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Show LEIII FREE PRESS. LEIOUTAH Splendid Qualities of Oaion NolApPrs;;aUj 53 BJSJLOW 2&Jb The complaint made rons of a street car ),.. , homa City that the iiotormaa l . . pnilti' of itin u. in. an ancient and uiurr aunuii .1 , i, It earner uays a most r table. 'J A Romance of the North Woods Coprrisht By HAROLD TITUS lilt SYNOPSIS Belknap, big timber opera tor, ordered by bis physicians to take ft complete rent, plana three months' "Tom" trip abroad. Promises of advancement ho baa made to his aoa John are broken, and the young man la indignant. Paul Corbel, Belknap's partner, whom John cordially dislikes. Is a bone of contention. Father and son part with- At out a complete understanding. Shoestring, his train delayed by a wreck. John la ordered to leave at one. He refuses CHAPTER II Continued -- 2 Voices, then, sharp am profane. Someone struck him on the cheek, and with an uppercut John dropped a man who charged In from the riyhL The taste of blood on his Hps goaded him. They came on with a rush. He kicked one's feet from under htm. and the falling fellow tripped another. He struck and kicked and eltowed and ducked. Ilia bead rocked sideways from a blow, and be squeezed his eyes shut fsr a split Instant to check the mounting dizziness. They could have bad him down and beaten to a pulp In on minute, tf they'd used their bends. They were too mad, too encer to carry the fight; they got In one another's way, fended off the blows of their fellows. A man, chargiug him, checked and eered, and he had a fleeting gllmpHe small figure on the edjje of the of group, shoving at his assailants, holding up a dlsHundlng hand. A voice, then, a girl's voice, was raised sharply: "Stop! Stop It! Tiny. Ezra, Let him alone!" Tbe"hlmM was beyond a doubt John Steele Belknap, but. that young man was now In no mood to be let alone! The figure of the leader was before Mm, poised, waiting; perhaps In St the sadden wilting of spirit or Intent among his fellows; perhaps waiting on this stranger who was so If for unwelcome In their midst. the latter his wait was brief because as he kicked free from those Impending hands John rushed him, striking out quickly with short, savage blows, glorying In this moment of even odds. The nmn retreated slowly. Once he landed and Jolted John severely, but this advantage worked against him because It tapped buried reservoirs of etrength and fury and hard fists bore hi ib backward Into the glare thut etreamed from the open station doorway. A cry, then, as John, bareheaded, face set, burst Into the liht. him. Tiny! 'Titln't him!" "Tojn't Now" this Tiny" might. In another Instant, have had reason to claim that the shout distracted him, did he care to lay upon an alibi. Hut even before the words were past the lips that yelped them, John found the opening he hud been fighting for. Full on the point of Tlny's chin his ". knuckles struck and the man's legs 'sagged. The force of the blow rocked tli?r backward and he crumpled. His heifd. lolling to one side, crunched oddly as It (struck the wheel of a truck. John heard that sound and a tingle ran through him. lie lurched on forward, crouching ns If to pounce upon his, fallen adversary. Well eimugh to knock the big devil out, but he did not like that crunch! Hands clutched at his shoulder and protest was in his ear. "Get away!" John cried, shaking off the hands, heedless of the words, and dropped to his knees in the snow beside the fallen man. "Hit his hendP' someone cried, as they gathewftj closely about, a weir of legs damming back light from the doorway. "Get back!" John snapped. "Out of the light, you ! The voice of authority, that, and It cut through a rising mutter from the crowd, forced a falling back to let yellow light filter on the prostrate Tiny. The man's face was bruised and bleeding. He lay lax, and when John raised one of the great nrms If The man limply. dropped back breathed heavily, and apprehension mounted in the boy's consciousness. "Get bold here!" sharply. Tarry Lim Inside where 1 can see!" And gently, easily, considering the man's weight, be slid an arm beneath the broad shoulders and raised the torso. Others helped, for the most part wordlessly, and they shuffled into the waiting room with their burden, plac: Ing It carefully on the floor beside the Way-1511)- 1 . bug-gng- e atova John was heedless of the crowd that pressed close again. He removed the thick cap from Tiny'a head and with light, careful Angers rummaged through the stiff, hair.- , lie encountered np great bruise, no deprvssloa. The cap bad been ample protection; 'no fracture, perhaps not even .,'.- - Z; Tiny stirred and moaned. "Get me some snow !H John said, and two actirrled outside. With his handkerchief he wiped blood from the man's chin, and when the snow came he took a great handful and held It against brow and templet. Tiny grimaced and puckered nla lips - The and stirred, lie moaned nest, and opened one eye and whimpered. "What th' b I " he began, and the crowd stirred, as In relief. John drew a deep breath, then, and looked up at the fares above him; weather-beaten- , vigorous faces, they were, and as bis eyes swept them tbey turned on him with curious expressions. "He wants to know what the h I." he began. "And that makes two of us. What the h I does He broke short. He had settled back to bis heels, searching those fuces with a demand for explanation, when he saw her. She had stood beside him. looking down. Very small and slight of figure she was. and the face beneath the snug turban of beaver was as gentle as those others were rough. Her eyes were ditrk and large and serious; more than serious, per haps; possibly deep trouble rode In them to go with the repressed line of her mouth. She was looking full In bis face, and as he broke his gruff question be Inclined his head slightly as In recognl tion of a difference and In apology. He caught his breath. "Sorry!" to her. "I should say" whipping his glance to the men again "what's a stranger to think of being ganged like It" thlsr A slim, wiry man, who had squatted the other side of tiie reviving , ,. Tiny, spoke. We was, ejtpectln'. another party, churn." he said. "You're a match for him In size, but you ain't the one we're lookln for; this particular hard egg sent in to clean us out by old Tom ,. BeJknap!" John's head Jerked. He leaned tensely forward I "JWhat?" be demanded, a word, strained with surprise; perhaps with something like shock, "I .said; we'd got ,news a certain party who's raised h I here was corn-In- ' In to put a chunk under a corner. We aimed, to get him back to Kamp-fes- t with bad news for old Belknap. Heln' excited like we was, and bein dark like It was,' we. .mistook you for him. Not Important, mebby, but true!" John took a quick breath and let It out through bis nostrils In an amazed on long-draw- whiff. "Well, I'll be" , ' up again, for the girl's face, as though an exchange of glances with her might clarify this bewilder He She was gone. Ing situation. stared at the others, but they were watching Tiny, who was being helped to a sitting postqre by the smaller He looked man. "All right, Tiny?" the other asked. The big fellow felt his chin gingerly and his head, and then shook It as if to chase off the fog which Impaired his faculties. "'I he git away?" he. asked. A chuckle from the crowd then. There he "Away, your grandma! sets. Tiny!" The dazed eyes followed the gesture and then blinked slowly. " 'Y O d. Way UU1, 'tain't him," he said weakly. 'tainV "No, "Hut this one . . . he's a stem-winder!- "Anyhow, that." "Nd If this one was him " "Then we'd have a ' lot more to worry about. Yes. sir, If old Belknap could hire 'em like you. churn" to John "then the company would have somethin' to lay awake nights about !" Tiny had been staring at John and now his gaze wavered as a man's will when he is overcome with embarrass- ment . . . get up." he mumbled, . and John helped him to his fet. The boy's heart was pounding. Old Tom, starting that sort of trouble? "AH right. Tiny?" Way Bill asked, and when assured that the late unconscious man was getting to he as good as new, he turned to John "Guess It's due you to explain a little," he said, and John caught some vague change In the attitude of the group. The shuffling of feet, the murmurs, the looks spoke of a growing chagrin and embarrassment such as had marked Tlny's faltering gaze. "Stranger In this country?" "Yes." "Mebby you've heard of old Tom Belknap?" "1 have . . . once" somo of his wrath surging upward to mingle with high curiosity "Well, he's evident almln to run the Richards company, here, off the earth. He's done a plenty, but the last thing he thought up was to bring & hand, named Baxter from Kampfest." John, frowning, followed Ihe man's matter-of-facwords closely ' He' spoke as one sura or. himself; even as one reciting commtHi knowledge. "This Baxter's a "tough customer. He mixed It with our woods boss last week, tossed hi in off a car 'nil broke his hlpr 'Tonlghl' ne' was tdvertlsed to come over here 'nd clean out the Makes us pretty town single-handehot" voice rising a trifle "bdn" that old Belknap only wants to close us down bo's he can buy somethin' for little or nothln. We done what, likely, you'd do for the outfit that hired knew was fair 'nd square yoa 'nd t' ... we doua a Jack-poOnly 'n "error." A grim little man. be was. but bad spoken with a fine spirit of loyalty He now added: "I'm sorry. Tiny, here, sure ought to be awful sorry, and 1 guess everybody else feels like we do. I hope, chum, the feelin's ain't too hard." They stilled as a group will when an answer to an Important question Is "nd In t. due. "Why. no. . . . 1 see bow It is," John said, but blankly. Mistaken for his father's hired bully! And old Tom trying to run this other company Into a corner? . . Old Tom, mixing It as. perhaps, an even older Belknap bad done In the pine days? Was that a possible ex planalion of why he young John had been so carefully kept away from Were things transpiring Kampfest? In this country of which his father was ashamed? Like a white-ho- t thread the thought seared through his consciousness. If a fight was on here, waged by his father against a weaker competitor. . . . Now, might that not offer a greater vent, a more complete relief for his swelling resentment than bashing strangers with his fists? Cntil this momenj his only possible vengeance on his father had been to run away, . VKC Service knocked danger of getting bis block off any minute. a "Why. this old Belknap thinks he's superman or something. I guess he's Did you ever been reading Nietzsche. Evil?" No? and Good read "Beyond Well, now" wriggling closer to the ta hie "there's what I'd call a downYou right dangerous philosophy. see " But John Belknap, leaning back in his chair now. gave no heed to Land lord Jasper's Interpretation of philosophical theory. After what his father had done to him yesterday, young John was ready to believe anything He had known of wars waged by old Tom against competitors; he had always thought them waged on fair But here was a conflict apterms. Shoeparently unfair, unwarranted. to attested a to man, evidently string, 9 ffi ii ... man came In from outside, shoul derlng through the press, beating snow from a Scotch cap with his mitten. "Here," he said, holding it toward I John. "Here's your cap. I . . well,' guess I knocked It off and you see how It was." He was flushed and so evidently con' trite that John smiled, and when he smiled the tension that bad been on those men relaxed.- - The presentation of that cap was equivalent to a treaty gift, a token to heal a breach a pledge and seal of friendship! "Anything we can do for you now . . after tryln our best licks to dohlngs to you?" Way Bill asked I guess not. Thanks a "Why lot." He was finding his poise, stilling the hot curiosity that might lead him Into blunders, making np his mind to learn this whole story, but jo do It "If adroitly, at the proper .time. somebody'll point out the hotel, ... ... now. ..." e ' e e It was past the supper hour temper him headlong Into an acceptance of that belief. Headlong and As good as a blow In the gladly. mouth, this! He had been kept away from Kampfest after heading towards it these years. Why? What reason? Because old Tom did not want him to know what was going on? Because he knew that John would have demanded an about-facedrove ? e string's one public stopping Ilex Jasper's Palace hotel. and John's In Shoe place. But Hex was neither Inhospitable nor unmindful of the dimes. No more was be an uncommunicative host. So he himself spread cold but sntisfac tory viands on one end of a long table nnd sat there, elbows on the oilcloth, while his slightly marred but obviously outstanding guest ate. nnd responded well to the questions that-.lihSteele Belknap, identity as yet unknown In Shoestring, put to him. The boy ate slowly, gazed much of the time on Jasper's face as the man talked and talked and talked. "It just goes to show," he said, nar rowing his watery blue eyes, "what the concentration of great wealth into the hands of unscrupulous men will cause. Now did you ever read the 'History of Great American Tor . tunes?' " . "No," said John Impatiently. "But are you sure that this man Belknap Is behind oil the trouble;?" "Sure? Sure!" The little man bristled with assurance. "Wasn't It a Van derbilt that said that the thing a man wanted more than anything else was more? That's the way with this old Belknap. Predatory he Is; of the lie's got the predatory Wealthy! Richards comp a v In a corner and he ain't goin' to lei it out Why. even his own partner. Gorbel. over here at Gorbel Kampfest. can't stop him ain't so ba. 1ut Belknap gives the If orders, You can't blame Gorbel. a man's gnln' to exist economically under a capitalist system he's got to go with the capitalists, ain't he? Now If you've ever read 'Das (Capital by Karl Marx you'll see " John shoved back his plate and tapped the table with his fork. "Just a minute. Let's see If I've got this story right: The logging rail road, owned by the Illchards Lumber company, goes through Belknap & Gor bel timber. The right of way was granted by a man named Kampfest who used to own that timber. Belk nnj & Gorbel bought him out and be gan to operate. Under the terms of the old contract they can either force the Richards company to haul their logs out to a main line branch or order them to pull their steeL And, to tighten this squeeze, the Belknap camps are making togs In such quan titles that the njtll here can't be safe ly logged? That It?" "That's right! This old Belknap ain't satisfied to have a soft thing, he ain't The Itlchnrds mill's been get tin' by Home way; God knows, how, 'nd Soolfa tTO" sees that be atari gettln' rough. Just like any old feudal baron'd got rough. He has his hired help put Royce, the Richards woods boss, out of commission, which Is awful bad. You can't log without a good boss, and no man In bis right mind's going to tackle a Job where, on top of having to scratch to make a showln', he's In Well, how would his father like It if he refused to take what was offered; If. more than that, he stepped and aligned himself with an opposition because It gave him a chance to see what he was wound on? Anil with their backs to the wall, this Richards outfit whoever and whatever it might be, needed a leader, fresh blood, someone who was not afraid of this giant. Tom Belknap' "Where's the Richards office?" John interrupted, rising. Jasper blinked his watery eyes In again. "Why, It's acrost from the mill," he said, shuffling to a window and peering out through the slit of tin frosted stluss near the top of the pane. "Yes; the' "s a light there now. Generally is, nights . . . this winter." Snow bad ceased falling. The wind liad dropped and the planks of wooi,n sidewalks. dorp tinier snapped and boomed as John traversed the shadows of lun.hor piles towards the looming hulk of a sawmill and the lighted, building across from It which had been pointed hard-packe- snow, one-stor- out to him. He had no definite plan. He had considered telling the manager the whole truth nnd asking for a Job. That, however, might not be advisable; depended entirely on the type of individual he encountered It would be a tough chore to convince some men that they should hire for a responsible post the son of an arch . Rut whoever he found enemy! he would at least learn more of what his father was up to. Of that only was be certain as he took the otlice a steps at jump and opened the door. The building was divided Into holves cold hallway. A single Incanby descent, dusty and weak with service, was set in the ceiling. Its light was not good, but a room to the left had better Illumination, and on the glazed glass of the door was painted the word . Manager. John stamped snow from his feet on a husk rug, but as he started for this evidently occupied office, the sound of a voice arrested him. A man was talking swiftly, quletlv and he stopped, not wanting to Intrude at an Inopportune time, but lmpa (lent at the delay. The voice went on: ". . . and my offer stands! I'm helpless to help the Richards company In any other way but I will buy, at that price, the entire property, timber, railroad and mill! this offer seems small hut "Perhaps look what Is going to happen If' yu try to keep on alone! I'm a partner with Tom Belknap, yes. but Tm power less to shape the policy or direct the of that partnership! I'd give practice every dollar I have, Kllen. to see you personally at peace, but you will have no peace until Belknap has, his He Is out to buy this company at away! ure even lower than 1 offer, and fig he : - can't" '"' "Why, This Old Belknap Thinks He's a Superman or Something." its ruthlessness, he starts. . . . rwt r.ii,u what do you say?" John s heart raced as he stood there room listening. The man in that other He was making was Paul GorbeL threats In Tom Belknap's name! Bullying a woman for old Tom! The woman spoke then, "1 have only one thing to say. Paul! That the Richards properties areu't for sale at any such absurd price; that under they aren't for sale at any figure In a tight They're such pressure. would have place, well enough; they In a fair fight plenty to contend with but you may take this word back to your Mr Belknap: that the Richards company is going to keep on fighting, that it's not going "to whimper; that If It finally goes down, after doing all it can do to survive, it will be with the singing! flag flying and the band-sa"Take that word to your renegade partner, Paul, and don't come here again with one hand extended In friendship and the other carrying a club!" Her voice, gentle In the beginning, defihad mounted, ami her hard-flunance sent a prickling sensation to Some loyal John's very finger-tips- . employee a bookkeeper, an office woman; a wife or daughter or sister had set Corof the Richards involved bel down with a Jolt! Behind that closed door, a low, sorry laugh and the sound of slow footsteps. A shadow crossed the lighted glass and Gorbel spoke again. Don't Kllen, dear! "Ellen! . . you see that behind this is only one thing for me? Can't you understand that I'm risking all I've got Just trying to help you In small ways? It's you1 1 want" voice roughening a bit with passion. "It's you who's got Into It's the waiting that kills my blood! I can't wait I tell you! 1 me., v rHUar()ill g but now A 4 Egyptian. living and dead wc, Ufiff perspective gave th honors. Served as a f j ooj it also was res.r.Klu u wherewith to ie.rat architecture of the day. beauty, the onion was to ream," joy forever. Certainly none of thee eomifc ing street ear riders ever sat & before a steaming bowl r i '""""iln rifhes of riches, N. r can have examined the delidon. ,. ties of a golden omelet with a I)ro seasoning of onions. Ib.w badly th, palates of men haw been abns when such viands go unappreciated! Ietroit News. things longed divine them, 6tone - , "Get hack! Get away! Don't you dare touch me!" He called her name again, almost Feet scraped on the floor; savagely. a sharp cry as with a crash the light In the otlice went out and the glass in the door showed a blank for John .Belknap. "Paul! Get out of this office, I tell Get away . . away !" you Panic, now, in the tone, and for the man waiting outside there was but one . move to make. . The faint light from the hallway, further impaired by his own shadow as he poised there, hand still on the knob, revealed them. A desk lamp lay on the floor at the man's feet and he was turning, relinquishing his hold on the girl's wrist lookinz over his shoulder with a white, drawn face. He posed so a moment, staring at this intruder who showed only in silhouette. "Well?" in sharp demand. Young Belknap did not move; did not reply for a moment. Then he said almost casually : "I happened to overhear you being told to get out. I opened the door for you." Gorbel whirled to face him then, feet spread, arms held with stiff trueulcnce at his sides. "And who are you?" bright eyes searching, striving to Identify the shadowed, face. "The chap who opened the door." "Well. . Close it. then, and tend to your own affairs !" Ji lin shock his head. "No." he said. "Not until the . . the lady asks me to." He could see her standing In the deeper shadows where she had swiftly retreated on his appearance. She was backed against a filing case as though in need of support. He added, then: "1 don't hear her asking me to get AFTER 40 bowel trouble Constipation may very easily become chronic after forty. And any continued constipation at that time of life may bring attacks of piles and a host of other unpleasant disorders. Watch your bowels at any age. Guard them with particular care afta forty. Whenever they need any help, remember a doctor should know what is best for them. , "Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin" is a doctor's prescription for ihe bowtk. 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