Show th e itron ang t h f t ulic h P ines lindal SYNOPSIS At the he death of 0 hit his foster rather father baure D duncan la in an eastern city receives rei elve a mysterious mesi onge sent lent by a mr rose turn sum him peremptorily to southern Ore gonto meet unda crup bruce hs vivid md but baffling decol sections of his childhood in an or before hla his adoption by newton duncan with the girl linda at his destination trails end cna news that a niease has been sent to bruce Is I 1 tec received elved with marked displeasure by a man introduced to tha th reader as Si simon mork leaving the ui train bruce Is in astonished at his apparent familiarity with the though to his hi knowledge he has never ner been there obedient to tho th mis destase me stase rage druce bruce makes make hla his way to ar a rUnt tins crossroads store etore for direction us as to re reaching achins mr ross rosa cabin on the way simon sternly warn him to rive up his quest and return E EASE ast bruce refuses airs ross aged and infirm welcomes him alth emotion she hastens hasten him on hf way agthe ahti end of pine needle trull CHAPTER vill VIII continued 3 no examined the ali e mod mad about the tip riu and there wits plenty of evidence that the forest creatures had bad tin passed that way here wits was a little triangle where a buck lind find stepped and further away he found two pairs of deer tacks evidently those of a loe ath fawn A wolf had stopped to cool ills his heated tongue in the waters possibly in the file middle of some terrible hunt in the twilight hours then lie found fault n huge abrasion in the mutt muil hint flint puzzled him film still more at thearsa the arst he bellevo believe flint it wnm w it a track rock the renson reason was simply flint the size sire of the thing thine ars incredible er ris na if sonie some one fine bad hid a flour sack in the mud and taken it up again ile he lid did not think of any of the modern day forest fore creatures BS as being of such proportions it was very ery stole stale and find been crated by bi ninny days of sun perhaps he be halt been mistake in thinking it an imprint of a livin living creature cren ture lie went to jils knees to tn examine it dut but in one instant lie he knew flint he had not been mistaken it was a track not nn greatly different from flint of bf nn an enny enormous human foot font rind and the separate separate trips ors were entirely distinct it was wag n heir track of course hot but one of such size unit flint the like fend ill run of little kilner bears that inhabited the hills could almost use it fur for a den of I 1 ile he got lup up and went on farther toward tra trails ifs is end and lie ile walked more swiftly now for he hoped to reach the end of pine needle tra anil before nightfall hut fiut lie had no intention of halting in case night came upon him film before he reached it ile he had waited too lonz ions already to flail linda another it hour our ended the lie days davs sunlight the hie shadows fell quickly but it was a ions loll 1011 time yet ct until lie ile yet et vioght make the trail irell end lie ile gave no nd thi thought to fali gife in tile the first place lie had up remarkably well irell under the days tn tramp nip for no other reason than flint lie had find nl at ways vaa fiade a point of keeping in the best of physical condition besides thero there ans something more potent than mere phy physical sival strength to sustain lri ailin now it was as the realization of f the henring end of the hie trall n L nowr edge of ti revelations that would come to bibri in a few hours more inore already prent great truths were here trI tricking king shape in MR ills brain 4 lie only needed a single sentence of to connect thein nil fill lo together Amther llo ile began bo nn to feel A el 11 grOW 1119 t ement find im it wal aflitto ull citric now rind tie lie could bil rilly aco 0 o tio imal for the lie findt lio bogan if feeling chilt another flight of overpowering munt lid bd lapent before 14 h emild retire and the fedors biegon 1 id I husli gh the darkening khy ally then ilicin the file glenin itam it am of a t tn fl relly fy liu ho ww the lio faint light of n for illik imil billop ire fire ills fit nit bounded tie ile know knew what mal wnm mere acre it was wag the end ot of the trail rall nt nl inal and it if guided gilded him blin the rent of if lio lie way lelien tie lie reached lift lop foli of a little rise in tho the trail the ovene was laid out in mystery fidlow bilm the fire tind load ficen been built at the ae door of ft mountain douse n lo 10 0 o structure structure ture of four rooms the firelight played la in lla ila open doorway some filing lic ulde it rind instinctively tip lie followed it with mo bild PIH eyen until it ended in on an inbred imo region of tile stars jt jt was wan a krent rint liffie alno tree free the largest lie he bd tyer m wan en a great creat sentinel over nil fill tho lio land fluellie hut flut llie buddon ow elhat cane came over film at n tile ho algat of it etwas was cut short ty by tho file plight of a in tile the ito 10 had nn an instants sense that chat lie imd find como come to the wilberne wil derne heairl lit fit last that toils WI tail tree was its 18 symbol that it if tie lie could under stilted clio eternal watch that it ickert kept over ildia hotl he would havo nn an of alt all things lint but till nil thoughts though ti tj were submerged in tile tho that jfe he had bad come bock to linda ot at lost last i lie had known how hov the mountains would seem all that he had beheld today was waa just the he recurrence of shingi hang beheld long ago nothing had bad seemed different from what be had expected amther he had find a sense that a abst world iad been returned to in litin him end and it r almost as if lift lie had bad never beon awal any cut the girl la in the ore fire by EDISON MARSHALL author of the voice of the pack light lid not answer in the least degree the picture he be bad carried of linda lie ile remembered her a ai a blond headed hauled little girl with irregular features and a rather allowance of homeliness all the way he had thought of tier her as a baby bialiy sister not ns as a woman in her ber flower for a long second dhe he gazed at tier her ui to speechless amazement tier her hilr was no longer blond trupy truey it had peculiar red algha when the firelight thone shone through ff but lie he know knew by the light of day it would be deep brown lie remembered tier her as an awkward little thins thing that was hardly able to keep tier her feet under her this tall fall girl had the wilderness grave grace which Is the grace of a deer and only blind eyes cannot see it lie dimly knew that site she wore a khall skirt and a simple mouse blouse of 0 white tied with a blue bice scarf tier her arms were bare inthe in lie fires gleam and there was a dark beauty about tier her face that simply limply could not inot be denied site she came toward him and her hands were open before her and tier her lips trembled bruce could see them in the firelight it was a strange meeting the firelight gare it a tone of unreality and the whole forest world seemed to pause in its whispered business as if to watch it was as if they had been brought fare face to face by the mandates of on an inexorable destiny so youve come comet the girl said sad the words were spoken unusually soft scarcely above a whisper but they were inexpressibly vivid to bruce they told first of a boundless relief and joy jay at ills his comier out but more moire than that flint in these derp deep vibrant tones fines was the expression of an unquenchable life and spirit every fiber of the body lived hied in the fullest sense lie he knew this fact the instant that she spoke she S smiled nt at bumeter him ever so quietly nn Dwor alm slie site sold said recoiling the name by which she called him film in tier her babyhood youve onnie to unda linda CHAPTER IX As the fire burned down to coals and tile the stars wheeled through the sky tanda inda fald tier her story tile the two of them were seated in the gift frays M ss in front of the robin and the moonlight wits on fin lindas fire face Ps as she talked she talked very low at first indeed there wits was no need fur far loud laud tone the whole wilder wilderness neu world was nas henvy heavy with silence oni a whisper curried carried far besides bruce was just beside her watching tier with walh narrowed iwed eyes forgetful of everything except her story walled nailed a long loing time lime to tell you yon tills she told him gilr L of course when we e were bables babies together in the lie or anic anage I 1 didiot even know it it it lias fins taken roe me a long lone time since to learn all the details roost most of them I 1 got from my aunt old elikim whom ou iia talked hiked to on the lie way out part tit of it I 1 knesby knew ly intuition ara a little of it Is still doubtful tou toti ought oua it to know first how hard I 1 anre tried to reach you of course I 1 try openly except at first the first years after I 1 tame came here and before I 1 was old enough to understand she spoke the last word with a curious depth of feeling and a perceptible cep cop tible hardness about her lips and eyes 1 I remembered just two things thang s flint the man ann who had bad adopted you wits was newton duncan one of the nurses at the asylum told me that lind I 1 remembered the name ot of the city where he had taken you you must understand the difficulties ties I 1 worked under there la Is no rural free delivery up here he oa know bruce our mall Is seani sent from anil j delivered to the little post past office obice at martins store over fifteen miles malca front from here and some one member of a certain family that lives near litre here poes goes down every week to boget get the mall for the entire district at first and that was before I 1 really understood I 1 wrote you ninny many letters and gave them to one of this family to mailfer mall for me I 1 was just a allind then you must liow know and I 1 lived in the same house with these people they were just juit baby letters from from linda binda to ewo luetters letters about the dier deer and tile the berries and the squirrels and oil all the wild that clint lived up hero hem 1113 berries erries drow cried 1 I had some on the way up ills tone wavered watered and he be teemed seemed to be a far ngoy 1 I had bad some orce nrc eIon long ago yes you tou will understand soon I 1 andr understand stand wy wiy you anscer my letters I 1 understand now how though 1 you never got them no I 1 never neier got them but there av are several duncens hi fit ray my city anier might have gone astray astral they went astray lint but it was before they ever reached the post office tey were never majied roal leil druce I 1 was to know why later even then it part of tile the plan that I 1 should never get et in communication with you joa that you would be lost oat to roe me forever forem when ft ben I 1 got ailder I 1 tried oth oatt r tricks tacks I 1 wrote to the asylum asyl jm e enclosing a letter to yon but letters let lera were ao mailed balled either now we can skip a loss long time I 1 mw up UN I 1 knew everything it list and no longer ner lived with thu the family I 1 mentioned before lc forr I 1 time mine here ill I 1 this alita old housemaid hou house tind made it decent to ahil in I 1 cut tny my own for my iny fuel except when one of lie file men tried to rite me by cutting it fur for me I 1 use it tit at llast oil oh struel I 1 touch III it her fler face was no n longer lovely it was drown drawn with terrible passions cut but the she quieted at onre once at last I 1 saw sak plit hily flint I 1 was a little fool thit th it nil they would do for me the lie better off I 1 was wag at first I 1 i starved to death because I 1 use the food flint they sent me I 1 tried to grub it out of tile the hills hut but I 1 came to it at lust last hut but baure there were ninny things I 1 conic boiu to since I 1 lent ned the truth I 1 have never given one of thein a amlie except in scorn not a word that thai n word of hate bate you are a city ann bruce you dont know what hate mean tt it live lire in the lie cities hut but it lives up tip here relieve believe me if louever you ever believed anything that it lives up here tle most bitter rind and the blat markest kest hate front birth until death it burns out the lie heart bruce but 1 I dont kenw that I 1 can make you under mand she paused rind and bruce looked away own into the pine forest lie believed the ali girl ile he knew that flint tills this erlin land was the home of direct and primitive emotions such things na as mercy tint and remo remorse rr were out of place tit lu tile the game tralle abere the wolf pack hunted the leer deer when they knew how I 1 tinted hated them she went on they began to me ine and once they knew thit that I 1 haq had fully understood the I 1 w us no longer to lenie leave t aliis Is little valley there are only onh two trolls bruce one to rabin t on the wity to the store the other encircles tile lie mount nn with nil their numbers number it was easy to keep watch of those inilla and they fold tile inc what they would do if they found me trying to g past you dont nt t llcy abey threat threatened ined your she threw back ter er hend head and laughed laush cd but the SOLBI d no nd joyan jn ati it tr if eiju think threats are common roi ninon up tip eliise you aitto a greener tender tenderfoot foit thin ever eer I 1 tok kwik yon fur far brum the lie liw law up acs la Is the llie liw law of forre force the west lv atia the me weakest rites walt fill I 1 III bolli see simon understand then and couii loo II 11 shake in almes d aies tile wn wo eilf grated ul n him yet ret ho he acdal resent them ive ie seen sl 81 aunt awn lie told tier her she glanced toward him quickly aud d it was aras entirely plain ili lie file quiet tont conf in ht bl find surprised f TI I 1 perhaps the faintest flicker of admiration mi ration came into her eyes her perhaps the faintest nicker flicker of admiration came nto into her eyes eye ile he tried tn stop you did bel he of course lie would and you came anyway may heaven bless you for it mural she leaned toward him appealing and forgive me what I 1 said brute stared at her in amazement lie ile could hardly realize that this was tile lie same voice that flint had been so torn with passion a moment before in an instant ell all her hardness was gone cone and the tenderness of a sweet and wholesome nature had taken its place ile he felt a cur curious lotis warmth stealing eating id over him tiler they meant what they said bald bruce believe ne me if those men can do no other oilier thing they can keep their word they just jast threaten death to me I 1 could haye have run the risk of that thal badly as I 1 wanted to make them pay before I 1 died I 1 would have tinya gladly run that hat risk you are at the free way I 1 speak of a I 1 death the girls you know in the city dont even know the word they ney dorf doe know what it menus mentis they dont understand the sudden end cad of the light the tha da ekneSS the cold mad the awful fear that it lot Is its it it reality here hee something to light against every hour of every day T hiera biere mv just juit three things to do in ali the woun tn in live and imp awl annl little halt theres no nn si fin theres no nihl tile lie ground irro uniV she mulled gri linly lc ive llad verith death ond nd ive ice heard of fit it anti ive ie soen so en it nil all my life if tiler hta bliwn n tiny any other oilier way I 1 would b line iv seen it in lie r dar ills tit tile lip wild li creatures lull go 10 tin rn tiri brount nind file till lilt glnn knull apt dmn flown to cast raw casta a here lanice or else ull rull mil aple men filia 41 it sc than thant s to me file than kill 1111 ine and I 1 lure dare clot alie risk hut but fenre or I 1 wits able tn 1 VH get wont |