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Show TSAof f he-Three lit i Ganders - fcLj living BacheHei- SYNOPSIS Exhausted, ragged, and starving, a boy of about sixteen Is found In the wood by a camplngf party. He haa ltd from his brutal father, Bat Morry-on. Morry-on. Bat comes after him, but his new friends conceal him. CHAPTER I Continued 2 Without a word Bat strode off Into the darkness. He went not in the direction di-rection of High falls but back on the trail toward Dead Creek floe. He was like a wounded panther growling with rage a veritable child of the darkness dark-ness In which he walked. "He won't be comin' back here," Scott declared. "There's a lumber camp down by Grass pond. He'll head fer that. He ain't goin' to give up lookin fer the boy. Bat needs him. The boy could earn many a bottle o' whisky for him this summer." Bat had not recognized his son. Shad went to bed that night with a deep pity In his heart for the man who was his father, remembering as he did the good days past of which there were some like starlight in his dark memories. Soon he slept, as only a weary boy can sleep. He awoke refreshed re-freshed In the morning. "I'm glad It ain't yesterday no more," he said to Mr. Converse as he was dressing. "I feel better more like a man." "You look like a gentleman, and 1 want you to learn to eat as gentlemen do. Eat slowly and keep your knife away from your face. Use It only to cut your food, and eat with your fork." "I won't forget your advice," said the boy. "I'd like to be a gentleman." They went to breakfast. After the meal Mr. Converse turned to the lad saying: I'll send Uncle Phlde down the trail with you to my camp. He'll keep you happy till you're beyond the danger point. Uncle Phlde, you take a gun with you. and see that he gets there." When Scott and the boy were ready to set out, the latter In his new clothes lookin' for some breakfast," the man answered. "I am kind o' hungry." "Well, hunger is like every other good thing. It can be carried too far. You can let go of it as soon as I have put out these cattle. I'm hungry myself." my-self." "I'm awful hungry," said the boy. "I've got money to pay for what I eat." "Look here, did you see that cannon in my yard?" "Yes, sir." "Well, I shoot it at every man that offers me money for victuals after he's warned. If you've got more money than you want, you can throw some of it into my well." The cattle began streaming through an open barway Into the pasture. When all were entered and the bars put up the man turned to the boy and said: "Now follow me. We'll tend to Colonel Col-onel Blake later." The sun was up. A clear, beautiful summer day had begun. They washed with soap and cold water dipped from a rain barrel at a stand outside the door, and went into the house and sat down at the breakfast table. They ate in silence, the hired girl bringing their food from a stove. "Look here, pard," said the man. "I'll tell you my name If you'll tell me yours. Names are not important, but In high society they're a help." "My name Is Shad Morryson," said the boy. "It's quite a mouthful. My name la Alson Blake." "Be you Colonel Blake?" "Yes. That's what they call me." "Here's a letter for you." Shad drew the letter from his pocket and put it in the colonel's hands. The latter opened and read it. "Converse! He knows a good thing when he sees it, and I guess he'd know a good boy." Blake's wife and daughter entered the room with a cheery greeting, and sat down at the table. "Here's a boy come up the road this mornin'," the colonel said to his wife. "I hope he's as fond of ladies as he Is of flapjacks." Mrs. Blake was a kindly comely woman about forty years of age. The blond, blue-eyed girl was dressed for school. "This girl Ruth is our Professor of Fun," said the man. Shad was blushing. He and the girl had taken a quick survey of each other and come to conclusions. Thj young have a special gift for that Shad thought that next to a spotted fawn she was the most beautiful creature crea-ture he had ever seen. When ha looked at her it was to discover that she was looking at him. The same was true of the girl. Colonel Blaka saw It all and smiled. In a moment he said to the boy: "We'll go down to the office. I'll glva you a letter to a friend of mine otm at Amity Dam who told me that h wanted a boy to work In his store." The colonel and the lad went out-of-doors. It was the tender-hearted. Impressionable Im-pressionable Mrs. Blake who made all this a part of our history. Sh called to her husband. He returned .to the house. "Who Is that beautiful boy and where did he come from?" the woman asked. "He's a runaway a kind of a fugitive fugi-tive slave." "What a shame I His smiling handsome hand-some face has won my heart Let's keep him here a day or two and glv him a chance to rest." "We'll ask him. I rather guess he'd like it." So it came about that the boy tarried tar-ried a day and a night at the red farmhouse. A new experience had come to Shad. Women had been mostly most-ly hateful to him. They had been hard to get along with. He had had a poor opinion of them. He felt something Immeasurably grateful and wonderful In the motherly, gentle manner of Mra. Blake and In the beauty and gract of her daughter. Ruth did not go to school that day. She entertained the boy with the photograph photo-graph album and with croquet and throwing and catching a ball. They were pleased with all this, but their joy came from a different source; perhaps per-haps from looking into each other'a eyes and from a singular emotion quite new to them. At last they sat down very tired In the swing under the big maple tree. "Where Is Colonel Blake?" the boy asked. "Oh, he's gone to town. He's a lawyer. He's the district attorney," the girl answered proudly. "He goes away every morning. Are you going with him tomorrow?" "Yes, I must get to work." "Men are so hateful They're always going to work." (TO EI CONTINUED.) millionaire will try to slip you across to his place at Bog lake." A mile or so farther on the two came to that big black pond known as Mud lake. They got Into the only boat at the landing and rowed across. It was now a two-mile stretch to Bog lake walled In by giant pines and spruces. Meanwhile the slow Intellect of Bat Morryson, sitting on a log by the trail-side, trail-side, had begun to find its way. He had been thinking about the small stranger who had come down the trail with Phlde Scott. There was something some-thing familiar In the look of that chap. Suddenly he arose. "By Q dl They've fooled me," he said to himself. him-self. "They've dressed the boy up an' put a piece o' fur on his lip an' slipped him right under my nose." He hurried down the trail In pursuit of Scott and Shad, not half a mile behind be-hind them. He was losing a slave, and the slave was of considerable value. When he got to Mud lake and found no boat and saw the others landing land-ing a mile away on the far shore, he started to skirt the lake, with his mouth full of curses. CHAPTER II The Fugitive Resorts to Strategy. Soon after Shad arrived at the big log camp of Mr. Converse, he and his guide crossed Bog lake and set out for the railroad. A freight and accommodation accommo-dation train was waiting at a flag station. sta-tion. Shad got aboard and went on to Fulton Chain. He was advised to change there to the express train bound for Utica. This he did. It was the Fourth of July.' There had been a celebration of the day In the forest village. Shad stood In the midst of a merry throng when the express ex-press train arrived. After the engine had passed he saw the head of his father protruding from a window of the smoking car. The man was looking look-ing intently at the crowded platform. The boy ducked downward as If looking look-ing for something he had dropped. He climbed aboard a car near him wondering won-dering whether he had better take that train or wait for another. Perhaps his father would get off there. A happy lot of boys and girls sat around him, blowing tin horns, laughing, laugh-ing, throwing jests and missiles at one another. He had never known that boys and girls could be so happy. A little after the train started Bat Morryson Mor-ryson came through the car looking for his son. He went to the end of the train and back, his big red eye searching In vain for the boy slave. Shad got out with a large band of merrymakers at Remsen. Suddenly he discovered that his father was walking walk-ing just ahead of him with a stranger. "If I don't find the young devil here, I'll buy a bottle o' whisky an put fer home," he was saying. "I've had ' enough o' this." Shad left them at the next corner and went straight out Into the country. After some hours of travel he came to a new-mown meadow by the roadside road-side where dried hay was cocked or In windrows. He crossed the fence, tore open a cock of hay and made for himself him-self a comfortable bed of the sweet-odored sweet-odored grasses and lay down upon It and fell asleep. He was up at daylight. About midday mid-day he came to a little village where were a railroad Station and a small hotel. At the latter he got his dinner. Late that afternoon he got a train going go-ing north and arrived at Canton about six In the morning. A bus driver told him how to reach the house of Colonel Blake two miles from town. He set out In the direction Indicated and was soon beyond the village up toward the hills. He came to a little red house with flowers in the dooryard and potted plants In the windows. A small, mounted brass cannon stood on one side of the lawn. In the road a man and his dog were driving some cattle. "I'm lookin' for Colonel Blake's house," said the boy. "I wouldn't wonder If you were also "I Hope He's at Fond of Ladies at He Is of Flapjacks." and mustache, Mr. Converse said to him: "Have you got your money?" "Yes, sir, I've got It pinned In my pocket all safe." "When you get out of the woods, make for St. Lawrence county. It's near Canada. You could jump across the border if necessary and be safe. Take this letter to my friend Colonel Blake. He lives In Canton." Then Shad and the famous guide began be-gan their journey through that winding wind-ing green aisle In the deep woods from Big Deer Pond to Mud lake. They had gone about a mile when, at a point where the trail sloped down a hill-tide, hill-tide, the guide stopped suddenly. "Some one jest crossed the trail away down yender In the valley," he whispered. The guide stood still, looking look-ing Intently at the point where a moving mov-ing figure had attracted his attention. Again he whispered: "It's a man. He's settln' on a log by the side o' the trail. He doesn't see us. Come on. If It's yer father I may stop a minute, but you walk right on as If ye'd never seen him before." Within five minutes they came upon Bat Morryson sitting at the trail-side. The boy, walking ahead, had assumed a slight limp to disguise his gait. Bat greeted him saying: "Hello, stranger." Shad made no reply. "He's deef and dumb, an' ye might as well talk to that log yer sittin' on," said Phide Scott as he stopped by the huge Cyclopean Bat. The boy passed on around a turn In the trail and in a moment was beyond be-yond the reach of their vision. In a short time the guide overtook him. "He mistrusts that you're back at my camp," said Scott. "He's heard at Grass Pond that Converse Is over with me. He's made up his miud that the |