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Show K B BEGIN tiiju: TODAY H Bill Uronson guides Virginia Tre- HH nion' and her tlsm S'S undo. Kcnly -OiinyUurv. In their ciu-st In the Cleai- P"""" u ,,f northern C.ina.M f.r Yir- H Rlnlu fum e. Harohl I.ounsbiiry. who H anished there six yearn pre ioutl . H Hill also expects to look further for H tho lost mine of his father, who 8S H murdered by a false partner. Kill H HIVea V irginia from drowning In GriS- HaY zly river and takes her to hla liajj- M ping cabin. Kenly I.ounsbury and BH Yasprr. tho cook, left on the other BH side of the river, desert them. In the Hfl cabin Hill and Virginia find many on GO ON WITH Till; 9TORX I Virginia smiled and finned in the I pockets of the gre-u nlicker tout she I had worn Use night of tho disaster. Bhs produced a little White roll, and Jwlth high glee opened it for him to III nee. "Wrapped In a miniature face towel, was ner comb, a .small brush and a toothbrush! Hill then walked with some triumph, tri-umph, to tho bunk on which Virginia had slept the night before, and lifting it up, revealed a grent box beneath- bags of rice, and beans, dried apples, marmalade and canned goods, enough vur sonw weeks at least. it thine ' i haven't sol is moat," Bill told her, 'except a little jerk ; but there's plenty of that in tho woods if wo can find it. And I don't intend to delay about that. If tho snow gets much deeper, we'd have to have ihowshoes to hunt at all." ''You mean go hunting todS) i "As soon as wo can stir up a meal." Dressing warmly they ventured out into tho snowy wastts Bin walked in front, breaking trail. He carried the ancient rifle ready in Ills Jiands. He etrnestl lupeu tnai tney might run Into game it once. Later tin-moose tin-moose wouid go to their winter feeding feed-ing grounds, lar down the heights Every day they delayed, their ohaneel of procuring meat was less. He led her over the ridge Id tho marshy shores of Gray lake. They, waited in the shadow or the epruco. Don't mukc any oeodleai motions," ho cautioned, and don l apeak aloud They've got eveS and ears like lmw lea 1 H was not easy to stand Still, io the snow and cold, waiting for game to appear. Virginia was uncomtorta-1 ble within halt an hOur, shivering and1 Urcd. . '. . It was a long wait that they had i be.slde the lake. Then the. girl felt bis hand on her arm. "Be still," he whispered, "Here be comes." I Although she had never seen such an animal before, at once she recognized recog-nized its kind. The Spreading horns, the great frame, the long, grotesque nose belonged only to the moose tht bjjjjjjjjjjjjjjk greatest of American wild animals. At the roar of tho ri:iu Bhe cried out Id excitement. The old bull-had H traversed the marshes for tho last KfJ Hb The shoulder of a bull moose was never a load foi a weak bad.. JJ111 skluned out the quarter with B great caro; then, stooping, worked it WJM on his back. Virginia took his gun WM and led the way back over their snow trail. Hf Twilight had fallen again when Qffi they mad the cabin HI Hill Showed her how to broil the steak lb its own tat, and he cooked Hf hot biscuits and macaroni to go with H , it- No meal of her life had over given her gn -.a. r pl-.i-ur-. "H's strange tha't i don't want to M I smoke myself." the g!r! told I irn BF. B4 "I moki i mean I did. M it's getting to be the thing to do among the gnls 1 know. Bom e way, tho thought of it does a i sei-ni .i..-BH .i..-BH estlng any more." Ho had an impression that she was speaking cry softly. But he under-B under-B stood when she paused He wis startled to find that the whole tone and key of the night had vaguely HB changed. "The north wind." Bill said sim- Virginia's eyes grow wide. "What doeo it mean'.'" she asked, H breathlessly. "Winter. The nortliorn winter. I've seen it break too many times. There's HK no chance for doubt any more. JJer-haps JJer-haps wo can drown out the sound of it with music." HHj He walked toward the battered ln- B !:' Her KB In her, and she nodded eagerly. "Yes a little ragtime." "I haven't any ragtime." tho man HKj explained humbly "I could only bring up a few records, and so I took JH just the ones I Liked best. They're Hj simple tilings I'm sorry I haven't Hj She looked at this man with grow-! V He pui on ;, r,., oril. S:io recogniz- EV ed the melody at once. It was Drdla's' "Souvenir" and the first notes seemed seem-ed to sweep her Into infinity. It was a moment of enchantment. Tho music rose high, fell In soaring leaps, trembled In Infinite appeal, and slowly died away. Outside the storm increased in fury. And It w:is will for her peace of ; mind that sha did not gluiiee at Hill. Ho was watching the girl's face, his eyes wistful an no human being had ever seen thorn. The soaring notea. with the dreadful accomianlment of the storm, had brought liohio a truth he had tried to deny. "I love you. Virginia." cried the inaudible voice of his soul. "Oh. Vlrglni.: I loe you, I love you " VI It was one of Bill Bronson's basic creeds to look his situation squarely in the face. He had tried to avoid a truih that ever grew clearer and more manifest his lote for Virginia. lie had told himself he wouldn't give his love to her. He would hold that back, at least. He had reminded himself of the bridgelcns gap that ' separated them. But there was no upe of trying further. In the stress and passion of the melody he tmd found I out the truth. But if he couldn't keep this knowledge knowl-edge from himself, at least he could hold it from the pirl It would only bring her unhapplness. It would destroy de-stroy the feeling of comradeship for him- that he had besrun to observe In her. It would put an insurmountable wall between them. Virginia had no suspicion of his thoughts She was still enthralled ly the after-image of the music. But soon the noise of the storm began to force itself Into her consciousness. Vaguely she knew that this r.lght was different from the others. The two previous nights she had been 1)1 and half-unconscious, her very helplessness help-lessness appealed to BUI'S chivalry. Tonight she stood on her own feet. She was suddenly face to face with the fact that the eight stretched before be-fore her--and she In a snowsv. epi cabin In the full power of a strange man. But all at once she looked up to find Bill's eyes upon her, full of sympathy sym-pathy mid understanding. "You'll want to turn In now," he told her. "YOU tike thr. bunk again, of course I'll sleep on the floor. I'm comfortable there And now I've got to fix your boudoir " lb. took one of tho boxes that served "It's strange i don't wanl to smoke myself," tho girl told him M a chair and stood it up tin the floor Just In front of he rbunk Then, holding hold-ing one of the blankets In his arm and a few nails in hin hand, ho climbed climb-ed upon the box. She understood in an Instant. He u;i curtaining off the entire end of the cabin where irginla slept. The girl's relief sliowed in her face. I "You inn go In there now." he told her. "But there's one thing I want to show you before you turn in." oyee,.. ."I want to show ou this little pistol." pis-tol." He took a light arm of blue steel from his belt the small catl-berod catl-berod and automatic weapon with which he had killed the grouse. "It's only a twenty-two." Bill went on, "but It shoots ten of 'em, fast as you pull the trigger. You could kill a ariboU with it. if you hit him right. ' "Yes."' And the wondered at this curious interlude in their moment of parting. "You sec this little catch behind tho trigger guard?" The girl nodded "When you want tn fire it, all you have to do is to push up the little eatoh with your thumb and pull the trigger Tomorrow I'm going to teach you how to shoot with it I mean shoot straight enough to take the head 1 off a grouse at twenty feet. Ami bo I it mill l.r I, ...I," T , . . ..... iu ,, , nm uu io I Bleep with it under your pillow." Understanding flashed through her, I and a slow, grateful smile played at . her Hps. I'J don't want it, Bill," she told him "You'd feel safer with U," the man urged. He slipped it under her pillow pil-low "And even beforo you learn to i Bhdot It well you could If you had I to shoot and kill it man " lie smiled again and-drew her curtain. cur-tain. Bill was trim' to her promise to teach Virginia to dipot. Tho next day they had target practice. While VlrRinla cooked lunch. Bill Cut young spruce trees and mailt- a sled; and after the meal pushed out through the whirling snow to bring in the remainder of tho moose meat. 1 M'ou tVk tit. ,L- ..t V, ...I...I- ternoon to urge tho tied up the rldgo and rhen draw it homo through the drifts. Virginia was lonely nnd depressed alj the lime Bill was absent. "You can call ine Virginia. If you want to." sho told him. Last naines are silly out here " Bill looked his gratitude, and she helped him prepare the meat. Some of It he hung just outside the - abin door; one. of the great hams was suspended sus-pended In a spruce tree, fifty feet In front of the cabin. Tho skin- was fleshed and hung up behind tho stove to dry. "It's going to furnish the web for our snowehoes," ho explained. In their talk thr.t evening she was surprised to learn how full had been his reading. Other evenings he told her nature lore, the ways of tho living creatures that he observed, nnd in too daytime he illus:rated his points from life (Continued In Our Next Issue.) oo , |