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Show j Wfw WiM: (1571 ' I tf tt Northland Remade Robert WSeicPfi I i "There's Many and Many a Pan Like It Down There." leu you 'now, i3ear,;Tve "borne It TTT1 for your sake, but I don't think I could bear it any longer. I don't know what I'd have done if it hadn't been for the rough miners. They've been so kind to tne. When they saw I was straight and honest they couldn't be good enough." She looked at me archly. "And you know, I've had ever so many offers of marriage, from honest, hon-est, rough, kindly men and I've refused re-fused them ever so gracefully." "Has Locasto ever made any more overtures?" Her face grew grave. "Yes, about a month ago he besieged be-sieged me, gave me no rest, madeall kinds of proposals and promises. He w-anted to divorce his 'outside' wife and marry ma He wanted to settle a hundred thousand dollars on me. Then, when he saw it was no upo, he turned round mid begged me to let him be my friend. He spoke so nicely of you. He said he would help us in any way he could. He's everything every-thing that's kind to me now. He can't do enough for me. Yet, somehow, some-how, I don't trust Mm." "Well, my precious," I assured her, "all danger, doubt, despair, will soon be over. I'll take you away from it all, soon. We'll go to my home, to Garry, to mother. They will love you as I love you." "I'm sure I will love them. What you have told me of Uiem makes them seem very real to me. Will you not be ashamed of me?" "I will be proud, proud of you, my girl. On the first day of June, beloved, be-loved, I will come to you, and we will be made man and wife. You will be waiting for me, will you not?" "Yes, yes, waiting ever so eagerly, my lover." I kissed her passionately, and we held each other tightly for a moment. mo-ment. I saw come into her eyes that look which comes but once into the eyes of a maid, that look of ineffable self-surrender, of passionate abandonment. abandon-ment. She rested her head on my shoulder; shoul-der; her lips lay on mine, and they moved faintly. "Yes, lover, yes, the first of June. Don't fail me, honey, don't fail me." We parted, buoyant with hope, in an ecstasy of Joy. " fbl tacF fo the claim. Everything Every-thing was going tnerflly, "but 1 felt little desire to resume my toll. I was strangely wearied, worn out somehow. Yet I took up my shovel again with a body that rebelled In every tissue. Never had I felt like this before. Something was wrong with me. I was weak. At night I sweated greatly. I cared not to eat. "Well," said the Prodigal one day, "it's all over but the shouting. From my calculations we've cleaned up two hundred and six thousand dollars. That's a hundred and three between us four. It's cost us about three to get out the stuff ; so there will be, roughly speaking, about twenty-flve thousand for each of us." How jubilant every one was looking look-ing every one but me. Somehow 1 felt as if money didn't matter just then, for I was sick, sick. "Why, what's the matter?" said the Prodigal, staring at me curiously. "You look like a ghost." "I feel like one, too," I answered. "I'm afraid I'm in for a bad spell. I want to lie down awhile, boys . . . I'm tired. . . . The first of June, I've got a date on the first of June. I must keep it, I must. . . . Don't let me sleep too long, boys. I mustn't J fail. It's a matter of life and death. The first of June. ..." Alas, on the first of June I lay In the hospital, raving and tossing in the dutches of typhoid fever. (To Be Continued) 1 ft'fl U "' Chapter ix It was about two months later when I returned from a flying visit to Daw- k Eots of mail for you two," I cried, ' -exultantly bursting Into the cabin, jim and the Prodigal, who were lying ly-ing on their bunks, leapt up eagerly. For two whole months we had not . 'beard from the outside. ' I threw myself on my bunk voluptuously, volup-tuously, and began re-reading my letters. let-ters. There were some from Garry and' some from mother. While still 'unreconciled to the life I was leading, tney were greatly interested in my wildly cheerful accounts of the country. coun-try. For my part I was only too glad ! mother was well enough to write, 'even If she did scold me sometimes. But I was still aglow with mem-cries mem-cries of the last few hours. Once 'more I had seen Berna, spent moments with her of perfect bliss, left her with Ipjj. miid full of exaltation and be-;wlUered be-;wlUered gratitude. I saw the love 'mists gather in her eyes, I felt her sweet lips mold themselves fo jmlne, ) :j thrilled with the sheathing ardor of ier arms. Never in my fondest lfS? jglnlngs had I conceived that such a Jwealth of afe.cUori would ever b for ml. :Li;i Bien I remembered something. "Oh, say, boys, J forgot to tell you. j met McCrimmon down the creek. Yj)u remember bim on the trail, the ialfbreed. He saldjie wanted" to see us on important business. He has a proposal to make, he says, that vpSuIa be greatly to our advantage. He's coming along this evening What's the matter, Jim?" Jim was staring blankly at one of the letters he had received. His face was a picture of distress, misery, despair. "Had bad news, old man?" "I've had a letter that's upset me. Vm In a terrible position. If ever I wanted strength and guidance, I want it now." "Heard about that man?" "Yes, it's him, all right ; it's Mosher. 1 suspicioned It all along. Here's a letter from my brother. He says there's no doubt that Mosher la Moseley." ; His eyes were stormy, his face tragic In Its bitterness. "Oh, you don't know how I worshiped wor-shiped that woman, trusted her, would jhave banked my life on her; and when ,1 was away making money for her she Dps and goes away with that slimy reptile. What am I to do? What am I to do? The Good Book says forgive jour enemies, but how can I forgive a wrong like that? And my poor girl he deserted her, drove her to the 'streets. Oh, my girl, my girl I" Tears overran his cheeks. He sat down on a log, burying Ms) face In his hands. I was at a loss how to comfort him, and It was while I was waiting there that suddenly we saw the halfbreed coming up the trail. "Better come in, Jim," I said, "and near what he's got to say." We made McCrimmon comfortable. .Jim regained his calm, and was quietly quiet-ly watchful. The Prodigal seemed to have his ears cocked to listen. There as a feeling amongst us as if we had reached a crisis in our fortunes. The halfbreed lost no time in com-lnS com-lnS to the point "I've got next to a good thing I don't know how good jt. but I'll swear to you it's a tidy It's a gambling proposition, and 1 ant pardners, pardners that'll work , e bl!IZ(,s and keep their faces shut, "e you on?" , "That's got us kodaked," said tha ,'rodigai. "We're that sort, and if the reposition looks good to us we're a 5'ou. Anyway, we're clams at "An g- Ur fooJ-traPs tight," 1 .ticT r'Sht ' UStei1, YoU the ArC ' transportation company have claim3 ' upper Bonanza well, a month 1 was working for them. Well, e n,orning I went down and cleaned StrnV "'e 8Sh 0f my fire The firSt rmi f niy piek on the thawed face th'inti m0 3Ump' Stare- Stand StOCkstill, hob T8 hard- Fr th0re' rigUt lD Uie P001- I T d ffl:Ule' W!13 rlC,ieSt the eVer seen Boys as rra alive rak? VaS n"""ets Ir " as thick as in a Christmas plum-duff." rd! What did you do?" Mint did 1 do! I just stepped sen,,nd picketl wherever the dirt dr'ft. rloose aI1 tlje way down th I . Gr0!,t beaps of dirt caved in on I ,!, 8 st"'i"cd, nearly buried, but dirt i triek- Thers were tons ot etween me and mv find." , J : asPed with amazement. 'shaft rCSt Was easy- 1 went "P tl19 tended gtranins and cursing. I pre-of pre-of (J 10 faIlt. I told them the roof was r h had faIlen In on me- rt 'hew t " stuff- anyway, and they he ' TIle manager was disgusted, ,thinCR7 down and took a look at Jeclargdjtie would throw up the worK at mat aceTie-gTouml was no good. He made that report to the company." The halfbreed looked round triumphantly. trium-phantly. "Now, here's the point. We can get a lay on that ground. One of you (boys must apply for it They mustn't know I'm in with you, or they would suspect right away. We'll make a big clean-up by spring. I'll take you right to the gold. There's thousands .and thousands lying snug in the ground just waiting for us. It's right in our ,mit. Oh, it's a cinch, a cinch! If you ;boys are willing we'll just draw up papers and sign an agreement right away. Is it a go?" We nodded, so he got ink and paper and drew up a form of partnership. "Now," said he, his eyes dancing, "now, to secure that lay before anyone any-one else. cuts in on us. Gee! but it's getting dark and cold outdoors these (days. Snow falling; well, I must mush to Dawson tonight." It was late next night when he re- turned, tired, wet, dirty, but irre- pressibly jubjlant? ww... 1 "Hurrah, boys lJie cr;ecL I'ye (ctnfed it Jj$w Mister Manager of 'the big" company'. He" was "very busy, - very important, very patronizing. We '"sparred round a bit like two fake fighters. Finrjlly he agreed to let me 'haveTFon a 6Q fer cent gsis."Sgnlt 'faint, boys. Fifty "per" sent; I said. ' I'm sorry. . Itwajs the. bestl coultl 'So, and jroQ kjjgw t'lSnol slow. That SeaBTtfiey get half of all we fake out -WlPsTgnetf the lay "agreement, and everything's in shape. We've got tha ground cinched, so get action on your- selves. Here's where we make our first - real stab at fortune. Here's where we even upon the hard Jabs she's handed us In the past ; here's where we score ,a bull's-eye, or I miss my guess. We'ra going to work for all we're worth and then some. Are you there, boys, are you there?" "We are," we 'shouted with one ao-cord. ao-cord. There was no time to lose. Every hour for us meant so much more of that precious pay-dirt that lay undur the frozen surface. We ran up a little cabin and banked it nearly to the low eaves with snow. By and by more fell on the roof to the depth of three feet, so that the place seemed like a huge white hummock. In this little box of a home we wefe to put in many weary months. Not that the time seemed long to us; we were too busy for that. Indeed, In-deed, often we wished it were twice as long. We didn't talk much in those ; days. We just worked, worked, worked, and when we did talk it was of our wort, our ceaseless work. Neither cold nor fatigue could keep us away from the shaft and the drift We had gone down to bed-rock, and were tunneling in to meet the hole, the half-breed had covered np. So far we had found nothing. We were working two men to a shaft, burning our ground overnight Our meals were hurriedly cooked and bolted. We grudged every moment of our respite from toll. Surely we would strike it soon. Then, one afternoon, the Something happened. It was Jim who was the chosen one. About three o'clock he signaled to be hoisted up, and when he appeared he was carrying a pan of dirt. "Call the others," he said. All together in the little cabin wa stood round, while Jim washed out the pan in snow water melted over our stove. We could see gleams of yeUow in the muddy water. We had got the thing, the big thing, at last. "Hurry, Jim," I said, "or I'll die of suspense." Patiently he went on. There it was at last In the bottom of the pan, glittering, glit-tering, gleaming gold, fine gold, coarse gold, nuggety gold. n "Now, boys, you can whoop it up,' said Jim quietly; "for there's many and many a pan like It down there in 'the drift." I Solemnly we shook hands all round. ! It was 'the night of the discovery when the Trodigal made us an address. "Look here, boys ; do you know what this means? It means victory; it means freedom, happiness, the things we want, the life we love. We're going go-ing to get every cent of It, boys. There's a little over three months to do it in, leaving about a month to make sluice-boxes and clean up the dirt We've got to work like men at "a burning barn. For my part, I'm willing to do stunts that will make my previous record look like a plugged dime. I guess you boys all feel the same way." "You bet we do." "Nuf sed; let's get busy." So. once more, with redoubled energy," en-ergy," we resumed our tense, unremitting unre-mitting round of toil. It proved a most erratic and puzzling paystreak one day richbeyqnd our .dreams, lUlUlner loo pouno'puy Tor the 'pan-; 'pan-; ning. We swung on a pendulum of hope and despair. I Looking back, there will always ' seem to me something weird and incomprehensible in-comprehensible in those twilight days, an unreality, a vagueness like some dreary, feverish dream. For i three months I did not see my face in n mirror. Not that I wanted to. ; but I mention this just to show how little we thought of ourselves. It was mid-March when we finished working out our ground. We had done well, not so well, perhaps, as we had hoped for, but still magnificently magnifi-cently well. There were our two dumps, pyramids of gold-permeated dirt " at whose value we Could only guess. We had wrested our treasure from the icy grip of the eternal frost. Now It remained and Oh, the sweetness sweet-ness of it to glean the harvest of our j toil 'MBSimesa'-s 'MBSimesa'-s Wj5'ere Working at the mouth of j a creek down which ran a. copious j little stream all through the Springtime. Spring-time. We tapped it some distance ! above ue, and ran part " of It along ! our Una of sluice-boxes. I remember how I threw in the first shovelful of dirt, and how good It was to see the bright stream discolor as our friend the water began his magic work. For three days we shoveled In, and on the fourth we made a clean-up. When we ran oft the water there were some of the boxes almost full of the yellow metal, wet and shiny, gloriously agleam In the morning light Day after day we went on shoveling shovel-ing In, and about twice a week we made a clean-up. The month of May i was half over when we had only a third of our dirt run through the ; boxes. We were terribly afraid of ! the water failing us, and worked harder than ever. One afternoon I was working on the dump, intent on shoveling in as 1 much dirt as possible before supper, j when, on looking up, who should greet : me but Locasto. He held out his ' great hand to me, and, as I had no ' desire to antagonize him, I gave him , my own. "I've just been visiting some of my , creek properties," he said. "I heard you fellows had made a good strike, . and I thought I'd come down and congratulate con-gratulate you. It is pretty good. , isn't it?" ! "Yes," I said ; "not quite so good as we expected, but we'll all Cave a tidy sum." ; "I'm glad." He was turning to go when, suddenly, sud-denly, he stopped. "Oh, by the way, I saw a friend of yours before I left. No need to mention men-tion names, you lucky dog. When's the big thing coming off? Well, I must congratulate you again. She looks sweeter than ever. By-by." He was off, leaving a very sinister Impression on my mind. In his parting part-ing smile there was a trace of mockery mock-ery that gravely disquieted me. I had thought much of Berna during the past few months, but as the gold fever took hold of me I put her more and ntore from my mind. I told myself my-self that all this struggle was for her. In the thought that she was safe 1 calmed all anxious fear. Yet at Lo-casto's Lo-casto's words all my old longing and heartache vehemently resurged. In spite of myself, I was the prey of a growing uneasiness. I began to worry, so that I knew only a trip Into In-to Dawson would satisfy me. Accordingly, Ac-cordingly, I hired a big Swede to take my place at the shovel, and set out once more on the trail for town. My strange, formless fears for Berna Ber-na were soon set at rest. She was awaiting me. She looked better than I had ever seen her, and she welcomed wel-comed me with an eager delight that kindled me to rapture. We crossed the Yukon to the green glades of North Dawson, and there, on a liitle rise, we sat down, side by side. Never was lad so happy as I. I spoke but little, for love's silences are sweeter than all words. From time to time she would give me a el a nee so full of trust and love that my heart would leap to her, and wave on wave of passionate tenderness come sweeping over me. "Yes," she was saying, "doosn t It seem as if we were dreaming? rou know, I always thought it was a dream, and now it's coming true. You'll take me away from this place, won't vou, boy? fari3rjrway- II1 |