Show to F 4 nl she Is gone then gasped the boy ol 01 1 wark WITH SOME 4 0 rn U y bif fromm 01 by cyers 76 ims mo sy SYNOPSIS A foolish oung underfoot tenderfoot helomes with ith the to bo J artful wife of a ft drunken pros prospector lector in a vestern mining town ton prepare to elope in a blind ink ing blizzard 14 am confronted by the maudlin he ife in shot hot by the wife alfe but he the cl Ival rous rou boy palm 1 a note to the lie bod bc h liking taking the crime uon upon himself ril ml PROLOGUE continued the storm without the maman a first thought ane ehe the stepped outside the anor was that at all hazards they mur go back the wind almost swept I 1 away only the steadying grasp of 0 the boy better prepared than she for the attack of the storm enabled her to keep her tier feet yet the presence presa of that ghastly thing on the floor which was affecting oen cen her iron nerve prevented heir their return whatever happened they must go out the door of that shelter was mas closed to them theta forever by the dead or dying tenant bho sho realized however hoever that their chance chances of es escaping aping freezing to death in thie this mad endeavor were so email small as to be practically none N ell fate bad forced her tier into luto this position she would follow the path she bad had chosen whatever might be at it the end of tho way may speech was well nigh impossible the boy staggered on past the win alm low dow and she followed until the lee of the house was reached Ilet a great drift and tb abi wall all in a little open spice the horses akere tied the boy was a natural horseman he lie had picked out the best two brn cos tn in the camp if any animals child take them to safety these could not yet chilled by the fierce cold they untied the shivering reluctant terri fled horse horses from the pins daiv en into he the chinks between the log walls of the house to which they had been hitched bit ched mounted them and threading their way say round the drift started southward on their awful ride they left death behind them and lot lol death loomed before and on either band except where the sooim was broken by houses drifts had not yet formed the wind waa as too terrific it awe swept 1 t the level prairie clean out but away from the shelter of tho the I 1 louse ouse they sot got the full force orce of 0 it although they were thickly clad in wool and fur the pressure of the storm drove their gar ments against their bodies and icon soon filled them with icy cold there was no help for it lt no relief from it they bad to bear it they could only bend their backs to it and keep on trust ing to the endurance of their horses the woman judged that it had been about one in the too morning ruing when hen they had started the Ov erLind limited ran through the lotion at three 0 no o horses that llred lived could havi hayl made that IS miles in two houra hours und ildr those conditions it wai was more than probable ps cowf cow ver that the limited w would lid be greatly delayed by the torm storm and if they kept going steadily they would be likely to catch I 1 it L at any rate when they reached the illation they would find food fire ore and shelter if it their hone horses did not give out key were turned adrift on foot toot in the storm and eno sno and left to plod on until they fell and slept and froze and died they would perhaps get aa away ay more experienced than the bo boy r all these possibilities were ere present to her she did not pray she clotild ask noth ini of god but she went warily an and carefully helping the horse where here abb sho could aa As for her companion he did not give thase matters very much conald consid aeration lie ile kept going toward th the south to the railroad station because that was as the only thing to be done another however hoever rode with dim him if not with hr hegoro his eyes was a is ever present that gory grizzly spee bacle of 0 a human form the red blood welling from its breast redder still from the white snow with which he was mas surrounded that awful figure beckoned him on he lie was younger finer better than ehe she hewak more tool toot than knave she was all knave her thoughts went forward to what was before her but his went back ward to what was as behind after a long time it seemed to them that the fierceness of the storm was wits somewhat abated ile ue wind wai was tastily but the drifts vier I steadily rising and their WM wits more difficult diff cult eyers 7 moment foi fot that cause caise their very soule souls were numb with the awful cold still they went ment forward slower now and more slowly 11 ever how flow far they had come what time it was where here they were neither be he nor sho she could tell it seemed to them both that they had bad be boon ben n hours ou the way the woman oman was sure that they i must have compassed the greiter gre iter part i of the journey when her horse sud denly stumbled and fell her bron bran arhos matchless endurance had bad nt at last been exhausted by the terrible rie gle of their journy journ lourn y he lie lay dying where ho he fell and nothing she could do could get him up again the boy toy bad stopped of course when her horse had fallen he lie bad had dismounted and helped her to rise he ile bad had assisted fisted al her vain efforts to get her own played out aut horse on its feet the two now stood staring at each other in dismay you must take my horse oaf sail I 1 the boy at last the woman nodded with his via n al ett tanco stanco she climbed slowly and rain fully into the saddle took the reins rellis from the boy and started on HP ile companion caught hold of the leather and staggered forward by br her side the going was as now infinitely harder for the remaining horse the boman immediately realized that with this almost dead weight plunging through the deep drifts and dragging J heavily it at the stirrup leather the remaining bronco would soon ba be ex hausted I 1 she had meant 0 to o play fair with him but it could not b and so tor for a long time the trio trie plodded on in ibis this way ier th the e woman norving herse herself it to a frightful action as best beat she could she hesitated to do it ic she was as relue reluctant but no horse that ever livid could stand ath train strain she knew that it would be b a ta titter of nui now when the animal bo be rode on would also f fall all and lit lie 1 when I lie n he lie h hid hd d fallen like hid dead brother buck back ou on the tl trait trail and then she and the boy would inevitably nell it was as his life or hers the decision clelon de was a forced upon her and perhaps after all it was just as well ell to get rid of them both and have done with mith it bhe reached over and before the boy realized what WAR yas happening eho she caught bla his hand turo tore hia tits fingers from the addle saddle strap and thrust him violently backward un ull prepared unsuspecting half dazed he be could offer no adequate resistance lie ile reeled and fell supine in a deep and overwhelming drift she struck the horse heavily with ith tho the whip that bung froni from the saddle bow how and the animal plunged forward wildly she knew that bhe jibe waa was bate sate unless he lie should try to shoot her for ho he waa mas loo me weik ak and too exhausted to catch her the boys boy a senses were ere quickened in to instant action by her conduct aft er the first moment of si he knew at once that she was as dt liberate ly at andon tag him to die in the enow snow A hot rush of blood in spite ot of the cold swept over him he ile thrust his band hand within his coat and art dragged igge out n weapon A lie raised it and trained it on the woman moman a back and for the moment bis his hand did not to then there ros rost afore him that other gory figure though he bad lived some months on the wild frontier and bad seen more than one man killed there he had never been connected with the murder before even as an accessory after the fact and the hor of it was still upon him he ile low ered the pistol though ho he could easily have sant her dead such treachery on the part of a woman would have killed some aln not riot so this boy in that moment ho he became a man he lie saw himself hi a tool fool he determined that lie would not also see himself a coward clenching his fists lists and summoning his strength bo he followed southward afoot in the woman a wake he ile walked it that bo be the word tor for his progress with hia his bead down and his tits body bent lower and lower he ile took long rests between the steps by and by be he fell forward on his face the sensation of delicious rest and drovis drowsiness iness that wept swept over him wooed him to lie still and die but there were batill sparks and remnants of manhood and courage in him ho ile shook off hia his desiro desire to sleep at la at and strove fran to rise finding that be could not be crawled forward on his hands and knees slowly working himself a over the snow covered ground round the drifts like a great animal there was no use humanity could not the strain any loneer longer ona one more movement he made and just as he waa was about to sink down forever he heard beard a long deep hollow mournful he lie stopped interested dimly wondering whit it could be whatever it was it meant life of ome some kind it came from directly in front of hlin him it nerved him to further effort summoning the last vestige of his life strength ho advanced a little farther he lie knew what it was now it waa was a locomotive he lie lifted bis his head and saw lights faintly he lie divined that it was the station atlon et the train the overland urn um I 1 she would get on it and go awall away nhat mattered it and what of himself there was help belp there wan life he ile actually rose to his feet and wavered on by ily happy chance tho the contour of the ground had caused the space betge n him and the lights to be swept comparatively bare of snow it was wait not now difficult walking yet bo be staggered liko a drunken man ah ahl the lights were moving before his eyes they danced and flickered the train was going tie ile broke into a reeling run hoarse whispers on his frozen lips too late latel lie ile tumbled stumbled and fell across the car tracks dimly conscious of the lights of the departing train lie ile had just sense enough and strength enough to try cry out as he did so some one the station platform heard his voice men lien came toward him he was lifted up and carried into a warm room something burning yet deliciously reviving was poured down his throat the woman I 1 be he gasped out looking up in the faces of the station agent and bis his helper bending over him lim she took the limited not five min utes ago aid said the maa staring stating at bin him curiously the train was two inure and a it half halt late lotto or she shed d never hava have got ll 11 shea she gone then gasped the boy yes thank god she bbc got awall he murmured as he lapsed into complete unconsciousness there was good stuff in the boy he ile was glad the woman had bad escape escaped d in spite of all lie ile did not want another uman beings life lite on his hands CHAPTER 1 the tho loneliness of mr gormly to bis his areat au surprise prise george gorra gorm ly sometimes found himself finnk lonely and the oftener so as he grew older E cry ery man who has a natural liking for wo what true man mail has his not yet who has halt no intimate friendships with rr relations to the othe sex ia s likely to find himself in that state of mind sooner or later gormly was aged he be waa was orty forty four although he be looked much younger lie was wa experienced rien flen ced he be bad dealt with romeu for a straight quarter of a century although he had neither loved nor married one he lie was sufficiently self reliant he had built up by his own unaided efforts the greatest retail iner business buil nes ft of his day and gen son oration he lie was as sufficiently Inde ent tor for he had done it alone to have been above tue ordinary feeling 0 of nevertheless he lie as tern pera mentally lonesome and at this particular moment desperately so lie hod drifted into new lork ork some 25 years before utterly unheralded unnoticed lie had begyn begin beg in by filling A mail small clerkship in a little dry try goods store lie kept at it until he owned the etore store and after that a larger etore store of on a better street lie had developed a genius fo to rade and an executive ability in accord until the original little shop had expanded into a 15 1 story building ro covering rov cring a block on the principal thoroughfare of new york city and its owner had become a pow row er in finance a merchant prince such was nas george gormly lie was too a scrupulously honest man ho lie bold sold good goods w without ile de eit elt things as be he r represent ep ed them lie ile established principles ot of accommodation in nis dealing dealings that were unique when ahen they were ere first in in new lork ork lie made no dishonest dollars ills 1 money was good everywhere beca i it wa was x un tainted he lie prospered exceedingly one expansion following another speculation of any kind and devoting himself strictly to the business he found himself in 1 middle life the head tho foot toot the sole 1 owner of the greatest enterprise ot of the kind that the world had ever seen 1 ahls I his had not bom achieved lightly lie had brought it about be because caust with absolute singleness of heart he had put every ounce of strength and time and talent which in hani amounted to genius at the service of his affairs tirre talent and genius do not always alway atlis 1 produce such results fortune till roust must be considered in the game up had favored gormly lie ile bad had succeeded in everything beyond bis his own or anyone a wildest dromms lie ile might have gone on indefinitely la in hie his mercantile operations without attracting special attention to himself personally had it not been for one fact that momentous happening waa was bis his meeting with miss bliss II 11 aldano it bad had come about in a common place way enough miss bliss haldane Hal dano deeply interested la in settlement work and being brought la in contact thereby with some of the poorer cm of the great gormly establish anent had concluded to call on the proprietor thereof to see it she v ull 13 not inot induce him to make some to de quate contribution to the work ale bad had so much at heart like every other business man in new york gormly was overwhelmed by charl chart table demands ilia business was one thing his charity another he lie em loyed a special secretary to look aft cr the end of his af at fair there were two reasons why tho the secretary felt himself unequal to deal with billie 1 aldane II Il and her demands the first reason was mlis bliss haldane aldane II herself she was a member of the and most circle in now vew york society her family was uno une of the richest and moat most esteemed in that hive of multi million aries would be eos sos also ran rans and other people the second was wait the magnitude of miss haldane aldane II a demand she want ed something some thInK like a million dollars thie appalled the secretary she sh realized that a man ipie bice gormly indeed most men it they had the pow dow cr would much rather give a million thin than a dime to un undertaking that appo appealed aled to them still gormly bar ing his attention eo so ly I 1 to hlo his bushness busl neen ness heretofore was rather stegg staggered ered lb the magrI magnitude tude of tho the amount lie would have been more staggered ly ity it had tied ho he bien tell 1 so by bliss haldane herself miss bliss haldane baa beauty thou gands of ju ople women wat in and oine some few men bave have that she 1 bid id more ehe she had presence and person allty hundred hundreds of men and cw ew women have these those who have all three in either sex ex are rare and come to view indre |