Show by thunder was sandy s corn ment as he labora bously spelled out the regulation claim notice showing its white spot on the bark of a giant fir claim s been jumped by one A burrows he leaned his ax against the foot of the atiee pushed his dingy old white hit back on his shock of brick red hair hitched up his trousers by the belt and again read the notice there was no mistaking it there was a rival clain a it for this patch of timber in the almost impenetrable wilderness of the olympics where tor more than a bear he had abided with the aroud feeling of possession claim jumping in a mining was was not a new thing to him but here in the big woods it seemed a little out of place it was bewildering and the method of its fighting would be new he sat down on a small log and looked at the staling white sign as it trying to read from it a solution of the difficulty he might tear the notice off the tree lut that do any now if only it were a mining claim the procedure would be simple namely take a gun and fill the jump er full of lead his path led through timber such as but few men know it was a titanic forest of monstrous trees in which he wandered a pigmy one of these obstructions he troubled sandy came in sight of his cabin where it nestled in a little clearing with all its evidences of habitation from the doorway a three legged dog arose and with much effort gave a home greeting even in the stress of his trouble the tall mas ter stopped long enough to pet the waiting head and take a kindly look into the eyes that sought his dick be said weve been bards ever since I 1 dragged you out from un der a street car way down in seattle and we ve most always had some kind of a home since then but now they re goin to try to take this one away from us and make us hit the trail again dick seemed to understand al though he said nothing he was not a talkative dog his strong point being sympathy he felt the gravity of the situation and hobbled after his mas ter into the cabin you go again sandy re fully said as he entered this time addressing his remarks to a mis chievous ch levous wood mouse who calmly sat on a shelf and looked at him while washing off with his diminutive forepaws the unmistakable signs of flour dust from bis whiskers here I 1 lugs a sack of flour 20 miles into the woods and you jest won t let it alone even when I 1 makes friends with you and feeds you till you re fat the mouse showed no s agn of fear and with twinkling eyes continued his toilet as sandy with arms akimbo stood in trout of him and delivered his scolding well you little cuss he concluded you aint like men ou don t know no better he laid a coaxing hand on the edge of the shelf and the mouse accepted the truce by scampering up sandy s arm to his shoulder sandy prepared his homely woods mans meal finished it with a woods man s appetite and seated himself with lighted pipe on a bench in front of his cabin but this night there were no interludes of whistling or singing his trouble was upon him it seemed strange that through all the years stretching away back to those of the desert sands when he had been al packer cow puncher miner or woodsman he who loved peace and quiet should be compelled always to fight and fight and fight now be was facing another fight old miss brou trou ble must have been my godmother he said aloud as he prepared tor his night s rest I 1 hanker after the peace ful life but I 1 m goin to kill any damn man that tries to git this claim an the man might as well be A burrows as otherwise known as sandy smith it nad been many months since the beav colts was taken down from its peg upon the cabin wall but when sandy started into the woods on the following morning it was grimly strapped around his hip and his belt was filled with cartridges and th s was not the last day when the gun sagged against his thigh as he tra versed his little domain patiently wait ing for the appearance of A bur rows when the time came it was almost as a surprise it was one bright tore noon when the air was redolent with the fragrance of bloom and the dew lay heavily in the hollows of the tan aled blackberry and rhododendron bushes that the storm burst sandy had grown somewhat older in these days of waiting his quick ear caught the unusual sound of voices and b the tree where the first location notice had been posted he waited through the woods with axes gleaming across the packs on their backs with rifles in hand and steady tread came four woodmen sandy wasted no time in civilities lookin fur thise he queried point ing at the white claim notice which stared at them ef that s the burrows location we shore are came the reply from the man who was evidently the leader of the party well that s it and ye kin save yer eyesight said sandy grimly but it ain t goin to do ye no good because I 1 owns this claim and I 1 reckon I 1 m goin to keep on downin it the hell you are we been sent up here to put a cabin on it and I 1 reckon we re goin to keep on and do it came the retort ef there s any dispute about it it s up to 5 ou to go to the cote and fix it we re goin to y ROY NORTON copyright by joseph jo seph bowles build and weats more we hev bumped into squatters a heap aimeb afore this the arrivals had slipped off their packs aud were clustered around their leader sandy had held his temper well but now miss trouble was here he lashed out with his knotted right fist caught the foreman a ham blow on the chin and doubled him up in the air here was a kind of squatter that haan hadn t been met before A whirlwind coulden couldn t have worked faster afie four struck at him and kicked him and endeavored to bring him to the ground he felt hu faselt being overpowered and worked his hand to the butt of his revolver it spoke with one quick snap and the snarl was untangled one man seized a useless shoulder through which the bullet had torn its way and the others sprang for their weapons sandy tried to wing one of them and found that his remaining cartridges were defective ahls wouldn t do he must take to cover and put in fresh ones he jumped with long leaps toward one of the barriers of fallen trees and sought shelter As he dropped down behind his logs two rifle bullets sang danger bously past his head and went flick flecking through the tree tops sandy stood behind a log with energy threw out the cart ridges which had failed him in his need and inserted fresh ones from his belt then he clambered along to a point where he could catch a s ot his battlefield and took a survey not a target was in sight he worked hs way back cut a tick and shoved his hat upward to the top of the log try ing to draw his enemies fire it was effective and the old hat went sailing to he ground behind him he rushed to a point of observation and took an other look but nowhere was an enemy in sight not even a rifle barrel pro traded from behind any of the forest giants who calel furnished shelter sandy recovered the hat and from a new point of vantage tried his ruse it failed to attract attention plainly his opponents were enemies 0 no mean caliber an old trick could bs placed upon them once but that was all he must either retreat or use new tactics the first alternative waa untenable because he never had run yit and the second meant a recon boiter sandy made his way around the thicket and by the aid of another fallen log gained o 0 angle 1 rom which he peered an elbow was in sight he would practice on that whang went his pistol and the elbow lurched violently and sn oth ered oaths told that the shot had been well aimed sandy sm led the joy of battle was on him he felt that exultation which comes from deadly strife he anted to ell it would have helped him he felt suie he caught sight of a head and fired but evidently m sed that bothered him 1 atle misses were not in his line it must be the fault of the cartridges again once more he emptied his pistol and carefully inspected each load as he placed it in its chamber too bad he mused to lose that last shot fel lers that sell no account cartridges like these ought ter have the law on em goin ter smash that feller one next time I 1 see him then the battle became slow sandy coulden couldn t work farther around his bar ricadel and peep as he would he could catch no sight of an enemy well they being ohp strongest it was up to them to come and hunt him he would wait bees hummed busily through the air seeking the blossoms of the wood land for the gathering of their spot the birds returned and began their twittering and from off in the forest a wooda acker s hammer recommenced a tapping into the bark in the dis tance the cooing of a wild pigeon lent a melancholy note the time crept forward and on each side the corn batanus waited for the next move sandy was getting restless and had al most resolved to take a chance on creeping in a wide detour around his men and by this flanking movement to gain a shot or two from back of him came a sound of footsteps padding across the needles he threw himself at length upon the ground and wriggled his way to a place where no shot might reach so his enemies had beat him to it and were founding him upa woe be to the first one who came in sight what was the fool doing woof came a snort from the rear sandy recognized the sound as being the satisfied grunt of a brown bear who in fancied security had made bis way to a thicket of blackbear black ber ries but what was that other sound more footsteps and then a louder snort from the bear a woman s scream and the noise of tearing thick ets as the animal plunged through the underbrush in flight the red headed one forgetful of danger with curiosity at highest pitch his composure startled by this won darful occurrence of that unusual sound a woman s voice stretched his head over his rear breastwork and belled hello in his excitement he raised his head too high and a rifle ball went whiz zing agh the top of his hat sandy ducked down while from out in front a man s voice broke into curses direct ed at the one who had fired the shot can t you see the voice exposto that maybe she s in range over there ou damn fool sandy paid no heed to thi remark and it is doubtful if he even heard it because all his attention was attracted toward the great unusual the feminine side help help the woman s voice called ugh there was a great big bear here a minute ago and I 1 have fallen off a log into the bushes and I 1 can t get up and there may be whole herds of bears down here in the dark tor all I 1 can see why don t you help mea jest keep yer shirt on a minute sandy called reassuringly and get around and help you I 1 m a trifle busy out in front just now then he tried to make the wait easier by assuring her that the b ar had hiked and there wa n fc bothin down there to hurt her but why don t you come at the voice insisted got to kill a few fellers out here in aront first sandy apologized ef it wa n t for that I 1 d come now the voice was silent tor a moment as the woman evidently tried to think over a situation that made it feces sary a man to kill a few fellers before coming to her aid hey you came a masculine voice from out in front yep responded sand woman back thara yep must be missus burrows S pose we call it quits till we talk to her sandy s gun went back into his hoi ster with a muffled snip sc th s voice was mrs burrows the wife of A burrows the man who was trying to rob sandy of all ho had in the world it made no difference she was a worn an and in distress the fight could wait he would accept the truce but it should be merely a truce and SHE WAS SOBBING AS HE CAME TO HER no more they coulden couldn t have his claim its a go he called to the enemy and then trusting to the chivalry of the frontier paid no attention to them and devoted himself to the rescue of the feminine voice down in a cleft between two great trees that had given up their lives and had sought rest on the ground en meshed in blackberry b ashes with torn garments and disheveled hair he found her she was sobbing as he came he reassured her and had led her from the thicket out into the open betcie his late adversaries came upon them they grouped themselves silently around sandy glared at them buncom promisingly two of them had rudely bandaged arms and one had the hag gard look of a man who has lost much blood dimly the woman realized that she had interrupted a tragedy oh you are hurt she said as she looked at the men then turning to san ly she continued you see these men work tor me I 1 bought a claim from a locator down in seattle and hired these men to come and build my cab n and now and now two of tl em are hurt she turned toward them as sandy sternly motioned to them to keep si lence they saw from his attitude that something inexplicable had happened and acquiesced they stood awkward ly while she looked from one to tee other in vague questioning you see I 1 fell and my rifle went off and and well I 1 got scratched jest a beetle mite said the man with the shattered elbow and sandy loved him tor the lie yes jest an accident glibly chimed in the foreman they looked from one to the other and the foreman brought relief by suggesting that it was time to make camp one man began the opening of their packs while the wounded were cared for sandy took grim tion the thought that the shot that caught the elbow had been a good one but there was the woman so you are A burrows 9 he said yes you see my full name is anna but I 1 have been writing it with tire initial so long sl nce my husband died that it comes natural now and her laughter smote upon him as a blow here was his enemy a woman and it was her men whom ha had fought and it was her claim notice that threatened him and she a widow who had paid money to professional locators to put her upon his ground yes his ground that he had paid tor with money and labored e fort and by following the maze of the law s technicalities his home the home that he had built and loved with a tenderness that came of years of longing for it anyway thinking took time and he must find the right wa out so sandy told mrs burrows that he had a good cabin below there and that she must be his guest that night at least and until her men got a camp established he urged his hospitality and the foreman added his insistence As they walked down the trail and came in sight of its homely comfort she went anto ecat asies over its trim ness and and over the great majestic view of peaks and valleys that stretched away in the dis tance from the brow of he hill but evera word of praise that but a few days ago would have gladdened the big man s heart was as a knife thrust searching out and opening up to him those things which he had always seen and felt but could not have put into words for once dick got no word ot greet ing two big rough hands held the head up where the eyes could be looked into but his master was beyond words could he have spoken he would have said dick dick they want our home it gasn wasn t a very reassuring tale that sandy listened to that night and when he went out to roll himself into his blankets beneath the stars having surrendered his rooftree to his guest sleep failed to close his eyelids he was fighting a battle which must be alone the widow had no other means than those which had been paid to the locators timber sharks sandy si bently called them and had come into these solitudes to make for herself and her son a home which would ren der them independent when the lum her companies came with the big mills to turn ahe giant trees into gold the wait would not be long especial ly as this claim was one of the most desirable in the region two or three years at the most and mrs burrows would be surrounded by farms instead of by forests and she would be be yond want for life but sandy had seen that and more too for in this cabin which rested on the hill back of him was that consummation 0 his years of dreams a home every log in the humble pile had been squared with infinite care and senti ment every shelf and |