The Blazed Trail

as very crude. To the edge of the right-of-way pushed the dense swamp, like a black curtain shutting the virgin country from the view of civilization. Even by daylight the sight could

In the smoker lounged a dozen men. They were of various sizes and descriptions, but they all wore heavy blanket mackinaw coats, rubber shoes, and thick German socks tied at

re as diverse. Three nearest the baggage-room door attempted to sing, but without much success. A man in the corner breathed softly through a mouth organ, to the music of which his seat mate, leaning his head sideways, gave clo

face coolly thrust his heel through a window. The conductor, who, with the brakeman a

he remarked. "Perhaps it will

d broad, with a hawk face. His every moti

rakeman, rising as a matter o

train officials with an eye to their superior deltoids. A conductor who could not throw an undesirable f

!" clicked the c

pockets, but the three singers and the one who

peated the conduct

n leaned uncertain

et. You know how it is, Bud. I blows my stake." He fished uncertainly i

the conduct

the bottle, emptied it, and hurled it through a window. The co

ticket, you'll have

an straig

the sole of his spiked boot delivered

knocked the man half the length of the car. You see, he was used t

staggering down the aisle intent on battle. The con

em, Jimmy

door, which someone obligingly opened, and hurled from the moving train into the snow. The conductor did not care a straw whether the obstreperous

nt proceedings, it was admirable. The conductor returned to find a kicking, rolling, gouging mass of kinetic energy knocking the varnish off all one end of the car. A head appearing, he coolly batted it three times against a corner of the seat arm, after which he pulled the contestant out by the hair and threw him into a seat where he lay

over the heap, at

enough, or do you wa

y signified they had had enough. Jimmy thereupon released them an

or bounce?" inqu

ossed it, slung it on his left arm, and sauntered on down the aisle punching tickets. Behind him followed Jimmy. When he came to the door he swung across the platform with the easy lurch of the trainman, and ente

still straight and vigorous. His lean face was leather-brown in contrast to a long mustache and heavy eyebrows bleached nearly white, his eyes were a clear steady blue, an

melancholy air which a very cursory second examination showed to be fictitious. His eyes, like the woodsman's, were steady, but inquiring. His jaw was square and settled, his mouth straight. One would be likely to sum him up as a man whose actions would be little influenced by glamour or even by the sentiments. And

t of travelling. Sometimes he smoked a pipe. Thrice he read over a letter. It was from his sister, and announced her arrival at the little rural village in which he had made arrangements for her to stay. "It is interesting,-now," she wrote, "though the resources do not look as though they would wear well. I am learning under Mrs. Renwick to sweep an

hich had taught her the truth that, although learning a new thing is always interesting, the practising of an old one is monotonous. And her pluck appealed to him. It is not easy

and she shall have her everlasting fortune

s in his pocket, and smiled. That was the e

been answered

erely that you will do your best to fit yourself to your new conditions. I know it is hard, but with my lack of

The somber tone of her brother's communication threw her into a fit of the blues from which, for the first time, she saw

from. His life outside the inner circles of his affections was apt to be so militant and so divorced from considerations of amity, that as a matter of natural reaction he became inclined to exaggerate the importance of small objections, little reproaches, slight criticisms from his real friends. Such criticisms seemed to bring into a sphere he would have liked to keep solely for the mutual reliance of loving kindness, something of the hard utilitarianism of the world at large. In consequence he gradually came to choose the line of least resistance, to avoid instinctively even the slightly disagreeable. Perhaps for this reason he was never entirely sincere with those he loved. He

impersonal manner which destroyed utterly their quality as favors. In reality his heart hungered for the affection which this false attitude generally repelled. He threw the wet blanket of doubt over warm young enthusiasms because his mind worked wit

ister. It would have commended itself more logically to her had she been able to follow step by step the considerations that had led her brother to it. As the event turned, she was forced to accept it blindly. She knew that her brother intended going West, but as to his hopes and plans she was in ignorance. A little sympathy, a little mutual understanding would have meant a great deal to her, for

hed with keen appreciation the direct practicality of the trainmen's method. When the

he!" he observed. "That fellow

agreed the

pe, as has been explained, was constitutionally reticent. In the course of their disjointed remarks Thorpe explained t

out logging?" inq

" Thorpe

hing but lumber-jacks. Wh

ully. "I have driven horses a good

Thorpe over with a quizzical eye. Then

he replied sti

difficulties. He must acquire the knack of facing them square about in their tracks. He must hold them under a control that will throw into their collars, at command, from five pounds to their full power of pull, lasting from five seconds to five minutes. And above all, he must be able to keep them

h men become rather expert in the reading of character, and often in a log shanty you will hear op

ing is what a greenhorn tackles first. They's more chance earlier in the year. But if the OLD Fellow" (he strongly accented t

ive blew, and the conducto

fellow's turke

the camps, was a little bewildered. Shearer reached over his head and t

"his war bag. Bud'll throw it off a

ck is he?"

. He'll hoof it

the passengers,-with the exception of Shearer and Thorpe,-and now were passing the jug rapidly from hand to hand. Soon they became musical, striking up one of the weird long-drawn-out

llars, and I blew her all in six days. Next year I had a little more, but she lasted me three weeks. That was better. Next year, I says to myself, I'll just save fifty of that stake, and blow the rest. S

immy fiercely through

id the woodsman, holding out his hand, "so long. See you again

" replied the ot

s to the baggage compartment, where he disappe

pped at his face and caught his lungs. Beyond the fence-rail protection to the side of the platform he thought he saw the suggestion of a broad reach of snow, a

cended before Thorpe made over toward this light, stumbling and laughing uncertainly, so he knew it was probably in the boarding-house, and prepared to follo

rgetically on a wooden leg of home manufacture. It was a cumbersome instrument, heavy, with deep pine socket for the stump, and a projecting brace which passed under a leather belt around the man's waist. This instrument he used with the dexterity of a third hand. As Thorpe watched him, he drove in a projecting nail, kicked two

wl we

snarled one of the owners

whisky here," sn

pped the end of the brace from beneath the leather belt, seized the other, peg end in his right hand, and so became possessed of a murderous bludgeon. This he bran

ou, peg-leg!

he latter, without, however, a shade of

p the lamp, and, having resumed his artificial leg i