THE PATTON COURIER » WNU Service CHAPTER X~-Continued tt Fee Jim came in and sat down quietly. The old man bad been very silent of late, Back it Dawson there was a man whom he hated with the hate that only death can end, but for the peace of his soul he strove to con- quer it, “I've been a-thinkin’ out a scheme,” said Jim sudtenly, “an’ I’m a-goin’ to put all of that twenty-five thousand of mine back into the ground. I can't Quit this n¥nin’ business.” “What's pou scheme, Jim?” “It's jast this: I'm goin’ to Install a hydraulic plant on my Ophir creek claim. I'm goin’ to begin a new era in Klondike minin’” “What are you going to do?” “Well, I've written out for piping an’ a monitor, an’ next spring I hope I'll have the plant in workin’ order. The stuff’s on the way now. Hullo! Come int” » The visitors were Mervin and Hew- Son on their way to Dawson. These iwo men had been successful beyond their dreams. They were offensively prosperous; they reeked of success. As I went on with my packing 1 paid but little heed to their talk. What mattered it to me now, this babble of dumps and dust, of claims and clean-ups? I was going to thrust it all behind me, blot it clean out of my memory, begin my life anew. Then all at once I pricked up my ears. They were talking of the town, of the men and women who were mak- ing it famous (or rather infamous), when suddenly they spoke the name of Locasto. “He's gone off,” Mervin was saying; “gone off on a big stampede. He got pretty thick with some of the Peel River Indians, and found they knew of a ledge of high-grade, free-milling quartz somewhere out there in the Land Back of Beyond. So he’s off with an Indian and one companion, that little Irish satellite of his, Pat Doogan. They'll be: away all winter.” “What's become of that girl of his?” asked Hewson, “the last one he’s been living with? You remember she came in on the boat with us. Poor little kid! That was a good little girl be- fore he got after her.” Hewson growled like a wrathful bear, but Mervin smiled his cynical smile. “Oh, you mean the Madonna,” he said; “why she’s gone on the dance halls.” They continued to talk of other things, but I did not hear them any more. | was in a trance, and I only aroused when they rose to go. “Better say good-by to the kid here,” said the Prodigal; “he’s going to the old country tomorrow.” “No, I'm not,” I answered sullenly; “I'm just going as far as Dawson.” He stared and expostulated, but my mind was made up. I would fight, fight to the last. * ® ® s * * * Berna on the dance halls—words cannot convey all that this simple phrase meant to me. For two months 1 had been living in a dull apathy of pain, but this news galvanized me into fmmediate action. For although there were many de grees of dance-hall depravity, at the best it meant a brand of ineffaceable shame. She had lived with Locasto, had been recognized as his mistress— that was bad enough; but the other— to be at the mercy of all, to be classed with the harpies that preyed on the Man with the Poke, the vampires of the gold camp. Berna— Oh, it was unspeakable! The thought maddened me, Bidding good-by to the big cabin, with my two partners looking ruefully tfter me, I struck off down Bonanza. All | thought of was Dawson and Berna. I would make Berna marry me, | cared nothing for what had happened to her, | might be a pariah, an out- cast for the rest of my days; at least 1 would save her, shield her, cherish her. The thought uplifted me, exalted me. What did it matter if physically they had wronged her? Was not the pure, virgin soul of her beyond their reach? I was just In time to see the last boat go out. w ® ® * ® w * As | strolled the streets | saw many » familiar face. | went into the Parisian restaurant, and there was Madam, harder looking and more vul- turish, a creature of rapacity and sor did lust. 1 marched up to her and asked abruptly: “Where's Berna?” She gave a violent start. There was ®& quality of fear in her bold eyes. Then she laughed, a hard, Jarring laugh. “In the Tivoli,” she sald. Strange again! Now that the worst had come to pass, and | had suffered all that it was in my power to suffer, 8 pew sense of strength and mastery Md some ¢» me. The greatest avil Northland Romsnce 3 : Robert W. Service 35 ILLUSTRATIONS IRWIN TT WT Pe BY MYERS AN NT haf befallen me. Life could do no more to harm me, I had everything to gain and nothing to lose. I cared for no man. I despised them, and, to back me in my bitterness, I had twen- ty-five thousand dollars in the bank. I was still weak from my illness and my long mush had wearied me, so I went into a saloon and called for drinks, I felt the raw whisky burn my throat. I tingled from head to foot with a strange, pleasing warmth. Where was that bitter feeling now? As I drank it all seemed to pass away. Magical change! What a fool I was! What was there to make such a fuss about? It was all a farce anyway. What would it matter a hundred years from now? Again I drank, How wonderfully strong I felt! 1 smashed my clenched fist against the bar. My knuckles were bruised and bleeding, but I felt no pain. I ached to fight some one. Then all at once came the thought of Berna. It came with tragical suddenness, with poignant force. Intensely it smote me as never before. I was drunk, deplorably drunk, and { was bound for the Tivoli. To the right as I entered the place was a palatial bar set off with bur- nished brass, beveled mirrors and glit- tering, vari-colored pyramids of costly liquors. Up to the bar men were belly- ing, and the bartenders in white Jackets were mixing drinks with mas- terly dexterity. To the left I had a view of the gambling room, a glimpse of green tables, of spinning balls, of cool men, with shades over their eyes, impassively dealing. There were huge wheels of fortune, keno tables, crap outfits, faro layouts, and, above all, the dainty, fascinating roulette, Every- thing was in full swing. In front of me was a double swing-door painted in white and gold, and, pushing through this, for the first time I found myself in a Dawson dance hall, I sat down on a seat at the very back of the audience. Before me were row after row of heads, mostly rough, rugged and unwashed. Their faces were eager, rapt as those of children. They were enjoying, with the deep sat- isfaction of men who for many a weary month had been breathing the free, unbranded air of the Wild. The sight of a woman was thrillingly sweet; the sound of a song was ravishing, Looking at many of those toil-grooved faces one could see that there was no harm in their hearts. They were honest, uncouth, simple; they were just like children, the children of the wild. A little girl was singing, a little, winsome girl with a sweet childish voice and an Innocent face, How ter- ribly out of place she looked in that palace of sin. She sang a simple, old- world song full of homely pathos and gentle feeling. As she sang she looked down on those furrowed faces, and I saw that many eyes were dimmed with tears. As the last echo died away the audi- ence rose as one man, and shower of nuggets pelted on the stage. Here was something that touched their hearts, stirred in them strange mem- ories of tenderness, brought before them half-forgotten scenes of fireside happiness. The curtain fell. Men were clearing the floor for the dance, so I went downstairs, pressed my way to the door, and stood there staring and swaying, but whether with wine or weakness I knew not. In the vocifer ous and flamboyant street I could hear the raucous voices of the splelers, the Jigging tunes of the orchestras, the click of ivory balls, the popping of corks, the hoarse, a al laughter of men, the shrill, inane $lggles of women, And as I stood there wretchedly a timid little band touched my arm. CHAPTER XI =} 4, She was changed, desperately, piti- fully changed. All the old sweetness was there, that pathetic sweetness which had made the miners call her the Madonna; but alas, forever gone from her was the fragrant flower of girlhood. Sorrow had kindled in her gray eyes a spiritnal luster, a shining, tearless brightness, Ah me, sad, sad, indeed, was the change in her! Her lips moved: “How you have changed!” “Yes, Berna, I have been fll. But you, you too have changed.” “Yes,” she said very slowly. “I have been—dead.” There was no faltering in her voice, never a throb of pathos. It was like the voice of one who has given up all hope, the voice of one who has arisen from the grave, “Come upstairs where we can talk,” sald she. So we sat down in one of the boxes, while a great freezing shadow seemed to fall and wrap us around. We were like two pale ghosts meeting in the misty gulfs beyond the grave, “And why did you not come?’ she asked, “I would have sold my soul to come. [ was fill, desperately ill, nigh to death. I was in the hospital. For two weeks I was delirious, raving of you, trying to get to you, making myself a hundred times worse because of you. But what could I do? I was out of my mind, weak as a child, fighting for my life, That was why I did not come,” When I began to speak she started. As I went on she drew a quick, chok- ing breath. Then she listened ever so ane ) > esi. win 1110 3 & are} | Tingled From Head to Foot With a Strange, Pleasing Warmth. intently, and when I had finished a great change came over her. When she spoke her voice wae a whisper. “And they lied to me. They told me you were too eager gold-getting to think of me; that you were in love with some other woman out there; that you cared no more for me. They led to me. Well, it's too late now.” She laughed, and the once tunefmd voice was harsh and grating, Still were her eyes blank with misery. I longer to comfort her, to kiss that face so white and worn and weariful, to bring tears to those hopeless eyes. There seemed to grow in me a greater hunger for the girl than ever before, a longing to bring joy to her again, to make her forget. What did it all mat- ter? She was still my love. I yearned ooforfecforfortocferforfesforfortecfonforforfenfecfonfoctenfenfocorfesforfectectontootestontorteotertoctontortortotontot tt 2 2 2 TT 3 3 0 0 A I I I I= I I TI Iw iil} T T foot Cat Long Considered Emissary of Witches Cats have bulked large In the thought of both the Old world and the New. During the first of the more notable witch trials at Chelmsford, England, in 1566, it was charged that a white-spotted cat named “Satham,” which sucked blood, had taken the form of a toad and caused the death of a man who happened to touch it. An injunction widely followed was that cats must be kept away from a corpse to prevent them from mutilat- ing it or from “taking the soul of the dead.” Increase Mather wrote: “There are some who, If a cat accl- dentally comes into the room, though they may neither see it nor are told of it, will presently be In sweat and ready to die away.” In eastern Kan- Heavy Marching Order The trap drummer in the United States army is the most fully equipped soldier in the military establishment. In addition to his mess kit, canteen, shelter tent and the other items he carries, he Is also charged with suare drum, triangle, triangle beater, muffler and strainer, drum sling, drum stand, cow bell, sleigh bell, wood block, cas- tanets, cuckoo, Chinese cymbals, imi. tation railroad, adjustable rattle, slap- sticks, tambourine, Chinese tom-tom, and canary, locomotive, steamboat and steam exhaust whistles. Sas a cat washing her face before breakfast foretells rain; in western Maine a storm is assured if a cat Scratches a fence; in Scilly Cove, Newfoundland, tradition asserts that when a cat drowns In salt water, show- ers from the heavens may be expected. Museum for Him Mr. and Mrs, Stone were doing the town recently in their newly pur- chased auto. The day being ideal Mr. Stone was constantly going into rap- tures concerning almost everything. His enthusiasm reached fits climax Just as they were rounding the Art mu- seum, It was here that the exuberant hus- band turned a lingering glance at a pair of striking blondes on the walk. “Please keep your eyes in front and your mind on the car,” was Mrs. Stone's snappy suggestion. “But, dear,” replied the piqued one. “1 shall always admire beauty despite the fact that I am a married man.” “Well, that being the case,” an- swered the less appreciative Mrs, Stone, “we'll spend the balance of the day across the way in the museum.” —P’hiladelphfa Public Ledger. Foods for Strong Teeth Milk, butter, eggs, fish, whole ce- reals, fresh fruits &nd vegetables ald | io making wood dents} structures. for her. We both had sumereq, both been through the furnace. Surely from it would’ come the love that passeth understanding. “Berna,” 1 sald, “it 1s not too late. We have both been miserably duped. Never mind, Berna, we will forget all’ [ love you. Let us forget and go away and be happy.” It seemed as If my every word was like a stab to her. The sweet face was tragically wretched. “Oh no,” she answered, “it can never be. You think ft can, but it can't. You could not forget. I-could not forget. We would both be think- Ing; always, always torturing each other, Our home would be a haunted one, a place of ghosts. Never again can there be joy between you and me, It's too late, too late!” She was choking back the sobs now, but still the tears did net come. “Berna,” I said gently, “1 think 1 could forget. Please give me a chance to prove it. I know it was not your fault. I know that spiritually you are the same pure girl you were before.” “No, I was not to blame. When you failed to come I grew desperara. When I wrote you and still you failed to come I was almost distracted. Night and day he was persecuting me. The others gave me no peace. If ever a poor girl was hounded to dishonor I was. Yet I had made up my mind to die rather than yield. Oh, it's too horrible.” “Never mind, dear, don’t tell me about it.” “When I awoke to life sick, sick for many days, I wanted to die, but I could not. I was so weak, so ll, so indifferent to everything that it did Dot seem to matter. That was where I made my mistake, I should have killed myself. Oh, there's something in us all that makes us cling to life in spite of shame! But I would never let him come near me again And though, when he went away, I've gone into this life, there's never been any- one else. I've danced with them, laughed with them, but that’s all. You believe me?” “Yes, dear.” “Thank God for that! And now we must say good-by. 1 would not spoil your life. You know how proud I am, how sensitive. I would not give you such as L. Once I would have given myself to you gladly, but now—please g0 away. Leave me, please.” “Leave you—to what?” “To death, ruin—I don’t know what. It I'm strong enough I will die. If I am weak I will sink in the mire.” “Berna, will you marry me?” “No! No! No!” “Berna, I will never leave you. Here I tell you frankly, plainly, I don’t know whether or not you still love me—you haven't said a word to show it—but I know I love you, and 1 will love you as long as life lasts. I will never leave you. Listen to me, dear: let us go away, far, far away. You will forget, I will forget. Come with me, O my love! Have pity on me, Berna, have pity. Marry me. Be my wife.” She merely shook her head, sitting there cold as a stone. “Then,” I said, “if you call yourself dishonored, I, too, become dishonored. We will go down together, you and L Oh, I would rather sink with you, dear, than rise with the angels. You have chosen—well, I, too, have chosen. You will see me steep myself In shame, then when I am a hundred shades blacker than you can ever hope to be, my angel, you will stoop and pity me. We'll go down together, dear. Hand in hand hellward we'll go down, we'll go down.” She was looking at me in a frightened way. A madness seemed to have got- ten into me. “Berna, you're on the dance halls. You're at the mercy of the vilest wretch that’s got an ounce of gold in his filthy poke. They can buy you as they buy white flesh everywhere on earth. Berna, I can buy you. Come, dance with me, drink with me. We'll live, live, We'll eat, drink and be merry. On with the dance! Oh, for the joy of life! Since you'll not be my love you'll be my light-of-love, Come, Berna, come!” I paused. With head lying om the cushioned edge of the box she was crying. “Will you come?” I asked again, She did not move. “Then,” said 1, “there are others, and I have money, lots of it. I can buy them. I am going down into the vortex. Look on and watch me.” I left her crying. . * ® ® ® LJ It is with shame I write the follow- ing pages. Would I could blot them out of my life. To this day there must be many who remember my meteoric career in the firmament of fast life. It did oot last long, but in tess than a week I managed to squan- der a small fortune. 1 drink and I drink. [It seems to me I am always drinking. Rarely do 1 eat. I am one of half a dozen spec tacular “live ones.” All the camp Is talking of us, but it seems to me | lead the bunch in the race to ruin. | wonder what Berna thinks of ft all. Was there ever such a sensitive crea- ture? Where did she get that ob stinate pride? Remonstrantly the Prodigal speeds to town. “Are you crazy?” he cries. *1 don't mind you making an ass of yourself, but lushing around all that coin the way you're dolng—It's wicked, Wt makes me sick. Come home at once.” “l won't,” I say. “What if | am crazy? Isn't it my money? When the money's done I'll quit. I'm having the time of my lite. Don’t come spol) ing It witb your orecepts” He goes uway shaking his heud {TO BE CONTINUED) JILTED, WASTES WEALTH, DIES IN POORHOUSE For 25 Years Once Cul- tured Gentleman Lives Like a Bum. New York.—“Love is like a danger- ous germ. It is incurable. My ro- mance has brought this horrible curse upon me. I am just a bum, If you go bankrupt in love's heart, there is absolutely no relief in store for the nonsuited. A lost love will always be dead.” These sentences occurred in a letter from Joseph W. Hall, member of a wealthy English upper-class family, who for 25 years lived the life of a vagrant in American streets. He wrote it to Daniel W., Blumenthal, law- yer, of 233 Broadway. He wrote to Mr. Blumenthal on an average of twice a month for 25 years, but did not see him in all that time, Mr, Blumenthal sent him money, Recently Mr, Blumentbal received this telegram: “Joseph W. Hall died at county home, Gettysburg. As the body will be In your charge, if not claimed in 24 hours, it will be shipped to the state anatomical board, Philadelphia. Please wire at once what we should do.” Was Cultured Englishman. Mr. Blumenthal cabled to a firm of solicitors in Worcester, England, and received a reply: “Will pay Hall's burial expenses. Regret death.” Twenty-five or thirty years ago Mr. Hall, a cultured gentleman in his forties who had graduated with hon- ors from a university, came to New York with $35,000 he had inherited. 1 Have Lain in An Old Barn. A bank referred him to Mr. Blumen. thal, who was satisfied that he was one of the numerous Halls in English aristocracy. He was a fine looking man. He had had an unfortunate love affair. He had vowed that he would give away his money and become a street va- grant. He did so. Mr. Blumenthal saw him only two or three times. After that he only got letters. Lived in Poorhouses. Many of the letters came from poor- houses. He stayed mostly in the coal mining region of Pennsylvania, Mr. Blumenthal often sent him money. Only a little at a time, for he would get drunk, anyway. From Hampton Post Office, Va., he wrote : “It is nearly all over with me. I have lain in an old barn for a day and two nights, but crawled out today. Doctors cannot help me. I request that you at once notify my sisters in England and Southal & King (the Worcester solicitors).” Mr. Blumenthal sent him money. His sisters often offered to support him in England, but he would not accept. Once he wrote: “I live like a rat at the end of a river street and yet I find time to compose poems in these horrible hours of solitude and desperation.” Cat Escapes From Eagle in Fight in Mid-Air Rock Springs, Utah.—Aroused from peaceful slumber to find himself aloft in the talons of an eagle, a common house cat put up such a fight in mid- air that the eagle was forced to re- linquish its hold. The cat dropping 100 feet to the ground, was unin- jured except for numerous wounds in- flicted by the talons. The cat was enjoying a snooze on the roof of a farm house when his sudden aerial trip began. The eagle swooped down, scooped up the animal, and headed toward its nest, Getting into action with his claws raking the eagle's breast, however, the cat made his escape. Trapper, Moose Both Killed in Death Battle Kemmerer, Wyo.—Evidence of a bat- tle to the death between a man and a moose was found by a searching party seeking Alde Sanford, sixty- five-year-old Fall River trapper, whose horse returned riderless to its stall, The party found the moose in the forest. of Fall River basin with a bullet hole through its heart and its throat cut, Nearby was Sanford’s body bad- ly bruised. 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IN CABINETS The best American cabinet makers —famous for sound design and sincere workmanship — are coop- erating to meet the demand for Atwater Kent Screen-Grid Radio in fine cabinets like these. SN —’of Why Lawyers Suddenly Lost Interest in Case Peter Guthrie Jones, the Baltimore historian, was talking about the scan- dal over American divorces that has broken out in Paris. “It seems,” he said, “that French lawyers and court officials were tak- ing bribes to push these divorces through, Who laid bare the scandals? American lawyers. Because they were horrified at the sinfulness of this bribe-taking? No. It was be- cause these cheap Paris divorces save divorcing Americans a lot of money at our American lawyers’ expense, “For American lawyers are expen- sive, That is their main character- iste. A chap stood up in an Ameri- can court one day to answer a very serious embezzlement charge. “ ‘How is it,” the judge said to him, ‘that you have no lawyer to defend you? “The chap answered: “Your honor, as soon as they found out I hadn't stolen the money none of them would touch the case. ”— Detroit Free Press. Spain-Africa Bridge Planned Spain and Africa may be connected by a gigantic bridge across the strait of Gibraltar, if the plans submitted to the department of public works in Madrid by a Spanish engineer are ac- cepted. He would support the struec- ture on submerged but firmly anchored floats, and equilibrium would be main- tained by opposing forces, one tend- ing to bring the floats to the surface, and the other working to draw them to the bottom by cables. To prevent damage by the weather, parts of the bridge would be covered, The goodness of our intentions never excuses the badness of our ac- tions. A little flattery now and then will ioften up the hardest men. 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To prevent redness | and roughness caused by daily tasks, use Cuticura Soap every time you wash your ands; always dry thoroughly , . , Assist with Cuticura Ointment if necessary. | h ° ticu Ointment 25c.and 50c. I, q Sample each free. Soap 25¢, Talcum 23c. Address: “Cuticura” Dept. 87, Malden, Mass. FINNE ee —4 | pyright, W. N. U. ’Oov NAME N° THE QOL <5 He Was By PERCY Copyright, by the Mc( i csr RES
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers