| Show I I 1 J I r ry fI l lr r r y I 1 r r n t r I f t 1 A Y 1 0 7 W Mj tt f 1 o r I T WAS rAs heavy hen sledding SIC on 0 n the th e Upper U Iii trail trait IT The two lumbermen were Hearing bearing the close of oC the third day of the hud hard four days haul haulin haulin in from the settlement settlements to the camp At the head of the first team his l is broad broa jaw set and md his small gray eyes angry with fatigue trudged the big figure ligure of Red With Ins his fiery red redhead redhead head and his large red face he was 5 the only one of his coloring in a large family so dark that they were known as the Blade Black and his temper seemed to have been heen chronically soured by the singularity of his hi type Ipe He was a good woodsman however and a good toad teamster and an his horses followed confidently at athis athis athis his heels like dogs The second team was WIS led by a J atall atall tall lumberman lumberman named Jim Johnson J invariably known as Walley From the fact that his blind eye was of a peculiar blankness like whitish hil sh porcelain he had been nicknamed Wall WallEye WallEye WallEye Eye but owing to his general popularity combined with the emphatic views he held on that particular subject the name had been en mitigated to Walley The Tic two were ere hauling ng m in supplies for lor Camp on tittle Lake k Silently but for forthe forthe forthe the clank and lOd creak of the harness and the soft sofi of the trodden snow the little procession toiled on un through the soundless desolation Presently the teams rounded a turn of the trail and began hegan to de descend descend the steep slope which led down doter to Joe God Goddings Goddin Goddings dings din s solitary cabin on the edge c ge of Burnt Brook Meadows But there was no light in the window No homely pungency of woodsmoke breathed welcome on the bit bitter bitter ter air The cabin ca n looked startlingly deserted Whoa I commanded sharply and anti glanced around at Johnson with an angry ing in his eyes ces The teams came to a 1 stop with a shiver of all their thc r bells Then upon the sudden suc stillness arose the faint sound of a childs voice 0 ice hopelessly wrong wrong ong down yonder 1 I growled i As he lie spoke Valley Walle Johnson sprang past him and went loping down the hill hillRed hillRed hillRed Red followed very deliberately with the 1 teams He resented anything emotional And he was ivas prepared to feel feci himself him elf aggrieved eved y When he reached the cabin obin door the sound of weep weeping weeting weeping ing had stopped Inside he hc found Walley Johnson on ont t his knees before the stove hurriedly lighting a fire firc Wrapped in his coat coal and clutching his arm as lS if afraid he lie might leave her stood a tiny t 1 child perhaps live five years old The cabin was cold al af almost almost h most as cold as the th snapping night outside Along the middle of the floor with bedclothes from the bun bunk vt heaped awkwardly upon it in the little ones efforts to warm it back to responsive e life sprawled rigidly the lank Ink body bod of Joe Godding Red stared for a moment in in silence then stooped examined the dead mans mails face and felt his hism m breast a herring he muttered an Johnson made no reply till the flame Ihme caught the kindling and rushed in from the open draught with at a t l cordial roar Then he stood up Hes lies been dead these hours and Ind hours I he said An the fire out an the kid most froze I 1 A sick man like he was kept the kid alone here with him thata And AmI he glanced down at the dead figure with severe reprobation i Never was much good that Joe Jo Godding I mut muttered muttered toed s critical As the two woodsmen discussed the situation the child a girl was gazing up from under her mop of bright hair first at one then at the other Walley Wall C Johnson was the one who had conic come in answer to her long wailing who had hugged her close and wrapped her up liP and crooned over her in his pity and 1111 driven away the terrors But she did not like to look at him though his gaunt I sallow allow face was strong and kind kindt kindI t I People are arc apt to talk easy casy generalities about the thc intuition of children I As a matter of fact the little ones arc are not above judging quite as a superficially and amI falsely as their elders The child looked at her pro protectors protectors sightless eye then turned away and lOd sidled over ave overto aveto overto to with one hand coaxingly outstretched mouth twisted sourly Without appearing e to sec the tiny liny hand be lie te deftly evaded it Stooping It over oer the dead man he picked him up straightened him himI I out decently on his bunk and covered him away from t sight eight with the blankets g v Ye t be so crusty to the kid when she wants to make up lip to ye protested Walley Valle as the little one 0 turned back to him hint with a puzzled look in her tearful tt blue eyes r Its all alike abler they be he six or sixteen cr I a remarked sarcastically stepping to the door r I 1 dont want none of oi em cm l Yc Ye Y c kin I in look out for crl er r I 1 Im for the horses I Dont talk out so 50 loud I admonished the little one You 11 wake daddy Poor daddys sick Poor lamb murmured Johnson folding her to his liis great breast with a pang of pity pit No we wont wake daddy Now tell me mc yer name Daddy called me I answered the child r playing with a button bullon on Johnsons J vest Is he get gettin 1 tin warmer now lie He was so cold an he ire speak to Ros Lilly I I it he l agreed Johnson Now No we jest wont bother daddy him bein so sick 1 You an mell t git supper A The cabin was warm now and on tiptoe Johnson and md went about their work setting sellin the thet t table lable bilin the tea lea and frying the bacon When Red Hed came in in from the barn and stamped the snow from his feet feel said Hush I laid her finger on her lips and glanced at the move less Jess in the bunk bunt shape i I 1 IVe We Ve mus let im sleep says decreed 3 r Johnson with wilh an 10 emphasis which penetrated r has unsympathetic consciousness and elicited a noncommittal noncom noncommittal noncommittal grunt For nearly an hour the two men smoked their steaming feet under the stove their the r backs turned toward the long shape in in the thc big bi bunk At last Johnson J stood up and shook himself t Well Vell he drawled I spose we mus be doin the best we wc kin km fey fer poor old Joe Vc We cant leave leay 1 him here liege in the house boost hou I f S SNo I INo No we cant answered answer d Hed hant it an nit m us too ever after like as not noU We rt got to give im im shift till the boss kin send lend an take im back ek to the thc settlement for the parson to do im up upright upTight upright right Tight an 10 proper r So they the buried poor Joe Godding Gadding deep in the snow under tinder the big elm lm behind the cabin and piled a monument monument monument ment of cordwood cord wood above him so that the foxes and wild cats could not disturb his lonely sleep and sur surmounted surmounted surmounted mounted the pile with a rude cross to signify its char character character acter teter Then lien with lighter hearts heart they went back to the cabin fire which seemed to burn more freely now t that the grim srim gnus presence of its former master had been removed Now to be done with the kid with Rosy t Lilly They do say in iii the settlements as how Joe Joer Joei i r a 4 at t r J I Godding kith nor kin l n in the world savin savin an m only the kid began Johnson nodded indifferently Well Vell went on Johnson we wc cant do but take her on to the camp now the let the hands han s keep her to kinder chipper up the camp when things gits gils dull I reckon when the boys sees her sweet face all be to 10 be to her pert spat accurately into the crack of o the grate I aint got no fancy fanc for young uns in camp but ye e ekin kin do cri ye like Walley Johnson he answered answer d grudgingly grudgingly gru g Only I want it understood right now I aint no an m wont be to that walks in petticoats I Well 11 tell the kid Johnson went on Oil as how her daddy dad y had to be took away in the night because he was so sick an speak to nobody an 10 we was goin to 10 take lake keer o 0 her till he gits gils backan an the truth I he added with ith a sudden passion of tend tenderness tenderness erness and pity in his tone toner At this hint of emotion laughed lau hed sarcastically sarcastically cally Then knocking out his pipe he lie proceeded to fill the stove for the night and spread his blanket on the floor beside it If ye e want to make the camp a baby farm he growled dont mind me I Well every mothers son o 0 us be to lien her I he declared Every man in camp assented noisily saving saing only Red He as was expected of him sat back and grinned From the first made herself at home in inthe inthe inthe the camp For a few days she fretted after her lien father but Jimmy Brackett Bracket was ever on orf hand to divert her mind with wilh astounding fairytales during the hours when the rest of the hands were away chop chopping chopping chopping ping and hauling Happily a b bys sorrow is shorter than its remembrance and soon learned to If felt the moment by Mc lIc rudeness she seemed always to forget it the tic thenet next net time she saw him But on one occasion the discomfiture dis discomfiture was She had elicited the customary cus eus customary tomary rough demand Well what d you want lOt But this time she held her ground though with quivering qU ering lips aint my 01 name tall she explained ex with baby bab politeness Its V n I 1 les Jes thought you might want me to sit on yer knee a little teeny Olin nun it Much taken back glanced about the room with a loutish grin Then lie Ile flushed angrily as he Jle felt the lie demand of the sudden Looking Look ll down again with a scowl at the expectant little ittle race face ace of Ros Lilly he growled Well hell r ell not as I knows of and rose to his feet icet thrusting her brusquely aside To cloak his embar embarrassment embarrassment embarrassment he lie slouched across the room room to the water bucket and gulped a copious draught from the long handled bandIed tin dipper Then with a furious glance at the child was forgetting her wounded pride with the help of Jimmy J Brackett and molasses cookey he climbed into his bunk and settled himself for sleep Aint he ugly murmured Bird Pidgeon to toVal Wal lcy Icy Johnson spitting indignantly on the Hed Heda a cuffed the kid cf of he dast dart he glared at her that ugly Like to see sec im try it responded Johnson through his teeth After this for some days the pathetic little comedy halted would climb into the safe retreat of his bunk right after supper sup er and smoke there beyond danger of surprise or escalade And for forthe forthe the thc moment appeared to have dismissed him from her thoughts Only the single piercing eye cye of Walley Johnson noted that she allowed herself herscH now and Ild then thena a swift but wistful glance toward bunk f 1 ilI I i it I I r rI I 1 try h t c 7 1 l d I 1 I r 1 t I I r J x j r l i 2 11 r t tr r p r J V r t r 4 L f I repeat her phrase Poor Daddy had to go way was off without the quivering qU cring lips and wistful look which made the big hearts tighten so painfully beneath their homespun shirts had not been m in the camp a week before ugliness to her had aroused even the resentment and the boss was a just man Of course it was generally recognized that thal was not bound by b any an known law or obligation to take any notice of the child still less to make a fuss over her h with the rest of the camp There was absolutely nothing to be done about it for Red was utterly titter within his rights The evening meal supper in Camp was the time of relaxation with only pipe and anti bunk to come Conte after As the rough roush banter bounded boisterously boisterously this way and that above the heaped helped tin plates and steaming tin cups big blue eyes would roam gravely from one face to another as if trying tring to understand what it was all about But at last her eyes would come always to the face of Red and rest there in wistful admiration When supper was over Oer and pipes filled and lighted some one would strike up tip a chantey one of those interminable monotonous which arc are pe peculiar peculiar peculiar culiar to the lumber camps These chanteys arc always sung in in a plaintive minor some arc sentimental or religious to the last degree while others other arc are amazingly vulgar But from the hour of arrival in camp all the vulgar chan were dropped without a word said by anyone from the repertoire During the songs the smoking and the lazy fun would slip from one big woodsman to an another another other an n inconspicuous little figure in the smoke gloomed light of the oil lamps Man after man would snatch her up to his knee lay by his pipe twist her silky silk yellow curls about his h s great blunt fingers and whisper tales or baby nonsense into her pink little car ar She would listen solemnly for or a minute or two then wriggle down and move on to another of her admirers But before long she Would be stand ing by tic bench on which sat Red with one big knee usually hooked high hi h above the other and his broad back reclined against the edge of a bunk For Fo a few moments the child would stand there smil ing ing with a perennial confidence waiting to be noticed Then she would come closer and look up coaxingly into his face If were not engrossed in song it would soon become impossible for him to ignore her He would suddenly look down at her with wilh his fierce Eu eyes knit v his 4 shaggy r red ed d brows and Demand harshly Well an what dye dyc want to w where his big form lounged in a gloom of smoke e For a time now left alone so markedly that it looked as IS if Walle Johnson or Jimmy Brackett had admonished her on the subject She con continued continued indeed to cast at him hun eyes of pleading re reproach reproach but hut always from a distance and such appeals rolled off crude perception like water off ofT a muskrats fur He had nothing agin her lien as he would have haYe put it only she would keep out of o his way Wl Nearly a week went by before saw an another another another other chance chanec to assail forbidding defences This time she made what her innocent heart con concurred concurred concurred to be a tremendous bid for the favor Incidentally too she revealed a secret which the boss and Walley Johnson had been guarding with guilty solicitude ever since her coming to the camp It chanced that the boss and Johnson together were kept away awa from front camp one night till near morning laying laing out a l new landing over on Forks Brook When it came time for to be put to bed bcd the honor fell as a matter of course to Jimmy Brackett ROL ll went with wilh him will enough but not till after a moment of hesitation hesitation hesitation tion in which her eyes wandered involuntarily to fo the broad red face of behind its cloud of smoke As a nursemaid nurse maid Jimmy Brackett flattered himself that he was a success till the moment came when mien was ivas to be tucked into her bunk Then she stood and eyed him with solemn question wrong me asked Brackett anxiously You heard me my prayers replied Rosy Lilly with a touch of severity in her voice Eh Eli that stammered Brackett startled quite out of his wonted wont cd composure Dont you know little girls has to say their prayers afore they goes to bed she demanded No Not 1 admitted Brackett truthfully wondering how he hc was going to get out of the unexpected situation Valley Walley Johnson hears me mine continued the child her eyes very ery wide open as she weighed Brack BrackI i I COP COll fOJ ells etts qualifications in her merciless little Ii i balance Here Brackett was misguided enough to grin be bethinking bethinking thinking him that now he had hind the laugh on the boss and Walley That grin settled it itI |
