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The oncoming horse must have winded the stallion, for he swerved violently, nearly unseating hls rider. With a gasp Thorp lowered his rlfle. It was not Cortz who had followed him. but the girlâ€"Megan Meredith! With a feeling of annoyance. Thorp saw her flying black hair against the Sky, and as he sprang to his feet she 113%qu up beside him._ “Megan!” exclaimed Johnny Tho_rp, Gatehng her bridle as the horse shed at his- sudden appearance. “What are YOELdoing here?" quit!” - “Quit!” Concern jolted the fr9}2_Th01_‘p’s ljps. “Qu_it_ _what “The saloon,” returned Megan calm- ly. “Borit would sure have killed me, after guessing I’d given you the tip 'bout the dope, and flinging the water bottle when he drew on you! Uncle don’t stick at trifles like murder when he gets real testy. He’s just mad with a broken wrist; so I made tracks.” Thorp cursed into the gloom. “Where are you going?” he asked. Megan, the saloon girl, leaned for- ward in her saddle, and looked deep into the eyes of the onetime London clubman. ' “Doin’?” panted the girl, breathless frqngnher rapid ride. “Doin’! I’ve “That’s for on to say, John Thorp,” she said in a ow voice. “I’ve friends at Endosa, north of Otron. If you’ll take me there, I’ll be safe!” She aused with a faint anxious smile on er lips. “If not,” she added, “reckon I’ll have to kick around your stamping ground for a while. You’re the only man who’s ever treated me like I was All( a Christian, and if you’re going north, guess thet’s my direction as well!” “Megan,” he said. “Isn’t there some- \ 1“ Where around here where you can findl be Good LUCK 7 IS GOOD JUDGMENT. "343 “The Tea that is always Reliable.” 0n the Fringe of mg Pampa WATCH ES ‘ East ~ wast EDDYS Best is thought to go a long way. but Good Judgment goes farther. hOOK FUR THE NAME ON 1146 BOX PART II. Our Free Bookie of Engravings The Flnoit lnstrumen Tm Worm Produce: FACTORY Duh ur Cn what?” word shelter? It’s a week’s journey to En- dosa; I’m traveling mighty light of stores, and sleeping rough." Megan laughed shortly. “Guess where you sleep suits me!” she said. “I’ll be a lot safer with you on the Pampa than anywhere around San Latois, with Gideon Cortz hang- ing about." A vagrant thought slipping into his mind caused Thorp to speak suddenly and brusquely. “Whose horse is this you’re riding?” “Don’t know,” replied Megan. “It’s the first I could grab. From the fork in his ear I guess he’s one of Lloyd's tro_u_pe.” “So that if I take you along to En- dosa,” he said slowly, “I’ll run the risk of being had for horsestealing as well as abduction! Either is a lynching job!” Tfiere was a sardonic note in Thorp’s chuckle. How like a woman, he thought. 7 7 Without a word she pulled her blue roan round, and set him in motion to- ward San Latois. Johnny sprang after the girl. “Where are you off to now?” he quorjed. ’ “Guess I never thought of it the way you say,” said Megan, a tremor in her voice, “I was just scared silly when I came away; but if it’s going to bring you trouble, I’ll go back and take what’s coming to rye!” Something in thve girl’s tone soften- .ed ‘Thorpis hea_r_t. _ “Don’f be a little fo‘ol, Megan!” he said. “I’ll see you safe to Endosa.” The rule of Patagonia pampa travel- ing is a minimum of stores and a maximum of speed. Thorp, caught unprepared, certainly had the mini- mum of stores; but with this girl to look after, he guessed the speed would be slow. For a couple of hours they pressed forward in silence. Johnny was vexed and concerned over his new responsi- bilitfiy. “You crawl into this, when you’re ready," he said. “You’ll need all the warmth you can get just before dawn.” Megan shook her head; and the light of the fire showed a hint of a smile hovering round her lips. Thorp gave a motion of annoyance. “Don’t be silly,” he said brusquely. “You’ll catch your death of cold if you don’t; and you’re less of a burden well than sick. I’ll be well enough round. that blufl" with a horse blanket and my cloak.” They camped for the night in a valley sheltered from the wind, and here Johnny made a fire of scrub, and after brewing tea, and dividing some of his store of bread and meat, he unstrapped his sleeping bag, and spreading it out by the fire, indicated it §9_Megan, who sat watching him: He was up and about again before dawn. Megan was still sleeping. and a twinge of compassion came to Thor as he glanced at her beautiful pale ace. Then he roused her. “Hallo!” she said, opening her. eyes wonderingly. “Is it time to move? I was jUSt dreaming I was inâ€"aâ€"sort of heaven! Guess it’s this sleeping bag!” dolls imporfafice to the “If God made women, the devil gave them their brain and nature,” was his embittered attitude; and he fell asleep cursing the caprice of the saloon girl who was taking him a hundred or more miles out of his course. 'The girl bit her lip at Thorp’s canâ€" did words; and with a shrug of her shoulders let him go. For long after he had wrapped him~ self in his rug and settled down to slee , Thorp lay listening to the swish of the hobbles on the horses and think- ing of the scrap of womanhood who, with the assurance of her limited knowledge and outlook, had intrusted herself to his care. His thoughts slip- ed back to another woman away in ngland, and with grim lips he steeled himself against any softness creeping into his heart. “Breakf‘ unwilling pr ith Shé BY ED WARD WOOD WARD. or a seconc estion of q . Then she ltteri Jgh tady,” said Thorp, an forcing itself to his nd the girl lay still: on in mg to sigh e 1d feet. 9, in at ;v D The Toronto Ho: 911168. in affiliation V Allied Hospitals. 1 offers a three yew-5' lng to young wome qulred education. at coming nurses. '1‘ adopted the eight-h pupils recelve unlfm a monthly allowant expanses to and fro: further lnformatlo; Superintendent. They bivouacked early that night; and Megan dropped from her horse life a stone as they had1 ed. T‘iorp lift- ed her up gently and carrying her to the shelter of a bush. He lit a fire and with the tenderness of a woman, helped the aching girl into the sleep- ingâ€"bag. Then rigging up a windshield with his cloak and horse cloth, he sat down to watch over her. At midday they made a brief halt for food, and the meagreness of their stores appalled Johnny, as he made the division. If they wished to avoid the risk of starvation they must press forward with all haste, and so, after the scantiest period of rest, they con- tinued their trek. Megan got into her saddle with n groan; and as they rode forward Thorp noted that she was hard put to it to hide her fatigue; but he could thinlx of no remedy for the discomfort, and it was not until toward evening that he realized the girl was ‘ all in.” He saw her sway in her saddle, and he knew that all hope of reaching their destination before their food sup- ply _petered out_ had vanished. Thorp had sat thus for an hour or so when glancing down he was sur- prised to see Megan’s dark eyes open and fixed on him. There was an all- understanding look in her eyes; it was as though she had been reading his thoughts. With an effort he pulled himself together. “Feel rested?” he asked. Megan sighed. “Yes,” she said; and fell silent again. She still watched Thorp, and presently the man looked away; those dark, trustful eyes were unmanning him. Suddenly Megan’s voice broke the stillness. “Have you ever been in love, John The warmth and merciful stillness lulled her to sleep; and as the man watched, he realiZed‘that this little daughter of the wild was breaking down the barricade he had erected against the wiles of her city-dwelling.r sisters. Thgrp ?"V éhre asked Thorp’s lips set hard in a bitter line and his nostrils twiched. “Why do you ask?” he murmured. “‘Because,” whispered Megan, “I think you have; but they say you hate women. That’s not true, is it?” Thorp’s eyes looked steadily into the girl’s. “Yes,” he said. “That is quite true.” “But you have been in love,” insist- ed Megap. “Tell me, what happened? With his eyes on the blackness of the surrounding night, he told her in brusque, bitter words, the story of his disillusionment and pain. How, when misfortune had overtaken him and he had lost his wealth, his young and beautiful wife had left him and their threeâ€"months-old daughter for the wealth of another man. How, disre- garding his appeals, she refused to re- turn. He told of the death of the child, the pain and horror of the divorce, and how he had come away to Pata- gonia with a heart of lead, toiforget. suddenly his eyes and lips hardened, andtakipg 11}; his gqn, he strqde away. That day they rode through a coun- try of bald grass hills, hummocking on every side; blotched and pimpled with Scrub. ‘ ' It was the first time Thdrp hadvre- vealed his soul to a living creature; and the recital left him white and panging. “That’s what love has done for me,” he finished. “Had my wife stood by me I could have pulled the rags of my possessions together, and made a new garment of prosperity and happi- ness! Now I’m alone on the fringe of the_ pampa.” With a sudden movement Thorp bent forward. Then he checked him- self, and rising to his feet, walked aw_ay into the night. During the next two days, travel on account of Megan’s exhaustion was slow; and although they had long evenings by the campfire, the note of comradeship struck on the evening when Thorp had told of his past was not sounded again. It became increasingly evident to Thorp that at the present slow pro- gress starvation faced them. The food store was nearly done, and game was scarce in that region. He attempted to hoodwink Megan by pleading loss of appetite and not eating his share; but the girl watched him too closely to be- lieve that story. She saw the hunger in his eyes; and once when Johnny had declared at midday that he was ban 03 his feed, Megan, Without a wor , walked to the pack and replaced her share of bread and meat. “What Megan ?” hungry." “John Thorp,” she said, "guess I can starve just as well as you! I’ve watched you for these last two days, and you’ve not eaten a boy’s share." Thorp laughed harshly. “Why should I do that if I were hungry?” he asked. “Because you’re a man,” replied Megan. “Because you’re a gentleman! You’ve just got to rearrange your ideas' about women, John Thorpl Th_girpr! ” she said For a ’space there was silence; then Megan’s voice sounded. “‘No___on_e is_ _happy alone; John Toronto Hospital for Incur- in affiliation with Believue and Hospitals. New York City. a three year-3’ Course of Train- young women, having the re- education. and desirous or be‘ g nurses. This Hospital has -d the eight-hour system. The receive uniforms of the School, NURSES have you done that for, asked Thorp. “You must be ISSU E NO. 23â€"’23. artlon' apply to me a School 'avelllng Megén Meredith raised her face to his. “I know, Johnny,” she said flushing, “I have known ever since that first morning when, after staring at me, you suddenly went away with ybur gun to look for game that wasn’t there. I guessed it long before that, when you used to come into the saloon, but I didn’t know it for certain till then.” WThorp's lips met hers and hunger was forgotten. There are things they can do you think they can’t; and there are things they can’t do you think they can. They can love truly and forever; but they can't eat when the man they are with goes empty Suddenly Me an’s use of the afl’ec- tionate form 0 his name came to Thorp’s realization, and in a second his armsAwgre rgupd the‘ “My darling," he 3315, his voice hard and strained. ‘Megan, my dear, I love you!" " rThey Evere married a week later at Endosa; and John Thorp’s dead past is buried on the fringe of the pémpa. (The End.) I-{ev felt his limbs tremble, and his heart thud and hurry in his breast. Cou1d he be the man? “No man with health and strength and an honest heart can say that, Johnnyâ€"Johhny !”A “Megan!” he said. “Megan I Tremor of 1i pinched his voice to silence; and t ere was the love of all women in Megan’s eyes as she raised her hands-to his shoulders. “Johnny!” she said. “You’re a fool! A brave fool, but a blind one! Because one woman double-crossed you, you think the whole world’s wrong. The pampa can’t give you comfort; only a woman can do that!” Still Thor}? remained blind, and his arms rhung mm; at his sides. “I have' goth-mg to offer a woman now,” he sald. Every time a Canadian forest burns down, the public treasmrle‘s are strip‘ ped of a futune cash return. Under our system of forest leases, the pro- vincial treasuriesi of Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime Provinces and British Co- lumbia collect so many dollars for every thousand feet out by the lumber operator or for every cord of pul‘pwood cut by the paper maker. This armnge- ment makes the public a financial partner with: the millman. When flre destroys the “limits”.of the “X. Y. Z. Company,” the letter is of course a heavy loser but the Public als-o sacri- fices the yeame revenues that would have come to the Treasury from the dues on the wood cut. The pu‘plli‘c lmppession that “limits” represent “alienated’ resources is largely in error‘fior the public treasury is a financial shareholder with the lessee of the limit and in case of fire damage, the penalty is fixed on both. Not Complimented. He (exal.tedly)â€"“I feel I could all the world under your feet!” Minard’s Llnlment for Corns and Warts For example, one of the largest spruce limits in Ontanlo has been fifty Sheâ€"““Sir, permit me to say the size of my feet would not permit the carry- ing out of your ambition by any means.” We will be plum to put your name on our Mlllinl Us! to Nluhrly receive our Mining Bul- loun wacin without chase, it yau wul wrlw a: your mm. and lddreu. ARMSTRONG & CO. STQCKS Royal Bank Building Leaky Faucets on Public Treasuries. Toronto put per cent. destroyed by pmspectors’ searching for minerals that were never found, The limit holder last part of his heavy investment, his DEYMS't way cut down by the fact of the timbrtr b‘eâ€" lng burned, and the province lost one dollar in dues for every one of the mil»- lion cords that went up in smoke; Forest fires are paid for by the Public every time. The way to get a man to pay his debts ~13 to get him to be a man. Some» times» you have to get him mad to bring his manliess to the surface; you“ have got to “get his goat” to get his monéy. Make your letters hit him so hard that they draw a return fire; fort says Samuel Want, “Once a debtor can‘ be aroused to reply, his account leaves the hopeless class." . ' Pmela pleated, Accordlan Planting and Fine Knit. sauna at reasonable prices. Hemsmcmns 10 3nd cunts a. yard. Out-ol-wwn orders womme It- Mlnard‘s Liniment "Skirts Pleatefi $1. 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