The Trail of the Axe: A Story of Red Sand Valley - Ridgwell Cullum

CONTENTS

CHAP.
I.	[Dave]
II.	[A Picnic in the Red Sand Valley]
III.	[Affairs in Malkern]
IV.	[Dick Mansell's News]
V.	[Jim Truscott Returns]
VI.	[Parson Tom Interferes]
VII.	[The Work at the Mills]
VIII.	[At the Church Bazaar]
IX.	[In Dave's Office]
X.	[An Auspicious Meeting]
XI.	[The Summer Rains]
XII.	[The Old Mills]
XIII.	[Betty Decides]
XIV.	[The Mills]
XV.	[Betty Takes Cover]
XVI.	[Disaster at the Mill]
XVII.	[The Last of the Sawyer]
XVIII.	[Face To Face]
XIX.	[In the Mountains]
XX.	[The Church Militant]
XXI.	[An Adventure in the Fog]
XXII.	[Terror in the Mountains]
XXIII.	[The Red Tide of Anarchy]
XXIV.	[In the Dead of Night]
XXV.	[Mason's Prisoner]
XXVI.	[To the Lumber Camp]
XXVII.	[At Bay]
XXVIII.	[Dave—the Man]
XXIX.	[The End of the Strike]
XXX.	[In the Dugout]
XXXI.	[At Midnight]
XXXII.	[Two Men—and a Woman]

The Trail of the Axe

CHAPTER I

DAVE

Dave was thirty-two, but looked forty; for, in moulding his great, strong, ugly face, Nature had been less than kind to him. It is probable, from his earliest, Dave had never looked less than ten years older than he really was.

Observing him closely, one had the impression that Nature had set herself the task of equipping him for a tremendous struggle in the battle of life; as though she had determined to make him invincible. Presuming this to have been her purpose, she set to work with a liberal hand. She gave him a big heart, doubtless wishing him to be strong to fight and of a great courage, yet with a wonderful sympathy for the beaten foe. She gave him the thews and sinews of a Hercules, probably arguing that a man must possess a mighty strength with which to carry himself to victory. To give him such physical strength it was necessary to provide a body in keeping. Thus, his shoulders were abnormally wide, his chest was of a mighty girth, his arms were of phenomenal length, and his legs were gnarled and knotted with muscles which could never be satisfactorily disguised by the class of "store" clothes it was his frugal custom to wear.

For his head Nature gave him a fine, keen brain; strong, practical, subtly far-seeing in matters commercial, bluntly honest and temperate, yet withal matching his big heart in kindly sympathy. It was thrilling with a vast energy and capacity for work, but so pronounced was its dominating force, that in the development of his physical features it completely destroyed all delicacy of mould and gentleness of expression. He displayed to the world the hard, rugged face of the fighter, without any softening, unless, perhaps, one paused to look into the depths of his deep-set gray eyes.