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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1931-03-13, Page 7ip 4" 4 4,."d �+asr�ryan+p� EB'Ey� DD��11��yypp yy �� sPeapsi Sh"�7+1ti7i� ALXS # Ri trate, Ver; oCC1e, "'Vark0Cae V a Albdgmliial Weakm ss, Spinal Ity. ; Coneoltatiou :free, OaU 'Qr; write. J. G. SMITH, Britiala Apl►1x ; &nee Specialists, 15 Downie St„ 'Strata 'ford, Ont. 82Ar4;S�' LEGAL Phone No. 91 JOHN J. HUGGARD ;Barrister, Solicitor, Notary Public, 'Etc. Beattie Meek - Seaforth, Ont. R. S. HAYS Barrister, Solicitor, Conveyancer and Notary Public. Solicitor for ,the Dominion Bank. Office in rear of the Dominion Bank, Seaforth. Money to loan. BEST & BEST a4 • Barristers, Solicitors, Conveyan- ce= and Notaries Public, Etc. Office in the Edge Building, opposite The Expositor Office. VETERINARY JOHN GRIEVE, V.S. Donor graduate of Ontario Veterin- ara College. All disease of domestic animals treated. Calls promptly at- tended to and charges moderate. Vet- erinary Dentistry a specialty. Office and residence on Goderich Street, one door east of Dr. Mackay's office, Sea - forth. A. R. CAMPBELL, V.S. Graduate of Ontario Veterinary College, University of Toronto. All diseases of domestic animals treated by the most modern principles. Charges reasonable. Day or night Balls promptly attended to. Office on Main Street, Hlensall, opposite Town Rail. Phone 116. v MEDICAL DR. E. J. R. FORSTER Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Graduate in Medicine, University of Toronto. Late assistant New Yorklbphthal- mei and Aural Institute, Moorefleld's Eye and `Golden Square Throat Hos- Ottals, London, Eng. At Commercial Hotel, Seaforth, third Monday in each month, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. W Waterloo Street, South, Stratford. DR. W. C. SPROAT Graduate of Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, Lon- don. Member of College of Physic- ians and Surgeons of Ontario. Office in Aberhart's Drug Store, Main St., Seaforth. Phone 90. DR. R. P. I. DO!';IGALL Honor igraduate of Faculty of Medicine and Master of Science, Uni- versity of Western Ontario, London. Member of College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Office 2 doors east of post office. Phone 56, Hensall Ontario. 3004 -ti DR. A. NEWTON-BRADY Bayfield. Graduate Dublin University, I•re- land. Late Ewtern Assistant Master Rotunda Hospital for Women and Children, Dublin. Office at residence lately occupied by Mrs. Parsons. Hours: 9 'to 10 a.m., 6 to 7 p.m., Sundays, 1 to 2 p.m. 2866-26 DR. F. J. BURROWS Office and residence Goderich Street, east of the United Church, Sea - forth P'home 46. Coroner for the County of Huron. DR. C. MACKAY C„ Mackay, honor graduate of Trin- ity University, and gold medalist of Trinity Medical College; member of the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Ontario. DR. H. HUGH ROSS Graduate of University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, member of Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; 'pass graduate courses in Chicago Clinical School of Chicago ; Royal Ophthalmis Hospital, London, England; -University Hospital, Lon- don, England. Office -Back of Do- minion Bank, Seaforth. Phone No. 5. Night calls ansYwered from residence, Victoria Street, Searforth. DR. J. A. MUNN Graduate of Northwestern Univers- ity, Chicago, Ill. Licentiate Royal College of Dental Surgeons, Toronto. Office over Sills' Hardware, Main St, Seaforth. Phone 151. DR. F. J. BECHELY Graduate Royal College of Dental Surgeons, Toronto, Office over W. R. Smith's Grocery, Main Street, Sea - forth. Phones: Office, 185• W; resi- dence, 185J. CONSULTING ENGINEER S. W. Archibald, B.A.Sc., (Tor.), O.L.S., Registered' Professional En- gineer and Land Surveyor. Associate Member Engineering .Institu,te of Can- ada. Office, Seaforth, Ontario. AUCTIONEERS THOMAS BROWN i. Licensed auctioneer for the counties of Huron and Perth. Correspondence arrangements fon' sale dates can be made by 'milli* The Exposit ie Office Seaforth. Charges moderate, a n cl satisfaction guaranteed. Phone 302. OSCAR KLOPP Honor Graduate Carey Jones' Na- tional School for Auctioneering, Chi- cago. Special course taken in Pure Bred Live Stock, (teal Estate, Mer- chandise and Farm Sake. Bates in keeping with prevailing market.Sat- isfaction assured. Write o'r wire, Orcar Klapp, Zurich, Ont. Phone: 18-93. 2868-62 R. T. LUKER - Licensed auctioneer for the County of. Huron. Sales attended o in all aorta of the county. Seven Yeah' eV perience i i Maititdba and kat Ne .e Wan. 'I.ledryn ,reasonable. Phoria 1$6 r 11 **tea, Centralia P.O.; RA, ,1. O�ttdl~Iu re t- kt The Huron E* :in** : Offteer,Seai'oa tlip• ty OMPt1:l.•,*!lo-" HalfBreed .A, Story of the Great Cowboy' West By LUKE ALLAN (Continued from last week) But Blue Pete was not through. "Judge," he said, "fer ten years 1 rustled, not 'cause I liked rustlin' but 'cause it wa's part o' the ranchin' busi- ness whar I rode. Two years ago I drifted across the line. Since then I've got back a few hundred cattle an' horses that never wud have been got but fer me. Thar ain't a rancher here but made out o' me bein' here. I like the work. I've bin straight= every day o' that two years, and I ain't got no reason fer !yin'. Ef I had I'd 'a' lied 'bout that rustlin'. Ask th' Inspector . Ef yuh turn me down like that, Judge" -he drew a fluttering 'breath -"I might 's well go to the rustlin'. It's in your hands, Judge." "Next witness!" shouted Judge Rit- chie. Blue Pete stumbled from the box. Inspector Barker, purple with rage, was swearing under his breath, and Corporal Mahon stepped out boldly and laid a friendly hand on the half- breed's shoulder. "Don't take it that way, Pete," he pleaded, in a voice that carried through the court room. "We know you're honest. If you knew what we know you wouldn't mind what some people say." Judge Ritchie opened his mouth, his eyes blazing, but the Inspector stood up just behind the rail and glared straight into his eyes. And the judge thought better of it. Blue Pete worked his way down the crowded court room to the door, his lips working. Next morning a boy brought to the barracks his spare horse, his riding boots, even the remnants of a pouch of tobacco the Inspector had given him. The Inspector knew what it meant, and cursed things in general. Then he gave orders to his men to round up the half-breed • and bring him in. It was months before a Police hand touched him, and then-- CHAPTER hen CHAPTER XVIII BLUE PETE TAKES A PARTNER There followed the hardest work the Police in the Medicine Hat dis- trict had ever been called upon to do. At intervals cattle and/ horses disap- peared, and day and night Mahon and his fellows scoured the prairie and the section of the Hills they knew. But there was now no Blue Pete to pick up trails, no Blue Pete to lead them confidently through the maze of the Hills to hidden vales ,where cattle might feed unsuspected a score of yards away; no little mottled pinto to show the way and pilot her mas- ter with uncanny instinct. Twice the Police were shot at from hiding, and they took to riding in pairs about the hills. It meant unguarded trails else- where. Mahon, with the scar of a rustler's bullet in his shoulder to add to the one on the back of his head, missed Bluet Pete more than he admitted to his comrades. The ugly half-breed had •become to him a pal on whose companionship he could always, rely. Without his dark friend his success was not so great. Two or three small bunches he had recaptured, but al- ways his success was shorn of its triumph by the escape of the rust- lers. Ever he was on watch for the fam- iliar crossed eyes and ragged Stetson for the spotted pinto that seemed to hide or flare as her master wished, for he knew the half-breed was in the Hills. That he would not return to his old life in the Badlands he was as certain as that Dutch Henry and his gang would continue to the end to work in Canada. But more than ever he was determined not to take advantage of his knowledge of the cave behind the ivy. (Some day they would meet without that. In there in the Hills new associa- tions' and new stories were in the forming. In a deep green valley, where a gentle stream gurgled into unreality all the strain of the past few months, Blue Pete and Mira met. Neither expressed surprise. She held out her hand, and he looked from rt to her face with an inquiring twinkle in his uncertain eyes before accepting .it gingerly like a fragile toy. "You don't think such awful things of me, Pete?" she pleaded. "Not on yer life. Why shud I?" "You know why. You saw me - that day." "I'm leavin' that to the Police," he laughed. "Corporal Mahon seen yuh too -an' th' Inspector knows . But wot I didn't see was who fired that shot." "The one that got Bilsy's rifle ? Wasn't it you?" TIIe shook his bead. "Wasn't there other Police around? Are you sure?" "I got on the trail fer a minute while the Corporal wasuntin' fer things . . . . an' ef I hadn't seed yuh thar with my own eyes I'd swear it was your marks." She laughed. "Perhaps it was --I was all over there --but somebody fir- ed that shot who wanted to save Cor- poral Mahon and yet wouldn't kill Bilsy' . . . Wonder if there was a cowboy --•or other rustlers around." she had no other explanation, and of what- Blue Pete might think he said nothing further. "I heard about the trial ,Pete," she' said • gently, after a time. "One of the .boys was' theft and heard the judge." Aq giritted hie teethat thio memory her words roused. "And what are you going to do?" He caught her keen glance, held it an instant, and nodded; - nd her laugh was sharp --almost coars "They'll have their hen d -damn 'ern!" Blue Pete frowned. "Sto Leave the cuss wo , out. sound right. An' yuh any better'n I do." She hung her head. "Pete," she confided. "I'm sick o' the gang. I --.I don't like- it -I don't like them. Let me come with you." He drew away, startled. Whiskers plunged, surprised, and he pulled her up clumsily. "With -me?" "They're so rough," she pleaded, "-Bilsy and Dutchy and the gang." He threw back his head with a harsh guffaw that was startling in one whose laugh was always so sil- ent. "Rough! An' Blue Pete, the half- breed, such a -beaut--so smooth an' gentle -like! Oh, lord! Things is sartin to be so nice an' sweet whar I am fer the nex' few months! Yuh'd enj'y yerself real ,pleasant -like with me--ef yuh foun' Dutchy an' the gang rough! Oh, lord!" -She pouted, driving his laugh away. "You and me can rustle more in a week than the gang can in a month," she said. "And Juno can- help. She's still seared of me a little, but she'll come back." He was shaking his head dogged- ly. "'The rustlin' I'm in fer ain't no lady's game. It ain't real rustlin'. Ef Bilsy an' the gang was rough yuh'd fin' my life real hell -real hell, gal. It ain't jes' plain rustlin' I'm startin' -not 'zackly . . . It's a gor- swizzled sight more dangerous. I'll be served lead fer breakfas' an' din- ner -an' it'll mean some slick work not to eat it . . Besides, yuh'd be in the way." "Pete -Peter Maverick," she coax- ed coyly, "you know I can ride as well as you -and pretty near shoot as well. Pete, you wouldn't leave me with them rude fellows, would you?" "Yuh kin take care o' yerself," he• said, staring at her anxiously. "I know yuh-an' so do they. An' I know you will. Ef yuh come with. me alone thar'll be blazes to pay 'mong yer friends. Can't youh see that ? Yer safer with the gang." "I'm coming with you," she persist- ed. "Nat ef I know it!' He wheeled Whiskers into the trees. For a moment she thought of follow- ing, then sat listening with wet cheeks to the crash of his passage. After that came some of the weird- est rustling experienced in the West. Almost unuer the noses of the cow- boys cattle and horses seemed to van- ish. Several times suspected rustlers were seen in the distance near the Hills, and more than once they seem- ed to be struggling among them- selves. IReports of the little pinto dribbled in. The ranchers fumed, and the Police rode until they dropped from fatigue. Two rustlers were cap- tured. It meant the thinning of the gang, and a sigh of relief went up. Put the rustling diminished little. Judge Ritchie, with money in Grant- ham's ranch, complained rudely to the "You'll find out," snapped the In- spector, "how much easier it is to make a rustler than to catch one." Mahon, learning more about trails, began to notice a peculiar uncertainty in the movements of the stolen bunch es. He found them cross and recross, now going north, now south; and sometimes he read sudden stampede. Twice he followed into the Hills and came on secluded glens where bunches had rested and fed -and then been stampeded into scattered flight. He pondered over it. Blue Pete, from his hiding place in the ,Hills, was upsetting life in - general. Unseen, he watched every move of Mira and the rustlers, and at unexpected and disturbing moments sent Dutchy and his fellows into par- oxyms of helpless rage. They tried to trap him, ambush him, trail him and Whiskers but the elusive 'half-breed was too*" much for them. Mira,' keep- ing much to herself, secretly laugh- ed at their furious defeats -a bitter laugh so different from the old care- free ripple; and more than once, for a change, she gave herself cause for aceper amusement by outwitting Blue Pete. The half-breed sought her out and scowled an her like an older brother. "Yer real smart," he sneered. "Yuh hev the goods on me w'en it comes to buckinr"gainst a woman. But some sweet day yuh'll find yerself in the cooler with a couple o' years to think it over. That's how smart you are." "You wouldn't take me in," she said, tossing her head. "Sure I know I'll be caught some day. They al- ways get us sooner or later . . . . And I hope it'll please you to know I'm down there in Lethbridge jail all because you made me work with Dut- chy and the gang." "So yer tryin' to be caught, eh?" he growled. "A Stanton ud look fine in stripes, wudn't she?" "A Stanton can't do much more to soil the name," she replied stubborn- ly. "It'll be dirtier if you don't let me come with you." "Buts --but yuh'd only be in the road fer wot I'm doin'. You know I'm not jes' rustlin'. Somehow I can't go back to th' ole gain. Things look diff'runt now. Did yuh ever feel-' Tile pulled himself up. "You bet I have. That's how I've been feeling ever since -oh, ever so long . . I used to be just a corrin lin le'bwvgirl. No I'm--1'in ata full now, it, gal. ey don't n't like 'em t„ ti�w ere tvc s dye , 4 PAO, 'ggies 074''t. f {' i'li f+ 'a ches eklldn't 'bear ^ V1rh, 1o4gin' f staralght oas' Dik`^ eirerybady W m akesra ,an, ms ?rev of the -• $south >•$asl`atCte;�> tor --.arra" mobbe'getp,r the bullet that".q Isis way:, was w1 4#07,waitln' fer me beh l Cveri tree.." ' a ,ford thathestu101e4 t'anmpled stretch of iziuddy across: the stream h0,4*coy e4 It all -, followed. When lie w}ouci ,4 OW* last that the trail ,stuck elp.ely to the lowlands he.mend .more eoAlent--'. ly The drinking 'places were pain enough, and late in the afternoon he. dropped over • a rise 'and Came on a strong corral. 'It was_ empty, but. signs of occupation sent him on as. long as the trail was visible, The. few hours of darkness he spent test- ing on the higher levels where it was warmerthan in the hollows, and in the early morning ,was again in the saddle. All day he kept it up, irritat- ed by much delay in search that sometimes led him far astray. Not until late in the afternoon, at sight Of the second corral did he complete what he knew to be the normal day's journey of the stolen herds, but a few hours of lucky trailing thereaf- ter•brought him to the third just as darkness fell. He was convinced then that he was on the track of organized rustling that had taken advantage of the un - travelled nature of the north to erect even its own corrals -durable ones that pointed to confidence in the fu- ture. It was hard to believe that within a day's ride of Headquarters the rustlers had been operating in this cool way. The most tedious and laborious part of their work they had overcome by building corrals for each night's stop, which, with the conveni- ence of watering places, meant that one or two riders could do the work of a half dozen in the old way. After a time he. noticed that the tracks were only of larger animals, not the aver- age run of a ranch. There Mahon's deductions were for the time blocked. For two days he !oat the trail, a couple of weeks old when he took it up. Almost in des- pair he dropped the search and made for the Red Deer, and after replenish- ing his supplies at a ranch -house, be- gan a careful inspection of the banks of the river. His reward was a well developed trail leading to the water, and, risking a strange and uncertain ford, he picked it up again on the far side. The absence of evidence of recent use of the trail decided him to wait there. Northward it might Lead any- where, and if the rustlers did not come within the next couple of days he could then resume his tracking. Fon the two days he had allowed himself he waited, pitching his lone camp beneath a cluster of cotton- wood trees in a nearby ravine. Cold nights were succeeded by beautifully bright and uncomfortably warm days when the shade of the trees was pleasant. On the third day he re- crossed the river for the companion- ship of the nearest ranch. In a week he had seen only a woman at a ranch -house. For almost three days not a sound had broken the prairie silence but the gurgle of the river, and the shuddering yapping of the coyotes by night; and nothing had moved within the vast stretches of his vision but an occasional gopher, a few slinking coyotes, and one ante- lope on a distant rise. Accordingly he did not at first be- lieve his eyes when a mile over the river, seated on a pile of blanched buffalo bones, Mira Stanton laughed into his surprised face. He made no effort to unravel the mystery of her presence there. All he felt was a great joy that she was before him, that he was talking to her, that the old arch look and graceful lines re- mained. Once more he felt that he must love her -everything seemed to declare that he should. She was the living spirit of the wilds he had been in alone for days. One straight beau- tiful arm drooped gracefully over the skull of what had once been a mighty buffalo bull, and she looked up at him as coquettishly as ever s'he did in the old care -free days. "Mira!" The tone of it, the look that went with it and the yearning bend of his body, told the story behind the single word. She flushed, and her smile wavered, and he imagined she droop- ed a little. No discordant note in dress or language touched him; and she could be naught but graceful. Af- ter his desolate week she came as a gift from the gods. "You see," he smiled, "you're not intended to escape me!" Her eyes dropped to the grass where her fingers were weaving it in and out. "There are other things one wants to escape," she said. "I -haven't en- ough friends now to really want to escape them." "It is ages since-" He stopped, picturing her as he had seen her last lying on the wet ground; the differ- ence was too marked to risk referring to it There were traces of moisture in her eyes and Mahon wanted only to remember her as she was at her hest -sensitive at such unexpected moments, demanding his approval when she responded to his efforts to teach her the things she wanted to know, appealing so overpoweringly for his sympathy when she made mis- takes. It seemed to him as he looked at her that he was responsible for the change in her life. "You don't need many, Mira," he declared, dismounting and holding out his hands. "Won't you let me make up somehow for what I've done?" She stared at him with lips parted and hands clasped over her bosom - His horse reached out and mumbled at the edge of his Stetson and the simple movement seemed to awaken her. With a laugh that was sharp and mocking she stepped away from him. As the sound of her laughter broke on his tight -strung sentiment, some- thing seemed to snap inside. He drew himself up, inhaling like one risen from a long dive, and waited for her to explain. ."Something ah,e0e• in -1r faes as she came closer to him, and. her dark skin' was flushing. "For him, too," she whispered "there's a •bullet waiting behind every tree in here. And. -" arid he takes such foolish chances, Only two days ago he was riding right into a trap I led him off, but he'd have got me for my pains if I hadn't known the Halls so well.. Never mind about me, Pete, but -for his sake we'd better work together." "Guess yuh'd better, come along," he said presently. "Yuh kin ef yuh larn me to write. Think yuh kin?" "I don't want to learn nobody to write. I don't want to know how my- self. I threw away all my books. I hate him! I hate him!" CHAPTER XIX MAHON'S LONE TRAIL Inspector Barker never ceased to hope that Blue Pete would return, but the only sign he gave was repeated orders to his men to look out for the half-breed. He noticed the changes in the rustlers' methods, and decided that he and his men 'were working wrong trails. Four men 'below his quota sometimes wrought him up to the point of putting it squarely to the Commissioner that he could no longer assume responsibility for :the Cypress Hills district; but always the honour of the Police intervened in time. A normal strength of a thousand men in the West was down to six hundred, and he must bear his share of the strain, The fifty cents a day allowed a Constable was no induce- ment for the class of men they re- quired, and had it not been for the glamour and excitement of the life the Mounted Police would have faded away as a power both in numbers and calibre. ' The first clue to give definite form to his new methods came from a rancher who had settled in the great open country far to the north of the Red Deer River. That wide but shal- low river sweeping diagonally through the prairie sixty miles north of Medi- cine Hat; watered a great valley whose fertility had been seized of late years by a half dozen pioneer ranch- ers. About them, for sixty miles southward and a hundred miles to the north, lay untouched prairie, much of it as yet unvisited by man. One of these ranchers, on his monthly visit to town for supplies and mail, casually mentioned that he had seen in the distance, twenty-five miles north of the railway, a bunch of hors- es. It came to the Inspector's ears, and after a talk with Mahon and Mit- chell, he concluded that the new route of the rustlers was northward out of the range of the district, then south- ward through other parts where they were not suspected. The two Police- men took a flying trip north without results, and twice thereafter Mahon roamed about alone. On the last oc- casion he picked up an old trail and followed it for miles before it evaded him. On his return the Inspector, scarce- ly listening to his report, sent him hurriedly to the Hills. Fortune fav- ored him. He managed to round up the stolenherd and with it one rust- ler, making three now waiting the fall assizes. His success was so startling and daring that Dutchy and his men seemed to lose their courage and for days there was no further rustling. An extra man was added to the force, and the assistance put new life into the Police. Mahon especially re- doubled his efforts. He kook to sleep- ing on the prairie where night over- took him, brooding in silence over Blue Pete and Mira and the other secrets of the Hills. His only relief was the Friday night visit of the mail buckboard to the Lodge, with its al- most unfailing letter from his mother. One day the buckboard brought him a second letter, unsigned, the rude address on the envelope straggling off toward an upper corner. "You ant safe in the hills," it ran. "Let sumwun els do it who Dutch ant aftur. Thayl shoot you." He knew who write it -;but when Blue Pete disappeared he was unable to read and write his own name, and had even refused to learn. The warn- ing in the letter meant nothing to Mahon, but that the illiterate half- breed had learned to write meant so much that his eyes dimmed in a great rush of, affection. Three days later the Inspector re- lieved himself in one breath of the results of these last weeks of cogita- tion. "It's Blue Pete, Mahon," he said, rnd his grizzled head shook gloomily. "Gad, if 'we could have kept him! . And now, since a crooked judge lost him to us, we've got to take him as a prisoner . There isn't another man in the coun- try could tangle things up like this!' He drummed on the table a mom- ent. "I don't want to put you on him, Mahon, for I know what a friend he was. I'm giving you other work for the time being and putting Mitchell in your place around the Hills till we get him. But I know you won't for- get your duty, boy -+Blue Pete must be taken wherever met . . . I'm sending you north. The trail you struck up there last week may lead to anything. Take a day or two a- mong the ranches east and west and then stick to the north as long as there's anything to find out." 'Mallon touched by Inspector Bark- er's considation, determined to re- pay it by finding out all the north had to tell. His preliminary investi- gation along the railway rewarded him with proof that stolen horses were going north. It was a bright day in August when he struck north- ward into two hundred miles of prair- ie entirely untenanted save for the few thin miles along the Red Deer Accustomed though he was to solitary riding, and buoyed Iby his discoveries he felt a tinge of awe as he bade good'-lbye to the last randier along 'the railway, In those thousands of square miles before him Anything al+° Borrie ks. eP • ea notAigg her derete940.rfc, )hotter lar enced ,as•elle•**%'. • for u n was filo unco lIJ t9 did riot dps el4e anlln 6; now ...indeed, he ythpr1a31 r p her i> nocence and teeny axil liness mare sincerely than aver ham: fore. - "You are ,Mira ' Stanton" ' •he ea with .dignity. "What that means, me is a woman Who. would make t elan she chose happy, whatever class' he was -and thank 'Heaven! there is: no class in Canada. But you are right. Perhaps this is trot love; fer'i I do not .believe real love is one -sed ed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, Mira; I would like you to re- member me as you thought of me two months ago." She touched the revolver at her belt. "I've forgot enough not to shoot you on sight, but there's` too much happened since ,to remember ---that." She waited no longer but stalked up the rise and out of sight beyond; and he did' not follow. Only when he heard the •gallop of her horse did he realize that the situation called for more than a declaration of love and a 'withdrawal. But it was not until her little form was fading into the dist- ance that the almost certain meaning of her presence there struck him. His suspicions were verified when he came on a corral he had previously misted, about it fresh tracks of horses. Mira had disappeared. For a moment he imagined he caught.a fleeting glimpse of movement to the north-east, but it was gone too' quickly to be certain. Chagrined and distressed, he hasten- ed'to the ranch -house to fill his lunch box and drinking flask. He picked up the trail again at, the corral and rode as fast as he dared. It continued north to the Red Deer, skirted off behind the cutbank past the ford he had been watching, and crossed a mile lower down. Some time during the last two days, while he was keeping his lonely vigil at the ford they had always used, the rustlers had gone round him by a new ford. And Mira's part of it was to delay his pursuit as long as pos- sible. With night falling fast he decided to use his old camping ground under the cottonwood trees. Lying there on his back, staring into the stars, he solved the problem of the rustlers' new route. Far up to the north, only a few miles from the old railway, a second railway was under construc- tion, the contractors for which were running standing advertisements in the prairie press for heavy horses. It was so very simple. "Yes," she jeered, "you pity me. It's only another way you have of making me hate you. You think it's love. Bah!" She snapped her fin- gers. "I ain't in your Claes, and you know it -or you wouldn't dare )city rile. You wouldn't be happy with me a month . . . . and you'd know that, too, if you stopped to think. I is CHAPTER XX - INSPECTOR BARKER GIVES ADVICE At the glimmer of dawn Mahon was in the saddle. He was aware that the strain of the past week was telling on him the monotonous food, the un- certain water, the ,cold night winds. and the lonesomeness. And last night he had scarcely slept at all. He found it hard to concentrate, and consciousness of his condition, when so much depended on a clear head, did not improve matters. The rustlers, too, had niade more than a little effort to hide their trail; for they turned abruptly at unexpect- ed places and sought the harder ground of dried alkali flats and brok- en banks. Often he would find him- self riding off from the trail; and by night he had made such slow pro- gress that only twenty miles separ- ated him from the river. At that rate he could never hope to overtake them. ,He was too uncertain of his deductions to make straight for the construction camps, two days of hard riding; there was always the possi- bility that the trail might still bend round to the south, as the Inspector thought. His doubt was unexpectedly reliev- ed. (Continued next week.) GENERAL BERTHELOT DIES LIKE FOCH AND JEFFRE Another distinguished French sol- dier has passed away in the person of General Berthelot, who died on January 30th. Our readers prpbably know that he had to submit to an amputation of his left leg. The nurs- es in the nursing home were much impressed by his fine character and by his anxiety during his illness to avoid giving trouble. When the doc- tor told the general that it was nec- essary to have his leg amputated, the famous soldier answered: "Do what you have to do. Whenever anyone has said to me there must be sacrifice I have always replied: let it be." The general never once complained. Those about him were surprised at his abs- ence of complaint, and the nurses told their patient so. The latter said in answer: "When one has made a sac- rifice it is finished. My silence sur- prises you, but I admire your devo- tion to duty; yet you don't talk about it nor complain of your work. Why should I complain?" The moment General Berthelot en- tered the nursing home he said: "I wish to die like Foch and Joffre, so I want to make a good confession.' This he did on January' llth to the Abbe Giroud, Vicar of Saint Jean Baptist at Grenelle, who also admin- istered Extreme Unction. General Berthelot revived a little and receiv- ed Holy Communion on January 12th, but the end came on January 30th As he lay dying his lips were mov- ing as if he prayed, and he kissed his crucifix. General Berthelot was born at Fetus, Loire, France, in 1861. Ho was trained for military service •at Saint Cyr, whieh he left In 16683.'e! had a 'brilliant military career; .dui. ing the Great 'Warr he took. Batt the siege of Verdun, hut he* spectsl,r ly famed for his servgees U,Seam?!}i a, where he reorgawzed -the; ar lY, cording to French me'$hods; ple of Roumania 'have a very gratefi 1 memory for what the general did, ;for their country. He was also present at the second battle of the Marac- THE SUGAR BUSH By The Blue Bell Poetess Sunlight upon the snow, and in the woods No faintest hint of Spring; while, in the trees, Hang long prismatic crystal icicles That send a tinkling echo down the. breeze. . Yet, in the maple's heart the saps astir, Flowing more freely as each sunny day Reclaims frost's nightly capture. To and fro From tree to cauldron and again away, Like human bees, the sugar -makers go, Plundering the precious nectar; while the Spring Bides, still, her time and smiles amusedly To watch tired Winter's tardy harvesting Make the sweet syrup's amber clarity Like molten gold from some October tree. • LONDON AND WINGHAM South. a.m. p.m. Wingham 6.45 2.50' Belgrave 7.01 3.10 Blyth 7.12 3.22 Londesboro 7.19 3.30 Clinton 7.38 3.53 Brucefield 7.56 4.13 Kippen 8.06 4.21 Hensall 8.09 4.25 Exeter 8.23 4.43 North. Exeter Hensall ..... Kippen Brucefield Clinton Londesboro Blyth Bel grave Wingham C.N.R. East. 10.59 11.13 11.18 11.27 11.58 12.18 12.28 12.40 12.55 5.42' 5.5T 6.01 6.09° 6.27 6.45 6.52' 7.02 7.20' a.m. p.m. Goderich 6.35 2.30- Holmesville .30Holmesville 6.50 2.46 Clinton 6.58 2.68• Seaforth 7.12 3.11 St. Columban 7.18 3.17 Dublin 7.23 3.22° West. Dublin 11.24 9.42 St. Colum'ban 11.29 Seaforth P. ... 11.40 9.66 Clinton 11.66 10.09 _ Holmesville 12.05 10.18 - Goderich 12.20 10.85 C. P. R. TIME TABLE East. Goderich Menset M!oGaw Auburn .....,..... Blyth Walton McNaught Toronto West. 6.50 6.61E 6.04 6.11 6.26 640 6.61: 10.21 Toronto McNaught .......,....•....•. IV 1 44g' Walton ................ 01,.. • c Myth Auburn • ...•P. A • l ....... ...., /My�OyT,� et .'............. N..'tl rd Iii d�. did 'lo A