Show north of 0 f fifty F ay PW three thre e BY BERTRAND W SINCLAIR copyright little brown co HAZEL ATONES FOR HER thoughtlessness BY MAK ING A LUCKY STRIKE Synopsis Miss nazel 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 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 bill wagstaff a well known character of the country soon after her arrival hazel loses her way while walking in the woods she wanders until night when she reaches roaring bills camp fire in the woods ile he promises to take her home la in the morning but she is compelled to spend the night in the woods after wandering in the woods all the next day roaring bill finally admits that ile he Is taking hazel to ills his cabin in the mountains hazel finds upon their arrival at the cabin that she cannot hope to escape from the wilderness before spring during the longwinter long winter roaring bill treats hazel with the greatest respect he tells her lie he loves her and tries to induce her to marry him but she refuses in the spring he takes her to bella coola where she can geta boat to vancouver at vancouver hazel takes a t aln for granville but anthe way she realizes that she loves wagstaff fC and decided to return to him roaring bill Is overjoyed and together they tracei to a hudson bay post and are married after several months they decide to go farther into the mountains to a spot where bill Is confident there Is gold arrived at their destination bill builds a cabin and cuts sufficient clent hay bay to feed the horses till spring hazel allows allos sparks from the chimney to set fire to the stable which Is 13 burned with all the hay to keep the animals from brorn death by starvation bill I 1 Is s compelled lo 10 shoot them CHAPTER XII 11 jack frost withdraws all through the month of january each evening as dusk folded its somber mantle about the meadow the wolves gathered to feast on the dead horses till hazels nerves were strained to the snapping point sometimes when nhen bill was gone and all about the cabin was utterly still one bolder or hungrier than his fellows would trot across the meadow drawn by the scent of the meat two or three of these hazel shot with her own rifle but when february marked another span on the calendar the wolves came no more the bones were clean there was no impending misfortune or nr danger that she could point to or forecast with certitude nevertheless struggle against it as she might knowing it for pure psychological phenomena arising out of her harsh environment hazel suffered continual vague forebodings the bald white peaks seemed to surround her like a prison from which there could be no release F from rom day to day she was harassed by dismal thoughts she would wake in the night clutching at her husband such days as he went out alone she passed in restless anxiety something would happen what it would be she did not know but to her it seemed that the bleak stage was set tor for untoward drama and they two the puppets that must play when bill drew her up close in his arms the intangible menace of the wilderness and all the dreary monotony of the days faded into the background but they no more than others who have tried and tailed failed for lack of understanding could not live their lives with their heads in an emotional cloud for every action there must be a corresponding reaction they who have the capacity to reach the heights must likewise upon occasion plumb the depths life she began to realize resolved itself into an unending succession of little trivial things with here and there some great event looming out above all the rest for its bestowal of happiness or pain F february and march stormed a path furiously across the calendar higher and higher the drifts piled about the cabin till at length it was ivas bunked banked to the eaves with snow save where bill shoveled it away to let light to the windows day after day they kept indoors stoking up the fire listening to the triumphant whoop of the winds snow hazel burst out one day frost that cuts you like a I knife ife I 1 wish we were home again or some place so do 1 I little person bill said gently but springs almost at the door hang on a little longer weve made a fair stake anyway if we dont wash an ounce of gold how are we going to get it all out she voiced a troublesome thought shoulder pack to the skeena he answered laconically build a dugout there and goat float downstream portage the rapids as they comell come oh she came caine and leaned her head against him con contritely v our poor ponies I 1 and it was all my carelessness less liess 11 never mind hon bon he be comforted they blinked out without suffering and well make it like a charm be game soon be spring by april the twentieth the abdication of jack frost was complete A kindlier despot ruled the land and wagstaff began to talk of gold that precious yellow metal sought by men in regions desolate pursued in patient pati clit hope or furious toll toil D breeder aeder of discord wars and murderous hate the victors spoil apoll so hazel quoted leaning over her husbands shoulder in the bottom of MF 7 pan shining among a film of black sand lay half a dozen bright aspoas varying from pinpoint pin point size to the bigness of a grain of wheat the stuff bill murmured it looks as it if wed struck it pretty fair its time too the june rise will lilt hit us like a whirlwind one of these days about what Is the value of those little pieces hazel asked oh fifty or sixty cents he answered not much by itself but it sperds seems to be uniform over the bar and I 1 can wash a good many pans la ia a days work 1 1 I I should think so she remarked it take you ten minutes to do that one whitby lewis and I 1 took out over two hundred dollars a day on that other creek last spring no a year last spring it was be observed bently this as good but its not to be sneezed at either I 1 think ill make me a rocker 1 I can help cant II 11 she said eagerly sure he sal I you yon help a lot lor little person just sitting around and keeping me company but I 1 want to work she declared ive sat around now till rin im getting the fidgets all right ill give you yon a job he be returned good meantime lets eat that lunch you packed up here in a branch of the creek which flowed down through the basin bill had found plentiful colors as soon as the first big runoff run off ote of water had fallen he had followed upstream painstakingly panning colors always and now and then a few grains of coarse gold to encourage him in the quest the loss of their horses precluded ranging far afield to that other glacial stream which he had bad worked with whitey lewis when he was a tree free lance in the north ile he was close to his b base a se of supplies and be had made wages with always the prospectors lure of a rich strike on the next bar in the morning said he wh when en lunch was over ill bring along the ax as and some nails and a shovel and get busy that night they trudged down to the cabin in high spirits bill had washed out enough during the afternoon to 0 o r I 1 ale in the bottom of his pan lay half a dozen bright specks make a respectable showing on hazels outspread handkerchief and nazel hazel was in a gleeful mood over the fact that she had bad unearthed a big nugget by herself beginners luck bill said teasingly but that did riot not diminish her elation As the days passed there seemed no question of their complete success bill fabricated ills his rocker a primitive boxlike device with a blanket screen and transverse slats below it was faster than the pan pail even rude as it t was and it t caught alt all but the fiuta particles of gold A queer twist of luck put the on their undertaking hazel ran a alip splinter linter of wood into her hand thus putting a stop to her activities with shovel and pall until the wound lost its soreness she was forced to be idle so she rambled along the creek one afternoon armed with look hook and line on a pliant willow in search of sport the trout were hungry and struck fiercely at tho the bait she soon had bad plenty for supper and breakfast wherefore she abandoned that diversion and took to prying I 1 tentatively in the leo lee of certain boulders on edge of the creek prospecting on her own initiative as it were she had no pan and only one land hand to work with but she knew gold when she saw it and after all it was but an idle method of killing time in this search she cane came upon a large rusty pebble snuggled on the downstream side of an overhanging rock right at the waters edge it attracted her first by its symmetrical form a perfect oval then when she lifted it by its astonishing weight she continued her search for the pink ish red stones carrying the rusty pebble along presently she worked her way back to where roaring pill bill labored prodigiously look at these pretty prett stones I 1 found she said what are they bill III those ile he looked at her outstretched palm garnets garnets they must be valuable then she ob observed arved yes it if you can find any of any size the other rock he inquired casually you making a collection of specimens just a funny stone I 1 found she returned it must be iron or something its terribly heavy for its size eh let me see it he said she handed it over ile he weighed it in his bis palm scrutinized it closely turning it over and over then he took out his knife ond and scratched the rusty surface vigorously for a few minutes huhl huh I 1 he grunted look at your funny stone he held it out for her inspection the blade of the knife bad left a dull yellow sear scar oh I 1 she gasped why domy its gold I 1 it Is woman he declaimed with mock solemnity gold glittering gold I 1 say where did you yon find this he asked when hazel stared at the nugget dumb in ia the face of this unexpected stroke of fortune just around the second bend she cried oh bill do you suppose theres any more there lead me to it with my trusty pan and shovel and well see bill smiled forthwith they set out the overhanging boulder was a scant ten minutes walk up the creek within live five minutes his fingers brought to light a second lump double the size of her find close upon that he winnowed win a third hazel leaned over him breathless at last he reached bottom the boulder thrust out below in a natural shelf from this bill carefully scraped the accumulation of black sand and gravel gleaning as a result of his labor a bakers dozen of assorted chunks one giant that must have weighed three pounds ile he sat back on his haunches and looked at his wife speechless Is that truly all gold bill she whispered incredulously it certainly is as good gold as ever went into the mint he assured all laid in a nice little nest on this shelf of rock a real honest pocket and a well lined one if you ask me my goodness Ill I 1 she murmured there night might be wagon loads of it in this creek there might but it likely bill shook his head tills this Is a simon pure pocket and it would keep a graduate mineralogist guessing to say how it got here because its a different proposition from the wash gold in the crook creek bed its rich placer ground at that but this pockets almost unbelievable must be forty pounds of gold there and you found it youre the original mascot little person ne ile bestowed ft a hug bug upon her now what she asked it hardly seems real to pick up several thousand dollars in half an hour or so like this what will we do do why bless your dear soul lie laughed well just consider ourselves extra lucky and keep right on with the game till the high water makes makos us quit which way ivas a contingency nearer at liand hand than even bill with a firsthand first hand knowledge ol of the norths vagaries in the way of flood quite anticipated anticipate three lays days after the finding of the pocket the whole floor of the creek was awash ills rocker went downstream do nw overnight when bill saw that he rolled himself a cigarette and putting one long arm across ills his cifes shoulders said whimsically what ayou say we start home CHAPTER XIII the stress of the tra roaring bill dumped his second pack on the summit of the flappan Kl appan nold and looked away to where the valley that opened out ot of the basin showed its blurred hollow in the distance but he uttered no useless regrets with horses they could have ridden south through a rolling country where every stretch of timber gave on a grass grown level instead they were forced back over the rugged route by which they had crossed th the ranke range the summer before grub bedding furs and gold cold totaled two hundred pounds on his sturdy shoulders bill could pack half that weight for his wife the thing was a physical impossibility even had he permitted her to try hence every mile advanced meant that he be doubled the distance relaying from one camp to the next they cut their bedding to a blanket apiece and that was hazels load all he would allow her to carry youre no pack mule little person he would say it dont hurt me ive done this tor for years but even with abnormal strength and endurance it was killing work to buck those ragged slopes with a heavy load only by terrible unremitting effort could he advance any appreciable distance they were footsore and their bodies ached with weariness that verged berged on pain when they gained the pass that cut the summit of the klap pan range well were over the hump bump bill remarked thankfully its a downhill of oh bill hazel called from the bow look shoot to the skeena I 1 dont think its more than afif fifty ty or sixty miles to where we can take to the water they made better time on the western slope but the journey became a matter of sheer endurance food was scanty flour and salt and tea with meat and fish got by the way and the black flies files and mosquitoes swarmed about them maddeningly day and night so they came at last to the skeena and hazels heart her when she took note of its swirling reaches the sinuous eddles eddies a deep swift treacherous stream but bill rested overnight and in the morning sought and felled a sizable cedar and began to hew slowly the thick trunk shaped itself to the form of a boat under the steady swing of his ax as in a week it was finished they loaded the sack of gold the b bundle of furs their meager camp outfit amidships adiv an swung off into the stream the skeena drops fifteen hundred feet in a hundred miles wherefore there are rapids boiling stretches of white water in which many a good canoe has come to grief some of these they ran at imminent peril over the worst they lined the canoe from the bank and in the second weel week of july they brought up at the head bead of canon lay a few miles below but the stayed them a sluice box cut through old stone in which the waters raged with a deafening roar no man ventured into that wild gorge they abandoned the dugout bill slung the sack of gold and the bale of furs on his back its the last lap hazel said he well leave the rest of it for the first that happens along so they set out bravely to trudge the remaining distance and as the fortunes of the trail sometimes befall they raised an indian camp on the bank of the river at the mouth of the canon A ten dollar bill bil made them possessors of another canoe and an hour later the roots roofs of II azelton cropped up above the bank oh bill hazel called from the th bow looka theres the same old steamer tied to the same old bank weve been gone a year and yet the world changed a reite I 1 wonder if hazelton has taken a rip van winkle sleep all this time no fear he smiled 1 I can see some new houses quite a few in fact and look by working on the grade that railroad remember lie he drove the canoe alongside a float A few loungers viewed them with frank curiosity bill set out |