Show am STORY FROM THE START athol melar meldrum u m young scotsman an starts ta arts ou out t to seek hi his a for tune ila ha arrives at san fran alco practically broke and meet mertsi a te fellow low adventurer whom h he dubs the prodigal with jim ilumba hubbard rd they join the gold rush to ala alaska 7 on the boat athol meets berns berna a young woman tr traveling it ng w with laft her grand grandfather ather nn nd a hard looking couple named who figure as aa her aun aunt ta and n d uncle lan ing at skag way A chols party at once takes the trat trail in a on the ChIl chilcoot root trail which berns barna and tier companions had hun deeds of lives are lost fearful for bercals safety athol hastens to the seen tie he finds find s the old man d dead ead at be ennett tl derna berna cornea comes to athol confesses her love and begs bega him to marry her to save her from the arsh fate she h fore oree seea ees ile he Is in unwilling to ta take lie auri ur h a decisive step and tells tell her they must watt walt some days afterward derna berns tells athol madam p plans tins to sell eel her to ninth jack Loc locinto nto millionaire miner of evil reputation Ilen kindling ching the gold fields athol and his party find the clam all taken unable to to lo care berns berna athol seeks seeka into anfor million mation from R jark jack dit knowledge knon ledee of h her r whereabouts and lures lureo meldrum m to a lonely spot and bents beats hint him into u neon through a chance athol atho finds berns thy set a date tor for their marriage ri ge the first of bf june th the prodigal lecoures a claim and be Salv atlin jim and athol begin K n wort 0 on it the Winkle steins have opened a quit resort known as the paragon and berns to Is there as an a waI waitress tres CHAPTER VIII continued 11 berna boomed the rough con tinna clous voice of madam attend to the customers all right I 1 said get me anything I 1 just wanted to see you site she hurried away presently she cuine canie hurrying round bringing me sonic food when can I 1 see you sou girl I 1 asked tonight deerue set me home im off at midnight all right ill be waiting I 1 wunder pd up and down the now street out lut the keen edge lot 1 I my impression tind been blunted I 1 no took the alie same interest in uc ite sights s moie aline populous it wits was noisier livelier li eller wan oer ever success was ft us tit in the air men were drunk with it carried tiff air their feet dalti bius money lifo neyl 1 it if hwd 1 ansi ats value yilli ie every one you met mel was lousy toi isi with it threw it away MM I 1 Alboth and fast aithea as they emptied one pocket it filled UPI up the alie others at midnight at the door of the t I 1 wits uniting walthin in a fever of im 1 Int I lence when benin came out kul she a a vast joy at seeing me tell me what yo bouve uve been doing dour dear everything llave you made a stake so nany many lime have I 1 have prayed you MIU would too then well go away find and tot orgel get all tills this wont we honey slie site nestled up to me site she seemed to have lost much of tier lier shyness I 1 dont know why but I 1 preferred mv timid shrinking berna benin it will ake a whole lot to make niti iiii forget this I 1 said grimly yea vea A I 1 know it frightful somehow I 1 dont seem to mind so much now tm im getting used to it I 1 suppose its wonderful how we get accustomed tomed to things lint it yes I 1 un answered bitterly you know ive ave hud several offers 0 iii too really really good ones irian from wealthy claim owners yes still more moie bitley ly yes young mark iliin sd so you want to a strike and take roe me away olt oh I 1 plan and plan for us two I 1 dont are cure my dearest dou rest it if you tot got it n cent to in the world ip im yours at al ways anys yours Th itts all al right nerna I 1 said ini im going it td muke make rood good ive just lost loii ti dollar natal ti ilni hut bior conille co nIlls ik tn P Bs the first ot tune nex tIM come tn in you with a bunk tie ar couil count of six alcines Al gines s see mt little girl im goter to ninke make tills this tiling thin stick you vt to ro boy ilie suld said 1 ill l matter if you yon nine come to me it beggar in rugs rags come cju W me loule and flo il tit not fall slip Shi waa tire ate idill full of nf urn itule ways oi tin ching to tile me when we making me promise to return very rv soon avery look every word biety v ay iy tier ot 0 her t a bright hiir love I 1 yi yet is so and once again I 1 entreated ber lerna I tire you iu mere quite sure e nil all in place among nil that f fully fily ily anti and ami vice tet let tup lite you avray dear no slie she suld aid very arty ln ull all right I 1 auld tell you at al olive oi it im n imy lifis if I 1 had any fear ail i il liy 1 I nuil t v beloved 1 ia u went wen away tr ealing rin nr sunshine freni billig alth joy thill f I 1 11 ll I 1 ed led with love fur tier blessing her hei anew yet sill the emige sini slink k in tny my en TJ ii ax ao 11 1111 it vere lie symbol of some in ird sellous fuus dei i CHAPTER CHAPT ER IX I 1 1 SIS it gnp annul letl wo months later filter irmo it u nylas visit to lo law daw lh iff lut spot ot antill fur for yu you two 1 I 1 cried caled I 1 atly bil fiur ilau into the lif ent lit mad the alif eroIl gal who were nere ly A northland romance by robert W service illustrations by irwin myers ing on their bunks leapt up tip eagerly for two whole months we hod had dot tot heard froni from vie the outside I 1 threw myself on my in bunk golup tuon sly and begun rereading reading re my letters there were some from gurry garry nod and soine from mother while still to the lie life affel 1 was leading they were greatly interested in my wildly cheer cheerful pil accounts of the country for my ins part I 1 was only too gand mother was well enough to write even it if she did scold tae me sometimes som eilmes bill atit I 1 was aglow with me memories of the last few hours once cuore I 1 lindsie had sern n berna spent moments with her of perfect bliss left tier her w with ith my mind full ot of exalt exultation exaltation atlon and he be ull dered I 1 saw the love mists gather in tier her eyes I 1 felt lier her sweet lips mold to mine I 1 thrilled d with the ardor ot of tier her arms never neer in my fondest imaginings agin ings had and I 1 conceived melved co that suh such n wealth of affection would ever be tar for tire me then I 1 remembered something on oil say boys I 1 forgot to tell you I 1 met inet mccrammon down the creek you remember him on the lite trail the ile he said he wanted to see us on important business tle he has a proposal to make he says that would be greatly to our advantage lies iles coming coining along this evening the matter jim jani wits staring blankly at one of the letters he had received face ans a picture of distress misery despair llad had bad news old man ive had a letter upset me im in a terrible position if ever I 1 wanted strength and guidance I 1 want it now I 1 Il heard elleard about that man yes its him all right its mosher I 1 it all along heres here a ft a letter from my brother ie he says theres no doubt that mosher Is moseley ills eyes v were vre re stormy his face tragic in its bitterness oil you dont know how bow I 1 worshiped that itoman woman trusted her wo would uld have banked my life on tier her and when I 1 was away making money tor for hertsche 11 ups ps and goes gnes away with that slimy reptile what whai am I 1 to do what nir am ito do the rood Good book says forgive your your enemies but how can I 1 forgive a w wrong rong like that and my mv poor garl he deserted tier her drove dhove her to the streets ts oh my girl my garli tears overran his cheeks he sat down on a log burying his face in hla his hands I 1 was at a loss tiow flow to comfort him film and it was while I 1 wits was waiting there that suddenly vve ive saw the halfbreed coming up the trail better come in jim I 1 said and hear what hes got to say any we made comfortable jim regained his fits calm and was quietly watchful the prodigal seemed to bare his ears cocked hollsten toll to listen sten there was a feeling amongst us as as it if we had reached a crisis ili in our fortunes the lost no time in n earning coming to the lie point ive got next to it got good tiling thing I 1 dont know how good yet et hut ill swear swear to you its a fitly tidy bit its a gambling proposition and ill I 1 want partners pard ners partners pard ners that il work like blazes and keep their faces shut are you on ont T hats got us as kod aked sald said the prodigal were that sort and if the proposition looks good to us were with will you anyway were clams claim af keeping our food traps tight alf all right listen you know the arc company have clavins on in upper flo nanza well ell a month idelt I 1 vas ns working tor for them thein well one in morning I 1 went dawn and cleaned awny the ash of nf my iny fire tha rhe first stroke of my pick on tile the thawed face tila do me Jump stare sare stand liard haid for there right in the hole I 1 biarl made was the hest pocket bever I 1 eer seen boys as im ellve 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 there was nuggets in tt it as thick as raisins in a christmas christinas plum duff good bood lord I 1 what did you do what did I 1 do I 1 I 1 just stepped back bach and picked wherever the dirt seemed loose nit all the way down the drift great leaps heaps of dirt caved in on me I 1 was stunned nearly burled buried but I 1 did the trick there were tons 0 of f dirt between me and my find we gasped amazement tha rest was easy I 1 went wen up the shaft groaning and cursing I 1 pretended to taint faint 1 I told them the root of the drift had fallen in on me at it was rotten stuff anyway and they know knew it the mannier manager was waa disgusted he went down and took a look at things lings ti declared he would throw up tip pie work at that place the ground was no good ue he made that report to the company the looked round atrium phanoy antty now heres tile the point we can get a lay on that ground one of you boys must apply for it they know im in with you or they would suspect tight right away well make a big cleanup clean up by spring ill take you I 1 I 1 theres many and many a pan like it down there right to the gold theres thousands tin and d tying lying snug in the ground just waiting for us as its right in our mil alit oh its a cinch a cinch I 1 if you boys are willing nye well just draw up papers and sign an agre agreement emen t right away Is it a go we nodded so he be got ink anti and paper anddrew and drew up a form of partnership now said lie he his eyes dancing now to secure that lay before anyone else cuts in on us gee ceel I 1 but its getting dark and cold outdoors outdoor rs these days snow falling well I 1 must mus mush to dawson tonight to it was lot late nest night when he be returned tired wet dirty but irre bly jubilant hurrah ab boesl he cried ci inched riched it i save mister manager of the th e big company conica ril rie ile was very busy very important very very patron lyIng we round a bit like ilke two falt fighters finally he agreed to 1 let el me have it on a fioler cent ceat basis don 1 I faint boys fifty ver per cent cek 1 I anad im m sorry it was the best I 1 could do und and you know im not slow glow thit that means they get half of all wp take out we signed file lay agreement tind and esert every ti lings things in shupe shape weve got the ground rin clied so got gel acal action n on an yourselves heres where we make our urs real leal stab tit at fortune heres where we uen even an upon the hard bard jabs ashes handed us in the post past heres where we acore a bullseye bulls eye or 1 I nils my guess were 1 1 1 1 1441 14 4 1 1 1 1 going to work tor for all were worth and then some are you there boys are aie you there we are we shouted with one accord there was no time to lose overy every hour for us meant so much more of that precious pay dirt that lay under the frozen surface we ran up a little cabin and banked it nearly to the low eaves with snow by and by more tell fell on the roof to the depth of three feet so BO that the place seemed like a huge white hummock in this little box of a home gewere we were to put in many weary months not that the time seemed long to us wo we were too busy for or that indeed often we wished it were twice as long we talk much in those days we just worked worked vor ked worked and when we did talk tt it was of our work abrl our ceaseless work neither cold nor cor fatigue could keep us away from the shaft ond and the drift wo we had gone down to bedrock bed hed rock and were tunnel tunneling lug in to meet the holo hole the halfbreed half breed had covered up so far we had found nothing we were working two men to a r shaft haft burning our ground overnight our meats meals were hurriedly cooked and bolted we grudged every moment of our respite from toll surely we would strike it soon then one afternoon the ibe something happened it was jim who was waa the c hosen chosen one about three he signaled to be hoisted up and when he appeared ho he was carrying a pan of dirt call the others he said all together in the little cabin wo we stood round while jim washed out but the pan to in snow water melted over our stove we could see gleams of yellow in fit the muddy water we had got the thing the big thing at last hurry jim I 1 said or ill die of 0 suspense patiently he went on The therell reIt was at last in the bottom of the pan glittering gleaming gold fine gold coarse gold gold now boys you can whoop it up op said jim quietly for theres ana many ny and many a pan like tt down there in the drift solemnly we shook hands all round it was the night of the discovery when the prodigal made us an address look here boys do you know what tills this menns means it means victory victor it mea means n s freedom hop the things we G want the life we love loe were going ng to get every epry cent of it boys rhe cs a III tie oner chrep month to do it in leaving about a to tn make sluice boxen and clean up wo dirt weve got to work like met men fit at a burning barn for my part im 1 m willing to do stuns that will make my previous re recard ettril look like 11 be a 11 plugged dime I 1 giess guess you boys all feel the same way you bet we do auf sed bed lets get busy so once mure more with redoubled energy we resumed our tense unremitting round of toll it proved a most err erratic title and puzzling phy one day rich beyond our dr dreams ennis another too poor to pay for the panning we swung on a pendulum of hope and despair looking back there will always seem to me something weird and in coni comprehensible in those twilight duys ah an uh unreality reality a vagueness vagueness alko some dreary feverish fe erlah dream for three months I 1 did not see mv tact face in a mirror not that I 1 wanted to but I 1 mention this just to show how little we thought of ourselves it wah waft mid march when we finished working out our ground we had done ve well 11 not so 80 well perhaps nips ns 1119 we had hoped for but still magnall 1 antly well there chere were our two iwu dumps pyramids of gold dirt at whose value ulue we e could only guess we had wrested our treasure front the ly icy grip of the lie vernal eternal fro frost s L now it rem lemal allied ned tind ott the haep sweetness I 1 atit of it to glean thi the harvest of our toll we were working at the mouth ol of a creek dowd awn which ran a copious little stream all through tile the spring time we ve tapped rapped it sunie some dista ince ahoe us and ran pirt parl of it along our line of I 1 remember how I 1 threw in n the first shovel fill of dirt und and liow how good it was wag to see ire the bright stream discolor nil our arieno the water began his li 1 iia work for three alnee dus wo we shoe fed d far n and on the fourth we made a cleanup clean lean up when we ran olt off the water there were some of the boxes almost rui full I |