The Th e Free lire e Traders e r I I LOVE YOU SYNOPSIS Lee SYNOPSIS Lee Andor on Roy Roy- Roy Roy-al ILl nl Canadian Mounted ser ser- sergeant geant Is stint sent to Ston Stony Slony Mango Hango to for Cor arrest a man named murder lie Is also Instructed to Nook after aCter Jim Pathway Hathway reputed head of oC the Iho Free Traders illicit liquor runners At Little Falls Fallahe he finds Pelly Is la credited with having found Cound a cold gold mine antI and andis Is missing At t the hotel appears a girl eirl Irl obviously out of pia place co In 1 Inthe Inthe the rough surroundings A halt halt- half breed breed Pierre and a companion Shorty annoy the tho girl eirl An- An Anderson Anderson derson An-derson derson Interferes Int In her behalf Th The girl Birl sets acts out for Siston Lake which Is also nd Andersen's Andersons objective obJective objective tive He lie overtakes her and the two men with whom he ho had trou trou- trouble trou- trou trouble trouble ble the night before beCore She Is sus- sus sus suspicious of oC him and the tho two men are hostile PIerre and Short Shorty rIde on Anderson and the girl following In the hills the tho road Is blown up before and behind the two Anderson J with his horse Is hurled down the mountain moun moun- mountain mountain tain side senseless RecoverIng consciousness Anderson finds ands the girl Birl has lias disappeared but he concludes she slie Is alive and ami probably probably abl ably In the power fower of Pierre and Short Shorty On foot ho makes make his wa way to Lake There ho ha finds ands Ills his companion of or the day before and with a 1 gIrl Estelle a 1 former Cormer sweetheart or of Andersons Anderson's ons on's who had abused hIs confidence and almost wrecked hIs life lire strikes Estelle and after aCter a fight Anderson with Estelie's help escapes with the ho gIrl Andersons Anderson's companions companion's mind Is clouded and she Is suf suf- suffering suffering fering CHing with a dislocated Im knee l Anderson sets the Iho knee and makes the girl as comfortable as possible lie Ile has a broken rib CHAPTER VII Continued VII Continued s 6 Where Whre niu am I 1 What has lias hap happened 1 she asked d Lee saw at once that she had hall no consciousness of ot anything that hull had occurred ll since the catastrophe and probably It t would be bo some time before the memory of ot lint came back to her lie Ill must protect her against the shock of f the lie realization until she slie was able ahle t hear It Your horse threw you he nn- nn ana nn a vered You hurt your our knee and cut cuI Jour our head licad You will have ha to keep still sUU for awhile and we shall have ha to re- re remain remain re remain main here for a few tew days Arc Are Arc you OU In much pain My 1 head licad aches and my knee yes knee it does hurt a little It Isn't broken Is IsIt Hr t It was dislocated tell I had to set It- It lt ItOh Oh A faint color crept cret Into IH her r cheeks checks There was teas a sIlence Are you ou a doctor then No I was just a humble orderly mad stretcher bearer hN i on tile the western front Le Lee answered But nut you see sel It had to be attended to and so I- I I well I did dill It After fter youve you've o e drunk some tea tra a Im I'm going to be an orderly again oln and your head Kilt Hut m my ill hair my hair my hair You 1011 cut cutIn hair off I She he exclaimed d In my s putting her hands up to her lier head Was that n r You ere caught by the hair under Sour our horse and there was as danger that it roll on nn you OU at an any moment Lee prevaricated She patted her head again felt the jagged locks about her neck and looked at him with ees eyes In which a 0 little mirth appeared Thank you ou Sir Mr Ir Barber sh she said Im so glad you take It In that wn way I 1 was afraid you might find tind It dif dlf- difficult to forgive forg me I might well only only well you OU see sec Ive I've been thinking of ot ha having Ing It bobbed for forborne some bOIDe time only I never got around to It I I dont don't think you OU made a r very clean thun Job of ot It did dit you ou They laughed but she slie was weak weak- and after otter she slie hind hall drunk the tea Lee made for her lier site she fell teU asleep until the middle of or the afternoon by which time Lee had hall completed the shelter o over r her Better Belter he lie asked when she slie awoke She Slie ndell You dont don't look nearly so now she he said And Im I'm not In iii much pain But Hut will I have ha to tolIe tolie tolie lIe hel here on In my back for days dos As a matter of act the sooner you tr try to walk the better Im I'm to cut a n serviceable ser crutch fur for you PIU and you'll be able to hobble about the camp Just us as soon us ns you OU feel Inclined to tn lut ut youre you're not hurt are you ou a asked tile the lie girl Your left arm seems sure f I 1 hurt III my side sille a little but Jut It'll bl be beall b all right In few a days dos Lee Ile answered She SIll wrinkled her lier forehead Do know sue she said suld I dont don't quite remember falling failing I was riding you ou bU say Were we both riding riding- riding Then where are our horses The They were badly hadly hurt said Lee Lec It became necessary to put them bent out o of their suffering The girl was waa trying hard lini-d to remember remember ber A bad fall fill then Ihen How lIow did Illel It happen A bad full fall In thIs tills forest A little distance back I carried you ou here We Ile fell down a n rocky slope Ohm Oli I She Slie I silent a little evidently l trying to remember Then she stalled smiled You have ha been Ilen wonderfully v good to me You know I trusted ted you ou the minute I saw you and I wasn't time the bit frightened waking up and finding myself alone here bere In the forest L you ou I hop you will lie Ill able aLle to bear the th wafting here re said Lee Well go on just as ns soon as Its It's possible But nut Im I'm not really In Im any hurr hurry the girl girt answered It was vas add l how slie he to be tie now and y Victor Rousseau Copyright by V ty O 0 Chapman tU Sonic Service liow the lie future hall had ceased to trouble her Its so glorious to be In the woods again and at nt this time of or the year car above nho everything c Its It's such a 1 along along long long- longtime time line since I was In the lie woods be bo- before before fore Ive I've been living In n a big Illg city you rou know nothing know nothing list hut blocks of houses and asphalt and stone I 1 felt like Ilke a n prisoner there And nd Lee Lec wondered again at her nc- nc acquiescence ac acquiescence quiescence In n this new turn of ot fate lIIn Now may Now may I wash that cut In your our hea head and tie It for you ou Yes doctor she slie smiled at ot him lie boiled the bandage washed the cut In boiled water and retied the strip trl of ot cotton colton about It The girl Ir was os stIll too weak went to talk el very much nut But It was the tho most wonderful thing that had ever er happened to him sitting there with her lier In that lint Inti Intimate mateo com com- companionship companionship forgetting that lint sIll she had been at odds with him putting aside all the memories of ot conflict tor forgetting too that hint site she wn was n a woman seeing In her only u It comrade After awhile Leo Lee made some cakes In the lie ashes of ot the lie fire Ire and cooked some bacon The girl was able to eat eata eata oata a little and lie he felt his Ills appetite returning re- re re returning turning turning- Undoubtedly he lie hind gone through tile the lie worst wont of It Again they sat In silence till 1111 the girl said Do you ou know I have e forgotten your name nune lie He had not told her lier but h ho said Lee Anderson Anderson Anderon was vas n a common enough name In the district and would come convey nothing to her And nd as ns she seemed still to he fret fret- fret ing lag Ing or puzzling Lee laid held his hand on hers and said You munt mu nt worry worry We shall go 10 goon goon on Just as ns soon ns os Its It's possible to Just what Ive I've been wonder wonder- wondering wondering ing about she Its er very 1 r t rJ j tN Where Am I 17 What Has Happened She Asked silly of me where but but Is It that we weare weare weare are going And as os Lee Lle looked at nl her In as- as as astonishment she slie went on Its curious you rou know Sir Mr Ir Ander Ander- Anderson Anderson Anderson son but I dont don't seem exactly to re- re remember re remember member I where we met either cither or wh why I left loft tint where place place was wag It That II big city whose names name's slipped m illy mel ory for tin the moment Nor Tor why we s-e s came to the woods came woods came back to the WOOI woods I Iou you ou know she slie correct corrected ell And then who hio urn um I I I had hael m my name on the thc tip of ot my tongue d It mo mo- moment moment moment ment ago and Ill I'll know soon I sup sup- suppose suppose pose Iose but just Its Its It's Just now It t all nil seems to toIe lie Ie confused somehow And then lee realized that lint II her I memory of ot the past was completely obliterated ted CHAPTER VIII While Memory Slept No 0 the girl bad not completely for for- forgotten forgotten 11 gotten II en for it was vas not exactly a 11 blank blu Ilk to her lier She Slie hind a n vague ague recollection of a number of things but el e everything appeared to lie ire and anal con cnn confused fused and when she tried to piece It IO the fragments slipped out of her grasp It was ns In names and places that the lapse chiefly occurred hc including her rown Ix-rown own nn Identity and It Wilt way this thle fact Aid that thal wave I e Lee Loe cause for meditation im She Slie he hail had flied Il ll ed In the forests forc fOIt In child childhood hood she ill coined to recall a u visit IsH to 10 Them of f recent years ears at un any rate lute h he IK hurl lind all nil the woodcraft of ot one to 10 I llio Ilse ho forest fittest u was as home She Slie hall had educated In n a com cement lit Ih she been consent nail hind hat been living for sev- sev several emi fa eral I In a u large lare elt city studying st Sir Si j r P Thou lit she hail lind been n studying lug III o 11 lr Lo 11 H i missionary umon among the Tims she lie was not cut off oft from that as ol t of habits tastes and ex- ex ex s 's that goes to make the tho per per- per ollaI she slie did dill not feel fel l that she had lust cry ry much ani and It was always as asIf asIf asIt If s1 lir acre cre ere upon Ullon the point ot of ot l remembering berh bering c everything Our of tills this vague ng blurred dream dream re m she had lIati awakened to find ind herself herselt In the woods Ith Hi Lee without t the knowl knowl- edge o of ot how v or why she sho had hall come there It might hn have vo been heln the concussion front from the fall but hut Lee Iee after over O rho Iho case decided tint It was much more like a n caso of ot shock shell shell and that the Injury to her head horl had been heen only a n contributing cause couso lIe He made her u II crutch next neat morning and Ulel by hy the afternoon sho ho felt well enough to hobble n a few st steps pS about the camp cump The accident ent which had temporarily her memory seemed to have o wrought a n strange change e In her nature She was no noI I longer wll wildly ly anxious OlL lous to push on to her destination sho she accepted Lee as na a 0 fact In her lier life and showed how liow com com- completely completely she trusted him despite the Intimacy In which they were both ln He tie was auro suro that her memory would woul 1 suddenly come conic back to her ber com com- completely completely completely And memory did come back In dreams dream ns as with shocked shell pa- pa pa patients but only to an vanish Ish with the waking At t night Le Lee lying near her lier beneath another rough shelter of boughs houghs that he had lind made for himself would hear her tossing and moaning on and occasionally uttering fragments of ot unintelligible sentences Day merged Into day Lees Lee's rib rill was healIng well and the girl was begin begin- beginning beginning ning to set her lier foot to the ground At t first she was dependent upon him In nearly everything lie helped her to take her first steps without the crutch leaning upon his shoulder They were always nIwa's together It was so 80 wonderful a n companion companion- companionship companionship ship It was that hint comradeship of which Lee Iee L e hall had always s dreamed And It the more wonderful perhaps because the girls girl's severance erance from the past gave ga It n a sort of ot unreality as ns If It It were n a little piece of ot paradise e which they had ha snatched for themselves out ont ot of the die sum total of ot human happiness Soon she began begon to assume charge ot of the camp and ond the cooking And Lee lying at nt her feet listening while she talked or lying awake nt ot night be- be beneath beneath be beneath neath hIs hia shelter In the tho dread of hear hear- hearIng hearing hearing ing her moan came at nt last to realize hat his feeling for her was becoming something more than the mere enjoyment enjoy enjoy- enjoyment enjoyment ment of her companionship He lIe loved lo her he sometimes admit admit- admitted admitted admitted ted to himself and when a word or glance of his would send the blood mantling Into her cheek he dared to think that his love was returned And now he lie carets cared no longer whether her memo memory of ot the lie past ever er came back to her Almost better to let her live JI In Ignorance of all that had 1011 dis dis- dis distressed distressed lier her He lie began to dread the Ine day when remembrance would come would come cometo cometo to blot out their paradise Only a lIttle Incident Inc would be needed some lIttle shock that would knit the mv- mv raveled ends of ot memory and then then- then Then what would lie before them Another thing tiling to be apprehended was the day so near now when they must leave cave their woodland paradise Autumn had returned wonderfully but there was a sharper tang In the tle air each morning everything e was dead and Ice formed every ery night upon the pool beneath bc their little spring And It seemed now ns os If It Lees Lee's search for tor Telly lelly would have to be pro pro- protracted protracted through the winter months It If hIs Ills Inquiries nt at the mission proved pro fruitless It t would mean menn returning to Little Falls for tor a n sleigh and do dogs s Then there was the matter of ot the Free Traders Tee Lee would find his hands full tull soon enough Do you ou know Lee said the he girl one day I often orten feel ns os If It I wIre were w re on onlie the lie very verge of ot remembering And when I wake In the morning just for foran foran nn an Instant I feel a n different person as asIt asit It I hind remembered And I om ant afraid of ot remembering It Is as If reo re- remembrance re remembrance would bring back some some- something something thing terrible with It Who am am I You are just you said sold Lee smil- smil smil smiling ing lag enough enough- for me mite Where did dill we wo meet In the lie range e I 1 was alone And nd then I 1111 un an accident and was thrown from toy my horse And you ou too It Is so strange I know that I lived In a It large city not long ago ngo and that I was so glad to get back to the woods But where was I riding That's Thill's the bl big problem problem problem lem that we have e to solve Isn't It She looked at nt him him earnestly Ie Lee she said solemnly sometimes 11 I hope I never ne shall remember She Slie no plans leaving every every- everything everything thing to Lee Lre and nothing was decided By the Hie middle of the lie second week she could walk lk fairly well her lier strength th hut come back und and the little period of was drawing to It Its end 1111 It wu vas Ine that hint the Should be faced d or the first time slit hind hall accompanied