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The Heart of Night Wind A STORY OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST CHAPTER I. Out of the Vine Maples. Slletz sat, her knees drawn up to her chin, on the flat top of a flr ■tump. Beside her lay Coosnab, heavy nuzzle on huge paws. hlB eyes as pale is the girl’s were dark. They were MU-bred both. Perhaps that account »d for the delight both found In the ■olltude of this aerie, where they could look down toward the west on the feathery, green sea of close-packed pine and flr, of spruce and hemlock — »nd toward the east on the narrow •trip of tide-water slough and the un painted shacks of the lumber camp huddled above Itß rollway. It waß the magnificent timber country of the greak Northwest. Slletz was wondering, as she always did, how far the mountains ran to the south, how far It was to that 'Frisco of which she had heard so much from the tramp loggers who came and went , with the seasons, their "turkeys” on their backs and the Joyous liberty of the Irresponsible forever tugging at their eccentric souls. Over the facing ridge she knew that the cold Pacific roared and coaxed on the ships, to play with them In the hell of Vancouver coast. She could hear It sometimes when the pines were still; yet she bad never Been It. She had pictures of It In her mind, many pictures. She know well how It would look when she should see It —a gray floor, a world of It, shot through with the reds and purples of a tardy sun. Of the cities she had no clear pictures. They were artificial, man-made, therefore alien to her, who knew only nature, though she had listened Intently to roamers from ev ery corner of the globe; for Daily’s lumber camp had seen a queer lot. It all resolved Itself Into these dreams when she sat on the edge of a flr stump, or, better yet, In the ex alted cloud-high airiness of the very apex of the Hog Back. There had been no sun, neither to day nor for many days; and yet there was as surely of approach ing night as If shadows forewarned. Slletz had hoped for a break, one of those short pageants when the sun should shoot for a moment into the gloom, transfiguring the world. Now, as she scanned the west, the dog sud denly rose from beside her, peering down with his huge head thrust for ward, his pendulous oars swaying. A hundred feet below In a tangle of vine maple something was laboring. Pres ently the slim trees parted and out of their tangle struggled a horse, a magnificent black boast with flaring nostrils and full, excited eyes. After every few stops It turned Its head to right or left with the Instinct of '.he mountain breed to zigzag, and aB often the man In tho saddle pulled it sharp ly back. With the first sight of the Intruders the girl on the high stump had sprung up, leaning forward, a growing excite ment In hor face. It was the horse that caused It. Something was stir ring within her all suddenly and her heart beat hard. She gripped her braids tight In both hands and swal lowed. ’’Blunderer,’’ sho said aloud. "Oh the blunderer!" Then sho cupped her hands at her lips nnd called down: "Let him alone! He knows how to climb! Let him alone!” The man looked up startled, and tightened bis grip on the rein. The gallant animal wont down upon Its side, rolling completely over, to lodge feet downward, against a stone. Tin man swung sidewise out of the saddle, saving himself with a splendid quick ness. Before ho could gather him self for action the girl tore down upon him “What have *ou done?" she cried wildly, "what liuvo you done to It?” Sho dropped on her knees and her hands went fluttering over tho black head In a very passion of pity, touch ing the white star on the forehead, smoothing the quivering nostrils. “Why didn’t you let him climb his own way? Ho know—he’s a bunch- Rrassor Nothing could go straight up!” She raised ber eyes to him und he saw they were burning behind a Him of tears. He saw also what gave blm a strange feeling of shock—a faint, blue trarery extending from the left corner of her Ups downward nearly to the point of the chin, a sharply broken fragment of a tattooed deslgti. Her eyes were very dark nnd her hair, parted after the first fashion of worn in, was straight and vory dark also. The accusing words Irritated him. "You’re right," be said coldly, "noth ing could —In such a country Stand back, please.” Slletz looked up u blm and Instinc tively rose to her feet, though Vr slim body was alert with an uncon scious readiness for prevention of something. But the man only stepped to the black’s bead, tightened the rein a bit and clucked encouragingly. "Come up.” be said sharply, "up, boy!” The horse stretched Its head for ward, arched Its neck, gathered Mb feet and lurched mightily upward finding difficulty and floundering i> little by reason of the stone which ha< saved it from rolling down the moun tain. It placed its feet gingerly, brae ing against the declivity, shook itself vigorously, drew a good, long breath and turned Its soft nose to Investigate the girl. With a little gurgling cry her handß went out again to caress it, hungrily, forgetful of the man, her face alight with the Joy of its escape from injury. She smiled and passed her hands along the high neck, over the shoulder, down to the knee, bend ing to finger with a deft swiftness the fetlock and pastern. When she looked up again she smiled at the man frankly, her anger gone. “He’s all right, but you want to give him the rein. He knows how to go up all right. All Oregon horses can climb if you give them their time and way." He slipped the bridle over his arm. "I’m looking for Daily’s lumber camp. Can you tell me how to get there and how near I am?” “It’s right over the ridge. You’ll see it from the top!” "Thanks,” he said, lifted his soft, gray hat perfunctorily and turned up the slope. He took the ascent straight, with a certain grimness of purpose. Soon he felt a slight pull on the reins toward the left, which slackened immediately to repeat itself to the right. The black was trying to zigzag in the narrow play of the confining bridle. After an interval that tried him severely in muscle and breath the stranger reached the sharp crest of the ridge Below him lay the valley, the wind ing slough, the yellow huddle of the camp, the toy railway, with its tiny engine, the donkey whose puffing rose in a white spiral, the railways and the huge log trail winding up the other slope like a giant serpent. Even as he looked there came the st iccato toots of the whistle-bob whose invis ible line crept away into the hills above the cables, the engine got down to work with a volley of coughs, the Bpools screamed and the great steel rope lifted heavily along the trail. Presently a long, gray shape, ghost ly and sinister, came creeping over the lower ridge, gliding down the face of the hills, silent, relentless, a veritable thing of life. He leaned forward, watching it come to rest above the railway, halt a little while the antlike men darted here and there, and then roll sidewise into position against the stays. When the small play of the woods was over, just as he started down he glanced involuntarily back along the way he had come. The girl still stood by the bowlder looking up. her face Illumined by that "Blunderer!” She Said Aloud. light he had noticed, and he was quick enough to comprehend that It was pas slonate longing for tile big btuck be hind him. She had forgotten his pres ence. Out of tho ferns had crept tho mammoth mongrel. They two stood together In a subtle comradeship which Btruck him by its Isolated suffi ciency. CHAPTER 11. An Amazing Arrival. It was quitting timo—quitting time In the coast country, which means whatever time the light fades. Pres ently tho loggers came creeping dawn tho trail, sturdy men In spiked boots Incod to tbo knee, blue flannel sblrtn. and, for the most part, corduroys They trooped down to tbe cook-shack, a long building of unpalnted pine, Its two side doors leading, tbe one Into the dining room, tbe other sheltered by a rude porch, Into the kitchen. Inside, "Ma” Dally, a white-haired general of meals and men In their or der, creaked heavily from oven to pine sink, her placid face flaming with the heat of the great etael range. The eating room waa long and nar- By Vingie E. Roe Illustrations by Kay Walters ow, Its pine floor Innocent of cover ng. From end to end ran two long :ables, neat In white oilcloth, wltb In tervals of catchup bottles, pepper sauce, sugar bowls, cream pitchers, and solidly built receptacles .for salt and pepper. Along both edges stood an army of white earthenware plates, flanked by bone-handled knives and forks and tin spoons. At the west, beside an open door, was a high pine desk littered with pa pers, a telephone hung at one side. A small table stood before a window, with a rocking chair In proximity— one of those low, old-fashioned rock ing chairs that old women use, and that Invariably hold a patchwork cushion with green fringe, and a white knitted tidy. That rocker was part of Daily’s camp. It had followed the march of progress as the camp cut Its way Into the hills. ( “It’s my one comfort.” Ma was wont to say, “though land knows I don’t get to Bet In It more’n a quarter what I’d like.” As the loggers slid noisily on to the benches, their caulks giving up the mud they had held purposely for the swept floor, Slletz same and went, set ting the substantial viands In the open spaces left In the expanse of white oilcloth. She exchanged a word here and there, always a sensible word, something of the work, the day. or the men themselves. She was put ting a plate of cookies, sugar-sanded, with currants on top, between Jim Anworthy and a black-haired Pole, when a foot struck the step at the west door. There was something In the sound that drew every head around at once. A stranger stood against the misty darkness between the jambs. He was young, apparently about twenty-five or six, well set up, with straight shoulders above narrow hips and a poise that claimed Instant at tention. He removed hlB soft hat, holding It in his hand, while his bright, blue eyes looked Impersonally over the room. Over his shoulder a pair of big. dark ones peered anxious ly, while a black muzzle with a small white patch nosed his elbow aside. “John Dally?" It was a call that demanded, not a question. From the head of the nearest table a giant of a man, easy natured, lax featured, loose joints banded together by steel sinews, rose lumberlngly. “I’m him," he said. The man In the door brought his eyes sharply to focus on his face, read ing It with lightning rapidity. “I’m the Dllllngworth Lumber com pany—or most of it,” he said clearly, "and I’ve come to stay. Where shall 1 put my horse?” There was a startled silence after these amazing words. An unexpressed ejaculation went from face to face up and down the tables. Then John Dally showed why he was the best loreman In that region. He got himself loose from the end bench and walked over to the door. "All right, Hr.-?" He waited easily, as If it was per fectly natural for strangers to drop from a hilltop and announce them selves the ruling power of the country, or moro strictly speaking one of the ruling powers, for there were two. "Samlry." finished the othor. “Wal ter Sundry—from New York." “Come In. Mr. Sandry—you’re Jus* In time." Dally turned back to the lighted room. "Slletz, give Mr. Sandry my place Harrison, I’ll have to take your tiling shed for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll tlx things In better shape." The saw-tiler, an Important person age and ono to be conciliated, frowned In Ills pinto, but the foreman had lost sight of him. He reached out a huge hard hand and took the bridle-rein from the newcomer. Already this man was standing in side the rude building, with a high headed air of force, of personality that made Itself felt In the most stolid na ture present. He glanced down the double lino of faces and for a second, Just a fractional, fleeting moment, seomed to hesitate. Then he laid bis hut on tho small table, walked round to Daily’s empty seat, swung a Icta.ber puttee and n well-built shoo over the ! Munch and sat down. Ho was In place, nnd a vague feeling of adjustment, of solidity, accompanied him. ns ir he was there, sp he said, to stay, Every man In tho room felt It; and ono of those strangu sensations or portent communicated Itself to them, as when the everyday affairs of life come to a turn In the road. Daily’s was on the eve of a change. The girl was putting a thick, white plate, hot from boiling water, before him, deftly laying the simple cutlery, pushing back an Intruding dish. There was an air of detachment about her. No portion of her garments touched him. She was always so, aloof In a quiet way. Now, as she tended the stranger silently, one of her long braids slipped over her shoul der and fell across his hand. He drew away from the contact sharply and a dozen pairs of eyes saw the action. “Hell!” murmured a man at. the other side In mild amazement. THE GILPIN OBSERVER. But not even the Importance of the arrival of the Dllllngworth Lumber company could keep silent this bunch of men from the ends of the earth. They were free lances, following wherever fancy and the lumber camps led them through the mountains and the big woods, contented In this place or moving on, bound by no rules, as In dependent and unboldable as the very birds of the air. In three minutes the laughter was sweeping gustily again, accompanied by the solid clink of cook-shack dishes, the clatter of knives for the most part used as very adequate shovels, and Walter Sandry was forgotten or passed over. An hour later he stood alone In the middle of a tiny room at the south of the building, looking fixedly at the yellow flame of a glass hand-lamp on a stand. Under the lamp was a woolly mat of bright red yarn, a wonderful creation —under that a thin, white scarf, beautifully clean, the ironed creases standing out stiffly. Beside the lamp lay a pink-lipped conch shell and a Bible. Sandry looked longest at the Bible beside the lamp and presently he took It up curiously, fingering It with a quiz zical, weary smile. Its edges were thin and frayed and he noticed that It was greatly worn. Walter Sandry. smiled and glanced at random through the book. "Motherhood,” he said half aloud, “Is there nowhere a father?—a dear old chap of the earth, a gentle old man with white hair? One who has raised a son—” As If In answer to the whimsical words, the fragile leaves It Was a Call That Demanded. separated at the tragic record of King David and the words of that ancient father-heart stared up at him. "Oh. Absalom, my son, my son!” vital In their anguish. Wltb a snap he closed the book, holding it tightly clasped In his handß while he Btared * into the flame of the lamp with knit brows and twitching lips. It was as If the fateful cry bad touched some sore spot In his heart, set throbbing some half-healed pain. For a moment a shadow as of a vague remorse darkened his expressive face Then a resolute strength tightened his lips and he laid the Bible gently down and blew out the light. It waß cold In the little room and the rain was dripping from the eaves. CHAPTER 111. The Wondrous Hills at Dawn. He was awakened next morning by the thunder of heavily shod men storm ing In from the buukhouse. The smell of cooking was in the air and tho crack under his door showed lamp light. The rain was still dripping Boftly from the eaves. As Sandry came Into the eating room the old woman of the kitchen was looking over the crowd of men as impersonally ns he himself had done the night before, wltb a poise as assured and a subtle force as strongly Indicated. Her bright, old eyes, blue as his own, met his lifted glance as he hesi tated. “Set down In the place you had last njght, Mr. Sandry,” she Bald In a rich voice, "It’s yours now. John’U move down a notch.” She went back Into tho mysterious region of pics and doughnuts, and Sandry was conscious of a slight feel ing of wonder. He wus already takon In as one of the futnlly in a subtle way. and It did not quite suit him to be so. If he missed certnln lifelong attributes of service and surrounding, If he took his place among these rough men with an Inward tremor of rebellion, ho made no sign Again the girl he had met on the farther side of the mountain tended In sllenco, a trifle moro nloof. She was clad In tho same sort of bluo flan nel shirt tho moil wore, with a red tie undor the turndown collar and a rather short blue skirt showing her feet laced trimly Into miniature boots. The latter were even full of small steel caulks. It was still dark when the loggers trooped out Into the fine rain. John Daily came to him. “Now, wbat would you like, Mr. Snn dry?” he asked. “Will you come Into tho hills with us, or would you rather rest around camp? You come a long ways, I guess.” "Yes. From New York." "I was tblnkln’ yesterday mebby you’d rather Just loaf around—” "Yesterday? Did you expect me?" “Oh, yes. 1 got a letter from Mr Frazer last week. He said the com pany had made a change and I might look for a visit." “I think I'll go about,” said Sandry. Outside It was fresh and allghtly cold. A thick, white fog struck him In the face wltb an almost palpable touch. It lay close to the earth, a sluggish monster spread down tat the valleys as If for warmth. Through Its enshrouding whiteness a lantern gleamed faintly across the slough. Already the little locomotive was getting up steam and the donkey showed a red throat for an Instant as McDonald shoved In more wood. From ahead came shouts and a laugh or two as the men straggled up to the rollway. There were five cabins set around on the edge of the small, sloping mountain meadow which gave back ground for Daily’s camp; and In all the windows lights were gleaming la one cabin a door opened and a man came out, stppplng a moment on the sill to reach ;ip and kiss a woman, who stood silhouetted against the light, when the door closed and San dry could not see the man. though he could hear his footsteps. The fore man swung ahead in the path. "They’s a foot-log here,” he said, "tidewater slough. ’Tain’t deep.” They stopped at the foot of the ridge where the donkey, the rollway and the track terminal huddled against the bold uplift, and Dally in troduced him to Hastings and Murphy the latter of whom hung out of the window of his diminutive cab and peered at the stranger out of laugh ing eyes whose forbears had twinkled on Donegal’s blue bay and Erin’s red cheeked daughters with Impartial Joy. “Ah. Mlsther Dllllngworth,” he said heartily, ’’an’ phat d’ye t’ink av the West Coast now?” "Sandry, Murphy," caught up Dally easily, yet with a warning note. “Shure! Sandry ’tls! Excuse me. Mlsther Sandry, but ain’t th’ scenery foine?” “What I’ve seen. yes. Murphy." an swered Sandry after a slight pause As he turned after Dally the Irishman stuck his tongue In the corner of bis lips and drummed a minute on the sill, the broad smile lessening on bis recklesß face. ’’An’ phat d’ye know about thot?” he asked retrospectively of the fog. (TO BE CONTINUED.) LEARN WAY TO MAKE LIVING Good Advice for All Women Was That Tendered at Woman’s Club at Pittsburgh. A woman of wealth, but who is nev ertheless identified with civic work and. is a practicing lawyer, lately gave a talk before a Pittsburgh mothers' club Here is a part of what she said: There is one question to which every woman ought to be-able to an swer Yes. It is this: “Can you a living if you should need to do?’’ If there is one lesson more than an other that has been emphasized in re cent years it is that the untrained suffer most when a pinch comes. An other lesson that is most sufficiently understood is that there is practical ly no security in fortune. Be prepared, is advice for a woman as well as for a nation. Train your daughters, you mothers, to something that will pay a return sufficient at least for a livelihood. It can do no harm, and it may mean just the dif ference between happiness and misery in later life. There is nothing more pathetic than the sight of some unfortunate woman, brought up to a competency and ut terly unprepared to support herself, who has been suddenly reduced to poverty. We all know some such woman. Pottering aloug at things that are of no real use, at work given by pitying friends or strangers, more or less dazed by contact with a world that is foreign to her, sinking little by little to meaner surroundings and more desperate makeshifts, she at last disappears, sucked under in the mael strom she has neither the strength nor the training to resist. Surely you don’t want to run even tho faintest chance of becoming such a derelict, you don’t want your daugh ters to run any such risk. So be pre pared. Be fit for something, trained to something, ready to take hold If you must. Know at least one thing so well that people will be glad to pay you for doing It. Be able to say Yes if the world should ask you if you can return fair value for a living. It is the surest of human safeguards. lodine for Treating Wounds. Many inquiries reach the editor of this page on how best to apply lodine to a cut or abrasion In order to pre vent it from becoming infected One of tlio most convenient methods Is to use s stick impregnated with lodine. These can be obtained at any drug store. They come in bunches packed twenty in a small glnss tube. Tho tip of each stick has a head like a match, made of resubllnmtod lodine 60 por cent, and toilldo of potassium 40 por cent. This when dipped In water liberates an average 10 per cent solution which should bo applied free ly to the cut and left to dry. in using iodine It is essential to remember that no wet dressing may be applied. Exposure to the air will do no harm, and tho sore should bo covered only when there is danger of It being irritated by coming In con. tact with foreign bodies and thus be ing torn open. Scientists Interested In Find. At a recent scientific gathering, Pro fessors Edgeworth, David and Wilson described a completely mineralized bu man sknll found near Warwick. In tbe Darling Downs of Queensland. It probably dates from a period when tbe great fossil marsupials were still llv Ing, and Is earlier tban any otbar hu man remains hitherto found In Aua trails. GIRL COULD NOT WORK How She Was Relieved from Pain by Lydia E. Pinkham’a Vegetable Compound. Taunton, Mass.—" I had pains in both ■ides and when my periods came I had to stay at home from work and suf fer a long time. One day a woman came to our house and naked my mother why I was suffering. Mother told her that I suf fered every month and she said, ‘Why don’t you buy a bottle of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound? ’ My mother bought it and the next month I was so well that I worked ail the month without staying at home a day. lam in good health now and have told lots of girls about it.”—Miss Clarice Morin, 22 Russell Street, Taunton, Mass. Thousands of girls suffer in silence every month rather than consult a phy sician. If girls who are troubled with painful or irregular periods, backache, headache, dragging-down sensations, fainting spells or indigestion would take Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Com pound, a safe and pure remedy made from roots and herbs, much suffering might be avoided. Write to Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co., Lynn, Mass, (confidential) for free advice which will prove helpful. LIVER-GUARD RdNrwTorptd Lir«r, Co.itip.tion, BittreTuto, Brel Broth, Nan, Dininere, Bilioiunere. Hreduto, Drowtioere, InonmnkU vtd Clay-Colored BtooU, Oaf and Colicky Pain, in th. Bomb, Rnmblini, Bloating, Pnin under the Liver and adore back, Rogulataa BUa sample: free PL BOTH, Pacific BaUdiag. Saa Fraadrea, CaL Poor Substitute. “Mamma, won’t you buy me a little puppy dog?” “No, Ethel. You've got that little kitten Aunt Mary gave you. Isn't that enough?” “No, mamma. I don't like Kitty e bit. I tried to give her a bath this afternoon and she scratched me somw thing awful.” To keep clean nnd healthy take Dr. Pierce’a Pleasant Pellets. They regulate liver, bowels and stomach. —Adv. Broke Poor Father. First Kid —We got a piano at our house. Second Kid—So’ve we. We got ours on the insolvent plan. FRECKLES Now Is tbo Time to Get Bid of These Iglj Spots. There’s no longer the slightest need of feeling ashamed of your freckles, as ths prescription othlne—double strength—ls guaranteed to remove these homely spots. Simply get an ounce of othlne—-doubls strength—from your druggist, and apply a little of It night and morning and you should soon see that »*ven the worst freckles have begun to disappear, while, the lighter ones have vanished, entirely. 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