dou’re right,” said Poppy, and tor
or.ee the hardness cf her nature
showed like a rock under waves tn
eyes and voice and manner, "and I'll
be in at the happening."
They spoke no more. Siletz checked
Black Brit in another mile, rose in her
stirrups and looked over the appalling
spectacle before them. Over and be
yond lay the tumbled hills, thick with
heavy timber, that ran into the Siletz
basin. Somewhere In their fastnesses
reared the mighty spine of the Hog
Back with its secret trail. And some
where up behind the Hog Back was
San dry. (’elm as she was l:v nature
Siletz shu.l ierod as she looked upon
the world of (lame and sraoks. To
Poppy Ordway, ignorant ot its mean
ing ard its might, it was a splendid
spectacle.
Siletz plunged down the ridge on the
other side and the wo.nan followed,
The shadows of the d - -lilleti val
ley grew int > an un • i wilight. The
tiro, light ashes re ch jpptry going
ai d n >r- than ones Black Bolt slipped
to catch his f oting, catlike. They
rode ahead and entered th6 fire belt
its. if. Thu dusk grew denser. The
boat lay like a tar, .ible blanket in the
led lows and dips. Siletz urged Black
Bolt. Something was calling out ol
the gray dimness—chilling her heart,
hurrying her progress.
She had ridden for a time in deep
th ught when a sort am front the worn
an h hind drew her up with a start.
She turned just in to see the big
hay fall and go t bog down the
mountain. With his rst lurch he had
flung his rider out of the saddle and
into a pile of ash. s. It was true to
her nature that the girl, dismounting
ran. not to the woman but down the
slope after the horse. She found him
prone and groaning in a tittle trench
his right for leg doubled back, the
white bone piercing tho earth
Poppy Ordway peered fearfullj
down, her trembling hands gathering
her dust covered skirts.
“Come here!’’ Siletz cried, com
manding; “come here!”
It was the same voice whimpering
with primitive rase, that hail com
polled that craven “San-dry" from
Peppy Or-iwny's lips that night at the
pump, and as the woman had obeyed
tli n, so she obeyed now.
Siletz rose, reaching in the blouse
of nor shirt, and brought out a > an.
Peppy Ordway shrank hack, white as
chalk.
“What do you moan ?“ she cried
shrilly, “what are you going to do?’
Har r widened her blue eyes gro
tesquely.
“I never shot a living thing in my
IPe,” said Siletz solemnly, “but I’ve
got to kill him. And you stand by tc
watch—it's your work.'
There was a sharp report that did
not echo in the fire-deadened to Ills and
the good horse c'o. - d his eyes in sod
den peace. Siletz - turned away tc
where Black Bolt looked on with woe
d< r, Ccosnsh crouching m side him.
In a swift revulsion she Hung the
weapon far down the mountain
She started to mount without a
glance at the woman vi hen the otnei
spoke.
“Vi Uat am i to do?”
“Ho? I don't care what you do. Gc
home. And 1 hope you never reach
there;”
"My God!” cried Poppv Ordway
“den t eii e ire liki this: And look!
Look there:”
AU along the valley by which they
had c.rne a lonto, swift drift 01 smoke
•vis rolling, s .it cut like a current
from some newly fir cross canyon
if? low-lying pall formed a in-wilder
ing mystery to anyone save a native
of the hilis. A woman on toot would
never reach camp through its blinding
darkness.
Lent Siletz sat turned in her saddle
and looked at it. l'hen a thought of
Sundry and his standards pierced the
emotions that dominated ner. There
was but one tiling to do.
“Come up,' sin s.,11. ut lart, “I li
have to take you.”
CHAPTER XXVill.
Fires Within Fire.
So it was a double burden that the
great black horse carried into the
mystery of the shrouded country
Hatred was like a wail between them
and Poppy's lingers, clinging perforce
to Siletz' shirt, twitched with desire.
How short a distance to the packet in
thf? bagging blouse!
So they rode with smarting eyes
and aching lungs, down into a dim val
ley ai;o up again between fires, under
mighty, towering trunks tottering to
their fall. They passed the high setae
of the Hog Back, a malt: tic crown
against the smoke, and threaded the
ruins of the forest. At fast, they saw
great liti-s ahead and men running
among rfiem.
“Where is Samir' ?" Siletz asked,
Una hashed, of a soldier.
"Don’t mow. Haven't scon him for
hours ’ Ho hurried on and the girl
rode along the line where a. hundred
men wore laboring with ax and y ade
and blanket. The wind had dropped
A Tall Lone Spiral Into the Dun
Heavens.
and they were working north and
south, trying to bottle up a rburmg
cross-cut of a valley. Scattered
throughout the hills in squads. obey
ing tiie orders s> ut down from time
to time by the ranger and his aids,
who patrolled the ridges with field
glasses, they worded like a great ma
chine thou !i they saw no farther
than their own trench, their own line
of bar’-fire, their own stretch of
felled pines.
But work as they would et the base
of the high, massed peaks, Destiny
was about ready for her grand coup
at the fortunes of the Dillingworlh.
am! she snatched a streamer from a
cross-canyon and shot ft high across
line and back-fire and trench into the
dry pines on that slope Also bhe had
sent, an hour befc re, a tall, lone spiral
into tne dun heavens from the very
heart of the snared timber behind the
Ilog hack. T hat spiral had caught the
eve of Walter San dry, working with
his waning strength north on the east
slope. For how many hours he did
not know, he had neither eaten nor
sh pt. But s.tiU he went with the
spi it that would not quit so long us
another staved at his post.
“If the rams would only come!” he
thoujv ,t as he struggled upward, "U's
nearly time for them. If they would
only bring their first showers now!”
The roar of the new hie- -a solitary
pin that went up like ;t huge grate
ful torch was in his ears, its light
before him.
An-” now tnut r neavcn ci.a it get
stalled up in here?”
Ho ;sn< 1 spoken aloud as ho wearily
s'k;-d a ■ •lamp ui \aiung spruce and
th" words 1 short, abruptly broken
as he emerged from their sh. Her.
Before him. in a small cleared space,
stood Hampden of the Vellow Hines.
! Sis back w--,s toward Sundry and he
carried in his hand three candles. He
was -nearly as black and disreputable
as any scarecrow down among the
Pres. He was intently watching soiiie
thing at the foot of a second pine.
Softly Sundry moved inti! this object
was in !.is Pin > of vision
i t ■Idea high in a pi’o of tinder dry
needles a fourth candle glowed
brightly In the smoky gloom. With
utmost cunning it had Iron set close
against the tree where a long branch
oi pitch trailed down the rugged hark
from tar up among the branches.
When the candle burned down to the
rest!! • teep. <t no dies and a man
ninth' travel far in the meantime—the
Uj-jyk Ji liaraes need only to lick
(hat banner to rush with lightning
speed to the swaying, inflammable
top,
Koi a long moment the Eastener
a! I tost in wonder. Chon the whole
tning .oust upon him ana he kne-v
itnmpnen o! the Vellow Pines was the
power behind the holocaust!
As tins stupendous knowledge forced
itself into ms weary brain, the other
man turned ann strode swiftly away
among the i-oles. The wearying climb
had taken the breath from Sandry s
lungs and he drew a pistm from his
r>ei; and tired over Hampden s head,
lake an animal > he man whirled hand
to hip, and tacea nun.
‘I've got you at last!” Sandy pant
ed. ’1 ve got you at last!
Hampden a heavy lips curled ven
omously from his short, strong teeth.
"Von!' he breathed, “you! You
damned Easterner! You lily-nanded
tenderfoot!"
Sandy smiled grimly.
“ This is just about the blackest spot
in your crooked career. Hampden.' he
aid at last "the blackest and the big
g n blunder, i can’t see why you did
it."
“You can’t!" snarled Hampden, “oh,
you can t! Well, by God. you will be
fore I m done with you. You didn't
know what you was gettin' up against
—vou and your—your— Poppy Ord
way. You made yer tight, an' you
thought you’d won! But you reck
oned without me. I’m niakin mine,
an' it’s a hummer."
tie glared savagely along the gun
into Sandry’s bloodshot eyes, and at
this moment Black Bolt heaved up
through the ferns, Siletz peering eager
ly along his straining neck and the
face of Poppy Ordway at her shoulder.
The girt slid out of the saddle and ran
to Sandry.
\\ hat is it?" she cried, “what is
it?"
Sundry pointed to the burning can
dle at the pine s foot and instantly she
sprang forward and snufted it out
with thumb ana finger.
Miss Ordway slipped down from
the foamy, steaming nips of the horse,
to stand leaning against him, tier
bright eyes beginning to sparkle with
the tension of the moment. At sight
of her Hampden s face grew gray be
neath its grime. She was smiling
with that pleasure which she always
found where men fought, or engi
neered dramatic coups, or worked out
clever schemes, and her beauty was
never so maddening to him in all his
knowledge of her. His one pure dream
had, in truth, reached a sorry ending.
"Sandy, saia Siletz simply, "1 came
to you. There s danger somewhere—
: 1 don't know where or what—but
there's something in the shadows.’
A vagrant wind fanned up long
sheets and whistling banners that
hurried up to leap into the moaning
canopy behind the Hog Back. The
actors in this little drama were too
! intent to hear the heightened note.
"So you come to be in at th‘
death!" said Hampden at last, his
eyes on Poppy in anguished fury,
"you done me to death an' you want
to see me die! Oh, th’ game's up and
I don’t carp a damn! I’m th' smartest
one of this bunch yet. An’ but fer
th’ fact that you’ve got them two let
ters yov stole from the commissioner
and th accounl, book with the records
of our deals an' rake-offs and so on,
I’d a had a chance to fight an’ win
yet! Hut 1 know you, Poppy—Oh,
how damned well 1 know you!—an'
I know I'm whipped. But I’m makin’
a fight—you’re damned right I am!"
He waved an eloquent arm around
at the appalled, shrinking country
which seemed to crouch in its naked
ness under Hie shrouding smoke.
“But th' thing that cuts is knowin'
that you done it all fer him! A feeble
drivelin’ thing from th’ East! An’
they say you 11 marry him' Well, go
to it! He'll have to move out, fer
there won't be any more Dillingworth
Lumber company in twenty hours. I'll
bo behind bars, all right, but I’ve
cleaned him out.’’
As he finished with a reckless laugh
Pandry turned amazed eyes to Poppy.
She was pale with anger and she
avoided tiis glance. This was the last
thing she wanted—that Sandrv should
know of her attempt to forestall him
in the “getting” of Hampden. She
saw her chance to gain his gratitude
by her gift drifting sway. Also the
revelation of her lawyer s perfidy was
a mighty blow.
“Hampden,’ she said unsteadily,
“you're the coarsest beast 1 know!"
“All right. But ain’t that what it's
all fer? To lay me as a burnt offerin'
at his feet a sacrifice to win his
j mincin’ love’ Didn’t you say you'd
I marry him? Ain’t I heard it right
an' loft?”
"No! cried Poppy, red with rage
under Sundry's astounded eyes, “no!
I newer did!”
•'Yes!” cried Silefz ringlngly, "you
did! You said when Sandry was dy
ing that you were his promised wife.”
in the hush that followed, intensi
fied by the dropping brands from ihe
huge pine which was now but a black
ened. pronged shape in the thickening
smoke, there fell upon their ears a
sound as incongruous with the strained
moment as could be imagined.
It was a shower of notes, high,
sparkling, thrilling, that seemed to
fall like drops of diamond through the
murky canopy. Tney came up from
the west, mysterious, martial, joyful,
and their burden was ‘ Lead, Kindly
Light Lend Thou Mo On!”
"The Preacher!” whispered Siletz,
"Oh, the Preacher!”
And pros mtly through the dim dun
•lnli of the smoke that crept with
portent between the crowding pines,
there merged the familiar, erect form.
With one accord they turned to him
aa he approached and Sundry for the
one moment left Hampden unguarded.
ft was all that was necessary. Quick
as light the hand that had first in
stinctively sought his blp sought it
again. There was a flash of metal,
dun in the dun effulgence, a straight
ening of the heavy arm that neld it. a
spurt of flame, a shot.
But quick as the timberroan had
heen. another was quicker. With one
leap as Hampden reached tor his gun
the Preacher reached Sandry, snatched
him aside and flung himself before
nim, nis flute raised high in protest,
in command. But the gesture came
too late.
The bullet meant for the Easterner
found lodgment in the gentle breast
of the wandering player 01 hymns,
ana be sank down in Sandry s arms.
CHAPTER XXIX,
The Sign of the Siletz.
It was EJoppy Orway who struck the
gun from Hampden’s hand, sending it
flying among the ferns.
‘‘We’ll have no murder here!” she
cried.
Sandy looked at Hampden for one
fleeting second as he laid his gun be
side him ,
“If you move one muscle," he rasped
harshly, “I’ll kill you on the spot.’
Then he eased the slight form of the
Preacher down upon the deep pine
needles.
Just above the heart blood was pour
ing from the shabby habit. Sandry
tore it away, to find a clean small hole
in the white skin, which was line and
delicate as a woman s. The hall had
gone straight through, tearing a huge
ragged aperture where it emerged in
(he back from which the red stream
flowed in a flood.
“Cloth!" cried Sandy, “give mo
cloth!”
ms voice riroke tne spell tnat pound
Siletz anU she sprang forward, tear
ing her garments, ripping out of her
breast some mysterious womanly ves
ture that was white and soft.
“Oh, my God above the sea!” she
was crying with gasping sobs. “Lord
of the heavens: Spare him! Spare
him!" And only Poppy Ordway saw
the packet which tumbled unheeded
to the ground. With one catlike, graco
tul movement she threw herself for
ward, snatched it up and hid it in her
own hosom.
Sandry hastily made compresses and
bound them upon the wounds. He tore
off what was left of his tattered shirt,
and added it. He took handfuls of
leaves from the hazelbrush and pod
ded the compresses, binding them
tighter and tighter. But it was heart's
blood that was loosened and each-ef
fort to stop it was futile.
It was soon evident that the feet
in their heavy shoes had gone their
last journey upon the hills, that the
triumphant flute had piped 1ta last
song of victory.
“My children,” said the Preacher,
“I promised to come when you should
need me. I have served a need. You
are young, my son, and the path of
youth Is fair. There are too many
primroses thereon to sacrifice one
year of It. I am old—old."
Here Siletz flung herself upon her
knees beside him, unable to control
herself, rocking to and fro after her
fashion, her braids swaying and a ter
rible anguish upon her face.
The handsome blue eves turned
wondcringly upon her.
“Daughter—little one of the tender
heart—hush! I hear strange sounds
and I would listen.”
He closed his eves and lay for a
time in silence, the delicate tracery
on his face emerging more clearly as
a pallor spread beneath it. It was ne
divine record of years spent with his
God in the high places, though here
and there a drooping line bespoke a
vague, forgotten sadness.
Presently he murmured:
"The Winds of the Mighty One are
upon the sounding board of the hills!
Ah!—”
Again a silence and he opened h!s
eyes with a return to earth. Hut in
^ H 1 » J
**—
The Gesture Came Too Late.
thrin had come the dimness of
dreams, ami half-remembered years
and times and places.
They gazed wonderlngly into the
dark, tear blinded ones of Siletz. bend
ing above. For a long time the old
man lay, staring up with that look of
wonder. Then a great joy broke on
his fare with a shining smile, and he
struggled to raise himself on an arm.
‘‘Kahwannai" he cried, "Kahwan
na!‘'
It was a call from a far-distant past.
It thrilled that little company of listen
ersjvith tta ecatasv.
rj BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.