Show N 0 OF fa firm 1 X nd E by BERTRAND W SINCLAIR copyright little drawn brawn co LURE OF HIDDEN GOLD CALLS ROARING BILL AND HAZEL INTO THE wilderness synopsis miss aliss hazel weir a stenographer living at granville ontario is placed under a cloud by circumstances for which she Is entirely blameless to escape from the groundless gossip that pursues pursue her she secures a position as schoolteacher at caribou meadows in a wild part of british columbia there at a boarding house she first sees roaring dill bill wagstaff a well known character charack er of that country soon after her arrival hazel loses her way while walking in the woods she sha wanders until night nhen she reaches roaring bills camp firo fire in the woods ile he promises to take her home in the morning but she Is compelled to spend the night in the woods after wandering in the woods all the next nest day roaring bill finally admits that he Is taking hazel to his cabin 1 in the mountains hazel finds upon their arrival at the cabin that she cannot hope to CSC escape ape from the wilderness before spring during the long winter roaring bill treats blazel with the 9 greatest respect he tells her he loves her and tries to induce her to marry him but she refuses in the spring lie ho takes her to bella cools coola where she can get a boat to vancouver at vancouver I 1 hazel takes a train for granville but on the way she realizes that she loves wagstaff Wag start and decided to return to him roaring dill bill Is overjoyed and together ge ther they travel to a hudson bay post and are married 11 CHAPTER IX continued this Is july the twenty fifth sir mr roaring bill wagstaff fC she announced weve been married exactly one month A whole month he echoed in mock astonishment you dont say eay so seems like it was only day before yesterday little person 1 I wonder she snuggled up a little closer to him if any two people were ever as happy as weve been bill put his arm across her shoulders and tilted her thead back so that h he a could smile down into her face fac e they have been ii a bunch of golden days they he whispered you wont forget this joy time if we ever do hit real hard going will you hazel the bird of ill omen croaks again she reproved why should we come to hard bard going as you call icv it we he declared but most people do and we might one never can tell ahead by and by when the novelty wears off maybe get sick of seeing the same old bill around and nobody else you see ive always been on my good behavior bilth n ath you do you yon like me a lot his arm tightened with a quick and powerful pressure then suddenly relaxed to let her lean back and stare up at him tenderly 1 I X ought to punish you for saying things like that she pouted only I 1 cant think of any effective method sufficient unto the day Is the evil thereof and there is no evil in our days amen he whispered softly and they fell to silent contemplation of the rose and gold that spread in a wonderful blazon over all thi the western sky twi twenty enty afif fifth th of july eh 7 he mused pre presently senty summers half gone ane already I 1 realize it we ought to be stirring pretty soon lady these northern seasons are so blessed short we ought to try and do a little good for ourselves make hay while the sun shines well needa da mon needs needa fiddlesticks she laughed want do we need money for it costs practically nothing to live up here why this sudden desire to pursue the dollar besides how are you got goir r lg to kursu pursue a it go prospecting he replied promptly hit the trail for a place I 1 know where theres oodles of coarse gold it if you ean an get to it tit at low water howd you like to go into the upper naas country this fall trap all winter work the sandbars in the spring and come out eat 11 next ext fall with a sac sack k of gold it would take a hor seto pack hazel clapped lier aher hands oh dill bill that be fine she cried id love to it wont bo be all smooth sailing he warned its a long trip and a hard one and the winter will be longer and harder than the trip still theres a chance for a good big stake right in that one trip but why the necessity for making a baake she inquired thoughtfully after a lapse of five minutes 1 I thought you care anything about money so long as you had enough to get along on and we surely have that weve over two thousand dollars in real money and no place to spend it so were compelled to save bill blow blew a smoke ring over his head and watched it vanish up toward the dusky root roof beams before lie ho answered well little person eald aid he very true and we cant truthfully say that stern necessity is treading on our heels the possession of money has never been a crying need with rne me but I 1 many wants when I 1 was nas playing a lone hand and I 1 generally let the future take care of itself it was always easy to dig up money enough to buy books and grub or anything I 1 wanted now that ive assumed a certain responsibility it has begun to down on me that wed enjoy life better it if we wa were assured of a compe tence we wont stay here always im pretty much contented just now so are you but I 1 know from past exper lence that the outside will grow more alluring ni ns time masses get lonesome tor for civilization its irs the most natural thing in the world and when we go out to mix with our fellow humans we want to meet them on terms of worldly equality which Is to say with good clothes on and a fat bank roll in our pocket and last but not least old girl while I 1 love to loaf I 1 can only loaf about so long la in contentment tent ment sabe saba ive got to be doing something whether it was profitable or not has never mattered just so it was action 1 I sabo sabe as you call it hazel smiled of course I 1 do only lazy people like to loaf all the time I 1 love th this is place and we might stay here for years and be satisfied dut but but wed be better satisfied to sta say it if we knew that we could leave it whenever we wanted to he anier interrupted the psychology of the human animal all right we dont like to be coerced even by circumstances it if you made a lot of money mining we could travel one could d dp lots lota of things she reflected 1 I dont think id want to live in a city again but it would be nice to go there sometimes yes tos dear girl it would bill agreed with a churn chum to help belp you en ca we can do things together that I 1 do alone and yon ou do alone remains only to get the wherewithal and since I 1 know how to manage that with a minimum amount of effort id like to be about it before somebody else gets ahead of me I 1 though theres small chance of that well be partners said she now how will we divide the profits billum 7 well aspili split e ven even he de Jared ared that Is ill make the money and I 1 spend it they chuckled over this conceit and as the dusk closed in slowly they fell to planning the details hazel lit the lamp and in its yellow glow pored over maps while bill idly sketched their route on oa a sheet of paper his all F pored over maps while bill idly sketched their route on a sheet of paper objective lay east of the h head ead oi of the naas proper where amid a wild agn tangle le of mountains and mountain torrents three turbulent ahers rh ers the the skeena and the naas took their r rise ise A godforsaken god cod forsaken region he told her where few white men had penetrated the peaks flirted with the clouds and their were we re scarred with glaciers A lonesome brooding land the home of a vast and seldom broken silence but theres all kinds of gome game land and fur in there bill remarked thoughtfully and gold still its a fierce country for a roan man to take his best girl into I 1 dont know whether I 1 0 ought bt to tackle it we be more esolat isolated ed than we are here hazel argued if we were in the arctic look at that poor woman at pelt house three babies born alace she saw a doctor or another woman dofher own own color a winter by ourselves compared to that and she think it so great a hardship dont you yon worry about me mr bill I 1 think it will be fun am im a real pioneer at heart the wild places look good to me when youre along she received her due reward for that and then the long iong having brought the hour to a lateness that manifested itself by sundry yawns on their part they them went to bed with breakfast over hilll put a compass in ills his pocket after having ground his ax blade to a keen edge come on said he then im going to transact some important business what Is it she promptly demanded with much curiosity this domicile of ours girl he be to told id her while hile he led the way through the surrounding timber la is ours only by grace of the wilderness its built on government laud land land that I 1 have no more legal claim to than tiny passing trapper but im going to remedy that im going to formally stal stake t p a hundred and sixty acres of this and apply for its purchase then well have a cinch an on our home well always havo have a refuge to fly to no matter where we go she nodded appreciation of this the cabin in the clearing stood tor for some of those mo moments rients that always loom large and unforgettable in every wom ans experience she had come there once in hot shamed anger and she had come again as a bride it was the handiwork of a man she loved with a passion that sometimes startled her by its intensity just tle the mere possibility lity of that place being given over to others roused in h her C r a pang of resentment sent ment it was theirs hers and bills and being a woman she viewed its possession jealously so she watched with keen interest what he did which in truth was mas simple enough he worked his way to a point southeast of the clearing till they gained a little rise whence through the treetops they could look back and see the cabin roof there bill cut oft off an eight inch jack pine leaving the stump approximately four feet high this he hewed square the four flat sides of the post facing respectively ively the cardinal points ot of the compass compas compasso sl on one smoothed surface bill set to work with his pocketknife hazel sat down and watched while he busied himself at this and when he had finished she read la fa deep carved letters W S E B CORNER then he penned on a sheet of letter paper a brief notice to the effect that he be william wagstaff intended to apply for the purchase of the land embraced in an area a half mile square of which the post was the southeast corner mark this notice he be fastened to the stump with a few tacks and sat bat down to rest from his labors dowlong howlong Ho Ilo do you suppose that will stay there and who Is there to read it it if it does hazel observed search me the moose and the deer and the timber wolves I 1 guess bill grinned the chances are the paper wont last long with winds and rains but it matter its simply a form prescribed by the land act or of british columbia and so long as I 1 go through the legal motions that lets me out matter of form you know then what hat else do you have to do nothing but furnish the money when the land department gets around to accept my application he said 1 I can get an agent to attend to all the details well lets take a look at our estate from another corner this roughly ascertained ascertained by sighting a line with the compass and stepping off yards brought them up on a knoll that commanded the small basin of which the clearing was practically in the center ahal aha 1 bill exclaimed look at our ranch would you our widespread acres basking in the sun A quarter section is quite a chunk do you know I 1 never thought much about it before but theres a piece of the finest land that lies outdoors if tills country should get a railroad and settle up that quarter section might produce all the income wed need just out of hay and potatoes howd you like to be a farmers wife huh fine fin e she smiled look tit at the view it gorgeous its its simply aca peaceful eaul and quiet and soothing I 1 hate to leave it better be sorry to leave a place than glad to get away he answered lightly come on lets pike home and get things in order for the long trail woman 0 mine ill teach you how to be a woodland vagabond CHAPTER X I 1 ir en route long since hazel hol bad locae aware that whatsoever her set about doing lie he did swiftly and with inflexible purpose there was no malingering or doubtful hesitation once his mind was ronde made up ho he acted thus upon the third day from the laud land staking they bore away eastward from the clearing across a trackless area traveling by bythe the sun and dills bills knowledge of the enu country sortie some lay any therell therall be trails blazed through here by a paternal government lie he laughed over his shoulder for the broffit of the public but we dont need em thank goodness the buckskin pony blazel had bought for the trip in with limping george ambled sedately under a pack containing bedding clothes and a light tent the black horse a dij of the cocked ear car and the rolling eye carried in a pair of konks six weeks supply of food bill led tho the way seconded by hazel on easy casy gaited silk behind her trailed the pack horses like dogs well broken to heel patient under their heavy burdens oft off in the cast the sun was barely clear of the towering and the woods were still cool and shadowy full of aromatic odors from plant and tree there was waa no monotony in the passing days rivers barred their way these they forded corded or swam or ferried a makeshift raft ot of logs us as seemed most fit haps and mishaps alike they accepted with an equable spirit and the true philosophy of the trail to take things as they come when rain deluged them there was always shelter to bo be found and fire to warm them it if the flies assailed too flere fiercely ely a smudge brought easement of that ill 1 at the surveyor lifted kis his hat with a swift glance of unconcealed admiration mi ration at hazel each day was something more than a mere toll of so many miles traversed the unexpected for which both were eager eyed lurked on the shoulder of each mountain in the hollow of every cool or met them boldly in tho the open naked and unafraid bearing up to where the machaco debou de bouches ebes from fraser lake with a hudsons Hud sons bay fur post and an indian mission on its eastern fringe they came upon a blazed line in the scrub timber roaring bill pulled up and squinted away down the narrow lane fresh with ax marks well said be 1 I wonder coming off now that looks like a survey line of some sort it a trail too wide lets follow it a while ill bet a nickel he asserted next nest a railroad survey naif half an hour of easy jogging set me seal of truth on his assertion they came upon e man squinting through a brass instrument set on three legs directing with alternate of his outspread bands certain activities of other men ahead of him well ill bep be P he be bit off the sentence and stared a moment in frank astonishment tit at nazel hazel then he took off his hat and bowed good morning he greeted politely sure bill grinned we have mornings like this around amund here all the time what all are you fellows doing in the wilderness anyway railroad cross section work for the G T P the surveyor replied huh dill grunted Is it a dead cinch or Is it something that may possibly corao to pass in the misty future As near a cinch as anat anything hing ever Is the surveyor answered construction has begun at both ends I 1 thought the few white folks in this country kept tab on anything as important as a new railroad weve heard a lot but none of lern em has transpired yet not in my time anyway bill replied dryly however the world keeps on moving ive heard more or less talk of this but I 1 know it had got past the talking stage their pacific terminal prince rupert new town on a peninsula north of the mouth of the skeena said the surveyor its a rush job all the way through I 1 believe three years to |