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OCTOBER 6, HOG. we sunny soma bibih WAGE i As Reindeer Farmer f Uncle Sam Stretches * I * Paternalistic Hand Over Poorer Natives of Alaska j Thirty‘One’s Redemption ^ LTHOUGH the scandal In connection with the United States government’s Alas kan reindeer, may necessi tate a change in the sys tem for controlling the Industry, no amount of misconduct can alter the fact that the experiment has been a success of great value in providing a means of sustenance for the poor Eskimo of the nofihermost of Uncle Sam's possessions. Attention has been recently directed to the fact that Uncle Sam was an active rival of Santa Claus in reindeer farming, by the open charge that Rev. Dr. Shel don S. Jackson, head of the Alaskan educational system, gave away or sold thousands of ’’-'he animals that the gov ernment had imported from Siberia at gieat cost. Pr. Jackson promptly e,nt%'ed a vig orous denial, and explained that th# shrinkage in the size of the herd was the natural outcome of giving away the animals to those to whom Uncle Stun in tended they should go. Rut the charges of fraud and graft came from Frank C. Churchill, a special agent of the interior department., and "were so serious Lhat Secretary Hitchcock favors legislation whiph shall take control of the animals from the educational authorities and mis-] sionaries, and lodge it with the governor of Alaska. In this way the secretary of the in terior will be able to be in continuous touch with all that happens to any ant lered member of Uncle Sam's herd. Pr. Jackson does not lack defenders, and many contend that the noted Pres byterian missionary, as virtual founder of the reindeer experiment, is, above all others, the man who should be kept in charge of it. The whole experiment was started with ai: idea of saving the inhabitants of Alaska from starvation. Before the coining of Russians, Americans, Ger mans and English, the native Alaskan never found any difficulty in getting sus tenance. The walrus, whale and seal afforded an endless supply of clothing, food amt fuel. REINDEER THE SALVATION. But the rabid hun'tTng of the white man gradually decimated these sources of supply, and Uncle Sam, as new custo dian of the lives and happiness of his Alaskan oharges, had to decide between making paupers of them, as with the In dian, by confining them to a reservation, and there supplying food, or to provide a means by which the natives could work out their own salvation—and three meals a day. Alaskan Missionary and His Reindeer Team. solicited of all missionaries working in the native Eskimos who had served a Alaska. i five years' apprenticeship in the care READILY ACCLIMATED. 1 and management of reindeer; 2,127 had Reindeer breeding was thus conducted < been earned by the mission stations— ns tlie industrial part of the day schools,! mainly under contract with The goverti- wlth which the United States govern-l ment—who, in return for ihe loan off 100 ment is striving to raise the intelligence of the northern country. Competent l^iplanders, who had been in charge of herds in Norway, were taken to Alaska to give the benefit of their knowledge to promising young Alaska natives. The gradual appropriations brought from Siberia to Alaska a constantly in creasing number of reindeer, until even tually 1,280 had been imported. Under careful handling, the newcomer dee.r ha ( ] clothed, fed and cared for na tive apprentices during their live years’ apprenticeship and then had returned to the government the original number of deer loaned them, retaining the. fawns for future work in training Eskimo ap prentices; 1.187 'had been earned by the laplauder teachers, who also had re ceived small loans from the government, which, after five years they returned to the government, retaining the fawns horn for themselves." Many persons are hacking up Dr. Jack- son from the ffenr that White men who are coining to Alaska in great numbers lately, will, for their own interests, get possession of the animals that were brought into the country as succor to the starving native. But th" vigilant eye of Uncle Sam will see justice done his wards, whether through Dr. Jackson or the governor of Alaska. A \ By ANNB ONNE. SORT of psychological-, un certainty hovered over tne corner bed. They spoke of him as "That" Thirty-one. • nd lowered their voices, but could not have to.d why. He was little more than a boy. He had a mass of dark, close-curling hair that a woman might have envied, and eloquent, •m- pt ring eyes to match It. But the lines In his drawn white face, Ms sinister silence, and the flicker as of hunted fear and desperation In those eyes whenever the doctor's step was heard, seemed to mark him down as a man who Wad something In his life that It was best to forget. It was a set tled conviction among them that he had no wish to -pass the hospital gates aifnin. Sister Nora ha.fi been preparing some liniment in a manner that required a'l ^“ s ' Yike“'a" nmn hypnmized, held'by' a her attention. It iwas done; she wound a coll of linen around lici arm, replaced her materials with a quiet swiftness, and floated like a breath of sweet wind past hour to save others. I’ve watched; I know." "Listen! I shall never speak of Jt again'; I shall leave it to your man hood. ‘But, In your sleep, you have tola me fragments of the truth that lies upon your mind night and day. No one else knows; I have planned and contrived to shield you until—until I am looked upon here with suspicion. Are you listening? Be brave. I am not the magician you think; I am just a weak woman, drawn to help you by something I cannot explain. That first night, when the police came here to take down your statement, you lied to them. With the shadow of death over you, human fear was still -uppermost. 1 watched your face; I knew. The name you gave them was never your own. You had not walked here from Liverpool In search of employment. The story that a man, whose fa-oe you could not tell again, had struck at you in the darkness with some blunt weapon—” Sister Nora’s quiet voice suddenly quivered away into a suppressed sob. Slowly, stealthly. Thirty-one half raised himself and stared along the ward. He Don’t Be Fat, My New Obesity Food Quickly Re duces Your Weight To Normal, Requires No Starvation Process and is Absolutely Safe. TRIAL PACKAGE MAILED FREE. Piles and female diseases can be cured. To prove it I sen<) free a package of mj aegetabie cure. Write Mrs. Cora B. Miller, Box 2056, Kokomo, Ind. ••• Tne agent of the Unitea tSates burt' DR. SHELDON S. JACKSON, Unde Sam’s Chief Reinderr Far- Alaska climate, and in the twelve years, 1 $ between 1893 and 1905, there had been • born some 13.000 fawns. The question of distribution was an other difficult problem. How was the government to get the reindeer to all parts of the vast territory, to put them in the iiands of the right kind of men, who would care for them properly, and look to tiie future interest of the whole community? Again the government turned to the missions. It was decided to give each mission station 100 reindeer, the same to be held In trust, remaining the prop erty of the government, but being used for the best interest of ail the natives in the vicinity of the station. The mission bore all the expenses, and took the responsibility of picking out proper apprentices to care for the ani mals. The only reward an apprentice re ceived, was at the end of each yenti of faithful service, two reindeer for his per sonal property. This was Intended to stimulate him to an effort to start a herd of his own. At the end of each five years the mis sion station was to return to the gov- ernment the original 100 reindeer, or In case some of these had died, enough out of tlie newly horn to bring the total up to the original investment. After this the mission was allowed to keep the rest of the natural Increase. WELL NIGH IDEAL. This plan proved well nigh ideal, for it sent the reindeer into nil parts of the country, started hitherto shiftless, ! idle natives into new habits of indus- ] try and enterprise, and at the very worst i gave ifood to many who otherwise would j ‘have starved or become government ! charges. | The expense was virtually nothing. 'Hilose reindeer that tlie government fed and kept, cost on an average about SI I ar»ieoe in tlie five pears, while those that Below the Stairs i By FORD M. HUEFFER. sla N the sudden opacity that fell upon tlie two men. Chapman saw absolutely nothing. Before the mur derous wrath of the man who had been, ten minutes before, his friend, he had, in a moment of tense In spiration, noticed the the electric switch near the light into the room; he would have his revolver leveled. On the other hand, Hode >was always for qiu-lck shooting. He could not tell, too, that his own nerve was not destroyed: at tlie moment he wa.-t not quivering at all—hut you never could tell how you would take a thing, or how it would affect you. What was he to fio? If he fired at random lie might hit Hode; but if lie missed, the light of hts firing would -give Hode an infallible target. What was he to do? He would have to make up his -mind soon. Then he began again to think of what had passed. It was all due to his inva- door, stretched out hi3 1 tiable self-confidence. Mrs. Hode—it was hand, and, in the instant, 1 f' 1,5 , t . h \ t - in fplie of his Intimacy with , , ’ . ’ . , , . I her. that had lasted ever since the Hode.? blotted out the lonf? shoot- find come hack from California, he - nl ing: gallery, the white t^r- I ways t^p>r#ht of her as Mrs. Hode—Mrs his friend’s vivid, hateful face with . Hode had always been frightfully timor- I "us. She had always started: she had always dreaded being seen—in the most obscure places, whether in Greenwich, in Chiswick, or at the Crystal palace. And he had always laughed comfortingly, for who of their set would he in Greenwich, in ChlSwich, or at the Crystal palace? Suddenly, he felt violently determined o shoot Hode; for he felt a fierce hatred get the heavy moustache. The light had been so vivid that it still seemed to press upon liis eyes; the darkness was now so thick that it seemed to have blotted out his very senses. Ten minutes before Chapman had been a rather commonplace man—with a deli cate intrigue, if you will, to carry on—] at the thought that if lie. Chapman, died but feeling himself perfectly ordinary— there, or let Hode pass the door, Mode With the consciousness of having eaten would 'expose Mrs. Hode. No; on no his host’s good dinner, and of having ! Hode leave the room alive .. .. _ , It struck him as odd that lie should happily digested it with tlie conscious- 1 ] lavo that feeling, because he had begun ness that in a short time lie would go to ) - l0 believe that he no longer cared bed and sleep well, and that if he had hop. betrayed tlie man with whom he was now 1 Yet. at the thought of how she would idly killing time at tlie targets, he was at affected by disgrace, a cold wave of , „ ,, 1 !e< seemed to jvass right from his fore least undiscovered, and would soon extri- , ieafl to his k ' npea . B He drew in his cate himself from the mess by a prudent i, reatll w ith n pissing sound, and sud- fliglit. Now lie stood, with his finger on; denlv he heard the tiniest, indistinguisli- tlie switch, in tlie sudden darkness, a, •’ble sound from the center of tiie dark- convicted villain, in peril of his very j ness. Hode had caught his nervous hiss; life. j j itiad been let out to the various mission »f education, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, arose! stations for use among the natives, oosl with tlie plan that has proved the key* Uncle Sam only about 7 cents apiece, to the situation. He proposed that the; This rosy result would have decided United States import domestic reindeer; the government to continue along the from Siberia, and then by teaching the, present line indefinitely; in fact, to great- young Eskimo how to U6e them, to putily extend the venture, had not tlie un- in the hands of tlie natives a medium of j fortunate oharges of irregularity forced transportation, food and clothing. j an investigation. Uncle Sam was a little slow to get into] Even the agent who made the oharges action, so Dr. Jackson, having the en-1 against Dr. Jackson regrets the need of thusiasm of his plan, appealed to the j assailing bis work, for he has put him- ger.erous minded, and raised $2,200 from, self on record as saying that lie did not private sources. J believb the distinguished missionary per- Wlth tills money, in I8i92, he made ai gonally profited by tlie transaction, but lie was crouching there in the darkness , . , . , , , . There was no knowing where he was; He could not believe it; he could not! p er p, a p s he had sprung swiftly to one believe that he was a villain any more c-itfe when tlie light had gone out; per- tiian he could believe that in a moment ! hape he was still standing by the ear- he might be a corpse or might have taken i ' ridge table. ■ heavy Irritability. a life. lie stood perfectly still; with a sort of instinct he retained his breath between ills lips, for fear tlie sound of hie breath ing would give to the invisible man that tie felt in the warkness au indication of where lie was. There was in front of 111i>i a picture as black as tlie blackness that hail fallen upon the long gallery; lie must either shoot Hode or Hode must shoot him. Their host and the men and women who formed the house party there trip over the wastes of Siberia, picked] that all the money involved was used ; were long since in bed; tlie servants were out 172 reindeetj and brought hem to Alaska on a revenue cutter, landing at Port Clarence. In 1904 congress was stirred to the point of supplying $6,000, and from that time in various amounts the total sum invested in reindeer lias been advanced to $25,000. Since it was Dr. Jackson who began '.'ne experiment. It was deemed proper to let him continue in charge, and the care for the building of new churches. j in bed, too. The shooting gallery was at Dr. Jackson says tiliat the reindeer the very bottom of tlie large house, have passed from the government with I Hode mid Chapman, at tlie end of a nenfect regularity into the possession I dull day of rain, had decided to go down of the natives for whom they were in- eVv * vnmlr ° ff ,he m * tch of I mt - revolver shots. Chapman, who was to set off for a protracted tour of dis tracted tour of disturbed districts in the Caucasus, had a sufficient motive for proficiency with the revolver. Hode had always been a dead shot. . - , „„„ — 1 H he had dared to move. Chapman ernment has spent about $250,000 for, would have struck himself for Ids folly m coming; but the invrsible presence at ten paces from him had the ear of a tended. THE CHARGES. Hits answer to Agent Churchill was as follows: "It was charged that, while the gov- sense of exas peration Invaded him. Tt seemed abom inable that at that juncture he must worry himself about what he was to do. He wanted to lie quiet—as it were, to have time to arrange his affairs, at least in his head. It occurred to him that lie ought to he saying prayers be cause lie was going to die. He was going to tie cut off in the midst of mor tal sin—and unrepentant. For—and it seemeo old t ohim—he was not In the least repentant. H° was only exasper ated at tiie folly which had led him to so imbecilely betray himself to the man lie had—but lie could not put it that he had injured Hode. Mrs. Hode had wanted him—Chapman—and Chapman had wanted her. What did it matter to Hode? How had it injured him? And Chapman was almost worried that lie did not feel a sense of moral baseness. What realy troubled him was the atro cious self confidence that led to the dis closure. Tie had always been self-confi dent. Mrs. Hode always forboding. They had never even written any letters— except tiie one in which, worn out with his pending, after meaning to separate forever, she had written to him: ‘‘Conte !' the venture lias been left to the bu-j reindeer, and the Alaskan herd numbers reau of education, whoso head he if- 1 10,234, there are only 2.500 in the pos- j ten paces from hint had the ear of a to me; T cannot live without you.” For j a government Ual early recognized] seag ion Q f the government. The infer- ! He. Chapman, must stand there, ! some reason that he eouid not fathom, tint. U did not personally have agents] ence u that I or some one else must , T^i7’i os hrr.nin ml he'darkness o'? "Cp™: ^ bett<>r jU<1 * ment ’ had enough in Alaska to seo that tlie right; have unlawfully disposed of nearly 8,000] An infinity of time seemed to pass. He kind of young men were picked out tol of the 10,000 reindeer in Alaska. The | roused himself to wonder what to do. guard the nerun so the '^operation was] fact is that 3,817 had been earned by He held the switch, he would flash / ammo Enjoying a Drive Behind a Swift Footed Reindeer. never burned that letter. But, to be sure of it, lie had always caried it about with him. And that very night, having come In a little late for dinner, he had dressed very quickly, and, remembering from habit the letter in ills shooting jacket pocket, iie had pushed it simply with liis handkerchief into his cuff. Self-confidence! Mkdness! He had decided a month ago that he must "break off tlie intrigue,” He had toid Mrs. Hode that they must part. They were to have parted in a week, he to go to tlie Caucasus. Suddenly into the darkness there blared at him the question: “What will she do now?" For he would he—not gone to the Caucasus—but irrevoeably away; in unending darkness. It seems to him to lie suddenly horri ble that he can do nothing better for her—that she must pass the rest of her days with him Irrevocably underground —just as at that moment he was un derground, and she. far above, no doubt, filled with fears. For she had told him that every night was to her an agony of dread till her husband looked tn to say goodnight on his way to bed. Then only, she had sakl, did she feel secure. While “they”—tlie two men—were still downstairs, she dreaded always discov ery, outcry, and an unending horror. During tlie last month—since Chapman had mentioned his determination to go to the Caucasus—Hode had talked a good deal about "Ella.” A mentally tranquil person—though capable of violent rage— Hode, as became his miutty distinguished military career, had accepted his married life as a thing of routine. He had lived seven years with his glia without ob serving her more than to know that she liked an occasional present of flowers, and thought that one ought to rest for an hour . after lunch. He would no more have suspected her of psychologic# vaga ries than he would have expected hia Continued on Last Page. the knot of nurses who had Just come off duty. No one lisd ever called her beautiful. Jn that caJm. Madonna-like unconscious ness of herself, in her unstudied devotion to duty, lay the simple secret. As she went diown the word, of which she had sole charge till dawn, there were furtive nestles and murmurs of "Sister Nora!" from either side of the avenue and spot less beds. "Sleep” was the order, and she went straight on. but In her wake was left a calm little smile to one, a queenly nod to another, a mute prom ise in her eyes to a third, and so son. At Thirty-one, as she reached the far end, she did not glance. Her lips had seemed to set and sadden unknowingly. At that moment she looked like a woman who had convinced hervlf of the necessity of some stern purpose, and would not waver. Under tlie coverlet Thirty-one watched her with a breathless, frightened inten sity. For some minutes she stooped above the bed in the ■ •pposite corner; tlmn at last she straightened u.n, stood with a hand to her forehead and moved back down the ward. She had not looked at him. Thirty-one seemed to draw a breath as of mingled' longing and relief. Did she know? For quite a long time she stood with her bang turned at the far end; then suddenly she wheeled round. Thirty-one's figure had been raised upon one arm almost to a sitting posture, star ing that way. He dropped back like one detected on the threshold of a crime; ’he coverlet went over his head. Ten o’clock. Sister Nora was upon her feet. Down the ward she went noiseless ly. resolutely. She paused In Thirty- one’s comer. "Thirty-one!’ she said, in that low, deep vofoe of hors. No answer. His eyes and lips were closed as in sleep. She made as if to go, turned quickly again—and the eyes were staring at her. “I knew it,” she bent to whisper. She laid a hand upon his forehead: the in- j stincts of the trained nurse came first. “Oh. you can easily deceive me, but you cannot deceive yourself. Thirty-one, to night or never! What is it to be? ’ "You’re wrong; there's nothing to tell, came his quick whisper hack, huskily defiant. "Keep away from me. as the others do. Let me go as T came; you promised that. Don't touch me—I'm poison to you!” It would have made most sensitive women shrink; so much was condensed In the words. Sister Nora took both the flinching hands in hers determinedly. It was the tender fearlessness and search ing intuition that have made women in ail ages the conqueror of man. "If so. I may touch poison without be ing defiled. Did I promise that? Then my conscience makes me break the prom ise. You are going to tell me before you leave this place," site said. She had slipped down upon her knees. "You dare not go with the thought that you lied to tlie woman who, through God. helped to give you back your precious life. Aye, precious, if you only knew It! A true woman’s duty does not end just there. If I can help you, T must do it. An vast awe. "I Med to them." he repeated, as to himself. “I can't lie to her. She knows; she wants to make a man of me again. That night—that night it was all or nothing with me. I had not the price of a bed or a meal; I had gambled it all away, and owed more than I could pay. In that fear of exposure, I was wander ing' the streets. There was a house—a house in a quiet road. As 1 passed it. The Above Illxr,'rai;:i= Zhvzr; tie r-mAriabla Zflaeta of TMh Wonderful Obeal‘7 Fooi—Wtial It Hat Pone For Otbers It Will Do For Ton. My now Otiosity Food, takon at mealtime, come pels p"rf»ot assimilation of the food and sends tha food nutriment where it belongs. It requires u6 1 starvation process. You enn eat all you want. It makes musole, bone, sinew, nerve and brain tissue out of the excess fat, and quickly reduces I thought of a leather bag in a bureau, wight to normal. It takes off the big stomach reheYM tne compressed condition and enables crammed with old gold' coins, little crosses, unset stones, ail lumped together there by the man who thought more of bis medical books than of alj the money in tlie world. It drew me with the strength of a clutching hand. It was Dr. Franklin's house. I had known the maid there; I knew just how tlie doors and passages lay. I never stopped to think of an afterwards. * * * 1 did it— I could not tell how. I was climbing out again by tlie balcony window. and thought I heard a sound behind. A face seemed to look at me across tlie draw ing room. It was a blind leap for tlie ground, and one of the sharp-pointed rails caught me here—just here. I lay there, waiting for death; f felt that the bleeding was inward. Then, as my thoughts came back, I moved down the road] and—and hid the leather bag in place where I could find it agin, if T lived. With that dread of the hue and cry behind, I must have dragged myself a mile from the spot; and then someone saw me fall forward. * * * Heavens. I've 'put mv life into her keeping! What can I snv,' what can T do. to make her believe that I live to forget It—that I'm not a hopeloss villain?” "I only asked you to trust me. Now. if you mean that your first act when v nn leave this .place will be to make res titution to tbo man you have wronged. The rest—the rest lies between you and your maker." <‘Y ef! _yp Si " he whispered. He had given one quiver at the ordeal which the calm voice created for him. "But if the po lice should come here again, what could I say without adding to that lie? To be kept here in that suspense for another month, fearing every moment—. No. it would end in madness. I’d sooner die tonight and escape it all that way! “Hush! You are to live, to work vour own redemption. That restitution will he the first step toward freedom for your manhood. And then— ’ "Then—?" he breathed, as if a life o/r death sentence were in the balances. She did not answer. She had covered her face with her hands for a moment. Then, as she rose to move swiftly away, , heart to act freely and the lungs to expand nato- raliy and tlie kidneys and liver to perform tbelf functions in a natural manner. You will feel better the first day you try this ’.vonderful home food; Fill out coupon hereinth and mull today. FREE This ronpon is good for one trial package of Kellogg's Obesity Food with testimonials from hundreds who have^been greatly reduced, mailed free in plain package. Simply fill in your name and address on dotted lines below and mail to F. J. KFI. 1.0(10, 8812 Kellogg Bldg., Battle Creek, Mich. purpose, was missing. Sister Bertha, in charge, had not turned her back for a moment: dumb with the shock, she could only stare blankly until her ques tioning gaze rested upon Sister Nora. But the calm eyes in that pale face an swered nothing; besides. Sister Nora had not been on duty at the time. He had stolen down the staircase unnoticed, mingled with the convalescents in the grounds below, and passed the main gate. There were vague whispers from out side that a cab had heen waiting near at hand—that a veiled woman's hands had readied from it and helped him m with a marked tenderness; but this was held to he the inevitable note of ro mance that follows mystery. "Y'ou have it?" "Yes." the man whispered. A flush of shame darkened his face in the dusk, but it was gone again quickly. "It was there, lying between the shrubs and the wall. I have touched nothing in it. If you doubt me—,” and his* black bag clicked. "No, no!” She turned her face. "If 1 trusted you to come back to me herei I can be sure of all else;" "Heaven bless you!” he muttered, keep- she " found her arm gripped and held. [ ing hack* a sob. He stood uncertainly; TXnirty-one's voice was different. “Not yet! I'll do tlmt—T H .promise it— if you will carry on the noble part you have begun. Stand by me; help me through it' You have come In through I moment had come, and that she was mv lffe at its darkest hour; one word ] here hlm to s 1 ™" tlie o™ 1 ™ 1 an<1 from von now-one look-will keep me j Pave the way to his redemption, how . * . .. T _ f ___ win* nuf could he hope to realize that her money true to mv better self. I^et me mot our . _ _ 4>l .. r . , , , , , , . rinn’f had paid for the small furnished room the past and begin life again—but non t j > .. . . looking around. Her arm had taken his again, and held it tightly; but the awe and unreality of it were as great as ever. If he could not believe that the let me drift alone! "Whom have I turn to when I pass those gates? Gould T face any of my friends again? Alone, I'm a coward: with my guardian angel near me. and with t'he thought that some day, perhaps, if I prove myself a man—” It broke off. The walls of the ward seemed to be moving; the beat of time seemed to be suspended for him just then. W'hat bad he dared to say? As- liour ago, when you sat up. you wp re j aur6( jiy ho could not have told. Tie trying once more to find out a way of j knew only tbat there was a task before tricking me. If your clothes had been at , j 1 [ m g rea to r than he could realize yet; t hand, you had it in your mind to leave ] that t}l | s angel-woman hovering above the place by stealth—even if you had to him seemefl to be the incarnation of all creep out at that window and risk your j t ha| is purest and most precious in a life afresh. Forced to live on in spite man ' s ideals. To lose her again for- of yourself, you have brooded solely upon escape. To you this is a prison Why?” ’’Don’t.” he muttered, faintly implor ing. “If you know all that, you ought not to come near me. Help me to get away—forget me! What is my life to •you. from the moment I get past that door? Nothing!” "Nothing—and everything! Tonight ends my watch here for another week ever—to remember ber only as a sweet figure moving through his dreams- no! And it seemed as if Sister Nora had known. Or was it that she could not bring herself at this fateful moment to give the answer that might throw him hack upon desperation? He was not to know. He lay that next minute in an incredulous quiver. He was alone; none of it seemed real. He struggled to real ize that Sister Nora had stooped sud- I must speak: T shall shrink from noth- fienly. put iter lips to bis damp forehead ing,” came quietly down to him. “Up j aa seal some silent compact, and till now T have felt myself responsible t ] ia( ^ vanished like a shadow, for you, the physical man; now it would j she had drawn back behind one of haunt me if I thought I had let the im- ( screens at the far end of the ward, mortal part of you drift out into dark- ghe was upon her knees, her hands ness. Thirty-one, will you trust me with ; strained together, whispering: the triith?" "What could I say? To help him— He looked at her as one yielding to ] aave hint! Gan I help loving him as a spell. Sister Nora looked steadfastly. | j e ould never love aga.in? Cannot I He made one last effort to turn her ' hope, as he hopes?" sympathies. | Barely one week later a thing unt where he was living—that her own hands had given it all the thoughtful finishing touches for iiis comfort—that her womanly protectiveness had inspired day by day the parcel of delicacies to bring hack his health? Her deepest thoughts he could not read. At soma day he might hope to; but tonight she was simply his ideal of God's noblest creation—the angel-woman who was lift ing him on "stepping stones of his dead self” to higher things. They walked on in silence till he paused with a shudder of recollection, his voice a husky rattle. "Over there—the house with the red lamp. What—what if I never come back to you here? What if he should lock the door upon me and send for the police? Could I answer for—’’ “I had thought of it," she whispered. Her fingers had taken the black bag from 1/t; her face was calm and deter mined. "You shall wait here. If I seo him, hand back his valuables intact, and implore his forgiveness, surely he could not—’’ "If he did!" Thirty-one cluetched her arm convulsively. “Don't go. Send it by tlie post. You shall not risk anything more for me.” "I must. I must know mat you can •begin life tomorrow without that shadow upon your mind. It is with you now; it would be always.” She put back his hands. "I am going; I have no fear. A few moments more and you will be free—free for the woman who loves you!” She broke away and crossed the quiet "You'd hate me,” he rattled. "You'd [ paralleled In the history of the hospital roadway quickly. A moment more, and wish the pity had never entered Into i had been recorded. Thirty-one, still you; that’s the truth tonight. You ought I haggard and strange, but able for the not to be here; you should be on the j first time to move up and down the ward leper island, giving your life hour by I In a suit of clothes lent him for that the hall door of the ftom his sight. He house had shut her stood back in the Continued on Last Page. Aa Eskimo Family Demonstrating That Reindeer Can Be Ridden as Well aa ^ Driven,