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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16289-8.txt b/16289-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5efdc44 --- /dev/null +++ b/16289-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12285 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fur Bringers, by Hulbert Footner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fur Bringers + A Story of the Canadian Northwest + +Author: Hulbert Footner + +Release Date: July 13, 2005 [EBook #16289] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FUR BRINGERS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +THE FUR BRINGERS + + +A STORY OF THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST + + + + +by + +HULBERT FOOTNER + + + +Author of "Jack Chanty," "Thieves Wit," "A Substitute Millionaire," etc. + + + + + + + +NEW YORK + +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY + + +1920 + + + + +Copyright, 1920, by + +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY + + +All Rights Reserved + + + + + + + +Printed in the U.S.A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I JUNE FEVER + II FORT ENTERPRISE + III COLINA + IV THE MEETING + V AN INVITATION TO DINE + VI THE DINNER + VII TWO INTERVIEWS + VIII IN AMBROSE'S CAMP + IX LOVERS + X ANOTHER VISITOR + XI ALEXANDER SELKIRK AND FAMILY + XII GATHERING SHADOWS + XIII THE QUARREL + XIV SIMON GRAMPIERRE + XV THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN + XVI COLINA COMMANDS + XVII THE STAFF OF LIFE + XVIII A BLOODLESS CAPTURE + XIX WOMAN'S WEAPONS + XX UNDERCURRENTS + XXI THE SUBTLETY OF GORDON STRANGE + XXII THE "TEA DANCE" + XXIII FIRE AND RAPINE + XXIV COLINA RELENTS + XXV ACCUSED + XXVI CONVICTED + XXVII A CHANGE OF JAILERS + XXVIII A GLEAM OF HOPE + XXIX NESIS + XXX FREE + XXXI THE ALARM + XXXII THE TRAP + XXXIII THE TEST + XXXIV ANOTHER CHANGE OF JAILERS + XXXV THE JAIL VISITOR + XXXVI COLINA'S ENTERPRISE + XXXVII MARTA + XXXVIII THE FINDING OF NESIS + XXXIX THE TRIAL + XL AM UNEXPECTED WITNESS + XLI FROM DUMB LIPS + XLII THE AVENGING OF NESIS + XLIII NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS + + + + +THE FUR BRINGERS + + +CHAPTER I. + +JUNE FEVER. + +The firm of Minot & Doane sat on the doorsill of its store on Lake +Miwasa smoking its after-supper pipes. + +It was seven o'clock of a brilliant day in June. The westering sun +shone comfortably on the world, and a soft breeze kept the mosquitoes +at bay. + +Moreover, the tobacco was of the best the store afforded; yet there was +no peace between the two. They bickered like schoolboys kept indoors. + +"How many link-skins in the bale you made up today?" asked Peter Minot. + +"Three-seventy-two," his young partner answered in a surly tone that +was in itself a provocation. + +"I made it three-seventy-three," said Peter curtly. + +"What's the difference?" demanded Ambrose Doane. + +"Seven dollars," said Peter dryly. + +"Well, you can claim the extra one, can't you," snarled Ambrose, "and +make an allowance if it's found short?" + +"That's not the way I like to do business!" + +"Too bad about you!" + +The older man frowned darkly, clamped his teeth upon his pipe, and held +his tongue. + +His silence was an additional aggravation to the other. "What do you +want me to do," he burst out with an amount of passion absurdly +disproportionate to the matter at issue, "cut it open and count it over +and bale it up again?" + +"To blazes with it!" said Peter. "I want you to keep your temper!" + +"I'm sick of this!" cried Ambrose with the wilful abandon of one +hopelessly in the wrong. "You're at me from morning till night! +Nothing I do is right. Why can't you leave me alone?" + +Peter took his pipe out of his mouth and looked at his young partner in +astonishment. His face turned a dull brick color and his blue eyes +snapped. + +He spoke in a voice of portentous softness: "Who the hell do you think +you are? A little gorramighty? To make a mistake is natural; to fly +into a temper when it is discovered is childish. What's the matter +with you these past ten days, anyway? A man can't look at you but you +begin to bark and froth. You'd best go off by yourself a while and eat +grass to cool your blood!" + +Having delivered himself, Peter pulled deeply at his pipe and gazed +across the lake with a scowl of honest resentment. + +It was a long speech to come from Peter, and it went unexpectedly to +the point. Ambrose was silenced. For a long time neither spoke. + +Little by little the angry red faded out of Peter's cheeks and neck, +and his forehead smoothed itself. Stealing a glance at young Ambrose, +the blue eyes began to twinkle. + +"Say!" he said suddenly. + +Ambrose twisted petulantly and muttered in his throat. + +"Stick out your tongue!" commanded Peter. + +Ambrose stared at him in angry stupefaction. "What the deuce--" + +"No," said Peter, "you're not sick. Your eyeballs is as clean as new +milk; your skin is as pink as a spanked baby. No, you're not sick, so +to speak!" + +There was another silence, Ambrose squirming a little and blushing +under Peter's calm, speculative gaze. + +"Have you anything against me?" Peter finally inquired. "If you have, +out with it!" + +The young man shook his head unhappily. + +"Forget it then!" cried Peter with a scornful, kindly grin. "You +ornery worthless Slavi, you! You Shushwap! You Siwash! Change your +face or you'll give the dog distemper!" + +Ambrose laughed sheepishly and stole a glance at his partner. There +was pain in his bold eyes, and the wish to bare it to his friend as to +a surgeon; but he dreaded Peter's laughter. + +There was another long silence. The atmosphere was now much clearer. + +Peter, having come to a conclusion, removed his pipe and spoke again: +"I know what's the matter with you." + +"What?" muttered Ambrose. + +"You've got the June fever." + +Ambrose made no comment. + +"I mind it when I was your age," Peter continued; "when the ice goes +out of the lake and the poplar-trees hang out their little earrings, +that's when a man catches it--when Molly Cottontail puts on her brown +jacket and Skinny Weasel a yellow one. The south wind brings the +microbe along with it, and it multiplies in the warm earth. Gee! It +makes even an old feller like me poetical. After six months of winter +it's hell!" + +Still Ambrose kept his eyes down and said nothing. + +Peter smoked on, and his eyes became reminiscent. "I mind it well," he +continued, "the second spring I was in the country. The first year I +didn't notice it so much, but the second year--when the warm weather +come I was like a wild man. I saw red! I wanted to fight every man I +laid eyes on. I felt like I would go clean off my head if I couldn't +smash something!" + +Ambrose broke in on Peter's reminiscences. He seemed scarcely to have +heard. + +"I don't know what's the matter with me!" he cried bitterly. "I can't +seem to settle down to anything lately. I've got no use for myself at +all. I get so cranky, anybody that speaks to me I want to punch them. +God knows I need company, too. It is certainly square of you to put up +with me the way you do. I appreciate it--" + +"Aw, bosh!" muttered Peter. + +"I've tried to work it off!" cried Ambrose. "You know I've worked, +though I've generally made a mess of things because I can't keep my +mind on anything. My head goes round like a top. Half the time I'm in +a daze. I feel as if I was going crazy. I don't know what is the +matter with me!" + +"Twenty-five years old," murmured Peter; "in the pink of condition! +I'm telling you what's the matter with you. It's a plain case of June +fever. Ask any of the fellows up here." + +"What am I going to do?" said Ambrose. "As it is, I work till I'm +ready to drop." + +"I mind when I had it," said Peter, "I came to a camp of French +half-breeds on Musquasepi, and I saw Eva Lajeunesse for the first time. +It was like a blow between the eyes. You do not know what she looked +like then. I didn't think about it this way or that; I just up and +married her. I was glad to get her! + +"Man to man I'll not deny I ain't been sorry sometimes," he went on; +"who ain't, sometimes? But, on the whole, after all these years, how +could I have done any better? She's good enough for me. A man worries +about his children sometimes; but I guess if they go straight there's a +place for them, though they are dusky. Eva, she has her bad points, +but she's been real good to me. How can I be but grateful!" + +This was a rare and unusual confidence for Peter to offer his young +partner. Ambrose, flattered and embarrassed, did not know what to say, +and said nothing. + +He was right, for if he had referred to it, Peter would have been +obliged to turn it into a joke. As it was, they smoked on in +understanding silence. Finally Peter went on: + +"You see, I gave right in. You're different; you want to fight the +thing. Blest if I know what to tell you." + +"Eva and I don't get on very well," said Ambrose shamefacedly. "She +doesn't like me around the house. But I respect her. You know that." + +"Sure," said Peter. + +"I couldn't do it, Peter," Ambrose went on after a while with seeming +irrelevance--howsoever Peter understood. "God knows it's not because I +think myself any better than anybody else, or because I think a man +does for himself by marrying a--by marrying up here. But I just +couldn't do it, that's all." + +"No offense," said Peter. "Every man must chop his own trail. I won't +say but what you're right. But what are you going to do? A man can't +live and die alone." + +"I don't know," said Ambrose. + +"Tell you what," said Peter; "you take the furs out on the steamboat." + +"I won't," said Ambrose quickly. "I went out last year. It's your +turn." + +"But I'm contented here," said Peter. + +Ambrose shook his head. "It wouldn't do me any real good," he said. +"It makes it worse after. It did last year. I couldn't bring a white +wife up here." + +"Well, sir, it's a problem," said Peter with a weighty shake of the +head. + +This serious, sentimental kind of talk was a strain on both partners. +Ambrose made haste to drop the subject. + +"I believe I'll start the new warehouse to-morrow," he said. "I like +to work with logs. First, I must measure the ground and make a working +plan." + +Peter was not sorry to be diverted. "Hadn't we better get lumber from +the 'Company' mill?" he suggested. "Looks like up to date somehow." + +"A board shack looks rotten in the woods?" said Ambrose. + +"You're so gol-durn artistic," said Peter quizzically. + +Minot & Doane's store was a long log shack with a sod roof sprouting a +fine crop of weeds. The original shack had been added to on one side, +then on the other. There was a pleasing diversity of outline in the +main building and its wings. The whole crouched low on the ground as +though for warmth. + +Three crooked little windows and three doors so low that a short man +had to duck his head under the lintels, faced the lake. The middle +door gave ingress to the store proper; the door on the right was the +entrance to Peter Minot's household quarters; while that on the left +opened to a large room used variously for stores and bunks. + +Farther to the left stood the little shack that housed Ambrose Doane in +bachelor solitude, and a few steps beyond, the long, low, log stable +for the use of the freighters in winter. + +Seen from the lake the low, spreading buildings in the rough clearing +among gigantic pines were not unpleasing. Rough as they were, they +fulfilled the first aim of all architecture; they were suitable to the +site. + +The traveler by water landed on a stony beach, climbed a low bank and +followed a crooked path to the door of the store. On either hand +potato and onion patches flourished among the stumps. + +From the door-sill where the partners sat, the farther shore of the +lake could be seen merely as a delicate line of tree tops poised in the +air. + +Off to the right their own shore made out in a shallow, sweeping curve, +ending half a mile away in a bold hill-point where the Company's post +of Fort Moultrie had stood for two hundred years commanding the western +end of the lake and its outlet, Great Buffalo River. + +To one who should compare the outward aspects of the two +establishments, Minot & Doane's offered a ludicrous contrast to the +imposing white buildings of Fort Moultrie, arranged military-wise on +the grassy promontory; nevertheless, as is not infrequently the case +elsewhere, the humbler store did the larger trade. + +The coming of Peter Minot ten years before had worked a kind of +revolution in the country. He had brought war into the very stronghold +of the arrogant fur monopoly, and had succeeded in establishing himself +next door. The results were far-reaching. Formerly the Indian sat +humbly on the step with his furs until the trader was pleased to open +his door; whereas now when the Indian landed, the trader ran down the +hill with outstretched hand. + +Far and wide Minot & Doane were known as the "free-traders"; and some +of their customers journeyed for three hundred miles to trade in the +little log store. + +The partners were roused by a shrill hail from up the shore. Grateful +for the interruption, they hastened to the edge of the bank. + +Summer is the dull season in the fur trade. Most of the firm's +customers were "pitching off" among the hills, and visitors were rare +enough to be notable. + +"Poly Goussard," said Ambrose after an instant's examination of the +dug-out nosing alongshore. Ambrose's keenness of vision was already +known in a land of keen-eyed men. + +"Taking his woman to see her folks," added Peter. + +Soon the long, slender canoe grounded on the stones below them. It +contained in addition to all the worldly goods of the family, a swarthy +French half-breed, his Cree wife and three coppery infants in pink +calico sunbonnets. + +The man climbing over his family indiscriminately, landed and came up +the bank with outstretched hand. The woman and children remained +sitting like statues in their narrow craft, staring unwinkingly at the +white men. + +Mrs. Goussard as a full-blooded Cree was considerably below Peter's +half-breed wife in the social scale, and she knew better than to make a +call uninvited. Even in the north, woman, the conservator, maintains +the distinctions. + +"Stay all night," urged Peter when formal greetings had been exchanged. +"Bring your family ashore." + +Poly Goussard shook his head. Poly had a chest like a barrel, a face +the color of Baldwin apples and a pair of rolling, gleaming, sloe-black +eyes. His head of curly black hair was famous; some one had called him +the "Newfoundland dog." + +"I promise my wife I sleep wit' her folks to-night," he said. "It is +ten miles yet. I jus' come ashore for a little talk." + +"Fine!" said Peter, "we're spoiling for news. Come on up to the store +and have a cigar." + +Seven hundred miles from the railway a cigar is something of a +phenomenon. Poly Goussard displayed twenty dazzling teeth and made +haste to follow. The three men entered the store and found seats on +boxes and bales. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +FORT ENTERPRISE. + +"Me, I work all winter at Fort Enterprise," said Poly. + +"So I heard," said Peter. "You've had quite a trip." + +The rosy half-breed shrugged. "It is easy. Jus' floatin' down the +Spirit River six days." + +"What kind of a job did they give you at Enterprise?" asked Peter. + +"I drove a team, me, haulin' logs to the saw-mill," said Poly. "There +is plentee work at Fort Enterprise." + +"The Company's most profitable post," remarked Peter to Ambrose. "They +have everything their own way there." The look which accompanied this +suggested to Ambrose it would be a good place for Minot & Doane to +start a branch. + +"What did you think of the place, Poly?" asked Ambrose. + +The half-breed flung up his hands and dramatically rolled his eyes. + +"_Wa_! _Wa_! _Towasasuak_! It is a gran' place! Jus' lak outside! +Trader him live in great big house all make of smooth boards and paint' +yellow and red lak the sun! Never I see before such a tall house, and +so many rooms inside full of fine chairs and tables so smoot' and shiny. + +"He is so reech he put blankets on the floor to walk on, w'at you call +carrpitt. Every day he has a white cloth on the table, and a little +one to wipe his hands! I have seen it! And silver dishes!" + +"There is style for you!" said Peter, with a whimsical roll of his eye +in Ambrose's direction. + +"There is moch farming by the river at Fort Enterprise," Poly went on; +"and plaintee grain grow. There is a mill to grind flour. Steam mak' +it go lak the steamboat. They eat eggs and butter at Fort Enterprise, +and think not'ing of it. Christmas I have turkey and cranberry sauce. +I am going back, me." + +"They say the trader John Gaviller is a hard man," suggested Peter. + +Poly shrugged elaborately. "Maybe. He owe me not'ing. Me, I would +not farm for him nor trade my fur at his store. Those people are his +slaves. But he pay a strong man good wages. I will tak' his wages and +snap my fingers! + +"But wait!" cried Poly with a sparkling eye. "The 'mos' won'erful +thing I see at Fort Enterprise--Wa!--the laktrek light! Her shine in +little bottles lak pop, but not so big. John Gaviller, him clap his +hands, so! and Wa! she shine! + +"Indians, him t'ink it is magic. But I am no fool. I know John +Gaviller make the laktrek in an engine in the mill. Me, I have seen +that engine. I see blue fire inside lak falling stars. + +"Gaviller send the laktrek to the store inside a wire. He send some to +his house too. They said it cook the dinner, but I think that is a +lie. If a man touch that wire they say he will jomp to the roof! Me? +I did not try it." + +Peter chuckled. "Good man!" he said. + +The wonders of Fort Enterprise were not new to Ambrose. Other +travelers the preceding summer had brought the same tale. With the air +that politeness demanded he only half listened, and pursued his own +thoughts. + +On the other hand Peter, who delighted in his humble friends, drew out +Poly fully. The half-breed told about the bringing in of the winter's +catch of fur; of the launching of the great steamboat for the summer +season, and many other things. + +"Enterprise is sure a wonderful place!" said Peter encouragingly. + +"There is something else," said Poly proudly. "At Fort Enterprise +there is a white girl!" + +The simple sentence had the effect of the ringing of an alarm going +inside the dreamy Ambrose. He drew a careful mask over his face, and +leaned farther into the shadow. + +"So!" said Peter with a glance in the direction of his young partner. +"That is news! Who is she?" + +"Colina Gaviller, the trader's daughter," said Poly. + +"Is she real white?" asked Peter cautiously. + +"White as raspberry flowers!" asseverated Poly with extravagant +gestures; "white as clouds in the summer! white as sugar! Her hair is +lak golden-rod; her eyes blue lak the lake when the wind blows over it +in the morning!" + +Peter glanced again at his partner, but Ambrose was farthest from the +window, and there was nothing to be read in his face. + +"Sure," said Peter; "but was her mother a white woman ?" + +"They say so," said Poly. "Her long tam dead." + +"When did the girl come?" asked Peter. + +"Las' fall before the freeze-up," said Poly. "She come down the Spirit +River from the Crossing on a raf'. Michel Trudeau and his wife, they +bring her. Her fat'er he not know she comin'. Her fat'er want her +live outside and be a lady. She say 'no!' She say ladies mak' her +sick.' Michel tell me she say that. + +"She want always to ride and paddle a canoe and hunt. Michel say she +is more brave as a man! John Gaviller say she got go out again this +summer. She say 'no!' She is not afraid of him. Me, I t'ink she lak +to be the only white girl in the country, lak a queen." + +"How old is she?" inquired Peter. + +"Twenty years, Michel say," answered Poly. "Ah! she is beautiful!" he +went on. "She walk the groun' as sof' and proud and pretty as fine +yong horse! She sit her horse like a flower on its stem. Me and her +good frens too. She say she lak me for cause I am simple. Often in +the winter she ride out wit' my team and hunt in the bush while I am +load up." + +"What did Eelip say to that?" Peter inquired facetiously. Eelip was +Poly's wife. + +"Eelip?" queried Poly, surprised. "Colina is the trader's daughter," +he carefully explained. "She live in the big house. I would cut off +my hand to serve her." + +"I suppose Miss Colina has plenty of suitors?" said Peter. + +Ambrose hung with suspended breath on the reply. + +Poly shook his curly pate. "Who is there for her?" he demanded. +"Macfarlane the policeman is too fat; the doctor is too old, his hair +is white; the parson is a little, scary man. All are afraid of her; +her proud eye mak' a man feel weak inside. There are no ot'er white +men there. She is a woman. She mus' have a master. There is no man +in the country strong enough for that!" + +There was a brief silence in the cabin while Poly relighted his cigar. +Ambrose had given no sign of being affected by Poly's tale beyond a +slight quivering of the nostrils. But Peter watching him slyly, saw +him raise his lids for a moment and saw his dark eyes glowing like +coals in a pit. Peter chuckled inwardly, and said: + +"Tell us some more about her." + +Ambrose's heart warmed gratefully toward his partner. He thirsted for +more like a desert traveler for water, but he dared not speak for fear +of what he might betray. + +"I will tell you 'ow she save Michel Trudeau's life," said Poly, +nothing loath, "I am the first to come down the river this summer or +you would hear it before. Many times Michel is tell me this story. +Never I heard such a story before. A woman to save a man! + +"Wa! Every Saturday night Michel tell it at the store. And John +Gaviller give him two dollars of tobacco, the best. I guess Michel is +glad the trader's daughter save him. Old man proud, lak he is save +Michel himself!" + +Poly Goussard, having smoked the cigar to within half an inch of his +lips, regretfully threw the half inch out the door. He paused, and +coughed suggestively. A second cigar being forthcoming, he took the +time to light it with tenderest care. Meanwhile, Ambrose kicked the +bale on which he sat with an impatient heel. + +"It was the Tuesday after Easter," Poly finally began. "It was when +the men went out to visit their traps again after big time at the fort. +There was moch frash snow fall, and heavy going for the dogs. Colina +Gaviller she moch friends with Michel Trudeau for because he was bring +her in on his raf las' fall. + +"Often she go with him lak she go with me. Michel carry her up on his +sledge, and she hunt aroun' while he visit his traps. Michel trap up +on the bench three mile from the fort. He not get much fur so near, +but live home in a warm house, and work for day's wages for John +Gaviller." + +Poly paragraphed his story with luxurious puffs at the cigar and +careful attention to keep it burning evenly. + +"So on Tuesday after Easter they go out toget'er. Colina Gaviller ride +on the sledge and Michel he break trail ahead. Come to the bench, +leave the dogs in a shelter Michel build in a poplar bluff. Michel go +to see his traps, and Colina walk away on her snowshoes wit' her little +gun. + +"Michel not ver' good lok that day. In his first trap find fool-hen +catch herself. He is mad. Second trap is little cross-fox; third trap +nothin' 'tall! + +"Come to fourth trap, wa! see somesing black on the snow! Wa! Wa! +Him heart jomp up! Think him got black fox sure! But no! It is too +big. Come close and look. What is he catch you think? It is a black +bear! + +"Everybody know some tam a bear wake up too soon in winter and come out +of his hole and roll aroun' lak he was drunk. He can't find somesing +to eat nowhere, and don' know what to do! + +"This bear him catch his paw in Michel's little fox trap. It was chain +to a little tree. Bear too weak to pull his paw out or break the +chain. He lie down lak dead. + +"Michel him ver' mad. Him think got no lok at all after Easter. For +'cause that bear is poor as a bird out of the egg. Michel mak' a noise +to wake him up. But always he lie still lak dead. Michel think all +right. + +"Bam-by he lean over with his knife. Wa! Bear jomp up lak he was burn +wit' fire! Little chain break and before Michel can tak a breath, bear +fetch him a crack with the steel trap acrost his head! + +"Wa! Wa! Michel's forehead is bus' open from here to here lak that! +Michel drop his knife in the snow. Him get ver' sick. Warm blood run +all down his eyes, and he can't see not'ing no more. + +"Bear grab Michel round his body and squeeze him pretty near till his +eyes jomp out. Michel say a little prayer then. Him say him awful +sorry he ain't confessed this year. + +"But always he fight that bear and fight some more. Always he is try +get his hands aroun' that hairy throat. Bear tear Michel's shoulder +with his teeth. Michel feel the hot blood run down inside his shirt +and get cold. + +"Michel, him always thinkin' Colina is not far, but he will not call to +her. She is only a girl him say; she can't do not'ing to a crazy bear. +Bear hurt her too, maybe, and John Gaviller is mad for that. + +"So Michel he jus' fight. He is ver' tire' now. And always they +stamping and tumbling and rolling in the snow, and big red spots drop +all aroun'. + +"Colina, she tell me the end of it. Colina say she is walkin' sof' in +the poplar bush looking sharp and all tam listen for game. All is ver' +quiet in the bush. + +"Bam-by she hear a fonny little noise way off. Twigs crackling, and +somesing bumping and tromping in the snow. Colina think it is big game +and go quick. Some tam she stop and listen. Bam-by she hear fonny +snarling and grunting. She know there is a fight and she is a little +scare. But she go more fas'. + +"Wa! Wa! What a sight she sec there! Poor Michel he pretty near +done. She can't see his face no more for blood. She think he got no +face now. Michel he see her come, and say to her loud as he can: 'Go +way! Go way! You get hurt and John Gaviller give me hell!' + +"Colina say not know what to do. Them two turn around so fas' she +'fraid to shoot. She run aroun' and aroun' them always looking for a +chance. Bam-by she see the handle of Michel's knife in a hole in the +snow. She grab it up. She watch her chance. Woof! She stick that +bear between the neck and the shoulder! + +"That is all!" said Poly. "Bear, him grunt and fall down. Stick his +snoot in the snow. Michel crawl away. Colina is fall down too and cry +lak a baby. For a little while all three are dead! + +"Then Colina wash his wounds with clean snow, and tear up her petticoat +for to mak' bandage. She put him on his snowshoes and drag him back +where the dogs is. She bring him quick to the fort. In one week +Michel is go to his traps same as ever. That is the story!" + +"By God, there's a woman!" cried Peter. Ambrose said nothing. + +When Poly Goussard reembarked in his dug-out a heavy constraint fell +upon the two partners. + +Ambrose dreaded to hear Peter call attention to the remarkable +coincidence of Poly's story following so close upon their own talk +together. He suspected that Peter would want to sit up and thrash the +matter to conclusions. + +At the bare idea of talking about it Ambrose felt as helpless and +sullen as a convicted felon. + +In this he underrated Peter's perceptions. Peter had lived in the +woods for many years. He intuitively apprehended something of the +confusion in the younger man's mind, and he was only anxious to let +Ambrose understand that it was not necessary to say anything one way or +the other. + +But he overdid it a little, and when Ambrose saw that Peter was "on to +him," as he would have said, he became still more hang-dog and perverse. + +They parted at the door of the store. Peter went off to his family, +while Ambrose closed the door of his own little shack behind him, with +a long breath of relief. + +Feeling as he did, it was torture to be obliged to support the gaze of +another's eye, however kindly. So urgent was his need to be alone that +he even turned his back on his dog. For a long time the poor beast +softly scratched and whined at the closed door unheeded. + +Ambrose was busy inside. As it began to grow dark he lit his lamp and +carefully pinned a heavy shirt inside his window in lieu of a blind. + +Since Peter and his family went to bed with the sun it would be hard to +say whom he feared might spy on him. One listening at the door might +well have wondered what the activity inside portended. + +Later Ambrose opened the door and, putting the dog in, proceeded +cautiously to the store. Satisfying himself from the sounds that +issued through the connecting door that Peter and his family slept +deeply, he lit a candle and quietly robbed the stock of what he +required. Then he wrote a note and pinned it beside the store door. + +Carrying the bundles back to his cabin, he packed a grub-box and bore +it down to the water. + +His preparations completed, he went to his shack to bid good-by to his +four-footed pal. Job, instantly, comprehending that he was to be left +behind, whimpered and nozzled so piteously that Ambrose's heart began +to fail. + +"I can't take you, old fel'!" he explained. "You're such a +common-looking mutt. Of course, I know you're white clear through--but +a lady would laugh at you until she knew you!" + +Even as he said it his heart accused him of disloyalty. He suddenly +changed his mind. + +"Come on!" he whispered gruffly. "We'll chance our luck together. If +you open your head I'll brain you! Wait here a minute." + +Job understood perfectly. He crept down to the lake shore at his +master's feet as quiet as a ghost. Seeing the loaded boat he hopped +delightedly into his accustomed place in the bow. + +During June it never becomes wholly dark in the latitude of Lake +Miwasa. An exquisite dim twilight brooded over the wide water and the +pine-walled shore. The stars sparkled faintly in an oxidized silver +sea. There was no wind now, but the pines breathed like warm-blooded +creatures. + +Ambrose's breast hummed like a violin to the bow of night. The poetic +feeling was there, though the expression was prosaic. + +"By George, this is fine!" he murmured. + +Job's curly tail thumped the gunwale in answer. + +"I'm glad I brought you, old fel'," said Ambrose. "I expect I'd go +clean off my head if didn't have any one to talk to!" + +Job beat a tattoo on the side of the boat and wriggled and whined in +his anxiety to reach his master. + +"Steady there!" said Ambrose. + +Presently he went on: "Three hundred miles! Six days for Poly to come +with the current; nine days to go back! Fifteen days at the best! +Anything might happen in that time. . . . Poly said no danger from any +of the men there. But some one might come down the river! . . . If +wishing could bring an aeroplane up north!" + +After a silence: "I wish I could get my best suit pressed! . . . It's +two years old, anyway. And she's just come in; she knows the +styles. . . . Lord, I'll look like a regular roughneck!" + + +Next morning when Peter Minot threw open the door of the store he found +the note pinned to the door-frame. It was brief and to the point: + + +DEAR PETE: + +You said I ought to go by myself till I felt better. So I'm off. +Don't expect me till you see me. Charge me with 50 lbs. flour, 18 lbs. +bacon, 20 lbs. rice, 10 lbs. sugar, 5 lbs. prunes, 1/2 lb. tea, 1/2 +lb. baking powder, and bag of salt. Please take care of my dog. So +long! A. D. + +P. S.--I'm taking the dog. + + +Peter, like all men slow to anger, lost his temper with startling +effect. Tearing the note off the door and grinding it under foot, he +cursed the runaway from a full heart. + +Eva, hearing, hastily called the children indoors, and thrusting them +behind her peeped into the store. Peter, purple in the face, was +wildly brandishing his arms. + +Eva closed the door very softly and gave the children bread and +molasses to keep them quiet. Meanwhile the storm continued to rage. + +"The young fool! To run off without a word! I'd have let him go +gladly if he'd said anything--and given him a good man! But to go +alone! He'll break an arm and die in the bush! And to leave me like +this with the year's outfit due next week! + +"I'll not see him again until cold weather--if I ever see him! Fifty +pounds of flour--with his appetite! He'll starve to death if he +doesn't drown himself first! He'll never get to Enterprise! Oh, the +consummate young ass! Damn Poly Goussard and his romantic stories!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +COLINA. + +John Gaviller and Colina were at breakfast in the big clap-boarded +villa at Fort Enterprise. + +They were a good-looking pair, and at heart not dissimilar, though it +must be taken into account that the same qualities manifest themselves +differently in a man of affairs and a romantic, irresponsible young +woman. + +They were secretly proud of each other--and quarreled continually. +Colina, by virtue of her reckless honesty, frequently got the better of +her canny father. + +"Well," he said, now with a gesture of surrender, "if you're determined +to stay here, all right--but you must live differently." + +At the word "must" an ominous gleam shot from under Colina's lashes. + +"What's the matter with my way of living?" she asked with deceitful +mildness. + +"This tearing around the country on horseback," he said. "Going off +all day hunting with this man and that--and spending the night in +native cabins. As long as I considered you were here on a visit I said +nothing--" + +"Oh, didn't you!" murmured Colina sarcastically. + +"--But if you are going to make this country your home, you must +consider your reputation in the community just the same as anywhere +else--more, indeed; we live in a tiny little world here, where our +smallest actions are scrutinized and discussed." + +He took a swallow of coffee. Colina played with her food sulkily. + +Her silence encouraged him to proceed: "Another thing," he said with a +deprecating smile, "comparatively speaking, I occupy an exalted +position now. I am the head of all things, such as they are. Great or +small this entails certain obligations on a man. I have to study all +my words and acts. + +"If you are going to stay here with me I shall expect you to assume +your share; to consider my interests, to support me; to play the game +as they say. What I object to is your impulsiveness, your +outspokenness with the people. Remember, everybody here is your +dependent. It is always a mistake to be open and frank with +dependents. They don't understand it, and if they do, they presume +upon it. + +"Be guided by my experience; no one could justly accuse me of any lack +of affability or friendliness in dealing with the people here--but they +never know what I am thinking of!" + +"Admirable!" murmured Colina, "but I'm not a directors' meeting!" + +"Colina!" said her father indignantly. + +"It's not fair for you to drag that in about my standing by you and +supporting you!" she went on warmly. "You know I'll do that as long as +I live! But I must be allowed to do it in my own way. I'm an adult +and an individual. I differ from you. I've a right to differ from +you. It is because these people are my inferiors that I can afford to +be perfectly natural with them. As for their presuming on it, you +needn't fear! I know how to take care of that!" + +"A little more reserve," murmured her father. + +Colina paused and looked at him levelly. "Dad, what a fool you are +about me!" she said coolly. + +"Colina!" he cried again, and pounded the table. + +She met his indignant glance squarely. + +"I mean it," she said. "I'm your daughter, am I not?--and mother's? +You must know yourself by this time; you must have known mother--you +ought to understand me a little but you won't try--you're clever enough +in everything else! You've made up an idea for yourself of what a +daughter ought to be, and you're always trying to make me fit it!" + +Gaviller scarcely listened to this. "I'll have to bring in a chaperon +for you!" he cried. + +"Oh, Lord!" groaned Colina. "Anything but that! What do you want me +to do?" + +"Merely to live like other girls," said Gaviller; "to observe the +proprieties." + +"That's why I couldn't get along at school," muttered Colina gloomily. +"You might as well send me back." + +"You're simply headstrong!" said her father severely. "You won't try +to be different." + +"Dad," said Colina suddenly, "what did you come north for in the first +place, thirty years ago?" + +The question caught him a little off his guard. "A natural love of +adventure, I suppose," he said carelessly. + +"Perfectly natural!" said Colina. "Was your father pleased?" + +Gaviller began to see her drift. "No!" he said testily. + +"And when you went back for her," Colina persisted, "didn't my mother +run away north with you, against the wishes of her parents?" + +"Your mother was a saint!" cried Gaviller indignantly. + +"Certainly," said Colina coolly, "but not the psalm-singing kind. What +do you expect of the child of such a couple?" + +"Not another word!" cried Gaviller, banging the table--last refuge of +outraged fathers. + +Colina was unimpressed. "Now you're simply raising a dust to conceal +the issue," she said relentlessly. + +Gaviller chewed his mustache in offended silence. + +Colina did not spare him. "Do you think you can make your child and +hers into a prim miss, to sit at home and work embroidery?" she +demanded. "Upon my word, if I were a boy I believe you'd suggest +putting me in a bank!" + +John Gaviller helped himself to another egg with great dignity and +removed the top. "Don't be absurd, Colina," he said with a weary air. + +It was a transparent assumption. Colina saw that she had reduced him +utterly. She smiled winningly. "Dad, if you'd only let me be myself! +We could be such pals if you wouldn't try to play the heavy father!" + +"Is it being yourself to act like a harum-scarum tomboy?" inquired +Gaviller sarcastically. + +Colina laughed. "Yes!" she said boldly. "If that's what you want to +call it? There's something in me," she went on seriously. "I don't +know what it is--some wild strain; something that drives me headlong; +makes me see red when I am balked! Maybe it is just too much physical +energy. + +"Well, if you let me work it off it does no harm. If I can ride all +day, or paddle or swim, or go hunting with Michel or one of the others; +and be interested in what I'm doing, and come home tired and sleep +without dreaming--why everything is all right. But if you insist on +cooping me up!--well, I'm likely to turn out something worse than +harum-scarum, that's all!" + +Gaviller flung up his arms. + +"Really, you'll have to go back to your aunt," he said grimly. "The +responsibility of looking after you is too great!" + +Colina laughed out of sheer vexation. "The silly ideas fathers have!" +she cried. "Nobody can look after _me_, not you, not my aunt, nobody +but myself! Why won't you understand that! I don't know exactly what +dangers you fancy are threatening me. If it is from men, be at ease! +I can put the fear of God into them! It is the sweet and gentle girl +you would like to have that is in danger there!" + +"I'm afraid you'll have to go back," said Gaviller. + +Colina drew her beautiful straight brows together. "You make me think +you simply want to get me off your hands," she said sullenly. + +Gaviller shook his head. "You know I love to have you with me," he +said simply. + +"Then consider me a fixture!" said Colina serenely. "This is my +country!" she went on enthusiastically. "It suits me. I like its +uglinesses and its hardships, too! I hated it in the city. Do you +know what they called me?--the wild Highlander! + +"Up here everybody understands my wildness, and thinks none the worse +of me. It was different in the city--you've always lived in the north, +you old innocent--you don't know! Men, for instance, in society they +have a curious logic. They seem to think if a girl is natural she must +be bad! Sometimes they acted on that assumption--" + +"What did I tell you!" cried her father. "Men are the same everywhere!" + +"Well," said Colina, smiling to herself, "they didn't get very far. +And no man ever tried it twice. Up here--how different. I don't have +to think of such things." + +"I have to think of settling you in life," said Gaviller gloomily. +"There is no one for you up here." + +"I'm not bothering my head about that," said Colina. She went on with +a kind of splendid insolence: "Every man wants me. I'll choose one +when I'm ready. I can't see anything in men except as comrades. The +decent ones are timid with women, and the bold ones are--well--rather +beastly. I'm looking for a man who's brave and decent, too. If +there's no such thing--" + +She rose from the table. Colina's was a body designed to fill a +riding-habit, and she wore one from morning till night. She was as +tall as a man of middle height, and her tawny hair piled on top of her +head made her seem taller. + +"Well?" said Gaviller. + +"Oh, I'll choose the handsomest beast I can find," she said, laughing +over her shoulder and escaping from the room before he could answer. + +John Gaviller finished his egg with a frown. Colina had this trick of +breaking things off in the middle, and it irritated him. He had an +orderly mind. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MEETING. + +Colina groomed her own horse, whistling like a boy. Saddling him, she +rode east along the trail by the river, with the fenced grain fields on +her right hand. + +Beyond the fields she could gallop at will over the rolling, grassy +bottoms, among the patches of scrub and willow. + +It was not an impressively beautiful scene--the river was half a mile +wide, broken by flat wooded islands overflowed at high water; the banks +were low, and at this season muddy. But the sky was as blue as +Colina's eyes, and the prairie, quilted with wild flowers, basked in +the delicate radiance that only the northern sun can bestow. + +On a horse Colina could not be actively unhappy, nevertheless she was +conscious of a certain dissatisfaction with life. Not as a result of +the discussion with her father--she felt she had come off rather well +from that. + +But it was warm, and she felt a touch of languor. Fort Enterprise was +a little dull in early summer. The fur season was over, and the flour +mill was closed; the Indians had gone to their summer camps; and the +steamboat had lately departed on her first trip up river, taking most +of the company employees in her crew. + +There was nothing afoot just now but farming, and Colina was not much +interested in that. In short, she was lonesome. She rode idly with +long detours inland in search of nothing at all. + +Loping over the grass and threading her way among the poplar saplings, +Colina proceeded farther than she had ever been in this direction since +summer set in. + +She saw the painter's brush for the first time--that exquisite rose of +the prairies--and instantly dismounted to gather a bunch to thrust in +her belt. The delicate, ashy pink of the flower matched the color in +her cheeks. + +On her rides Colina was accustomed to dismount when she chose, and +Ginger, her sorrel gelding, would crop the grass contentedly until she +was ready to mount again. To-day the spring must have been in his +blood, too. + +When Colina went to him he tossed his head coquettishly, and trotting +away a few steps, turned and looked at her with a droll air. Colina +called him in dulcet tones, and held out an inviting hand. + +Ginger waywardly wagged his head and danced with his forefeet. + +This was repeated several times--Colina's voice ever growing more +honeyed as the rose in her cheeks deepened. The inevitable +happened--she lost her temper and stamped her foot; whereupon Ginger, +with lifted tail, ran around her like a circus horse. + +Colina, alternately cajoling and commanding, pursued him bootlessly. +Fond as she was of exercise, she preferred having the horse use his +legs. She sat down in the grass and cried a little out of sheer +impotence. + +Ginger resumed his interrupted meal on the grass with insulting +unconcern. Colina was twelve miles from home--and hungry. + +Desperately casting her eyes around the horizon to discover some way +out of her dilemma, Colina perceived a thin spiral of smoke rising +above the edge of the river bank about a quarter of a mile away. + +She had no idea who could be camping on the river at this place, but +she instantly set off with her own confident assurance of finding aid. +Ginger displayed no inclination to leave the particular patch of +prairie grass he had chosen for his luncheon. + +As Colina approached the edge of the bank she heard a voice. She +herself made no sound in the grass. + +Looking over the edge she saw a man and a dog on the stony beach below, +both with their backs to her and oblivious of her approach. Of the +man, she had a glimpse only of a broad blue flannel back and a mop of +black hair. + +She heard him say to the dog: "Our last meal alone, old fel'! +To-night, if we're lucky, we'll dine with her!" + +This conveyed nothing to Colina--she was to remember it later. + +In speaking he turned his profile, and she received an agreeable shock; +he was young; he was not common; he had a fair, pink skin that +contrasted oddly with his swarthy locks; his bold profile accorded with +her fancy. + +What caught her off her guard was his affectionate, quizzical glance at +the dog. + +It was a seductive glimpse of a stern face softened. + +The dog scented her and barked; the man turning sprang to his feet. +Colina experienced a sudden and extraordinary confusion of her +faculties. + +He was taller than she expected--that was not it; in the glance of his +eager dark eyes there was a quality that took her completely by +surprise--that took her breath away. This in one of the sex she +condescended to! + +The young man was completely dumfounded by the sight of her. He hung +in suspended motion; his wide eyes leaped to hers--and clung there. +They silently gazed at each other--each with much the same pained and +breathless look. + +Colina struggled hard against the spell. She was badly flustered. +"Please catch my horse for me," she said with, under the circumstances, +intolerable hauteur. + +He did not move. She saw a dull, red tide creep up from his neck, over +his face and into his hair. She had never seen such a painful blush. +He kept his head up, and though his eyes became agonized with +embarrassment, they clung doggedly to hers. + +She knew intuitively that he blushed because he fancied that she, from +his rough clothes, had judged him to be a common tramp. + +She was glad of it--his blush gave her a little security. + +But she could not support his glance. She all but stamped her foot as +she said: "Didn't you hear me?" + +With a visible effort the young man collected his wits, and with +unsmiling face started to climb toward Colina. The dog, making to +follow him, he spoke a word of command and it returned to the boat. +Face to face with him Colina felt as if his glowing dark eyes were +burning holes in her. + +"Where is he?" he asked soberly. + +Colina merely pointed across the bottoms where Ginger could be seen +still busy with the grass. + +"I'll bring him to you," he said coolly, and started off. + +His assurance exasperated Colina. "It isn't as easy as you think," she +said haughtily, "or I shouldn't have asked for help!" + +He turned his head, his face suddenly breaking into a beaming smile. +"I know horses," he said. + +Colina was furious. He made her feel like a little girl. She bit her +lips to keep in the undignified answer that sprang to them. Inside her +she said it: "Smarty! I shall laugh when he leads you a chase!" She +sat down in the grass under a poplar-tree, prepared to enjoy the circus +from afar. + +There was none. Ginger having tired of his waywardness, perhaps, or +having eaten his fill, quietly allowed himself to be taken. The young +man came riding back on him. Colina could almost have wept with +mortification. + +He slipped out of the saddle beside her and stood waiting for her to +mount. There was no consciousness of triumph in his manner. + +His eyes flew back to hers with the same extraordinarily naïve glance. +When Colina frowned under it he literally dragged them away, but in +spite of him they soon returned. + +Many a man's eyes had been offered to Colina, but never a pair that +glowed with a fire like this. They were at the same time bold and +humble. They contained an imploring appeal without any sacrifice of +self-respect. They disturbed Colina to such a degree she scarcely knew +what she was doing. + +He offered her a hand to mount, and she drew back with an offended air. +He instantly yielded, and she mounted unaided--mounted awkwardly, and +bit her lip again. + +He did not immediately loose her rein. Out of the corner of her eye +Colina saw that he was breathing fast. + +"It will he late before you get home," he said. His voice was very +low--she could feel the effort he was making not to let it shake. +"Will you--will you eat with me?" + +The modest tendering of this bold invitation disarmed Colina. She +hesitated. He went on with a touch of boyish eagerness: "There's only +a traveler's grub, of course. I got a fish on a night-line this +morning. Also there's a prairie chicken roasted yesterday." + +A self-deceiving argument ran through Colina's brain like quick-silver: +"If I go, I shall be tormented by the feeling that he got the best of +me; if I stay a while I can put him in his place!" + +She dismounted. The young man turned abruptly to tie Ginger to the +poplar-tree, but even in the boundary of his cheek Colina read his +beaming happiness. + +With scarcely another glance at her he plunged down the bank and set to +work over his fire. Colina sedately followed and seated herself on a +boulder to wait until she should be served. + +Now that he no longer looked at her, Colina could not help watching +him. A dangerous softness began to work in her breast; he was so +boyish, so clumsy, so anxious to entertain her fittingly--his +unconsciousness of her nearness was such a transparent assumption. + +Colina was alarmed by her own weakness. She looked resolutely at the +dog. + +He was a mongrel black and tan, bigger than a terrier, and he had a +ridiculous curly tail. He had received her with an insulting air of +indifference. + +"What an ugly dog!" Colina said coolly. + +The young man swung around and affectionately rubbed the dog's ear. + +"The best sporting dog in Athabasca," he said promptly, but without any +resentment. + +Colina bit her lip again. It seemed as if everything she did was mean. +"Of course his looks haven't anything to do with his good qualities," +she said. Here she was apologizing. + +"He's almost human," said the young man. "I talk to him like a person." + +"Come here, dog," said Colina. + +The animal was suddenly stricken with deafness. + +"What's his name?" she asked. + +"Job." + +"Come here, Job!" said Colina coaxingly. + +Job looked out across the river. + +"Job!" said his master sternly. + +The dog sprang to him as if they had been parted for years, and +frantically licked his hand. This display of boundless affection was +suspiciously self-conscious. + +The young man led him to Colina's feet. "Mind your manners!" he +commanded. + +Job in utter abasement offered her a limp paw. She touched it, and he +scampered back to his former place with an air of relief, and turning +his back to her lay down again. It cannot be said that his enforced +obedience made her feel any better. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN INVITATION TO DINE. + +Lunch was not long in preparing, for the rice had been on the fire when +Colina first appeared. The young man set forth the meal as temptingly +as he could on a flat rock, and at the risk of breaking his sinews +carried another rock for Colina to sit upon. His apologies for the +discrepancies in the service disarmed Colina again. + +"I am no fine lady," she said. "I know what it is to live out." + +Colina was hungry and the food good. A good understanding rapidly +established itself between them. But the young man made no move to +serve himself. Indeed he sat at the other side of the rock-table and +produced his pipe. + +"Why don't you eat?" demanded Colina. + +"There is plenty of time," he said, blushing. + +"But why wait?" + +"Well--there's only one knife and fork." + +"Is that all?" said Colina coolly. "We can pass them back and +forth--can't we?" + +Starting up and dropping the pipe in his pocket he flashed a look of +extraordinary rapture on her that brought Colina's eyelids fluttering +down like winged birds. He was a disconcerting young man. Resentment +moved her, but she couldn't think of anything to say. + +They ate amicably, passing the utensils back and forth. + +After a while Colina asked: "Do you know who I am?" + +"Of course," he said. "Miss Colina Gaviller." + +"I don't know you," she said. + +"I am Ambrose Doane, of Moultrie." + +"Where is Moultrie?" + +"On Lake Miwasa--three hundred miles down the river." + +"Three hundred miles!" exclaimed Colina. "Have you come so far alone?" + +"I have Job," Ambrose said with a smile. + +"How much farther are you going?" she asked. + +"Only to Fort Enterprise." + +"Oh!" she said. The question in the air was: "What did you come for?" +Both felt it. + +"Do you know my father?" Colina asked. + +"No," said Ambrose. + +"I suppose you have business with him?" + +"No," he said again. + +Colina glanced at him with a shade of annoyance. "We don't have many +visitors in the summer," she said carelessly. + +"I suppose not," said Ambrose simply. + +Colina was a woman--and an impulsive one; it was bound to come sooner +or later: "What did you come for?" + +His eyes pounced on hers with the same look of mixed boldness and +apprehension that she had marked before; she saw that he caught his +breath before answering. + +"To see you!" he said. + +Colina saw it coming, and would have given worlds to have recalled the +question. She blushed all over--a horrible, unequivocal, burning +blush. She hated herself for blushing--and hated him for making her. + +"Upon my word!" she stammered. It was all she could get out. + +He did not triumph over her discomfiture; his eyes were cast down, and +his hand trembled. Colina could not tell whether he were more bold or +simple. She had a sinking fear that here was a young man capable of +setting all her maxims on men at naught. She didn't know what to do +with him. + +"What do you know about me?" she demanded. + +It sounded feeble in her own ears. She felt that whatever she might +say he was marching steadily over her defenses. Somehow, everything +that he said made them more intimate. + +"There was a fellow from here came by our place," said Ambrose simply. +"Poly Goussard. He told us about you--" + +"Talked about me!" cried Colina stormily. + +"You should have heard what he said," said Ambrose with his +venturesome, diffident smile. "He thinks you are the most beautiful +woman in the world!" Ambrose's eyes added that he agreed with Poly. + +It was impossible for Colina to be angry at this, though she wished to +be. She maintained a haughty silence. + +Ambrose faltered a little. + +"I--I haven't talked to a white girl in a year," he said. "This is our +slack season--so I--I came to see you." + +If Colina had been a man this was very like what she might have +said---to meet with candor equal to her own in the other sex, however, +took all the wind out of her sails. + +"How dare you!" she murmured, conscious of sounding ridiculous. + +Ambrose cast down his eyes. "I have not said anything insulting," he +said doggedly. "After what Poly said it was natural for me to want to +come and see you." + +"In the slack season," she murmured sarcastically. + +"I couldn't have come in the winter," he said naïvely. + +Colina despised herself for disputing with him. She knew she ought to +have left at once--but she was unable to think of a sufficiently +telling remark to cover a dignified retreat. + +"You are presumptuous!" she said haughtily. + +"Presumptuous?" he repeated with a puzzled air. + +She decided that he was more simple than bold. "I mean that men do not +say such things to women," she began as one might rebuke a little +boy--but the conclusion was lamentable, "to women to whom they have not +even been introduced!" + +"Oh," he said, "I'm sorry! I can only stay a few days. I wanted to +get acquainted as quickly as possible." + +A still small voice whispered to Colina that this was a young man after +her own heart. Aloud she remarked languidly: "How about me? Perhaps I +am not so anxious." + +He looked at her doubtfully, not quite knowing how to take this. +"Really he is too simple!" thought Colina. + +"Of course I knew I would have to take my chance," he said. "I didn't +expect you to be waiting on the bank with a brass band and a wreath of +flowers!" + +He smiled so boyishly that Colina, in spite of herself, was obliged to +smile back. Suddenly the absurd image caused them to burst out +laughing simultaneously--and Colina felt herself lost. + +Laughter was as dangerous as a train of gunpowder. Even while he +laughed Colina saw that look spring out of his eyes--the mysterious +look that made her feel faint and helpless. + +He leaned toward her and a still more candid avowal trembled on his +lips. Colina saw it coming. Her look of panic-terror restrained him. +He closed his mouth firmly and turned away his head. + +Presently he offered her a breast of prairie chicken with a +matter-of-fact air. She shook her head, and a silence fell between +them--a terrible silence. + +"Oh, why don't I go!" thought Colina despairingly. + +It was Ambrose who eased the tension by saying comfortably: "It's a +great experience to travel alone. Your senses seem to be more +alert--you take in more." + +He went on to tell her about his trip, and Colina lulled to security +almost before she knew it was recounting her own journey in the +preceding autumn. It was astonishing when they stuck to ordinary +matters--how like old friends they felt. Things did not need to be +explained. + +It provided Colina with a good opportunity to retire. She rose. + +Ambrose's face fell absurdly. "Must you go?" he said. + +"I suppose I will meet you officially--later," she said. + +He raised a pair of perplexed eyes to her face. "I never thought about +an introduction," he said quite humbly. "You see we never had any +ladies up here." + +In the light of his uncertainty Colina felt more assured. "Oh, we're +sufficiently introduced by this time," she said offhand. + +"But--what should I do at the fort?" he asked. "How can I see you +again?" + +She smiled with a touch of scorn at his simplicity. "That is for you +to contrive. You will naturally call on my father; if he likes you, he +will bring you home to dinner." + +Ambrose smiled with obscure meaning. "He will never do that," he said. + +"Why not?" demanded Colina. + +"My partner and I are free-traders," he explained; "the only +free-traders of any account in the Company's territory. Naturally they +are bitter against us." + +"But business is one thing and hospitality another," said Colina. + +"You do not know what hard feeling there is in the fur trade," he +suggested. + +"You do not know my father," she retorted. + +"Only by reputation," said Ambrose. + +The shade of meaning in his voice was not lost on her. Her cheeks +became warm. "All white men who come to the post dine with us as a +matter of course," she said. "We owe you the hospitality. I invite +you now in his name and my own." + +"I would rather you asked him about me first," said Ambrose. + +This made Colina really angry. "I do not consult him about household +matters," she said stiffly. + +"Of course not," said Ambrose; "but in this case I would be more +comfortable if you spoke to him first." + +"Are you afraid of him?" she inquired with raised eyebrows. + +"No," said Ambrose coolly; "but I don't want to get you into trouble." + +Colina's eyes snapped. "Thank you," she said; "you needn't be anxious. +You had better come--we dine at seven." + +"I will be there," he said. + +By this time she was mounted. As she gave Ginger his head Ambrose +deftly caught her hand and kissed it. Colina was not displeased. If +it had been self-consciously done she would have fumed. + +She rode home with an uncomfortable little thought nagging at her +breast. Was he really so simple as she had decided? Had he not baited +her into losing her temper--and insisting on his coming to dinner? +Surely he could not know her so well as that! + +"Anyway, he _is_ coming!" she thought with a little gush of +satisfaction she did not stop to examine. "I'll wear evening dress, +the black taffeta, and my string of pearls. At my own table it will be +easier--and with father there to support me! We will see!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE DINNER. + +Colina did not see her father until he came home from the store for +dinner. She was already dressed and engaged in arranging the table. + +John Gaviller's eyes gleamed approvingly at the sight of her in her +finery. Black silk became Colina's blond beauty admirably. Manlike, +he arrogated the extra preparations to himself. He thought it was a +kind of peace offering from Colina. + +"Well!" he began jocularly, only to check himself at the sight of three +places set at the table. "Who's coming?" he demanded with natural +surprise. + +Colina, busying herself attentively with the centerpiece of painter's +brush, wondered if her father had met Ambrose Doane. She gave him a +brief, offhand account of her adventure without mentioning their +guest's name. + +"But who is it?" he asked. + +She answered a little breathlessly; "Ambrose Doane of Moultrie." + +Gaviller's face changed slightly. "H-m!" he said non-committally. + +"Doesn't the table look nice?" said Colina quickly. + +"Very nice," he said. + +"We must prove to ourselves once in a while that we are not savages!" + +"Naturally! Do you want me to dress?" + +Colina, who had not looked at her father, nevertheless felt the +inimical atmosphere. She stooped to a touch of flattery. "You are +always well dressed," she said, smiling at him. + +"Hm!" said Gaviller again. "Call me when you're ready." He marched +off to his library. + +Colina breathed freely. So far so good! Ambrose Doane had not been to +call on her father. He was hardly the simple youth she had decided. +But she couldn't think the less of him for that. + +When she heard the door-bell ring--Gaviller's house boasted the only +door-bell north of Caribou Lake--her heart astonished her with its +thumping. She ran up to her own room. Ambrose according to +instructions previously given was to be shown into the drawing-room. + +Another wonder of Gaviller's house was the full-length mirror imported +for Colina. She ran to it now. It treated her kindly. The crisp, +thin, dead-black draperies showed up her white skin in dazzling +contrast. + +On second thought she left off the string of pearls. The effect was +better without any ornament. Her face was her despair; her eyes were +misty and unsure; the color came and went in her cheeks; she could not +keep her lips closed. + +"You fool! You fool!" she stormed at herself. "A man you have seen +once! He will despise you!" + +She could not keep the dinner waiting. Bracing herself, she started +for the hall. A final glance in the mirror gave her better heart. +After all she was beautiful and beautifully dressed. She descended the +stairs slowly, whispering to herself at every step: "Be game!" + +Though the sun was still shining out-of-doors, according to Colina's +fancy, every night at this hour the shutters were closed and the lamps +lighted. The drawing-room was lighted by a single, tall lamp with a +yellow shade. + +Ambrose was standing in the middle of the room. He had changed his +clothes. His suit was somewhat wrinkled, and his boots unpolished, but +he looked less badly than he thought. At sight of Colina he caught his +breath and turned very pale. His eyes widened with something akin to +awe. Colina was suddenly relieved. + +"So you dared to come!" she said with a careless smile. + +He did not answer. Plainly he could not. He stood as if rooted to the +floor. Colina had meant to offer him her hand, but suddenly changed +her mind. + +Instead, with reckless bravado considering her late state of mind, she +went to the lamp and turned it up. She felt his honest, stricken +glance following her, and thrilled under it. + +"You have not met my father?" + +Ambrose "took a brace" as he would have said. "No," he answered. + +"I thought very likely you would see him this afternoon," she said with +a touch of smiling malice. + +His directness foiled it. + +"I waited down the river," he said. "I didn't want to have a row with +him that might spoil to-night." + +"What a terrible opinion you have of poor father!" said Colina. + +"Does he know I'm coming?" asked Ambrose. + +"Certainly!" + +"What did he say?" + +"Nothing! What should he say?" + +"He has boasted that no free-trader ever dared set foot in his +territory." + +"I don't believe it! It's not like him. Come along and you'll see." + +"Wait!" said Ambrose quickly. "Half a minute!" + +Colina looked at him curiously. + +"You don't know what this means to me!" he went on, his glowing, +unsmiling eyes fixed on her. "A lady's drawing-room! A lamp with a +soft, pretty shade!--and you--like that! I--I wasn't prepared for it!" + +Colina laughed softly. She was filled with a great tenderness for him, +therefore she could jeer a little. + +Ambrose had not moved from the spot where she found him. + +"It's not fair," he went on. "You don't need that! It bowls a man +over." + +This was the ordinary language of gallantry--yet it was different. +Colina liked it. "Come on," she said lightly, "father is like a bear +when he is kept waiting for dinner!" + +The two men shook hands in a natural, friendly way. With another man +Ambrose was quite at ease. Colina approved the way her youth stood up +to the famous old trader without flinching. They took places at the +table, and the meal went swimmingly. + +Ambrose, whether he felt his affable host's secret animosity and was +stimulated by it, or for another reason, suddenly blossomed into an +entertainer. When her father was present he addressed Colina's ear, +her chin or her golden top-knot, never her eyes. + +John Gaviller apparently never looked at her either, but Colina knew he +was watching her closely. She was not alarmed. She had herself well +in hand, and there was nothing in her politely smiling, slightly +scornful air to give the most anxious parent concern. + +Under the jokes, the laughter, and the friendly talk throughout dinner, +there were electric intimations that caused Colina's nostrils to +quiver. She loved the smell of danger. + +It was no easy matter to keep the conversational bark on an even keel; +the rocks were thick on every hand. Business, politics, and local +affairs were all for obvious reasons tabooed. More than once they were +near an upset, as when they began to talk of Indians. + +Ambrose had related the anecdote of Tom Beavertail who, upon seeing a +steamboat for the first time, had made a paddle-wheel for his canoe, +and forced his sons to turn him about the lake. + +"Exactly like them!" said John Gaviller with his air of amused scorn. +"Ingenious in perfectly useless ways! Featherheaded as schoolboys!" + +"But I like schoolboys!" Ambrose protested. "It isn't so long since I +was one myself." + +"Schoolboys is too good a word," said Gaviller. "Say, apes." + +"I have a kind of fellow-feeling for them," said Ambrose smiling. + +"How long have you been in the north?" + +"Two years." + +"I've been dealing with them thirty years," said Gaviller with an air +of finality. + +Ambrose refused to be silenced. Looking around the luxurious room he +felt inclined to remark, that Gaviller had made a pretty good thing out +of the despised race, but he checked himself. + +"Sometimes I think we never give them a show," he said with a +deprecating air, "We're always trying to cut them to our own pattern +instead of taking them as they are. They are like schoolboys, as you +say. + +"Most of the trouble with them comes from the fact that anybody can +lead them into mischief, just like boys. If we think of what we were +like ourselves before we put on long trousers it helps to understand +them." + +Gaviller raised his eyebrows a little at hearing the law laid down by +twenty-five years old. + +"Ah!" he said quizzically. "In my day the use of the rod was thought +necessary to make boys into men!" + +Ambrose grew a little warm. "Certainly!" he said. "But it depends on +the spirit with which it is applied. How can we do anything with them +if we treat them like dirt?" + +"You are quite successful in handling them?" queried Gaviller dryly. + +"Peter Minot says so," said Ambrose simply. "That is why he took me +into partnership." + +"He married a Cree, didn't he?" inquired Gaviller casually. + +Colina glanced at her father in surprise. This was hardly playing fair +according to her notions. + +"A half-breed," corrected Ambrose. + +"Of course, Eva Lajeunesse, I remember now," said Gaviller. "She was +quite famous around Caribou Lake some years ago." + +Ambrose with an effort kept his temper. "She has made him a good +wife," he said loyally. + +"Ah, no doubt!" said Gaviller affably. "Do you live with them?" + +"I have my own house," said Ambrose stiffly. + +Here Colina made haste to create a diversion. + +"Aren't the Indian kids comical little souls?" she remarked. "I go to +the mission school sometimes to sing and play for them. They don't +think much of it. One of the girls asked me for a hair. One hair was +all she wanted." + +The subject of Indian children proved to be innocuous. They took +coffee in John Gaviller's library. + +"Colina brought these new-fangled notions in with her," said her father. + +"They're all right!" said Ambrose soberly. + +Colina saw the hand that held his spoon tremble slightly, and wondered +why. The fact was the thought could not but occur to him: "How foolish +for me to think she could ever bring her lovely, ladylike ways to my +little shack!" + +He thrust the unnerving thought away. "I can build a bigger house, +can't I?" he demanded of himself. "Anyway, I'll make the best play to +get her that I can!" + +In the library they talked about furniture. It transpired that the +trader had a passion for cabinet making, and most of the objects that +surrounded them were examples of his skill. Ambrose admired them with +due politeness, meanwhile his heart was sinking. He could not see the +slightest chance of getting a word alone with Colina. + +In the middle of the evening a breed came to the door, hat in hand, to +say that John Gaviller's Hereford bull was lying down in his stall and +groaning. The trader bit his lip and glanced at Colina. + +"Would you like to come and see my beasts?" he asked affably. + +"Thanks," said Ambrose just as politely. "I'm no hand with cattle." +He kept his eyes discreetly down. + +Gaviller could not very well turn him out of the house. There was no +help for it. He went. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TWO INTERVIEWS. + +The instant the door closed behind Gaviller, Ambrose's eyes flamed up. +"What a stroke of luck!" he cried. + +It had something the effect of an explosion there in the quiet room +where they had been talking so prosily. Colina became panicky. "I +don't understand you!" she said haughtily. + +"You do!" he cried. "You know I didn't paddle three hundred miles +up-stream to talk to him! Never in my life had I anything so hard to +go through with as the last two hours. I didn't dare look at you for +fear of giving myself away." + +There was an extraordinary quality of passion in the simple words. +Colina felt faint and terrified. What was one to do with a man like +this! She mounted her queenliest manner. "Don't make me sorry I asked +you here," she said. + +"Sorry?" he said. "Why should you be? You can do what you like! I +can't pretend. I must say my say the best way I can. I may not get +another chance!" + +Colina had to fight both herself and him. She made a gallant stand. +"You are ridiculous!" she said. "I will leave the room until my father +comes back if you can't contain yourself." + +He was plainly terrified by the threat, nevertheless he had the +assurance to put himself between her and the door. + +"You have no cause to be angry with me," he said. "You know I do not +disrespect you!" He was silent for a moment. His voice broke huskily. +"You are wonderful to me! I have to keep telling myself you are only a +woman--of flesh and blood like myself--else I would be groveling on the +floor at your feet, and you would despise me!" + +Colina stared at him in haughty silence. + +"I love you!" he whispered with odd abruptness. "No woman need be +insulted by hearing that. You came upon me to-day like a bolt of +lightning. You have put your mark on me for life! I will never be +myself again." + +His voice changed; he faltered, and searched for words. "I know I'm +rough! I know women like to be courted regularly. It's right, too! +But I have no time! I may never see you alone again. Your father will +take care of that! I must tell you while I can. You can take your +time to answer." + +Colina contrived to laugh. + +The sound maddened him. He took a step forward, and a vein in his +forehead stood out. She held her ground disdainfully. + +"Don't do that!" he whispered. "It's not fair! I--I can't stand it!" + +"Why must you tell me?" asked Colina. "What do you expect?" + +"You!" he whispered hoarsely. "If God is good to me! For life." + +"You are mad!" she murmured. + +"Maybe," he said, eying her with the resentment which is so closely +akin to love; "but I think you understand my madness. Talking gets us +nowhere. A dozen times to-day your eyes answered mine. Either you +feel it too or you are a coquette!" + +This brought a genuine anger to Colina's aid. Her weakness fled. "How +dare you!" she cried with blazing eyes. + +"Coquette!" he repeated doggedly. "To dress yourself up like that to +drive me mad!" + +Colina forgot the social amenities. "You fool!" she cried. "This is +my ordinary way of dressing at night! It is not for you!" + +"It was for me!" he said sullenly. "You were happy when you saw its +effect on me! If it's only a game I can't play it with you. It means +too much to me!" + +"Coquette!" still made a clangor in Colina's brain that deafened her to +everything else. "You are a savage!" she cried. "I'm sorry I asked +you here. You needn't wait for my father to come back. Go!" + +"Not without a plain answer!" he said. + +Colina tried to laugh; she was too angry. "My answer is no!" she cried +with outrageous scorn. "Now go!" + +He stood studying her from under lowering brows. The sight of her like +that--head thrown back, eyes glittering, cheeks scarlet, and lips +curled--was like a lash upon his manhood. The answer was plain enough, +but an instinct from the great mother herself bade him disregard it. +Suddenly his eyes flamed up. + +"You beauty!" he cried. + +Before she could move he had seized her in her finery. Colina was no +weakling, but within those steely arms she was helpless. She strained +away her head. He could only reach her neck, under the ear. She +yielded shudderingly. + +"I hate you! I hate you!" she murmured. + +Their lips met. + + +Colina swayed ominously on his arm. She sank down on the sofa, still +straining away from him, but weakly. Suddenly she burst into +passionate weeping. + +"What have you done to me!" she murmured. + +At sight of the tears he collapsed. "Ah, don't!" he whispered +brokenly. "You break my heart! My darling love! What is the matter?" + +"I am a fool--a fool!--a fool!" she sobbed tempestuously. "To have +given in to you! You will despise me!" + +He slipped to the floor at her feet. He strove desperately to comfort +her. Tenderness lent eloquence to his clumsy, unaccustomed tongue. + +"Ah, don't say that! It's like sticking a knife in me! My lovely +one! As if I could! You are everything to me! I have nothing in the +world but you! Forgive me for being so rough! I couldn't help it! I +couldn't go by anything you said. I had to find out for sure! It had +to happen! What does it matter whether it was in a day or a year? The +minute I saw you I knew how it was. I knew I had to have you or live +like a priest till I died." + +Colina was not to be comforted. "You think so now!" she said. "Later, +when you have tired of me a little, or if we quarreled, you would +remember that I--I was too easily won!" + +"Ah, don't!" he cried exasperated. "If you say it again I'll have to +swear. What more can I say? I love you like my life! I could not +despise you without despising myself! I don't know how to put it. I +sound like a fool! But--but this is what I mean. You make me seem +worth while to myself." + +Colina's hands stole to her breast. "Ah! If I could believe you!" she +breathed. + +"Give me time!" he begged. "What good does talking do! What I do will +show you!" + +Little by little she allowed him to console her. Her arm stole around +his shoulders, her head was lowered until her cheek lay in his hair. + + +They came down to earth. Ambrose seated himself beside her, and +looking in her shamed face laughed softly and deep. "You fraud," he +said. + +Colina hid her face. "Don't!" she begged. + +He laughed more. + +"What are you laughing at?" she demanded. + +"To think how you scared me," he said. "With your grand clothes and +high and mighty airs. I had to dig my toes into the floor to keep from +cutting and running. And it was all bluff!" + +"Scared you!" said Colina. "I never in my life knew a man so utterly +regardless and brutal!" + +"You like it," he said. Colina blushed. + +"I had no line to go on," said Ambrose with his engaging simplicity. +"I never made love to any girls. I haven't read many books either. I +guess that's all guff, anyway. I didn't know how the thing ought to be +carried through. But something told me if I knuckled under to you the +least bit it would be all day with Ambrose." + +They laughed together. + +John Gaviller's step sounded on the porch outside. They sprang up +aghast. They had completely forgotten his existence. + +"Oh, Heavens!" whispered Colina. "He has eyes like a lynx!" + +Ambrose's eyes, darting around the room, fell upon an album of +snapshots lying on the table. He flung it open. + +When Gaviller came in he found them standing at the table, their backs +to him. He heard Ambrose ask: + +"Who is that comical little guy?" + +Colina replied: "Ahcunazie, one of the Kakisa Indians in his winter +clothes." + +Colina turned, presenting a sufficiently composed face to her father. +"Oh," she said. "You were gone a long while. What was the matter with +the bull?" + +She strolled to the sofa and sat down. Ambrose idly closed the book +and sat down across the room from her. Gaviller glanced from one to +another--perhaps it was a little too well done. But his face instantly +resumed its customary affability. + +"Nothing serious," he said. "He is quite all right again." + +Ambrose was tormented by the desire to laugh. He dared not meet +Colina's eye. "It is terrible to lose a valuable animal up here," he +said demurely. + +After a few desultory polite exchanges Ambrose got up to go. "I was +waiting to say good night to you," he explained. + +"You are camping down the river, I believe." + +"Half a mile below the English mission. I paddled up." + +"I'll walk to the edge of the bank with you," said Gaviller politely. + +As in nearly all company posts there was a flag-pole in the most +conspicuous spot on the river-bank. It was halfway between Gaviller's +house and the store. At the foot of the pole was a lookout-bench worn +smooth by generations of sitters. + +Leaving the house after a formal good night to Colina, Ambrose was +escorted as far as the bench by John Gaviller. The trader held forth +amiably upon the weather and crops. They paused. + +"Sit down for a moment," said Gaviller. "I have something particular +to say to you." + +Ambrose suspected what was coming. But humming with happiness like a +top as he was, he could not feel greatly concerned. + +Still in the same calm, polite voice Gaviller said: + +"I confess I was astonished at your assurance in coming to my house." + +This was a frank declaration of war. Ambrose, steeling himself, +replied warily: "I did not come on business." + +"What did you come for?" + +Ambrose did not feel obliged to be as frank with father as with +daughter. "I am merely looking at the country." + +"Well, now that you have seen Fort Enterprise," said Gaviller dryly, +"you may go on or go back. I do not care so long as you do not linger." + +Ambrose frowned. "If you were a younger man--" he began. + +"You need not consider my age," said Gaviller. + +Ambrose measured his man. He had to confess he had good pluck. The +idea of a set-to with Colina's father was unthinkable. There was +nothing for him to do but swallow the affront. He bethought himself of +using a little guile. + +"Why shouldn't I come here?" he demanded. + +"I don't like the way you and your partner do business," said Gaviller. + +There was nothing to be gained by a wordy dispute, but Ambrose was only +human. "You are sore because we smashed the company's monopoly at +Moultrie," he said. + +"Not at all," said Gaviller calmly. "The trade is free to all. What +little you have taken from us is not noticeable in the whole volume. +But you have deliberately set to work to destroy what it has taken two +centuries to build up--the white man's supremacy. You breed trouble +among the Indians. You make them insolent and dangerous." + +"Company talk," said Ambrose scornfully. "A man can make himself +believe what he likes. We treat the Indians like human beings. Around +us they're doing well for the first time. Here, where you have your +monopoly, they're sick and starving!" + +"That is not true," said Gaviller coolly. "And, in any case, I do not +mean to discuss my business with you. I deal openly. You had the +opportunity to do my daughter a slight service. I have repaid it with +my hospitality. We are quits. I now warn you not to show your face +here again." + +"I shall do as I see fit," said Ambrose doggedly. + +"You compel me to speak still more plainly," said Gaviller. "If you +are found on the Company's property again, you will be thrown off." + +"You cannot frighten me with threats," said Ambrose. + +"You are warned!" said Gaviller. He strode off to his house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN AMBROSE'S CAMP. + +Ambrose was awakened in his mosquito-tent by an alarm from Job. The +sun was just up, and it was therefore no more than three o'clock. A +visitor was approaching in a canoe. + +In the North a caller is a caller. Ambrose crept out of his blankets +and, swallowing his yawns, stuck his head in the river to clear his +brain. + +The visitor was a handsome young breed of Ambrose's own age. Ambrose +surveyed his broad shoulders, his thin, graceful waist and thighs +approvingly. He rejoiced in an animal built for speed and endurance. +Moreover, the young man's glance was direct and calm. This was a +native who respected himself. + +"Tole Grampierre, me," he said, offering his hand. + +Ambrose grasped it. "I'm Ambrose Doane," he said. + +"I know," said the young breed. "Las' night I go to the store. The +boys say Ambrose Doane, the free-trader, is camp' down the river. So I +talk wit' my fat'er. I say I go and shake Ambrose Doane by the hand." + +"Will you eat?" said Ambrose. "It is early." + +"When you are ready," answered Tole politely. "I come early. I go +back before they get up at the fort. If old man Gaviller know I come +to you it mak' trouble. My fat'er he got trouble enough wit' Gaviller." + +Tole squatted on the beach. There is an established ritual of +politeness in the North, and he was punctilious. + +"You are well?" he asked gravely. Ambrose set about making his fire. +"I am well," he said. + +"Your partner, he is well?" + +"Peter Minot is well." + +"You do good trade at Lake Miwasa?" + +"Yes. Marten is plentiful." + +"Good fur here, too. Not much marten; plenty link." + +"Your father is well?" asked Ambrose in turn. + +"My fat'er is well," said Tole. "My four brot'ers well, too." + +"I am glad," said Ambrose. + +More polite conversation was exchanged while Ambrose waited for his +guest to declare the object of his visit. It came at last. + +"Often I talk wit' my fat'er," said Tole. "I say there is not'ing for +me here. Old man Gaviller all tam mad at us. We don't get along. I +say I fink I go east to Lake Miwasa. There is free trade there. Maybe +I get work in the summer. When they tell me Ambrose Doane is come, I +say this is lucky. I will talk wit' him." + +"Good," said Ambrose. + +"Wat you t'ink?" asked Tole, masking anxiety under a careless air. "Is +there work at Moultrie in the summer?" + +Ambrose instinctively liked and trusted his man. "Sure," he said. +"There is room for good men." + +"Good," said Tole calmly. "I go back wit' you." + +Ambrose had a strong curiosity to learn of the situation at Fort +Enterprise. "What do you mean by saying old man Gaviller is mad at +you?" he asked. + +"I tell you," said Tole. He filled his pipe and got it going well +before he launched on his tale. + +"My fat'er, Simon Grampierre, he is educate'," he began. "He read in +books, he write, he spik Angleys, he spik French, he spik the Cree. We +are Cree half-breed. My fat'er's fat'er, my mot'er's fat'er, they +white men. We are proud people. We own plenty land. We live in a +good house. We are workers. + +"All the people on ot'er side the river call my fat'er head man. When +there is trouble all come to our house to talk to my fat'er because he +is educate'. He got good sense. + +"Before, I tell you there is good fur here. It is the truth. But the +people are poor. Every year they are more poor as last year. The +people say: 'Bam-by old man Gaviller tak' our shirts! He got +everyt'ing else.' They ask my fat'er w'at to do." + +Tole went on: "Always my fat'er say: 'Wait,' he say. 'We got get white +man on our side. We got get white man who knows all outside ways. He +bring an outfit in and trade wit' us.' The people don't want to wait. +'We starve!' they say. + +"My fat'er say: '_Non_! Gaviller not let you starve. For why, because +you not bring him any fur if you dead. He will keep you goin' poor. +Be patient,' my fat'er say. 'This is rich country. It is known +outside. Bam-by some white man come wit' outfit and pay good prices.' + +"Always my fat'er try to have no trouble," continued Tole. "But old +man Gaviller hear about the meetings at our house. He hear everyt'ing. +He write a letter to my fat'er that the men mus' come no more. + +"My fat'er write back. My fat'er say: 'This my house. This people my +relations, my friends. My door is open to all.' Then old man Gaviller +is mad. He call my fat'er mal-content. He tak' away his discount." + +"Discount?" interrupted Ambrose. + +Tole frowned at the difficulty of explaining this in English. "All +goods in the store marked by prices," he said slowly. "Too moch +prices. Gaviller say for good men and good hunters he tak' part of +price away. He tak' a quarter part of price away. He call that +discount. If a man mak' him mad he put it back again." + +The working out of such a scheme was clear to Ambrose. "Hm!" he +commented grimly. "This is how a monopoly gets in its innings." + +"Always my fat'er not want any trouble," Tole went on. "Pretty soon, I +t'ink, the people not listen to him no more. They are mad. This year +there will be trouble about the grain. Gaviller put the price down to +dollar-fifty bushel. But he sell flour the same." + +"Do you mean to say he buys your grain at his own price, and sells you +back the flour at his own price?" demanded Ambrose. + +Tole nodded. "My fat'er the first farmer here," he explained. "Long +tam ago when I was little boy, Gaviller come to my fat'er. He say: +'You have plenty good land. You grow wheat and I grind it, and both +mak' money.' + +"My fat'er say: 'I got no plow, no binder, no thresher.' Gaviller say: +'I bring them in for you.' Gaviller say: 'I pay you two-fifty bushel +for wheat. I can do it up here. You pay me for the machines a little +each year.' + +"My fat'er t'ink about it. He is not moch for farm. But he t'ink, +well, some day there is no more fur. But always there is mouths for +bread. If I be farmer and teach my boys, they not starve when fur is +no more. + +"My fat'er say to Gaviller: 'All right.' Writings are made and signed. +The ot'er men with good land on the river, they say they raise wheat, +too. + +"After that the machines is brought in. Good crops is raised. +Ev'rything is fine. Bam-by Gaviller put the price down to +two-twenty-five. Bam-by he only pay two dollar. Tams is hard, he say. +Las' year he pay one-seventy-five. Now he say one-fifty all he pay. + +"The farmers say they so poor now, might as well have nothing. They +say they not cut the grain this year. Gaviller say it is his grain. +He will go on their land and cut it. There will be trouble." + +"This is a kind of slavery!" cried Ambrose. + +"There is more to mak' trouble," Tole went on with his calm air. +"Three years ago Gaviller build a fine big steamboat. He say: 'Now, +boys, you can go outside when you want.' He says: 'This big boat will +bring us ev'rything good and cheap from outside.' + +"But when she start it is thirty dollars for a man to go to the +Crossing. And fifty cents for every meal. Nobody got so much money as +that. + +"It is the same to bring t'ings in. Not'ing is cheaper. Jean Bateese +Gagnon, he get a big book from outside. In that book there is all +things to buy and pictures to show them. The people outside will send +you the t'ings. You send money in a letter." + +"Mail order catalogue," suggested Ambrose. + +"That is the name of the book," said Tole. In describing its wonders +he lost, for the first time, some of his imperturbable air. "Wa! Wa! +All is so cheap inside that book. It is wonderful. Three suits of +clothes cost no more as one at the Company store. + +"Everyt'ing is in that book. A man can get shirts of silk. A man can +get a machine to milk a cow. All the people want to send money for +t'ings. Gaviller say no. Gaviller say steamboat only carry Company +freight. Gaviller say: 'Come to me for what you want and I get it--at +regular prices.'" + +"And this is supposed to be a free country," said Ambrose. + +"The men are mad," continued Tole. "They do not'ing. Only Jean +Bateese Gagnon. He is the mos' mad. He say he don' care. He send the +money for a plow las' summer. All wait to see w'at Gaviller will do. + +"Gaviller let the steamboat bring it down. He say the freight is +fifteen dollars. Jean Bateese say: 'Tak' it back again. I won't pay.' +Gaviller say: 'You got to pay.' He put it on the book against Gagnon." + +Tole related other incidents of a like character, Ambrose listened with +ever mounting indignation. There could be no mistaking the truthful +ring of the simple details. + +Not only was Ambrose's sense of humanity up in arms, but the trader in +him was angered that a competitor should profit by such unfair means. +With a list of grievances on one side and unqualified sympathy on the +other, the two progressed in friendship. + +They breakfasted together, Job making a third. Ambrose found himself +more and more strongly drawn to the young fellow. He was reminded that +he had no friend of his own age in the country. Tole, he said to +himself, was whiter than many a white man he had known. + +Job, who as a rule drew the colorline sharply, was polite to Tole. Job +was pleased because Tole ignored him. Uninvited overtures from +strangers made Job self-conscious. + +Tole and Ambrose, being young, drifted away from serious business after +a while. They discussed sport. Tole lost some of his gravity in +talking about hunting the moose. + +Not until Tole was on the point of embarking did the real object of his +visit transpire. "My father say he want you come to his house," he +said diffidently. + +"Sure I will," said Ambrose. + +Tole lingered by his dugout, affecting to test the elasticity of his +paddle on the stones. He glanced at Ambrose with a speculative eye. + +"Maybe you and Peter Minot open a store across the river and trade with +us," he suggested with a casual air. + +Ambrose was staggered by the possibilities it opened up. He knew the +idea was already in Peter's mind. What if he, Ambrose, should be +chosen to carry it out? He sparred for wind. + +"I don't know," he said warily. "There is much to be considered. I +will talk with your father." + +Tole nodded and pushed off. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LOVERS. + +Ambrose and Colina had had no opportunity the night before to arrange +for another meeting. Ambrose stuck close to his camp, feeling somehow +that the next move should come from her. + +It was not that he had been unduly alarmed by her father's threat, +though he had a young man's healthy horror of being humiliated in the +beloved one's presence. + +But the real reason that kept him inactive was an instinctive +compunction against embroiling Colina with her father. She had only +known him, Ambrose, a day; she should have a chance to make sure of her +own mind, he felt. + +As to what he would do if Colina made no move, Ambrose could not make +up his mind. He considered a night expedition to the fort; he +considered sending a message by Tole. Either plan had serious +disadvantages. It was a hard nut to crack. + +Then he heard hoofs on the prairie overhead. His heart leaped up and +his problems were forgotten. He sprang to the bank. Job heard the +hoofs, too, and recognized the horse. Job hopped into the empty +dugout, and lay down in the bow out of sight, like a child in disgrace. + +At the sight of her racing toward him a dizzying joy swept over +Ambrose; but something was wrong. She stopped short of him, and his +heart seemed to stop, too. + +She was pale; her eyes had a dark look. An inward voice whispered to +him that it was no more than to be expected; his happiness had been too +swift, too bright to be real. + +He went toward her. "Colina!" he cried apprehensively. + +"Don't touch me!" she said sharply. + +He stopped. "What is the matter?" he faltered. + +She made no move to dismount. She did not look at him. "I--I have had +a bad night," she murmured. "I came to throw myself on your +generosity." + +"Generosity?" he echoed. + +"To--to ask you to forget what happened last night. I was mad!" + +Ambrose had become as pale as she. He had nothing to say. + +She stole a glance at his face. At the sight of his blank, sick dismay +she quickly turned her head. A little color came back to her cheeks. + +There was a silence. + +At last he said huskily: "What has happened to change you?" + +"Nothing," she murmured. "I have come to my senses." His stony face +and his silence terrified her. "Aren't you a little relieved?" she +faltered. "It must have been a kind of madness in you, too." + +He raised a sudden, penetrating glance to her face. She could not meet +it. It came to him that he was being put to a test. The revulsion of +feeling made him brutal. Striding forward, he seized her horse by the +rein. + +"Get off!" he harshly commanded. + +Colina had no thought but to obey. + +He tied the rein to a limb and, turning back, seized her roughly by the +wrists. + +"What kind of a game is this?" he demanded. + +Colina, breathless, terrified, delighted, laughed shakily. + +He dropped her as suddenly as he had seized her, and walked away to the +edge of the bank and sat down, staring sightlessly across the river and +striving to still the tumult of his blood. He was frightened by his +own passion. He had wished to hurt her. + +Colina went to him and humbly touched his arm. + +"I'm sorry," she whispered. + +He looked at her grimly. + +"You should not try such tricks," he said. "A man's endurance has its +limits." + +There was something delicious to Colina in abasing herself before him. +She caught up his hand and pressed it to her cheek. + +"How was I to know?" she murmured. "Other men are not like you." + +"I might have surprised you," he said grimly. + +"You did!" whispered Colina. The suspicion of a dimple showed in +either cheek. + +He rose. "Let me alone for a minute," he said. "I'll be all right." +He went to the horse and loosened the saddle girths. + +Colina could have crawled through the grass to his feet. She lay where +he had left her until he came back. He sat down again, but not +touching her. He was still pale, but he had got a grip on himself. + +"Tell me," he said quietly, "did you do it just for fun, or had you a +reason?" + +"I had a reason." + +"What was it?" he asked in cold surprise. + +"I--I can't tell you while you are angry with me," she faltered. + +"I can't get over it right away," he said simply. "Give me time." + +Colina hid her face in her arm and her shoulders shook a little. It is +doubtful if any real tears flowed, but the move was just as successful. +He leaned over and laid a tender hand on her shoulder. + +"Ah, don't!" he said. "What need you care if I am angry. You know I +love you. You know I--I am mad with loving you! Why--it would have +been more merciful for you to shoot me down than come at me the way you +did!" + +"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I never dreamed it would hurt so much! I +had to do it--Ambrose!" + +It was the first time she had spoken his name. He paused for a moment +to consider the wonder of it. + +"Why?" he asked dreamily. + +Colina sat up. + +"I worried all night about whether you would be sorry to-day," she +said, averting her head from him. "I thought that nothing so swift +could possibly be lasting. And then this morning father and I had a +frightful row. + +"I was starting out to come to you, and he caught me. He all but +disowned me. I came right on--I told him I was coming. And on the way +here I thought--I knew I would have to tell you what had happened. + +"And I thought if you were secretly sorry--for last night--when you +heard about father and I--you would feel that you had to stand by me +anyway! And then I would never know if you really-- So I had to find +out, first." + +This confused explanation was perfectly clear to Ambrose. + +"Will you always be doubting me?" he asked wistfully. "Can't you +believe what you see?" + +She crept under his arm. "It was so sudden!" she murmured. "When I am +not with you my heart fails me. How can I be sure?" + +He undertook to assure her with what eloquence his heart lent his +tongue. The feeling was rarer than the words. + +"How wonderful," said Ambrose dreamily, "for two to feel the same +toward each other! I always thought that women, well, just allowed men +to love them." + +"You dear innocent!" she whispered. "If you knew! Women are not +supposed to give anything away! It makes men draw back. It makes them +insufferable." + +"It makes me humble," said Ambrose. + +"You boy!" she breathed. + +"I'm years older than you," he said. + +"Women's hearts are born old," said Colina; "men's never grow out of +babyhood." + +Her head was lying back on the thick of his arm. + +"Your throat is as lovely--as lovely as pearl!" he whispered, brooding +over her. + +The exquisite throat trembled with laughter. + +"You're coming out!" she said. + +"I don't care!" said Ambrose. "You're as beautiful as--what is the +most beautiful thing I know?--as beautiful as a morning in June up +North." + +"I don't know which I like better," she murmured. + +"Of what?" he asked. + +"To have you praise me or abuse me. Both are so sweet!" + +"Do you know," he said, "I am wondering this minute if I am dreaming! +I'm afraid to breathe hard for fear of waking up." + +She smiled enchantingly. + +"Kiss me!" she whispered. "These are real lips." + +"Sit up," he said presently, with a sigh, "We must talk hard sense to +each other. What the devil are we going to do?" + +She leaned against his shoulder. + +"Whatever you decide," she said mistily. + +"What did your father say to you?" asked Ambrose. + +She shuddered. "Hideous quarrelling!" she said. "I have the temper of +a devil, Ambrose!" + +"I don't care," he said. + +"When I told him where I was going he took me back in the library and +started in," she went on. "He was so angry he could scarcely speak. +If he had let it go it wouldn't have been so bad. But to try to make +believe he wasn't angry! His hypocrisy disgusted me. + +"To go on about my own good and all that, and all the time he was just +plain mad! I taunted him until he was almost in a state of +ungovernable fury. He would not mention you until I forced him to. + +"He said I must give him my word never to see you or speak to you +again. I refused, of course. He threatened to lock me up. He said +things about you that put me beside myself. We said ghastly things to +each other. We are very much alike. You'd better think twice before +you marry into such a family, Ambrose." + +"I take my chance," he said. + +"I'm sorry now," Colina went on. "I know he is, too. Poor old fellow! +I have you." + +"You mustn't break with him yet," said Ambrose anxiously. + +"I know. But how can I go back and humble myself?" + +"He'll meet you half-way." + +"If--if we could only get in the dugout and go now!" she breathed. + +He did not answer. She saw him turn pale. + +"Wouldn't it be the best way," she murmured, "since it's got to be +anyway?" + +He drew a long breath and shook his head. + +"I wouldn't take you now," he said doggedly. + +"Of course not!" she said quickly. "I was only joking. But why?" she +added weakly. Her hand crept into his. + +"It wouldn't be fair," he said, frowning. "It would be taking too much +from you." + +"Too much!" she murmured, with an obscure smile. + +Ambrose struggled with the difficulty of explaining what he meant. "I +never do anything prudent myself. I hate it. But I can't let you +chuck everything--without thinking what you are doing. You ought to +stay home a while--and be sure." + +"It isn't going to be so easy," she said, "quarreling continually." + +"I sha'n't see you again until I come for you," said Ambrose. "And +it's useless to write letters from Moultrie to Enterprise. I'm out of +the way. Why can't the question of me be dropped between you and your +father?" + +"Think of living on from month to month without a word! It will be +ghastly!" she cried. + +"You've only known me two days," he said sagely. "I could not leave +such a gap as that." + +"How coldly you can talk about it!" she cried rebelliously. + +Ambrose frowned again. "When you call me cold you shut me up," he said +quietly. + +"But if you do not make a fuss about me every minute," she said +naïvely, "it shames me because I am so foolish about you." + +Ambrose laughed suddenly. + +There followed another interlude of celestial silliness. + + +This time it was Colina who withdrew herself from him. + +"Ah," she said with a catch of the breath, "every minute of this is +making it harder. I shall want to die when you leave me." + +Ambrose attempted to take her in his arms again. + +"No," she insisted. "Let us try to be sensible. We haven't decided +yet what we're going to do." + +"I'm going home," said Ambrose, "to work like a galley-slave." + +"It is so far," she murmured. + +"I'll find some way of letting you hear from me. Twice before the +winter sets in I'll send a messenger. And you, you keep a little book +and write in it whenever you think of me, and send it back by my +messenger." + +"A little book won't hold it all," she said naïvely. + +"Meanwhile I'll be making a place for you. I couldn't take you to +Moultrie." + +She asked why. + +"Eva, Peter's wife," he explained. "In a way Peter is my boss, you +see. It would be a horrible situation." + +"I see," said Colina. "But if there was no help for it I could." + +"Ah, you're too good to me!" he cried. "But it won't be necessary. +Peter and I have always intended to open other posts. I'll take the +first one, and you and I will start on our own. Think of it! It makes +me silly with happiness!" + +Upon this foundation they raised a shining castle in the air. + +"I must go," said Colina finally, "or father will be equipping an armed +force to take me." + +"You must go," he agreed, but weakly. + +They repeated it at intervals without any move being made. At last she +got up. + +"Is this--good-by?" she faltered. + +He nodded. + +They both turned pale. They were silent. They gazed at each other +deeply and wistfully. + +"Ah! I can't! I can't!" murmured Colina brokenly. "Such a little +time to be happy!" + +They flew to each other's arms. + +"No--not quite good-by!" said Ambrose shakily. "I'll write to you +to-morrow morning--everything I think of to-night. I'll send it by +Tole Grampierre. You can send an answer by him." + +"Ah, my dear love, if you forget me I shall die!" + +"You doubt me still! I tell you, you have changed everything for me. +I cannot forget you unless I lose my mind!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ANOTHER VISITOR. + +Ambrose, having filled the day as best he could with small tasks, was +smoking beside his fire and enviously watching his dog. Job had no +cares to keep him wakeful. It was about eight o'clock, and still full +day. + +It was Ambrose's promise to visit Simon Grampierre that had kept him +inactive all day. He did not wish to complicate the already delicate +situation between Grampierre and Gaviller by an open visit to the +former. He meant to go with Tole at dawn. + +Suddenly Job raised his head and growled. In a moment Ambrose heard +the sound of a horse approaching at a walk above. Thinking of Colina, +his heart leaped--but she would never come at a walk! An instinct of +wariness bade him sit where he was. + +A mounted man appeared on the bank above. It was a breed forty-five +years old perhaps, but vigorous and youthful still; good looking, well +kept, with an agreeable manner; thus Ambrose's first impressions. The +stranger rode a good horse. + +"Well?" he said, looking down on Ambrose in surprise. + +"Tie your horse and come down," said Ambrose politely. He welcomed the +diversion. This man must have come from the fort. Perhaps he had news. + +Face to face with the stranger, Ambrose was sensible that he had to +deal with an uncommon character. There was something about him, he +could not decide what, that distinguished him from every other man of +Indian blood that Ambrose had ever met. + +He wore a well-fitting suit of blue serge and a show of starched linen, +in itself a distinguishing mark up north. "Quite a swell!" was +Ambrose's inward comment. + +"You are Ambrose Doane, I suppose?" he said in English as good as +Ambrose's own. Ambrose nodded. + +"I knew you had dinner with Mr. Gaviller last night," the man went on, +"but as you didn't drop in on us at the store to-day I supposed you had +gone back. I didn't expect to find you here." + +He was fluent for one of his color--too fluent the other man felt. +Ambrose was sizing him up with interest. + +It finally came to him what the man's distinguishing quality was. It +was his open look, an expression almost of benignity, absolutely +foreign to the Indian character. Indians may give their eyes freely to +one another, but a white man never sees beneath the glassy surface. + +This Indian in look and manner resembled an English country gentleman, +much sunburnt; or one of those university-bred East Indian potentates +who affect motor-cars and polo ponies. Oddly enough his candid look +affronted Ambrose. "It isn't natural," he told himself. + +"I am Gordon Strange, bookkeeper at Fort Enterprise," the stranger +volunteered. + +The bookkeeper of a big trading-post is always second in command. +Ambrose understood that he was in the presence of a person of +consideration in the country. + +"Sit down," he said. "Fill up your pipe." + +Strange obeyed. "We're supposed to be red-hot rivals in business," he +said with an agreeable laugh. "But that needn't prevent, eh? Funny I +should stumble on you like this! I ride every night after supper--a +man needs a bit of exercise after working all day in the store. I saw +the light of your fire." + +He was too anxious to have it understood that the meeting was +accidental. Ambrose began to suspect that he had ridden out on purpose +to see him. + +The better men among the natives, such as Tole Grampierre, have a pride +of their own; but they never presume to the same footing as the white +men. Strange, however, talked as one gentleman to another. + +There was nothing blatant in it; he had a well-bred man's care for the +prejudices of another. Nevertheless, as they talked on Ambrose began +to feel a curious repugnance to his visitor, that made him wary of his +own speech. + +"Too damn gentlemanly!" he said to himself. + +"Why didn't you come in to see us to-day?" inquired Strange. "We don't +expect a traveler to give us the go-by." + +"Well," said Ambrose dryly, "I had an idea that my room would be +preferred to my company." + +"Nonsense!" said Strange, laughing. "We don't carry our business war +as far as that. Why, we want to show you free-traders what a fine +place we have, so we can crow over you a little. Anyway, you dined +with Mr. Gaviller, didn't you?" + +"John Gaviller would never let himself off any of the duties of +hospitality," said Ambrose cautiously. + +He was wondering how far Strange might be admitted to Gaviller's +confidence. That he was being drawn out, Ambrose had no doubt at all, +but he did not know just to what end. + +Strange launched into extensive praises of John Gaviller. "I ought to +know," he said in conclusion. "I've worked for him twenty-nine years. +He taught me all I know. He's been a second father to me." + +Ambrose felt as an honest man hearing an unnecessary and fulsome +panegyric must feel, slightly nauseated. He said nothing. + +Strange was quick to perceive the absence of enthusiasm. He laughed +agreeably. "I suppose I can hardly expect you to chime in with me," he +said. "The old man is death on free-traders!" + +"I have nothing against him," said Ambrose quickly. + +"Of course I don't always agree with him on matters of policy," Strange +went on. "Curious, isn't it, how a man's ruling characteristic begins +to get the better of him as he grows old. + +"Mr. Gaviller is always just--but, well, a leetle hard. He's pushing +the people a little too far lately. I tell him so to his face--I +oppose him all I can. But of course he's the boss." + +Ambrose began to feel an obscure and discomforting indignation at his +visitor. He wished he would go. + +"You really must see our plant before you go back," said Strange; "the +model farm, the dairy herd, the flourmill, the sawmill. Will you come +up to-morrow and let me take you about?" + +His glibness had the effect of rendering Ambrose monosyllabic. "No," +he said. + +"Oh, I say," said Strange, laughing, "what did you come to Fort +Enterprise for if you feel that way about us?" + +Under his careless air Ambrose thought he distinguished a certain +eagerness to hear the answer. So he said nothing. + +"I'm afraid you and the old gentleman must have had words," Strange +went on, still smiling. "Take it from me, his bark is worse than his +bite. If he broke out at you, he's sorry for it now. It takes half my +time to fix up his little differences with the people here." + +He paused to give the other an opportunity to speak. Ambrose remained +mum. + +"The old man certainly has a rough side to his tongue," murmured +Strange insinuatingly. + +"You're jumping to conclusions," said Ambrose coolly. "John Gaviller +gave me no cause for offense. I was well entertained at his house." + +"U-m!" said Strange. He seemed rather at a loss. Presently he went on +to tell in a careless voice of the coyote hunts they had. Afterward he +casually inquired how long Ambrose meant to stay in the neighborhood. + +"I don't know," was the blunt answer. + +"Well, really!" said Strange with his laugh--the sound of it was +becoming highly exasperating to Ambrose. "I don't want to pry into +your affairs, but you must admit it looks queer for you to be camping +here on the edge of the company reservation without ever coming in." + +Ambrose was wroth with himself for not playing a better part, but the +man affected him with such repugnance he could not bring himself to +dissimulate, "Sorry," he said stiffly. "You'll have to make what you +can of it." + +Strange got up. His candid air now had a touch of manly pride. "Oh, I +can take a hint!" he said. "Hanged if I know what you've got against +me!" + +"Nothing whatever," said Ambrose. + +"I come to you in all friendliness--" + +"Thought you said you stumbled on me," interrupted Ambrose. + +"I mean of course when I saw you here I came in friendliness," Strange +explained with dignity. + +"Well, go in friendliness, and no harm done on either side," said +Ambrose coolly. + +For a brief instant Strange lost his benignant air. "I've lived north +all my life," he said. "And I never met with the like. We have +different ideas about hospitality." + +"Very likely," said Ambrose coolly. "Good night!" + +When his visitor rode away Ambrose turned with relief to his dog. The +sight of Job's honest ugliness was good to him. + +"He's a cur, Job!" he said strongly. "A snake in the grass! An oily +scoundrel! I don't know how I know it, but I know it! A square man +would have punched me the way I talked to him." + +Job wagged his tail in entire approval of his master's judgment. +Ambrose turned in, feeling better for having spoken his mind. + +Nevertheless, as he lay waiting for sleep it occurred to him that he +had been somewhat hasty. After all, he had nothing to go on. And, +supposing Strange were what he thought him, how foolish he, Ambrose, +had been to show his band. + +If he had been craftier he might have learned things of value for him +to know. Following this unsatisfactory train of thought, he fell +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ALEXANDER SELKIRK AND FAMILY. + +Again Ambrose was awakened by a furious barking from Job. It was even +earlier than on the preceding morning. The sun was not up; the river +was like a gray ghost. + +Ambrose, expecting Tole, looked for a dugout. There was none in sight. +Job's agitated barks were addressed in the other direction. + +Issuing from his tent, Ambrose beheld a quaint little man squatting on +top of the bank like an image. He had an air of strange patience, as +if he had been waiting for hours, and expected to wait. + +His brown mask of a face changed not a line at the sight of Ambrose. + +"What do you want?" demanded the white man. + +"Please, I want spik wit' you," the little man softly replied. + +"Come down here then," said Ambrose. + +The early caller looked at Job apprehensively. Ambrose silenced the +dog with a command, and the man came slowly down the bank, cringing a +little. + +The quaintness of aspect was largely due to the fact that he wore a +coat and trousers originally designed for a tall, stout man. Ambrose +suspected he had a child to deal with until he saw the wrinkles and the +sophisticated eyes. + +"Who are you?" he asked. + +"I Alexander Selkirk, me," was the answer. + +Ambrose could not but smile at the misapplication of the sonorous +Scotch name to such a manikin. + +"You Ambrose Doane?" the other said solemnly. + +"Everybody seems to know me," said Ambrose. + +Alexander stared at him with a sullen, walled, speculative regard, +exactly, Ambrose thought, like a schoolboy facing an irate master, and +wondering where the blow will fall. + +To carry out this effect he was holding something inside his voluminous +jacket, something that suggested contraband. + +"What have you got there?" demanded Ambrose. + +Without changing a muscle of his face, Alexander undid a button and +produced a gleaming black pelt. + +Ambrose gasped. It was a beautiful black fox. Such a prize does not +come a trader's way once in three seasons. The last black fox Minot & +Doane had secured brought twelve hundred dollars in London--and it was +not so fine a specimen as this. + +Lustrous, silky, black as anthracite; every hair in place, and not a +white hair showing except the tuft at the end of the brush. + +"Where did you get it?" Ambrose asked, amazed. + +"I trap him, me, myself," said Alexander. + +"When?" + +"Las' Februar'." + +"Are you offering it to me?" asked Ambrose, eying it desirously. + +"'Ow much?" demanded Alexander, affecting a wall-eyed indifference. + +Ambrose made a more careful examination. There was no doubt of it; the +skin was perfect. He thrilled at the idea of returning with such a +prize to his partner. He made a rapid calculation. + +"Five hundred and fifty cash," he said. "Seven hundred fifty in trade." + +A spark showed in Alexander's eyes. + +"It is yours," he said. + +"How can we make a trade?" asked Ambrose, perplexed. "John Gaviller +would never honor any order of mine. I have no goods here to give you +in trade." + +"All right," said Alexander imperturbably. "I go to Moultrie to get +goods." + +"You, too," said Ambrose. "I can't import you all." + +"I got go Moultrie, me," said Alexander. "I got trouble wit' Gaviller. +He starve me and my children. They sick." + +"Starve you!" + +"Gaviller say give no more debt till I bring him my black fox," +Alexander went on apathetically. "Give no flour, no sugar, no meat, no +tea. My brot'er feed us some. Gaviller say to him better not. So now +we have nothing. We ongry." + +This promised difficulties. Ambrose frowned. "Tell me the whole +story," he said. + +The little man was eying the grub-box wolfishly. Throwing back the +cover, Ambrose offered him a cold bannock. + +"Here," he said. "Eat and tell me." + +Alexander without a word turned and scrambled up the bank and +disappeared, clutching the loaf to his breast. The white man shouted +after him without effect. He left the precious pelt behind him. + +Ambrose shrugged philosophically. "You never can tell." + +Presently Alexander came back, his seamy brown face as blank as ever. +He vouchsafed no explanation. Ambrose affected not to notice him. He +had long since found it to be the best way of getting what he wanted. +The breed squatted on the stones, prepared to wait for the +judgment-day, it seemed. + +After a while he said with the wary, defiant look of a child beggar who +expects to be refused, perhaps cuffed: "Give me 'not'er piece of bread." + +Ambrose without a word broke his remaining bannock in two and gave him +half. Alexander bolted it with incredible rapidity and sat as before, +waiting. + +Ambrose, wearying of this, dropped the pelt on his knees, saying: "Take +your black fox. I cannot trade with you." + +It had the desired effect. Alexander arose and put the skin inside the +tent. "It is yours," he said. "Give me tobacco." + +Ambrose tossed him his pouch. + +When the little man got his pipe going, squatting on his heels as +before, he told his tale. "Me spik Angleys no good," he said, +fingering his Adam's apple, as if the defect was there. "Las' winter I +ver' poor. All tam moch sick in my stummick. I catch him fine black +fox. Wa! I say. I rich now. + +"I tak' him John Gaviller. Gaviller say: 'Three hunder twenty dollar +in trade.' Wa! That is not'in'. I am sick to hear it. Already I owe +that debt on the book. Then I am mad. Gaviller t'ink for because I +poor and sick I tak' little price. I t'ink no! + +"So I tak' her home. The men they look at her. Wa! they say, she is +_miwasan_--what you say, beauty? They say, don' give Gaviller that +black fox, Sandy. He got pay more. So I keep her. Gaviller laugh. +He say: 'You got give me that black fox soon. I not pay so moch in +summer.'" + +The apathetic way in which this was told affected Ambrose strongly. +His face reddened with indignation. The story bore the hall-marks of +truth. + +Certainly the man's hunger was not feigned; likewise his eagerness to +accept the moderate price Ambrose had offered him was significant. +Ambrose scowled in his perplexity. + +"Hanged if I know what to do for you!" he said. "I'll give you a +receipt for the skin. I'll give you a little grub. Then you go home +and stay until I can arrange something." + +Alexander received this as if he had not heard it. + +"You hear," said Ambrose. "Is that all right?" + +"I got go Moultrie," the little man said stolidly. + +"You can't!" cried Ambrose. + +Alexander merely sat like an image. + +This was highly exasperating to the white man. "You've got to go home, +I tell you," he cried. + +"I not go home," the native said with strange apathy. "Gaviller kill +me now." + +"Nonsense!" cried Ambrose. "He has got to respect the law." + +Alexander was unmoved. "He not give me no grub," he said. "I starve +here." + +This was unanswerable. Ambrose, divided between annoyance and +compassion, fumed in silence. He himself had only enough food for a +few days. The breed wore him out with his stolidity. + +"Well, what do you want me to do?" he asked at last. + +"Give me little flour," said Alexander. "I go to Moultrie." + +"What will you do with your family?" + +"I tak' them." + +"How many?" + +"My woman, my boy, my two girl, my baby." + +"Good Lord!" cried Ambrose. "Have you a boat?" + +"_Non_! There is timber down the river. I mak' a raf, me." + +"It would take you two weeks to float down," cried Ambrose. "I have +only thirty pounds of flour." + +Alexander shrugged. "We ongry, anyway," he said. "We lak be ongry on +the way." + +Ambrose swore savagely under his breath. This was nearly hopeless. He +strode up and down, thrashing his brains for a solution. + +Alexander, squatting on his heels, waited apathetically for the +verdict. He had shifted his burden to the white man. + +"Where is your family?" demanded Ambrose. + +Alexander looked over his shoulder and spoke a word in Cree. Instantly +four heads appeared over the edge of the bank. Job barked once in +startled and indignant protest, and went to Ambrose's heels. + +Ambrose could not forbear a start of laughter at the suddenness of the +apparition. It was like the genii in a pantomime bobbing up through +the trapdoors. + +"Come down," he said. + +A distressful little procession faced him; they were gaunt, ragged, +appallingly dirty, and terrified almost into a state of idiocy. First +came the mother, a travesty of womanhood, dehumanized except for her +tragic, terrified eyes. + +A boy of sixteen followed her, ugly and misshapen as a gargoyle; he +carried the baby in a sling on his back. Two timorous little girls +came last. + +They lugged their pitiful belongings with them--a few rags of bedding +and clothes, some traps and snowshoes, and cooking utensils. The +smaller girl bore a holy picture in a gaudy frame. + +Ambrose's heart was wrung by the sight of so much misery. He stormed +at Alexander. "Good God! What a state to get into. What's the matter +with you that you can't keep them better than that? You've no right to +marry and have children!" + +Somehow they apprehended the compassion that animated his anger, and +were not afraid of him. They lined up before him, mutely bespeaking +his assistance. + +Their faith in his power to rescue them was implicit. That was what +made it impossible for him to refuse. + +"Here," he said roughly. "You'll have to take my dugout. I'll get +another from Grampierre. You can make Moultrie in six days in that if +you work. That'll give you five pounds of flour a day--enough to keep +you alive." + +The word "dugout" galvanized Alexander into action. Without a glance +in Ambrose's direction, he ran to the craft, and running it a little +way into the water rocked it from side to side to satisfy himself there +were no leaks. + +Turning to his family he spoke a command in Cree, and forthwith they +began to pitch their bundles in. + +Ambrose was accustomed to the thanklessness of the humbler natives. +They are like children, who look to the white man for everything, and +take what they can get as a matter of course. Still he was a little +nonplused by the excessive precipitation of this family. + +It occurred to him there was something more in their desperate +eagerness to get away than Alexander's tale explained. But having +given his word, he could not take it back. + +From father down to babe their faces expressed such relief and hope he +had not the heart to rebuke them. Alexander came to him for the food, +and he handed over all he had. + +"Wait!" he said. "I will give you a letter for Peter Minot. Lord!" he +inwardly added. "Peter won't thank me for dumping this on him!" + +On a leaf of his note-book he scribbled a few lines to his partner +explaining the situation. + +"You understand," he said to Alexander, "out of your credit for the +black fox, John Gaviller must be paid what you owe him." + +Alexander nodded indifferently, mad to get away. + +As Alexander's squaw was about to get in the dugout she paused on the +stones and looked at Ambrose, her ugly, dark face working with emotion. +Her eyes were as piteous as a wounded animal's. She flung up her hands +in a gesture expressing her powerlessness to speak. + +It seemed there was some gratitude in the family. Moved by a sudden +impulse she caught up Ambrose's hand and pressed it passionately to her +lips. The white man fell back astonished and abashed. Alexander paid +no attention at all. + +In less than ten minutes after Ambrose had given them the dugout the +distressed family pushed off for a new land. Father and son paddled as +if the devil were behind them. + +"I wonder if I done the right thing?" mused Ambrose. + + +The Selkirks had not long disappeared down the river when Ambrose +received another visitor. This was a surly native youth who, without +greeting, handed him a note, and rode back to the fort. Ambrose's +heart beat high as he examined the superscription. + +He did not need to be told who had written it. But he was not prepared +for the contents: + + +DEAR: + +Come to me at once. Come directly to the house. I am in great trouble. + +COLINA. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERING SHADOWS. + +Ambrose, hastening back to Gaviller's house with a heart full of +anxiety, came upon Gordon Strange as he rounded the corner of the +company store. The breed was at the door. Evidently he harbored no +resentment, for his face lighted up at the sight of an old friend. + +"Well!" he said. "So you came to see us." + +Ambrose felt the same unregenerate impulse to punch the smooth face. +However, with more circumspection than upon the previous occasion, he +returned a civil answer. + +"Have you heard?" asked Strange, with an expression of serious concern. + +Ambrose reflected that Strange probably knew a message had been sent. + +"Heard what?" he asked non-committally. + +"Mr. Gaviller was taken sick last night." + +"What's the matter with him?" asked Ambrose quickly. + +Strange shrugged. "I do not know exactly. The doctor has not come out +of the house since he was sent for. A stroke, I fancy." + +"I will go to the house and inquire," said Ambrose. + +He proceeded, telling himself that Strange had not got any change out +of him this time. He was relieved by the breed's news; he had feared +worse. + +To be sure, it was terribly hard on Colina, but on his own account he +could not feel much pain of mind over a sickness of Gaviller's. + +The half-breed girl who admitted him showed a scared yellow face. +Evidently the case was a serious one. She ushered him into the +library. The aspect, the very smell of the little room, brought back +the scene of two days before and set Ambrose's heart to beating. + +Presently Colina came swiftly in, closing the door behind her. She was +very pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She showed the +unnatural self-possession that a brave woman forces on herself in the +presence of a great emergency. Her eyes were tragic. + +She came straight to his arms. She lowered her head and partly broke +down and wept a little. + +"Ah, it's so good to have some one to lean on!" she murmured. + +"Your father--what is the matter with him?" asked Ambrose. + +The look in her eyes and her piteous shaking warned him to expect +something worse than the tale of an illness. + +She lifted her white face. + +"Father was shot last night," she said. + +"Good God!" said Ambrose. "By whom?" + +"We do not know." + +"He's not--he's not--" Ambrose's tongue balked at the dreadful word. + +She shook her head. "A dangerous wound, not necessarily fatal. We +can't tell yet." + +"You have no idea who did it?" + +Colina schooled herself to give him a coherent account. The sight of +her forced calmness, with those eyes, was inexpressibly painful to +Ambrose. + +"No. He went out after dinner. He said he had to see a man. He did +not mention his name. He came back at dusk. I was on the veranda. He +was walking as usual--perfectly straight. But one hand was pressed to +his side. + +"He passed me without speaking. I followed him in. In the passage he +said: 'I am shot. Tell no one but Giddings. Then he collapsed in my +arms. He has not spoken since." + +Ambrose heard this with mixed feelings. His heart bled for Colina. +Yet the grim thought would not down that the tyrannous old trader had +received no more than his deserts. He soothed her with clumsy +tenderness. + +"Why do you want to keep it a secret?" he asked, after a while. + +"Father wished it," said Colina. "We think he must have had a good +reason. The doctor thinks it is best. There has been a good deal of +trouble with the natives; many of them are ugly and rebellious. And we +whites are so few! + +"Father could keep them in hand. They are in such awe of him; they +regard him as something almost more than mortal. If they learn that he +is vulnerable--who knows what might happen!" + +"I understand," said Ambrose grimly. + +"So no one knows, not even the servants. I have hidden all +the--things. Of course, the man who did it will never tell." The calm +voice suddenly broke in a cry of agony. "Oh, Ambrose!" + +He comforted her mutely. + +"It is so dreadful to think that any one should hate him so!" said poor +Colina. "So unjust! They are like his children. He is severe with +them only for their good!" + +Ambrose concealed a grim smile at this partial view of John Gaviller. + +"He lies there so white and still," she went on. "It nearly breaks my +heart to think how I have quarreled with him and gone against his +wishes. If waiting on him day and night will ever make it up to him, +I'll do it!" + +Ambrose's breast stirred a little with resentment, but he kept his +mouth shut. He understood that it was good for Colina to unburden her +breast. + +"Ah, thank God I have you!" she murmured. + +They heard the doctor coming, and Colina drew away. She introduced the +two men. + +"Mr. Doane is my friend," she said. "He is one of us." + +The doctor favored Ambrose with a glance of astonishment before making +his professional announcement. Ambrose saw the typical hanger-on of a +trading-post, a white man of Gaviller's age, careless in dress, with a +humorous, intelligent face, showing the ravages of a weak will. At +present, with the sole responsibility of an important case on his +shoulders, he looked something like the man he was meant to be. + +It was no time for commonplaces. + +"John is conscious," he said directly. "He is showing remarkable +resistance. There is no need for any immediate alarm. He wants to +make a statement. I made the excuse of getting pencil and paper to +come down. In a matter of such importance I think there should be +another witness." + +"I will go," said Colina. + +Giddings shook his head. "Your father expressly forbade it," he said. +"He wishes to spare you." + +Colina made an impatient gesture, but seemed to acquiesce. + +"You go," she said to Ambrose. + +Giddings looked doubtful, but said nothing. + +"I'm afraid the sight of me--" Ambrose began. + +"I don't mean that you should go in," said Colina. "If you stand in +the doorway he cannot see you the way he lies." + +Ambrose nodded and followed Giddings out. + +"What is the wound?" he asked. + +"Through the left lung. He will not die of the shot. I can't tell yet +what may develop." + +Ambrose halted at the open door of Gaviller's room. The windows looked +out over the river, and the cooling northwest wind was wafted through. +The hospital-like bareness of the room evinced a simple taste in the +owner. The gimcracks he loved to make were all for the public rooms +below. + +The head of the bed was toward the door. On the pillow Ambrose could +see the gray head, a little bald on the crown. + +Giddings, after feeling his patient's pulse, sat down beside the bed +with pad and pencil. + +"I'm ready to take down what you say," he said. + +The wounded man said in a weak but surprisingly clear voice: + +"You understand this is not to be used unless the worst happens to me." + +Giddings nodded. + +"You must give me your word that no proceedings will be taken against +the man I name--unless I die. I will not die. When I get up I will +attend to him." + +"I promise," said Giddings. + +After a brief pause Gaviller said: + +"I was shot by the breed known as Sandy Selkirk." + +Ambrose sharply caught his breath. A great light broke upon him. + +Gaviller went on: + +"He caught a black fox last winter that he has persistently refused to +give up to me. Out of sheer obstinacy he preferred to starve his +family. Yesterday Strange told me he thought it likely Selkirk would +try to dispose of the skin to Ambrose Doane, the free-trader who is +hanging around the fort." + +Giddings sent a startled glance toward the door. + +"Strange said perhaps news of it had been carried down the river, and +that was what Doane had come for. So I went to Selkirk's shack last +night to get it. I consider it mine, because Selkirk already owes the +company its value. Any attempt to dispose of it elsewhere would be the +same as robbing me. + +"Selkirk refused to give it up, and I took it. He shot me from behind. +There were no witnesses but his family. That is all I want to say." + +"I have it," murmured Giddings. + +The gray head rolled impatiently on the pillow. "Giddings, don't let +that skin get away. I rely on you. Be firm. Be secret." + +"I'll do my best," said the doctor. + +He came to the door, ostensibly to close it, showing a scared face. "I +didn't know what was coming," his lips shaped. + +Ambrose nodded to him reassuringly, meaning to convey that nothing he +had heard would influence his actions. + +Giddings closed the door, and Ambrose returned down-stairs with a heart +that sunk lower at each step. What he had at first regarded calmly +enough as Gaviller's tragedy he now clearly saw was likely to prove +tragic for himself. + +It was useless to try to put Colina off. + +"I must know!" she cried passionately. "I'm the head here now. I must +know where we all stand." + +Ambrose told her. To save her feelings he instinctively softened the +harsher features. It did not do his own cause any good later. + +"Oh, the wretch!" breathed Colina between set teeth. "I know him! A +sneaking little scoundrel! Just the one to shoot from behind! To +think we must let him go! That is the hardest." + +Ambrose was silent. + +"We must get the skin," she went on eagerly. "Giddings can't handle +the natives. You do that for me." + +"It is too late," said Ambrose grimly. "He is gone with it." + +"Gone?" she exclaimed, with raised eyebrows. "How do you know?" + +"He came to my camp at dawn," said Ambrose. Honesty compelling him, he +added with a touch of defiance; "I gave him my dugout." + +Colina shrank from him. + +"You helped him get away!" she cried. + +"I didn't know what had happened," he said indignantly. + +"Of course not!" said Colina, with quick penitence. + +But she did not return to him. Presently the frown came back; she +began to breathe quickly. "You saw the skin; you must have talked with +him. You took his part against father!" + +Ambrose had nothing to say. He could have groaned aloud in his +helplessness to avert the catastrophe that he saw coming. + +It was as if a horrible, black-shrouded shape had stepped between him +and Colina. + +She, too, was aware of it. For an age-long moment they stared at each +other with a kind of chilled terror. + +Neither dared speak of what both were thinking. + +At last Colina tried to wave the hideous fantom away. + +"Ah, we mustn't quarrel now!" she said tremulously. "Couldn't the man +be overtaken and the skin recovered?" + +"Possibly," admitted Ambrose. "I wouldn't advise it." + +Colina, freshly affronted, struggled with her anger. + +"Let me explain," said Ambrose. "I agreed to take the skin from him, +but on the understanding that out of the price Mr. Gaviller must be +paid every cent of what was owing him." His reasonable air suddenly +failed him. "Colina," he burst out imploringly, "it was worth more +than double what your father offered! That was the trouble! What is a +skin to us? I pledge myself to transmit whatever price it brings to +your father. Won't that do?" + +"Don't say anything more about it," said Colina painfully. "You're +right; we mustn't quarrel about a thing like that." + +A wretched constraint fell upon them. For the moment the catastrophe +had been averted, but both felt it was only for the moment. + +They had nothing to say to each other. + +Finally Colina moved toward the door. + +"I must see if anything is wanted up-stairs," she murmured. "Wait here +for me." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE QUARREL. + +When Colina returned she said immediately: "Ambrose, can you stay at +Fort Enterprise a little while longer?" + +His heart leaped up. "As long as I can help you!" he cried. + +They looked at each other wistfully. They wanted so much to be +friends--but the black shape was still there in the room. + +"I'd be glad to have you stay here in the house," said Colina. + +Ambrose shook his head. "I'd much better stay in camp." + +She acquiesced. "There are three white men here," she went on, +"Giddings, Macfarlane the policeman, and Mr. Pringle the missionary. +Each is all right in his way, but--" + +"They're all in love with you," suggested Ambrose. + +She smiled faintly. "How did you know?" + +Ambrose shrugged. "Deduced it." + +"You see I cannot take any of them into my confidence." + +"Colina!" he said. "If you would only let me--" + +"Ah, I want to!" she returned. "If only, only you will not abuse +him--wounded and helpless as he is!" + +Here was the black shape again. + +"I suppose Gordon Strange will run the business," said Ambrose. + +"Naturally," said Colina. "He knows everything about it." + +"If you want my advice," Ambrose said diffidently, "do not trust him +too far." + +She looked at him in astonishment. "Mr. Strange is almost like one of +the family. He's been father's right-hand man for years and years. +Father says he's the best servant the company possesses." + +"That may be," said Ambrose doggedly, "but a good servant makes a bad +master. After all, he is not one of us. If you value my advice at all +you will never let him know he is running things." + +"How can I help it? I haven't told him yet what has happened; but Dr. +Giddings and I agreed that he must be told. He never mixes with the +natives." + +"Of course he must know your father was wounded, but he needn't be told +how seriously. If I were you I would make him inform me of every +detail of the business on the pretext of repeating it to your father. +And I would issue orders to him as if they came from your father's bed." + +"How can I?" said Colina. "I know nothing of the business." + +"I can help you," said Ambrose--"if you want me to. I know it." + +"But, Ambrose," she objected, "what reason have you to feel so strongly +against Mr. Strange?" + +"No reason," he said; "only an instinct. I believe he's a crook." + +"Father relies on him absolutely." + +"Maybe his influence with your father was sometimes unfortunate." + +Colina's eyebrows went up. "Influence! Father would hardly allow his +judgment to be swayed by a breed." + +"You're a woman," said Ambrose earnestly. "You should not despise +these feelings that we have sometimes and cannot give a reason for. I +saw Strange on my way here. I exchanged only half a dozen words with +him, yet I am as sure as I can be that he was glad of the accident to +your father and hopes to profit by it somehow." + +Colina was still incredulous. + +"Look what he wrote me this morning!" she cried. "It sounds so +genuine." + +She handed him a note from the desk. He read: + + +DEAR MISS COLINA: + +They are saying that your father has been taken ill; that the doctor +has been with him all night. I am more distressed than I can tell you. +You know what he is to me! Do send me some word. He was so cheerful +and well yesterday that I cannot believe it can be serious. Native +gossip always magnifies everything. + +If it is all right to speak to him about business, will you remind him +that a deputation from the farmers is due at the store this morning to +receive his final answer as to the price of wheat this year. As far as +I know his intention is to offer one-fifty a bushel, but something may +have come up to cause him to change his mind. Unless he is very ill, I +would rather not take this responsibility upon myself. + +Do let me have word from you. + +G.S. + + +"Anybody can write letters," said Ambrose. "It sounds to me as if he +was just trying to find out how bad your father is. He could easily +put the farmers off." + +"I can't believe he's as bad as you say," said Colina gravely. "Why, +he was here long before I was born. But I will be prudent. With your +help I'll try to run things myself." + +Ambrose sent her a grateful glance--shot with apprehension. He dreaded +what was still to come. + +"This question of the price of the wheat," Colina went on; "we have to +give him an answer or confess father is very ill." + +Ambrose nodded gloomily. + +"Fortunately that is easy," she continued; "for he spoke about it at +dinner last night. He means to pay one-fifty." She moved toward the +desk. "I'll send a note over at once." + +The critical moment had arrived--even more swiftly than he feared. He +could not think clearly, for the pain he felt. + +"Ah, Colina, I love you!" he cried involuntarily. + +She paused and smiled over her shoulder. + +"I know," she said, surprised and gentle. "That's why you're here." + +"I've got to advise you honestly," he cried, "no matter what trouble it +makes." + +"Of course," she said. "What's the matter, Ambrose?" + +"You should offer them one-seventy-five for their wheat." + +The eyebrows went up again. "Why?" + +"It's only fair. Two dollars would be fairer." + +"But father said one-fifty." + +"Your father is wrong in this instance." + +Colina frowned ominously. + +"How do you know?" she demanded. + +"I know the price of flour at the different posts," he said +deprecatingly. "I know the risks that must be allowed for and the fair +profit one expects." + +"Do you mean to say that father is unfair?" she cried. + +He was silent. An unlucky word had betrayed him. He could have bitten +his tongue. Still, he reflected sullenly, it was bound to come. You +can't make black white, however tenderly you describe it. + +Colina sprang to her feet. + +"Unfair!" she cried. "That is to say a cheat! You can say it while he +is lying up-stairs desperately wounded!" + +"Colina, be reasonable," he implored. "The fact that he is suffering +can't make a wrong right." + +"There is no wrong!" she cried. "What do you know about conditions +here?" + +"They come to my camp," he said simply, "one after another to beg me to +help them." + +"And you were not above it," she flashed back, "murderers and others!" + +An honest anger fired Ambrose's eyes. "You're talking wildly," he said +sternly. "I'm trying to help you." + +Colina laughed. + +With a great effort he commanded his temper, "What do you see yourself +in your rides about the settlement?" he asked. "Poverty and +wretchedness! How do you explain it when times are good--when this is +known as the richest post in the north?" + +Colina would have none of his reasoning. "These are just the dangerous +ideas my father warned me against!" she cried passionately. "This is +how you make the natives discontented and unruly!" + +"You will not listen to me!" he cried in despair. + +"Listen to you! I see him lying there--helpless. I am sick with +compassion for him and with hatred against the creatures who did it. +And you dare to attack him, to excuse them! I will not endure it!" + +"I am not attacking him. Right or wrong, he has brought about a +disastrous situation. He's the first to suffer. We're all standing on +the edge of a volcano. We are five whites here, and three hundred +miles from the nearest of our kind. If we want to save him and save +ourselves we've got to face the facts." + +Of this Colina heard one sentence. "Do you mean, to say that father +brought this on himself?" she demanded, breathlessly angry. + +Ambrose made a helpless gesture. + +"I am to understand that you justify the breed?" she persisted. + +"You have no right to put words into my mouth!" + +Colina repeated like an automaton. "Do you think the breed was +justified in shooting my father?" + +"I will not answer." + +"You've got to answer--before you and I go any farther!" + +"Colina, think what you're doing!" he cried. "We must not quarrel." + +"I'm not quarreling," she said with an odd, flinty quietness. "I'm +trying to find out something necessary for me to know. You might as +well answer. Do you think the breed was justified in shooting my +father?" + +Ambrose, baited beyond endurance, cried: "I do! He went into the man's +house and laid hands on his property. Even a breed has rights." + +Colina bowed her head as if in polite acceptance. "You had better go," +she said in soft tones more terrible than a cry. "I am sorry I ever +saw you!" + +The bitterness of lovers' quarrels is in ratio with their passion for +each other. These two loved with complete abandon, consequently each +could wound the other maddeningly. + +But the plant of their love, vigorous as it was, was not rooted in old +acquaintance. When the top withered under the blasts of anger there +was no store of life below. Now each was secretly terrified by the +strangeness of the being to whom he had yielded his soul. + +Ambrose, wild with pain, no longer recked what he said. "You make a +man mad!" he cried. "You will not listen to reason. A thing must be +so just because you want it that way. I rack my brains for words to +save your feelings, and this is what I get! Very well, you shall have +the bald truth." + +"Leave the house!" cried Colina. + +"Not until I have spoken out!" + +She clapped her hands over her ears. + +"That is childish!" he said scornfully. "You can hear me! Throughout +the whole north your father is called the slave-driver!" + +Colina faced him still and white. This was the very incandescence of +anger. "Go!" she said. "I'm done with you!" + +"One thing more," he said doggedly. "The price of wheat. I shouldn't +have said anything about justice. Putting that aside, it will be good +business for you to pay the farmers their price. Otherwise you'll have +red rebellion on your hands!" + +As Ambrose made for the door he met Gordon Strange coming in. + +"Wait!" Colina commanded. "I want you to hear this." + +It was impossible to tell from her set face what she meant to do, +Ambrose waited, hoping against hope. + +"You want to know about the wheat?" said Colina. + +"First, your father," said Strange, anxious and compassionate. + +"He is not dangerously ill," said Colina. + +"Ah!" said Strange. "Yes, the farmers are waiting." + +Colina said clearly: "The price is to be one-fifty per bushel." + +"That's what I thought," said Strange. "I will tell them." He went. + +"Ah, Colina!" cried Ambrose brokenly. + +She left the room slowly, as if he had not been there. + +Ambrose could not have told how he got out of the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SIMON GRAMPIERRE. + +Ambrose lay in his tent with his head hidden in his arms, trying not to +think. Job licked his hand unheeded. A hail from the river forced him +to rouse himself. As he crawled out he instinctively cast a glance at +the sun. It was mid-afternoon. + +Tole Grampierre landed on the stones. "You are seeck!" he exclaimed, +seeing Ambrose's face. + +Though life loses all its savor, it must be carried on with a good air. +"_Mal de tête_!" said Ambrose, making light of it. "It will soon pass." + +Tole accepted the explanation. He told Ambrose that he had come that +morning and found him gone. He had come back to tell him what the +white man already knew--that, though Gaviller had been laid low by a +mysterious stroke, he had sent word from his sick-bed that he would pay +no more than one-fifty for wheat. + +"The men are moch mad," Tole went on in his matter-of-fact way. "They +not listen to my fat'er no more. Say he too old. All come to meet to +our house to-night. There will be trouble. My fat'er send me for you. +He say maybe you can stop the trouble." + +"I stop it?" said Ambrose, laughing harshly. "What the devil can I do?" + +Tole shrugged. "My fat'er say nobody but you can stop it." + +It was clear to Ambrose that "trouble" signified danger to Colina. +"I'll come," he said apathetically. + +"Where is your dugout?" asked Tole. + +Ambrose explained. + +"Bring all your things," said Tole. "You stay at our house now till +you go back. My mot'er got good medicine. She cure _mal de tête_." + +Ambrose reflected bitterly that Mrs. Grampierre's simples could hardly +reach his complaint. Nevertheless, he was not anxious to be left +alone--he was not one to nourish a sorrow. He packed up what remained +of his outfit, and Tole stowed it in the dugout. + +The Grampierre house was a mile and a half above the Company's +establishment on the other side of the river. The two young men had, +therefore, a three-mile paddle against the current. + +Landing, Ambrose saw before him a low, wide-spreading house built of +squared logs and whitewashed. Ample barns and outhouses spread around +a rough square. The whole picture brought to mind a manor-house of +earlier and simpler times. + +The patriarch himself waited at the door. He was a fine figure of +manhood--lean, straight, rugged as a jack-pine. He had the noble +aquiline features of the red side of the house, and his dark face was +wonderfully set off by a luxuriant, snowy thatch. + +Ambrose, indifferent as he was, could not but be struck by the old +man's beauty, and his dignity was equal to his good looks. Young +Tole's naïve pride in his parent was explained. + +Ambrose was introduced to a wide interior of a dignified bareness. +This was the main room of the house; the kitchen they called it, though +the cooking was done outside. + +It was spotlessly clean; none too common a thing in the north. Clearly +these people had their pride. + +Still Ambrose was reminded of the difference between white and red, for +the women of the house were ignored, and when later he sat down to sup +with Simon and his five strong sons the wives waited humbly on the +table. + +Afterward the men sat before the door, smoking. Simon kept Ambrose at +his right hand, and conversed with him as with an honored guest. He +avoided all reference to what had brought him. + +When Ambrose, not understanding the reason for his delicacy, asked +about the coming meeting, Simon said: + +"When all come you learn what every man thinks. I not want to shape +your mind to my mind until all are here." + +They came by ones and twos, a little company of twenty-odd. Many +anomalies of race were exhibited. Some showed a Scotch cast of +feature, some French, some purely Indian. + +One or two might have been taken for white men had it not been for an +odd cast of the eye. Yet it might happen the Indian and the white man +were full brothers. The general character of the faces was stolid +rather than passionate. + +There was little talk. + +The room having been cleared, they went inside. The women had +disappeared. Simon Grampierre sat at an end of the room, with Ambrose +at his right, and his sons ranged about him. The other men faced them +from the body of the room. + +There were not chairs for all, but indeed chairs suggested church, the +trader's house, and other places of ceremony; and those without, +squatting on their heels around the walls, were the happier. + +Talk was slow to start. They kept their hats on and stolidly looked +down their noses. When it began to grow dark a single little lamp was +brought in and stood upon a dresser in the corner. + +The wide room with its one spot of light and all the still, shadowy +figures conveyed an effect of grimness. + +Simon Grampierre opened the meeting. Out of courtesy to Ambrose all +the talk was in English. + +"Men!" said the patriarch. "John Gaviller send word that he will pay +only one-fifty a bushel for our grain. We meet to talk and decide what +to do. All must agree. In agreement there is strength. + +"Already there has been much talk about our grain. I will waste no +words now. For myself and my sons I pledge that we will not sell one +bushel of grain less than dollar-seventy-five. What do the others say?" + +One by one the men arose and repeated the pledge, each raising his +right hand. Ambrose began to be aware that the stolidity masked a high +emotional tension. It was his own presence that restrained them. + +Simon rose again. "I have heard talk that you will spoil your grain," +he said. "Some say let the cattle and horses in the field while it is +green. Some say burn it when it gets ripe. That is foolish talk. + +"Grain is as good as money or as fur. A man does not feed money to +cattle nor burn up fur. I say cut your grain and thrash it and store +it. Some one will buy it. + +"Gaviller himself got to buy when he see we mean to stand together. He +has made contracts to send flour to the far north. Who wants to speak?" + +A little man of marked French characteristics sprang to his feet. His +eyes flashed. "I speak!" he cried. + +"This Jean Bateese Gagnon," explained Simon to Ambrose. + +"Simon Grampierre say wait!" cried the little man passionately. +"Always he say, 'Wait, wait, wait!' All right for Simon Grampierre to +wait. He got plenty beef and potatoes and goods in his house. He can +wait. + +"What will a poor man do while he wait? What will I do--starve, and +see my children starve? If we not sell grain we get no credit at the +store. Where I get warm clothes for the winter and meat and sugar and +powder for my gun? + +"What do we wait for, _un miracle_? Do we wait for Gaviller's heart to +soften? We wait a long tam for that I fink, me! While we wait I think +Gaviller get busy. He say he come and cut our grain. Will we wait and +let him?" + +The old man interrupted here: "If Gaviller put his men on our land we +fight," he said. + +"Aha!" cried Jean Bateese. "He will not wait then. You say let us cut +our grain and store it and wait for one to buy," he went on. "What +will Gaviller do? I tell you. He will go to law! It is not the first +time. He mak' the law to serve him. + +"We all owe him for goods. He will send out and get law papers to say +because we owe him money for goods our grain is his grain. If he got +law-papers the police come and take our grain for him. Wat you say to +t'at, hein?" + +Old Simon was plainly disconcerted. He turned to Ambrose. "Will you +speak?" + +Ambrose's heart sank. How is a dead man to sway passionate, living +men? However, he rose with the best assurance he could muster. + +"I have only one thing to say," he began, conscious of the feebleness +of his words. "John Gaviller is a sick man. I have seen the doctor. +You cannot fight a sick man. I say do not accept his price--do not +refuse it. The grain is not ripe yet. Wait till he is well." + +A murmur of dissent went around the room. Ambrose being a stranger, +there was a note of politeness in it. + +Jean Bateese sprang to his feet again. "Ambrose Doane say wait!" he +said. "He is good man. We lak him. But me, I am sick of waiting! + +"To-day we hear John Gaviller is sick. All are sorry. All forget we +have trouble wit' him. We wait to hear how he is. Wa! he say to us +right out of his bed dollar-fifty or starve! Why should we wait till +he get well? He does not wait!" + +Another man, a burly, purple-cheeked son of earth, took up the harangue +at the point where Jean Bateese dropped it. This was Jack Mackenzie, +Simon said. + +"Me, I am sick of waiting, too!" he cried. "Always we wait, and John +Gaviller do what he like! Why he put down the price of grain? Why he +do everything? It is to keep us in his debt. We can work till our +backs break, but he fix it so we are still in debt. + +"Because we can do not'ing when we are in his debt. We are his slaves! +We got to break our slave chains. It is time to act. Now I say out +loud what all are whispering: let us burn the store!" + +Thirty men took a sharp breath between their teeth. There was a little +silence; then quick cries of approval broke out. The meeting was with +the speaker. + +Ambrose, thinking of Colina, turned a little sick with apprehension. +Simon rose to still the noise, but Mackenzie held the floor. + +"I know w'at Simon Grampierre goin' to say!" he cried, pointing. "He +goin' to say if you break the law you fix yourselves. They send many +police and put you all in jail. Simon Grampierre got good property. +He not want lose it. + +"Me, I say all right! I go to jail. There is a trial. Everything got +come out. John Gaviller he cannot make slaves after that. I say let +them send me to jail. My children will be free!" + +The meeting went wild at this. Simon had lost control. Even his own +sons, as could be read in their faces, sympathized with the speakers. +The old man betrayed nothing in his face. He stood like a rock until +he could get a hearing. + +"Jack Mackenzie say I rich," he said proudly. "Say I think of my +property first. I now say whatever we do, we do together. We will +decide by vote. If you vote to burn the store I will put the fire to +it myself!" + +They cheered him to the echo. Some cried: "Burn the store!" Some +cried: "Vote!" By this move Simon captured their attention again. He +held up a hand for silence. + +"Wait!" he said. "I have a little more to say. Jack Mackenzie say we +got to break our chains. Those are true words! But how? If we burn +the store we only rivet them tighter. + +"Gaviller will cry these are bad men and lawbreakers. These are +_incendiaries_! It is a word the white men hate. They will say do +what you like to the incendiaries. They deserve no better." + +The strange word intimidated them. But a voice cried defiantly: "Must +we wait some more?" And their cries threatened to down the old man. + +"No!" he cried in a voice that silenced them. "Here is Ambrose Doane!" +He paused for dramatic effect. + +"I ask Ambrose Doane to our meeting to talk with us. I now say to +him"--he turned to Ambrose--"you have heard these men. They are so +much wronged they cannot see the right. They are so mad they don't +know what they do. + +"I ask, Ambrose Doane, will you save them from their madness? Will you +help us break our chains? _Buy our grain_?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. + +An absolute silence followed Simon Grampierre's unexpected words. The +astute old man had withheld his proposal until the psychological +moment. Ambrose was a little dazed by it. He rose, feeling every +eager eye upon him, and said slowly: + +"I must have a little time to consider. I must talk with Simon +Grampierre. I will give him my answer before morning." + +Simon said to the company: "Men, will you sell your wheat to Ambrose +Doane at a dollar-seventy-five?" + +The question broke the spell of silence. There could be no mistake +that the proposal was successful. A chorus of acclamations filled the +room. + +"Very good!" said Simon. "I will talk with Ambrose Doane and try to +make him trade with us." + +The meeting broke up. It was then a little after nine. + +Simon and Ambrose went apart to a bench on the river bank. There were +innumerable questions to be asked and answered. Simon estimated that +the grain in question, provided they had no frost, would amount to +twenty thousand bushels of wheat, and half as much oats. It was a +momentous decision for a youth like Ambrose to be called upon to make. + +The greatest difficulty was how to grind the wheat. + +"You have an engine here?" asked Ambrose. + +"Yes, for our thrashing-machine," said Simon. + +"I could order a small process mill from outside," said Ambrose, "but +it's doubtful if we could get it in this year." + +"I have a hand mill," said Simon. "We call her the mankiller. Work +all day, grind a couple bags of flour. It is very old." + +"Could it be rigged to the engine?" Ambrose asked. + +"Wa! I never think of that," said Simon. "Maybe grind four bags a +day, then." + +Ambrose had no intention of giving an answer until he had communicated +with Colina. Strongly against Simon's advice, he insisted that +Gaviller, as he said, must be given one more chance to relent. Simon +unwillingly yielded. At ten o'clock Ambrose and Tole started down the +river in a dugout. + +Ambrose did not mean to seek the interview with Colina. Before +starting he scribbled a hasty note. + + +DEAR COLINA: + +The farmers have asked me to buy their grain. I've got to do it unless +you will pay their price. It's not much good to say it now, but I'd +sooner cut off my hand than seem to be fighting you. + +I can't help myself. You won't believe it, but it's a fact just the +same, if you won't pay their price I must, in order to save you. If +you will agree to pay them one-seventy-five, I'll go back to Moultrie +to-morrow, and never trouble you again. AMBROSE. + + +Landing below Gaviller's house Ambrose sent Tole up the bank with this. +In a surprisingly short time he saw the half-breed returning. + +"Did you see her?" he demanded. + +"Yes," said Tole. + +"Did she send an answer back?" + +"Only this." + +Ambrose held out his hand, and Tole dropped the torn fragments of his +own letter into it. Ambrose stared at them stupidly. He had steeled +himself against a possible humiliation at her hands--but to be +humiliated before the half-breed! + +He drew a long breath to steady himself, and opening his hand, let the +fragments float away on the current. + +"Let us go back," he said quietly. + +During the whole of the way he did not speak. + +Grampierre was waiting for them in the big kitchen. + +"I will now give you my answer," said Ambrose. + +"Well?" said the old man eagerly. + +"It is only a partial answer. I agree to purchase enough of your grain +at one-seventy-five to see you all through the winter; and I agree to +bring a stock of goods here to supply your necessities." + +Simon warmly grasped his hand. "It is well!" he cried. "I expected no +more." + +"I will return to Moultrie to-morrow," Ambrose went on in his dull, +quiet way. "I will consult with my partner, and if we can finance it, +we will buy all your grain." + +"Tole shall go with you," said Simon. "You can send him back to me +with a letter." + +Ambrose went to bed, and slept without dreaming. Nature is merciful. +After a certain point of suffering has been passed, she administers an +anesthetic. + +Next morning Ambrose transacted his business with Simon, and prepared +for the journey, to all appearances his usual matter-of-fact self. + +Only Job perceived the subtle change in his master. The faithful brown +eyes continually sought Ambrose's face, and the ridiculous curly tail +was agitated in vain to induce a smile. + + +On the afternoon of the sixth day following, Ambrose and Tole landed at +Moultrie. Nothing was changed there. The sight of Peter's honest red +face was like balm to Ambrose's sore heart. + +Seeing Ambrose, the remnants of Peter's anger evaporated like mist in +the sun. He clapped his young partner on the back until the other's +lungs rang. + +Peter's blue eyes beamed with honest gladness, meanwhile he uttered +loud abuse in his own style. + +"So you're back, damn you! You ornery little whipper-snapper! To +sneak off from working like a breed after you feed him! I was hoping +I'd never lay eyes on you again. But here you are to plague me!" + +Ambrose smiled sheepishly, and gripped his hand. + +Peter sent Tole off to Eva to be fed, while he went with Ambrose to the +latter's little shack. Ambrose looked around his own place curiously. +It was like another man's house now. He had lost the old self who used +to live here. + +"What's happened to you?" asked Peter with an offhand air. + +"Why do you ask?" said Ambrose quickly. He hated to think it was all +written in his face. + +"You look older," said Peter. "I don't see you grinning so much." + +Ambrose immediately grinned--after a fashion. "I've got a lot to tell +you," he said. "We'll talk after supper." + +Half the night they talked. Ambrose laid his proposal before Peter in +anxious trepidation. Peter earned the young man's lifelong gratitude +by the promptness and heartiness of his response. + +"You did right!" he cried with another clap on the back. "It will be a +fine adventure! We'll go into Fort Enterprise and make a killing! +We'll buy all the grain in sight!" + +"It's a big weight to swing," murmured Ambrose. + +"Sure!" cried Peter. "But no man would refuse it. What if it does +break us? We're young. And we'll have a grand run for our money." + +The excess of Ambrose's relief unnerved him a little. "Peter, you're a +man!" he murmured brokenly. "I was near crazy, wondering if you'd +stand by me!" + +"Hey, cut it out!" cried Peter. "Buck up! We got work to do to-night!" + +Throughout the hours of darkness they counted up their resources, +decided as to the friends they could call on for assistance, and +planned ways and means. + +There was not a day to be lost, and it was first of all decided that +Ambrose must start for the outside world next morning. Once started he +would be out of touch with his partner for good, therefore every +question had to be discussed that night, and there were a hundred. + +Ambrose was astonished by Peter's pluck and dash in business affairs. +Like many another junior partner he had been accustomed to patronize +his elder a little. + +"I'll stand by you to the limit," Peter had said. "But this is your +put. You must do everything yourself." + +Therefore, after the details had been arranged, it fell to Ambrose to +compose the letter to Simon Grampierre. It was the longest letter he +had ever written. + + +Tole and I arrived yesterday after a quick trip. I have talked with my +partner. We agree to purchase all the grain grown around Fort +Enterprise this season at one-seventy-five per bushel. + +We will load up a york boat immediately with a small load of supplies +for present use. Tole will steer it up the river. He will take this +letter to you. It may take four or five days to get a crew. + + +(Here followed an inventory of the goods they had decided to send.) + + +We appoint you our agent to distribute these goods. I will send you a +book in which to put down all the charges. Let the crew of the york +boat have two dug-outs to return home in, and keep the york boat at +your place to send down grain and flour later. + +I have missed the steamboat on her first trip out. I will start to-day +by canoe with an Indian. It will take me ten days to cross the lake +and go up the Miwasa to the landing and so to town. + +I will order a full outfit in town, and bring it in immediately by way +of Caribou Lake, and down stream to you. I will bring a little process +mill if I can get one. If I have no trouble you will see me about the +first of September. Anyway I will be in before the ice begins to run. + +Coming back I will have no trouble going up the Miwasa or Musquasepi or +across Caribou Lake, because Martin Sellers has steamboats there, and +he is independent and friendly to us. They can't stop me on the Spirit +River either, because I can build a raft and bring my stuff down. + +Where they will try to get me is on the portage between Caribou Lake +and the Spirit. They will try to tie up the teams. On my way out I +will see Martin Sellers about it. He has power. + +As soon as the grain is begun to be thrashed start the mankiller going +to try and get a little ahead with the flour. + +Send Tole and another good man in a dugout up to the crossing to meet +me. Let them start August 8. + +I am sending by Tole two bottles of Madeira wine. Send it to the sick +man at the fort without letting him know it comes from me. For +yourself Peter Minot sends a box of cigars with his compliments. + +If I think of anything else I'll write at the landing and send it in by +the August mail. My regards to the boys. + +Yours truly, + +AMBROSE DOANE. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +COLINA COMMANDS. + +On August 25, well within his schedule, Ambrose arrived at Spirit River +Crossing with ten loaded wagons. + +For six long days they had been floundering through the bottomless +mudholes of the portage trail and men and horses were alike played out; +but the rest of the way to come was easy, and Ambrose paid off his +drivers with a light heart. + +The york boat and crew he had engaged at the crossing were +non-existent, and no explanation forthcoming. He had met with similar +small reverses all along the line. This one was not important; it +meant three days delay to build a raft. + +There was a current of nearly four miles an hour to carry him to his +destination, and no rapids in the three hundred miles to endanger his +cargo. + +Tole Grampierre and his brother Germain were waiting for Ambrose. With +two such aides he could afford to smile at the mysterious scarcity of +labor which developed on his arrival. + +Tole's budget of news from down the river contained nothing startling. +John Gaviller had been very sick all summer with pneumonia as a result +of his wound. He was getting better: "pale and skinny as an old rabbit +in the snow," in Tole's words. + +Gaviller had sent up the launch to get what grain had been grown at the +crossing; but it was not enough to fill his contracts for flour up +north. He had been obliged to pay two dollars a bushel for it. +Ambrose smiled at this piece of information. + +Ambrose waited eagerly for some word of her who was seldom out of his +thoughts, but to Tole the matter was not of such great importance. +Ambrose could not bring himself to name her name. Not until Tole had +covered everything else did he say casually: + +"Colina Gaviller rides all around on her yellow horse. She is proud +now. Never speaks to the people." + +That was all. Ambrose's heart stirred with compassion for the one, who +by her loyalty was forced to embrace the wrong cause. + +Another time Tole remarked: "Gordon Strange run the store all summer." + +"So!" said Ambrose. "What do the people say about him? What does your +father say?" + +Tole shrugged. "He say not'ing," he said cautiously. He could not be +induced to commit himself further in this direction. + +They built their raft, and loading up, started without untoward +incident. Traveling day and night, allowing for stoppages and delays, +they expected to be nearly five days on the way. + +On the third day, Ambrose chafing at their slow progress, put the +dugout overboard, and set off ahead to warn the settlement of their +coming. He had no hesitation leaving the raft with the Grampierre +boys; they could handle it better than himself. + +He paddled all day, and at night cut down a tree so that it would fall +in the water, and tied his canoe to it, that he might not be blown +ashore while he slept. + +For hours he lay waiting for sleep, watching the stars circle round his +head as his canoe was swung in the eddies, and considering his +situation. + +He could not rest for his eagerness to be at the end of his journey, +though he had no hope of what awaited there--that is to say not much +hope; there is always a perhaps. + +But how could Colina relent when she beheld him arriving laden with +ammunition to make war upon her? Ambrose wondered sadly if any lover +before him ever found himself in such a plight. + +By ten o'clock next morning he was within a mile or two of Grampierre's +place. The river was dazzling in the morning sunlight, the air like +wine. + +The poplar trees had put on their gorgeous autumn dress of saffron and +scarlet, which showed like names against the chocolate colored hills. +Suddenly in a grassy ravine on his right, Ambrose saw the "yellow" +horse feeding. + +His heart set up a furious beating. No power on earth could have +prevented him from landing, though common sense told him clearly no +good could come of it. That "perhaps" drew him ashore, that hope +against hope. + +After a short search he found her sleeping under a poplar-tree in a +hollow of the bank that was hidden from the river. + +She wore her khaki riding-habit, as usual; her head was couched in the +crook of her arm, and in the other hand she held her Stetson hat by its +strap. Ambrose brooded over her wistfully. + +Her face was paler and thinner; evidently she herself had not been +having too easy a time these two months past. + +These blemishes on her beauty made her seem infinitely more beautiful +and dearer to him. And all relaxed and disarmed in sleep as she was, +it seemed so easy a thing to gather her up in his arms and make her +forget what divided them. + +Ambrose's dim thought was: "If somehow I could only send her real self +a message while her head-strong, unreasonable self is asleep, maybe +she'd confess the truth when she woke." + +While he was hungrily gazing at her her eyelids fluttered. He moved +back to a more respectful distance. She awoke without alarm. For an +instant she lay looking at him as calmly as a babe in its crib. + +Then in a flash recollection returned, and she sprang to a sitting +position, both hands, womanlike, flying to her hair. She eyed him with +a certain discomposure. It was as if she felt that she ought to be +furiously angry, and was somewhat dismayed because it did not come. + +"What do you want?" she asked coldly. + +In her cold eye Ambrose was conscious of a wall between them more +impenetrable than granite. His heart gave up hope. "Nothing," he said +sullenly. + +"It's not exactly agreeable," she said, frowning, "to find oneself +spied upon." + +Ambrose started and frowned. This construction of his act had not +occurred to him. "I saw Ginger from the river," he said indignantly. +"I landed to find you." + +"What did you want?" she asked coolly. + +"I don't know," said Ambrose. + +There was a silence between them. Her cold look told him to go. Pride +and common sense both urged him to obey--but he could not. He was like +a bit of iron filing in the presence of a magnet. + +"I--I suppose I wanted to find out how you were," he said at last. +"Was that so extraordinary?" + +She ignored the question. "I am well," she said. + +"How is your father?" he asked. + +She looked at him levelly and did not answer. + +A slow red crept up from Ambrose's neck. "I asked you a civil +question," he muttered. + +"If you want a truthful answer," said Colina clearly, "I think you have +a cheek to ask." + +"I didn't shoot him!" Ambrose burst out. + +"What is the use of our bandying words?" she asked with cold scorn. +"Nothing you can say to me or I to you can help matters now." + +"Good Lord, but women can be stony!" Ambrose cried involuntarily. + +Colina took it as a compliment. Her eye brightened with a kind of +pride. "I don't know what men are!" she cried. "Apparently you want +to fight me with one hand and hold the other out in friendship. Only a +man could think of such a thing." + +Ambrose gazed at her sullenly. "You are right!" he said abruptly. "I +am a fool!" + +He left her with his head up, but inwardly beaten and sore. Somehow +she had got the better of him, he could not have told how. He was +conscious of having intended honestly. This cold parting was worse +than the most violent of quarrels. + +Simon Grampierre was waiting on a point of his land that commanded a +view up and down river. Here he had set up a lookout bench like that +at the fort. At sight of Ambrose he shouted from a full breast and +hastened down to the waterside. He received him with both hands +extended. + +"You have come!" he cried. "It is well!" + +Ambrose was surprised and a little disconcerted to see the grim old +patriarch so moved. + +"Where is your outfit?" Simon asked anxiously. + +"Half a day behind me," said Ambrose. "It is safe." + +"Have you flour?" asked Simon. + +"Flour? No!" said Ambrose staring. "With twenty thousand bushels of +wheat here?'" + +"Have you got a little mill?" + +Ambrose shook his head. "There was none in Prince George," he said. +"I had to telegraph to the East. It had not arrived when I was ready +to start, and I couldn't wait. + +"I made arrangements for it to be forwarded; a friend of mine will +bring it in. Martin Sellers promised to hold the last boat at the +landing until October 1st for it." + +"Wa!" said Simon, raising his hands. "That is bad! We need flour. We +cannot wait a month for flour." + +"What's the matter with the mankiller?" + +"Broke," was the laconic answer. "We fix it. Every day it break +again. Now it is all broke." + +"Well, every family will have to grind for themselves," said Ambrose. + +Simon shrugged. "We have a new trouble here." + +"What is it?" Ambrose anxiously demanded. + +"The Kakisa Indians," Simon said. "They are the biggest tribe around +this post, and the best fur bringers. They live beside the Kakisa +River, hundred fifty miles northwest. + +"All summer they come in two or six or twenty and get a little flour, +little sugar, tea, tobacco from me. They want to trade with you +because Gaviller is hard to them like us. They are good hunters, but +he keep them poor. + +"In the late summer they come all together to get a fall outfit. They +are here now. They want a hundred bags of flour. They come to me. I +say I have got no flour. They go to the fort. + +"Gaviller say; 'Ambrose Doane bought all the grain. You want to trade +with him; all right. Make him sell you flour now.' + +"They are here a week now--sixty teepees. I feed them what I can. It +is not much. They are ongry. They begin to talk ugly." + +Ambrose would not let Simon see that he was in any way dismayed by this +situation. "Where are the Indians camped?" he asked coolly. + +"Mile and a half down river. Across from the fort." + +"Very well," said Ambrose. "Tell them at your house to keep watch here +until Tole and Germain come with the raft. Six men should be ready to +help them land and unload. You come with me in the dugout, and we will +go down and talk to the Indians." + +A gleam of approval shot from under Simon's beetle brows. "Good!" he +said. "You go straight to a thing. I like that, me!" + +Ambrose found the teepee village set up in the form of a square on a +grassy flat beside the river. The quadrangle was filled with the usual +confusion of loose horses, quarrelsome dogs, and screaming children. + +Simon called his attention to a teepee in the middle of the northerly +side distinguished by its size and by gaudy paintings on the canvas. + +"Head man's lodge," he said. "Name Joey Providence Watusk." + +"A good mouthful," said Ambrose. + +"Joey for English, Providence for French, Watusk for Kakisa," explained +Simon. + +He called a boy to him, and made him understand that they wished to see +the head man. + +"I send a message that we are coming," he explained to Ambrose. "He +lak to be treated lak big man. It is no harm when you are trading with +them." + +Ambrose agreed. "So this what's-his-name fancies himself," he remarked +while they waited. + +"It is so," said Simon, grimly. "Thinks he is a king! All puff up +with wind lak a bull frog. He mak' me mad with his foolishness. What +would you? You cannot deal with the Kakisas only what he say. Because +only Watusk speaks English. He does what he wants." + +"And can nobody here speak Kakisa?" Ambrose asked. + +"Nobody but Gordon Strange. It is hard talk on the tongue." + +"What else about him?" + +"Wa! I have told you," said Simon. "You will know him when you see! +All tam show off lak a cock-grouse in mating-time. He is not Kakisa. +He is a Cree who went with them long tam ago. Some say his father was +a black man." + +"So!" said Ambrose. "And they stand for that?" + +Simon shrugged. "The Kakisas a funny people. Not mix with the whites, +not mix with other Indians lak Crees. They keep old ways. They not +talk about their ways to other men. So nobody knows what they do at +home." Simon lowered his voice. "Some say cannibals." + +"Pooh!" said Ambrose, "that yarn is told about every strange tribe!" + +"Maybe," said Simon, cautiously. "I do not know myself." + +The Indian boy returning, signified that Joey Providence Watusk awaited +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE STAFF OF LIFE. + +Lifting the blind over the entrance, Ambrose dived inside the teepee, +Simon Grampierre at his heels. In the center a small fire burned on +the ground, and behind it sat five dark-skinned figures in a semicircle. + +Not one of the five faces changed a muscle at their entrance. The +principal man with a grave inclination of the head, waved them a +blanket which had been placed for them opposite him. + +It was like an old-time Indian council, but the picturesqueness was a +good deal spoiled by the gingham shirts they wore, and the ill-fitting +coats and trousers from the store. + +Moreover, the red men's pipes, instead of the graceful calumets were +English briars with showy silver bands. The bowl of Watusk's pipe, of +which he appeared to be inordinately proud, was roughly carved into the +likeness of a death's head. + +Watusk was an extraordinary figure. Ambrose was reminded of a quack +doctor in poor circumstances. He was middle-aged and flabby, and had +long, straggling gray hair, bound round with a cotton fillet, none too +clean. + +He wore a frock coat all buttoned up before, each button constricting +his fat, with a bulge between. His trousers were made from a blanket +once white, with a wide black band around the calf of each leg, and he +wore fine doeskin moccasins, richly embroidered with silk. + +His dirty fingers displayed a quantity of brass rings from the store, +set with gems of colored glass. His heavy, loose-featured face was +unremarkable, except for the extraordinarily bright, quick, shallow +eyes, suggesting at different moments the eyes of a child, an animal, +and a madman. + +His skin showed a tinge of yellow as distinguished from the pure copper +of his companions, and Ambrose was reminded of the black man. + +Watusk grandiloquently introduced his four companions. "My +councilors," he said: "Toma, minister of state; Lookoovar, minister of +war; Mahtsonza, minister of interior; Tatateecha, minister of medicine." + +Thus their uncouth names as Ambrose got them. He avoided Simon's eye, +and bit his lip to keep from laughing. The four were all small men +with the fine characteristic faces of pure bred savages. + +They understood not a word of what was said, but preserved an +unshakable gravity throughout. Ambrose, as they were named, christened +them anew, according to their several characteristics: Coyote, Moose, +Bear and Weasel. + +The last was a little shriveled creature, hung with charms and amulets +in tobacco bags until he looked like a scarecrow. He had an eye even +wilder and shiftier than his master's. + +"Conjure-man," murmured Simon in Ambrose's ear. + +"Let Ambrose Doane speak," said Watusk. He used good English. + +Ambrose had adopted from Peter Minot the maxim: "Make the other man +speak first, and get a line on him." He bowed politely. "Ambrose +Doane will not speak until Watusk has spoken," he said. + +Watusk highly gratified, bowed again, and forthwith began. "I am glad +to see Ambrose Doane. He is good to my eyes lak the green leaves in +spring. He is come to Fort Enterprise and there is no more winter. + +"The name of Peter Minot and the name of Ambrose Doane make good words +to my ear. They are the friends of the red men. They pay good price +for fur. They sell outside goods cheap. I want a box of cigars me, +same lak you send Simon Grampierre." + +Ambrose recognizing Watusk's type was not put out by the sudden drop +from the sublime to the ridiculous. He now had a "line" on his man. +Swallowing his laughter, he answered in a similar strain. + +"I am glad to see Watusk. I wish to be his friend. I come from the +big lake six days' journey toward the place of the rising sun. So far +as that men tell me of the Kakisa nation, and tell of Watusk who rules +them. + +"Men say the Kakisa men are the best hunters of the north and honest as +the sun in summer-time. Men say Watusk is a wise chief and a good +friend of the white men. I have plenty cigars in my outfit." + +The chief swelled with gratification until his much-tried buttons +threatened altogether to part company with his coat. + +A good deal more of this airy exchange was necessitated before Watusk +could be induced to talk business. When he finally condescended to it, +the story was as Simon had forecast: + +"When Ambrose Doane come here I say to my people: 'Trade with him. He +will be your father. He will feed you.' Now when they come for flour +Simon Grampierre say you got no flour. + +"When I go to John Gaviller for flour, he mock me. He say: 'You take +Ambrose Doane for your father. All right. Let him feed you now.' So +I am not know what to do. Every day my people more ongry, more mad. + +"Pretty soon the young men make trouble. There is no game here. We +can't stay here without flour. We can't go back without flour. I am +feel moch bad. But Ambrose Doane is come now. It is all right!" + +The last of this was delivered with something like a leer, warning +Ambrose's subconsciousness that Watusk, notwithstanding the flowery +compliments, wished him no good. + +"I have plenty of grain," he said warily. "Let each woman grind for +her own family." + +Watusk shook his head. "Long tam ago we got stone bowls for grind wild +rice in," he said. "So many years we buy flour all the bowls is broke +and throw away now." + +Ambrose could not deny to himself the gravity of the situation. He was +reminded afresh that he was dealing with a savage by the subtle, +threatening note that presently crept into Watusk's smooth voice. + +"John Gaviller say to Gordon Strange for say to me: 'Ambrose Doane got +all the grain. Let Ambrose Doane sell his grain to me, and I give you +flour.'" + +Ambrose, perceiving the drift, swore inwardly. + +"Gordon Strange tell that in Kakisa language," Watusk went on slyly; +"some hear it and tell the others. All know now. If my people get +more hungry what can I do? Maybe my young men steal the grain and take +it to Gaviller." + +"If they lay hands on my property they'll be shot," said Ambrose, +curtly. + +Watusk spread out his hands deprecatingly. "Me, I tell them that," he +said. "But they are so mad!" + +"John Gaviller is trying to use you to work his own ends," said Ambrose. + +Watusk shrugged indifferently. This was the real man, Ambrose thought. +"Maybe so. You got trouble with Gaviller. That is not my trouble. +All I want is flour." + +"You shall have it!" cried Ambrose boldly. "Enough to-morrow morning +to feed every family. Enough in three days to fill your order." + +Watusk appeared to be a little taken aback, by the prompt granting of +his demand. "Where will you get it?" he asked. + +"I will get it," Ambrose said. "That is enough." + +When Ambrose and Simon got outside the teepee Simon asked the same +question: "Where _will_ you get it?" + +"I don't know," said Ambrose. "Give me time. I'll find a way!" + +"If Gaviller gets the Kakisa fur you'll make no profit this year," +suggested Simon. + +"I have to consider other things as well as profit," Ambrose said. +"There are more years to come." + +Reaching the dugout, Simon asked: "Where now?" + +"To the Fort," said Ambrose. "You don't have to come." + +"We are together," said Simon grimly. + +Ambrose, deeply moved by gratitude, growled inarticulately. He felt +himself young to stand alone against such powerful forces. + +Crossing the river, they landed below the big yellow house and applied +at the side door for Colina. She had returned from her ride, they were +told. They were shown into the library. + +In this little room Ambrose had already touched the summit of +happiness, and tasted despair. He hated it now. He kept his eyes on +the carpet. + +Simon was visibly uneasy while they waited. "You think this any good?" +he suggested. + +"No," said Ambrose bitterly. "I know well enough what I'll get. But +I've got to go through with it before taking the next step." + +"John Gaviller live well," said Simon significantly, but without +bitterness. + +Colina came in with her queenliest air. She had changed her riding +habit for clinging white draperies that made her look like a lovely, +arrogant saint. Ambrose, raising his sullen eyes to her, experienced a +new shock of desire that put the idea of flour out of his head. + +To old Simon, Colina inclined her head as gracefully and indifferently +as a swan. The grim patriarch became humble under the spell of her +white beauty. He fingered his hat nervously. To Ambrose Colina said +with subtle scorn meant for his ear alone: + +"What is it?" + +Ambrose screwed down the clamps of self-control. "I asked for you," he +said stolidly, "because I did not know if your father was well enough +to talk business. May I see him for five minutes?" + +"No," she said, without condescending to explain. + +"Then I will tell you," said Ambrose. "It is about the Indians across +the river. I must have some flour for them." + +"Must?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows. + +"They are suffering from hunger," he said firmly. + +"You will have to see Mr. Strange," she said coolly. "He is in charge +of the business." + +"This is a question for the head to decide," warned Ambrose. + +"You will have to see Mr. Strange," she repeated, unmoved. + +Ambrose's eyes flamed up. For a moment the two pairs +contended--Ambrose's passionate, Colina's steely. The man was +struggling with the atavic impulse to thrash the maddening, arrogant +woman creature into a humbler frame of mind. + +It may be, too, that deep in her heart of hearts Colina desired +something of the kind. Perhaps she could not master her worser self +alone. Anyhow, it was impossible there in her own stronghold, with +Simon looking on. They were too civilized or not civilized enough. + +Ambrose merely bowed to her and led the way out of the room and out of +the house. + +"Thank God, that is over!" he murmured outside. + +Crossing the square, they entered the store. It was the first time +Ambrose had been inside that famous show-place of the north, but he had +no eyes for it now. Gordon Strange welcomed them with smiling +heartiness. + +"Come in! Come in!" he cried, leading the way into the rear office. +"Sit down! Have a cigar!" + +The scowling Ambrose stared as if he thought the man demented. He +waved the cigar away and came directly to the point. + +"I want to find out what you're willing to do about the Kakisa Indians." + +"Sure!" cried Strange with apparently the best will in the world. "Sit +down. What do you propose?" + +"How much will you charge me to grind me five hundred bushels of grain +for them?" + +"I'm sorry," said Strange. "The old man won't hear of it." + +"Will you let them starve?" cried Ambrose. + +"What can I do?" said Strange distressfully. "I'm not the head." + +"Grind it in spite of him," said Ambrose. "Humanity and prudence would +both be on your side. You'll get their fur by it." + +"I think Mr. Gaviller expects to get the fur anyway," said Strange with +a seeming deprecatory air--but the suspicion of a smirk wreathed his +full lips. + +"Then I am to understand that you refuse to grind my grain at any +price," said Ambrose. + +"Orders are orders," murmured Strange. + +"Has Gaviller given you this order since he knew the people were +hungry?" + +"He has told me his mind many times." + +"That is not a direct answer. Some one must take the full +responsibility. If I write a short note to Gaviller will you deliver +it and bring me back an answer?" + +Strange hesitated for the fraction of a second. "Yes," he said. + +Ambrose wrote a succinct statement of the situation, and Strange +departed. + +"Gaviller will never do it," said Simon. + +"I don't expect him to," said Ambrose. "But he's got to commit +himself." + +In due course Strange returned. He offered Ambrose a note, still with +his deprecating air. It was in Colina's writing. Ambrose read: + + +"John Gaviller begs to inform Mr. Ambrose Doane that the only proposal +he is willing to discuss will be the sale to him of all the grain in +Mr. Doane's possession at one dollar and a half per bushel. In such an +event he will also be willing to purchase Mr. Doane's entire outfit of +goods at cost. It will be useless for Mr. Doane to address him further +in any other connection. + +"Enterprise House, September 3." + + +Ambrose stood reflecting with the note in his hand. For a single +moment his heart failed him. His inexperience was appalled by the +weight of the decision he had to make. + +Oh, for Peter Minot's strong, humorous sense at this crisis! The +thought of Peter nerved him. Peter had taken it for granted that he +would make good. Ambrose remembered the sacrifices Peter had +cheerfully made to finance this expedition. + +To accept John Gaviller's contemptuous offer would not only be to +confess a humiliating failure, it would mean pocketing a loss that +would cripple the young firm for the time being. + +Peter would say: "Lose it if you must, but lose it fighting." This +thought was like an inspiration to Ambrose. His jaw stiffened, and a +measure of serenity returned to his eyes. He passed the note to Simon. + +"Read it," he said coolly, "and save it. It may be useful as evidence, +later." + +A subtle change passed over Gordon Strange's face. For the moment he +was pure Indian. Quickly veiling his eyes, he asked with an innocent +air: "What does Mr. Gaviller say?" + +This was too much for Ambrose to stomach. "You know damned well what +he says!" he answered scornfully. + +Strange swallowed it. "Is there any answer?" he asked. + +"No!" said Ambrose. + +The half-breed's curiosity overcame his prudence. "What are you going +to do?" he asked slyly. + +Ambrose strode out of the store without answering. + +The two men paddled back to Grampierre's place in silence. Simon with +native tact, forbore to ask questions. Such is the potency of the +white man's eye that the leader of the breeds had unhesitatingly +yielded the direction of affairs to the youth who was little more than +a third of his age. + +Upon landing, Ambrose pointed to the lookout bench. "Let us sit there +and talk," he said. + +"Simon," he said immediately, "suppose it came to a fight, how many men +do you think Gaviller could count on?" + +The old man took the question as a matter of course. "There is the +policeman, the doctor and the parson," he said. "The parson is best +for praying. There is the engineer and the captain of the steamboat; +there is young Duncan Greer. + +"In summer he is purser on the steamboat; in winter he is the miller. +That is six white men. John Gaviller is no good yet. There is the +crew of the steamboat, and the men who work for wages, maybe fifteen +natives, not more." + +"What sort of a man is Greer?" asked Ambrose. + +"A lad; full of fun and jokes; a good machinist." + +"Where does he sleep at the Fort?" + +"He has a room in the old quarters. Gaviller's old house." + +"Does he sleep alone?" + +"He does." + +"Simon," said Ambrose, finally, "can you get me twenty-five good men by +dark; steady men with cool heads, who will do what I tell them?" + +"I can," said Simon. + +"Let them meet at your house," Ambrose went on. "Let every man carry +his gun, but you must see that the magazines are emptied, and that no +man has any shells in his pocket. I will have no shooting. Above all, +do not let the Indians know that anything is going on to-night." + +"It is well!" said Simon laconically. The old dark eyes gleamed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +A BLOODLESS CAPTURE. + +In a more innocent state of society such as that which exists in the +north, such a thing as a nightwatch is undreamed of. Insomnia is +likewise unknown there. At eleven o'clock every soul in Fort +Enterprise was drowned deep in slumber. + +There was no light in any window; the very buildings seemed to crouch +on the earth as if they slept, too. At sundown a film of cloud had +crept across the sky, and the moon was dark. It was the very night for +deeds of adventure. + +Down on the current came a rakish york boat floating as idly as a piece +of wreckage. Its hold was filled with bags of grain, on which squatted +and lay many dark figures scarcely to be distinguished from the bags. + +No whisper marked its passage; not a pipe-bowl glowed. On the little +steering platform stood Simon Grampierre wielding a long sweep run +through a ring astern. The ring was muffled with strips of cloth. + +Simon kept the craft straight in the current, and as they approached +the Company buildings, gradually edged her ashore. + +The dark steamboat lay with her nose drawn up on a point of stones +below the flagstaff. Steamboat and point together caused a little +backwater to form beyond, of which Simon was informed. + +All he had to do was to urge the nose of his boat into it, and she +grounded of herself at the spot where they had chosen to land; that is +immediately below the mills. + +A dozen moccasined men let themselves softly into the water, and +putting their backs under the prow lifted her up a little on the +stones. Instantly, as if by the starting of a piece of machinery a +chain of bags was started ashore from hand to hand. + +Ambrose and Tole, who was to be engineer, climbed the bank to +reconnoiter. So far no word had been spoken. + +Above, along the edge of the bank, were three small buildings in a +line, close together. That in the middle was the engine house, with +the sawmill on the left and the flour mill on the right. + +Ambrose and Tole made for the engine which was housed in a little +structure of corrugated iron. The door faced the sawmill. It was an +iron sliding door, fastened with hasp and padlock. + +Ambrose inserted the point of a crowbar under the hasp, and the whole +thing came away with a single metallic report. If any sleeper was +awakened by the sound, hearing no other sounds, he probably fell asleep +again. Anyhow no alarm was raised as yet. + +Tole went back to get assistance in carrying slabs into the engine +room. The sawmill was merely an open shed, and there was an abundance +of fuel in sight. + +The water supply, being furnished by gravity from a tank overhead, was +secure. + +With the aid of his electric torch, Ambrose found the belt to run the +flour mill in a corner of the engine room. So far so good. His +instructions to Tole were simple. + +"I'll let you have one man to help you. If they besiege us, I won't be +able to communicate with you. Whatever happens, keep the engine going. +Store enough slabs in here to keep her going all night, then close the +door, and fasten it some way." + +The flour mill was likewise built of corrugated iron. It had two iron +doors, one giving on the road, fastened with a padlock, the other on +the river side, hooked from within. + +Ambrose broke open the first, and throwing back the second, allowed the +grain bags to be hustled inside direct from the beach. + +He lit a lantern, and cloaking it within his coat, examined the +machine. His heart sank at the thought of his difficulties, supposing +the next step of his plan should fail. + +Ambrose was enough of a machinist to appreciate the difficulty of +operating this complicated arrangement of wheels and rollers and frames +by lantern light. + +Taking five velvet-footed men, he set off around the back of the store, +and across the corner of the square to the "quarters." The building so +designated was in the middle of the side of the square facing the river. + +It was a low, spreading affair, of several dates of construction. Once +Gaviller's residence, it was now used to house the white employees of +the company and chance travelers. + +Greer's room was in the end of the building nearest the store. The +policeman slept at the other side, separated by several partitions. + +The room they were making for had a door opening directly on the yard. +It was not locked. Ambrose merely lifted the latch and walked in with +his five men at his heels. + +Inside, in the thick darkness they heard the sound of deep breathing. +Ambrose flashed his light around. A typical boy's room was revealed, +with college banners, colored prints, photographs and firearms. + +On a bed in the corner lay the owner, a good-looking blond boy sleeping +on his back with an arm flung above his head. He was a hearty sleeper. + +Not until the command was twice repeated in no uncertain tones, did he +waken. It was to find himself looking into the blazing white eye of +the electric torch. + +"What time is it?" he murmured, blinking. + +One of the men chuckled. + +"Time to get up," said Ambrose grimly. + +"Hey, what's the matter?" cried the voice from the bed in accents of +honest alarm. + +"Get up and dress," commanded Ambrose. + +"What for?" stammered the boy. + +"I have five armed men here," said Ambrose. "Do what you're told +without asking questions. If you make a racket you'll be cracked over +the head with the butt of a gun." + +As he spoke Ambrose flashed the light from one to another of his men. +The sight of the quiet dark-skinned breeds, each with a Winchester on +his arm was sufficiently intimidating. The boy swung his legs out of +bed. + +"All right," he said, philosophically. "Throw your light on my +clothes, will you?" + +He commenced to dress without more ado. Presently he asked coolly; +"What do you want me for, and who are you anyway?" + +"I'm Ambrose Doane," said Ambrose. "I've seized the flour mill. +You've got to run it." + +"There's no grain there," said Greer. + +"I brought my grain with me," said Ambrose. + +A sound like a chuckle escaped the boy. No doubt he was well-informed +as to the situation. "You didn't lose much time," he said. + +They started back to the mill, a breed on either side of Greer with a +hand upon his shoulder. + +"If you make a break, you'll be knocked down and carried in," warned +Ambrose. + +Apparently Greer had no such intention. He was a matter-of-fact youth +and prone to laughter. He laughed now. "Golly! the old man will be in +a wax when he hears of it! How many men have you got?" + +"Twenty-five," said Ambrose. + +"Well, he can't blame me if I'm forced to work by overwhelming numbers! +Oh, golly! but there'll be a time to-morrow!" + +Ambrose breathed more freely. This which had promised to be the most +difficult part of his plan was proving easy. + +Entering the mill, Greer looked around the dim place with its little +crowd of still, silent, armed men, and chuckled again. "Darned if it +isn't as good as a melodrama!" he said. + +"Go to it!" said Ambrose, pointing to the machinery. He lit plenty of +lanterns, careless now if the fort were aroused. They had to wake up +sooner or later. "You can smoke," he said to his men. + +Matches were quickly struck, and coals pressed into pipe bowls with +guttural grunts of satisfaction. + +Greer lit a cigarette, and picked up his oil can and wrench as a matter +of course. He set to work, whistling softly between his teeth. + +Ambrose, watching him, could not make up his mind whether this was due +to pluck or sheer light-headedness. Either way, he was inclined to +like the boy. + +"I say, Ambrose," Greer said cheekily. "Give us a hand with these +bolting frames, will you? Do you want fine flour or coarse?" + +"The most in the least time," said Ambrose. + +"We'll leave in the middlings then. It's wholesome." + +They worked amicably together. Greer in his simplicity explained +everything as they went, and Ambrose cannily stored it away. + +Fortunately, the mill had lately been operated, grinding the grain from +the Crossing, and all was practically in readiness to start. Within an +hour after the landing of the party, Tole turned on his steam. + +The wheels began to revolve, Greer threw in the clutch, and presently a +veritable stream of flour began to issue from the mouth of the machine. +Ambrose repressed an inclination to cheer. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +WOMAN'S WEAPONS. + +The steady hum of machinery was more effective to awaken the +inhabitants of the Fort than any scattered noises. + +The sounds of movement began to be heard among the houses. Lights were +lit, and doors opened. No one who looked out of doors could mistake +what was going on, for a stream of sparks was now issuing from the +engine-house stack. + +The first notice of attack came in a single shot from across the road. +A bullet sang through the doorway, flattening itself with a whang on +the iron wall. Those around the opening fell back. + +Some one crashed the door to. Ambrose as quickly opened it, and +stooping low, peered out. He was in time to see a crouching figure +disappear around the corner of the store. Something in the bulk of it, +the neat outline gave him a clue. + +"Strange, by gad!" he said to himself. + +Aloud, Ambrose said: "The door must be open. We've got to see and hear +what they're up to. Let every man keep out of range. Make a wall of +the bags of grain on this side of the machine, and put the lanterns +behind it, so Greer will have light." + +While they worked to obey him, Ambrose, flinging himself down at full +length, watched with an eye at the crack of the door. He saw a group +of men gradually gather at the corner of the store. They advanced, +hesitated, fell back. + +Finally, an authoritative figure showed itself. Ambrose guessed it to +be Macfarlane, the policeman. He advanced boldly down the sidewalk, +and took up a position across the road. The others straggled after him. + +"Who is there?" challenged the leader. Ambrose distinguished the tunic +and forage cap. + +Ambrose rose, and opening the door wider, showed himself. "Ambrose +Doane," he said. He warily watched the crowd, for any movement +suggestive of raising a gun. + +"You're under arrest!" cried the policeman. + +"All right," said Ambrose coolly. "What charge?" + +"Unlawful entry." + +"You'll have to come and take me!" + +"If you resist the law the consequences will be on your own head!" + +"I accept the consequences." + +"Stop the machinery!" cried the policeman. "If you destroy the mill +we'll all starve!" + +"The miller himself is running it," said Ambrose coolly. "With a gun +to his head," he added, grinning over his shoulder. "I seized him in +his bed and carried him here." + +"Good man!" Greer, behind him, gratefully murmured. + +"If you refuse to give yourself up I'll take you by force!" cried +Macfarlane. + +"Come ahead!" sang Ambrose. "I've got twenty-five men here. They have +orders not to shoot, but if you open fire on us, the consequences will +be on your head!" + +"I'll do my duty!" shouted the policeman. + +"Get your crowd together!" taunted Ambrose. "Lay your guns down, and +come on over and put us out if you're men enough. We'll stand by the +result." + +The men behind Ambrose raised a cheer. The sound did not improve the +morale of the other side. Even in the dark, the difference between the +two crowds could be felt. + +Ambrose's men were fighting for what they felt to be their rights; the +men behind the policeman had no incentive--except their jobs. +Macfarlane paused to consult with another man--probably Gordon Strange. + +The others talked in excited whispers, and circled on one another +without making any forward movement. Messengers were despatched up and +down the road. + +Suddenly a petticoated figure came flying down the sidewalk from the +store. Ambrose's heart leaped up, and then as suddenly calmed. He +told himself grimly he was cured. + +It was Colina. "What are you standing here for?" she cried +passionately. "Are you afraid? They are nothing but common robbers! +Go and put them out!" + +No man moved. + +"Fire on them!" cried Colina. "I order it! I take the responsibility." + +They still hung back. Macfarlane could be seen attempting to +expostulate with her. + +"Don't speak to me!" cried Colina. "When you find robbers in your +house you shoot them down! You're afraid! I will go myself!" + +All in a breath she came flying across the road. Ambrose, surprised, +fell back a step from the door. Before he could recover himself she +stood in the middle of the shed facing them with blazing eyes. + +She had risen hastily; her glorious hair was twisted in a loose coil +and pinned insecurely; the habit she had thrown on was still open at +the throat. + +She had caught up a riding-crop; the knuckles that gripped it were +white. Ambrose, admiring her in an odd, detached way, was reminded of +Bellona, the goddess of anger. + +"What does this mean?" she cried. + +"What you see," said Ambrose coldly. + +"Get out!" she cried. "All of you! I order it!" + +The men cringed under her angry glances, and their eyes bolted. Only +the sight of Ambrose standing firm, kept them in their places. Colina +turned on Ambrose. + +"You thief!" she cried with ringing scorn. + +Ambrose coldly faced her out. Somehow he found it was his turn to +smile. As a matter of fact he had suffered so much at her hands that +he had become callous and strong enough to resist her. + +Indeed there was a kind of bitter sweetness in this moment. She, who +had humiliated him so many times was now powerless before him, let her +rage as she might. He was only human. + +Seeing the cold smile Colina felt as if the ground was suddenly cut +from under her. Her cheeks paled, and the imperious blaze of her eyes +was slowly dimmed. + +When the bolt of passion is launched without effect, a horrible +blankness faces the passionate one. The men seeing Colina falter +breathed more freely. They were frankly terrified of her. + +Colina fought on though her forces were in confusion. "Have you +anything to say for yourself?" she demanded of Ambrose. "What are you +doing on my father's property?" + +"I have nothing to say," said Ambrose. "You know the situation as well +as I." + +Once more their eyes contended. Hers fell. She turned away from him. +When she came back it was with an altered air. "May I speak to you +alone?" she asked in low tones. + +"Please say it here," said Ambrose. "They cannot hear." + +"My father--" she murmured with a deprecating air, "I am afraid this +will kill him. I have locked him in his room. I don't know what he +will do. Can't you stop until to-morrow?" + +"If you will pledge yourself for him to finish grinding my grain +to-morrow," said Ambrose. + +"How can I pledge him?" she said pettishly. "I am not his master." + +"Then we must grind on." + +She was silent for a moment, looking on the ground. When she raised +her eyes the look in them sent all the blood flying from his heart. +"Ambrose!" she murmured on the deep note he remembered so well. "Have +you forgotten?" + +He stared at her in a kind of horror. + +"How can you be so hard to me?" she murmured. + +She overdid it. Behind the intoxicating, soft appeal of her eyes, he +perceived a dangerous glitter, and steeled himself. + +"Come outside a moment," she whispered, turning up her face a little. + +The unregenerate man in him leaped to accept what she offered and still +hold firm. If she chose to play that game let her take the +consequences? His more generous self held back. Somehow he realized +that the humiliation would almost kill her--later. + +"It is too late," he said coldly. + +This in itself was a humiliation the proud Colina could not have +conceived herself living after. From between narrowed lids she shot +him a glance of the purest hate, and quickly turned away. + +The riding crop switched the air like the tail of an angry cat. There +was a silence. All watched to see what she would do next. + +Meanwhile the mill was grinding smoothly. The young miller was hidden +from Colina by the barricade of grain bags. Finally she looked over +the top and saw him attending the machine. + +"Greer!" she exclaimed in surprise. + +The boy started, and turned a pair of stricken eyes in her direction. +His ruddy cheeks paled a little. Manifestly she wielded a power over +him too. + +"Are you against me?" she murmured sadly. + +This was the same tone she had just used to Ambrose. His lip curled. +"He has to do what I tell him or be knocked on the head," he said +quickly. + +Colina ignored this. "You could fight for me if you would," she +murmured to the boy. + +A hot little flame of jealousy scorched Ambrose's breast. He laughed +jeeringly. "Who's next?" he cried. + +Colina, not looking at him, drew a baleful breath between her teeth. +Suddenly she turned, and with hanging head slowly made her way toward +the door. + +Ambrose thought she was beaten, and a swift wave of compassion almost +unmanned him. He abruptly turned away. He could stand anything but to +see Colina defeated and grieving. He clenched his teeth to keep from +crying out to her. + +She had another card to play. She stopped at the door, and looked +about through her lashes to see if the way out was clear. + +"Duncan!" she softly cried. The word was accompanied by a dazzling +smile of invitation. + +The boy dropped his wrench as if he had been shot, and vaulting over +the grain bags, was out through the door after her before any one could +stop him. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +UNDERCURRENTS. + +As Greer disappeared in the darkness several men started in pursuit. + +Ambrose was quicker. He flung himself into the opening, and thrust +them back. Though he was on fire with jealousy, he would not go after +Greer, nor let the others go. + +He could scarcely have explained why--perhaps because he dimly +apprehended that it was Colina's game to drive him mad with jealousy. + +"Let him go," he said thickly. "I will run the mill myself!" + +So long as the wheels revolved smoothly and the stream of creamy flour +issued from the mouth of the machine the miller had a sinecure. +Ambrose scowling and grinding his teeth scarcely saw what his eyes were +turned on. His mind was busy outside. + +He was sharply recalled to his job by a tearing sound from within the +machinery. The flour came out mixed with bran. The wheels jammed and +stopped. + +Ambrose threw out the clutch, and doggedly attacked the problem. It +was cruelly hard to concentrate his mind on machinery while a damnable +little voice in his brain persisted in asking over and over: + +"Where are they? What are they doing? How far will rage carry her?" + +He contrived to remove the torn frame without much difficulty, but how +to clean out the mass of stuff that clogged every part of the mechanism +defied his ingenuity. Apparently the thing must be taken apart. How +could he hope to put it together by lantern light? + +There was a stir at the door, and Duncan Greer slouched in with a +hang-dog scowl. Never in his life had Ambrose been so glad to see a +man. He was careful to mask his joy. He glanced at the boy carelessly +and went on with his work. Duncan came directly to him. + +"I'm your man," he muttered. "For keeps, if you want me." + +"Sure," said Ambrose, very offhand. "Help me get this thing going, +will you?" + +As they worked side by side in the lantern light, Ambrose perceived a +red welt across the boy's forehead and cheek that was momentarily +growing darker. He smiled grimly. Duncan, finding his eyes fixed on +it, flushed up painfully. + +"Women are the devil!" he muttered. + +A great unholy joy filled Ambrose's breast. In his relief he could +have hugged the boy, and laughed. + +"Don't abuse the women, my son," he said grimly. "They have to fight +with what weapons they can. You were warned. You only got what was +coming to you!" + +When the machine was running smoothly again, Ambrose went to the door +to reconnoiter. + +"They've gone," he said. "I don't think they'll trouble us again +before morning. You can all sleep." + +Daybreak and the following hours found Ambrose and his party on the +_qui vive_ for a renewed demonstration from the other side. None was +made. + +Neither Macfarlane, Gordon Strange, nor Colina could have mustered a +corporal's guard of the natives to their aid. The breeds in their own +mysterious way had simply disappeared. + +Without them, the half dozen whites could do nothing against Ambrose's +strong party. Colina herself had suffered a moral defeat, and required +time to recoup her losses. + +In the back of the store the white men and Gordon Strange held lengthy +consultations without agreeing on any course of action. Strange in his +modest way deferred to Macfarlane and the others. + +But John Gaviller's absolute sway at the post had sapped the lesser +men's initiative. He was not able to be present, and they were +helpless. + +It was decided to send for help to police headquarters at Caribou Lake. +They could not despatch the big steam-boat which had been dismantled +for the winter, but the launch was available. + +Gaviller had it to use at the end of summer when the water ran low in +the river. They managed to collect enough half-breeds for a crew; +Masters ran the engine, and Captain Stinson piloted. + +Thus in order to send for help the little force had to rob itself of +two of its best defenders. They got away in the middle of the +afternoon. With luck they could be back with the red-coats in two +weeks or three. + +Meanwhile the mill was grinding blithely. + +Ambrose, who desired at all costs to keep the Indians in ignorance of +what was happening, for fear they might get out of hand, sent Germain +Grampierre to his father's house to get what little flour they had, and +carry it to Watusk to feed the Kakisas for that day. + +As far as he could see there was no other communication from one side +of the river to the other. He observed the departure of the launch, +with a calm brow. He guessed its errand, and was not at all averse to +having the police brought down, and the whole matter thoroughly aired. + +All day the wheels revolved, and all during the following night, +Ambrose and young Greer watching the machine by turn. + +At breakfast time on the second morning the hopper was empty, and the +last bag of flour tied up. They had enough to satisfy the Kakisas +demands, and something besides. + +In the center of the shed Ambrose left the miller's tithe in payment, +with an ironical note affixed to one of the bags. The flour was loaded +in the york boat, and the entire party set off in high feather. + +Their arrival with the flour at the Indian camp created something of a +sensation. The children came running down to the water, capering and +shrieking, accompanied by the barking dogs. + +Men followed, eager to toss the bags to their shoulders. They made a +long procession back to the teepees, the women crowding around, +laughing, gesticulating, and caressing the fat, dusty bags. + +By Ambrose's orders the bags were piled up in an imposing array in the +middle of the square. He knew the value of a dramatic display. + +The half-breeds who had been on duty for thirty-six hours, scattered to +their homes up and down the river. Simon Grampierre and Tole remained +with Ambrose. + +The york boat was left drawn up on the beach below the camp. To this +fact Ambrose traced all the subsequent disasters. But he could not +have foreseen what would happen. The Indians at the sight of so much +food were as candid and happy as children. + +When the last bag of flour topped the pile, Ambrose sought out Watusk. +He found the head man as before, evidently awaiting an official +communication, with his dummy councilors on either hand. Watusk's +smooth, flabby face was as blank as a plaster wall. + +"I have brought your flour," said Ambrose with a note of exultation +justifiable under the circumstances. + +Watusk was not impressed. "It is well," he said with a stolid nod. + +Ambrose was somewhat taken aback. An instant told him that Watusk +alone of all the tribe was not glad to see the flour. Ambrose scented +a mystery. + +"Where you get the flour?" asked Watusk politely. + +"I borrowed Gaviller's mill to grind it," Ambrose answered in kind. + +Watusk's eyes narrowed. He puffed out his cheeks a little, and Ambrose +saw that an oration was impending. + +"I hope there will be no trouble," the Indian began self-importantly. +"Always when there is trouble the red man get blame. When the fur is +scarce, when summer frost turn the wheat black it is the same. They +say the red man make bad medicine. + +"Two white men have a fight, red man come along, know nothing. Those +two white men say it is his fault, and kick him hard. You break open +Gaviller's mill. Gaviller is mad, send for police. When the police +come I think they say it is Watusk's fault. Send him to jail!" + +It was evident from this that Watusk was pretty well informed of what +had happened. "How do you know they have sent for the police?" Ambrose +demanded. + +Watusk shrugged expressively. "I see the launch go up the river in a +hurry," he said. + +In the light of his insolent demand two days before, the Indian's +present attitude was more than exasperating. "This is foolishness," +said Ambrose sharply. "I sell you the flour. How I got it is my +affair. I take the responsibility. The police will deal with _me_!" + +"I hope so," said Watusk smugly. + +"I have made out a receipt," Ambrose went on. "You sign it, then +distribute the flour among the people, and give me the men's names so I +can charge them on my book. + +"To-morrow I give it out," said Watusk. "To-day I put the flour in +Gaston Trudeau's empty house by the river. Maybe goin' to rain +to-night." + +"Just as you like about that," said Ambrose. "When are you going to +pull out for home?" + +"Soon," replied Watusk vaguely. + +"They tell me it is the best time now to hunt the moose," remarked +Ambrose suggestively. "And the bear's fur is coming in thick and soft. +You have been here two weeks without hunting." + +Again Watusk's eyes narrowed like a sulky child's. "Must the Kakisas +got hunt every day?" he asked spreading out his hands. "The people are +weak with hunger. We got eat before we travel." + +Ambrose left this interview in a highly dissatisfied state of mind. + +Later in the day Watusk must have thought better of his surliness for +he sent a polite message to Ambrose at Simon Grampierre's house, +requesting him and Simon to come to a tea dance that night. + +He had borrowed Jack Mackenzie's house for the affair since no teepee +was big enough to contain it. Mackenzie's was the first house west of +the Kakisa encampment. + +"Tea-dance! Bah! Indian foolishness!" said Simon. + +"Let us go anyway," said Ambrose. "I feel as if there was something +crooked going on. This Indian will bear watching." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE SUBTLETY OF GORDON STRANGE. + +At the same moment Gordon Strange was sitting on the bench at the foot +of the flag-staff, smoking, and gazing speculatively across the river +at the teepee village. + +Colina issued out of the big house, and seeing him, joined him. It was +her first public appearance since the scene at the mill, and it was +something of an ordeal. + +Her face showed what she was going through. She was elaborately +self-conscious; defiance struggled with a secret shame. In her heart +she knew she was wrong, yet she thirsted for justification. + +"What is the situation?" she asked haughtily. + +Strange told her briefly. His air was admirable. He betrayed no +consciousness of anything changed in her; he was deferential without +being obsequious. + +He let her understand that she was still his peerless mistress who +could do no wrong. This was exactly what Colina wanted. She warmed +toward him, and sat down. + +"Ah! I can talk straight to you," she said. "The others act as if the +truth was too strong for me!" + +"I know better than that," said Strange quietly. "You have the best +head of any of us." + +"Except when I lose it!" Colina thought. She smiled at him more warmly +than she knew. A little flame that leaped up behind the man's eyes +warned her. "Would he ever dare!" she thought. + +"How is your father?" asked Strange quietly. + +She shrugged helplessly. "Still weak," she said, "but there has been +no return of fever. I have managed to keep the truth from him, but he +suspects if. I cannot keep him in his room much longer." + +"Ah! It makes me mad when I think of him!" Strange muttered. + +There was a silence between them. His sympathy was sweet to her. She +allowed it to lull her instinct of danger. + +"What about the Kakisas?" she asked. "I gathered from Macfarlane's and +Dr. Giddings's careful attempts to reassure me, that they feared danger +from that source." + +Strange smiled enigmatically. + +"Surely the idea of an Indian attack is absurd," said Colina. "There +hasn't been such a thing for thirty years." + +"I know the Indians better than any man here," said Strange. "One may +expect danger without being afraid." + +"Danger!" cried Colina, elevating her eyebrows. "They would never +dare!--" + +"Not of themselves--but with a leader!" + +"Ambrose Doane?" said Colina quickly. Her intelligence instantly +rejected the suggestion, but self-love snatched at it in justification. +Wounded vanity makes incongruous alliances. "That would be devilish!" +she murmured. + +Strange shrugged. "I can't be sure of what is going on," he said. "I +don't want to alarm you unnecessarily. But I have a reason to suspect +danger." + +Colina turned pale. "Tell me exactly what you mean," she said. + +"The Indians have learned by now how easy it was to seize the mill," he +said with admirable gravity. "It seems to me that to the Indian mind +looting the store will next suggest itself. We know they are incensed +against your father. His long weakness makes them bold." + +"But these are merely surmises!"' cried Colina. + +"There is something else. Their minds work obliquely. They never come +out straight with anything. I have received a kind of warning. It was +an invitation to spend the night with Marcel Charlbois down the river. +But it came from the other side." + +"Why should they warn you?" asked Colina. + +"Some man among them probably has compunctions," said Strange. +"Watusk, the head man is a decent sort. Perhaps this is his way of +letting me know that he cannot keep his people in hand." + +"What do you expect will happen?" she asked. + +"I think there will be an attack to-night," he said quietly. "It is my +duty to tell you. If it doesn't come, no harm done." + +Strange's quiet air was terribly impressive. Colina sat pale and +silent, letting the horror sink in. She was no weakling, but this was +a prospect to appal the strongest man. + +"We are so helpless!" she murmured at last. + +A spark, one would have said of satisfaction, shot from beneath +Strange's demurely lowered eyelids. "We cannot depend on our breeds," +he went on soberly, "and Greer has gone over to the other side." + +Colina winced. + +"That leaves us four men and yourself and your father. If we had a +stone building we could snap our fingers at them but everything is of +wood. And fire is their favorite weapon. There are two courses open +to us. We can go before they come, or we can stay and defend +ourselves." + +Colina stared before her, wide-eyed. "Father would never let us take +him away without an explanation," she murmured. "And if we told him +what we feared, he would flatly refuse to go--" + +Strange maintained a discreet silence. + +Colina suddenly flung up her head. "We stay here!" she cried. + +Strange's dark eyes burned--but with what kind of a feeling Colina was +in no state to judge. "You're brave!" he cried. "That's what I wanted +you to say!" + +"What must we do to prepare?" + +"There is little we can do. We must abandon the store. There is no +way to defend it. Perhaps they will be satisfied with looting it. We +will all take up our station in the house. At the worst, I do not fear +any harm to any of us, except perhaps--" + +"Father?" murmured Colina. + +"They have been wrought up to a high pitch against him," Strange said +deprecatingly. + +"Oh, why did that man have to come here!" murmured Colina. + +They were silent for a while, Colina looking on the ground, and Strange +watching Colina with his peculiar limpid, candid eyes, which, when one +looked deep enough, were not candid at all. + +He finally looked away from her. + +"There is something I want to say," he began an low tones. "Your +father--he shall be my special care to-night. They can strike at +him--only through me." + +"Ah, you're so good to me!" murmured Colina. + +"Do not thank me," he said quickly. "Remember I owe him everything. +All I am. All I have I would gladly--gladly--I sound melodramatic, +don't I. But I don't often inflict this on you. You know what I mean. +If I could save him!" + +Colina impulsively seized his hand. Tears of gratitude sprang to her +eyes. "I will thank you!" she cried. "You're the best friend I have +in the world!" + +"And even if I owed him nothing," Strange went on, not looking at her, +"he would still be your father!" + +An hour before Colina would have crushed him. But it came at an +emotional moment. She was blind to his color then. + +"I will never, never forget this," she said. + +He respectfully lifted her hands to his lips. + +The under devil whose especial business it is to preside over fine +acting must have rubbed his hands gleefully at the sight of his +dark-skinned protégé's aptitude. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE "TEA DANCE." + +When Ambrose and Simon Grampierre arrived at the tea-dance they found +present as many of the Kakisas of both sexes as could be wedged within +Jack Mackenzie's shack. + +All around the room they were pressed in tiers, the first line +squatting, the second kneeling, the third standing, and others behind, +perched on chairs, beds and tables, that all might have a clear view of +the floor. + +The cook-stove occupied the center of the room, and around it a narrow +space had been left for the dancers. The air was suffocating to white +lungs, what with human emanations combined with the thick fumes of +kinnikinic. + +Watusk, still sporting the frock coat and the finger-rings, had +improved his costume by the addition of a battered silk hat with a +chaplet of red paper roses around the brim. + +He squatted on the floor in the center of the back wall, and places had +been left at his right and left for Ambrose and Simon. He was disposed +to be gracious and jocular to-night. + +For very slight cause, or for none at all he laughed until he shook all +over. This was his way of appearing at his ease. + +As they took their places Ambrose was struck by the pretty, wistful +face of a girl who knelt on the floor behind Watusk. It had a fine +quality that distinguished it sharply from the stolid flat countenances +of her sisters. + +It was more than pretty; it was tragically beautiful, though she was +little more than a child. What made it especially significant to +Ambrose was the fact that the girl's sad eyes instantaneously singled +him out when he entered. + +As he sat in front of her he was aware that they were dwelling on him. +When he caught her glance, the eyes naïvely suggested that she had a +communication to make to him, if she dared! + +The fun had not yet commenced. The two drummers sat idle in a corner, +and all the company sat in stolid silence. Only Watusk chatted and +laughed. The women stared at Ambrose, and the men looked down their +noses. All were somewhat embarrassed by the presence of a white man. +Ambrose, looking around, was struck by the incongruity of the women's +neat print dresses and the men's store clothes taken with their savage, +walled faces. Such faces called for blankets, beads, war paint and +eagles' feathers. + +Ambrose, seeing the entire tribe gathered here as it seemed, thought a +little anxiously of the flour he had been at such pains to grind. + +Mackenzie's house was a good distance from the teepees, and the shack +they were using for a store-house almost as far on the other side. + +"Is anybody watching your flour?" he asked Watusk. + +"I send four men to watch," was the reply. + +"Good men? Men who will not sneak up to the dance?" + +"Good men," said Watusk calmly. + +Watusk presently gave a signal to the stick-kettle men, and they +commenced to drum with their knuckles. The drums were wide wooden +hoops with a skin drawn over one side. + +The drummers had a lamp on the floor between them, and when the skin +relaxed they dried it over the chimney. Like dances everywhere this +one was slow to get under way. No one liked to be the first one to +take the floor. + +Gradually the drummers warmed to their work. The stick-kettle had a +voice of its own, a dull, throbbing complaint that caused even +Ambrose's blood to stir vaguely. + +Finally a handsome young man arose and commenced to hitch around the +stove with stiff joints, like a mechanical figure. The company broke +into a wild chant in a minor key, commencing on a high note and +descending the whole gamut, with strange pauses, lifts and falls. + +Half way down the women came in with a shrill second part. It died +away into a rumble, ever to be renewed on the same high, long-drawn +note. Ambrose was reminded of the baying of hounds. + +The dancer knotted his handkerchief as he circled the stove. Dancing +up to another man, he offered him the end of it with some spoken words. + +It was accepted, and they danced together around the stove, joined by +the handkerchief. + +The hunching, spasmodic step never varied. Ambrose asked Watusk about +it. + +"This is the lame man's dance," his host explained. + +"What lame man?" asked Ambrose. "How did it begin?" + +Watusk shrugged. "It is very old," he said. + +The first man dropped out, and the second chose a new partner. +Sometimes there were two or three couples dancing at once. Partners +were chosen indiscriminately from either sex. + +In each case the knotted handkerchief was offered with the same spoken +formula. Ambrose asked what it was they said. + +"This is give-away dance," Watusk explained. "He is say: 'This my +knife, this my blanket, this my silk-worked moccasins.' What he want +to give. After he got give it." + +Ambrose observed that each dancer laid two matches on the cold stove as +he took his place, and when he retired from the dance picked them up +again. He asked what that signified. + +Watusk shrugged again. "How do I know?" he said. "It is always done." + +Ambrose learned later that this was the invariable answer of the +Kakisas to any question concerning their customs. + +Watusk was exerting himself to be hospitable, continually pressing cups +of steaming bitter tea on Ambrose and Simon. Ambrose, watching him, +made up his mind that the chief's unusual affability masked a deep +disquiet. + +The sharp, shifty eyes were continually turning with an expectant look +to the door. Ambrose found himself watching the door, too. + +To Ambrose the uncouth dance had neither head nor tail; nevertheless, +it had a striking effect on the participators and spectators. + +Minute by minute the excitement mounted. The stick-kettles throbbed +faster and ever more disquietingly. It seemed as if the skin of the +drums were the very hearts of the hearers, with the drummers' knuckles +searching out their secrets. + +Eyes burned like stars around the walls, and the chant was renewed with +a passionate abandon. The figures hitched and sprang around the homely +iron stove like lithe animals. + +Suddenly the noise of running feet was heard outside, and a man burst +in through the door with livid face and starting eyes. The drumming, +the song, and the dance stopped simultaneously. + +The man cried out a single sentence in the Kakisa tongue. Cried it +over and over breathlessly, without any expression. + +The effect on the crowd was electrical. Cries of surprise and alarm, +both hoarse and shrill, answered him. A wave of rage swept over them +all, distorting their faces. They jammed in the doorway, fighting to +get out. + +"What is it?" cried Ambrose of Watusk. + +Watusk's face was working oddly with excitement. + +But it was not rage like the others. The difference between him and +all his people was marked. + +"The flour is burning!" the chief cried. + +"This was what he expected," thought Ambrose. + +As he struggled to get out, Ambrose's hand was seized and pressed by a +small warm one. + +He had a momentary impression of the wistful girl beside him. Then she +was swept away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +FIRE AND RAPINE. + +The Kakisas ran down the trail like a heap of dry leaves propelled by a +squall of wind. To Ambrose it all seemed as senseless and unreal as a +nightmare. + +The alarm had been given at a moment of extreme emotional excitement, +and restraint was thrown to the winds. It was like a rout after battle. + +The men shouted; the women wailed and forgot their children. The +throng was full of lost children; they fell by the road and lay +shrieking. + +Ambrose never forgot the picture as he ran, of an old crone, crazed by +excitement, whirling like a dervish, rocking her skinny arms and +twisting her neck into attitudes as grotesque as gargoyles. + +The trail they covered was a rough wagon-road winding among patches of +poplar scrub and willow. Issuing out upon the wide clearing which +contained their village they saw afar the little storehouse burning +like a torch, and redoubled their cries. + +They swept past the teepees without stopping, the biggest ones in the +van, the little ones tailing off and falling down and getting up again +with piteous cries. + +Reaching the spot, all could see there was nothing to be done. The +shack was completely enveloped in names. There were not half a dozen +practicable water-pails in the tribe, and anyhow the fire was a good +furlong from the river. + +Ambrose, seeing what a start it had got, guessed that it was no +accident. It had been set, and set in such a way as to insure the +shack's total destruction. He considered the sight grimly. + +The mystery he had first scented that morning was assuming truly +formidable proportions. He believed that Watusk was a party to it; but +he could not conceive of any reason why Watusk should burn up his +people's bread. + +There was nothing to be done, and the people ceased their cries. They +stood gazing at the ruby and vermilion flames with wide, charmed eyes. + +Among the pictures that this terrible night etched with acid on +Ambrose's subconsciousness, the sight of them standing motionless, all +the dark faces lighted by the glare, was not the least impressive. + +With a sickening anxiety he perceived the signs of a rising savage +rage. The men scowled and muttered. More than once he heard the +words: "John Gaviller!" Men slipped away to the teepees and returned +with their guns. + +Ambrose looked anxiously for Watusk. He could not reach the people +except through the man he distrusted. + +He found him by himself in a kind of retreat among some poplars a +little way off, where he could see without being seen. Ambrose dragged +him back willy-nilly, adjuring him by the way. + +"The people are working themselves into a rage. They speak of +Gaviller. You and I have got to prevent trouble. You must tell them +Gaviller is a hard man, but he keeps the law. He did not do this +thing. This is the act of another enemy." + +"What good tell them?" said Watusk sullenly. "They not believe." + +"You are their leader!" cried Ambrose. "It's up to you to keep them +out of trouble. If you do not speak, whatever happens will be on your +head! And I will testify against you. Tell the people to wait until +to-morrow and I pledge myself to find out who did this." + +"You know who did it?" asked Watusk sharply. + +"I will not speak until I have proof," Ambrose said warily. + +"What happened to the men you left on guard?" + +"They say they play jack-pot with a lantern near the door," said +Watusk. "See not'ing. Hear not'ing. Poof! she is all burn!" + +"H-m!" said Ambrose. + +They were now among the people. + +"Speak to them!" he cried. "Tell them if they keep quiet Ambrose Doane +will pay for the flour that is burned up, and will grind them some +more. Tell them to wait, and I promise to make things right. Tell +them if they make trouble to-night the police will come and take them +away, and their children will starve!" + +Watusk did, indeed, move among the men speaking to them, but with a +half-hearted air. He cut a pitiful figure. It was not clear whether +he was unwilling to oppose them or afraid. + +Ambrose did not even know what Watusk was saying to them. At any rate +the men ignored their leader. Ambrose was wild at the necessity which +made him dependent on such a poor creature. + +He followed Watusk, imploring them in English to keep their heads. +Some of the sense of what he said must have reached them through his +tones and gestures, but they only turned sullen, suspicious shoulders +upon him. + +That Ambrose should take the part of his known enemy, John Gaviller, +seemed to their simple minds to smack of double-dealing. + +The roof of the burning shack fell in, sending a lovely eruption of +sparks to the black sky. At the same moment as if by a signal one of +the savages brandished his gun aloft and broke into a passionate +denunciation. + +Once more Ambrose heard the name of Gaviller. Instantly the crowd was +in an uproar again. Cries of angry approval answered the speaker from +every throat. The man was beside himself. He waved his gun in the +direction of the river. + +Ambrose waited to hear no more. He saw what was coming. Black horror +faced him. He ran to the river, straining every nerve. He heard them +behind him. Then it was that he so bitterly reproached himself for +having left the york boat within reach. + +Leaping down the bank, he put his back under the bow and struggled to +push it off. He would gladly have sacrificed it. It was too heavy for +him to budge. Tole Grampierre and Greer reached his side. + +"Quick!" cried Ambrose breathlessly. "Set her adrift!" + +But at that moment the whole tribe came pouring over the bank like a +flood. Ambrose and the breed sprang into the bow of the boat in an +endeavor to hold it against them. Old Simon presently joined them. + +"Back! Back!" cried Ambrose. "For God's sake listen to me, men! Go +to your lodges and talk until morning. The truth will be clear in the +daylight! The police are coming. They will give you justice. + +"Justice is on your side now. If you break the white man's law he will +wipe you out! Where is your leader? He knows the truth of what I say. +Watusk is not here! He won't risk his neck!" + +It had about as much effect as a trickle of water upon a conflagration. +They made no attempt to dislodge Ambrose from in front, but swarmed +into the water on either side, and putting their backs under the boat, +lifted her off the stones. Scrambling over the sides, they shouldered +Ambrose and the breed ashore from behind. + +Ambrose shouted to the breeds: "Go home and stay there all night. You +must not be mixed up in this." + +"What will you do?" cried Simon. + +The york boat was already floating off, the crew running out the +sweeps. Ambrose, without answering, ran into the water and clambered +aboard. In the confusion and the dark the Indians could not tell if he +were white or red. + +He made himself inconspicuous in the bow. His only conscious thought +was how to get a gun. He had no idea of what to do upon landing. + +Upon pushing off, moved by a common instinct of caution, the Indians +fell silent, and during the crossing there was no sound but the +grumbling of the clumsy sweeps in the thole-pins, and the splash of the +blades. + +Standing on the little platform astern, silhouetted against the sky, +Ambrose recognized the man who had given the word to attack Gaviller. + +He marked him well. He was of middle size, a tall man among the little +Kakisas, with a great shock of hair cut off like a Dutchman's at the +neck. + +On the way over Ambrose was greatly astonished to feel his sleeve +gently plucked. He studied the men beside him, and finally made out +Tole under his flaring hatbrim. + +Into his ear he whispered: "I told you to go home." + +"I go with you," Tole whispered back. "I your friend." + +Ambrose's anxious heart was warmed. He needed a friend. He gripped +Tole's shoulder. + +"Have you a gun?" he asked. + +The breed shook his head. + +"Get guns for us both if you can," said Ambrose. + +On the other side, the instant the york boat touched the shingle, the +Indians set up a chorus of yelling frightful to hear, and scrambled +ashore. + +Ambrose and Tole were among the first out. Together they drew aside a +little way into the darkness to see what would happen. There was no +need to warn the Company people; the yelling did that. + +The Indians set off across the beach and up the bank, working +themselves up with their strident, brutish cries. The habits of thirty +years of peace were shed like a garment. The young men of the tribe +had never heard the war-cry until that moment. + +Ambrose followed at their heels. At the top of the bank, to his +unbounded relief, they turned toward the store. He still had a little +time. All he could do was to offer himself to the defenders. + +"I'm going to the side door of Gaviller's house," he said to Tole. +"Get guns for us, somehow, and come to me there." + +He knew that Tole, who was as dark as the Kakisas, and in no way +distinguished from them in dress, ran little risk of discovery in the +confusion. + +There was no sign of life about the post; every window was dark. The +Indians swarmed across the quadrangle without meeting any one. + +As Ambrose reached the fence around Gaviller's house he heard the +store-door and the windows go in with a series of crashes. He crouched +beside the gate to wait for Tole. It was useless for him to offer +himself without a weapon. + +They started a fire outside the store. Fed with excelsior and empty +boxes, the flames leaped up instantaneously, illuminating every corner +of the quadrangle, and throwing gigantic, distorted shadows of men on +the store front. + +On the nearer side of the fire the silhouettes darted back and forth +with the malignant activity of demons in a pit. Men issued out of the +store with armfuls of goods that they flung regardless to the flames. + +Already they were dressing themselves up in layer after layer of +clothes until they no longer resembled human creatures. What they +could not wear they hung about their necks. + +Some came out tearing at food like wolves. Others darted into dark +corners of the square to hide their prizes. A man appeared dressed in +a woman's wrapper and hat, and capered around the fire to the +accompaniment of shrieks of obscene laughter. + +There was a continuous sound of rending and crashing from within the +store. The trader in Ambrose groaned to witness the destruction of +good weapons and cloth stuffs and food. Some one would suffer for the +lack of it in the winter. + +Within the store, by the door, a furious altercation arose. This was +where the case of cheap jewelry stood. Two men rolled out on the +platform fighting. + +Ambrose saw a raised arm, and the gleam of steel. After a few moments +one of the men got up and the other lay still. Thereafter, all who +went in and came out stepped indifferently over his body. + +Ambrose gazed fascinated and oddly unmoved. It was like a horrible +play in a theater. The insane yelling rose and fell intermittently. + +At last Ambrose saw a man detach himself from the group and run around +the square, darting behind the houses for cover. The runner reappeared +nearer to him, and he saw that it was Tole. He came to him, running +low under shelter of the palings. He thrust a rifle into Ambrose's +hands. + +"Loaded!" he gasped. "Plenty more shells in my pocket." + +"Did you hear any talk?" asked Ambrose. "Are they coming over here?" + +"Talk no sense," said Tole. "Only yell. It is moch bad. They got +whisky." + +"Whisky!" echoed Ambrose, aghast. + +"A big jug. It was in the store." + +Ambrose's heart sank. "Come," he said grimly. + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +COLINA RELENTS. + +As Ambrose and Tole started in the gate they were hailed from the dark +doorway under the porch. "Stand, or I fire!" It was the voice of +Macfarlane. + +"It is Ambrose Doane and Tole Grampierre," cried Ambrose. + +They heard an exclamation of astonishment from the door. + +"What do you want?" demanded the voice. + +"To help you defend yourselves." + +From the sounds that reached him, Ambrose gathered that the door was +open and that Macfarlane stood within the hall. From farther back +Colina's voice rang out: + +"How dare you! Do you expect us to believe you? Go back to your +friends!" + +"They are not my men," Ambrose answered doggedly. + +"Wait!" cried still another voice. Ambrose recognized the smooth +accents of Gordon Strange. "We can't afford to turn away any +defenders. I say let him come in." + +Ambrose was surprised, and none too well pleased to hear his part taken +in this quarter. There was a silence. He apprehended that they were +consulting in the hall. Finally Macfarlane called curtly: + +"You may come in." + +As he went up the path Ambrose saw that the windows of the lower floor +had been roughly boarded up. The thought struck him oddly: "How could +they have had warning of what was going to happen?" + +"There's barbed wire around the porch," said Macfarlane, "You'll have +to get over it the best way you can." + +Ambrose and Tole helped each other through the obstruction. They found +Macfarlane sitting on a chair in the doorway, with his rifle across his +knees. + +"Go into the library," he said. + +The door was on the right hand as one entered the hall. Within a lamp +had just been lighted; even as Ambrose entered Colina was turning up +the wick. + +Heavy curtains had been bung over the windows to keep any rays of light +from escaping, and the door was instantly closed behind Ambrose and +Tole. + +Inside the little room that he already knew so well Ambrose found all +the defenders gathered. The only one strange to him was little +Pringle, the missionary, who sat primly on the sofa. It had much the +look of an ordinary evening party, but the row of guns by the door told +a tale. + +John Gaviller sat in his swivel chair behind his desk, leaning his head +on his hand. Ambrose was shocked by the change that three months' +illness had worked in him. + +The self-assured, the scornfully affable trader had become a mere +pantaloon with sunken cheeks and trembling hands. Ambrose looked with +quick compassion toward Colina. + +She went to her father and stood by his chair with a hand on his +shoulder. She coldly ignored Ambrose's glance. + +"What have you to say for yourself?" Gaviller demanded in a weak, harsh +voice. + +"Do you know the reason for this attack?" demanded Ambrose. + +Several voices answered "No!" + +"All the flour was stored in Michel Trudeau's shack. Some wretch set +fire to it and destroyed it all. Naturally they thought it was done by +John Gaviller's orders. This is their reprisal." + +"You dared to think we would stoop to such a thing!" cried Colina. + +The general animosity that he felt like a wall around him made Ambrose +defiant. + +"I said they thought so," he retorted. "I harangued them until my +throat was sore. I couldn't hold them, and I hid myself and came with +them, thinking perhaps I could help you." + +"How did they come?" asked Strange smoothly. + +"In my boat that they seized," said Ambrose. + +"It all comes back to you whichever way you trace it," cried Gaviller. +"If you had not attacked us yesterday, they would never have dared +to-day! You have brought us to this! I hope you're satisfied. I +warned you what would happen as a result of your tampering with the +natives. If we're all murdered it will be on your head!" + +"On the contrary, if we're murdered it will be because they found +whiskey in your store," retorted Ambrose. + +"Impossible!" cried Gaviller and Strange together. + +Ambrose laid a hand on Tole's shoulder. "This man saw it on the +counter," he said. "I sent him to the store to get guns for us both. +It had no business to be there, as you all know." + +"They must have brought it with them," said Strange. "I locked the +store myself." + +"Of course they brought it," said Gaviller. + +"Not much use to discuss that point," said Ambrose curtly. "They have +it, and it has robbed them of the last vestiges of manhood. They're +nothing but brutes now." + +The old man rose. "Silence!" he cried quaveringly. "You are insolent! +By your light-mindedness and vanity you have raised a storm that no man +can see the end of! You have plunged us into the horrors of Indian +warfare after thirty years' peace! How dare you come here and attempt +to hector us! Silence, I say, and keep your place!" + +"Father," murmured Colina remonstratingly. "You must save your +strength." + +He shook her off impatiently. "Must I submit to be bearded in my own +house by this scamp, this fire-brand, this destroyer?" + +Ambrose could not bandy words with this wreck of a strong man. He +signed to Tole, and they went outside and joined Macfarlane. + +The three of them waited in the doorway in a kind of armed truce, +smoking and watching the Indians across the square. At any moment they +expected to see the yelling demons turn against the house. + +By and by Ambrose heard the library door open. The light inside had +been put out again for greater safety. + +He heard Colina come out, and go the other way in the passage. He knew +her by the rustle of her skirts. She went up-stairs on some errand. + +His heart leaped up. He could no longer deceive himself with the fancy +that he had ceased to love her. Not with death staring them both in +the face. He quietly made his way back into the house to intercept her +on her return. + +When he heard her coming he whispered her name. Here in the middle of +the house it was totally dark. + +"You!" she gasped, stopping short. But the scorn had gone out of her +voice, and somehow he knew that he was already in her thoughts when he +spoke. He put out a hand toward her. + +"Don't touch me!" she whispered, shrinking sharply. + +There, in the compelling darkness, with danger waiting outside, they +could not hide their souls from each other. "Colina," he whispered, +"don't harden yourself against me to-night. I love you!" + +Her breath came quickly. She could not speak. Her anger against +Ambrose was, at the best, a pumped-up affair. She felt obliged to hate +him because she loved her father. And her overweening pride had +supported it. All this fell away now. She longed to believe in him. + +Perceiving his advantage he followed it close. + +"It may be the last night," he whispered. "I'm not afraid to speak of +death to you. You're no coward. Colina, it would be hard to die +thinking that you hated me!" + +"Don't!" she murmured painfully. "Don't try to soften me. I need to +be hard." + +"Not to me," he whispered. "I love you!'" + +She was silent. He heard her breathing on a shaken breast. + +"If I knew it was my last word I should say the same," he went on. "I +came back to Enterprise because I thought I had to come to save you!" + +"It hasn't turned out that way, has it?" she said sadly and bitterly. + +"There is some evil influence working against us all," he said. "If I +live I shall show you." + +"I don't know what to think," she murmured. + +They were standing close together. Suddenly the sense of her nearness +in the dark, the delicate emanation of her hair, of her whole person, +overwhelmed his senses like a wave. + +"Oh, my darling," he murmured brokenly. "Those devils outside can only +kill me once. You make me die a thousand deaths!" + +"Ah, don't!" she whispered sharply. "Not now. First, I must believe +in you!" + +He beat down the passion that dizzied him. He sought for her hand and +gripped it firmly. She allowed it. "Listen," he said. "Take me into +the light and look in my eyes." + +Her hand turned in his and took command of it, drawing him after her. +Crossing the stair-hall they entered the dining-room. Colina closed +the door and lighted the lamp. + +Ambrose gazed at her hungrily. She came to him straight and, offering +him both her hands, looked deep into his eyes. + +"Now tell me," she murmured. + +This was the real Colina, simple as a child. Her eyes--the lamp being +behind her--showed as deep and dark as the night sky. + +Her lovely face yearned up to his, and Ambrose's self-command tottered +again--but this was no moment for passion. His voice shook, but his +eyes were as steady as hers. + +"I love you," he said quietly. "When you hated me most I was doing the +best for you that I could. I--I'm afraid I sound like a prig. But it +is the truth. I stood out against you when I thought you were wrong +because I loved you!" + +Her eyes fell. Her hands crept confidingly up his arms. "Ah! I want +so to believe it," she faltered. + +He thought he had won her again. His arms swept around her, crushing +her to him. "My love!" he murmured. + +She went slack in his arms and coldly averted her head. "Do not kiss +me," she said. + +He instantly released her. + +"It's not the time," she murmured. "It seems horrible to-night. I--I +am not ready. By what happens to-night I will know for always!" + +"But, Colina--" he began. + +She offered him her hand with a beseeching air. "I do not hate you any +more," she said quickly. "You have a lot to forgive in me, too. Be +merciful to me. Show me--to-night." + +He drew a steadying breath. "Very well," he said. "I am contented." + +CHAPTER XXV. + +ACCUSED. + +The long suspense wore terribly on the defenders of the house. + +To wait inactive, listening to the frightful yelling and watching the +play of the fire, not knowing at what moment yelling, bullets, and fire +might be directed at themselves, was disorganizing to the stoutest +nerves. + +When the attack should come all knew that their refuge was more like a +trap than a fortress. Ambrose wished to abandon the house for the +Catholic church up the river. + +This little structure was stoutly built of squared logs; moreover, it +was possible that some lingering religious feeling might restrain the +Indians from firing it. + +The suggestion was received with suspicion. John Gaviller refused +point-blank to leave his house. + +As the hours passed without any change in the situation they began to +feel as if they could endure no more. They were almost ready to wish +that the savages might attack them and have done with it. + +They endlessly and vainly discussed what might be passing in the red +men's minds. Tole Grampierre, hearing this talk, offered to go and +find out. + +There was no danger to him, he said. Even if they should discover that +he was not one of themselves, they had no quarrel with his people. +Ambrose let him go. + +He never returned. Ambrose and Macfarlane helped him through the +barbed wire, and he set off, making a wide detour behind the houses +that faced the river, meaning to join the Indians from the other side. + +Most of the Indians had for some time been engaged in rifling the +warehouse, which adjoined the store behind. + +Ambrose and Macfarlane, anxiously watching from the porch, heard a +sudden outcry raised in this quarter, and saw a man come running +desperately around the corner of the store, pursued by a howling dozen. + +Ambrose knew the runner by his rakish, broad-brimmed hat and flying +sash. His heart leaped into the race. Tole was gaining. + +"Go it! Go it!" Ambrose cried. + +Tole was not bringing his pursuers back to the big house, but led the +way off to one side by the quarters. Only a few yards separated him +from the all-concealing darkness. + +"He's safe!" murmured Ambrose. + +At the same moment half of Tole's pursuers stopped dead, and their +rifles barked. The flying figure spun around with uptossed arms, and +plunged to the ground. + +Ambrose groaned from the bottom of his breast. Nerved by a blind rage, +his own gun instinctively went up. He could have picked off one or two +from where he stood. Macfarlane flung a restraining arm around him. + +"Stop! You'll bring the whole mob down on us!" he cried. He looked at +Ambrose not unkindly. The sacrifice of Tole obliged him to change his +attitude. + +Ambrose turned in the door, silently grinding his teeth. At the end of +the passage he found a chair, and dropped upon it, holding his head +between his hands. + +The face of Tole as he had first beheld it--proud, comely, and full of +health--rose before him vividly. + +He remembered that he had said to himself then: "Here is one young, +like myself, that I can make a friend of." And almost the last thing +Tole had said to him was: "I am your friend." + +It was his youth and good looks that made it seem most horrible. +Ambrose pictured the bloody ruin lying in the square, and shuddered. + +Gordon Strange offered to go out in order to make sure that Tole was +beyond aid. It seemed like a kindly impulse, but Ambrose suspected its +genuineness. + +Even from where they were, a glance at the huddled figure was enough to +tell the truth. None of the others would hear of Strange's going. +Colina and Giddings pleaded with him. Gaviller forbade him. Strange +with seeming reluctance finally gave in. + +Whenever he witnessed such evidences of their trust in the half-breed +Ambrose's lip curled in the darkness. He was more than ever convinced +that Strange was a blackguard. + +Evidence he had none, only his warning intuition, which, among the male +sex at least, is not considered much to go on. + +It gave Ambrose a shrewd little twinge of jealousy to hear Colina +begging this man not to risk his life by leaving the house. + +About three o'clock it began to seem as if they might allow themselves +to relax a little. The madness of the Indians had burned itself out. +There had not been enough whisky perhaps to maintain it for more than a +few hours. + +In any case, since the whites had been spared at the height of their +fury, it seemed reasonable to hope they might escape altogether. The +yelling had ceased. + +Most of the men were now engaged in carrying flour and other goods down +to the york boat. The watchers from the house wondered if they dared +believe this signified an early departure. + +As the tension let down it could be seen that John Gaviller was on the +verge of a collapse. Colina strove with him to go to his room and rest +on his bed. + +He finally consented upon condition that she lay in her own room +up-stairs. Colina and Gordon Strange half led, half carried the old +man up-stairs. + +Strange, returning, relieved Macfarlane's watch at the side door. +Macfarlane, Ambrose, Giddings, and Pringle lay down on the sofa and on +the floor of the library. + +Three of them were almost instantly asleep. Not so Ambrose. As soon +as he saw the half-breed left in sole charge his smoldering suspicions +leaped into activity. + +"If he's meditating anything queer this is the time he'll start it!" he +thought. He took care to choose his position on the floor nearest the +door. He left the door open. + +From the outside only occasional sounds came now. The Indians were +busy and silent. Within the house it was so still that Ambrose could +hear Gordon Strange puffing at his pipe. + +The half-breed was sitting in the doorway outside, with his chair +tipped back against the wall. By and by Ambrose heard the front legs +of the chair drop to the floor, and an instinct of caution bade him +close his eyes and breathe deeply like a man asleep. + +Sure enough Strange came into the library. He was taking no pains to +be silent. Stepping over Ambrose he crossed to the mantel, where he +fumbled for matches, and striking one made believe to relight his pipe. + +Now Ambrose knew that Strange had matches, for when they took John +Gaviller up he had seen him light the lamp at the foot of the stairs +and return the box to his pocket. + +This then must be a reconnoitering expedition. Ambrose had no doubt +that when the match flared up the half-breed took a survey of the +sleeping men. + +He left the room, and Ambrose heard the chair tipped back against the +wall once more. + +A little later Ambrose became conscious that Strange was at the library +door again, though this time he had not heard him come. + +He paused a second and passed away as silently as a ghost--but whether +back to his chair or farther into the house Ambrose could not tell. + +Rising swiftly to his hands and knees he stuck his head out of the +door. There was light enough from the outside to reveal the outlines +of the chair--empty. + +Without a thought Ambrose turned in the other direction and crept +swiftly and softly through the passage into the stair hall. He did not +know what he expected to find. His heart beat thick and fast. + +He scarcely suspected danger to Colina, who was strong and brave. Was +it her father? Reaching the foot of the stairs he heard a velvet +footfall above. + +He hastened up on all fours. The stairs were thickly carpeted. +Gaining the top his strained ears detected the whisper of a sound that +suggested the closing of Gaviller's door. + +He knew the room. It was over the drawing-room, and cut off from the +other rooms of the house. To reach the door one had to pass around the +rail of the upper landing. + +Arriving at the door he did indeed find it closed. Under the +circumstances he was sure Colina would have left it open. + +He did not stop to think of what he was doing. With infinite slow +patience he turned the knob with one hand, holding his electric torch +ready in the other. + +When the door parted he flashed the light on the spot where he knew the +bed stood. The picture vividly revealed in the little circle of light +realized his unacknowledged fears. + +He saw Strange kneeling on the bed, his face hideously distorted, his +two hands at the old man's throat. + +Strange yelped once in mingled terror and rage like an animal +surprised--and with the quickness of an animal sprang at Ambrose. + +The two men went down with a crash athwart the sill, and the door +slammed back against the wall. There was a desperate struggle on the +floor. + +Strange was nerved with the strength of a madman. He could not have +seen who it was that surprised him, but in that frantic embrace he +learned. + +"It's you, is it?" he snarled. "I've got you now!" + +Forthwith he began to shout lustily for help. "Macfarlane! Giddings!" + +Colina was already out of her room. She did not scream. The three men +were on the stairs. + +"Bring a light!" gasped both the struggling men. + +It was Colina who lit a lamp and carried it out into the hall with a +steady hand. Ambrose was seen to be uppermost. Recognizing the two +men her face darkened with anger. + +"What does this mean?" she cried. "Get up instantly!" + +Ambrose wrenched himself free and stood up. + +"Don't let him escape!" cried Strange. + +Ambrose laughed a single note. + +"He tried to kill your father!" panted Strange. "I arrived in the nick +of time!" + +Ambrose gasped and fell back in astonishment. Such stupendous +effrontery was beyond the scope of his imagination. + +"It's a lie!" he cried. "It was I who discovered him in the act of +strangling your father!" + +Then for the first Colina swayed. "Oh, God!" she murmured, "have we +all gone mad!" + +Macfarlane seized the lamp from her failing hand. Colina ran unevenly +into her father's room. They heard her cry out within. Giddings ran +to her aid. He made a light in the room and closed the door. The +little parson moaned and wrung his hands. + +Macfarlane had drawn his revolver. "If you make a move I'll shoot you +down!" he said to Ambrose--thus making it clear whose story he believed. + +"You can put it up," said Ambrose coolly. "I'm going to see this thing +through." + +Strange had got his grip again. His smoothness was largely restored. +He actually laughed. "He's a cool hand!" he said. + +"You damned black villain!" said Ambrose softly. "I know you now. And +you know that I know you!" + +It did not improve Ambrose's case to say it, but he felt better. The +half-breed changed color and edged behind Macfarlane's gun. + +Colina presently reappeared, showing a white and stony face. "Mr. +Pringle," she said, "go down and lock the side door and bring me the +key. The rest of you go to the library and wait for me." + +Ambrose flushed darkly. That Colina should even for a moment hold the +balance between him and the half-breed made him burn with anger. +Passionate reproaches leaped to his lips, but pride forced them back. + +Turning stiffly he marched downstairs before Macfarlane without a word. +She should suffer for this when he was exonerated, he vowed. That he +might not be exonerated immediately did not occur to him. + +In the library Strange and Macfarlane whispered together. When Pringle +rejoined them all were silent. For upward of ten minutes they waited, +facing each other grimly. + +The strain was too great for the nerves of the little parson. He +finally broke into a kind of terrified, dry sobbing. + +"For God's sake say something!" he faltered. "This is too horrible!" + +Macfarlane glanced at him with a contemptuous pity and stood a little +aside from the door. "Better go into the front room," he said. "You +can't do any good here." + +The little man shook his head, and going to the window turned his back +on them and endeavored to master his shaking. + +Shortly afterward Colina came down-stairs. At her entrance all looked +the question none dared put into words. + +Colina veiled her eyes. "My father only fainted," she said levelly. +"Dr. Giddings says he is little worse than before." + +A long breath escaped from her hearers. + +Strange cunningly contrived to get his story out first. As he spoke +all eyes were bent on the ground. They could not face the horror of +the other eyes. + +Pringle was obliged to sit on the sofa to control the trembling of his +limbs. The others stood--Macfarlane, Colina, and Strange near the +door--Ambrose facing them from in front of the desk. + +"You will remember," Strange began collectedly, "it was I who advised +that this man should be admitted to the house. I thought we could +watch him better from the inside. I have never ceased to watch him +from that moment. + +"When you all turned in and I was left at the side door I kept my eye +on this room. The last time I looked in I saw that he had disappeared. +He had slipped so softly down the hall I had not heard anything. + +"I instantly thought of danger to those up-stairs, and crept up as +quickly as I could without making any sound. I found the door of Mr. +Gaviller's room closed. I knew Miss Colina had left it open. I opened +it softly, and saw Doane on the bed with his hands at Mr. Gaviller's +throat." + +A shuddering breath escaped from Colina. The little parson moaned. + +"He sprang at me," Strange went on. "We rolled on the ground. I +called for help, and you all came. That is all." + +Ambrose was staggered by the breed's satanic cleverness. After this +his own story must sound like a pitiful imitation. He could never tell +it now with the same assurance. + +"Surely, surely they must know that a true man couldn't take it so +coolly," he thought. But they were convinced; he could see it in their +faces. + +He felt as powerless as a dreamer in the grip of a nightmare. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CONVICTED. + +When Strange finished there was a significant silence. They were +waiting for Ambrose to speak. Stiffening himself he told his story as +manfully as he could. Conscious of its weakness he wore a hang-dog air +which contrasted unfavorably with Strange's seeming candor. + +No comment was made upon it. Ambrose could feel their unexpressed +sneers like goads in the raw flesh. Only Colina gave no sign. +Macfarlane turned to her for instructions. + +She contrived to maintain her proud and stony air up to the moment she +was obliged to speak. But her self-command went out with her +shuddering voice. "I--I don't know what to say," she whispered +tremblingly. + +"Surely there can be no question here!" cried Strange with a voice full +of reproachful indignation. "I have served Mr. Gaviller faithfully for +nearly thirty years. This man's whole aim has been to ruin him!" + +"This is the tone I should be taking instead of letting him run me +out," Ambrose thought dispassionately, as if it were somebody else. +But he remained dumb. + +"What earthly reason could I have for trying to injure my benefactor?" +cried Strange. His voice broke artistically on the final word. "You +all know what I think of him. Your suspicions hurt me!" + +Macfarlane crossed over and clapped him on the shoulder. Colina kept +her eyes down. She was very pale; her lips were compressed and her +hands clenched at her sides. + +Ambrose bestirred himself to his own defense. "Let me ask a question," +he said quietly to Strange. "You say when you opened the door you saw +me with my hands on Mr. Gaviller. How could you see me?" + +"With my electric flash-light," Strange instantly answered. + +"That's a lie," said Ambrose. "The flash-light was mine. I can prove +it by a dozen witnesses." + +"Produce it," said Strange sneering. + +"You knocked it out of my hand," said Ambrose. "It will be found +somewhere on the floor up-stairs." + +Strange drew his hand out of his pocket. "On the contrary, it is +here," he said. "And it has never been out of my possession. As to +your identifying it, there are dozens like it in the country. It is +the style all the stores carry." + +Ambrose shrugged. "I've nothing more to say," he said. "The man is a +liar. The truth is bound to come out in the end." + +The white men paid little attention to this, but it stung Strange to +reply. "If Mr. Gaviller were able to speak he'd soon decide between +us!" + +At that moment, as if Strange's speech had evoked, him, they heard +Giddings in the hall. + +"Has he spoken?" they asked breathlessly. + +Colina kept her eyes hidden. + +Giddings nodded. "He sent me down-stairs to order Macfarlane to arrest +Doane." + +Colina fell back against the door-frame with a hand to her breast. +"Did he--did he _see_ him?" she whispered. + +"No," said Giddings reluctantly. "He did not see his assailant. But +said to accuse Strange of the deed was the act of a desperate criminal." + +"You're under arrest!" Macfarlane said bruskly to Ambrose. Turning to +Colina, he added deprecatingly: "You had better leave the room, Miss +Gaviller." + +She shook her head. Clearly speech was beyond her. Not once during +the scene had Ambrose been able to see her eyes, Macfarlane waited a +moment for her to go, then shrugged deprecatingly. + +"Will you submit to handcuffs or must I force you?" he demanded of +Ambrose. + +Ambrose did not hear him. His eyes were fastened on Colina. So long +as he was tortured by a doubt of her he was oblivious to everything +else. + +The heart knows no logic. It deals directly with the heart. Love +looks for loyalty as its due. Ambrose was amazed and incredulous and +sickened by his love's apparent faint-heartedness. + +"Colina!" he cried indignantly, "have you nothing to say? Do you +believe this lie?" + +Her agonized eyes flew to his--full of passionate gratitude to hear him +defend himself. His scorn both abased and overjoyed her. Her heart +knew. + +None of the others recognized what was passing in those glances. + +Macfarlane took a step forward. "Here! Leave Miss Gaviller out of +this!" he said harshly. + +Ambrose did not look at him, but his hand clenched ready to strike. +His eyes were fixed on Colina, demanding an answer. + +Color came back to her cheeks and firmness to her voice. "Stop!" she +cried to Macfarlane in her old imperious way. "I'm the mistress here. +My father is incapable of giving orders. You've no right to judge this +man. None of us can choose. There is no evidence. I will not have +either one handcuffed!" + +Macfarlane fell back disconcerted. "I was thinking of your father's +safety," he muttered. + +"I will watch over him myself," she said. She went swiftly up the +stairs. + +Ambrose sat by himself on a chair at the junction of the side passage +with the stair hall. Naturally, after what had passed, he avoided the +other men--and they him. + +It was growing light. He saw the panes of the side door gray and +whiten. Later he could make out the damaged front of the store across +the square. + +Macfarlane was again upon watch by the door. Strange and Pringle were +in the library. Giddings was with Colina and the sick man up-stairs. + +Ambrose watched the coming of day with grim eyes. He had had plenty of +time to consider his situation. True, Colina had not failed him, but +he did not minimize the dangers ahead. + +He knew something of the uncertainty of men's justice. Out of the +tumult of rage that had at first shattered him had been born a resolve +to guard himself warily. + +Daylight had an odd effect of novelty. It seemed to him as if years +separated him from the previous day. + +Strange came out of the library to take an observation. At the sight +of him Ambrose's eyes burned. If scorn could kill the half-breed would +have fallen in his tracks. + +"They're still quiet," remarked Macfarlane. + +"Too quiet," said Strange. "If they made a noise we could guess what +they were up to!" + +The two men held a low-voiced colloquy by the door. Ambrose supposed +that Strange was again offering to go out to reconnoiter. The +policeman was expostulating with him. + +He heard Strange say; "I'm afraid they may attempt to wreck the mill +before they go. That would be fatal for all of us. I had no +opportunity yesterday to put on new locks." + +Macfarlane begged Strange not to risk himself. + +"He's safe enough," thought Ambrose grimly. + +Strange finally had his way. + +Ambrose speculated on what his real object might be. "That bull-headed +redcoat is likely to get a surprise!" he thought. + +In less than ten minutes the half-breed returned. Macfarlane warmly +grasped his hand. + +"It's all right," said Strange. "I went straight up to them. I had no +trouble. Even now the older heads are thinking of the consequences. I +think they'll be gone directly." + +After some further talk in low tones Strange went back into the +library, and Macfarlane sat down with his gun across his knees. + +Once more quiet ruled the house. Ambrose's head fell forward on his +breast and he slept uneasily. + + +He was roused by the cry they had waited all night in dread of hearing: +"They're coming!" + +Strange and Pringle ran out into the hall. Low as the cry was it was +heard above. Colina and Giddings came flying down-stairs. Ambrose had +already joined the others. + +In the face of the deadly danger that threatened the men forgot their +animosity for the moment. They were all crowded together in the narrow +passage, far enough back from the closed door to see through the panes +without being seen. + +The five whites were afraid, as they might well be--but without panic. +The half-breed was suspiciously calm. They lacked an unquestioned +leader. + +"That is Myengeen leading them," said Strange; "a bad Indian!" + +"Macfarlane--tell us what to do," said Giddings. + +"They're quiet now," said Colina. "I shall speak to them!" + +Macfarlane put out a restraining hand. "Leave this to me!" he said +quickly. + +"We're in each other's way here," cried Ambrose. "Let us spread +through some of the rooms." + +"Right!" said Macfarlane. "Doane, Giddings, and Miss Colina--go into +the library and throw up the windows on this side. Shoot between the +boards if I give the word. The guns are inside the door." + +A cry from Strange brought them out into the hall again. "They've +raised a white flag! They want to parley not to fight." + +The others murmured their relief. + +"Open the door!" cried Strange. "I will speak to them." + +Ambrose fell back a little. The other men crowded around Strange, +urging him to be careful of himself. Strange was doing the modest hero! + +It was a pretty little play. At the sight of it a harsh jangle of +laughter rang inside Ambrose. Colina took no part in the scene. + +Strange stepped out on the porch. Ambrose heard him speaking the +uncouth Kakisa tongue, and heard the murmur of replies. He would have +given a bale of furs to understand what was being said. + +The exchange was brief. Strange presently stepped inside and said: + +"They say they want their leader--Ambrose Doane." + +A dead silence fell on the little group. They turned and stared at +Ambrose. He, for the moment, was stunned with astonishment. He was +aware only of Colina's stricken, white face. She looked as if she had +been shot. + +"They say they are ready to go," Strange went on. "They promise to +make no more trouble if we give Doane up. If we refuse, they say they +will take him, anyway." + +"It's an infernal lie!" cried Ambrose desperately. "I am no leader of +theirs!" + +She did not believe him. Her eyes lost all their luster and her lovely +face looked ashen. She seemed about to fall. + +Giddings went to her aid, but she pushed him away. She seemed +unconscious of the presence of the ethers. Her accusing eyes were +fixed on Ambrose. + +"I believed in you," she murmured in a dead voice. "I believed in you! +Oh, God!" Her hands were flung up in a despairing gesture. "Let him +go!" she cried to Macfarlane over her shoulder, and ran down the hall +and up the stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A CHANGE OF JAILERS. + +There was a significant silence in the passage when Colina had gone. + +Finally Macfarlane said stubbornly, "He's my prisoner. It's my duty to +hold him against any odds. It's the first rule of the service." + +Giddings and Pringle urgently remonstrated with him. Strange held +apart as if he considered it none of his business. At last, with a +deprecating air, he added his voice to the other men's. + +"Look here," he said smoothly; "you know best, of course; but aren't +there times when a soldier must make his own rules? All of us men +would stand by you gladly, but there's a sick man up-stairs that they +have been taught to hate. And a woman." + +Macfarlane gave in with a shrug. "I suppose you'll stand by me if I'm +hauled up for it," he grumbled. + +He drew his revolver and stood aside to let Ambrose pass. The others +likewise drew back, as from one marked with the plague. Every face was +hard with scorn. + +Ambrose kept his eyes straight ahead. When he appeared on the porch, +cries, apparently of welcome, were raised by the Kakisas. + +Ambrose supposed that Strange had made a deal with the Kakisas to put +him out of the way. He believed that he was going straight to his +death. + +He accepted it sooner than make an appeal to those who scorned him. He +wished to speak to them before he went; but it was to warn them, not to +ask for aid for himself. + +He faced the little group in the doorway. "I tell you again," he said, +"this is all a put-up job. You know nothing of what is going on but +what this breed chooses to tell you. He's a liar and a murderer. If +you put yourselves in his hands, so much the worse for you." + +The white men laughed in Ambrose's face. The breed smiled +deprecatingly and forgivingly. + +"Hold your tongue, and be thankful you're getting off so easy," +Macfarlane said, full of honest contempt. + +Ambrose became very pale. He turned his back, on them, and, climbing +over the wire barrier, marched stiffly down to the gate. The +consciousness of innocence is supposed to be sufficient to armor a man +against any slanders, but this is only partially true. + +When one's accusers are honest, their scorn hurts, hurts more than any +other wound we are capable of receiving. Ambrose was of the type that +rages against a hurt. At present, for all he was outwardly so pale and +still, he was deafened and blinded by rage. + +It was now full daylight. An extraordinary picture faced the watchers +from the doorway--the ruined store in the background, the grotesque +crew hanging to the fence palings. + +Their ordinary rags were covered with layers of misfit clothing out of +the store, while many of them wore several hats, and others had extra +pairs of shoes hanging around their necks. + +There was a great display of gaudy silk handkerchiefs. Pockets bulged +with small articles of loot, and nearly every man lugged some +particular treasure according to his fancy, whether it was an alarm +clock or a glass pitcher or a bolt of red flannel. + +The younger men, still susceptible to gallantry, mostly were burdened +with crushed articles of feminine finery, gaily trimmed hats, red or +blue shawls, fancy satin bodices, corsets with the strings dangling. + +The faces, after a night of unbridled license, showed dull and slack in +the daylight. + +Myengeen, whom Ambrose had marked earlier as a leader of the mob, +gripped his hand at the gate and cried out with hypocritical joy. +Others crowded around, those who could not obtain his hands, stroking +his sleeves and fawning upon him. + +There was an ironical note in the demonstration. Ambrose observed that +the majority of the Indians looked on indifferently. He smelted +treachery in the air. + +The mob, facing about, started to move in open order toward the river. +Ambrose, as they opened up, caught sight of the two dead bodies. It +afflicted him with a dull at the pit of the stomach--these were the +first deaths by violence he had witnessed. + +They still lay where they had fallen--the Indian sprawling in the +middle of a black stain on the platform; Tole huddled on the bare earth +of the quadrangle. Ambrose's heart sank at the thought of returning to +Simon Grampierre with the gift of a dead son. + +The Indians gave no regard to the bodies--apparently they meant to +leave them behind. Ambrose with no uncertain gestures commanded +Myengeen to have them taken up and carried to the boat. It was done. + +When they got down the bank out of sight of the house Myengeen and the +others gave over their hollow pretense of enthusiasm at Ambrose's +release. + +Thereafter none paid the least attention to him. + +He saw that they had not only loaded the boat they came in, but on the +principle of in for a penny, in for a pound, had also taken possession +of one of the company york boats, and had loaded it to the gunwale. + +They immediately embarked and pushed off. Ambrose secured a place +below Myengeen's steering platform. In the bottom of the boat, at his +feet, lay the wizened Indian in his rags, and the straight, slim body +of Tole--side by side like brothers in a bed. + +Tole's face was not disfigured; serene, boyish, and comely, it gave +Ambrose's heart-strings a fresh wrench. He covered them both with a +piece of sail-cloth. + +Across the river, as the Indians started to unload, Watusk came down to +the beach, followed by several of his councilors. It was impossible to +tell from his inscrutable, self-important air what he thought of all +this. + +His flabby, yellow face changed neither at the sight of all the wealth +they brought nor at the two dead men. Ambrose demanded four men of him +to carry Tole's body to his father's house. + +Watusk kept him waiting while he listened to a communication from +Myengeen. Ambrose guessed that it had to do with himself, for both men +glanced furtively at him. Watusk finally turned away without having +answered the white man. + +Ambrose, growing red, imperiously repeated his demand. Watusk, still +without looking at him directly, spoke a word to some Indians within +call, and Ambrose was immediately seized by a dozen hands. + +He was finally bound hand and foot with thongs of hide. This was no +more than he expected, still he did not submit without a fierce but +ineffectual struggle. + +When it was done his captors looked on him with respect--they did not +laugh at him nor evince any anger. It was impossible for him to read +any clue in their stolid faces what was going forward. + +Half a dozen of them carried him up the bank and laid him at the door +of a teepee. Presently Watusk passed by. Ambrose so violently +demanded an explanation that the Indian was forced to stop. He said, +still without meeting Ambrose's eye: + +"Myengeen say you kill Tom Moosa. You got to take our law." + +"It's a lie!" cried Ambrose, suffocating with indignation. + +Watusk shrugged and disappeared. It was useless for Ambrose to shout +at any of the others. He fumed in silence. The Indians gave his +dangerous eyes a wide berth. + +Meanwhile the camp was plunged into a babel of confusion by the order +to move. + +Boys ran here and there catching the horses, the teepees came down on +the run, and the squaws frantically to pack their household gear. +Infants and dogs infected with a common excitement outvied each other +in screaming and barking. + +Ambrose saw only the beginning of the preparations. A horse was +brought to where he lay, and the six men whom he was beginning to +recognize as his particular guard unbound his ankles and lifted him +into the saddle. + +They never dared lay hands on him except in concert--he took what +comfort he could out of that tribute to his prowess. They tied his +bound wrists to the saddle-horn, and also tied his ankles under the +horse's belly, leaving just play enough for him to use the stirrups. + +The six then mounted their own horses, and they set off at a swift lope +away from the river--one leading Ambrose's horse. + +They extended themselves in single file along a well-beaten trail. +This, Ambrose knew, was the way to the Kakisa River--their own country. + +A chill struck to his breast. Any intelligible danger may be faced +with a good heart, but to be cast among capricious and inscrutable +savages, whom he could neither command nor comprehend, was enough to +undermine the stoutest courage. + +Nevertheless he strove with himself as he rode. "They cannot put it +over me unless I knuckle under," he thought. "They're afraid of me. +No Indian that ever lived can face out a white man when the white man +knows his power." + +Several dogs followed them out of camp. There was one that the others +all snapped at and drove from among them. Ambrose suddenly recognized +Job, and his heart leaped up. + +He had left him at Grampierre's the night before. The faithful little +beast must have followed him down to the Kakisa camp and have been +waiting for him ever since to return. + +During the events of the last half-hour Job had no doubt been regarding +his master from afar. The other dogs would not let him run at the +horses' heels, but he followed indomitably in the rear. + +Every time they went over a hill Ambrose saw him trotting patiently far +behind in the trail. When they stopped to eat there was a joyful +reunion. + +Ambrose no longer felt friendless. He divided his rations with his +humble follower. The Indians smiled. In this respect they evidently +considered the formidable white man a little soft-headed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +A GLEAM OF HOPE. + +In the middle of the third day of hard riding over a flower-starred +prairie, and through belts of poplar bush, they came to the Kakisa River. + +By this time Ambrose had become somewhat habituated to his captivity. At +any rate, he was more philosophical. He had been treated well enough. + +There was a village at the end of the trail. Hearing the astonishing +news of what had happened, the people stared at Ambrose with their hard, +bright eyes as at a phenomenon. + +Ambrose figured that they had left Fort Enterprise a hundred and fifty +miles behind. He looked at the river with interest. He had heard that +no white man had ever descended it. + +He saw a smoothly flowing brown flood some two hundred yards wide winding +away between verdant willows. A smaller stream joined it at this point, +and the teepees stretched along either bank. + +Across the larger stream loomed a bold hill-point with a striking clump +of pines upon it, and under the trees the gables of an Indian +burying-ground like a village of toy houses. + +The flat where the rivers joined was hemmed all around by low hills. On +the right, half-way up the rise, a log shack dominated the village--and +to it Ambrose's captors led him. + +This was evidently intended to be his prison. Window and door were +closely boarded up. The Indians tore the boards from the doorway and, +casting off Ambrose's bonds, thrust him inside. They closed the door, +leaving him in utter darkness. He heard them contriving a bar to keep +him in. + +Ambrose, after waving his arms about to restore the circulation, set to +exploring his quarters by sense of touch. First he collided with a +counter running across from side to side. + +Behind, in the middle of the room, he found an iron cook-stove; against +the right hand wall were tiers of empty shelves; at the back a bedstead +filled with moldy hay; on the left side an empty chest, a table, and a +chair. + +Thus it was a combination of store and dwelling; no doubt it had been +built for Gordon Strange's use when he came to trade with the Kakisas. + +The window was over the table. Ambrose found it nailed down, besides +being boarded up outside. He had no intention of submitting to the +deprivation of light and air. + +He picked up the chair and swinging it delivered a series of blows that +shattered the glass, cracked the frame, and finally drove out the boards. +He found himself looking into the impassive faces of his jailers. + +They did not even seem surprised, and made no demonstration against him. +Ambrose whistled. Job came running and scrambled over the window-sill +into his master's arms. + +Later one of the Indians came with strips of moose hide which he pinned +across outside the window. From each strip dangled a row of bells, such +as are fastened to dog-harness. It was cunningly contrived--Ambrose +could not touch one of the strips ever so gently without giving an alarm. + +Thereafter, as long as it was light, he could see them loafing and +sleeping in the grass outside with their guns beside them. After dark +their pipe-bowls glowed. + +Three days of inexpressible tedium followed. Had it not been for Job, +Ambrose felt he would have gone out of his mind. His window overlooked +the teepee village, and his sole distraction from his thoughts lay in +watching the Indians at work and play. + +His jailers put up a teepee outside the shack. There were never less +than three in sight, generally playing poker--and with their guns beside +them. + +Ambrose knowing the inconsequentiality of the Indian mind guessed that +they must have had strong orders to keep them on guard so faithfully. +Any thought of escape was out of the question. He could not travel a +hundred and fifty miles without a store of food. He sought to keep out a +little from every meal that was served him, but he got barely enough for +him and Job, too. + +On the fourth day the arrival of the main body of Indians from Fort +Enterprise created a diversion. They came straggling slowly on foot down +the hill to the flat, extreme weariness marked in their heavy gait and +their sagging backs. + +Only Watusk rode a horse. Every other beast was requisitioned to carry +the loot from the store. Some of the men--and all the women bore packs +also. This was why they had been so long on the way. + +True to their savage nature they had taken more than they could carry. +As Ambrose learned later, there were goods scattered wantonly all along +the trail. + +Ambrose naturally anticipated some change in his own condition as a +result of the arrival of Watusk. But nothing happened immediately. The +patient squaws set to work to make camp, and by nightfall the village of +teepees was increased fourfold. + +In the motionless twilight each cone gave a perpendicular thread of smoke +to the thin cloud that hung low over the flat. + +As the darkness increased the teepees became faintly luminous from the +fires within, and the streets gleamed like strings of pale Japanese +lanterns. Ambrose, expecting visitors, watched at his window until late. + +None came. + +In the morning he made the man who brought his breakfast understand by +signs that he wished to speak with Watusk. The chief did not, however, +vouchsafe him a call. + +To-day it transpired that the Indians were only making a temporary halt +below. After a few hours' rest they got in motion again, and all +afternoon were engaged in ferrying their baggage across the river in +dugouts and in swimming their horses over. + +On the following morning, with the exception of Watusk's lodge and half a +dozen others, all the teepees were struck, and the whole body of the +people crossed the river and disappeared behind the hill. All on that +side was no man's land, still written down "unexplored" on the maps. + +Thereafter day succeeded day without any break in the monotony of +Ambrose's imprisonment. He occasionally made out the portly figure of +Watusk in his frock coat, but received no word from him. + +It was now the 20th of September, and the poplar boughs were bare. Every +morning now the grass was covered with rime, and to-day a flurry of snow +fell. Winter would increase the difficulties of escape tenfold. + +Ambrose speculated endlessly on what might be happening at Fort +Enterprise. He thought, too, of Peter Minot who was relying on him to +steer the hazarded fortunes of the firm into port--and groaned at his +impotence. + +As with all solitary prisoners, throughout the long hours Ambrose's mind +preyed upon itself. True, he had Job, who was friend and consoler in his +dumb way, but Job was only a dog. + +To joke or to swear at his jailers was like trying to make a noise in a +vacuum. Not to be able to make himself felt became a positive torture to +Ambrose. + +On the night of this day, lying in bed, he found himself wide awake +without being able to say what had awakened him. He lay listening, and +presently heard the sound again--the fall of a little object on the floor. + +The chinks of the log walls were stopped with mud which had dried and +loosened; nothing strange that bits of it should fall--still his heart +beat fast. + +He heard a cautious scratching and another piece dropped and broke on the +floor. Now he knew a living agency was at work. Job growled. Ambrose +clutched his muzzle. + +Suddenly a whisper stole through the dark--in his amazement Ambrose could +not have told from what quarter. "Angleysman! Angleysman!" + +Awe of the supernatural shook Ambrose's breast. He had come straight +from deep slumber. A fine perspiration broke out upon him. It was a +woman's whisper, with a tender lift and fall in the sound. + +Job struggled to release his head. Ambrose sternly bade him be quiet. +The dog desisted, but crouched trembling. + +The whisper was repeated; "Angleysman!" + +A man must answer his summons. "What do you want?" asked Ambrose softly. + +"Come here." + +"Where are you?" + +"Here--at the corner. Come to the foot of your bed." + +Ambrose obeyed. Reaching the spot he said: "Speak again." + +"Here," the voice whispered. "I mak' a hole in the mud. Put your ear +down and I spik sof'." + +Ambrose identified the spot whence the sound issued. He put his lips to +it. "Who are you?" he whispered. + +"Nesis," came the softly breathed answer. "I your friend." + +Friend was always a word to warm Ambrose's breast, and surely at this +moment of all his life he needed a friend. "Thank you," he said from a +full heart. + +"I see you at the tea-dance," the voice went on. + +Ambrose had an intuition. "Were you the girl--" + +"Yes," she said. "I sit be'ind you. I think you pretty man. When we +run out I squeeze your hand." + +Ambrose grinned into the darkness. "I thought you were pretty, too," he +returned. + +"Oh, I wish I in there," she whispered. + +He was a little nonplused by her naïve warmth. + +"The men say you strong as one bear," she went on. "They say you got +gold in your teeth. Is that true?" + +"Yes," said Ambrose laughing. + +"I lak' to see that." + +In spite of the best intent on both sides conversation languished. It is +difficult to make acquaintance through a wall of logs. Finally Ambrose +asked how it was she could speak English, and that unlocked her simple +story. + +"My fat'er teach me," she said. "He is half a white man. He come here +long tam ago and marry Kakisa. He spik ver' good Angleys. When Watusk +is make head man he mad at my fat'er because my fat'er spik Angleys. + +"Watusk not want nobody spik Angleys but him around. Watusk fix it to +mak' them kill my fat'er. It is the truth. Watusk not know I spik +Angleys, too. My fat'er teach me quiet. If Watusk know that he cut out +my tongue, I think. I lak spik Angleys--me. I spik by myself so not +forget. I come spik Angleys with you." + +"Your father is dead?" said Ambrose. "Who do you live with?" + +"Watusk," came the surprising answer. "I Watusk's youngest wife. Got +four wives." + +"Good Lord!" murmured Ambrose. + +"When my fat'er is kill, Watusk tak' me," she went on. "I hate him!" + +"What a shame!" cried Ambrose, remembering the wistful face. + +"I wish I in there!" she whispered again. + +"Will you help me to get out?" Ambrose asked eagerly. "I can make it if +you can slip me some food." + +"I not want you go 'way," she said slowly. + +"I can't live locked up like this!" he cried. + +"Yes, I help you," she whispered. + +"Could you get me a horse, too?" he asked. + +"Yes," she said. "But many men is watch the trail for police. Tak' a +canoe and go down the river." + +"Where does this river go?" + +"They say to the Big Buffalo lake." + +"Good! I can get back to Moultrie from there. Can you bring me a strong +knife?" + +"I bring him to-morrow night, Angleysman." + +"I will cut a hole in the floor and dig out under the wall." + +Nesis was not anxious to talk over the details of his escape. "Have you +got a wife?" she asked. "Why not?" There was no end to her questions. + +Finally she said with a sigh: "I got go now. I put my hand inside. You +can touch it." + +Ambrose felt for the little fingers that crept through the slit, and +gratefully pressed his lips to them. + +"Ah!" she breathed wonderingly. "Was that your mouth? It mak' me jomp! +Put your hand outside, Angleysman." + +He did so, and felt his fingers brushed as with rose-petals. + +"Goo'-by!" she breathed. + +"Nesis," he asked, "do you know why Watusk is keeping me locked up here? +What does he think he's going to do with me?" + +"Sure I know," she said. "Ev'rybody know. If the police catch him he +say he not mak' all this trouble. He say you mak' him do it all. Gordon +Strange tell him say that." + +A great light broke on Ambrose. "Of course!" he said. + +"Goo'-by, Angleysman!" breathed Nesis. "I come to-morrow night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +NESIS. + +After this, Ambrose's dreary imprisonment took on a new color. True, +the hours next day threatened to drag more slowly than ever, but with +the hope that it might be the last day he could bear it philosophically. + +Hour after hour he paced his floor on springs. "Tomorrow the free sky +over my head!" he told himself. "I'll be doing something again!" + +He watched the teepees with an added interest, wondering if any of the +women's figures he saw might be hers. The most he could distinguish at +the distance was the difference between fat and slender. + +In the middle of the morning he saw Watusk ride forth, accompanied by +four men that he guessed were the councilors. Watusk now had a +military aspect. + +On his head he wore a pith helmet, and across the frock coat a broad +red sash like a field marshal's. He and his henchmen climbed the trail +leading back to Enterprise. + +Later, Ambrose saw a party of women leave camp, carrying birch-bark +receptacles that looked like school-book satchels. They commenced to +pick berries on the hillside. Ambrose wondered if his little friend +were among them. + +They gradually circled the hill and approached his shack. As they drew +near he finally recognized Nesis in one who occasionally straightened +her back and glanced toward his window. She was slenderer than the +others. + +The shack stood on a little terrace of clean grass. Above it and below +stretched the rough hillside, covered with scrubby bushes and weeds. +It was in this rough ground that the women were gathering wild +cranberries. + +Coming to the edge of the grass, they paused with full satchels, +talking idly, nibbling the fruit and casting inquisitive glances toward +Ambrose's prison. + +There were eight of them, and Nesis stood out from the lot like a star. +The four men playing poker in the grass at one side paid no attention +to them. + +Nesis with a sly smile whispered in her neighbor's ear. The other girl +grinned and nodded, the word was passed around, and they all came +forward a little way in the grass with a timid air. + +Their inquisitive eyes sought to pierce the obscurity of the shack. +Ambrose, not yet knowing what was expected of him, kept in the +background. + +The fat girl, prompted and nudged by Nesis, suddenly squalled something +in Kakisa, which convulsed them all. Ambrose had no difficulty in +recognizing it as a derisive, flirtatious challenge. + +Not to be outdone, he came to the window and answered in kind. They +could not contain their laughter at the sound of the comical English +syllables. + +Badinage flew fast after that. Ambrose observed that Nesis herself +never addressed him, but circulated slyly from one to another, making a +cup of her hand at each ear. + +Becoming emboldened, they gradually drew closer to the window. They +made outrageous faces. Still the poker-players affected not to be +aware of them. As men and hunters they disdained to notice such +foolishness. + +Suddenly Nesis, as if to prove her superior boldness, darted forward to +the very window. Ambrose, startled by the unexpected move, fell back a +step. Nesis put her hands on the sill and shrieked an unintelligible +jibe into the room. + +The other girls hugged themselves with horrified delight. This was too +much for the jailers. They sprang up and with threatening voice and +gestures drove the girls away. They scampered down-hill, shrieking +with affected terror. + +When Nesis placed her hands on the sill a thin package slipped out of +her sleeve and thudded upon the floor. Ambrose's heart jumped. + +As the girls ran away, under cover of leaning out and calling after +them, he pushed her gift under the table with his foot. One of the +jailers, coming to the window and glancing about the room, found him +unconcernedly lighting his pipe. + +When the poker game was resumed Ambrose retired with his prize to the +farthest corner of the shack. It proved to be the knife he had asked +for, a keen, strong blade. + +She had wrapped it in a piece of moose hide to keep it from clattering +on the floor. Ambrose's heart warmed toward her anew. "She's as +plucky and clever as she is friendly," he thought. He stuffed the +knife in his bed and resigned himself as best he could to wait for +darkness. + +Fortunately for his store of patience, the days were rapidly growing +shorter. His supper was brought him at six, and when he had finished +eating it was dark enough to begin work. + +Outside the moon's first quarter was filling the bowl of the hills with +a delicate radiance, but moonlight outside only made the interior of +the shack darker to one looking in. + +Ambrose squatted in the corner at the foot of his bed, and set to work +as quietly as a mouse in the pantry. + + +He had finished his hole in the flooring and was commencing to dig in +the earth, when a soft scratching on the wall gave notice of Nesis's +presence outside. + +"Angleysman, you there?" she whispered through the chink. + +"Here!" said Ambrose. + +"The boat is ready," she said. "I got grub and blanket and gun." + +"Ah, fine!" whispered Ambrose. + +"You almost out?" she asked. + +He explained his situation. + +"I dig this side, too," she said. "We dig together. Mak' no noise!" + +Since the shack was innocent of foundation it was no great matter to +dig under the wall. With knife and hands Ambrose worked on his side +until he had got deep enough to dig under. + +Occasional little sounds assured him that Nesis was not idle. Suddenly +the thin barrier of earth between them caved in, and they clasped hands +in the hole. + +Five minutes more of scooping out and the way was clear. Ambrose +extended his long body on the floor and wriggled himself slowly under +the log. + +Outside an urgent hand on his shoulder restrained him. Throwing +herself on the ground, she put her lips to his ear. "Go back!" she +whispered. "The moon is moch bright. You must wait little while." + +Ambrose, mad to taste the free air of heaven, resisted a little +sullenly. + +"Please go back!" she whispered imploringly. "I come in. I got talk +with you." + +He drew himself back into the shack with none too good a grace. +Standing over the hole when she appeared, he put his hands under her +arms and, drawing her through, stood her upon her feet. + +He could have tossed the little thing in the air with scarcely an +effort. She turned about and came close to him. + +"I so glad to be by you!" she breathed. + +She emanated a delicate natural fragrance like pine-trees or wild +roses--but Ambrose could only think of freedom. + +"You managed to get here without being seen," he grumbled. + +"You foolish!" she whispered tenderly. "I little. I can hide behind +leaves sof' as a link. Your white face him show by the moon lak a +little moon. Are you sorry you got stay with me little while?" + +"No!" he said. "But--I'm sick to be out of this!" + +She put her hands on his shoulders and drew him down. "Sit on the +floor," she whispered. "Your ear too moch high for my mouth."' + +They sat, leaning against the footboard of the bed, Like a confiding +child she snuggled her shoulder under his arm and drew the arm around +her. What was he to do hut hold her close? + +"It is true, you ver' moch strong," she murmured. "Lak a bear. But a +bear is ogly." + +"You didn't think I was pretty to-day, did you,", he said with a grin, +"with a week's growth on my chin?" + +She softly stroked his cheek. "Wah!" she said, laughing. "Lak +porcupine! Red man not have strong beard lak that. They say you +scrape it off with a knife every day." + +"When I have the knife," said Ambrose. + +"Why you do that?" she asked. "I lak see it grow down long lak my +hair. That would be wonderful!" + +Ambrose trembled with internal laughter. + +"I lak everything of you," she murmured. + +He was much troubled between his gratitude and his inability to +reciprocate the naïve passion she had conceived for him. It is +pleasant to be loved and flattered and exalted, but it entails +obligations. + +"I never can thank you properly for what you've done," he said clumsily. + +"I do anything for you," she said quickly. "So soon my eyes see you to +the dance I know that. Always before that I am think about white men. +I not see no white men before, only the little parson, and the old men +at the fort. They not lak you? My father is the same as me. He lak +white men. We talk moch about white men. My fat'er say to me never +forget the Angleys talk. Do I spik Angleys good, Angleysman?" + +"Fine!" whispered Ambrose. + +She pulled his head forward so that she could breathe her soft speech +directly in his ear. + +"My father and me not the same lak other people here. We got white +blood. Men not talk with their girls moch. My fat'er talk man talk +with me. Because he is got no boys, only me. So I know many things. + +"I think, women's talk foolish. Many tam my fat'er say to me, Angleys +talk mak' men strong. He say to me, some day Watusk kill me for cause +I spik the Angleys. + +"So in the tam of falling leaves lak this, three years ago, my fat'er +he is go down the river to the big falls to meet the people from Big +Buffalo Lake. + +"My fat'er and ten men go. Bam-by them come back. My fat'er not in +any dugout. Them say my fat'er is hunt with Ahcunza one day. My +fat'er is fall in the river and go down the big falls. + +"They say that. But I know the truth. Ahcunza is a friend of Watusk. +Watusk give him his vest with goldwork after. My fat'er is dead. I am +lak wood then. My mot'er sell me to Watusk. I not care for not'ing." + +"Your mother, sell you!" murmured Ambrose. + +"My mot'er not lak me ver' moch," said Nesis simply. "She mad for +cause I got white blood. She mad for cause my fat'er all tam talk with +me." + +"Three years ago!" said Ambrose. "You must have been a little girl +then!" + +"I fourteen year old then. My mot'er got 'not'er osban' now. Common +man. They gone with Buffalo Lake people. I not care. All tam I think +of my fat'er. He is one fine man. + +"Las' summer the priest come here. Mak' good talk, him. Say if we +good, bam-by we see the dead again. What you think, is that true talk, +Angleysman?" + +Ambrose's arm tightened around the wistful child. "Honest truth!" he +whispered. + +She opened her simple heart fully to him. Her soft speech tumbled out +as if it had been dammed all these years, and only now released by a +touch of kindness. + +Ambrose was touched as deeply as a young man may be by a woman he does +not love, yet he could not help glancing over her head at the square of +sky obliquely revealed through the window. It gradually darkened. + +"The moon has gone down," he said at last. + +Nesis clung to him. "Ah, you so glad to leave me!" she whimpered. + +He gently released himself. "Think of me a little," he said. "I must +get a long start before daylight." + +She buried her face on her knees. Her shoulders shook. + +"Nesis!" he whispered appealingly. + +She lifted her head and flung a hand across her eyes. "No good cry," +she murmured. "Come on!" + +Nesis led the way out through the hole they had dug. Job followed +Ambrose. Outside, for greater safety, he took the dog in his arms. + +The moon had sunk behind the hill across the river, but it was still +dangerously bright. Nesis took hold of Ambrose's sleeve and pointed +off to the right. She whispered in his ear: + +"Ev'ry tam feel what is under your foot before step hard." + +She did not make directly for the river, but led him step by step up +the hill toward a growth of timber that promised safety. The first +hundred yards was the most difficult. + +They rose above the shack into the line of vision of the guards in +front, had they elevated their eyes. Nesis, crouching, moved like a +cat after a bird. + +Ambrose followed, scarcely daring to breathe. Even the dog understood +and lay as if dead in Ambrose's arms. + +The danger decreased with every step. When they gained the trees they +could fairly count themselves safe. Even if an alarm were raised now +it would take time to find them in the dark. + +Nesis, still leading Ambrose, pattered ahead as if every twig in the +bush was familiar to her. She did not strike down to the river until +they had gone a good way around the side of the hill. + +This brought them to the water's edge at a point a third of a mile or +more below the teepees. Ambrose distinguished a bark canoe drawn up +beneath the willows. In it lay the outfit she had provided. + +He put it in the water, and Job hopped into his accustomed place in the +bow. + +"You love that dog ver' moch," Nesis murmured jealously. + +"He's all I've got," said Ambrose. + +Her hand swiftly sought his. + +"Tell me how I should go," said Ambrose hastily, fearing a +demonstration. + +Nesis drew a long sigh. "I tell you," she said sadly. "They say it is +four sleeps to the big falls. Two sleeps by quiet water. Many bad +rapids after that. You mus' land by every rapid to look. They say the +falls mak' no noise before they catch you. Ah! tak' care!" + +"I know rivers," said Ambrose. + +"They say under the water is a cave with white bones pile up!" she +faltered. "They say my fat'er is there. I 'fraid for you to go!" + +"I'll be careful," he said lightly. "Don't you worry!" + +"At the falls," she went on sadly, "you mus' land on the side away from +the sun, and carry your canoe on your back. There is pretty good +trail. Three miles. After that one more sleep to the big lake. A +Company fort is there." + +Like an honest man he dreaded the mere formulas of thanks at such a +moment, but neither could an honest man forego them. "How can I ever +repay you!" he mumbled. + +She clapped a warm hand over his mouth. + +As he was about to step in the canoe Ambrose saw a bundle lying on the +ground to one side that he had not remarked before. "What is that?" he +asked. + +"Nothing for you," she said quickly. + +The evasive note made him insist upon knowing. + +For a long time she would not tell, thus increasing his determination +to find out. Finally she said very low: "I jus' foolish. I think +maybe--maybe you want tak' me too!" + +Ambrose's heart was wrung. His arm went around her with a right good +will. "You poor baby!" he murmured. "I can't!" + +She struggled to release herself. "All right," she said stiffly. "I +not think you tak' me. Only maybe." + +"By God!" swore Ambrose. "If I live through my troubles I'll find a +way of getting you out of yours!" + +"Ah, come back!" she murmured, clinging to his arm. + +"Good-by," he said. + +"Wait!" she said, clinging to him. She lifted her face. "Kiss me +once, lak' white people kiss!" + +He kissed her fairly. + +"Goo'-by," she whispered. "I always be think of you. Goo'-by, +Angleysman!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +FREE! + +Ambrose put off with a heart big with compassion for the piteous little +figure he was leaving behind him. His impotence to aid her poisoned +the joy of his escape. + +The worst of it was that it was impossible for him to return the +feeling she had for him--even though Colina were lost to him forever. +Her unlucky passion almost forbade him to be the one to aid her. + +Yet he had profited by that passion to make his escape. He must find +some way. + +As he drove his paddle into the breast of the dark river, and put one +point of willows after another between him and danger, it must be +confessed that his spirits rose steadily. + +Never had his nostrils tasted anything sweeter than the smell of warm +river water on the chill air, nor his eyes beheld a friendlier sight +than the cheery stars. The one who fares forth does not repine. + +After all he had only known Nesis for two days; she was fine and +plucky--but he could not love her, and that was all there was to it. +He had matters nearer his heart than the sad fate of an Indian maiden. + +Master of his actions once more it was time for him to consider what to +do to get out of the coil he was in. Nesis passed into the back of his +mind. + +No desire for sleep hampered him. He had had enough of sleeping the +past two weeks. His arms had ached for this exercise. There was a +fair current, and the willows moved by at a respectable rate. + +He estimated that he could put forty miles between him and the Kakisa +village by morning. The pleasant taste of freedom was heightened by +the spice of heading into the unknown, and by night. + +Night returns a rare sympathy to those who cultivate her. Ambrose, so +far as he knew, was the first white man ever to travel this way. This +river had no voice. The night was so still one could almost fancy one +heard the stars. + +Sometimes the looming shapes of islands confused him as to his course, +but if he held his paddle the canoe would of itself choose the main +current. + +He had no apprehension as to what each bend in the stream would reveal, +for with the experienced riverman's intuition he looked for a change in +the character of the shores to warn him of any interruption of the +current's smooth flow. + +"Like old times, old fel'!" he said to his dumb partner. + +Job's tail thumped on the gunwale. Ambrose contended that at night Job +purposely turned stern formost to the most convenient hard object that +his signals might be audible. + +"To-night is ours anyway, old fel'," said Ambrose. "Let's enjoy it +while we can. The worst is yet to come!" + +It was many a day since Job had heard this jocular note in his master's +voice. He wriggled a little and whined in his eagerness to reach him. +Job knew better than to attempt to move much in the bark canoe. + +In due course the miracle of dawn was enacted on the river. The world +stole out of the dark like a woman wan with watching. First the line +of tree-tops on either bank became blackly silhouetted against the +graying sky, then little by little the masses of trees and bushes +resolved into individuals. + +Perspective came into being, afterward atmosphere, and finally color. +The scene was as cool and delicate as that presented to a diver on the +floor of the sea. As the light increased it was as if he mounted into +shallower water toward the sun. + +The first distinctive note of color was the astonishing green of the +goosegrass springing in the mud left by the falling water; then the +current itself became a rich, brown with creamy flakes of foam sailing +down like little vessels. While Ambrose looked, the world blossomed +from a pale nun into a ruddy matron. + +With the rising of the sun the need of sleep began to afflict him. He +had thought he never would need sleep again. His paddle became leaden +in his hands, and Olympian yawns prostrated him. + +He did not wish to take the time to sleep as yet, but he resolved to +stimulate his flagging energies with bread and hot tea. + +Landing on a point of stones, he built a fire, and hung his little +copper pot over it. The sight of everything he had been provided with +brought the thought of Nesis sharply home again, and sobered him. + +Here was everything a traveler might require, even including two extra +pairs of moccasins, worked, he was sure, by herself. "How can I ever +repay her?" he thought uncomfortably. + +Job was gyrating madly up and down the beach to express his joy at +their deliverance. Ambrose was aroused from a drowsy contemplation of +the fire by an urgent bark from the dog. + +Looking up, he was frozen with astonishment to behold another bark +canoe sweeping around the bend above. When motion returned to him, his +hand instinctively shot out toward the gun. But there was only one +figure. It was a woman--it was Nesis! + +Ambrose dropped the gun and, jumping up, swore helplessly under his +breath. He stared at the oncoming boat, fascinated with perplexity. + +During the few seconds between his first sight of it and its grounding +at his feet, the complications bound to follow on her coming presented +themselves with a horrible clearness. His face turned grim. + +Nesis, landing, could not face his look. She flung up an arm over her +eyes. "Ah, don't look so mad to me!" she faltered. + +"God help us!" muttered Ambrose. "What will we do now?" + +She sank down in a heap at his feet. "Don't, don't hate me or I die!"' +she wailed. + +It was impossible for him to remain angry with the forlorn little +creature. He laid a hand on her shoulder. + +"Get up," he said with a sigh. "I'm not blaming you. The question +is--what are we going to do?" + +She lifted her head. "I go with you," she whispered breathlessly. "I +help you in the rapids. I bake bread for you. I watch at night." + +He shook his head. "You've got to go back," he said sternly. + +"No! No!" she cried, wringing her hands. "I can' go back no more! +Las' night when you go I fall down. I think I goin' die. I sorry I +not die. I want jump in river; but the priest say that is a bad thing. + +"I can' go back to Watusk's teepee no more. If he touch me I got kill +him! That is bad, too! I don't know what to do! I want be good so I +see my fat'er bam-by!" + +Ambrose groaned. + +She thought he was relenting, and came and wound her arms about him. +"Tak' me wit' you," she pleaded like a little child. "I be good, +Angleysman!" + +Ambrose firmly detached the imploring arms. "You mustn't do that," he +said as to a child. "We've got to think hard what to do." + +"Ah, you hate me!" she wailed. + +"That's nonsense!" he said sharply. "I am your friend. I will never +forget what you did for me!" + +He took an abrupt turn up and down the stones, trying to think what to +do. "Look here," he said finally. "I've got to hurt you. I should +have told you before, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt you. I can't +love you the way you want. I'm in love with another woman." + +She flung away from him, shoulder up as if he had raised a whip. Her +face turned ugly. + +"You love white woman!" she hissed with extraordinary passion. "Colina +Gaviller! I know! I hate her! She proud and wicked woman. She hate +my people!" Nesis's eyes flamed up with a kind of bitter triumph. Her +voice rose shrilly. + +"She hate you, too! Always she is bad to you. I know that, too. What +you want wit' Colina Gaviller? Are you a dog to lie down when she beat +you?" + +Ambrose's eyes gleamed ominously. "Stop it!" he cried. "You don't +know what you're talking about." His look intimidated her. The fury of +jealousy subsided to a sullen muttering. "I hate her! She bad to the +people. She want starve the people. She think her yellow horse better +than an Indian!" + +Ambrose, seeing her lip begin to tremble and her eyes fill, relented. +"Stop it," he said mildly. "No use for us to quarrel." + +She suddenly broke into a storm of weeping and cast herself down, +hiding her face in her arms. Ambrose could think of nothing better to +do than let her weep herself out. He sat down on a boulder. + +She came creeping to him at last, utterly humbled. "Angleysman, tak' +me wit' you," she murmured, clasping her hands before him. Her breath +was still caught with sobs. "I not expec' you marry me. I not bot'er +you wit' much talk lak' a wife. I jus' be your little servant. You +not want me, you say: Go 'way. I jus' wait till you want me again." + +Ambrose turned his head away. He had never imagined a man having to go +through with anything like this. + +"Always, always I work for you," she whispered. "Let Colina Gaviller +marry you. She not mind me. I guess she not mind that little dog you +love. I jus' poor, common red girl. She think not'ing of me!" + +Ambrose laughed a bitter note at the picture she called up. "That +would hardly work," he said. + +"But tak' me wit' you," she implored. She finally ventured to lay her +cheek on his knee. + +He laid a hand on her hair. "Listen, you baby," he said, "and try to +understand me. You know that they are going to try to put off all this +trouble on me. They will say I made the Indians do bad. They will say +I tried to kill John Gaviller. The police will arrest me, and there +will be a trial. You know what that is." + +"Everybody see you not a bad man," she said. + +"It's not as simple as that," he said with a wry smile. "I have nobody +to speak for me but myself. Now, if you go away with me everybody will +say: 'Ambrose Doane stole Watusk's wife away from him. Ambrose Doane +is a bad man.' And then they will not believe me when I say I did not +lead the Indians into wrong; I did not try to kill John Gaviller." + +"I speak for you," cried Nesis. "I tell Gordon Strange and Watusk fix +all trouble together." + +"If you go with me, they will not believe you either," said Ambrose +patiently. "They will say: 'Nesis is crazy about Ambrose Doane. He +makes her say whatever he wants.'" + +"It is the truth I am crazy 'bout you," said Nesis. + +Ambrose sighed. "Listen to me. I tell you straight, if you go with me +it will ruin me. I am as good as a jailbird already." + +She gave her head an impatient shake. "I not understand," she said +sadly. "You say it. I guess it is truth." + +There was a silence. Nesis's childlike brows were bent into a frown. +She glanced into his face to see if there was any reprieve from the +hard sentence. Finally she said very low: + +"Angleysman, you got go to jail if you tak' me?" + +"Sure as fate!" he said sadly. + +She got up very slowly. "I guess I ver' foolish," she murmured. She +waited, obviously to give him a chance to speak. He was mum. + +"I go back now," she whispered heart-brokenly, and turned toward her +canoe. + +With her hand on the prow she waited again, not looking at him, hoping +against hope. There was something crushed and palpitating in her +aspect like a wounded bird. Ambrose felt like a monster of cruelty. + +Suddenly a fresh fear attacked him. "Nesis," he asked, "how will you +explain being away overnight? They will connect it with my escape. +What will they do to you?" + +She turned her head, showing him a painful little smile. "You not +think of that before," she murmured. "I not care what they do by me. +You not love me." + +He strode to her and clapped a rough hand on her shoulder. "Here, I +couldn't have them hurt you!" he cried harshly. "You baby! You come +with me. I'm in as bad as I can be already. A little more or less +won't make any difference. I'll chance it, anyway. You come with me!" + +"Oh, my Angleysman!" she breathed, and sank a little limp heap at his +feet. + +Ambrose blew up the forgotten fire and made tea. Nesis quickly +revived. Having made up his mind to take her, he put the best possible +face on it. + +There were to be no more reproaches. Her pitiful anxiety not to anger +him again made him wince. Her eyes never left his face. If he so much +as frowned at an uncomfortable thought they became tragic. + +"Look here, I'm not a brute!" he cried, exasperated. + +Nesis looked foolish, and quickly turned her head away. + +Over their tea and bannock they became almost cheerful. Motion had +made them both hungry. + +Ambrose glanced at their slender store. "We'll never hang out to the +lake at this rate," he said laughing. + +"I set rabbit snare when we sleep," Nesis said quickly. "I catch fish. +I shoot wild duck." + +"Shall we leave one of the canoes?" asked Ambrose. + +She shook her head vigorously. "Each tak' one. Maybe one bus' in +rapids. You sleep in your canoe now. I pull you." + +Ambrose shook his head. "No sleep until to-night," he said. + +Ambrose was lighting his pipe and Nesis was gathering up the things +when suddenly Job sprang up, barking furiously. At the same moment +half a score of dark faces rose above the bank behind them, and +gun-barrels stuck up. + +Among the ten was a distorted, snarling, yellow face. Ambrose snatched +up his own gun. Nesis uttered a gasping cry; such a sound of terror +Ambrose had never heard. + +"Shoot me!" she gasped, crawling toward him. "You shoot me! +Angleysman, quick! Shoot me!" + +Her heartrending cries had so confused him, he was seized before he +could raise his gun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE ALARM. + +Ambrose was pacing his log prison once more. The earth had been filled +in, the hole in the floor roughly repaired, and now his jailers took +turns in patrolling around the shack. + +Imprisonment was doubly hard now. Day and night Nesis's strange cries +of terror rang in his ears. He knew something about the Indians' ideas +of punishing women. His imagination never ceased to suggest terrible +things that might have befallen her. + +"God! Every one that comes near me suffers!" he cried in his first +despair. + +The explanation of their surprise proved simple. Watusk and his crew, +pursuing them in two dugouts, had seen the smoke of their fire from up +the river. + +They had landed above the point and, making a short detour inland, had +fallen on Ambrose and Nesis from behind. Nesis had been carried back +in one dugout, Ambrose in the other. + +During the trip no ill-usage had been offered her, as far as he could +see, but upon reaching the village she had been spirited away, and he +had not seen her since. + +His last glimpse had shown him her child's face almost dehumanized with +terror. + +Ambrose now for the first time received a visit from Watusk. Watusk +had also traveled in the other dugout ascending the river, and they had +exchanged no words. + +He came to the shack attended by his four little familiars, and the +door was closed behind them. These four were like supers in a theater. +They had no lines to speak. Watusk's aspect was intended to be +imposing. + +In addition to the red sash he now wore three belts, the first full of +cartridges, the second supporting an old cavalry saber, the third +carrying two gigantic .45 Colts in holsters. + +He carried the Winchester over his arm, and still wore the grimy pith +helmet. Ambrose smiled with bitter amusement. It seemed like the very +sport of fate that he should be placed in the power of such a poor +creature as this. + +"How!" said Watusk, offering his hand with an affable smile. + +Ambrose, remembering the look of his face when it rose over the bank, +was sharply taken aback. He lacked a clue to the course of reasoning +pursued by Watusk's mongrel mind. However, he quickly reflected that +it was only by exercising his wits that he could hope to help Nesis. +He took the detestable hand and returned an offhand greeting. + +"You mak' beeg mistak' you try run away," said Watusk. "You mos' safe +here." + +"How is that?" asked Ambrose warily. + +"I your friend," said Watusk. + +Ambrose suppressed the inclination to laugh. + +"I keep you here so people won't hurt you," Watusk went on. "My people +lak children. Pretty soon forget what they after. Pretty soon forget +they mad at you. Then I let you out." + +"Do you still mean to say that I killed one of your men?" demanded +Ambrose hotly. + +Watusk shrugged. "Myengeen say so." + +"It's a lie!" cried Ambrose scornfully. An expectant look in Watusk's +eye arrested him from saying more. "He's trying to find out how much +Nesis told me," he thought. Aloud he said, with a shrug like Watusk +himself: "Well, I'll be glad when it blows over." + +"Two three day I let you out," Watusk said soothingly. "You can have +anything you want." + +"How is Nesis?" demanded Ambrose abruptly. + +There was a subtle change in Watusk's eyes; no muscle of his face +altered. + +"She all right," he said coolly. + +"Where is she?" + +"I send her to my big camp 'cross the river." + +"You shouldn't blame Nesis for helping me out," Ambrose said +earnestly--not that he expected to make any impression. "She's only a +child. I made her do it." + +Watusk spread out his palms blandly. "I not blame her," he said. "I +not care not'ing only maybe you get drown in the rapids." + +Ambrose studied the brown mask narrowly. Watusk gave nothing away. +Suddenly the Indian smiled. + +"You t'ink I mad for cause she go wit' you?" he said. He laughed +silently. "Wa! There are plenty women. When I let you out I give you +Nesis." + +This sounded a little too philanthropic. + +"H-m!" said Ambrose. + +"You lak little Nesis, hey?" inquired Watusk, leering. + +Ambrose was warned by a crafty shadow in the other man's eye. + +"Sure!" he said lightly. "Didn't she help me out of here?" + +"You lak talk wit' her, I t'ink." + +Ambrose thought fast. The only English words Nesis had spoken in +Watusk's hearing were her cries of fright at his appearance. In the +confusion of that moment it was possible Watusk had not remarked them. + +"Talk to her?" said Ambrose, simulating surprise. "Only by signs." + +"How she get you out, then?" Watusk quickly asked. + +This was a poser. To hesitate was to confess all. Ambrose drew a +quick breath and plunged ahead. + +"Why, she and a lot of girls were picking berries that day. They came +around the shack here and began to jolly me through the window. I +fixed Nesis with my eye and scared her. I made a sign for her to bring +me a knife. She brought it at night. I put my magic on her and made +her help me dig out and get me an outfit. I was afraid she'd raise an +alarm as soon as I left, so I made her come, too." + +"Why you tak' two canoe?" asked Watusk. + +"In case we should break one in the rapids." + +"So!" said Watusk. + +Ambrose lighted his pipe with great carelessness. He was unable to +tell from Watusk's face if his story had made any impression. Thinking +of the conjure-man, he hoped the suggestion of magic might have an +effect. + +"I let you out now," said Watusk suddenly. "You got promise me you not +go way from here before I tell you go. Give me your hand and swear." + +Ambrose smelled treachery. He shook his head. "I'll escape if I can!" + +Watusk shrugged his shoulder and turned away. + +"You foolish," he said. "I your friend. Good-by." + +"Good-by," returned Ambrose ironically. + +Ambrose walked his floor, studying Watusk's words from every angle. +The result of his cogitations was nil. Watusk's mind was at the same +time too devious and too inconsequential for a mind like Ambrose's to +track it. Ambrose decided that he was like one of the childish, +unreasonable liars one meets in the mentally defective of our own race. +Such a one is clever to no purpose: he will blandly attempt to lie away +the presence of truth. + + +In the middle of the afternoon Ambrose, making his endless tramp back +and forth across the little shack, paused to take an observation from +the window, and saw three horsemen come tearing down the trail into +camp. + +They flung themselves off their horses with excited gestures, and the +camp was instantly thrown into confusion. The natives darted among the +teepees like ants when their hill is broken into. + +Watusk appeared, buckling on his belts. The women that were left in +camp started to scuttle toward the river, dragging their children after +them. + +Ambrose's heart bounded at the prospect of a diversion. Whatever +happened, his lot could be no worse. At the first alarm three of his +jailers had run down to the teepees. They came back in a hurry. + +The door of the shack was thrown open, and the whole six rushed in and +seized him. Ambrose, seeking to delay them, struggled hard. They +finally got his hands and feet tied, cursing him heartily in their own +tongue. They hustled him down to the riverside. + +All the people left on this side were already gathered there. They +continually looked over their shoulders with faces ashen with terror. +The men who had horses drove them into the river and swam across with a +hand upon the saddle. + +The women and children were ferried in the dugout. So great was their +haste they came empty-handed. The teepees were left as they stood with +fires burning and flaps up. + +Watusk passed near Ambrose, his yellow face livid with agitation. + +"What's the matter?" cried the white man. + +The chief was afflicted with a sudden deafness. Ambrose was cast in a +dugout. The indefatigable Job hopped in after and made himself small +at his master's feet. + +The mad excitement of the whole crowd inspired Ambrose with a strong +desire to laugh. The water flew in cascades from the frantic paddles +of the boat-men. + +Arriving on the other side, Ambrose was secured on a horse, as on his +first journey, and instantly despatched inland with his usual guard. +As he was carried away they were dragging up the dugouts and concealing +them under the willows. Watusk was sending men to watch from the +cemetery on top of the bold hill. + +Ambrose's guards led his horse at a smart lope around a spur of the +hill and along beside a wasted stream almost lost in its stony bed. A +dense forest bordered either bank. The trail was broken and spread by +the recent passage of a large number of travelers; these would be the +main body of the Kakisas a week before. Ambrose guessed that they were +following the bed of a coulée. + +Through the tree-tops on either hand he had occasional glimpses of +steep, high banks. + +After a dozen miles or so of this they suddenly debouched into a +verdant little valley without a tree. The stream meandered through it +with endless twists. + +Except for two narrow breaks where it entered and issued forth, the +hills pressed all around, steep, grassy hills, fantastically knobbed +and hollowed. + +The floor of the valley was about a third of a mile long and half as +wide. It was flat and covered with a growth of blue-joint grass as +high as a man's knee. + +The whole place was like a large clean, green bowl flecked here and +there with patches of bright crimson where the wild rose scrub grew in +the hollows. + +Ambrose, casting his eyes over the green panorama, was astonished to +see at intervals around the sky-line little groups of men busily at +work. They appeared to be digging; he could not be sure. One does not +readily associate Indians with spades. His guards pointed out the +workers to one another, jabbering excitedly in the uncouth Kakisa. + +They rode on through the upper entrance of the valley and plunged into +forest again. Another mile, and they came abruptly on the Indian +village hidden in a glade just big enough to contain it. + +It had grown; there were many more teepees in sight than Ambrose had +counted before. They faced each other in two long double rows with a +narrow green between. Down the middle of the green ran the stream, +here no bigger than a man might step across. + +Ambrose was unceremoniously thrust into one of the first teepees and, +bound hand and foot, left to his own devices. He managed to drag +himself to the door, where he could at least see something of what was +going on. He looked eagerly for a sight of Nesis, or, failing her, one +of the girls who had accompanied her on the berry-picking expedition, +and who might be induced to give him some honest information about her. +He was not rewarded. + +All who entered the village from the east passed by him. Watusk and +the rest of the people from the river arrived in an hour. + +Here among safe numbers of their own people they recovered from their +alarm. Ambrose suspected their present confidence to be as little +founded on reason as their previous terror. Watusk, strutting like a +turkey-cock in his military finery, issued endless orders. + +At intervals the workers from the hills straggled into camp. Ambrose +saw that they had been using their paddles as spades. A general and +significant cleaning of rifles took place before the teepees. + +At dusk two more men rode in, probably outposts Watusk had left at the +river. One held up his two bands, opening out and closing the fingers +twice. Ambrose guessed from this that the coming police party numbered +twenty. + +The last thing he saw as darkness infolded the camp was the boys +driving in the horses from the hills. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE TRAP. + +He shared the teepee with his six guards. Sleep was remote from his +eyes. Nevertheless, he did fall off at last, only, it seemed to him, +to be immediately awakened by his guards. + +His ankles were unbound, and he was made to understand that he must +ride again. Ambrose, seeing no advantage to be gained by resistance, +did what they ordered without objection. + +He got to his feet and went outside. A pitiful little yelp behind him +caused him to whirl about and dart inside again. + +"Hands off my dog!" he cried in a voice that caused the Kakisas to fall +back in affright. + +There was a little light from the fire. Their attitude was +conciliatory. In their own language they sought to explain. One +pointed to a kind of pannier of birch-bark hanging from a teepee pole, +whence issued a violent scratching. + +"Let him out!" cried Ambrose. + +They expostulated with him. None made any move to obey. + +"Let him out!" commanded Ambrose, "or I'll smash something!" + +Watusk, attracted by the noise, stuck his head in. The matter was +explained to him. Lifting the cover of the pannier, he exhibited the +frightened but unharmed Job to his master. + +"Him all right," he said soothingly. "Let be. We got mak' new camp +to-night. Can't tak' no dogs. Him come wit' women to-morrow." + +Ambrose did not believe him, of course; but if help were really so +near, he felt it would be suicidal to provoke a conflict at this +moment. Apparently they intended the dog no harm. He assumed to be +contented with Watusk's explanation. + +"Good dog," he said to Job. "You're all right. Lie down." + +Ambrose mounted, and they tied him on as usual. On every hand he could +see men mounting and riding out of the village. His heart slowly rose +into his throat. + +Could it be meant that he was to take part in a night attack on the +police? Surely the redcoats would never allow themselves to be +surprised! Anyhow, if he was to be present, it would be strange if he +could not help his own in some way. + +His horse was led up the hill, off at right angles to the village. +Watusk remained near him. As they rose to higher ground the moon came +into view, hanging above the tree-tops across the valley, preparatory +to sinking out of sight. + +In its light the objects around him were more clearly revealed. +Apparently the riders were straggling to a rendezvous. There was no +haste. The terrible depression which had afflicted Ambrose since Nesis +had disappeared was dissipated by the imminence of a great event. + +He lived in the moment. Out of the tail of his eye he observed +Watusk's mount, a lustrous black stallion, the finest piece of +horseflesh he had seen in the north. + +Ambrose heard a confused murmur ahead. Rising over the edge of the +hill he saw its cause. A great body of horses was gathered close +together on the prairie, each with its rider standing at its head. + +The animals jostled each other, bit and squealed, stamped their +forefeet, and tossed their manes. The men were silent. It made a +weird scene in the fading moonlight. + +Men and horses partook of a ghostly quality; the faces nearest him +blank, oval patches, faintly phosphorescent, were like symbols of the +tragedy of mankind. + +Watusk kept Ambrose at his side. Facing his men, he raised his hand +theatrically. They sprang to their saddles and, wheeling, set out over +the prairie. Gradually they lengthened out into single file. + +Presently the leader came loping back, and the whole body rode around +Watusk and Ambrose in a vast circle. It was like an uncanny midnight +circus. + +The riders maintained their silence. The only sounds were the thudding +of hoofs on turf and the shaking of the horsemen in their clothes. +Only one or two used saddles. The rifle-barrels caught dull gleams of +moonlight. + +At another signal from Watusk they pulled up and, turning their horses' +heads toward the center, made as small a circle as their numbers could +squeeze into. + +Watusk addressed Ambrose with a magniloquent air. "See my children, +white man! Brave as the white-face mountain bear! Swift as flying +duck! This only a few my men. Toward the setting sun I got so many +more wait my call. + +"By the big lake I got 'nother great army. Let white men tak' care how +they treat us bad. To-morrow red man's day come. He got Watusk lead +him now. Watusk see through white man's bluff!" + +It was impossible for Ambrose not to be impressed, ridiculous as +Watusk's harangue was. There were the men, not less than two +hundred--and twenty police to be attacked. + +Watusk now rode around the circle, addressing his men in their own +tongue, singling out this man and that, and issuing instructions. It +was all received in the same silence. + +Ambrose believed these quiet, ragged little warriors to be more +dangerous than their inflated leader. At least in their ignorance they +were honest; one could respect them. + +In more ways than one Ambrose had felt drawn to the Kakisas. They +seemed to him a real people, largely unspoiled as yet by the impact of +a stronger race. + +If he could only have talked to them, he thought. Surely in five +minutes he could put them to rights and overthrow this general of straw! + +Watusk rode out of the circle, followed by Ambrose and Ambrose's guard. +Several of the leading men, including one that Ambrose guessed from his +size to be Myengeen, joined Watusk in front, and the main body made a +soft thunder of hoofs in the rear. + +They were headed in a southeasterly direction--that is to say, back +toward the Kakisa River. They rode at a walk. There was no +conversation except among the leaders. The moon went down and the +shadows pressed closer. + +In a little while there was a division. Myengeen, parted from Watusk +and rode off to the right, followed, Ambrose judged from the sounds, by +a great part of the horsemen. + +The remainder kept on in the same direction. Half a mile farther +Watusk himself drew aside. Ambrose's guards and others joined him, +while the balance of the Indians rode on and were swallowed in the +darkness. + +Watusk turned to the right. Presently they were stopped by a bluff of +poplar saplings growing in a hollow. Here all dismounted and tied +their horses to trees. + +Ambrose's ankles were loosed and, with an Indian's hand on either +shoulder, he was guided through the grass around the edge of the trees. +He speculated vainly on what this move portended. + +No attack, certainly; they were striking matches and lighting their +pipes. Suddenly the dim figures in front were swallowed up. + +Immediately afterward Ambrose was led down an incline into a kind of +pit. The smell of turned earth was in his nostrils; he could still see +the stars overhead. They gave him a corner, and his ankles were again +tied. + +Soon it began to grow light. Little by little Ambrose made out the +confines of the pit or trench. It was some twenty-five feet long and +five feet wide. When the Indians stood erect, the shortest man could +just look over the edge. + +Ambrose counted twenty-one men besides Watusk and himself. It was +close quarters. When it became light enough to see clearly, they lined +up in front of him, eagerly looking over. One was lighting a little +fire and putting grass on it to make a smudge. + +Ambrose got his feet under him, and managed after several attempts to +stand upright. He was tall enough to look over the heads of the +Indians. + +Stretching before him he saw the valley he had remarked the evening +before, with the streamlet winding like a silver ribbon in a green +flounce. + +But what the Indians were looking at were little pillars of smoke which +ascended at intervals all around the edge of the hills, hung for a +moment or two in the motionless air, and disappeared. Ambrose counted +eight besides their own. + +Watusk exclaimed in satisfaction, and ordered the fire put out. This, +then, was the explanation of the digging--rifle-pits! + +Ambrose marveled at the cunning with which it had all been contrived. +The excavated earth had been carried somewhere to the rear. + +Wild-rose scrub had been cut and replanted in the earth around three +sides of the pit, leaving a clear space between the stems for the men +to shoot through, with a screen of the crimson leaves above. + +So well had it been done that Ambrose could not distinguish the other +pits from the patches of wild-rose scrub growing naturally on the hills. + +Ambrose's heart sank with the apprehension of serious danger. He began +to wonder if he and all the other whites in the country had not +under-rated these red men. Where could Watusk have learned his +tactics? The thing was devilishly planned. + +With the cross-fire of two hundred rifles they could mow down an army +if they could get them inside that valley. Each narrow entrance was +covered by a pair of pits. Every part of the bowl was within range of +every pit. + +Ambrose feared that the police, in their careless disdain of the +natives, might ride straight into the trap and be lost. + +"Watusk, for God's sake, what do you mean to do?" he cried. + +Watusk was intensely gratified by the white man's alarm. He smiled +insolently. "Ah!" he said. "You on'erstan' now!" + +"You fool!" cried Ambrose. "If you fire on the police you'll be wiped +clean off the earth! The whole power of the government will descend on +your head! There won't be a single Kakisa left to tell the story of +what happened!" + +Watusk's face turned ugly. His eyes bolted. "Shut up!" he snarled, +"or I gag you." + +Ambrose, bethinking himself that he might use his voice to good purpose +later, clenched his teeth and said no more. + +At sunrise a fresh breeze sprang up from the south. Soon after a +whisper of distant trotting horses was home upon it. Ambrose's heart +leaped to his throat. An excited murmur ran among the Indians. They +picked up their guns. + +Watusk's pit was one of the pair covering the upper entrance to the +valley. It was thus farthest away from the approaching horsemen. It +faced straight down the valley. Through the lower gap they caught the +gleam of the red coats. + +Ambrose beheld them with a painfully contracted heart. He gaged in his +mind how far his voice might carry. The wind was against him. + +Presumably he would only be allowed to cry out once, so it behooved him +to make sure it was heard. However, the same thought was in the minds +of the Indians. They scowled at him suspiciously. + +Suddenly, while it was yet useless for him to cry out, they fell upon +him, bearing him to the ground! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE TEST. + +After a fierce struggle Ambrose was securely bound and gagged. He +managed to get to his feet again. His soul sickened at the tragedy it +forecast, yet he had to look. + +To his overwhelming relief he saw that the redcoats had halted in the +lower entrance to the valley. Evidently the possibility of an ambush +in so favored a spot had occurred to their leader. The baggage was +sent back. + +His relief was short-lived. Presently the advance was resumed at a +walk, and a pair of skirmishers sent out on either side to mount the +hills. Ambrose counted sixteen redcoats in the main body, and a man in +plain clothes, evidently a native guide. + +One skirmisher on the left was headed all unconscious straight for a +rifle pit. Ambrose, suffocated by his impotence, tugged at his bonds +and groaned under the gag. "Turn back! Turn back!" shouted his +voiceless tongue. + +There was a shot. Ambrose closed his eyes expecting a fusillade to +follow. It did not come. From his pit, Watusk hissed a negative order. + +Ambrose heard a shrill whistle from the bottom of the valley, and +opening his eyes, he saw the skirmishers riding slowly back to the main +body. Even at the distance their nonchalant air was evident. + +The main body had quietly halted in the middle of the valley. After a +moment's pause, one of their number raised a rifle with a white flag +tied to the barrel. + +The Indians surrounding Ambrose, lowered their guns, and murmured +confusedly among themselves. Ambrose looked at Watusk. + +The chief betrayed symptoms of indecision, biting his lip, and pulling +his fingers until the joints cracked. Ambrose took a little +encouragement from the sight. + +To Ambrose's astonishment he saw the troopers dismounting. Flinging +the lines over their horses' heads, they allowed the beasts to crop the +rich grass of the bottoms. + +The men stood about in careless twos and threes, lighting their pipes. +Only their leader remained in the saddle, lolling comfortably sidewise. +The breeze brought the sound of their light talk and deep laughter. + +The effect on the Indians was marked. Their jaws dropped, they looked +at each other incredulously, they jabbered excitedly. + +Plainly they were divided between admiration and mystification. Watusk +was demoralized. His hand shook, an ashy tint crept under his yellow +skin, an agony of impotent rage narrowed his eyes. + +Ambrose's heart swelled with the pride of race. "Splendid fellows!" he +cried to himself. "It was exactly the right thing to do!" + +Presently a hail was raised in the valley below; a deep English voice +whose tones gladdened Ambrose's ears. "Ho, Watusk!" + +Every eye turned toward the leader. Watusk had the air of a wilful +child called by his parent. He pished and swaggered, and made some +remark to his men with the obsequious smile with which child--or +man--asks for the support of his mates in his wrong-doing. + +The men did not smile back; they merely watched soberly to see what +Watusk was going to do about it. + +The hail was repeated. "Ho, Watusk! Inspector Egerton orders you to +come and talk to him!" + +So it was Colonel Egerton, thought Ambrose, commander of B district of +the police, and known affectionately from Caribou Lake to the Arctic as +Patch-pants Egerton, or simply as "the old man." He was a veteran of +two Indian uprisings. Ambrose felt still further reassured. + +Watusk, still swaggering, nevertheless visibly weakened. In the end he +had to go, just as a child must in the end obey a calm, imperative +summons. + +He issued a petulant order. All the men except Ambrose's guard of six +took their guns and filed out through the back of the pit. + +Watusk went last. Glancing over his shoulder and seeing that those +left behind were busily watching the troopers in the valley, he +produced a flask from his pocket and took a pull at it. Ambrose caught +the act out of the corner of his eye. + +A few minutes later, Watusk and his followers rode over the edge of the +hill to the left of the rifle pit, and down into the valley. The +policemen scarcely looked up to see them come. + +Inspector Egerton and Chief Watusk faced each other on horseback. The +other Indians remained at a respectful distance. Ambrose mightily +desired to hear what was being said on either side. He learned later. + +"Watusk!" cried the peppery little inspector. "What damn foolishness +is this? Rifle pits! Do you think you're another Louis Riel?" + +Watusk, glowering sullenly, made no answer. + +"Have you got Ambrose Doane here?" the officer demanded. + +"Ambrose Doane here," said Watusk. + +"I want him," said Egerton crisply. "I also want you, Watusk, +Myengeen, Tatateecha, and three others whose names I can't pronounce. +I have a clerk belonging to the Company store who will pick them out. + +"I've got to send you all out for trial before the river closes, so +there's no time to lose. We will start back to-day. I will leave half +my men here under Sergeant Plaskett to look after your people. You +will instruct your people to bring in all the goods stolen from the +Company store. + +"Plaskett will have a list of everything that was taken and will credit +what is returned. The balance, together with the amount of damage done +the store will be charged in a lump against the tribe, and the sum +deducted pro rata from the government annuities next year. They're +lucky to get off so easy." + +"We get pay, too, for our flour burn up?" muttered Watusk. + +"That will be investigated with the rest," the inspector said. "Bring +in your people at once. Look sharp! There's not an hour to lose!" + +Watusk made no move. The fiery spirit he had swallowed was lending a +deceitful warmth to his veins. He began to feel like a hero. His eyes +narrowed and glittered. "Suppose I don' do it?" he muttered. + +The inspectors white eyebrows went up. "Then I will go and take the +men I want," he said coolly. + +"You dead before you gone far," said Watusk. He swept his arm +dramatically around the hills. "I got five hundred Winchesters point +at your red coats!" he cried. "When I give signal they speak together!" + +"That's a lie," said the inspector. "You've only a few over two +hundred able men in your tribe." + +"Two hundred is plenty," said Watusk unabashed. "That is ten bullets +for every man of yours. They are all around you. You cannot go +forward or back. Ask Company man if Kakisas shoot straight!" + +Inspector Egerton's answer was a hearty laugh. "Capital!" he cried. + +"Laugh!" cried Watusk furiously. "You no harder than ot'er man. You +got no medicine to stop those bullets you sell us! No? If bullets go +t'rough your red coats you die lak ot'er men I guess!" + +"Certainly!" cried the old soldier with a flash of his blue eyes. +"That's our business. But it won't do you any good. We're but the +outposts of a mighty power that encircles the world. If you defy that +power you'll be wiped out like the prairie grass in a fire." + +"Huh!" cried Watusk. "White man's bluff! White man always talk big +about the power behind him. I lak see that power, me! I will show the +red people you no better than them! + +"When it was known Watusk has beat the police, as far as the northern +ocean they will take arms and drive the white men out of their country! +I have sent out my messengers!" + +"What do you expect me to say to that?" inquired the officer +quizzically. + +"Tell you men lay their guns on the ground," said Watusk. "They my +prisoners. I treat them kind." + +Inspector Egerton laughed until his little paunch shook. "Come," he +said good-naturedly, "I haven't got time to exchange heroics with you. +Run along and bring in your people. I'll give you half an hour." + +The inspector drew out his watch, and took note of the time. He then +turned to address his sergeant, leaving Watusk in mid air, so to speak. + +There was nothing for the Indian leader to do but wheel his horse and +ride back up the hill with what dignity he could muster. His men fell +in behind him. + +They had understood nothing of what was said, of course, but the byplay +was sufficiently intelligible. The whole party was crestfallen. + +Observing this air on their return to the rifle pit, Ambrose's eye +brightened. Watusk seeing the keen, questioning eye, announced with +dignity. + +"We won. The red-coats surrendered." + +This was so palpably a falsehood Ambrose could well afford to smile +broadly behind his gag. + +The half hour that then followed seemed like half a day to those who +watched. Ambrose, ignorant of what had occurred, could only guess the +reason of the armistice. + +The police had taken down their white flag. He could see the inspector +glance at his watch from time to time. Wondering messengers came from +the other pits presumably to find out the reason of the inaction, to +whom Watusk returned evasive replies. + +Bound and gagged as he was, it was anything but an easy time for +Ambrose. He had the poor satisfaction of seeing that Watusk was more +uneasy than himself. + +To a discerning eye the Indian leader was suffering visible torments. +Egerton, the wily old Indian fighter, knew his man. + +If he had made the slightest move to provoke a conflict, raged, +threatened, fired a gun, the savage nature would instantly have +reacted, and it would have all been over in a few moments. But to +laugh and light a cigarette! Watusk was rendered impotent by a morale +beyond his comprehension. + +The longest half hour has only thirty minutes. Inspector Egerton +looked at his watch for the last time and spoke to his men. The +policemen caught their horses, and without any appearance of haste, +tightened girths and mounted. + +They commenced to move slowly through the grass in the track of +Watusk's party, spreading out wide in open formation. The inspector +was in the center of the line. He carried no arms. His men were still +joking and laughing. + +They commenced to mount the hill, walking their horses, and sitting +loosely in their saddles. Each trooper had his reins in one hand, his +rifle barrel in the other, with the butt of the weapon resting on his +thigh. + +They were coming straight for the rifle pit; no doubt they had marked +the bushes masking it. Ambrose saw that they were young men, +slim-waisted and graceful. The one on the right end had lost his hat +through some accident. He had fair hair that caught the sun. + +This was the critical moment. The fate of the nineteen boys and their +white-haired leader hung by a hair. Ambrose held his breath under the +gag. A cry, an untoward movement would have caused an immediate +slaughter. + +The Indians' eyes glittered, their teeth showed, they fingered their +rifles. A single word from their leader would have sufficed. Watusk +longed to speak it, and could not. The sweat was running down his +yellow-gray face. + +One of the horses stumbled. The Indians with muttered exclamations +flung up their guns. Ambrose thought it was all over. + +But at that moment by the grace of God, one of the troopers made a good +joke, and a hearty laugh rang along the line. The Indians lowered +their guns and stared with bulging eyes. They could not fight supermen +like these. + +Watusk, with the groan of total collapse, dropped his gun on the +ground, and turned to escape by the path out of the pit. + +Instantly there was pandemonium in the narrow place. Some tried to +escape with their leader; others blocked the way. Ambrose saw Watusk +seized and flung on the ground. One spat in his face. He lay where he +had fallen. + +Thus ended the Kakisa rebellion. The Indians had no further thought of +resistance. The butts of their guns dropped to the ground, and they +stared at the oncoming troopers with characteristic apathy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +ANOTHER CHANGE OF JAILERS. + +The police advanced to within twenty-five yards and, drawing closer +together, halted. + +"Watusk, come out of that!" barked the inspector in his parade ground +voice. + +Ambrose had his first look at him. He was a little man, trigly built, +with a bullet head under a closely cropped thatch of white. A heavy +white mustache bisected his florid face. + +No one could have mistaken him in any dress, for aught but a soldier. +He did not look as if patience and fair-mindedness were included among +his virtues, which was unfortunate for Ambrose as the event proved. + +As Watusk gave no sign of stirring, he was seized by many hands and +boosted over the edge of the pit. He rolled over, knocking down some +of the bushes and finally rose to his feet, standing with wretched, +hang-dog mien. + +His appearance, with the frock coat all rubbed with earth and the +military gear hanging askew, caused the troopers to shout with +laughter. Here was a change from the fire-eater of half an hour before. + +"Ho!" cried Inspector Egerton. "The conqueror of the English!" + +Watusk drew closer and began to whine insinuatingly. "I sorry I mak' +that talk, me. I can' help it at all. Ambrose Doane tell me that. He +put his medicine on me. I sick." + +Ambrose attempted to cry out in his angry astonishment, but only a +muffled groan issued through the handkerchief. He was not visible to +the troopers where he stood in the corner, and he could not move. + +"Is Ambrose Doane there?" demanded the officer. + +Watusk quickly turned and spoke a sentence in Kakisa. Ambrose saw the +look of craft in his yellow face. One of the men who guarded Ambrose +drew his knife and cut his bonds and untied the handkerchief. + +Ambrose's heart beat high. It never occurred to him that they could +believe the wretched liar! He drew himself over the edge of the pit, +helped by those behind. + +"Hello!" he cried. + +There was no answering greeting. The faces before him were as grim as +stone. For Watusk they had a kind of good-humored contempt--for him a +cold and deadly scorn. + +Evidently their minds were made up in advance. The inspector twirled +his mustache and regarded him with a hard, speculative eye. + +Ambrose's heart failed him terribly. These were men that he admired. +"What's the matter?" he cried. "Do you believe this liar? I have been +a prisoner up to this moment--bound hand and foot and gagged. The +marks are still on my wrists!" + +Inspector Egerton did not look at his wrists. "H-m! Not bad!" he said +grimly. "You're a cool hand, my man!" + +The blood rushed to Ambrose's face. "For God's sake, will you tell me +what I could hope to gain by stirring up the Indians?" he demanded. + +"Don't ask me," said the inspector. "You were ready to grasp at any +straw, I expect." + +In the face of injustice so determined, it was only humiliating for +Ambrose to attempt to defend himself. His face hardened. He set his +jaw and shrugged callously. + +"You're under arrest," said the inspector. + +"On what charge?" Ambrose sullenly demanded. + +"A mere trifle," said the inspector ironically. "Unlawful entry, +conspiracy, burglary, and assault with intent to kill. To which we +shall probably add treason." + +Ambrose made no answer. In his heart he had hoped that the empty +charges at Fort Enterprise had fallen of their own weight before this. + +The inspector turned his attention back to Watusk. "Deliver over your +arsenal!" he said. + +Watusk meekly unfastened his various belts and handed them to a +trooper. Having observed Ambrose's rebuff, his face had become smooth +and inscrutable again. + +By this time the Indians had issued out of the pit by the rear and were +standing in an uncertain group a little way off. + +"Order them to pile their weapons on the ground," commanded the +inspector. "Let each man make a mark upon the stock of his rifle so +that he can identify it when it is returned. Send messengers to the +other pits with orders for all the men to bring their guns here." + +Watusk was eager to obey him. + +"Where is your camp?" the inspector asked him. + +Watusk pointed. "One mile," he said. + +"After we get the guns you shall go there with me and we will examine +the people." + +Ambrose, hearing this, turned to the trooper who was nearest. "If you +go to the camp get me my dog, will you?" he asked sullenly. + +"What's that?" demanded the inspector. + +Ambrose explained where his dog was to be found. They looked at him +curiously as if surprised that such a desperate criminal should be +solicitous about a dog. The trooper promised to bring him. + +Inspector Egerton continued to issue his orders. "Bafford, ride back +and bring up the baggage. Have my tent pitched in the middle of the +valley below. Emslie"--this was the yellow-haired youth--"I shall hold +you responsible for the white prisoner. You needn't handcuff him. He +couldn't escape if he wished to." + +Ambrose had to undergo the humiliation of walking down hill at the +stirrup of the young trooper's horse. Emslie showed a less hard face +than some of the others. + +Ambrose sought to establish relations with him by asking for tobacco. +He was hungry for speech with his own kind. But the look of cold +contempt with which his request was granted precluded any further +advances. + +Upon Inspector Egerton's return from the Kakisa village a meal was +served. Afterward the inspector sat at his folding-table inside his +tent and held his investigations. + +There was a deal of business to be transacted. In due course Ambrose +was brought before him. Watusk, whose services were in continual +demand as interpreter, was present, and several troopers. + +"It is customary to ask a prisoner upon arrest if he has anything to +say for himself," said the inspector. "I must warn you that anything +you say may be used against you." + +Ambrose felt their animosity like a wall around him. "What's the use?" +he said sullenly. "You've already convicted me in your own mind." + +"What I think of your case has nothing to do with it," said the +inspector coldly. "You will be brought before competent judges." + +"There is something I want to say," said Ambrose, looking at Watusk. +"But not before that mongrel." + +The inspector spoke to a trooper, and Watusk was led outside. "Now, +then!" he said to Ambrose. + +"Watusk means to turn king's evidence," said Ambrose. "He will make up +what story he pleases, thinking that none of the Kakisas can testify +except through him--or through Gordon Strange, who is his friend." + +"Are you accusing Strange now?" interrupted the inspector. "Let me +tell you: Strange is pretty highly thought of back at the fort." + +"No doubt!" said Ambrose with a shrug. "There is one member of the +tribe beside Watusk who can speak English," he went on. "In the +interest of justice I ask you to find her." + +"Who is it?" + +"Her name is Nesis. She is the youngest of the four wives of Watusk." +Ambrose told her story briefly and baldly. + +"So!" said the inspector with a peculiar smile. "According to your own +story you eloped with Watusk's wife. Upon my word! Do you expect a +jury to attach any weight to her evidence?" + +"I take my chance of that," said Ambrose. "If you want to get at the +truth you must find her." + +"I'll have a search made at once." + +"Watch Watusk," warned Ambrose. "He'll stop at nothing to keep her +evidence out of court--not even murder." + +The inspector smiled in an annoyed way. Ambrose's attitude did not +agree with his preconceptions. + +However, he immediately rode back to the Kakisa village with three +troopers. In an hour he sent one of the men back for Watusk. In two +hours they all returned--without Nesis. + +Ambrose's heart sank like a stone. By instinct he strove to conceal +his discouragement from his enemies under a nonchalant air. + +The inspector, feeling that some explanation was due to Ambrose, had +him brought to his tent again. + +"I have searched," he said. "I can find no trace of any such person as +you describe." + +"Naturally, not with Watusk's help," said Ambrose bitterly. + +The inspector bit his lip. According to his lights he was honestly +trying to be fair to the prisoner. + +"First I searched the teepees myself," he condescended to explain. "It +appears there are several girls by that name. When I called on Watusk +I had him watched and checked." + +"The Indians were primed in advance," said Ambrose. "Watusk can pull +wool over your eyes." + +"Silence!" cried the exasperated inspector. "Your story is +preposterous anyway. Pure romance. Nevertheless I have instructed +Sergeant Plaskett to continue the search. If any such girl should be +found, which would surprise me, she will be sent out. You can go." + +Inspector Egerton with half his force started back for the Kakisa River +_en route_ to Fort Enterprise that same afternoon. They convoyed seven +prisoners, and five additional members of the Kakisa tribe, whom Watusk +had indicated would be material witnesses. + +Ambrose watched Watusk ingratiating himself with bitterness at his +heart. The Indian ex-leader's air of penitent eagerness to atone for +past misdeeds was admirable. + +They rode hard, and crossed the river before making their first camp. +The next day they covered sixty miles, reaching a station established +by Inspector Egerton on the way over, where they found fresh horses. +At the end of the third day they camped within thirty miles of Fort +Enterprise. + +Ambrose could never afterward think of these days without an inward +shudder. Pain angered him. Outwardly he looked the hard and reckless +character they thought him, because his sensibilities were raw and +quivering. + +The dog knew. He was free to move about; he was well-fed and freshly +clothed, and the policemen acted toward him with a disinterestedness so +scrupulous it was almost like kindness. + +Nevertheless Ambrose felt their belief in his guilt like a hunchback +feels the difference in the world's glance. In his moments of blackest +discouragement the suggestion flitted oddly through his brain that +maybe he was guilty of all these preposterous crimes. + +If this was not enough, once he heard them discussing his case. He was +lying in a tent, and there was a little group of troopers at the door, +smoking. They thought he was asleep. + +He heard Emslie say: "Doane looks like a decent-enough head, doesn't +he? Shows you never can tell." + +"The worst criminals are always a decent-looking sort," said another. +"That's why they're dangerous." + +"By gad!" said a third, "when you think of all he's responsible for, +even if he didn't do it with his own hands--arson, robbery, +murder--think what that girl at Enterprise has been through! By gad! +hanging's too good for him!" + +"Any man that would lower himself to rouse the passions of the Indians +against his own kind--he isn't worth the name of white man!" + +"The worst of it is nothing you can do to Doane will repair the damage. +He's put back the white man's work in this country twenty years!" + +Ambrose rolled over and covered his head with his arms. These were +honest men who spoke, men he would have chosen for friends. + +Nest morning he showed no sign, except perhaps an added sullenness. +Nevertheless he had received a hurt that would never altogether heal +while he lived. + +No matter how swift rehabilitation might follow, after an experience +like this a man could never have the same frank confidence in the power +of truth. + +It was a point of pride with him to be a model prisoner. He gave as +little trouble as possible, and during the whole journey made but one +request. + +That was at the last spell before reaching the fort. He asked for a +razor. Colina might scorn him like the others, but she should not see +him looking like a tramp. + +Immediately upon their arrival at Fort Enterprise, John Gaviller in his +capacity as Justice of the Peace held a hearing in the police room in +the quarters. + +Gaviller's health was largely restored, but the old assurance was +lacking, perhaps he would never be quite the same man again. He was +prompted by Gordon Strange. Colina was not present. Ambrose had not +seen her upon landing. + +The hearing was merely a perfunctory affair. All the prisoners were +remanded to Prince George for trial. + +Ambrose gathered from the talk that reached his ears that it was +intended to send everybody, prisoners, and witnesses, including Gordon +Strange, Gaviller and Colina up the river next day in the launch and a +scow. + +To travel seven days in her sight, a prisoner--he wondered if there +were any dregs of bitterness remaining in the cup after this! + +They gave Ambrose the jail to himself. This was a little log-shack +behind the quarters with iron-bound door and barred window. + +To him in the course of the afternoon came Inspector Egerton moved by +his sense of duty. He officially informed Ambrose that he was to be +taken up the river next morning. + +"Is there anything you want?" he asked stiffly. + +"I left a friend here," Ambrose said with a bitter smile. "I'd like to +see him if he's willing to come." + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"Simon Grampierre." + +The inspector looked grave. "He's under arrest," he said. "I can't +let you communicate." + +"Can I see his son then, Germain Grampierre?" + +"Sorry. He's on parole." + +Ambrose had been counting on this more than he knew, to talk with some +man, even a breed, who believed in him. It is a necessity of our +natures under trial. To deny it was like robbing him of his last hope. +Some power of endurance suddenly snapped within him. + +"What do you come here for?" he cried in a breaking voice. "To torture +me? Must I be surrounded day and night only by those who think me a +murderer! For God's sake get the thing over with! Take me to town and +hang me if that's what you want! A month of this and I'd be a +gibbering idiot anyway!" + +The ring of honest pain in this aroused dim compunctions in the +admirable little colonel. He twisted his big mustache uncomfortably. +"I'm sure I've done what I could for you," he said. + +"Everything except let me alone," cried Ambrose. "For God's sake go +away and let me be!" He flung himself face downward on his cot. + +Inspector Egerton withdrew stiffly. + +Ambrose lay with his head in his arms, and let his shaking nerves quiet +down. A fit of the blackest despair succeeded. To his other troubles +he now added hot shame--that he had broken down before his enemy. + +It seemed to him in the retrospect that he had raved like a guilty man. +He foresaw weeks and weeks of this yet to come with fresh humiliations +daily and added pain; if he gave way already what would become of him +in the end? How could he hope to keep his manhood? A blank terror +faced him. + +The sound of the key in the lock brought him springing to his feet. +None of them should see him weaken again! With trembling hands he put +his pipe in his mouth, and lighted it nonchalantly. + +It was Emslie with his supper. + +"Playing waiter, eh?" drawled Ambrose. "You fellows have to be +everything from grooms to chambermaids, don't you?" + +Young Emslie stared, and grew red. "What's the matter with you?" he +demanded. + +"A man must have a little entertainment," said Ambrose. "I'm forced to +get it out of you. You don't know how funny you are, Emslie." + +"You'd best be civil!" growled the policeman. + +"Why?" drawled out Ambrose. "You've got to keep a hold on yourself +whatever I say to you. It's regulations. Man to man I could lick you +with ease!" + +"By gad!" began Emslie. Very red in the face, he turned on his heel, +and went out slamming the door. + +Ambrose laughed, and felt a little better. Only by allowing his bitter +pain some such outlet was he able to endure it. + +Disregarding the supper, he strode up and down his prison, planning in +his despair how he would harden himself to steel. No longer would he +suffer in silence. To the last hour he'd swagger and jeer. + +These red-coats were stiff-necked and dull-witted; he could have rare +fun with them. + +He saw himself in the court-room keeping the crowd in a roar with his +outrageous gibes. And if at the last he swung--he'd step off with a +jest that would live in history! + +The key turned in the lock again. He swung around ready with an insult +for his jailer. + +Colina stood in the doorway. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE JAIL VISITOR. + +The light was behind Colina, and Ambrose could not at first read her +expression. There was something changed in her aspect; her chin was +not carried so high. + +She was wearing a plain blue linen dress, and her hair was done low +over her ears. Colina was one of the women who unconsciously dress to +suit their moods. + +She looked different now, but she was indisputably Colina. + +The sight of her dear shape caused him the same old shock of +astonishment. All the blood seemed to forsake his heart; he put a hand +against the wall behind him for support. + +He presently distinguished changes in her face also. It bore the marks +of sleeplessness and suffering. Pride still made her eyes reticent and +cold, but the old outrageous arrogance was gone. + +In the wave of tenderness for her that engulfed him he clean forgot the +self-pleasing defiance he had imagined for himself, forgot his +desperate situation, forgot everything but her. + +He was unable to speak, and Colina did not immediately offer to. She +stood a step inside the door, with her hand on the back of the one +chair the room contained. Her eyes were cast down. It was Emslie who +broke the silence. + +"Do you wish me to stay?" he respectfully asked Colina. + +She raised grave eyes to Ambrose. "Is there anything I can do for +you?" she asked evenly. + +"Yes," said Ambrose breathlessly. + +After a moment's hesitation she said to Emslie: "Please wait outside." + +Ambrose's heart leaped up. No sooner had the door closed behind Emslie +than, forgetting everything, it burst its bonds. "Colina! How good of +you to come! It makes me so happy to see you! If you knew how I had +hungered and thirsted for a sight of you! How charming you look in +that dress! Your hair is done differently, too. I swear it is like +the sun shining in here. You look tired. Sit down. Have some tea. +What a fool I am! You don't want to eat in a jail, do you?" + +Her eyes widened with amazement at his outburst. + +She shrank from him. + +"Don't be afraid," he said. "I'm not going to touch you--a jailbird! +I'm not fooling myself. I know how you feel toward me. I can't help +it. If you knew how I had been bottled up! I must speak to some one +or go clean off my head. It makes me forget just to see you. Ah, it +was good of you to come!" + +"I am visiting all the prisoners," Colina was careful to explain. "And +getting them what they need for the journey to-morrow." + +It pulled him up short. He glanced at her with an odd smile, tender, +bitter, and grim. "Charity!" he murmured. "Thanks, I have plenty of +warm clothes, and so forth." + +Colina bit her lip. There was a silence. He gazed at her hungrily. +She was so dear to him it was impossible for him to be otherwise than +tender. + +"Just the same, it was mighty good of you to come," he said. + +"You said there was something I could do for you," she murmured. + +"Please sit down." + +She did so. + +"I don't want to beg any personal favors," he said. "There is +something you might do for the sake of justice." + +"Never mind that," she said. "What is it?" + +"Let me have a little pride, too," he said. "It isn't easy to ask +favors of your enemies. I am surrounded by those who hate me and +believe me guilty. Naturally, I stand as much chance of a fair trial +as a spy in wartime. I'm just beginning to understand that. At first +I thought as long as one's conscience was clear nothing could happen." + +"What is it I can do?" she asked again. + +"I am taking for granted you would like to see me get off," Ambrose +went on. "Admitting that--that the old feeling is dead and all +that--still it can't be exactly pleasant for you to feel that you once +felt that way toward a murderer and a traitor--" + +"Please, please--" murmured Colina. + +"You see you have a motive for helping me," Ambrose insisted. "I +thought first of Simon Grampierre. He's under arrest. Then I asked to +be allowed to see Germain, his son. The inspector wouldn't have it. I +gave up hope after that. But the sight of you makes me want to defend +myself still. I thought maybe you would have a note carried to Germain +for me." + +"Certainly," she said. + +"You shall read it," he said eagerly, "so you can satisfy yourself +there's nothing treasonable." + +She made a deprecating gesture. + +"I'll write it at once," he said. He carried the tray to the bed. +Colina gave him the chair. + +"They let me have writing materials," Ambrose went on with a rueful +smile. "I think they hope I may write out a confession some night." + +To Germain Grampierre he wrote a plain, brief account of Nesis, and +made clear what a desperate need he had of finding her. + +"Will you read it?" he asked Colina. + +She shook her head. He handed it to her unsealed, and she thrust it in +her dress. + +"I'm ever so much obliged to you," he said, trying to keep up the +reasonable air. "How pretty your hair looks that way!" he added +inconsequentially. The words were surprised out of him. + +She turned abruptly. It was beginning to be dark in the shack, and he +could no longer see into her face. + +Her movement was too much for his self-control. "Ah, must you go?" he +cried sharply. "Another minute or two! It will be dreadful here after +you've gone!" + +"What's the use?" she whispered. + +"True," he said harshly. "What's the use?" He turned his back on her. +"Good night, and thank you." + +She lingered, hand upon the doorlatch. "Isn't there--isn't there +something else I can do?" she asked. + +"No, thank you." + +Still she stayed. "You haven't touched your supper," she said in a +small voice. "Mayn't I--send you something from the house?" + +"No!" he cried swiftly. "Not your pity--nor your charity, neither!" + +Colina fumbled weakly with the latch--and her hand dropped from it. + +"Why don't you go?" he cried sharply. "I can't stand it. I know you +hate me. I tell myself that every minute. Be honest and show you hate +me, not act sorry!" + +"I do not hate you," she whispered. + +He faced her with a kind of terror in his eyes. "For God's sake, go!" +he cried. "You're building up a hope in me--it will kill me if it +comes to nothing! I can't stand any more. Go!" + +His amazed eyes beheld her come falteringly toward him, reaching out +her hands. + +"Ambrose--I--I can't!" she whispered. + +He caught her in his arms. + +Colina broke into a little tempest of weeping, and clung to him like a +child. He held her close, stroking her hair and murmuring clumsy, +broken phrases of comfort. + +"Don't! My dear love, don't grieve so! It's all right now. I can't +bear to have you hurt." + +"I love you!" she sobbed. "I have never stopped loving you! It was +something outside of me that persuaded me to hate you. I've been +living in a hell since that night! And to find you like this! Nothing +to eat but bread and salt pork! Every word you said was like a knife +in my breast. And not a single word of reproach!" + +"There!" he said, trying to laugh. "You didn't put me here." + +She finally lifted a tear-stained face. Clinging to his shoulders and +searching his eyes, she said: "Swear to me that you are innocent, and +I'll never have another doubt." + +He shook his head. "No more swearing!" he said. "If you let yourself +be persuaded by the sound of the words, as soon as you left me and +heard the others you'd doubt me again. It's got to come from the +inside. Words don't signify." + +Colina hung her head. "You're right," she said in a humbled voice. "I +guess I just wanted an excuse to save my pride. I do believe in +you--with my whole heart. I never really doubted you--I was ashamed, +afraid, I don't know what. I was a coward. But I suffered for +it--every night. Do you despise me?" + +He laughed from a light breast. + +"Despise you? That's funny! It was natural. A damnable combination +of circumstances. I never blamed you." + +They were silent for a few moments. She looked up to find him smiling +oddly. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"Nothing much," he said. "I was thinking--human beings are sort of +elastic, aren't they? After all I've been through the last few +days--you don't know!--and then this--you dear one! It's a wonder the +shock didn't kill me--but I feel fine! Just peaceful. I don't care +what happens now." + +It was Colina's turn to lavish her pent-up tenderness upon him then. + +After a while she disengaged herself from his arms. "They will wonder +what makes me stay so long," she murmured. "And my eyes are red. +Emslie will see when I go out." + +Ambrose poured out water in his basin. "Dabble your eyes in this," he +said. "When you're ready to go I'll call Emslie in. Coming in from +the light, he won't notice anything. You can slip out ahead of him." + +Colina bathed her face as he suggested. Catching each other's eyes, +they blushed and laughed. + +"We must decide quickly what we're going to do," she said hastily. + +"First read that letter," said Ambrose. + +She read it, leaning back against his shoulder. "A woman!" she said in +a changed voice and straightened up. She read further. "She helped +you escape!" Colina turned and faced him. "She believed in you, eh?" +she said, her lip curling. + +Ambrose's heart sank. "Now, Colina--" he began. "Why, she never +thought anything about it!" + +Colina consulted the letter again. "She ran away with you!" she cried +accusingly. + +"Followed me," corrected Ambrose. + +"She was in love with you!" Colina's voice rang bitterly. + +"Are you beginning to doubt me already?" he cried, aghast. "Be +reasonable! You know how it is with these native girls. The sight of +a white man hypnotizes them. You can't have lived here without seeing +it. Do you blame me for that?" + +She paid no attention to the question. Struggling to command herself, +she said: "Answer me one question. It is my right. Did you ever kiss +her?" + +Ambrose groaned in spirit, and cast round in his mind how to answer. + +"You hesitate!" cried Colina, suddenly beside herself. "You did! Ah, +horrible!" She violently scrubbed her own lips with the back of her +hand. "A brown girl! A teepee-dweller! A savage! Ugh! That's what +men are!" + +An honest anger nerved Ambrose. He roughly seized her wrists. +"Listen!" he commanded in a tone that silenced her. "As I bade her +good-by on the shore she asked me to. She had just risked death to get +me out, remember--worse than death perhaps. What should I have done? +Answer me that!" + +Colina refused to meet the question. Her assumption of indifference +was very painful to see. She was not beautiful then. "Don't ask me," +she said with a sneer. "I suppose men understand such women. I +cannot." + +Ambrose turned away with a helpless gesture. Colina moved haughtily +toward the door. Within ten minutes their wonderful happiness had been +born and strangled again. + +"I don't suppose you will want to send my letter now," Ambrose said +with a sinking heart. + +Colina blushed with shame, but she would not let him see it. +"Certainly," she said coldly. "What has this to do with a question of +justice?" + +Ambrose, sore and indignant, would not make any more overtures. +"There's a postscript I must add," he said coldly, extending his hand +for the letter. + +"I cannot wait for you to write it," she said. "Tell me. I will add +it myself." + +"I think it likely," Ambrose said, "that Nesis"--Colina winced at the +sound of the name--"has been spirited away from the Kakisa village. +There are two other villages, one on Buffalo Lake and one on Kakisa +Lake, about sixty miles up the Kakisa River. + +"They brought her up the river with me, so it is hardly likely she was +sent down again to Buffalo Lake. I think she's at Kakisa Lake, if +she's alive." + +Colina bowed. "I will tell Germain Grampierre," she said. Her hand +rose to the door. + +Ambrose's heart failed him. "Ah, Colina!" he cried reproachfully and +imploringly. + +She slipped out without answering. + +Ambrose flung himself on his bed and cursed fate again. He was not +experienced enough to realize that this was not necessarily a fatal +break. + +All night he tried to steel his heart against fate and against Colina. +It was harder now. It was an utterly wretched Ambrose that faced the +dawn. + +While it was still early Emslie passed him a note through the window. +Ambrose knew the handwriting, and tore it open with trembling fingers. +He read: + + +MY DEAR LOVE: + +I was hateful. It was the meanest kind of jealousy. I was furious at +her because she helped you at the time when I was on the side of your +enemies. I have been suffering torments all night. Forgive me. I am +going to find Nesis myself. That is the only way I can make up for +everything. I love you. + +COLINA. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +COLINA'S ENTERPRISE. + +Upon leaving Ambrose, Colina despatched his letter across the river by +Michel Trudeau. She then dressed for dinner. + +To-night was to be an occasion, for beside Inspector Egerton they had +Duncan Seton, inspector of Company posts, and his wife. + +The Setons had come down with the police. Seton was to run the post at +Fort Enterprise while John Gaviller and Gordon Strange were absent at +the trials. + +Colina, buoyed up with anger, dressed with care. She saw herself +self-possessed and queenly at the foot of her own table's favorite +picture of herself. + +Nevertheless, the reaction was swiftly setting in. She couldn't help +having a generous heart, nor could she put away the picture of Ambrose +and his miserable, untasted supper. + +At the last moment her courage failed her. She knew the conversation +would have to do solely with the coming trials. She knew Inspector +Egerton's style in dealing with Ambrose. She could not face it. + +She sent down-stairs the time-honored excuse of young ladies and, +tearing off her finery, flung herself, like Ambrose, on her bed. + +She passed a worse night than he, for while the man accused fate, she +had to accuse herself. Colina was nothing if not whole-hearted; coward +was the gentlest of the names she called herself. + +More than once she was on the point of rushing out of the house and, +regardless of consequences, imploring Ambrose's forgiveness. + +However, after midnight a way out of her coil suggested itself like a +star shining out. She slept for a peaceful hour. + +Long before dawn she arose and awakened her maid. This was Cora, a +stolid Cree half-breed, doggedly devoted to her mistress and accustomed +to receiving her impulsive orders like inscrutable commands from Heaven. + +Upon being notified, therefore, that they were about to set off on a +long journey overland instead of by the launch, she set to work to get +ready without surprise or question. + +Colina wrote the letter to Ambrose and another to her father. The +latter was a little masterpiece of casualness, designed to prevent +pursuit, if that were possible. + +She knew that they dared not wait another day, before starting +up-stream in the launch. + + +DEAR FATHER: + +I have heard a rumor of new evidence bearing on the trials. It's not +worth while telling Inspector Egerton and delaying everything, because +I'm not sure of anything. I'm off to investigate for myself. + +I'm taking Cora, and shall have a couple of reliable men with me, so +there's no occasion to worry. You must not attempt to wait for me, of +course. + +If I secure any information worth while Mr. Seton will find a way to +send me out with it. If I do not, why I'm not an essential witness at +the trials, and of course I'll be all right here with the Setons until +you get back. + +Affectionately, + +COLINA. + + +She left the letters with the cook, giving precise instructions for +their delivery. That to her father was not to be handed over until her +absence from the house should be discovered. Nothing was to be said +about the other letter. + +The two girls saddled Ginger and the next best horse in the stable for +Cora to ride, and took a third horse with a pack-saddle for their +baggage. + +They rowed across the river, making the horses swim in the wake of the +boat. On the other side they set off forthwith on the Kakisa trail. +Colina had decided that it would be a waste of precious time to turn +aside to the Grampierres. + +Whether Germain started before or after her, she could find him on the +way. That he would start for the Kakisa River this morning she had no +doubt. + +When they had ridden a couple of miles Cora pointed out to her where +the tracks of four horses struck into the trail. They were just ahead, +she said. + +They came upon Germain Grampierre and his brother Georges making their +first spell by the trail. Great was their astonishment upon hearing +Colina announce her intentions. + +Germain used all the obvious arguments to turn her back, and Colina +smilingly overruled them. He was openly in awe of her, and, of course, +in the end she had her way, and they rode together, Germain shaking his +head with secret misgivings. + +They pushed their horses to the utmost, ever urged on by Colina, who +could not know what might be behind them. But she knew they rode the +best horses to be had at Enterprise. + +They reached the Kakisa River on the third day without any surprise +from the rear. + +They found that the main body of the Kakisas had been brought back to +their village here, where they were pursuing their usual avocations +under the eye of the police encamped on the terrace around the shack. + +Colina immediately addressed herself to the police headquarters. + +She had remarked Sergeant Plaskett on his arrival at Fort Enterprise, a +typical mounted policeman, and a fine figure of a man to boot--tall, +lean, deep-chested, deep-eyed--a dependable man. + +She approached him with confidence. The sight of her astonished, +confused, and charmed him, as she meant it should. He was only a man. + +But as she told her story he stiffened into the policeman. "Sorry," he +said uncomfortably. "I have explicit orders from Inspector Egerton not +to allow any communication between these people here and the other +branches of the tribe." + +"Why not?" asked Colina. + +Plaskett shrugged deprecatingly. "Not for me to say. I can guess, +perhaps. It's not possible to lock them all up, but these people are +under arrest just the same. I must keep the disaffected from mingling +with the loyal." + +"That's all right," said Colina, "but you can give me a policeman to go +up the river with me and make a search." + +He shook his head regretfully but firmly. "Inspector Egerton ordered +me to leave the up-river people alone," he said. "The coming of a +policeman would throw them into excitement. No one can say what they +might do. I can't take the responsibility." + +Colina shrugged. "Then the Grampierres and I must go by ourselves," +she said. + +Plaskett became even stiffer and more uncomfortable. "Germain +Grampierre and his brother had no business to leave home," he said. + +"By their own confessions they are implicated in the raid on the +Company's flour-mill. They were told that if they remained at home +they would not be molested. But if they attempted to escape they would +immediately be arrested." + +"They're not trying to escape!" cried Colina. + +"I don't believe they are," said Plaskett. "But I've got to send them +home. Orders are orders." + +But this was not the kind of argument to use with a young woman whose +blood is up. + +"Don't you recognize anything but orders?" she cried. "Inspector +Egerton is hundreds of miles away by this time. Are you going to wait +for his orders before you act?" + +Plaskett's position was not an enviable one. "When anything new comes +up I have to act for myself," he explained stiffly. "The story about +this girl is not new. During the past week I have examined every +principal man in the tribe and many of the women. + +"I have not found any clue to the existence of such a person. +Moreover, every man has testified in unmistakable signs that Ambrose +Doane was not only at large while he was with them, but that he +directed all their movements." + +"They have been told that by saying this they can save themselves," +said Colina. + +"Possibly," said Plaskett, "but I cannot believe that among so many +there is not one who would betray himself." + +For half an hour they had it out, back and forth, without making any +progress. Plaskett used all of a man's arguments to persuade her to +return to Enterprise. + +Colina, seeing that she was getting nowhere, finally feigned to submit. +She obtained his permission to go among the Indians by herself in the +hope that they might tell her something they were afraid to tell the +police. + +Accompanied by Cora she went from teepee to teepee. The Kakisas showed +themselves awed by her condescension, but still they were +uncommunicative. + +She was Gaviller's daughter. The place of honor by the fire was made +for her, tea hastily warmed up, and doubtful Indian delicacies +produced. But she learned nothing. + +At any mention of the names Ambrose Doane or Nesis a subtle, walled +look crept into their eyes, and they became unaccountably stupid. + +She was about to give up this line of inquiry when, at a little +distance from the nearest teepee, she came upon a girl engaged in +dressing a moose-hide stretched upon a great frame. There were no +other Indians near. Colina resolved upon a last attempt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MARYA. + +Colina drew near the girl, pausing as if casually interested in her +work. She was a fat girl, with a peculiarly good-humored expression, +and evinced no awe at Colina's approach, but unaffected delight. + +Colina obeyed an inward suggestion, sent Cora back to the Grampierres, +and sat down beside Marya, determined to take plenty of time to +establish friendly relations. + +This was not difficult. The plump, copper-skinned maiden was overjoyed +by the opportunity to examine anything so wonderful as a white girl at +close range. + +No part of Colina's person or attire escaped her scrutiny. Marya +stroked her with a soft crooning. The fastidious Colina bore it, +smiling. At the throat of her waist Colina was wearing a topaz-pin, to +which the Indian girl's eyes ever returned, dazzled. + +Colina finally took it off, and pinned it in Marya's cotton dress. +Marya gave way to an extravagant pantomime of joy. Bowing her head, +she seized Colina's hand, and pressed it to her forehead. + +Meanwhile they exchanged such simple remarks as lent themselves to the +medium of signs. Colina finally ventured to pronounce the name "Nesis" +at the same time asking by a sign which included the teepees if she was +there. + +Marya looked startled. She hesitated, but Colina's hold was now strong +upon her. She shook her head. First glancing cautiously around to +make sure they were not observed, she nodded in the direction of up +river. + +By simple signs she told Colina that Nesis was in a village (crossed +fingers for teepees) beside a lake (a wide sweep, and an agitated, +flattened hand for shimmering water), and that it could be reached by a +journey with one sleep upon the way. (Here she paddled an imaginary +canoe, stopped, closed her eyes, inclined her head on her shoulder and +held up one finger.) + +Colina, overjoyed, proceeded to further question. In the same graphic, +simple way she learned the story of Ambrose's imprisonment and how +Nesis got him out. + +"Come!" she cried, extending her hand. "We'll see what Sergeant +Plaskett has to say to this!" + +But when Marya understood that she was expected to repeat her story to +the policeman, a frantic, stubborn terror took possession of her. She +gave Colina to understand in no uncertain signs that the Indians would +kill her if she told the secret. + +Colina, taking into account the pains they had gone to to keep it, +could not deny the danger. She finally asked Marya if she would take +her, Colina, to the place where Nesis was. + +Marya, terrified, positively refused. + +Pulling off her gauntlet, Colina displayed to Marya a ring set with a +gleaming opal. It was Marya's she let her understand, if she would +serve her. + +Marya's eyes sickened with desire. She wavered--but finally refused +with a little moan. Terror was stronger than cupidity. + +Colina debated with herself. She asked Marya if the way to go was by +paddling. + +Marya shook her head. She gave Colina to understand that the canoes +were all tied up together and watched by the police. She signed that +the Kakisas had a few horses up the river a little way that the police +did not know about. + +They stole out of camp at dawn, caught a horse and rode up the river. +Evidently there was regular travel between the two villages. Colina, +thinking of the policeman's confident belief that he had intercepted +all communications, smiled. + +Colina finally asked if Marya would put her on the trail to the other +village--in exchange for the ring. Marya, after a struggle with her +fears, consented, stipulating that they must start before dark. + +Colina understood from her signs that the biggest opal ever mined would +not tempt Marya to wander in the bush after dark. + +Colina did some rapid thinking. She doubted whether Germain Grampierre +after having been warned by the police would go with her to the other +village. + +She quickly decided that she didn't want him with her anyway, worthy, +stupid fellow that he was. Yet he had constituted himself her +protector, and he would hardly let her go without him. It did not +promise to be easy to hoodwink both Plaskett and Grampierre. + +What she was going to do when she found Nesis, Colina did not stop to +consider. The thing to do was to find the girl, and trust to pluck and +mother wit for the rest. + +Colina finally thought she saw her way clear. She asked Marya if she +would meet her in an hour on the Enterprise trail outside of camp. It +was now three o'clock. + +Marya, with her eyes upon the opal, nodded. She gave Colina to +understand that she would be waiting at a place where the trail crossed +a stream, and climbed to a little prairie with thick bushes around it. + +Leaving Marya, Colina returned to the police tents. Climbing the hill, +she had the satisfaction upon looking back to see that the Indian girl +had foresaken her moose-hide. + +The edge of the bush was near her: it would not be hard for her to lose +herself. Simulating an air of discouragement, Colina told Sergeant +Plaskett she had learned nothing and signified her willingness to +return to Enterprise. + +"I'd start at once," she said suggestively, "but my horses are tired." + +Plaskett was greatly relieved. "I'll furnish you with fresh horses," +he said instantly. "Let your horses stay here and rest up. I'll send +them in with the first patrol, and you can then return mine." + +This was what Colina desired. She smiled on the policeman dazzlingly. + +Plaskett sent a trooper for the horses, and himself escorted Colina +back to the spot at the foot of the hill where she had ordered the +Grampierres and Cora to wait for her. + +She told Germain the same story. The half-breed who had been +interviewed by Plaskett in the meantime, was delighted by her resolve +to return. He instantly set to work to pack up. + +In less than half an hour they started for home. As they mounted the +hill, Plaskett gallantly waved his cap from below. The bush swallowed +them. Colina was thinking: "What shall I do if she is afraid, and +doesn't come?" + +However, less than a mile from the river, they forded a little brook, +climbed a shallow hill, and there, true to her agreement, waited Marya, +standing like a statue beside the trail. + +Colina, making believe to be greatly astonished, dismounted, and drew +her apart. Marya, understanding from her glance of intelligence that +the others were not in the secret, gesticulated vividly for their +benefit. + +"She tells me she knows where Nesis is hidden," Colina said to Germain. +"She says she will take me there." + +"We will go back," said Germain. + +Colina shook her head. "No need for you to come back," she said. "It +will only anger the policeman. You and Georges go on home. I will get +a policeman to go with me." + +Germain protested, but his secret desire was to obey the sergeant's +orders, and Colina had no difficulty in persuading him. + +A division of the baggage was made on the spot, and they parted. The +Grampierres continued toward Enterprise, and the three girls turned +back. + +Colina breathed more freely. Plaskett now believed that she had gone +home with Germain, and Germain believed she had gone back to Plaskett. + +Marya had mounted on their pack-horse. They had not gone far in the +trail, when she signified that they were to strike off to the left. + +Colina pulled up. "Cora," she said, "it's not true that I am going to +get help from the police. I mean to go myself to the other Indian +village to get the girl I want. You don't have to come. You can ride +after Germain, and tell him I decided I didn't need you." + +"I go wit' you," Cora said stolidly. + +Colina beamed on her handmaiden, and offered her her hand. She was +willing to face the thing alone, but it was a comfort to have the +stolid dependable Cora at her side. Moreover, Cora was an admirable +cook and packer. Colina was not enamored of the drudgery of camp. + +Marya led the way slowly through the trackless bush in the general +direction of the afternoon sun, or southwest. Colina guessed that they +were making a wide detour around the Indian village. + +The going was not too difficult, for it was only second growth timber, +poplar and birch, with spruce in the hollows. The original monarchs +had been consumed by fire many years before. + +They had covered, Colina guessed, about five miles when the sky showed +ahead through the tree trunks, and Marya signed that they were to +dismount and tie the horses. Leading them to the edge of the trees, +she made them lie down. + +They found themselves overlooking a grassy bottom similar to that upon +which the Kakisa village stood. The outer edge of the meadow was +skirted by the brown flood of the river, and trees hemmed it in on +either side. A score of Indian ponies were feeding in the grass. + +Marya made Colina understand that the trail to Kakisa Lake traversed +the little plain below alongside the river. She signified that some +men were expected from the upper village that day, and that Colina must +wait where she was until she saw them pass below. Finally Marya +pointed avidly to the opal ring. + +Colina handed it over. The Indian girl slipped it on her own finger, +gazing at the effect with a kind of incredulous delight. The stolid +Cora looked on disapprovingly. + +Suddenly Marya, without so much as a look at her companions, scrambled +to her feet, and hastened silently away through the trees. She was +clutching the ring finger with the other hand as if she feared to lose +it, finger and all. That was the last of Marya. + +Sure enough before the sun went down, they saw a party of four Indians +issue out on the little plain from the direction of up river. Crossing +the grass and dismounting, they turned their horses out and cached +their saddles under the willows. + +Then they proceeded afoot. Colina waited until she was sure there were +no more to follow; then mounting, she and Cora rode down to the trail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE FINDING OF NESIS. + +The afternoon was waning, and Colina, knowing she must have covered +nearly sixty miles, began to keep a sharp lookout ahead. They had had +no adventures by the way, except that of sleeping under the stars +without male protectors near, in itself an adventure to Colina. Colina +took it like everything else, as a matter of course. + +Cora had been raised on the trail. In her impatience to arrive Colina +had somewhat scamped her horses' rest, and the grass-fed beasts were +tired. + +Issuing from among the trees upon one of the now familiar grassy +bottoms that bordered the river, they saw grazing horses and knew they +were hard upon their destination. + +A spur of the hills cut off the view up river. Rounding it, the +teepees spread before them. They were contained in a semicircular +hollow of the hills like an amphitheater, with the river running close +beside. + +Colina had decided that in boldness lay her best chance of success. +Clapping heels to her horse's ribs, therefore, she rode smartly into +the square, appearing in the very midst of the Indians before they were +warned. This village differed in no important respect from the others. +Some of the teepees were made of tanned hides in the old way. The +people were of the same stock, but even less sophisticated. Few of +these had even been to Fort Enterprise to trade. + +The sudden appearance of Colina's white face affected them something in +the way of a miracle. + +Every man dropped what he was about and stared with hanging jaw. +Others came running out of the teepees and stopped dead at the door. +For a moment or two there was no movement whatever in the square. + +But they knew Gaviller's daughter by repute, of course, and the word +was passed around that it was she. The tension relaxed. They slowly +gathered around, looking at her with no friendly eye. + +Colina searched rapidly among them for one that might answer to the +description of Nesis. There was no girl that by any stretch of the +imagination could have been called beautiful. Not wishing to give them +time to spirit her away, Colina suddenly raised her voice and cried: +"Nesis!" + +There was no answer, but several heads in the crowd turned +involuntarily toward a certain teepee. Colina, perceiving the +movement, wheeled her horse and loped across the square in that +direction. + +Cora followed, leading the pack-horse. The Indians sidled after. +Approaching the teepee she had marked, Colina heard sounds of a muffled +struggle inside. Flinging herself off her horse and throwing up the +flap, she saw a figure on the ground, held down by several old crones. + +"Hands off!" cried Colina in a voice so sudden and peremptory that the +old women, though the words meant nothing to them, obeyed. + +Nesis, lithe and swift as a lynx, wriggled out of their grasp, sprang +to her feet, and darted outside, all in a single movement, it seemed. + +The two girls faced each other, Nesis panting and trembling. The same +look of bitter curiosity was in each pair of eyes. Each acknowledged +the other's beauty with a jealous twinge. But in the red girl's sad +eyes there was no hope of rivalry. She soon cast down her lids. + +Colina thought her eyes the saddest she had ever seen in a human face. +She saw that there was little resemblance between her and her Kakisa +sisters. + +Nesis was as slender as a young aspen and her cheeks showed a clear +olive pallor. Her lips were like the petals of a Jacqueminot rose. +Colina, remembering that Ambrose had kissed them, turned a little hard. + +"You are Nesis?" she asked, though she knew it well. + +The girl nodded without looking up. + +"You know Ambrose Doane?" + +Again the mute nod. + +"Will you come with me to testify for him?" + +Nesis looked up blankly. + +"I mean," explained Colina, "will you come and tell his judges that he +did not lead the Kakisas into trouble?" + +Nesis, by vivid signs, informed Colina that Ambrose had been a prisoner +among the Indians. + +It occurred to Colina as strange, since she could understand English, +that she should use signs. "I know he was a prisoner," she said. +"Will you come with me and tell the police that?" + +Nesis turned and with a despairing gesture called Colina's attention to +the gathering Indians who would prevent her. Not a sound issued from +her lips. + +"Never mind them," said Colina scornfully. "Are you willing to come?" + +Nesis lifted her eyes to Colina's--eyes luminous with eagerness and +emotion--and quickly nodded again. + +"Why doesn't she speak!" thought Colina. Aloud she said: "All right. +Tell them I am going to take you. Tell them anybody that interferes +does so at his peril." She pointed to her rifle. + +To Colina's astonishment, the girl lowered her head and flung an arm up +over her face. + +"What's the matter?" she cried. "I'll take care of you." She drew the +arm down. "Speak to them!" she said again. + +Nesis slowly raised her head. Her eyes crept to Colina's, humble and +unspeakably mournful. She opened her mouth and pointed within. + +Colina looked--and sickened. A little cry of utter horror was forced +from her, and she fell back a step, She saw why Nesis did not speak. +The disclosure was too sudden and dreadful. + +For the first and last time during that hazardous enterprise her strong +spirit failed. She became as pale as snow and her hands flew to her +breast. Cora, watching her, slipped out of the saddle and glided to +her aid. + +The weakness was momentary. Before Cora got to her the color came +winging back into Colina's cheeks. She thrust the half-breed girl from +her and, striding forward, faced the assembled Indians with blazing +eyes. + +"You cowards!" she cried ringingly. "You pitiful, unmanly brutes! I +don't know which one of you did it. It doesn't matter. You all +permitted it. You shall all suffer for it. I promise you that!" + +Under the whips of her eyes and voice they cringed and scowled. + +Colina thrust her riding-crop into the hands of Nesis. "Get on that +horse," she commanded, pointing to the pack-animal. "Mount!" she cried +to Cora. + +Meanwhile, from her own saddle she was hastily unfastening her rifle. +She resolutely threw the lever over and back. At the ominous sound the +Indians edged behind each other or sought cover behind convenient +teepees. + +Nesis and Cora were mounted. Colina, keeping her eyes on the Indians, +said to them: "Go ahead. Walk your horses. I'll follow." She swung +herself into her own saddle. + +Cora and Nesis started slowly out of the square. Colina followed, +swinging sidewise in her saddle and watching the Indians behind. + +None offered to follow directly, but Colina observed that those who had +disappeared around the teepees were catching horses beyond. Others +running out of the square on the other side had disappeared around the +spur of the hill. + +Plainly they did not mean to let her take Nesis unopposed. + +The girls finally issued from among the teepees and extended their +horses into a trot. Cora rode first, her stolid face unchanged; from +moment to moment she looked over her shoulder to make sure that Colina +was safe. Nesis, blinded with tears, let her horse follow unguided, +and Colina brought up the rear. + +Colina's face showed the fighting look, intent and resolute. Her brain +was too busy to dwell on tragedy then. + +Rounding the hill, she saw that those who had gone ahead had +disappeared. The horses that had been grazing here were likewise gone. + +It was not pleasant to consider the possibility of an ambush waiting in +the woods ahead. Other Indians began to appear in pursuit around the +hill. + +Seeing the girls, they pulled in their horses and came on more slowly. +Colina, wishing to see what they would do, drew her horse to a walk, +whereupon the Indians likewise walked their horses. + +Evidently they meant to stalk the girls at their leisure. + +Colina, like a brave and hard-pressed general, considered the situation +from every angle without minimizing the danger. She had really nothing +but a moral weapon to use against the Indians. If that failed her, +then what? + +Night was drawing on, and it would be difficult to intimidate them with +eyes and voice after dark. Moreover, her horses were fatigued to the +point of exhaustion. How could she turn them loose to rest and graze +with enemies both in the front and the rear? + +She knew that a favorite Indian stratagem is to stampede the +adversaries' horses after dark. Colina carried the only gun in their +little party. + +Striking into the woods out of sight of their pursuers, they urged +their horses to the best that was in them. Colina bethought herself of +profiting by Nesis's experience. + +"Nesis," she called, "you know these people! What should we do?" + +Nesis, rousing herself and turning her dreadfully eloquent eyes upon +Colina, signified that they must ride on for the present. When the sun +went down she would tell what to do. + +For an hour thereafter they rode without speaking. + +While it was still light they came out on another meadow. Nesis signed +to Colina that they should halt at the edge of the trees on the other +side, and, picketing the horses, let them graze for a little while. + +It was done. The horses had to feed and rest, and this looked like as +good a place as any. Meanwhile Cora built a fire and cooked their +supper as unconcerned as if it were a picnic party an hour's ride from +home. + +They had no sooner dismounted than the Indians appeared out of the +woods at the other side of the meadow. Seeing the girls, they likewise +dismounted without coming any closer, and built a great fire. + +About a quarter of a mile separated the two fires. It grew dark. +Colina sat out of range of the firelight, watching the other fire. + +Nesis took the gun and went on up the trail to guard against the +surprise from that side. Cora kept an eye upon the dim shapes of the +tethered horses, and watched her mistress with sullen, doglike devotion. + +After an hour and a half Nesis returned, and signing to Cora to saddle +the horses, made a reconnaissance across the meadow. + +Coming back to the fire presently, she indicated to Colina that they +were not watched from that side, and that they should now ride on. + +Evidently the Indians thinking they had them trapped in the trail were +careless. Indians are not fond of scout duty in the dark in any case. + +They softly made ready, taking care not to let the firelight betray +their activities. Nesis's last act was to heap fresh wood on the fire. +Colina, approving all she did was glad to let her run things. She +could not guess how she purposed evading the Indians in front. + +They mounted, and proceeded into the woods, walking their horses +slowly. Colina could not make out the trail, but her horse could. + +Nesis led the way. They climbed a little hill and descended the other +side. At the bottom the trail was bisected by a shallow stream making +its way over a stony bed to the river. + +Halting her horse in the middle of it, Nesis allowed Colina to +approach, and pointed out to her that they must turn to the right here, +and let their horses walk in the water to avoid leaving tracks. + +For more than an hour they made a painfully slow journey among the +stones. The intelligent horses picked their way with noses close to +the ground. + +They were now between the steep high banks of a coulée. The trees +gradually thinned out, and a wide swath of the starry sky showed +overhead. Colina's heart rose steadily. + +The Indians could not possibly find the place where they had left the +trail until daylight. + +They would instantly understand their own stratagem, of course, but +they must lose still more time, searching the bed of the creek for +tracks leaving it. If only the horses had been fresher! + +Finally Nesis left the bed of the creek, and urged her horse obliquely +up the steep side of the coulée on the left. + +This was the side farther from the lower village, and the Enterprise +trail, and Colina wondered if she had not made a mistake. + +Mounting over the rim of the coulée a superb night-view was open to +them. Before them rolled the bald prairie wide as the sea, with all +the stars of heaven piercing the black dome overhead. + +It was still and frosty; the horses breathed smoke. To Colina's +nostrils rose the delicate smell of the rich buffalo grass, which cures +itself as it grows. The tired horses, excited by it, pawed the earth, +and pulled at the lines. + +They halted, and Nesis turned her face up, fixing their position by the +stars. She finally pointed to the southeast. Colina knew it was +southeast because when she faced in that direction the north star, +friend of every traveler by night, was over her left shoulder. + +"But the Kakisa village, the trail back to Enterprise is there," she +objected, pointing northeast. + +Nesis nodded. With her graceful and speaking gestures she informed +Colina that all the country that way was covered with almost +impenetrable woods through which they could not ride without a trail. + +Southeast, the prairie rolled smoothly all the way to the great river +that came from the distant high mountains. + +"The spirit river?" asked Colina. + +Nesis nodded, adding in dumb-show that when they reached its banks they +would make a raft and float down to Fort Enterprise. + +"Good!" said Colina. "Let's ride on. The moon will be up later. +We'll camp by the first water that we come to." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THE TRIAL. + +Mr. Wilfred Pascoe, K.C., arose and cleared his throat musically. He +drew out his handkerchief, polished his glasses, returned the +handkerchief, and paused suggestively. + +Mr. Pascoe was assured that he was the leading attraction at the trial +of Ambrose Doane, and that the humming crowd which filled every corner +of the court-room had come for the express purpose of hearing him, the +famous advocate from the East, sum up for the crown. + +Indeed, in his opinion, there was no one else in the case. Denholm for +the defense was a sharp and clever lad, but a mere lad! As for the +judge--well one knows these judges in the outlying provinces! + +The people of Prince George did not often get a chance to listen to a +man like him, therefore he wished to give them the worth of their money. + +He was a dignified, ruddy little gentleman, clad in a well turned +cutaway that fell from his highly convex middle like the wings of a +pouter pigeon. + +"My lord and gentlemen of the jury," he began in a voice of insinuating +modesty and sweetness, "in this room during the past four days we have +witnessed the unfolding of an extraordinary drama. + +"Through all the criminal annals of this country we may search in vain +for a precedent to this case. In the past we have had to try Indians +and half-breeds for rebelling against the government. + +"In such cases punishment was always tempered with mercy; we were in +the position of a parent chastising his child. + +"Here we are faced by a different situation. Here we have a white man, +one of our own race charged with inciting and leading the natives to +rebel against authority. By tongue and deed he strove to unloosen the +passions of hell to his own profit! + +"Every man of middle age in this Western country knows what Indian +warfare means. The flesh crawls at the picture of shrieking, painted +demons that is called up, the flames, the tortures, the dishonored +homes--gentlemen, it--it is difficult for me to speak of this matter +with a becoming restraint. + +"When we come to examine the evidence we are faced by a well-nigh +inextricable confusion. But, gentlemen, the main issue is clear. + +"We see the prisoner having made his first false step drawn by +inevitable succession deeper and deeper into the quicksands of passion +and violence. Out of the mass of details I ask you to choose three +facts which in themselves constitute a strong presumptive case. + +"First, the trouble at Fort Enterprise--that pleasant little Eden of +the far north, invaded, alas! by the serpent--the beginning of the +trouble I say was exactly coincident with the arrival of Ambrose Doane. + +"Second, in every scene of violence that followed we find him a leading +figure. Third, all trouble ceased upon his arrest. + +"Let us glance in passing at the first act of lawlessness, the seizing +of the Company's mill. The prisoner admits that he forcibly broke into +the mill, hoping, no doubt, that by confessing the minor offense he may +persuade you to believe him when he denies the greater. This is a very +ancient expedient of accused persons. + +"He ground his grain and carried it back to the Indians, and they +stored it in an empty shack across the river. This is conceded by both +sides. + +"On the following night during the progress of a barbaric dance among +the Kakisas, at which the prisoner was a guest--an honored guest, +remember--an alarm of fire was given. + +"Upon running to the scene they found the shack in flames. It was +completely destroyed, together with its contents. + +"Now, gentlemen, this is one of the mysteries of the case. No evidence +has been adduced to show who set that fire. Its suddenness and +violence precludes the possibility of its having caught by accident. +It was set, but who set it? + +"We are reduced to mere speculation here. Was it any one connected +with the Company? No! They had thousands of dollars' worth of +unprotected goods across the river; they were a mere handful, and the +Indians three hundred. It isn't reasonable. + +"Well, then, did any of the Indians set it? Why should they? It was +their flour; they had receipted for it. Lastly, did Ambrose Doane do +it, or have it done? Ah! Let us look for possible motives. + +"He was a trader, remember. It had been so easy for him to secure the +first lot; perhaps he wanted to sell them another lot. The simple +Indians, of course, would be persuaded that the incendiary came from +across the river--" + +Mr. Denholm rose. "I object," he said. "My eminent friend has no +right to suggest such ideas to the jury. There is no evidence--" + +Mr. Pascoe beamed upon his young opponent. "Counsel overlooks the +fact," he said gently, "that I expressly stated this was mere +speculation on my part." + +"Overruled," murmured the judge. + +Mr. Pascoe resumed: "As to what followed there are several versions. +The prisoner says that he pleaded with the Indians, and tried to keep +them from crossing the river. Simon Grampierre corroborates this; but +Grampierre, you must remember, is the prisoner's self-confessed +accomplice in the seizure of the flour-mill. + +"Still, he may be telling the truth. Grampierre was not with Doane all +the time. It is highly probable that the prisoner, seeking to impress +Grampierre, pleaded with the Indians in his hearing. The Indians +couldn't understand English, anyway. + +"Watusk testified that he had a conversation with the prisoner during +the fire, but the confusion was so great he cannot remember what was +said. This is very natural. + +"Myengeen, Tatateecha, and the other Indians who testified said that +the prisoner did harangue them, and that they understood from his +gestures that he was urging them to cross the river and revenge +themselves. + +"All say it was from him that they first heard Gaviller's name. I +don't think we need look any further. + +"Anyhow, the prisoner led the mob down to the beach where his york-boat +was lying, and they all embarked in his boat. He says he tried to keep +them out, but he does not deny crossing with them. Hardly likely they +would take him as a passenger, is it, if he had fought them so +strenuously? + +"On what took place in John Gaviller's house that night I will touch +very briefly. It was a ghastly night for the little company of +defenders! We have no eye-witness to the prisoner's dastardly attack +on Mr. Gaviller. Mr. Strange, through the most praiseworthy motives, +has refused to testify against him. + +"Mr. Strange takes the ground that since he is obliged to act as +interpreter in this case, no other being obtainable, it would be +improper for him to give evidence. + +"In the light of the prisoner's impudent charge against Mr. Strange, +the latter's conduct is truly magnanimous. The charge that Strange +tried to murder his employer is simply laughable. Twenty-nine years of +faithful service give it the lie. + +"A great point has been made by the defense that the prisoner had no +motive in attempting to kill Mr. Gaviller. Gentlemen, he had the same +motive that has inspired every murder in history--hate! + +"There is any amount of testimony to show with what hatred the prisoner +always spoke of Mr. Gaviller. Gaviller was his business rival, his +rich and successful rival. Gaviller was the head and front of the +powers that opposed his headstrong will. I repeat, it is hate and +opportunity that make a murder. + +"Mr. Gaviller was prostrated with weakness. How simple to creep +up-stairs in the dark and finish what the other coward's bullet had +almost accomplished! And how impossible to prove that it was a murder! +Mr. Gaviller's vitality was so low that night, the doctor has +testified, that he himself would not have suspected foul play if he had +found him dead in the morning. + +"When they arrested Doane in the house the gun they took from him was +one that had been stolen from the Company store earlier in the night. +Remember that. + +"At daylight the Indians came and made a demand on the defenders of the +house for their leader, Ambrose Doane. They threatened to burn the +house down if he was not given up to them. They welcomed him with +extravagant expressions of joy. + +"This is positive evidence, gentlemen. Those in the house saw the +prisoner give an order to bear away the dead bodies, and the order was +obeyed. Such little facts are highly significant. + +"Watusk's evidence makes the next link. I do not attempt to justify +this unfortunate man, gentlemen. At least he is contrite, and throws +himself on the mercy of the court. Watusk says when they came back +across the river the Indians were sorry for what they had done and +terrified of punishment. + +"Watusk urged them to return what they had stolen. He had taken no +part in the looting of the store. But Ambrose Doane would have none of +it. He persuaded Watusk to give the order to break camp and fly back +to the Kakisa River. Doane promised the bewildered Indian that he +would make good terms for the offenders with the police when they came. + +"Doane's contention that he was a prisoner among the Kakisas is +unsupported. Watusk and five other Indians have sworn that not only +was he free to come and go as he chose, but that he directed their +movements. + +"As to the prisoner's story of the Indian girl, ah--a touching story, +gentlemen!" Mr. Pascoe paused for a comfortable, silent little laugh. +He wiped his eyes. "Almost worthy of one of our popular romancers! + +"Not very original perhaps, the beautiful Indian maid falling a victim +to the charms of the pale-faced prisoner, whispering to him at night +through a chink in his prison wall, and smuggling a knife to assist his +escape! + +"Not very original, I say; is it possible he could have read it +somewhere, adding a few little touches of his own? Unfortunately, our +story-teller in his desire for artistic verisimilitude has overreached +himself. + +"That touch about Nesis--if that is what he called her, being the +fourth wife of Watusk. Why fourth? one wonders. You have heard Lona +testify that she was Watusk's one and only wife. She ought to know. I +fancy I need say no more about that. + +"Next comes Inspector Egerton. The inspector testifies that the trap +set for his men in the hills north of the Kakisa River was of an +ingenuity far beyond the compass of the Indian imagination. You have +seen a plan of it. You have heard these simple, ignorant red men +testify here. Could they have made such a plan? Impossible! + +"Gentlemen, I ask you to consider the situation on that fair morning in +September when the gallant little band of redcoats rode into that +hellishly planned trap. The heart quails at the imminence of their +peril! + +"That a horrible tragedy was by a miracle averted is no credit to this +prisoner. That, instead of being the most execrated murderer in the +history of our land, he is only on trial for a felony he has not +himself to thank. He has to thank the Merciful Providence on High who +caused the red man's heart to relent at the critical moment! + +"Watusk could not give the order to shoot. You have heard the +policemen testify that the prisoner was furious at the Indian's +pusillanimity. I say it was a God-sent pusillanimity! + +"Our merciful law makes a distinction between successful and +unsuccessful crimes, though there is no difference in the criminal. He +is lucky! Gentlemen, all that justice demands of you is that you +should find him guilty of treason-felony!" + +Mr. Pascoe sat down and blew his nose with loud, conscious modesty. +The jury looked pleased and flattered. An excited murmur traveled +about the courtroom, and the judge picked up his gavel to suppress +threatened applause. + +There could be no doubt as to the way popular opinion tended in this +trial. Though the applause was stopped before it began, one could feel +the crowd's animus against the prisoner no less than if they had +shouted "Hang him!" with one voice. + +They believed that he had plotted against the popular idols, the +mounted police; that was enough. + +The prisoner sat at a table beside his counsel with his chin in his +palm. He was well dressed and groomed--Denholm saw to that--and his +face composed, though very pale; the eyes lusterless. + +Throughout Mr. Pascoe's arraignment he scarcely moved, nor appeared to +pay more than cursory attention. + +It is the characteristic picture of a prisoner on trial; guilty or +innocent makes little difference on the surface. Nature, when we have +reached the limit of endurance, lends us apathy. + +Ambrose had suffered so much he was dulled to suffering. He had not a +friend in the court-room except Arthur Denholm. Peter Minot, after +making a deposition in his favor, had been obliged to hasten north to +look after their endangered business. + +There were others who would have been glad to support him, but he would +not call on them. Indeed what he most dreaded were the occasional +testimonials of sympathy which reached him. Friendliness unmanned him. + +The other way in which his ordeal made itself felt was in his great +longing to have it over with. He looked forward to the cell which he +believed awaited him as to relief. There at least he would be safe +from the hard, inquisitive eyes which empaled him. + +Meanwhile, as they argued back and forth and his fate hung in the +balance, he found himself staring at the patch of pale winter sky which +showed in the tall window. The air was clean up there. The sky was a +noble, empty place unpolluted by foul breath and villainy and lies! + +When Denholm arose to speak for the prisoner, the jury regarded him +with curiosity tempered by pity. They liked Denholm, liked his +resourcefulness, his unassailable good-humor, his gallant struggle on +behalf of a bad cause. Plainly they were wondering what he could say +for his client now. + +If Denholm felt that his case was hopeless, he gave no sign of it. He +was frank, unassuming, friendly with the jury. His style of delivery +was conversational. + +"I will be brief," he said. "I do not mean to take you over the +evidence again. Every detail must be more than familiar to you. + +"What my learned friend has just said to you, what I say to you now, +and what his lordship will presently say to you from the bench all +amounts to the same thing--choose for yourselves what you are to +believe. Somewhere in this jungle of contradictions lurks the truth. +It is for you to track it down. + +"The prisoner's case stands or falls by his own testimony. We have an +instinct that warns us to disregard what a man says in his own defense. +In this case we cannot disregard it. I ask you not to consider it as +evidence against the prisoner that he has no witnesses. + +"If we go over the story in our minds, we will see that under the +conditions of these happenings he could not have witnesses. Therefore, +if we wish to do justice, we must weigh his own story. + +"Never mind the details now, but consider his attitude in telling it. +For an entire session of the court he sat in the witness chair telling +us with the most painstaking detail everything that happened from the +time of his first arrival at Fort Enterprise up to his arrest. + +"During the whole of the following day he was on the stand under a +perfect fusillade of questions from my learned friend, admittedly the +most brilliant cross-examiner at the bar. He did not succeed in +shaking the prisoner's story in any important particular. + +"How, I ask you, could the prisoner have foreseen and prepared for all +those ingenious traps formulated in the resourceful brain of my learned +friend, unless he was telling the simple truth? + +"Moreover, the gaps, the inconsistencies, the improbabilities in the +story which my friend has pointed out, to my mind these are the +strongest evidences of its truth. For if he had made it all up he +would be logical. Man's brain works that way. + +"Suppose for the sake of argument that the prisoner did accomplish that +miracle; that in his brain he formulated a story so complete in every +ramification that nine hours' cross-examination could batter no holes +in it. + +"If that is true, it is a wonderful brain, isn't it? The prisoner, in +short, is an amazingly clever young man. Now, can you imagine a man +with even the rudiments of good sense persuading himself that he could +make a successful Indian uprising at this date? There is a serious--" + +Denholm was stopped by a commotion that arose outside the door of the +court-room. There was a great throng in the corridor as well. He +looked to the bench for aid. + +His lordship rapped smartly with his gavel. "Silence!" he cried, "or I +will have the room cleared!" + +But the noise came nearer. + +"Officer, what is the trouble outside?" demanded the bench. + +The two doorkeepers with great hands were pressing back a threatened +irruption from the corridor. One spoke over his shoulder. + +"If you please, sir, there's a young woman here says she has evidence +to give in this case." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +AN UNEXPECTED WITNESS. + +Those in the court-room jumped up and looked toward the door, and the +confusion was redoubled. Several policemen hurried to the assistance +of the doorkeepers. The judge rapped in vain. + +Finally one of the doorkeepers made his voice heard above the scuffling: + +"She says her name is Colina Gaviller." + +A profound sensation was created within the court. The confusion was +stilled as by magic. All those inside turned back to look at the young +prisoner. + +He had leaped to his feet, and stood gazing toward the door with a +wild, white, awakened face. Denholm had a restraining hand on his +shoulder. John Gaviller, Gordon Strange, Inspector Egerton; there was +no man connected with the case but betrayed something of the same +agitation. + +"Admit Miss Gaviller," commanded the judge. + +The two policemen, with herculean exertions, made an opening in the +crowd for Colina and two companions to enter and kept every one else +out. The doors were then closed. + +At Colina's appearance an odd murmur rippled over the crowd. Her +beauty astonished them. She walked down the aisle of the court-room, +pale, erect, and self-controlled. Captain Stinson and Cora followed +her. + +The crowd observed her movements with breathless attention. + +All three were admitted within the rail. John Gaviller sat near the +gate. He looked somewhat dazed. They saw her offer him her hand with +a swift smile, charged with meaning. + +The gentlemanly half-breed, Gordon Strange, leaned forward, seeking to +attract her attention with an eager smile. Him she ignored. She +turned to the prisoner. This was what the crowd was waiting for. + +The pale youth and the pale girl had all the look of the principal +actors in a drama. What was between them? They saw her smile at him, +too--an extraordinary smile, sorrowful, solicitous, cheery. None could +interpret it. + +Ambrose was engaged in a desperate struggle to command himself. At the +announcement of her coming hope had sprung up, only to receive a +deadlier wound at the first glimpse of her. + +She had not found Nesis; very well, it was all up with him. What +matter how dearly Colina loved him if he had to go to jail? He saw the +cheer she offered him in her smile, but he rejected it. + +"Nothing can help me now," he stubbornly insisted. "If I let myself +hope, the disappointment will drive me insane." He fought to recover +his apathy. + +Pascoe and Denholm each sprang up to greet the new witness as if by the +warmth of his welcome she would be attracted to his side. + +"One moment, gentlemen," said the judge. He addressed Colina, "You +have evidence to give in this case?" + +Colina gravely inclined her head. + +His lordship frowned. "This is very irregular. I must ask you why you +have delayed until this moment?" + +"I have just arrived in town," said Colina. + +"Couldn't you have communicated with counsel?" + +"I have come from the north. There was no way of sending out a message +ahead. I am the first one out since the freeze-up." + +The judge nodded to show himself satisfied. "Is the evidence you have +to give favorable to the prisoner or unfavorable?" + +The court-room held its breath for her answer. + +"Favorable," she murmured. + +John Gaviller looked up astonished. + +The judge gave her over to Denholm. "Will you examine?" he asked. + +Denholm consulted with his client. Ambrose, up to this moment so +indifferent to the lawyers, could be seen giving him positive +instructions. Denholm expostulated with him. The bench showed +symptoms of impatience. Finally Denholm rose. + +"My lord," he said. "I have never seen Miss Gaviller before this +moment. I have no inkling of the nature of her evidence. Left to +myself, I should ask for an adjournment; surely we are entitled to it. +But my client insists on going ahead. My lord"--his voice shook a +little--"none but an innocent man could be so rash!" + +"Never mind that," rebuked the judge. He was distinctly nettled by the +upset of court decorum. + +"I will therefore respectfully ask the indulgence of the court," +Denholm went on, "and move to reopen the taking of testimony." + +"Proceed," said the judge. + +A court attendant led Colina to the witness stand. She was sworn. +Judge, lawyers, and spectators alike searched her grave, composed face +for some suggestion of what she had to say. Nothing was to be read +there. + +"Miss Gaviller," said Denholm, "I can only ask you to tell in your own +words all that you know bearing on the offenses with which Ambrose +Doane is charged." + +"My father, Mr. Macfarlane, Dr. Giddings have all testified, I +suppose," said Colina. "They can tell you as much or more than I can. +I have come to tell you of things that happened after his arrest, after +all the others went out of the country." + +Every one connected with the case sat up. Denholm's eye brightened. + +"Please go on," he said and sat down. + +Colina, in a low, steady voice, commenced her story at the point where +Ambrose had asked her to find some one to go in search of Nesis. + +While she spoke her grave eyes were brooding over the prisoner's bent, +dark head below. He dared not look at her. The court-room was so +still that when she paused for a word one could hear the clock on the +wall tick. + +She told of her journey to the Kakisa River; her interview with +Sergeant Plaskett (which provoked a smile); her search among the +teepees; her encounter with Marya, and all that followed on that. + +Without a trace of self-consciousness she told how she and Cora had set +off at night on the unknown trail, and how she had ridden into the +middle of the hostile village next day and demanded Nesis. + +"Two girls to defy a whole tribe of redskins!"--the thought could be +read in the jurymen's startled eyes. + +The twelve men hung out of the box, listening with parted lips. All +that had gone before in this startling trial was nothing to Colina's +story. + +When Colina came to her meeting with Nesis her brave port was shaken. +Her voice began to tremble. She could not bring herself to name the +dreadful thing. The judge, perceiving a stoppage in her story, +interrupted her. + +"Miss Gaviller, if the girl could understand you, why did she answer by +signs?" + +Colina lowered her head. Those near saw her struggling to control a +shaken breast, saw two tears steal down her pale cheeks. + +"Do you wish to be excused?" asked the judge solicitously. + +She shook her head. "One moment," she was understood to whisper. + +An attendant handed up a glass of water. + +She finally managed to produce her voice again. "She could not speak," +she said very low. + +"Why?" asked the judge. One would have said the whole room breathed +the question. + +"They--had mutilated her," whispered Colina. "Her--her tongue--was cut +off." + +A single low sound of horror was forced from the crowd. The prisoner +half rose with a choking cry and collapsed with his head in his arms on +the table. + +Denholm, as pale as a sheet, flung an arm around his shoulders. Every +man connected with the case stared before him as if he beheld the +horror with his physical eyes. Colina's self-control escaped her +entirely. + +She covered her face with her hands and wept like any girl. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +FROM DUMB LIPS. + +The judge proposed an adjournment. The witness, the prisoner, the +prisoner's counsel were all against it. It was decided to continue. A +breath of relief escaped the spectators. Another day they might not be +able to secure seats in the court-room. + +Colina described how they gave their pursuers the slip and gained the +prairie. + +"We decided to make for the nearest point on the Spirit River," she +went on, "and headed southeast. After we had ridden for two hours we +came to a slough of fresh water, and camped for the rest of the night +to let the horses feed and rest. Nesis and I could not sleep. We +talked until morning. + +"I asked her questions, and she would answer yes or no, or let me know +by signs when I was on the wrong track. She was wonderfully clever in +making up signs. + +"As she made signs to me I interpreted them aloud, and she would nod or +shake her head according to whether I was right or wrong. I had to try +one question after another until I hit on the one she could answer. In +this way little by little I built up her story. + +"The next day we continued on the prairie. The sky was heavily +overclouded, and there were flurries of snow. We were lost for several +hours, until the sun came out again. Our food was almost gone, but I +managed to shoot a rabbit. + +"The horses were very tired. Whenever we stopped I talked to Nesis. +We stayed up most of that night. It was too cold to sleep. By the end +of the second day I knew everything she had to tell me." + +Colina drank some water and went on. "Nesis's story begins a year ago. +In the middle of the winter my father was accustomed to send Gordon +Strange with an outfit to the Kakisa River to trade with the tribe and +bring back the fur. + +"While there he lived in a little log shack overlooking the Indian +village. Nesis said it was Watusk's custom to go up to the shack every +night and the two men would talk. She knew that they talked English +together, and she used to steal up after Watusk and listen outside +through a chink between the logs." + +Every eye in the court-room was turned on Gordon Strange. The +half-breed made marks with a pencil on a pad and tried to call up the +old modest, deprecating smile. But an extraordinary ashy tint crept +under his swarthy skin. + +In spite of himself, his eyes darted furtively to measure the distance +to the door. There were half a thousand people between; moreover, the +doors were closed and guarded by six policemen. + +Colina carefully avoided glancing in Strange's direction. + +"At that time Nesis had no idea of using what she learned from their +talk," she went on. "She merely wished to hear English spoken, so that +she would not forget what her father had taught her. Nesis attached a +mysterious virtue to the ability to speak English. It was a kind of +fetish with her. + +"She believed that her father's ability to speak English had threatened +Watusk's power in the tribe, and that Watusk, on that account, had had +her father put out of the way. Therefore she kept it a secret that she +could speak it, too. + +"Nesis said that all of Mr. Strange's and Watusk's talk was against the +white people. She said they used to discuss how the whites could be +driven out of the country. She said that Mr. Strange used to tell +Watusk about how Louis Riel fought the whites. + +"He said that Louis Riel would be the king of this country to-day if he +had not gone crazy. He used to ask Watusk how he would like to be a +king. He used to flatter Watusk and tell him he was a great chief. + +"He explained to Watusk how he could kill a whole army of the whites if +he could lead them into the little valley beyond the Kakisa." + +A gasp of astonishment escaped the court. In almost every sentence of +Colina's there was the material of a fresh sensation. + +Ambrose lifted his head, and a little color came back to his cheeks. +Whether or not it saved him in the end, it was sweet to hear himself +justified. + +Colina continued: "Nesis said that Watusk often complained to Mr. +Strange that my father was always making the goods dearer and the fur +cheaper. Mr. Strange told him to wait a little while and he would see +great changes. + +"Pretty soon things would get so bad, he explained, that the Company +would take John Gaviller away and make him the trader. He told Watusk +to wait until the grain was thrashed next year, meaning last summer, +and there would be great trouble. + +"He said if Watusk did everything he told him he would make Watusk a +great man. At different times he gave Watusk presents--silk +handkerchiefs, finger rings, pistols, a sword. By and by he said he +would make Watusk great presents. + +"Nesis's story then jumped to the time, last summer, when Watusk and +many of the people rode into Fort Enterprise to get flour," Colina went +on. "In the mean time Ambrose Doane had been to Enterprise, and had +gone away again to get an outfit. + +"My father refused to give the Indians any flour because they had been +trading with his competitor. The Indians were angry, Nesis said, and +Watusk was scared. One night Gordon Strange came to see Watusk, and +Nesis listened outside the teepee. + +"She said Strange said to Watusk to let the Indians get mad. Strange +said he wanted to have trouble. There was talk of burning the store +then. Strange said that would fix John Gaviller, all right. He told +Watusk that the police would let the people off easily because, as he +said, my father had treated them so badly." + +Colina drew a long breath to steady herself. "They talked about the +chances of my father's dying," she went on. "He was very sick at that +time. Mr. Strange suggested to Watusk that it wouldn't take much to +finish him. They both laughed at that. + +"He told Watusk that if John Gaviller died he, Strange, would settle +all the trouble, and then the Company would make him the trader for +good. He told Watusk that when he got to be trader he would soon fix +Ambrose Doane, too. + +"Mr. Strange was always telling Watusk to tell the Kakisas that my +father hated them, but that he, Strange, was their friend. + +"Nesis said that a couple of days after this Ambrose Doane came down +the river, and after him his outfit on a raft. When Ambrose Doane +heard that the Indians were hungry he took men and crossed the river +and broke into the flour-mill and ground flour for them. + +"This took two nights and a day. On the second night Gordon Strange +came across to see Watusk again. Nesis said he was so angry that he +started in talking without sending her out of the teepee. He had no +idea, of course, that she could understand English. She made herself +look stupid, she said. + +"Mr. Strange was angry because, if the Indians got their flour and went +back to the Kakisa River satisfied, all his plans would be spoiled. +His attempt to create a rebellion among the half-breed farmers had +already failed. + +"Nesis said that Strange cursed Ambrose Doane for spoiling his plans. +She said he told Watusk he must burn the flour, and then the Indians +would surely make trouble. They talked about how to do it. + +"It was arranged that Strange was to bring Watusk a big can of +coal-oil: Watusk was to hide it under the floor of Gaston Trudeau's +empty shack, and afterward store the flour there. Then Watusk was to +give a big tea-dance to get all the people out of the way. + +"Before going to the dance he was to pour oil over the bags, and leave +the window open so Strange could fire it after he had gone." + +Colina paused to take a drink of water. The judge whispered to a court +attendant, who in turn whispered to a policeman. Thereafter the +blue-coat's eyes never left Gordon Strange. The half-breed had lost +all pretense of smiling. + +He looked like a trapped animal. The court-room scarcely regarded him. +They hung upon Colina's lips. + +Every time she paused her listeners' pent-up breath escaped. + +Colina went on: "At the tea-dance Nesis saw Ambrose Doane for the first +time. She said she--" Colina lowered her eyes and sought for a +word--"she liked him. After that she wanted to help him. When the +alarm of fire was raised, and all ran to the burning building, Nesis +kept near to Ambrose Doane and watched all that he did. + +"She said she saw him go after Watusk, and heard him make Watusk tell +the Indians not to be foolish, but go back to the teepees until +morning. But Watusk spoke to them half-heartedly and they did not +listen. It was Myengeen, Nesis said, who urged them to go across the +river, and break into the store. + +"Nesis did not see what happened at the boat. The crowd was too great +for her to get near. But next morning when they came back she heard +Myengeen say to Watusk that Gordon Strange had sent word that they must +tie Ambrose Doane up and carry him away. + +"She said it was soon known throughout the tribe that if the police +came everybody was to say that Ambrose Doane made all the trouble. She +said he was tied up and carried away on a horse. + +"When they all got to the Kakisa River a week later she found that he +was imprisoned in Gordon Strange's house, and watched day and night." + +So far the power of Colina's story had carried her hearers along +breathlessly with her. Not until she reached this point did a very +obvious question occur to the judge. + +"One moment, Miss Gaviller," he said. "I presume you understand that +this story would have more weight as evidence if the girl Nesis was +produced in court. Can she be brought here?" + +Once more Colina faltered--and steeled herself. Her eyes became misty, +but she looked directly at the judge. "My Lord," she said simply, "she +is dead." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE AVENGING OF NESIS. + +His lordship started back thoroughly discomposed. "Really! Really!" +he murmured helplessly. The prisoner hid his face in his arms again. +An audible wave of compassion traveled over the room. + +"Should I tell about that?" Colina asked quietly. The judge signified +his assent. + +"On the third morning on the prairie," Colina continued, "the Indians +found us again. They had tracked us all the way from the Kakisa. They +did not attack us, but followed about a quarter of a mile behind. + +"There were about fifty of them. Whenever we stopped to rest or eat, +they rode around us in a big circle yelling and firing their guns in +the air--trying to break our nerve." + +A gasp escaped her hearers at the picture she evoked--three women on +the wide prairie, and a horde of yelling savages! + +"I did not mind them so much," Colina went on simply, "for I was sure +they were too cowardly to attack us. But our food was all gone by this +time, and I could not leave the others to hunt for game. The horses +were completely played out. + +"At night we suffered from the cold. We could not make a fire because +the light of it blinded us and showed us to the Indians. On the fourth +night as we were trying to push on in the hope of losing them in the +dark, the horse that Nesis was riding fell down and died in his tracks. +After that we took turns walking. + +"Next day they easily found us again. It was very cold, and we could +scarcely keep going. In the afternoon we came to the edge of the bench +of the Spirit River. It was a long way down to the bank. + +"When we got there we saw that heavy ice was running in the river. We +had to travel another mile along the bank before we saw enough dead +timber in one place to make a raft. I was afraid we wouldn't have +strength enough to move it. We hadn't eaten for two days. + +"It was still daylight, and we made a fire there. The Indians came and +watched us from a little knoll, less than a quarter of a mile back. + +"Cora took one of the remaining horses away and killed it, and brought +back meat to the fire and we ate a little. I thought if we slept a +little while we would be better able to start the raft. So Cora and I +lay down while Nesis kept watch." + +Colina's voice was shaking. She paused to steady it. "I was careful +to choose a place out in the open," she went on. "We were in a grassy +bottom beside the river. + +"The nearest cover was a poplar bluff about three hundred yards back. +He--he must have crawled down to that. I was awakened by a shot. They +had got her!" + +Colina's clenched hands were pressed close together, her head was down. +The quiet voice broke out a little wildly. + +"Ah! I have never, never ceased to blame myself! I should not have +slept! I ought not to have let her watch! But I never thought they +would dare shoot!" + +Colina went on in a schooled voice more affecting than an outcry. + +"Nesis was shot through the breast. I had nothing to give her. I +stanched the wound the best way I could. + +"I saw at once that she could not live. Indeed, I prayed that she +would not linger--in such pain. She lived throughout the night. She +was conscious most of the time--and smiling. She died at daybreak. + +"I do not know what happened after that. I gave out. It was Cora who +saw the launch coming down the river, and signaled it with her +petticoat. They landed and carried us aboard. I remember that. + +"I wanted them to turn back and take us up to the crossing. But it was +impossible to go against the current on account of the ice. They took +us down to Fort Enterprise. We took Nesis. She is buried there. + +"At Fort Enterprise we had to wait until the ice packed in the river, +and enough snow fell to make a winter trail. Then we started with dog +teams. I brought Captain Stinson and my servant, Cora Thomas, for +additional witnesses. It is seven hundred miles. That is why we were +so long." + +Mr. Pascoe rose. His erstwhile ruddy cheeks showed an odd pallor under +the purple veins, and he looked thoroughly disconcerted. "My Lord," he +said, "this is a very affecting tale. It is, however, my painful duty +to protest against its admission as evidence." + +Colina interrupted him. "I beg your pardon," she said quickly. She +produced a little book from inside her dress. "May I explain further?" +she asked the judge eagerly. + +"One moment, please, Mr. Pascoe," said his lordship. He signed to +Colina to proceed. + +"I meant, of course, to bring Nesis here," Colina continued. "When I +saw that--that I never would, while I didn't know anything about courts +or evidence, I felt that it would be safer to have a written statement. + +"This book is my diary that I always carry with me. That night I wrote +in the blank pages what Nesis had told me, and later when she was +conscious I read it to her, and she affirmed it sentence by sentence. +She understood how important it was. + +"You may know that she comprehended what she was doing because she made +me make changes--you will find them here. At the end I wrote her name +and she made a cross. Cora Thomas heard me read it to her, and saw her +make her mark." + +The judge held out his hand for the book. + +Once more Mr. Pascoe rose. "My Lord," he said, "it must be clear to +you that the ends of justice have been defeated by the dramatic power +of this tale. It would be farcical to ask this jury to deliver an +impartial verdict now. This new evidence must be weighed and sifted +with calm minds. I request that you declare a mistrial, and that--" + +A still more dramatic surprise awaited Mr. Pascoe and the court. +Toward the end of the telling of Colina's painful tale Gordon Strange +had been forgotten by all in the room except the policeman detailed to +watch him. This man suddenly made a spring toward the half-breed, +where he sat huddled beside his table. He was too late. The court was +electrified by the muffled sound of a shot. Strange fell forward on +the table. A revolver clattered to the floor from under his coat. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS. + +The following is taken from the Prince George _Star_, January 19, 19--. +Extra. + +NOT GUILTY! + +At 7.53 P.M. the jury in the trial of Ambrose Doane for treason-felony +returned a verdict of not guilty without leaving their seats. This was +a foregone conclusion. Upon issuing from the courthouse the acquitted +man received an immense ovation from the waiting crowd. + + +From the Prince George _Star_, January 24, 19--: Editorial. + +THE REAL CRIMINAL! + +Now that the trial of Ambrose Doane is a thing of the past, a tragic +miscarriage of justice happily averted, and the excitement abated, it +is time for the thoughtful to examine into the underlying causes of the +trouble at Fort Enterprise. + +That there was serious trouble no one denies; but the general +disposition is, since the innocent man is free and the guilty one dead +by his own hand, to forget the whole matter. Now is the time to take +measures to make it impossible for anything of the kind to occur again. + +Granting that Gordon Strange, that extraordinary character, played for +high stakes, lost and paid--was he the sole criminal? What sort of +conditions were they up there that made it possible for him to engineer +his unique schemes of villainy? + +For years the arrogant policy and the unscrupulous methods of the great +corporation that holds the north of our province in thrall have been +matters of common gossip in the streets. But no man has dared to raise +his voice. + +"They say" that the mighty corporation rides over the helpless redskins +roughshod. "They say" that the Indians are charged exorbitant prices +for the necessities of life, while a mere pittance is given them for +their valuable furs. + +Is it true? Who knows? No news comes out of that sealed country save +by the pleasure of the great Company. Certain aspects of the testimony +given in the Ambrose Doane trial leads us to suspect that these charges +are not without foundation. + +Parliament should investigate. The question is, does the Province of +Athabasca control the Northwest Fur Company, or does the Company run +the province? + + +From the Prince George _Star_, January 27, 19--. + +GAVILLER IS OUT! + +At the head offices of the Northwest Fur Company it was given out this +morning that the resignation of John Gaviller, the Company's trader at +Fort Enterprise, had been accepted to take effect immediately. + +Duncan MacDonald, general manager of the Company, said, when asked for +a further statement: "Mr. Gaviller's resignation was requested for the +good of the service. Owing to the conditions of our business the +traders have to be given the widest latitude in the command of their +posts, and we do not always know what is going on. + +"Mr. Gaviller was very successful at Enterprise, but the disclosures at +the Doane trial showed that his acts have not always been in accord +with the policy of this company in dealing with the Indians. To our +mind the welfare of the Indians is more important than profits." + +Mr. Gaviller was later found at the Royal George Hotel. Upon being +shown the foregoing he did not hesitate to express an opinion of it. + +"Put not your trust in corporations!" he said. "I have given them +thirty years of my life, my best years, and here I am turned out over +night! It is the threat of a parliamentary investigation that has led +them to their present panic and attempt to make a scapegoat of me. + +"If they think I'll take it lying down they are much mistaken. The +Indians' welfare more important than profits, eh? Excuse me if I +laugh." Mr. Gaviller added somewhat stronger expression. + +"You can say from me," he went on, "that not only have I always +followed instructions to the letter, but that twice a year I laid my +books open to the Company inspector, who was informed of the minutest +details of my transactions. + +"I accept my share in the blame for what happened. I have learned my +lesson. But let me tell you this, that the policy pursued at Fort +Enterprise was the Company's policy--letter and spirit. + +"Moreover, in my time Fort Enterprise has paid thousands and thousands +of dollars to the shareholders of the Company, and I have not profited +one cent beyond my salary." + +At this point Mr. Gaviller's daughter came downstairs and he would say +no more. Miss Gaviller declined to speak for publication. + + +From the Prince George _Star_, February 3, 19--. + +A BEAUTIFUL ADORNMENT. + +Our city has the honor of containing at the present moment the most +beautiful set of furs ever exhibited in America. It is to be seen in +the window of Messrs. Renfrew & Watkins's establishment on Oliver +Avenue. + +It consists of three magnificent black fox skins smooth and lustrous as +jet, except for the snowy tips of the brushes. Two of the pelts go to +the neck-piece, while the third--the most beautiful skin that ever came +out of the north in the opinion of these experienced furriers--makes +the muff. + +Mr. Renfrew refused to set a value on the furs, but we learn on good +authority that they are insured for five thousand dollars. + +There are romantic and tragic associations with these furs. Two of the +pelts have been in the possession of Mr. Renfrew for some time. He +held them on speculation until he could obtain a third to complete the +set. + +This one, the finest of the three, was brought out last August by +Ambrose Doane. This was the skin which almost cost John Gaviller his +life, and indirectly induced a rebellion among the Kakisa Indians. All +those who followed the course of the recent trial will remember it. + +Upon obtaining the third pelt, Mr. Renfrew sent the three to London to +be dressed and made up. They have just been returned. + +A purchaser has already been found for the set. His name is kept +secret, but we are assured that the beautiful furs will remain in this +province. + + +From the Prince George _Star_, February 3, 19--. + +GAVILLER GOES WITH MINOT & DOANE. + +An interesting fact leaked out yesterday when it became known that +Ambrose Doane had made an offer to John Gaviller to take charge of the +new trading-post that Minot & Doane purpose establishing on Great +Buffalo Lake. + +Mr. Doane could not be found by the Star reporter. Since the trial he +has spent a good deal of his time dodging reporters. He has a private +room at the Athabasca Club which no representative of the press has yet +succeeded in locating. + +John Gaviller was found at the Royal George Hotel. He admitted the +truth of the report, and seemed very pleased by his new prospects. + +"It tells its own story, doesn't it?" he said. "I belong to the north. +I have traded up there thirty years, and I will not be any worse trader +for what has happened." + +In answer to further questions he only shook his head. "I talked too +much to you fellows the other day," he said. "You caught me at a +disadvantage. Nothing more to say. The arrangements between Ambrose +Doane and me concern nobody but ourselves. I may say, however, that +our relations are of the happiest nature." + + +From the Prince George _Star_, February 21, 19--. + +THE CULMINATION OF A ROMANCE. + +In another column of this paper will be found a notice of the marriage +of Ambrose Doane to Miss Colina Gaviller, which took place a week ago +to-day at the Chapel of the Redeemer on Jarvis Street. + +The ceremony was performed by the rector, Rev. Algernon Mitford. The +only witnesses were the bride's father, who gave her away, and Mr. and +Mrs. Arthur Denholm. + +With the traveling costume the bride wore the wonderful set of +black-fox furs which have been town talk during the past month. +Ambrose Doane was the purchaser. + +The news was suppressed until to-day on account of the desire of all +parties to avoid further publicity. We learn that Mr. and Mrs. Doane +and Mr. Gaviller left for the north by stage on the same day. + +They part company at Miwasa landing; the bride and groom continue north +to Moultrie on Lake Miwasa, while Mr. Gaviller goes northwest to Fort +Enterprise to settle his affairs, thence to his new post on Great +Buffalo Lake. + +We learn that Mr. Doane is to run the post at Moultrie, while his +partner, Mr. Minot, will operate an opposition store to the Company at +Fort Enterprise. + +A private letter from the landing tells of a wonderful van on runners +that Ambrose Doane is building there to house his bride on their long +journey north. + +It is to contain a stove, bookshelves, side-board, piano, and all the +comforts of a city residence, and will be drawn by four horses. + +Their way lies over the regular winter road over the ice of the Miwasa +River. Job, the little dog who was mentioned so often during the +trial, will be a member of the party. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fur Bringers, by Hulbert Footner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FUR BRINGERS *** + +***** This file should be named 16289-8.txt or 16289-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/8/16289/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/16289-8.zip b/16289-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad38265 --- /dev/null +++ b/16289-8.zip diff --git a/16289.txt b/16289.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbb992c --- /dev/null +++ b/16289.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12285 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fur Bringers, by Hulbert Footner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fur Bringers + A Story of the Canadian Northwest + +Author: Hulbert Footner + +Release Date: July 13, 2005 [EBook #16289] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FUR BRINGERS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +THE FUR BRINGERS + + +A STORY OF THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST + + + + +by + +HULBERT FOOTNER + + + +Author of "Jack Chanty," "Thieves Wit," "A Substitute Millionaire," etc. + + + + + + + +NEW YORK + +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY + + +1920 + + + + +Copyright, 1920, by + +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY + + +All Rights Reserved + + + + + + + +Printed in the U.S.A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I JUNE FEVER + II FORT ENTERPRISE + III COLINA + IV THE MEETING + V AN INVITATION TO DINE + VI THE DINNER + VII TWO INTERVIEWS + VIII IN AMBROSE'S CAMP + IX LOVERS + X ANOTHER VISITOR + XI ALEXANDER SELKIRK AND FAMILY + XII GATHERING SHADOWS + XIII THE QUARREL + XIV SIMON GRAMPIERRE + XV THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN + XVI COLINA COMMANDS + XVII THE STAFF OF LIFE + XVIII A BLOODLESS CAPTURE + XIX WOMAN'S WEAPONS + XX UNDERCURRENTS + XXI THE SUBTLETY OF GORDON STRANGE + XXII THE "TEA DANCE" + XXIII FIRE AND RAPINE + XXIV COLINA RELENTS + XXV ACCUSED + XXVI CONVICTED + XXVII A CHANGE OF JAILERS + XXVIII A GLEAM OF HOPE + XXIX NESIS + XXX FREE + XXXI THE ALARM + XXXII THE TRAP + XXXIII THE TEST + XXXIV ANOTHER CHANGE OF JAILERS + XXXV THE JAIL VISITOR + XXXVI COLINA'S ENTERPRISE + XXXVII MARTA + XXXVIII THE FINDING OF NESIS + XXXIX THE TRIAL + XL AM UNEXPECTED WITNESS + XLI FROM DUMB LIPS + XLII THE AVENGING OF NESIS + XLIII NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS + + + + +THE FUR BRINGERS + + +CHAPTER I. + +JUNE FEVER. + +The firm of Minot & Doane sat on the doorsill of its store on Lake +Miwasa smoking its after-supper pipes. + +It was seven o'clock of a brilliant day in June. The westering sun +shone comfortably on the world, and a soft breeze kept the mosquitoes +at bay. + +Moreover, the tobacco was of the best the store afforded; yet there was +no peace between the two. They bickered like schoolboys kept indoors. + +"How many link-skins in the bale you made up today?" asked Peter Minot. + +"Three-seventy-two," his young partner answered in a surly tone that +was in itself a provocation. + +"I made it three-seventy-three," said Peter curtly. + +"What's the difference?" demanded Ambrose Doane. + +"Seven dollars," said Peter dryly. + +"Well, you can claim the extra one, can't you," snarled Ambrose, "and +make an allowance if it's found short?" + +"That's not the way I like to do business!" + +"Too bad about you!" + +The older man frowned darkly, clamped his teeth upon his pipe, and held +his tongue. + +His silence was an additional aggravation to the other. "What do you +want me to do," he burst out with an amount of passion absurdly +disproportionate to the matter at issue, "cut it open and count it over +and bale it up again?" + +"To blazes with it!" said Peter. "I want you to keep your temper!" + +"I'm sick of this!" cried Ambrose with the wilful abandon of one +hopelessly in the wrong. "You're at me from morning till night! +Nothing I do is right. Why can't you leave me alone?" + +Peter took his pipe out of his mouth and looked at his young partner in +astonishment. His face turned a dull brick color and his blue eyes +snapped. + +He spoke in a voice of portentous softness: "Who the hell do you think +you are? A little gorramighty? To make a mistake is natural; to fly +into a temper when it is discovered is childish. What's the matter +with you these past ten days, anyway? A man can't look at you but you +begin to bark and froth. You'd best go off by yourself a while and eat +grass to cool your blood!" + +Having delivered himself, Peter pulled deeply at his pipe and gazed +across the lake with a scowl of honest resentment. + +It was a long speech to come from Peter, and it went unexpectedly to +the point. Ambrose was silenced. For a long time neither spoke. + +Little by little the angry red faded out of Peter's cheeks and neck, +and his forehead smoothed itself. Stealing a glance at young Ambrose, +the blue eyes began to twinkle. + +"Say!" he said suddenly. + +Ambrose twisted petulantly and muttered in his throat. + +"Stick out your tongue!" commanded Peter. + +Ambrose stared at him in angry stupefaction. "What the deuce--" + +"No," said Peter, "you're not sick. Your eyeballs is as clean as new +milk; your skin is as pink as a spanked baby. No, you're not sick, so +to speak!" + +There was another silence, Ambrose squirming a little and blushing +under Peter's calm, speculative gaze. + +"Have you anything against me?" Peter finally inquired. "If you have, +out with it!" + +The young man shook his head unhappily. + +"Forget it then!" cried Peter with a scornful, kindly grin. "You +ornery worthless Slavi, you! You Shushwap! You Siwash! Change your +face or you'll give the dog distemper!" + +Ambrose laughed sheepishly and stole a glance at his partner. There +was pain in his bold eyes, and the wish to bare it to his friend as to +a surgeon; but he dreaded Peter's laughter. + +There was another long silence. The atmosphere was now much clearer. + +Peter, having come to a conclusion, removed his pipe and spoke again: +"I know what's the matter with you." + +"What?" muttered Ambrose. + +"You've got the June fever." + +Ambrose made no comment. + +"I mind it when I was your age," Peter continued; "when the ice goes +out of the lake and the poplar-trees hang out their little earrings, +that's when a man catches it--when Molly Cottontail puts on her brown +jacket and Skinny Weasel a yellow one. The south wind brings the +microbe along with it, and it multiplies in the warm earth. Gee! It +makes even an old feller like me poetical. After six months of winter +it's hell!" + +Still Ambrose kept his eyes down and said nothing. + +Peter smoked on, and his eyes became reminiscent. "I mind it well," he +continued, "the second spring I was in the country. The first year I +didn't notice it so much, but the second year--when the warm weather +come I was like a wild man. I saw red! I wanted to fight every man I +laid eyes on. I felt like I would go clean off my head if I couldn't +smash something!" + +Ambrose broke in on Peter's reminiscences. He seemed scarcely to have +heard. + +"I don't know what's the matter with me!" he cried bitterly. "I can't +seem to settle down to anything lately. I've got no use for myself at +all. I get so cranky, anybody that speaks to me I want to punch them. +God knows I need company, too. It is certainly square of you to put up +with me the way you do. I appreciate it--" + +"Aw, bosh!" muttered Peter. + +"I've tried to work it off!" cried Ambrose. "You know I've worked, +though I've generally made a mess of things because I can't keep my +mind on anything. My head goes round like a top. Half the time I'm in +a daze. I feel as if I was going crazy. I don't know what is the +matter with me!" + +"Twenty-five years old," murmured Peter; "in the pink of condition! +I'm telling you what's the matter with you. It's a plain case of June +fever. Ask any of the fellows up here." + +"What am I going to do?" said Ambrose. "As it is, I work till I'm +ready to drop." + +"I mind when I had it," said Peter, "I came to a camp of French +half-breeds on Musquasepi, and I saw Eva Lajeunesse for the first time. +It was like a blow between the eyes. You do not know what she looked +like then. I didn't think about it this way or that; I just up and +married her. I was glad to get her! + +"Man to man I'll not deny I ain't been sorry sometimes," he went on; +"who ain't, sometimes? But, on the whole, after all these years, how +could I have done any better? She's good enough for me. A man worries +about his children sometimes; but I guess if they go straight there's a +place for them, though they are dusky. Eva, she has her bad points, +but she's been real good to me. How can I be but grateful!" + +This was a rare and unusual confidence for Peter to offer his young +partner. Ambrose, flattered and embarrassed, did not know what to say, +and said nothing. + +He was right, for if he had referred to it, Peter would have been +obliged to turn it into a joke. As it was, they smoked on in +understanding silence. Finally Peter went on: + +"You see, I gave right in. You're different; you want to fight the +thing. Blest if I know what to tell you." + +"Eva and I don't get on very well," said Ambrose shamefacedly. "She +doesn't like me around the house. But I respect her. You know that." + +"Sure," said Peter. + +"I couldn't do it, Peter," Ambrose went on after a while with seeming +irrelevance--howsoever Peter understood. "God knows it's not because I +think myself any better than anybody else, or because I think a man +does for himself by marrying a--by marrying up here. But I just +couldn't do it, that's all." + +"No offense," said Peter. "Every man must chop his own trail. I won't +say but what you're right. But what are you going to do? A man can't +live and die alone." + +"I don't know," said Ambrose. + +"Tell you what," said Peter; "you take the furs out on the steamboat." + +"I won't," said Ambrose quickly. "I went out last year. It's your +turn." + +"But I'm contented here," said Peter. + +Ambrose shook his head. "It wouldn't do me any real good," he said. +"It makes it worse after. It did last year. I couldn't bring a white +wife up here." + +"Well, sir, it's a problem," said Peter with a weighty shake of the +head. + +This serious, sentimental kind of talk was a strain on both partners. +Ambrose made haste to drop the subject. + +"I believe I'll start the new warehouse to-morrow," he said. "I like +to work with logs. First, I must measure the ground and make a working +plan." + +Peter was not sorry to be diverted. "Hadn't we better get lumber from +the 'Company' mill?" he suggested. "Looks like up to date somehow." + +"A board shack looks rotten in the woods?" said Ambrose. + +"You're so gol-durn artistic," said Peter quizzically. + +Minot & Doane's store was a long log shack with a sod roof sprouting a +fine crop of weeds. The original shack had been added to on one side, +then on the other. There was a pleasing diversity of outline in the +main building and its wings. The whole crouched low on the ground as +though for warmth. + +Three crooked little windows and three doors so low that a short man +had to duck his head under the lintels, faced the lake. The middle +door gave ingress to the store proper; the door on the right was the +entrance to Peter Minot's household quarters; while that on the left +opened to a large room used variously for stores and bunks. + +Farther to the left stood the little shack that housed Ambrose Doane in +bachelor solitude, and a few steps beyond, the long, low, log stable +for the use of the freighters in winter. + +Seen from the lake the low, spreading buildings in the rough clearing +among gigantic pines were not unpleasing. Rough as they were, they +fulfilled the first aim of all architecture; they were suitable to the +site. + +The traveler by water landed on a stony beach, climbed a low bank and +followed a crooked path to the door of the store. On either hand +potato and onion patches flourished among the stumps. + +From the door-sill where the partners sat, the farther shore of the +lake could be seen merely as a delicate line of tree tops poised in the +air. + +Off to the right their own shore made out in a shallow, sweeping curve, +ending half a mile away in a bold hill-point where the Company's post +of Fort Moultrie had stood for two hundred years commanding the western +end of the lake and its outlet, Great Buffalo River. + +To one who should compare the outward aspects of the two +establishments, Minot & Doane's offered a ludicrous contrast to the +imposing white buildings of Fort Moultrie, arranged military-wise on +the grassy promontory; nevertheless, as is not infrequently the case +elsewhere, the humbler store did the larger trade. + +The coming of Peter Minot ten years before had worked a kind of +revolution in the country. He had brought war into the very stronghold +of the arrogant fur monopoly, and had succeeded in establishing himself +next door. The results were far-reaching. Formerly the Indian sat +humbly on the step with his furs until the trader was pleased to open +his door; whereas now when the Indian landed, the trader ran down the +hill with outstretched hand. + +Far and wide Minot & Doane were known as the "free-traders"; and some +of their customers journeyed for three hundred miles to trade in the +little log store. + +The partners were roused by a shrill hail from up the shore. Grateful +for the interruption, they hastened to the edge of the bank. + +Summer is the dull season in the fur trade. Most of the firm's +customers were "pitching off" among the hills, and visitors were rare +enough to be notable. + +"Poly Goussard," said Ambrose after an instant's examination of the +dug-out nosing alongshore. Ambrose's keenness of vision was already +known in a land of keen-eyed men. + +"Taking his woman to see her folks," added Peter. + +Soon the long, slender canoe grounded on the stones below them. It +contained in addition to all the worldly goods of the family, a swarthy +French half-breed, his Cree wife and three coppery infants in pink +calico sunbonnets. + +The man climbing over his family indiscriminately, landed and came up +the bank with outstretched hand. The woman and children remained +sitting like statues in their narrow craft, staring unwinkingly at the +white men. + +Mrs. Goussard as a full-blooded Cree was considerably below Peter's +half-breed wife in the social scale, and she knew better than to make a +call uninvited. Even in the north, woman, the conservator, maintains +the distinctions. + +"Stay all night," urged Peter when formal greetings had been exchanged. +"Bring your family ashore." + +Poly Goussard shook his head. Poly had a chest like a barrel, a face +the color of Baldwin apples and a pair of rolling, gleaming, sloe-black +eyes. His head of curly black hair was famous; some one had called him +the "Newfoundland dog." + +"I promise my wife I sleep wit' her folks to-night," he said. "It is +ten miles yet. I jus' come ashore for a little talk." + +"Fine!" said Peter, "we're spoiling for news. Come on up to the store +and have a cigar." + +Seven hundred miles from the railway a cigar is something of a +phenomenon. Poly Goussard displayed twenty dazzling teeth and made +haste to follow. The three men entered the store and found seats on +boxes and bales. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +FORT ENTERPRISE. + +"Me, I work all winter at Fort Enterprise," said Poly. + +"So I heard," said Peter. "You've had quite a trip." + +The rosy half-breed shrugged. "It is easy. Jus' floatin' down the +Spirit River six days." + +"What kind of a job did they give you at Enterprise?" asked Peter. + +"I drove a team, me, haulin' logs to the saw-mill," said Poly. "There +is plentee work at Fort Enterprise." + +"The Company's most profitable post," remarked Peter to Ambrose. "They +have everything their own way there." The look which accompanied this +suggested to Ambrose it would be a good place for Minot & Doane to +start a branch. + +"What did you think of the place, Poly?" asked Ambrose. + +The half-breed flung up his hands and dramatically rolled his eyes. + +"_Wa_! _Wa_! _Towasasuak_! It is a gran' place! Jus' lak outside! +Trader him live in great big house all make of smooth boards and paint' +yellow and red lak the sun! Never I see before such a tall house, and +so many rooms inside full of fine chairs and tables so smoot' and shiny. + +"He is so reech he put blankets on the floor to walk on, w'at you call +carrpitt. Every day he has a white cloth on the table, and a little +one to wipe his hands! I have seen it! And silver dishes!" + +"There is style for you!" said Peter, with a whimsical roll of his eye +in Ambrose's direction. + +"There is moch farming by the river at Fort Enterprise," Poly went on; +"and plaintee grain grow. There is a mill to grind flour. Steam mak' +it go lak the steamboat. They eat eggs and butter at Fort Enterprise, +and think not'ing of it. Christmas I have turkey and cranberry sauce. +I am going back, me." + +"They say the trader John Gaviller is a hard man," suggested Peter. + +Poly shrugged elaborately. "Maybe. He owe me not'ing. Me, I would +not farm for him nor trade my fur at his store. Those people are his +slaves. But he pay a strong man good wages. I will tak' his wages and +snap my fingers! + +"But wait!" cried Poly with a sparkling eye. "The 'mos' won'erful +thing I see at Fort Enterprise--Wa!--the laktrek light! Her shine in +little bottles lak pop, but not so big. John Gaviller, him clap his +hands, so! and Wa! she shine! + +"Indians, him t'ink it is magic. But I am no fool. I know John +Gaviller make the laktrek in an engine in the mill. Me, I have seen +that engine. I see blue fire inside lak falling stars. + +"Gaviller send the laktrek to the store inside a wire. He send some to +his house too. They said it cook the dinner, but I think that is a +lie. If a man touch that wire they say he will jomp to the roof! Me? +I did not try it." + +Peter chuckled. "Good man!" he said. + +The wonders of Fort Enterprise were not new to Ambrose. Other +travelers the preceding summer had brought the same tale. With the air +that politeness demanded he only half listened, and pursued his own +thoughts. + +On the other hand Peter, who delighted in his humble friends, drew out +Poly fully. The half-breed told about the bringing in of the winter's +catch of fur; of the launching of the great steamboat for the summer +season, and many other things. + +"Enterprise is sure a wonderful place!" said Peter encouragingly. + +"There is something else," said Poly proudly. "At Fort Enterprise +there is a white girl!" + +The simple sentence had the effect of the ringing of an alarm going +inside the dreamy Ambrose. He drew a careful mask over his face, and +leaned farther into the shadow. + +"So!" said Peter with a glance in the direction of his young partner. +"That is news! Who is she?" + +"Colina Gaviller, the trader's daughter," said Poly. + +"Is she real white?" asked Peter cautiously. + +"White as raspberry flowers!" asseverated Poly with extravagant +gestures; "white as clouds in the summer! white as sugar! Her hair is +lak golden-rod; her eyes blue lak the lake when the wind blows over it +in the morning!" + +Peter glanced again at his partner, but Ambrose was farthest from the +window, and there was nothing to be read in his face. + +"Sure," said Peter; "but was her mother a white woman ?" + +"They say so," said Poly. "Her long tam dead." + +"When did the girl come?" asked Peter. + +"Las' fall before the freeze-up," said Poly. "She come down the Spirit +River from the Crossing on a raf'. Michel Trudeau and his wife, they +bring her. Her fat'er he not know she comin'. Her fat'er want her +live outside and be a lady. She say 'no!' She say ladies mak' her +sick.' Michel tell me she say that. + +"She want always to ride and paddle a canoe and hunt. Michel say she +is more brave as a man! John Gaviller say she got go out again this +summer. She say 'no!' She is not afraid of him. Me, I t'ink she lak +to be the only white girl in the country, lak a queen." + +"How old is she?" inquired Peter. + +"Twenty years, Michel say," answered Poly. "Ah! she is beautiful!" he +went on. "She walk the groun' as sof' and proud and pretty as fine +yong horse! She sit her horse like a flower on its stem. Me and her +good frens too. She say she lak me for cause I am simple. Often in +the winter she ride out wit' my team and hunt in the bush while I am +load up." + +"What did Eelip say to that?" Peter inquired facetiously. Eelip was +Poly's wife. + +"Eelip?" queried Poly, surprised. "Colina is the trader's daughter," +he carefully explained. "She live in the big house. I would cut off +my hand to serve her." + +"I suppose Miss Colina has plenty of suitors?" said Peter. + +Ambrose hung with suspended breath on the reply. + +Poly shook his curly pate. "Who is there for her?" he demanded. +"Macfarlane the policeman is too fat; the doctor is too old, his hair +is white; the parson is a little, scary man. All are afraid of her; +her proud eye mak' a man feel weak inside. There are no ot'er white +men there. She is a woman. She mus' have a master. There is no man +in the country strong enough for that!" + +There was a brief silence in the cabin while Poly relighted his cigar. +Ambrose had given no sign of being affected by Poly's tale beyond a +slight quivering of the nostrils. But Peter watching him slyly, saw +him raise his lids for a moment and saw his dark eyes glowing like +coals in a pit. Peter chuckled inwardly, and said: + +"Tell us some more about her." + +Ambrose's heart warmed gratefully toward his partner. He thirsted for +more like a desert traveler for water, but he dared not speak for fear +of what he might betray. + +"I will tell you 'ow she save Michel Trudeau's life," said Poly, +nothing loath, "I am the first to come down the river this summer or +you would hear it before. Many times Michel is tell me this story. +Never I heard such a story before. A woman to save a man! + +"Wa! Every Saturday night Michel tell it at the store. And John +Gaviller give him two dollars of tobacco, the best. I guess Michel is +glad the trader's daughter save him. Old man proud, lak he is save +Michel himself!" + +Poly Goussard, having smoked the cigar to within half an inch of his +lips, regretfully threw the half inch out the door. He paused, and +coughed suggestively. A second cigar being forthcoming, he took the +time to light it with tenderest care. Meanwhile, Ambrose kicked the +bale on which he sat with an impatient heel. + +"It was the Tuesday after Easter," Poly finally began. "It was when +the men went out to visit their traps again after big time at the fort. +There was moch frash snow fall, and heavy going for the dogs. Colina +Gaviller she moch friends with Michel Trudeau for because he was bring +her in on his raf las' fall. + +"Often she go with him lak she go with me. Michel carry her up on his +sledge, and she hunt aroun' while he visit his traps. Michel trap up +on the bench three mile from the fort. He not get much fur so near, +but live home in a warm house, and work for day's wages for John +Gaviller." + +Poly paragraphed his story with luxurious puffs at the cigar and +careful attention to keep it burning evenly. + +"So on Tuesday after Easter they go out toget'er. Colina Gaviller ride +on the sledge and Michel he break trail ahead. Come to the bench, +leave the dogs in a shelter Michel build in a poplar bluff. Michel go +to see his traps, and Colina walk away on her snowshoes wit' her little +gun. + +"Michel not ver' good lok that day. In his first trap find fool-hen +catch herself. He is mad. Second trap is little cross-fox; third trap +nothin' 'tall! + +"Come to fourth trap, wa! see somesing black on the snow! Wa! Wa! +Him heart jomp up! Think him got black fox sure! But no! It is too +big. Come close and look. What is he catch you think? It is a black +bear! + +"Everybody know some tam a bear wake up too soon in winter and come out +of his hole and roll aroun' lak he was drunk. He can't find somesing +to eat nowhere, and don' know what to do! + +"This bear him catch his paw in Michel's little fox trap. It was chain +to a little tree. Bear too weak to pull his paw out or break the +chain. He lie down lak dead. + +"Michel him ver' mad. Him think got no lok at all after Easter. For +'cause that bear is poor as a bird out of the egg. Michel mak' a noise +to wake him up. But always he lie still lak dead. Michel think all +right. + +"Bam-by he lean over with his knife. Wa! Bear jomp up lak he was burn +wit' fire! Little chain break and before Michel can tak a breath, bear +fetch him a crack with the steel trap acrost his head! + +"Wa! Wa! Michel's forehead is bus' open from here to here lak that! +Michel drop his knife in the snow. Him get ver' sick. Warm blood run +all down his eyes, and he can't see not'ing no more. + +"Bear grab Michel round his body and squeeze him pretty near till his +eyes jomp out. Michel say a little prayer then. Him say him awful +sorry he ain't confessed this year. + +"But always he fight that bear and fight some more. Always he is try +get his hands aroun' that hairy throat. Bear tear Michel's shoulder +with his teeth. Michel feel the hot blood run down inside his shirt +and get cold. + +"Michel, him always thinkin' Colina is not far, but he will not call to +her. She is only a girl him say; she can't do not'ing to a crazy bear. +Bear hurt her too, maybe, and John Gaviller is mad for that. + +"So Michel he jus' fight. He is ver' tire' now. And always they +stamping and tumbling and rolling in the snow, and big red spots drop +all aroun'. + +"Colina, she tell me the end of it. Colina say she is walkin' sof' in +the poplar bush looking sharp and all tam listen for game. All is ver' +quiet in the bush. + +"Bam-by she hear a fonny little noise way off. Twigs crackling, and +somesing bumping and tromping in the snow. Colina think it is big game +and go quick. Some tam she stop and listen. Bam-by she hear fonny +snarling and grunting. She know there is a fight and she is a little +scare. But she go more fas'. + +"Wa! Wa! What a sight she sec there! Poor Michel he pretty near +done. She can't see his face no more for blood. She think he got no +face now. Michel he see her come, and say to her loud as he can: 'Go +way! Go way! You get hurt and John Gaviller give me hell!' + +"Colina say not know what to do. Them two turn around so fas' she +'fraid to shoot. She run aroun' and aroun' them always looking for a +chance. Bam-by she see the handle of Michel's knife in a hole in the +snow. She grab it up. She watch her chance. Woof! She stick that +bear between the neck and the shoulder! + +"That is all!" said Poly. "Bear, him grunt and fall down. Stick his +snoot in the snow. Michel crawl away. Colina is fall down too and cry +lak a baby. For a little while all three are dead! + +"Then Colina wash his wounds with clean snow, and tear up her petticoat +for to mak' bandage. She put him on his snowshoes and drag him back +where the dogs is. She bring him quick to the fort. In one week +Michel is go to his traps same as ever. That is the story!" + +"By God, there's a woman!" cried Peter. Ambrose said nothing. + +When Poly Goussard reembarked in his dug-out a heavy constraint fell +upon the two partners. + +Ambrose dreaded to hear Peter call attention to the remarkable +coincidence of Poly's story following so close upon their own talk +together. He suspected that Peter would want to sit up and thrash the +matter to conclusions. + +At the bare idea of talking about it Ambrose felt as helpless and +sullen as a convicted felon. + +In this he underrated Peter's perceptions. Peter had lived in the +woods for many years. He intuitively apprehended something of the +confusion in the younger man's mind, and he was only anxious to let +Ambrose understand that it was not necessary to say anything one way or +the other. + +But he overdid it a little, and when Ambrose saw that Peter was "on to +him," as he would have said, he became still more hang-dog and perverse. + +They parted at the door of the store. Peter went off to his family, +while Ambrose closed the door of his own little shack behind him, with +a long breath of relief. + +Feeling as he did, it was torture to be obliged to support the gaze of +another's eye, however kindly. So urgent was his need to be alone that +he even turned his back on his dog. For a long time the poor beast +softly scratched and whined at the closed door unheeded. + +Ambrose was busy inside. As it began to grow dark he lit his lamp and +carefully pinned a heavy shirt inside his window in lieu of a blind. + +Since Peter and his family went to bed with the sun it would be hard to +say whom he feared might spy on him. One listening at the door might +well have wondered what the activity inside portended. + +Later Ambrose opened the door and, putting the dog in, proceeded +cautiously to the store. Satisfying himself from the sounds that +issued through the connecting door that Peter and his family slept +deeply, he lit a candle and quietly robbed the stock of what he +required. Then he wrote a note and pinned it beside the store door. + +Carrying the bundles back to his cabin, he packed a grub-box and bore +it down to the water. + +His preparations completed, he went to his shack to bid good-by to his +four-footed pal. Job, instantly, comprehending that he was to be left +behind, whimpered and nozzled so piteously that Ambrose's heart began +to fail. + +"I can't take you, old fel'!" he explained. "You're such a +common-looking mutt. Of course, I know you're white clear through--but +a lady would laugh at you until she knew you!" + +Even as he said it his heart accused him of disloyalty. He suddenly +changed his mind. + +"Come on!" he whispered gruffly. "We'll chance our luck together. If +you open your head I'll brain you! Wait here a minute." + +Job understood perfectly. He crept down to the lake shore at his +master's feet as quiet as a ghost. Seeing the loaded boat he hopped +delightedly into his accustomed place in the bow. + +During June it never becomes wholly dark in the latitude of Lake +Miwasa. An exquisite dim twilight brooded over the wide water and the +pine-walled shore. The stars sparkled faintly in an oxidized silver +sea. There was no wind now, but the pines breathed like warm-blooded +creatures. + +Ambrose's breast hummed like a violin to the bow of night. The poetic +feeling was there, though the expression was prosaic. + +"By George, this is fine!" he murmured. + +Job's curly tail thumped the gunwale in answer. + +"I'm glad I brought you, old fel'," said Ambrose. "I expect I'd go +clean off my head if didn't have any one to talk to!" + +Job beat a tattoo on the side of the boat and wriggled and whined in +his anxiety to reach his master. + +"Steady there!" said Ambrose. + +Presently he went on: "Three hundred miles! Six days for Poly to come +with the current; nine days to go back! Fifteen days at the best! +Anything might happen in that time. . . . Poly said no danger from any +of the men there. But some one might come down the river! . . . If +wishing could bring an aeroplane up north!" + +After a silence: "I wish I could get my best suit pressed! . . . It's +two years old, anyway. And she's just come in; she knows the +styles. . . . Lord, I'll look like a regular roughneck!" + + +Next morning when Peter Minot threw open the door of the store he found +the note pinned to the door-frame. It was brief and to the point: + + +DEAR PETE: + +You said I ought to go by myself till I felt better. So I'm off. +Don't expect me till you see me. Charge me with 50 lbs. flour, 18 lbs. +bacon, 20 lbs. rice, 10 lbs. sugar, 5 lbs. prunes, 1/2 lb. tea, 1/2 +lb. baking powder, and bag of salt. Please take care of my dog. So +long! A. D. + +P. S.--I'm taking the dog. + + +Peter, like all men slow to anger, lost his temper with startling +effect. Tearing the note off the door and grinding it under foot, he +cursed the runaway from a full heart. + +Eva, hearing, hastily called the children indoors, and thrusting them +behind her peeped into the store. Peter, purple in the face, was +wildly brandishing his arms. + +Eva closed the door very softly and gave the children bread and +molasses to keep them quiet. Meanwhile the storm continued to rage. + +"The young fool! To run off without a word! I'd have let him go +gladly if he'd said anything--and given him a good man! But to go +alone! He'll break an arm and die in the bush! And to leave me like +this with the year's outfit due next week! + +"I'll not see him again until cold weather--if I ever see him! Fifty +pounds of flour--with his appetite! He'll starve to death if he +doesn't drown himself first! He'll never get to Enterprise! Oh, the +consummate young ass! Damn Poly Goussard and his romantic stories!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +COLINA. + +John Gaviller and Colina were at breakfast in the big clap-boarded +villa at Fort Enterprise. + +They were a good-looking pair, and at heart not dissimilar, though it +must be taken into account that the same qualities manifest themselves +differently in a man of affairs and a romantic, irresponsible young +woman. + +They were secretly proud of each other--and quarreled continually. +Colina, by virtue of her reckless honesty, frequently got the better of +her canny father. + +"Well," he said, now with a gesture of surrender, "if you're determined +to stay here, all right--but you must live differently." + +At the word "must" an ominous gleam shot from under Colina's lashes. + +"What's the matter with my way of living?" she asked with deceitful +mildness. + +"This tearing around the country on horseback," he said. "Going off +all day hunting with this man and that--and spending the night in +native cabins. As long as I considered you were here on a visit I said +nothing--" + +"Oh, didn't you!" murmured Colina sarcastically. + +"--But if you are going to make this country your home, you must +consider your reputation in the community just the same as anywhere +else--more, indeed; we live in a tiny little world here, where our +smallest actions are scrutinized and discussed." + +He took a swallow of coffee. Colina played with her food sulkily. + +Her silence encouraged him to proceed: "Another thing," he said with a +deprecating smile, "comparatively speaking, I occupy an exalted +position now. I am the head of all things, such as they are. Great or +small this entails certain obligations on a man. I have to study all +my words and acts. + +"If you are going to stay here with me I shall expect you to assume +your share; to consider my interests, to support me; to play the game +as they say. What I object to is your impulsiveness, your +outspokenness with the people. Remember, everybody here is your +dependent. It is always a mistake to be open and frank with +dependents. They don't understand it, and if they do, they presume +upon it. + +"Be guided by my experience; no one could justly accuse me of any lack +of affability or friendliness in dealing with the people here--but they +never know what I am thinking of!" + +"Admirable!" murmured Colina, "but I'm not a directors' meeting!" + +"Colina!" said her father indignantly. + +"It's not fair for you to drag that in about my standing by you and +supporting you!" she went on warmly. "You know I'll do that as long as +I live! But I must be allowed to do it in my own way. I'm an adult +and an individual. I differ from you. I've a right to differ from +you. It is because these people are my inferiors that I can afford to +be perfectly natural with them. As for their presuming on it, you +needn't fear! I know how to take care of that!" + +"A little more reserve," murmured her father. + +Colina paused and looked at him levelly. "Dad, what a fool you are +about me!" she said coolly. + +"Colina!" he cried again, and pounded the table. + +She met his indignant glance squarely. + +"I mean it," she said. "I'm your daughter, am I not?--and mother's? +You must know yourself by this time; you must have known mother--you +ought to understand me a little but you won't try--you're clever enough +in everything else! You've made up an idea for yourself of what a +daughter ought to be, and you're always trying to make me fit it!" + +Gaviller scarcely listened to this. "I'll have to bring in a chaperon +for you!" he cried. + +"Oh, Lord!" groaned Colina. "Anything but that! What do you want me +to do?" + +"Merely to live like other girls," said Gaviller; "to observe the +proprieties." + +"That's why I couldn't get along at school," muttered Colina gloomily. +"You might as well send me back." + +"You're simply headstrong!" said her father severely. "You won't try +to be different." + +"Dad," said Colina suddenly, "what did you come north for in the first +place, thirty years ago?" + +The question caught him a little off his guard. "A natural love of +adventure, I suppose," he said carelessly. + +"Perfectly natural!" said Colina. "Was your father pleased?" + +Gaviller began to see her drift. "No!" he said testily. + +"And when you went back for her," Colina persisted, "didn't my mother +run away north with you, against the wishes of her parents?" + +"Your mother was a saint!" cried Gaviller indignantly. + +"Certainly," said Colina coolly, "but not the psalm-singing kind. What +do you expect of the child of such a couple?" + +"Not another word!" cried Gaviller, banging the table--last refuge of +outraged fathers. + +Colina was unimpressed. "Now you're simply raising a dust to conceal +the issue," she said relentlessly. + +Gaviller chewed his mustache in offended silence. + +Colina did not spare him. "Do you think you can make your child and +hers into a prim miss, to sit at home and work embroidery?" she +demanded. "Upon my word, if I were a boy I believe you'd suggest +putting me in a bank!" + +John Gaviller helped himself to another egg with great dignity and +removed the top. "Don't be absurd, Colina," he said with a weary air. + +It was a transparent assumption. Colina saw that she had reduced him +utterly. She smiled winningly. "Dad, if you'd only let me be myself! +We could be such pals if you wouldn't try to play the heavy father!" + +"Is it being yourself to act like a harum-scarum tomboy?" inquired +Gaviller sarcastically. + +Colina laughed. "Yes!" she said boldly. "If that's what you want to +call it? There's something in me," she went on seriously. "I don't +know what it is--some wild strain; something that drives me headlong; +makes me see red when I am balked! Maybe it is just too much physical +energy. + +"Well, if you let me work it off it does no harm. If I can ride all +day, or paddle or swim, or go hunting with Michel or one of the others; +and be interested in what I'm doing, and come home tired and sleep +without dreaming--why everything is all right. But if you insist on +cooping me up!--well, I'm likely to turn out something worse than +harum-scarum, that's all!" + +Gaviller flung up his arms. + +"Really, you'll have to go back to your aunt," he said grimly. "The +responsibility of looking after you is too great!" + +Colina laughed out of sheer vexation. "The silly ideas fathers have!" +she cried. "Nobody can look after _me_, not you, not my aunt, nobody +but myself! Why won't you understand that! I don't know exactly what +dangers you fancy are threatening me. If it is from men, be at ease! +I can put the fear of God into them! It is the sweet and gentle girl +you would like to have that is in danger there!" + +"I'm afraid you'll have to go back," said Gaviller. + +Colina drew her beautiful straight brows together. "You make me think +you simply want to get me off your hands," she said sullenly. + +Gaviller shook his head. "You know I love to have you with me," he +said simply. + +"Then consider me a fixture!" said Colina serenely. "This is my +country!" she went on enthusiastically. "It suits me. I like its +uglinesses and its hardships, too! I hated it in the city. Do you +know what they called me?--the wild Highlander! + +"Up here everybody understands my wildness, and thinks none the worse +of me. It was different in the city--you've always lived in the north, +you old innocent--you don't know! Men, for instance, in society they +have a curious logic. They seem to think if a girl is natural she must +be bad! Sometimes they acted on that assumption--" + +"What did I tell you!" cried her father. "Men are the same everywhere!" + +"Well," said Colina, smiling to herself, "they didn't get very far. +And no man ever tried it twice. Up here--how different. I don't have +to think of such things." + +"I have to think of settling you in life," said Gaviller gloomily. +"There is no one for you up here." + +"I'm not bothering my head about that," said Colina. She went on with +a kind of splendid insolence: "Every man wants me. I'll choose one +when I'm ready. I can't see anything in men except as comrades. The +decent ones are timid with women, and the bold ones are--well--rather +beastly. I'm looking for a man who's brave and decent, too. If +there's no such thing--" + +She rose from the table. Colina's was a body designed to fill a +riding-habit, and she wore one from morning till night. She was as +tall as a man of middle height, and her tawny hair piled on top of her +head made her seem taller. + +"Well?" said Gaviller. + +"Oh, I'll choose the handsomest beast I can find," she said, laughing +over her shoulder and escaping from the room before he could answer. + +John Gaviller finished his egg with a frown. Colina had this trick of +breaking things off in the middle, and it irritated him. He had an +orderly mind. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MEETING. + +Colina groomed her own horse, whistling like a boy. Saddling him, she +rode east along the trail by the river, with the fenced grain fields on +her right hand. + +Beyond the fields she could gallop at will over the rolling, grassy +bottoms, among the patches of scrub and willow. + +It was not an impressively beautiful scene--the river was half a mile +wide, broken by flat wooded islands overflowed at high water; the banks +were low, and at this season muddy. But the sky was as blue as +Colina's eyes, and the prairie, quilted with wild flowers, basked in +the delicate radiance that only the northern sun can bestow. + +On a horse Colina could not be actively unhappy, nevertheless she was +conscious of a certain dissatisfaction with life. Not as a result of +the discussion with her father--she felt she had come off rather well +from that. + +But it was warm, and she felt a touch of languor. Fort Enterprise was +a little dull in early summer. The fur season was over, and the flour +mill was closed; the Indians had gone to their summer camps; and the +steamboat had lately departed on her first trip up river, taking most +of the company employees in her crew. + +There was nothing afoot just now but farming, and Colina was not much +interested in that. In short, she was lonesome. She rode idly with +long detours inland in search of nothing at all. + +Loping over the grass and threading her way among the poplar saplings, +Colina proceeded farther than she had ever been in this direction since +summer set in. + +She saw the painter's brush for the first time--that exquisite rose of +the prairies--and instantly dismounted to gather a bunch to thrust in +her belt. The delicate, ashy pink of the flower matched the color in +her cheeks. + +On her rides Colina was accustomed to dismount when she chose, and +Ginger, her sorrel gelding, would crop the grass contentedly until she +was ready to mount again. To-day the spring must have been in his +blood, too. + +When Colina went to him he tossed his head coquettishly, and trotting +away a few steps, turned and looked at her with a droll air. Colina +called him in dulcet tones, and held out an inviting hand. + +Ginger waywardly wagged his head and danced with his forefeet. + +This was repeated several times--Colina's voice ever growing more +honeyed as the rose in her cheeks deepened. The inevitable +happened--she lost her temper and stamped her foot; whereupon Ginger, +with lifted tail, ran around her like a circus horse. + +Colina, alternately cajoling and commanding, pursued him bootlessly. +Fond as she was of exercise, she preferred having the horse use his +legs. She sat down in the grass and cried a little out of sheer +impotence. + +Ginger resumed his interrupted meal on the grass with insulting +unconcern. Colina was twelve miles from home--and hungry. + +Desperately casting her eyes around the horizon to discover some way +out of her dilemma, Colina perceived a thin spiral of smoke rising +above the edge of the river bank about a quarter of a mile away. + +She had no idea who could be camping on the river at this place, but +she instantly set off with her own confident assurance of finding aid. +Ginger displayed no inclination to leave the particular patch of +prairie grass he had chosen for his luncheon. + +As Colina approached the edge of the bank she heard a voice. She +herself made no sound in the grass. + +Looking over the edge she saw a man and a dog on the stony beach below, +both with their backs to her and oblivious of her approach. Of the +man, she had a glimpse only of a broad blue flannel back and a mop of +black hair. + +She heard him say to the dog: "Our last meal alone, old fel'! +To-night, if we're lucky, we'll dine with her!" + +This conveyed nothing to Colina--she was to remember it later. + +In speaking he turned his profile, and she received an agreeable shock; +he was young; he was not common; he had a fair, pink skin that +contrasted oddly with his swarthy locks; his bold profile accorded with +her fancy. + +What caught her off her guard was his affectionate, quizzical glance at +the dog. + +It was a seductive glimpse of a stern face softened. + +The dog scented her and barked; the man turning sprang to his feet. +Colina experienced a sudden and extraordinary confusion of her +faculties. + +He was taller than she expected--that was not it; in the glance of his +eager dark eyes there was a quality that took her completely by +surprise--that took her breath away. This in one of the sex she +condescended to! + +The young man was completely dumfounded by the sight of her. He hung +in suspended motion; his wide eyes leaped to hers--and clung there. +They silently gazed at each other--each with much the same pained and +breathless look. + +Colina struggled hard against the spell. She was badly flustered. +"Please catch my horse for me," she said with, under the circumstances, +intolerable hauteur. + +He did not move. She saw a dull, red tide creep up from his neck, over +his face and into his hair. She had never seen such a painful blush. +He kept his head up, and though his eyes became agonized with +embarrassment, they clung doggedly to hers. + +She knew intuitively that he blushed because he fancied that she, from +his rough clothes, had judged him to be a common tramp. + +She was glad of it--his blush gave her a little security. + +But she could not support his glance. She all but stamped her foot as +she said: "Didn't you hear me?" + +With a visible effort the young man collected his wits, and with +unsmiling face started to climb toward Colina. The dog, making to +follow him, he spoke a word of command and it returned to the boat. +Face to face with him Colina felt as if his glowing dark eyes were +burning holes in her. + +"Where is he?" he asked soberly. + +Colina merely pointed across the bottoms where Ginger could be seen +still busy with the grass. + +"I'll bring him to you," he said coolly, and started off. + +His assurance exasperated Colina. "It isn't as easy as you think," she +said haughtily, "or I shouldn't have asked for help!" + +He turned his head, his face suddenly breaking into a beaming smile. +"I know horses," he said. + +Colina was furious. He made her feel like a little girl. She bit her +lips to keep in the undignified answer that sprang to them. Inside her +she said it: "Smarty! I shall laugh when he leads you a chase!" She +sat down in the grass under a poplar-tree, prepared to enjoy the circus +from afar. + +There was none. Ginger having tired of his waywardness, perhaps, or +having eaten his fill, quietly allowed himself to be taken. The young +man came riding back on him. Colina could almost have wept with +mortification. + +He slipped out of the saddle beside her and stood waiting for her to +mount. There was no consciousness of triumph in his manner. + +His eyes flew back to hers with the same extraordinarily naive glance. +When Colina frowned under it he literally dragged them away, but in +spite of him they soon returned. + +Many a man's eyes had been offered to Colina, but never a pair that +glowed with a fire like this. They were at the same time bold and +humble. They contained an imploring appeal without any sacrifice of +self-respect. They disturbed Colina to such a degree she scarcely knew +what she was doing. + +He offered her a hand to mount, and she drew back with an offended air. +He instantly yielded, and she mounted unaided--mounted awkwardly, and +bit her lip again. + +He did not immediately loose her rein. Out of the corner of her eye +Colina saw that he was breathing fast. + +"It will he late before you get home," he said. His voice was very +low--she could feel the effort he was making not to let it shake. +"Will you--will you eat with me?" + +The modest tendering of this bold invitation disarmed Colina. She +hesitated. He went on with a touch of boyish eagerness: "There's only +a traveler's grub, of course. I got a fish on a night-line this +morning. Also there's a prairie chicken roasted yesterday." + +A self-deceiving argument ran through Colina's brain like quick-silver: +"If I go, I shall be tormented by the feeling that he got the best of +me; if I stay a while I can put him in his place!" + +She dismounted. The young man turned abruptly to tie Ginger to the +poplar-tree, but even in the boundary of his cheek Colina read his +beaming happiness. + +With scarcely another glance at her he plunged down the bank and set to +work over his fire. Colina sedately followed and seated herself on a +boulder to wait until she should be served. + +Now that he no longer looked at her, Colina could not help watching +him. A dangerous softness began to work in her breast; he was so +boyish, so clumsy, so anxious to entertain her fittingly--his +unconsciousness of her nearness was such a transparent assumption. + +Colina was alarmed by her own weakness. She looked resolutely at the +dog. + +He was a mongrel black and tan, bigger than a terrier, and he had a +ridiculous curly tail. He had received her with an insulting air of +indifference. + +"What an ugly dog!" Colina said coolly. + +The young man swung around and affectionately rubbed the dog's ear. + +"The best sporting dog in Athabasca," he said promptly, but without any +resentment. + +Colina bit her lip again. It seemed as if everything she did was mean. +"Of course his looks haven't anything to do with his good qualities," +she said. Here she was apologizing. + +"He's almost human," said the young man. "I talk to him like a person." + +"Come here, dog," said Colina. + +The animal was suddenly stricken with deafness. + +"What's his name?" she asked. + +"Job." + +"Come here, Job!" said Colina coaxingly. + +Job looked out across the river. + +"Job!" said his master sternly. + +The dog sprang to him as if they had been parted for years, and +frantically licked his hand. This display of boundless affection was +suspiciously self-conscious. + +The young man led him to Colina's feet. "Mind your manners!" he +commanded. + +Job in utter abasement offered her a limp paw. She touched it, and he +scampered back to his former place with an air of relief, and turning +his back to her lay down again. It cannot be said that his enforced +obedience made her feel any better. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN INVITATION TO DINE. + +Lunch was not long in preparing, for the rice had been on the fire when +Colina first appeared. The young man set forth the meal as temptingly +as he could on a flat rock, and at the risk of breaking his sinews +carried another rock for Colina to sit upon. His apologies for the +discrepancies in the service disarmed Colina again. + +"I am no fine lady," she said. "I know what it is to live out." + +Colina was hungry and the food good. A good understanding rapidly +established itself between them. But the young man made no move to +serve himself. Indeed he sat at the other side of the rock-table and +produced his pipe. + +"Why don't you eat?" demanded Colina. + +"There is plenty of time," he said, blushing. + +"But why wait?" + +"Well--there's only one knife and fork." + +"Is that all?" said Colina coolly. "We can pass them back and +forth--can't we?" + +Starting up and dropping the pipe in his pocket he flashed a look of +extraordinary rapture on her that brought Colina's eyelids fluttering +down like winged birds. He was a disconcerting young man. Resentment +moved her, but she couldn't think of anything to say. + +They ate amicably, passing the utensils back and forth. + +After a while Colina asked: "Do you know who I am?" + +"Of course," he said. "Miss Colina Gaviller." + +"I don't know you," she said. + +"I am Ambrose Doane, of Moultrie." + +"Where is Moultrie?" + +"On Lake Miwasa--three hundred miles down the river." + +"Three hundred miles!" exclaimed Colina. "Have you come so far alone?" + +"I have Job," Ambrose said with a smile. + +"How much farther are you going?" she asked. + +"Only to Fort Enterprise." + +"Oh!" she said. The question in the air was: "What did you come for?" +Both felt it. + +"Do you know my father?" Colina asked. + +"No," said Ambrose. + +"I suppose you have business with him?" + +"No," he said again. + +Colina glanced at him with a shade of annoyance. "We don't have many +visitors in the summer," she said carelessly. + +"I suppose not," said Ambrose simply. + +Colina was a woman--and an impulsive one; it was bound to come sooner +or later: "What did you come for?" + +His eyes pounced on hers with the same look of mixed boldness and +apprehension that she had marked before; she saw that he caught his +breath before answering. + +"To see you!" he said. + +Colina saw it coming, and would have given worlds to have recalled the +question. She blushed all over--a horrible, unequivocal, burning +blush. She hated herself for blushing--and hated him for making her. + +"Upon my word!" she stammered. It was all she could get out. + +He did not triumph over her discomfiture; his eyes were cast down, and +his hand trembled. Colina could not tell whether he were more bold or +simple. She had a sinking fear that here was a young man capable of +setting all her maxims on men at naught. She didn't know what to do +with him. + +"What do you know about me?" she demanded. + +It sounded feeble in her own ears. She felt that whatever she might +say he was marching steadily over her defenses. Somehow, everything +that he said made them more intimate. + +"There was a fellow from here came by our place," said Ambrose simply. +"Poly Goussard. He told us about you--" + +"Talked about me!" cried Colina stormily. + +"You should have heard what he said," said Ambrose with his +venturesome, diffident smile. "He thinks you are the most beautiful +woman in the world!" Ambrose's eyes added that he agreed with Poly. + +It was impossible for Colina to be angry at this, though she wished to +be. She maintained a haughty silence. + +Ambrose faltered a little. + +"I--I haven't talked to a white girl in a year," he said. "This is our +slack season--so I--I came to see you." + +If Colina had been a man this was very like what she might have +said---to meet with candor equal to her own in the other sex, however, +took all the wind out of her sails. + +"How dare you!" she murmured, conscious of sounding ridiculous. + +Ambrose cast down his eyes. "I have not said anything insulting," he +said doggedly. "After what Poly said it was natural for me to want to +come and see you." + +"In the slack season," she murmured sarcastically. + +"I couldn't have come in the winter," he said naively. + +Colina despised herself for disputing with him. She knew she ought to +have left at once--but she was unable to think of a sufficiently +telling remark to cover a dignified retreat. + +"You are presumptuous!" she said haughtily. + +"Presumptuous?" he repeated with a puzzled air. + +She decided that he was more simple than bold. "I mean that men do not +say such things to women," she began as one might rebuke a little +boy--but the conclusion was lamentable, "to women to whom they have not +even been introduced!" + +"Oh," he said, "I'm sorry! I can only stay a few days. I wanted to +get acquainted as quickly as possible." + +A still small voice whispered to Colina that this was a young man after +her own heart. Aloud she remarked languidly: "How about me? Perhaps I +am not so anxious." + +He looked at her doubtfully, not quite knowing how to take this. +"Really he is too simple!" thought Colina. + +"Of course I knew I would have to take my chance," he said. "I didn't +expect you to be waiting on the bank with a brass band and a wreath of +flowers!" + +He smiled so boyishly that Colina, in spite of herself, was obliged to +smile back. Suddenly the absurd image caused them to burst out +laughing simultaneously--and Colina felt herself lost. + +Laughter was as dangerous as a train of gunpowder. Even while he +laughed Colina saw that look spring out of his eyes--the mysterious +look that made her feel faint and helpless. + +He leaned toward her and a still more candid avowal trembled on his +lips. Colina saw it coming. Her look of panic-terror restrained him. +He closed his mouth firmly and turned away his head. + +Presently he offered her a breast of prairie chicken with a +matter-of-fact air. She shook her head, and a silence fell between +them--a terrible silence. + +"Oh, why don't I go!" thought Colina despairingly. + +It was Ambrose who eased the tension by saying comfortably: "It's a +great experience to travel alone. Your senses seem to be more +alert--you take in more." + +He went on to tell her about his trip, and Colina lulled to security +almost before she knew it was recounting her own journey in the +preceding autumn. It was astonishing when they stuck to ordinary +matters--how like old friends they felt. Things did not need to be +explained. + +It provided Colina with a good opportunity to retire. She rose. + +Ambrose's face fell absurdly. "Must you go?" he said. + +"I suppose I will meet you officially--later," she said. + +He raised a pair of perplexed eyes to her face. "I never thought about +an introduction," he said quite humbly. "You see we never had any +ladies up here." + +In the light of his uncertainty Colina felt more assured. "Oh, we're +sufficiently introduced by this time," she said offhand. + +"But--what should I do at the fort?" he asked. "How can I see you +again?" + +She smiled with a touch of scorn at his simplicity. "That is for you +to contrive. You will naturally call on my father; if he likes you, he +will bring you home to dinner." + +Ambrose smiled with obscure meaning. "He will never do that," he said. + +"Why not?" demanded Colina. + +"My partner and I are free-traders," he explained; "the only +free-traders of any account in the Company's territory. Naturally they +are bitter against us." + +"But business is one thing and hospitality another," said Colina. + +"You do not know what hard feeling there is in the fur trade," he +suggested. + +"You do not know my father," she retorted. + +"Only by reputation," said Ambrose. + +The shade of meaning in his voice was not lost on her. Her cheeks +became warm. "All white men who come to the post dine with us as a +matter of course," she said. "We owe you the hospitality. I invite +you now in his name and my own." + +"I would rather you asked him about me first," said Ambrose. + +This made Colina really angry. "I do not consult him about household +matters," she said stiffly. + +"Of course not," said Ambrose; "but in this case I would be more +comfortable if you spoke to him first." + +"Are you afraid of him?" she inquired with raised eyebrows. + +"No," said Ambrose coolly; "but I don't want to get you into trouble." + +Colina's eyes snapped. "Thank you," she said; "you needn't be anxious. +You had better come--we dine at seven." + +"I will be there," he said. + +By this time she was mounted. As she gave Ginger his head Ambrose +deftly caught her hand and kissed it. Colina was not displeased. If +it had been self-consciously done she would have fumed. + +She rode home with an uncomfortable little thought nagging at her +breast. Was he really so simple as she had decided? Had he not baited +her into losing her temper--and insisting on his coming to dinner? +Surely he could not know her so well as that! + +"Anyway, he _is_ coming!" she thought with a little gush of +satisfaction she did not stop to examine. "I'll wear evening dress, +the black taffeta, and my string of pearls. At my own table it will be +easier--and with father there to support me! We will see!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE DINNER. + +Colina did not see her father until he came home from the store for +dinner. She was already dressed and engaged in arranging the table. + +John Gaviller's eyes gleamed approvingly at the sight of her in her +finery. Black silk became Colina's blond beauty admirably. Manlike, +he arrogated the extra preparations to himself. He thought it was a +kind of peace offering from Colina. + +"Well!" he began jocularly, only to check himself at the sight of three +places set at the table. "Who's coming?" he demanded with natural +surprise. + +Colina, busying herself attentively with the centerpiece of painter's +brush, wondered if her father had met Ambrose Doane. She gave him a +brief, offhand account of her adventure without mentioning their +guest's name. + +"But who is it?" he asked. + +She answered a little breathlessly; "Ambrose Doane of Moultrie." + +Gaviller's face changed slightly. "H-m!" he said non-committally. + +"Doesn't the table look nice?" said Colina quickly. + +"Very nice," he said. + +"We must prove to ourselves once in a while that we are not savages!" + +"Naturally! Do you want me to dress?" + +Colina, who had not looked at her father, nevertheless felt the +inimical atmosphere. She stooped to a touch of flattery. "You are +always well dressed," she said, smiling at him. + +"Hm!" said Gaviller again. "Call me when you're ready." He marched +off to his library. + +Colina breathed freely. So far so good! Ambrose Doane had not been to +call on her father. He was hardly the simple youth she had decided. +But she couldn't think the less of him for that. + +When she heard the door-bell ring--Gaviller's house boasted the only +door-bell north of Caribou Lake--her heart astonished her with its +thumping. She ran up to her own room. Ambrose according to +instructions previously given was to be shown into the drawing-room. + +Another wonder of Gaviller's house was the full-length mirror imported +for Colina. She ran to it now. It treated her kindly. The crisp, +thin, dead-black draperies showed up her white skin in dazzling +contrast. + +On second thought she left off the string of pearls. The effect was +better without any ornament. Her face was her despair; her eyes were +misty and unsure; the color came and went in her cheeks; she could not +keep her lips closed. + +"You fool! You fool!" she stormed at herself. "A man you have seen +once! He will despise you!" + +She could not keep the dinner waiting. Bracing herself, she started +for the hall. A final glance in the mirror gave her better heart. +After all she was beautiful and beautifully dressed. She descended the +stairs slowly, whispering to herself at every step: "Be game!" + +Though the sun was still shining out-of-doors, according to Colina's +fancy, every night at this hour the shutters were closed and the lamps +lighted. The drawing-room was lighted by a single, tall lamp with a +yellow shade. + +Ambrose was standing in the middle of the room. He had changed his +clothes. His suit was somewhat wrinkled, and his boots unpolished, but +he looked less badly than he thought. At sight of Colina he caught his +breath and turned very pale. His eyes widened with something akin to +awe. Colina was suddenly relieved. + +"So you dared to come!" she said with a careless smile. + +He did not answer. Plainly he could not. He stood as if rooted to the +floor. Colina had meant to offer him her hand, but suddenly changed +her mind. + +Instead, with reckless bravado considering her late state of mind, she +went to the lamp and turned it up. She felt his honest, stricken +glance following her, and thrilled under it. + +"You have not met my father?" + +Ambrose "took a brace" as he would have said. "No," he answered. + +"I thought very likely you would see him this afternoon," she said with +a touch of smiling malice. + +His directness foiled it. + +"I waited down the river," he said. "I didn't want to have a row with +him that might spoil to-night." + +"What a terrible opinion you have of poor father!" said Colina. + +"Does he know I'm coming?" asked Ambrose. + +"Certainly!" + +"What did he say?" + +"Nothing! What should he say?" + +"He has boasted that no free-trader ever dared set foot in his +territory." + +"I don't believe it! It's not like him. Come along and you'll see." + +"Wait!" said Ambrose quickly. "Half a minute!" + +Colina looked at him curiously. + +"You don't know what this means to me!" he went on, his glowing, +unsmiling eyes fixed on her. "A lady's drawing-room! A lamp with a +soft, pretty shade!--and you--like that! I--I wasn't prepared for it!" + +Colina laughed softly. She was filled with a great tenderness for him, +therefore she could jeer a little. + +Ambrose had not moved from the spot where she found him. + +"It's not fair," he went on. "You don't need that! It bowls a man +over." + +This was the ordinary language of gallantry--yet it was different. +Colina liked it. "Come on," she said lightly, "father is like a bear +when he is kept waiting for dinner!" + +The two men shook hands in a natural, friendly way. With another man +Ambrose was quite at ease. Colina approved the way her youth stood up +to the famous old trader without flinching. They took places at the +table, and the meal went swimmingly. + +Ambrose, whether he felt his affable host's secret animosity and was +stimulated by it, or for another reason, suddenly blossomed into an +entertainer. When her father was present he addressed Colina's ear, +her chin or her golden top-knot, never her eyes. + +John Gaviller apparently never looked at her either, but Colina knew he +was watching her closely. She was not alarmed. She had herself well +in hand, and there was nothing in her politely smiling, slightly +scornful air to give the most anxious parent concern. + +Under the jokes, the laughter, and the friendly talk throughout dinner, +there were electric intimations that caused Colina's nostrils to +quiver. She loved the smell of danger. + +It was no easy matter to keep the conversational bark on an even keel; +the rocks were thick on every hand. Business, politics, and local +affairs were all for obvious reasons tabooed. More than once they were +near an upset, as when they began to talk of Indians. + +Ambrose had related the anecdote of Tom Beavertail who, upon seeing a +steamboat for the first time, had made a paddle-wheel for his canoe, +and forced his sons to turn him about the lake. + +"Exactly like them!" said John Gaviller with his air of amused scorn. +"Ingenious in perfectly useless ways! Featherheaded as schoolboys!" + +"But I like schoolboys!" Ambrose protested. "It isn't so long since I +was one myself." + +"Schoolboys is too good a word," said Gaviller. "Say, apes." + +"I have a kind of fellow-feeling for them," said Ambrose smiling. + +"How long have you been in the north?" + +"Two years." + +"I've been dealing with them thirty years," said Gaviller with an air +of finality. + +Ambrose refused to be silenced. Looking around the luxurious room he +felt inclined to remark, that Gaviller had made a pretty good thing out +of the despised race, but he checked himself. + +"Sometimes I think we never give them a show," he said with a +deprecating air, "We're always trying to cut them to our own pattern +instead of taking them as they are. They are like schoolboys, as you +say. + +"Most of the trouble with them comes from the fact that anybody can +lead them into mischief, just like boys. If we think of what we were +like ourselves before we put on long trousers it helps to understand +them." + +Gaviller raised his eyebrows a little at hearing the law laid down by +twenty-five years old. + +"Ah!" he said quizzically. "In my day the use of the rod was thought +necessary to make boys into men!" + +Ambrose grew a little warm. "Certainly!" he said. "But it depends on +the spirit with which it is applied. How can we do anything with them +if we treat them like dirt?" + +"You are quite successful in handling them?" queried Gaviller dryly. + +"Peter Minot says so," said Ambrose simply. "That is why he took me +into partnership." + +"He married a Cree, didn't he?" inquired Gaviller casually. + +Colina glanced at her father in surprise. This was hardly playing fair +according to her notions. + +"A half-breed," corrected Ambrose. + +"Of course, Eva Lajeunesse, I remember now," said Gaviller. "She was +quite famous around Caribou Lake some years ago." + +Ambrose with an effort kept his temper. "She has made him a good +wife," he said loyally. + +"Ah, no doubt!" said Gaviller affably. "Do you live with them?" + +"I have my own house," said Ambrose stiffly. + +Here Colina made haste to create a diversion. + +"Aren't the Indian kids comical little souls?" she remarked. "I go to +the mission school sometimes to sing and play for them. They don't +think much of it. One of the girls asked me for a hair. One hair was +all she wanted." + +The subject of Indian children proved to be innocuous. They took +coffee in John Gaviller's library. + +"Colina brought these new-fangled notions in with her," said her father. + +"They're all right!" said Ambrose soberly. + +Colina saw the hand that held his spoon tremble slightly, and wondered +why. The fact was the thought could not but occur to him: "How foolish +for me to think she could ever bring her lovely, ladylike ways to my +little shack!" + +He thrust the unnerving thought away. "I can build a bigger house, +can't I?" he demanded of himself. "Anyway, I'll make the best play to +get her that I can!" + +In the library they talked about furniture. It transpired that the +trader had a passion for cabinet making, and most of the objects that +surrounded them were examples of his skill. Ambrose admired them with +due politeness, meanwhile his heart was sinking. He could not see the +slightest chance of getting a word alone with Colina. + +In the middle of the evening a breed came to the door, hat in hand, to +say that John Gaviller's Hereford bull was lying down in his stall and +groaning. The trader bit his lip and glanced at Colina. + +"Would you like to come and see my beasts?" he asked affably. + +"Thanks," said Ambrose just as politely. "I'm no hand with cattle." +He kept his eyes discreetly down. + +Gaviller could not very well turn him out of the house. There was no +help for it. He went. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TWO INTERVIEWS. + +The instant the door closed behind Gaviller, Ambrose's eyes flamed up. +"What a stroke of luck!" he cried. + +It had something the effect of an explosion there in the quiet room +where they had been talking so prosily. Colina became panicky. "I +don't understand you!" she said haughtily. + +"You do!" he cried. "You know I didn't paddle three hundred miles +up-stream to talk to him! Never in my life had I anything so hard to +go through with as the last two hours. I didn't dare look at you for +fear of giving myself away." + +There was an extraordinary quality of passion in the simple words. +Colina felt faint and terrified. What was one to do with a man like +this! She mounted her queenliest manner. "Don't make me sorry I asked +you here," she said. + +"Sorry?" he said. "Why should you be? You can do what you like! I +can't pretend. I must say my say the best way I can. I may not get +another chance!" + +Colina had to fight both herself and him. She made a gallant stand. +"You are ridiculous!" she said. "I will leave the room until my father +comes back if you can't contain yourself." + +He was plainly terrified by the threat, nevertheless he had the +assurance to put himself between her and the door. + +"You have no cause to be angry with me," he said. "You know I do not +disrespect you!" He was silent for a moment. His voice broke huskily. +"You are wonderful to me! I have to keep telling myself you are only a +woman--of flesh and blood like myself--else I would be groveling on the +floor at your feet, and you would despise me!" + +Colina stared at him in haughty silence. + +"I love you!" he whispered with odd abruptness. "No woman need be +insulted by hearing that. You came upon me to-day like a bolt of +lightning. You have put your mark on me for life! I will never be +myself again." + +His voice changed; he faltered, and searched for words. "I know I'm +rough! I know women like to be courted regularly. It's right, too! +But I have no time! I may never see you alone again. Your father will +take care of that! I must tell you while I can. You can take your +time to answer." + +Colina contrived to laugh. + +The sound maddened him. He took a step forward, and a vein in his +forehead stood out. She held her ground disdainfully. + +"Don't do that!" he whispered. "It's not fair! I--I can't stand it!" + +"Why must you tell me?" asked Colina. "What do you expect?" + +"You!" he whispered hoarsely. "If God is good to me! For life." + +"You are mad!" she murmured. + +"Maybe," he said, eying her with the resentment which is so closely +akin to love; "but I think you understand my madness. Talking gets us +nowhere. A dozen times to-day your eyes answered mine. Either you +feel it too or you are a coquette!" + +This brought a genuine anger to Colina's aid. Her weakness fled. "How +dare you!" she cried with blazing eyes. + +"Coquette!" he repeated doggedly. "To dress yourself up like that to +drive me mad!" + +Colina forgot the social amenities. "You fool!" she cried. "This is +my ordinary way of dressing at night! It is not for you!" + +"It was for me!" he said sullenly. "You were happy when you saw its +effect on me! If it's only a game I can't play it with you. It means +too much to me!" + +"Coquette!" still made a clangor in Colina's brain that deafened her to +everything else. "You are a savage!" she cried. "I'm sorry I asked +you here. You needn't wait for my father to come back. Go!" + +"Not without a plain answer!" he said. + +Colina tried to laugh; she was too angry. "My answer is no!" she cried +with outrageous scorn. "Now go!" + +He stood studying her from under lowering brows. The sight of her like +that--head thrown back, eyes glittering, cheeks scarlet, and lips +curled--was like a lash upon his manhood. The answer was plain enough, +but an instinct from the great mother herself bade him disregard it. +Suddenly his eyes flamed up. + +"You beauty!" he cried. + +Before she could move he had seized her in her finery. Colina was no +weakling, but within those steely arms she was helpless. She strained +away her head. He could only reach her neck, under the ear. She +yielded shudderingly. + +"I hate you! I hate you!" she murmured. + +Their lips met. + + +Colina swayed ominously on his arm. She sank down on the sofa, still +straining away from him, but weakly. Suddenly she burst into +passionate weeping. + +"What have you done to me!" she murmured. + +At sight of the tears he collapsed. "Ah, don't!" he whispered +brokenly. "You break my heart! My darling love! What is the matter?" + +"I am a fool--a fool!--a fool!" she sobbed tempestuously. "To have +given in to you! You will despise me!" + +He slipped to the floor at her feet. He strove desperately to comfort +her. Tenderness lent eloquence to his clumsy, unaccustomed tongue. + +"Ah, don't say that! It's like sticking a knife in me! My lovely +one! As if I could! You are everything to me! I have nothing in the +world but you! Forgive me for being so rough! I couldn't help it! I +couldn't go by anything you said. I had to find out for sure! It had +to happen! What does it matter whether it was in a day or a year? The +minute I saw you I knew how it was. I knew I had to have you or live +like a priest till I died." + +Colina was not to be comforted. "You think so now!" she said. "Later, +when you have tired of me a little, or if we quarreled, you would +remember that I--I was too easily won!" + +"Ah, don't!" he cried exasperated. "If you say it again I'll have to +swear. What more can I say? I love you like my life! I could not +despise you without despising myself! I don't know how to put it. I +sound like a fool! But--but this is what I mean. You make me seem +worth while to myself." + +Colina's hands stole to her breast. "Ah! If I could believe you!" she +breathed. + +"Give me time!" he begged. "What good does talking do! What I do will +show you!" + +Little by little she allowed him to console her. Her arm stole around +his shoulders, her head was lowered until her cheek lay in his hair. + + +They came down to earth. Ambrose seated himself beside her, and +looking in her shamed face laughed softly and deep. "You fraud," he +said. + +Colina hid her face. "Don't!" she begged. + +He laughed more. + +"What are you laughing at?" she demanded. + +"To think how you scared me," he said. "With your grand clothes and +high and mighty airs. I had to dig my toes into the floor to keep from +cutting and running. And it was all bluff!" + +"Scared you!" said Colina. "I never in my life knew a man so utterly +regardless and brutal!" + +"You like it," he said. Colina blushed. + +"I had no line to go on," said Ambrose with his engaging simplicity. +"I never made love to any girls. I haven't read many books either. I +guess that's all guff, anyway. I didn't know how the thing ought to be +carried through. But something told me if I knuckled under to you the +least bit it would be all day with Ambrose." + +They laughed together. + +John Gaviller's step sounded on the porch outside. They sprang up +aghast. They had completely forgotten his existence. + +"Oh, Heavens!" whispered Colina. "He has eyes like a lynx!" + +Ambrose's eyes, darting around the room, fell upon an album of +snapshots lying on the table. He flung it open. + +When Gaviller came in he found them standing at the table, their backs +to him. He heard Ambrose ask: + +"Who is that comical little guy?" + +Colina replied: "Ahcunazie, one of the Kakisa Indians in his winter +clothes." + +Colina turned, presenting a sufficiently composed face to her father. +"Oh," she said. "You were gone a long while. What was the matter with +the bull?" + +She strolled to the sofa and sat down. Ambrose idly closed the book +and sat down across the room from her. Gaviller glanced from one to +another--perhaps it was a little too well done. But his face instantly +resumed its customary affability. + +"Nothing serious," he said. "He is quite all right again." + +Ambrose was tormented by the desire to laugh. He dared not meet +Colina's eye. "It is terrible to lose a valuable animal up here," he +said demurely. + +After a few desultory polite exchanges Ambrose got up to go. "I was +waiting to say good night to you," he explained. + +"You are camping down the river, I believe." + +"Half a mile below the English mission. I paddled up." + +"I'll walk to the edge of the bank with you," said Gaviller politely. + +As in nearly all company posts there was a flag-pole in the most +conspicuous spot on the river-bank. It was halfway between Gaviller's +house and the store. At the foot of the pole was a lookout-bench worn +smooth by generations of sitters. + +Leaving the house after a formal good night to Colina, Ambrose was +escorted as far as the bench by John Gaviller. The trader held forth +amiably upon the weather and crops. They paused. + +"Sit down for a moment," said Gaviller. "I have something particular +to say to you." + +Ambrose suspected what was coming. But humming with happiness like a +top as he was, he could not feel greatly concerned. + +Still in the same calm, polite voice Gaviller said: + +"I confess I was astonished at your assurance in coming to my house." + +This was a frank declaration of war. Ambrose, steeling himself, +replied warily: "I did not come on business." + +"What did you come for?" + +Ambrose did not feel obliged to be as frank with father as with +daughter. "I am merely looking at the country." + +"Well, now that you have seen Fort Enterprise," said Gaviller dryly, +"you may go on or go back. I do not care so long as you do not linger." + +Ambrose frowned. "If you were a younger man--" he began. + +"You need not consider my age," said Gaviller. + +Ambrose measured his man. He had to confess he had good pluck. The +idea of a set-to with Colina's father was unthinkable. There was +nothing for him to do but swallow the affront. He bethought himself of +using a little guile. + +"Why shouldn't I come here?" he demanded. + +"I don't like the way you and your partner do business," said Gaviller. + +There was nothing to be gained by a wordy dispute, but Ambrose was only +human. "You are sore because we smashed the company's monopoly at +Moultrie," he said. + +"Not at all," said Gaviller calmly. "The trade is free to all. What +little you have taken from us is not noticeable in the whole volume. +But you have deliberately set to work to destroy what it has taken two +centuries to build up--the white man's supremacy. You breed trouble +among the Indians. You make them insolent and dangerous." + +"Company talk," said Ambrose scornfully. "A man can make himself +believe what he likes. We treat the Indians like human beings. Around +us they're doing well for the first time. Here, where you have your +monopoly, they're sick and starving!" + +"That is not true," said Gaviller coolly. "And, in any case, I do not +mean to discuss my business with you. I deal openly. You had the +opportunity to do my daughter a slight service. I have repaid it with +my hospitality. We are quits. I now warn you not to show your face +here again." + +"I shall do as I see fit," said Ambrose doggedly. + +"You compel me to speak still more plainly," said Gaviller. "If you +are found on the Company's property again, you will be thrown off." + +"You cannot frighten me with threats," said Ambrose. + +"You are warned!" said Gaviller. He strode off to his house. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN AMBROSE'S CAMP. + +Ambrose was awakened in his mosquito-tent by an alarm from Job. The +sun was just up, and it was therefore no more than three o'clock. A +visitor was approaching in a canoe. + +In the North a caller is a caller. Ambrose crept out of his blankets +and, swallowing his yawns, stuck his head in the river to clear his +brain. + +The visitor was a handsome young breed of Ambrose's own age. Ambrose +surveyed his broad shoulders, his thin, graceful waist and thighs +approvingly. He rejoiced in an animal built for speed and endurance. +Moreover, the young man's glance was direct and calm. This was a +native who respected himself. + +"Tole Grampierre, me," he said, offering his hand. + +Ambrose grasped it. "I'm Ambrose Doane," he said. + +"I know," said the young breed. "Las' night I go to the store. The +boys say Ambrose Doane, the free-trader, is camp' down the river. So I +talk wit' my fat'er. I say I go and shake Ambrose Doane by the hand." + +"Will you eat?" said Ambrose. "It is early." + +"When you are ready," answered Tole politely. "I come early. I go +back before they get up at the fort. If old man Gaviller know I come +to you it mak' trouble. My fat'er he got trouble enough wit' Gaviller." + +Tole squatted on the beach. There is an established ritual of +politeness in the North, and he was punctilious. + +"You are well?" he asked gravely. Ambrose set about making his fire. +"I am well," he said. + +"Your partner, he is well?" + +"Peter Minot is well." + +"You do good trade at Lake Miwasa?" + +"Yes. Marten is plentiful." + +"Good fur here, too. Not much marten; plenty link." + +"Your father is well?" asked Ambrose in turn. + +"My fat'er is well," said Tole. "My four brot'ers well, too." + +"I am glad," said Ambrose. + +More polite conversation was exchanged while Ambrose waited for his +guest to declare the object of his visit. It came at last. + +"Often I talk wit' my fat'er," said Tole. "I say there is not'ing for +me here. Old man Gaviller all tam mad at us. We don't get along. I +say I fink I go east to Lake Miwasa. There is free trade there. Maybe +I get work in the summer. When they tell me Ambrose Doane is come, I +say this is lucky. I will talk wit' him." + +"Good," said Ambrose. + +"Wat you t'ink?" asked Tole, masking anxiety under a careless air. "Is +there work at Moultrie in the summer?" + +Ambrose instinctively liked and trusted his man. "Sure," he said. +"There is room for good men." + +"Good," said Tole calmly. "I go back wit' you." + +Ambrose had a strong curiosity to learn of the situation at Fort +Enterprise. "What do you mean by saying old man Gaviller is mad at +you?" he asked. + +"I tell you," said Tole. He filled his pipe and got it going well +before he launched on his tale. + +"My fat'er, Simon Grampierre, he is educate'," he began. "He read in +books, he write, he spik Angleys, he spik French, he spik the Cree. We +are Cree half-breed. My fat'er's fat'er, my mot'er's fat'er, they +white men. We are proud people. We own plenty land. We live in a +good house. We are workers. + +"All the people on ot'er side the river call my fat'er head man. When +there is trouble all come to our house to talk to my fat'er because he +is educate'. He got good sense. + +"Before, I tell you there is good fur here. It is the truth. But the +people are poor. Every year they are more poor as last year. The +people say: 'Bam-by old man Gaviller tak' our shirts! He got +everyt'ing else.' They ask my fat'er w'at to do." + +Tole went on: "Always my fat'er say: 'Wait,' he say. 'We got get white +man on our side. We got get white man who knows all outside ways. He +bring an outfit in and trade wit' us.' The people don't want to wait. +'We starve!' they say. + +"My fat'er say: '_Non_! Gaviller not let you starve. For why, because +you not bring him any fur if you dead. He will keep you goin' poor. +Be patient,' my fat'er say. 'This is rich country. It is known +outside. Bam-by some white man come wit' outfit and pay good prices.' + +"Always my fat'er try to have no trouble," continued Tole. "But old +man Gaviller hear about the meetings at our house. He hear everyt'ing. +He write a letter to my fat'er that the men mus' come no more. + +"My fat'er write back. My fat'er say: 'This my house. This people my +relations, my friends. My door is open to all.' Then old man Gaviller +is mad. He call my fat'er mal-content. He tak' away his discount." + +"Discount?" interrupted Ambrose. + +Tole frowned at the difficulty of explaining this in English. "All +goods in the store marked by prices," he said slowly. "Too moch +prices. Gaviller say for good men and good hunters he tak' part of +price away. He tak' a quarter part of price away. He call that +discount. If a man mak' him mad he put it back again." + +The working out of such a scheme was clear to Ambrose. "Hm!" he +commented grimly. "This is how a monopoly gets in its innings." + +"Always my fat'er not want any trouble," Tole went on. "Pretty soon, I +t'ink, the people not listen to him no more. They are mad. This year +there will be trouble about the grain. Gaviller put the price down to +dollar-fifty bushel. But he sell flour the same." + +"Do you mean to say he buys your grain at his own price, and sells you +back the flour at his own price?" demanded Ambrose. + +Tole nodded. "My fat'er the first farmer here," he explained. "Long +tam ago when I was little boy, Gaviller come to my fat'er. He say: +'You have plenty good land. You grow wheat and I grind it, and both +mak' money.' + +"My fat'er say: 'I got no plow, no binder, no thresher.' Gaviller say: +'I bring them in for you.' Gaviller say: 'I pay you two-fifty bushel +for wheat. I can do it up here. You pay me for the machines a little +each year.' + +"My fat'er t'ink about it. He is not moch for farm. But he t'ink, +well, some day there is no more fur. But always there is mouths for +bread. If I be farmer and teach my boys, they not starve when fur is +no more. + +"My fat'er say to Gaviller: 'All right.' Writings are made and signed. +The ot'er men with good land on the river, they say they raise wheat, +too. + +"After that the machines is brought in. Good crops is raised. +Ev'rything is fine. Bam-by Gaviller put the price down to +two-twenty-five. Bam-by he only pay two dollar. Tams is hard, he say. +Las' year he pay one-seventy-five. Now he say one-fifty all he pay. + +"The farmers say they so poor now, might as well have nothing. They +say they not cut the grain this year. Gaviller say it is his grain. +He will go on their land and cut it. There will be trouble." + +"This is a kind of slavery!" cried Ambrose. + +"There is more to mak' trouble," Tole went on with his calm air. +"Three years ago Gaviller build a fine big steamboat. He say: 'Now, +boys, you can go outside when you want.' He says: 'This big boat will +bring us ev'rything good and cheap from outside.' + +"But when she start it is thirty dollars for a man to go to the +Crossing. And fifty cents for every meal. Nobody got so much money as +that. + +"It is the same to bring t'ings in. Not'ing is cheaper. Jean Bateese +Gagnon, he get a big book from outside. In that book there is all +things to buy and pictures to show them. The people outside will send +you the t'ings. You send money in a letter." + +"Mail order catalogue," suggested Ambrose. + +"That is the name of the book," said Tole. In describing its wonders +he lost, for the first time, some of his imperturbable air. "Wa! Wa! +All is so cheap inside that book. It is wonderful. Three suits of +clothes cost no more as one at the Company store. + +"Everyt'ing is in that book. A man can get shirts of silk. A man can +get a machine to milk a cow. All the people want to send money for +t'ings. Gaviller say no. Gaviller say steamboat only carry Company +freight. Gaviller say: 'Come to me for what you want and I get it--at +regular prices.'" + +"And this is supposed to be a free country," said Ambrose. + +"The men are mad," continued Tole. "They do not'ing. Only Jean +Bateese Gagnon. He is the mos' mad. He say he don' care. He send the +money for a plow las' summer. All wait to see w'at Gaviller will do. + +"Gaviller let the steamboat bring it down. He say the freight is +fifteen dollars. Jean Bateese say: 'Tak' it back again. I won't pay.' +Gaviller say: 'You got to pay.' He put it on the book against Gagnon." + +Tole related other incidents of a like character, Ambrose listened with +ever mounting indignation. There could be no mistaking the truthful +ring of the simple details. + +Not only was Ambrose's sense of humanity up in arms, but the trader in +him was angered that a competitor should profit by such unfair means. +With a list of grievances on one side and unqualified sympathy on the +other, the two progressed in friendship. + +They breakfasted together, Job making a third. Ambrose found himself +more and more strongly drawn to the young fellow. He was reminded that +he had no friend of his own age in the country. Tole, he said to +himself, was whiter than many a white man he had known. + +Job, who as a rule drew the colorline sharply, was polite to Tole. Job +was pleased because Tole ignored him. Uninvited overtures from +strangers made Job self-conscious. + +Tole and Ambrose, being young, drifted away from serious business after +a while. They discussed sport. Tole lost some of his gravity in +talking about hunting the moose. + +Not until Tole was on the point of embarking did the real object of his +visit transpire. "My father say he want you come to his house," he +said diffidently. + +"Sure I will," said Ambrose. + +Tole lingered by his dugout, affecting to test the elasticity of his +paddle on the stones. He glanced at Ambrose with a speculative eye. + +"Maybe you and Peter Minot open a store across the river and trade with +us," he suggested with a casual air. + +Ambrose was staggered by the possibilities it opened up. He knew the +idea was already in Peter's mind. What if he, Ambrose, should be +chosen to carry it out? He sparred for wind. + +"I don't know," he said warily. "There is much to be considered. I +will talk with your father." + +Tole nodded and pushed off. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LOVERS. + +Ambrose and Colina had had no opportunity the night before to arrange +for another meeting. Ambrose stuck close to his camp, feeling somehow +that the next move should come from her. + +It was not that he had been unduly alarmed by her father's threat, +though he had a young man's healthy horror of being humiliated in the +beloved one's presence. + +But the real reason that kept him inactive was an instinctive +compunction against embroiling Colina with her father. She had only +known him, Ambrose, a day; she should have a chance to make sure of her +own mind, he felt. + +As to what he would do if Colina made no move, Ambrose could not make +up his mind. He considered a night expedition to the fort; he +considered sending a message by Tole. Either plan had serious +disadvantages. It was a hard nut to crack. + +Then he heard hoofs on the prairie overhead. His heart leaped up and +his problems were forgotten. He sprang to the bank. Job heard the +hoofs, too, and recognized the horse. Job hopped into the empty +dugout, and lay down in the bow out of sight, like a child in disgrace. + +At the sight of her racing toward him a dizzying joy swept over +Ambrose; but something was wrong. She stopped short of him, and his +heart seemed to stop, too. + +She was pale; her eyes had a dark look. An inward voice whispered to +him that it was no more than to be expected; his happiness had been too +swift, too bright to be real. + +He went toward her. "Colina!" he cried apprehensively. + +"Don't touch me!" she said sharply. + +He stopped. "What is the matter?" he faltered. + +She made no move to dismount. She did not look at him. "I--I have had +a bad night," she murmured. "I came to throw myself on your +generosity." + +"Generosity?" he echoed. + +"To--to ask you to forget what happened last night. I was mad!" + +Ambrose had become as pale as she. He had nothing to say. + +She stole a glance at his face. At the sight of his blank, sick dismay +she quickly turned her head. A little color came back to her cheeks. + +There was a silence. + +At last he said huskily: "What has happened to change you?" + +"Nothing," she murmured. "I have come to my senses." His stony face +and his silence terrified her. "Aren't you a little relieved?" she +faltered. "It must have been a kind of madness in you, too." + +He raised a sudden, penetrating glance to her face. She could not meet +it. It came to him that he was being put to a test. The revulsion of +feeling made him brutal. Striding forward, he seized her horse by the +rein. + +"Get off!" he harshly commanded. + +Colina had no thought but to obey. + +He tied the rein to a limb and, turning back, seized her roughly by the +wrists. + +"What kind of a game is this?" he demanded. + +Colina, breathless, terrified, delighted, laughed shakily. + +He dropped her as suddenly as he had seized her, and walked away to the +edge of the bank and sat down, staring sightlessly across the river and +striving to still the tumult of his blood. He was frightened by his +own passion. He had wished to hurt her. + +Colina went to him and humbly touched his arm. + +"I'm sorry," she whispered. + +He looked at her grimly. + +"You should not try such tricks," he said. "A man's endurance has its +limits." + +There was something delicious to Colina in abasing herself before him. +She caught up his hand and pressed it to her cheek. + +"How was I to know?" she murmured. "Other men are not like you." + +"I might have surprised you," he said grimly. + +"You did!" whispered Colina. The suspicion of a dimple showed in +either cheek. + +He rose. "Let me alone for a minute," he said. "I'll be all right." +He went to the horse and loosened the saddle girths. + +Colina could have crawled through the grass to his feet. She lay where +he had left her until he came back. He sat down again, but not +touching her. He was still pale, but he had got a grip on himself. + +"Tell me," he said quietly, "did you do it just for fun, or had you a +reason?" + +"I had a reason." + +"What was it?" he asked in cold surprise. + +"I--I can't tell you while you are angry with me," she faltered. + +"I can't get over it right away," he said simply. "Give me time." + +Colina hid her face in her arm and her shoulders shook a little. It is +doubtful if any real tears flowed, but the move was just as successful. +He leaned over and laid a tender hand on her shoulder. + +"Ah, don't!" he said. "What need you care if I am angry. You know I +love you. You know I--I am mad with loving you! Why--it would have +been more merciful for you to shoot me down than come at me the way you +did!" + +"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I never dreamed it would hurt so much! I +had to do it--Ambrose!" + +It was the first time she had spoken his name. He paused for a moment +to consider the wonder of it. + +"Why?" he asked dreamily. + +Colina sat up. + +"I worried all night about whether you would be sorry to-day," she +said, averting her head from him. "I thought that nothing so swift +could possibly be lasting. And then this morning father and I had a +frightful row. + +"I was starting out to come to you, and he caught me. He all but +disowned me. I came right on--I told him I was coming. And on the way +here I thought--I knew I would have to tell you what had happened. + +"And I thought if you were secretly sorry--for last night--when you +heard about father and I--you would feel that you had to stand by me +anyway! And then I would never know if you really-- So I had to find +out, first." + +This confused explanation was perfectly clear to Ambrose. + +"Will you always be doubting me?" he asked wistfully. "Can't you +believe what you see?" + +She crept under his arm. "It was so sudden!" she murmured. "When I am +not with you my heart fails me. How can I be sure?" + +He undertook to assure her with what eloquence his heart lent his +tongue. The feeling was rarer than the words. + +"How wonderful," said Ambrose dreamily, "for two to feel the same +toward each other! I always thought that women, well, just allowed men +to love them." + +"You dear innocent!" she whispered. "If you knew! Women are not +supposed to give anything away! It makes men draw back. It makes them +insufferable." + +"It makes me humble," said Ambrose. + +"You boy!" she breathed. + +"I'm years older than you," he said. + +"Women's hearts are born old," said Colina; "men's never grow out of +babyhood." + +Her head was lying back on the thick of his arm. + +"Your throat is as lovely--as lovely as pearl!" he whispered, brooding +over her. + +The exquisite throat trembled with laughter. + +"You're coming out!" she said. + +"I don't care!" said Ambrose. "You're as beautiful as--what is the +most beautiful thing I know?--as beautiful as a morning in June up +North." + +"I don't know which I like better," she murmured. + +"Of what?" he asked. + +"To have you praise me or abuse me. Both are so sweet!" + +"Do you know," he said, "I am wondering this minute if I am dreaming! +I'm afraid to breathe hard for fear of waking up." + +She smiled enchantingly. + +"Kiss me!" she whispered. "These are real lips." + +"Sit up," he said presently, with a sigh, "We must talk hard sense to +each other. What the devil are we going to do?" + +She leaned against his shoulder. + +"Whatever you decide," she said mistily. + +"What did your father say to you?" asked Ambrose. + +She shuddered. "Hideous quarrelling!" she said. "I have the temper of +a devil, Ambrose!" + +"I don't care," he said. + +"When I told him where I was going he took me back in the library and +started in," she went on. "He was so angry he could scarcely speak. +If he had let it go it wouldn't have been so bad. But to try to make +believe he wasn't angry! His hypocrisy disgusted me. + +"To go on about my own good and all that, and all the time he was just +plain mad! I taunted him until he was almost in a state of +ungovernable fury. He would not mention you until I forced him to. + +"He said I must give him my word never to see you or speak to you +again. I refused, of course. He threatened to lock me up. He said +things about you that put me beside myself. We said ghastly things to +each other. We are very much alike. You'd better think twice before +you marry into such a family, Ambrose." + +"I take my chance," he said. + +"I'm sorry now," Colina went on. "I know he is, too. Poor old fellow! +I have you." + +"You mustn't break with him yet," said Ambrose anxiously. + +"I know. But how can I go back and humble myself?" + +"He'll meet you half-way." + +"If--if we could only get in the dugout and go now!" she breathed. + +He did not answer. She saw him turn pale. + +"Wouldn't it be the best way," she murmured, "since it's got to be +anyway?" + +He drew a long breath and shook his head. + +"I wouldn't take you now," he said doggedly. + +"Of course not!" she said quickly. "I was only joking. But why?" she +added weakly. Her hand crept into his. + +"It wouldn't be fair," he said, frowning. "It would be taking too much +from you." + +"Too much!" she murmured, with an obscure smile. + +Ambrose struggled with the difficulty of explaining what he meant. "I +never do anything prudent myself. I hate it. But I can't let you +chuck everything--without thinking what you are doing. You ought to +stay home a while--and be sure." + +"It isn't going to be so easy," she said, "quarreling continually." + +"I sha'n't see you again until I come for you," said Ambrose. "And +it's useless to write letters from Moultrie to Enterprise. I'm out of +the way. Why can't the question of me be dropped between you and your +father?" + +"Think of living on from month to month without a word! It will be +ghastly!" she cried. + +"You've only known me two days," he said sagely. "I could not leave +such a gap as that." + +"How coldly you can talk about it!" she cried rebelliously. + +Ambrose frowned again. "When you call me cold you shut me up," he said +quietly. + +"But if you do not make a fuss about me every minute," she said +naively, "it shames me because I am so foolish about you." + +Ambrose laughed suddenly. + +There followed another interlude of celestial silliness. + + +This time it was Colina who withdrew herself from him. + +"Ah," she said with a catch of the breath, "every minute of this is +making it harder. I shall want to die when you leave me." + +Ambrose attempted to take her in his arms again. + +"No," she insisted. "Let us try to be sensible. We haven't decided +yet what we're going to do." + +"I'm going home," said Ambrose, "to work like a galley-slave." + +"It is so far," she murmured. + +"I'll find some way of letting you hear from me. Twice before the +winter sets in I'll send a messenger. And you, you keep a little book +and write in it whenever you think of me, and send it back by my +messenger." + +"A little book won't hold it all," she said naively. + +"Meanwhile I'll be making a place for you. I couldn't take you to +Moultrie." + +She asked why. + +"Eva, Peter's wife," he explained. "In a way Peter is my boss, you +see. It would be a horrible situation." + +"I see," said Colina. "But if there was no help for it I could." + +"Ah, you're too good to me!" he cried. "But it won't be necessary. +Peter and I have always intended to open other posts. I'll take the +first one, and you and I will start on our own. Think of it! It makes +me silly with happiness!" + +Upon this foundation they raised a shining castle in the air. + +"I must go," said Colina finally, "or father will be equipping an armed +force to take me." + +"You must go," he agreed, but weakly. + +They repeated it at intervals without any move being made. At last she +got up. + +"Is this--good-by?" she faltered. + +He nodded. + +They both turned pale. They were silent. They gazed at each other +deeply and wistfully. + +"Ah! I can't! I can't!" murmured Colina brokenly. "Such a little +time to be happy!" + +They flew to each other's arms. + +"No--not quite good-by!" said Ambrose shakily. "I'll write to you +to-morrow morning--everything I think of to-night. I'll send it by +Tole Grampierre. You can send an answer by him." + +"Ah, my dear love, if you forget me I shall die!" + +"You doubt me still! I tell you, you have changed everything for me. +I cannot forget you unless I lose my mind!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ANOTHER VISITOR. + +Ambrose, having filled the day as best he could with small tasks, was +smoking beside his fire and enviously watching his dog. Job had no +cares to keep him wakeful. It was about eight o'clock, and still full +day. + +It was Ambrose's promise to visit Simon Grampierre that had kept him +inactive all day. He did not wish to complicate the already delicate +situation between Grampierre and Gaviller by an open visit to the +former. He meant to go with Tole at dawn. + +Suddenly Job raised his head and growled. In a moment Ambrose heard +the sound of a horse approaching at a walk above. Thinking of Colina, +his heart leaped--but she would never come at a walk! An instinct of +wariness bade him sit where he was. + +A mounted man appeared on the bank above. It was a breed forty-five +years old perhaps, but vigorous and youthful still; good looking, well +kept, with an agreeable manner; thus Ambrose's first impressions. The +stranger rode a good horse. + +"Well?" he said, looking down on Ambrose in surprise. + +"Tie your horse and come down," said Ambrose politely. He welcomed the +diversion. This man must have come from the fort. Perhaps he had news. + +Face to face with the stranger, Ambrose was sensible that he had to +deal with an uncommon character. There was something about him, he +could not decide what, that distinguished him from every other man of +Indian blood that Ambrose had ever met. + +He wore a well-fitting suit of blue serge and a show of starched linen, +in itself a distinguishing mark up north. "Quite a swell!" was +Ambrose's inward comment. + +"You are Ambrose Doane, I suppose?" he said in English as good as +Ambrose's own. Ambrose nodded. + +"I knew you had dinner with Mr. Gaviller last night," the man went on, +"but as you didn't drop in on us at the store to-day I supposed you had +gone back. I didn't expect to find you here." + +He was fluent for one of his color--too fluent the other man felt. +Ambrose was sizing him up with interest. + +It finally came to him what the man's distinguishing quality was. It +was his open look, an expression almost of benignity, absolutely +foreign to the Indian character. Indians may give their eyes freely to +one another, but a white man never sees beneath the glassy surface. + +This Indian in look and manner resembled an English country gentleman, +much sunburnt; or one of those university-bred East Indian potentates +who affect motor-cars and polo ponies. Oddly enough his candid look +affronted Ambrose. "It isn't natural," he told himself. + +"I am Gordon Strange, bookkeeper at Fort Enterprise," the stranger +volunteered. + +The bookkeeper of a big trading-post is always second in command. +Ambrose understood that he was in the presence of a person of +consideration in the country. + +"Sit down," he said. "Fill up your pipe." + +Strange obeyed. "We're supposed to be red-hot rivals in business," he +said with an agreeable laugh. "But that needn't prevent, eh? Funny I +should stumble on you like this! I ride every night after supper--a +man needs a bit of exercise after working all day in the store. I saw +the light of your fire." + +He was too anxious to have it understood that the meeting was +accidental. Ambrose began to suspect that he had ridden out on purpose +to see him. + +The better men among the natives, such as Tole Grampierre, have a pride +of their own; but they never presume to the same footing as the white +men. Strange, however, talked as one gentleman to another. + +There was nothing blatant in it; he had a well-bred man's care for the +prejudices of another. Nevertheless, as they talked on Ambrose began +to feel a curious repugnance to his visitor, that made him wary of his +own speech. + +"Too damn gentlemanly!" he said to himself. + +"Why didn't you come in to see us to-day?" inquired Strange. "We don't +expect a traveler to give us the go-by." + +"Well," said Ambrose dryly, "I had an idea that my room would be +preferred to my company." + +"Nonsense!" said Strange, laughing. "We don't carry our business war +as far as that. Why, we want to show you free-traders what a fine +place we have, so we can crow over you a little. Anyway, you dined +with Mr. Gaviller, didn't you?" + +"John Gaviller would never let himself off any of the duties of +hospitality," said Ambrose cautiously. + +He was wondering how far Strange might be admitted to Gaviller's +confidence. That he was being drawn out, Ambrose had no doubt at all, +but he did not know just to what end. + +Strange launched into extensive praises of John Gaviller. "I ought to +know," he said in conclusion. "I've worked for him twenty-nine years. +He taught me all I know. He's been a second father to me." + +Ambrose felt as an honest man hearing an unnecessary and fulsome +panegyric must feel, slightly nauseated. He said nothing. + +Strange was quick to perceive the absence of enthusiasm. He laughed +agreeably. "I suppose I can hardly expect you to chime in with me," he +said. "The old man is death on free-traders!" + +"I have nothing against him," said Ambrose quickly. + +"Of course I don't always agree with him on matters of policy," Strange +went on. "Curious, isn't it, how a man's ruling characteristic begins +to get the better of him as he grows old. + +"Mr. Gaviller is always just--but, well, a leetle hard. He's pushing +the people a little too far lately. I tell him so to his face--I +oppose him all I can. But of course he's the boss." + +Ambrose began to feel an obscure and discomforting indignation at his +visitor. He wished he would go. + +"You really must see our plant before you go back," said Strange; "the +model farm, the dairy herd, the flourmill, the sawmill. Will you come +up to-morrow and let me take you about?" + +His glibness had the effect of rendering Ambrose monosyllabic. "No," +he said. + +"Oh, I say," said Strange, laughing, "what did you come to Fort +Enterprise for if you feel that way about us?" + +Under his careless air Ambrose thought he distinguished a certain +eagerness to hear the answer. So he said nothing. + +"I'm afraid you and the old gentleman must have had words," Strange +went on, still smiling. "Take it from me, his bark is worse than his +bite. If he broke out at you, he's sorry for it now. It takes half my +time to fix up his little differences with the people here." + +He paused to give the other an opportunity to speak. Ambrose remained +mum. + +"The old man certainly has a rough side to his tongue," murmured +Strange insinuatingly. + +"You're jumping to conclusions," said Ambrose coolly. "John Gaviller +gave me no cause for offense. I was well entertained at his house." + +"U-m!" said Strange. He seemed rather at a loss. Presently he went on +to tell in a careless voice of the coyote hunts they had. Afterward he +casually inquired how long Ambrose meant to stay in the neighborhood. + +"I don't know," was the blunt answer. + +"Well, really!" said Strange with his laugh--the sound of it was +becoming highly exasperating to Ambrose. "I don't want to pry into +your affairs, but you must admit it looks queer for you to be camping +here on the edge of the company reservation without ever coming in." + +Ambrose was wroth with himself for not playing a better part, but the +man affected him with such repugnance he could not bring himself to +dissimulate, "Sorry," he said stiffly. "You'll have to make what you +can of it." + +Strange got up. His candid air now had a touch of manly pride. "Oh, I +can take a hint!" he said. "Hanged if I know what you've got against +me!" + +"Nothing whatever," said Ambrose. + +"I come to you in all friendliness--" + +"Thought you said you stumbled on me," interrupted Ambrose. + +"I mean of course when I saw you here I came in friendliness," Strange +explained with dignity. + +"Well, go in friendliness, and no harm done on either side," said +Ambrose coolly. + +For a brief instant Strange lost his benignant air. "I've lived north +all my life," he said. "And I never met with the like. We have +different ideas about hospitality." + +"Very likely," said Ambrose coolly. "Good night!" + +When his visitor rode away Ambrose turned with relief to his dog. The +sight of Job's honest ugliness was good to him. + +"He's a cur, Job!" he said strongly. "A snake in the grass! An oily +scoundrel! I don't know how I know it, but I know it! A square man +would have punched me the way I talked to him." + +Job wagged his tail in entire approval of his master's judgment. +Ambrose turned in, feeling better for having spoken his mind. + +Nevertheless, as he lay waiting for sleep it occurred to him that he +had been somewhat hasty. After all, he had nothing to go on. And, +supposing Strange were what he thought him, how foolish he, Ambrose, +had been to show his band. + +If he had been craftier he might have learned things of value for him +to know. Following this unsatisfactory train of thought, he fell +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ALEXANDER SELKIRK AND FAMILY. + +Again Ambrose was awakened by a furious barking from Job. It was even +earlier than on the preceding morning. The sun was not up; the river +was like a gray ghost. + +Ambrose, expecting Tole, looked for a dugout. There was none in sight. +Job's agitated barks were addressed in the other direction. + +Issuing from his tent, Ambrose beheld a quaint little man squatting on +top of the bank like an image. He had an air of strange patience, as +if he had been waiting for hours, and expected to wait. + +His brown mask of a face changed not a line at the sight of Ambrose. + +"What do you want?" demanded the white man. + +"Please, I want spik wit' you," the little man softly replied. + +"Come down here then," said Ambrose. + +The early caller looked at Job apprehensively. Ambrose silenced the +dog with a command, and the man came slowly down the bank, cringing a +little. + +The quaintness of aspect was largely due to the fact that he wore a +coat and trousers originally designed for a tall, stout man. Ambrose +suspected he had a child to deal with until he saw the wrinkles and the +sophisticated eyes. + +"Who are you?" he asked. + +"I Alexander Selkirk, me," was the answer. + +Ambrose could not but smile at the misapplication of the sonorous +Scotch name to such a manikin. + +"You Ambrose Doane?" the other said solemnly. + +"Everybody seems to know me," said Ambrose. + +Alexander stared at him with a sullen, walled, speculative regard, +exactly, Ambrose thought, like a schoolboy facing an irate master, and +wondering where the blow will fall. + +To carry out this effect he was holding something inside his voluminous +jacket, something that suggested contraband. + +"What have you got there?" demanded Ambrose. + +Without changing a muscle of his face, Alexander undid a button and +produced a gleaming black pelt. + +Ambrose gasped. It was a beautiful black fox. Such a prize does not +come a trader's way once in three seasons. The last black fox Minot & +Doane had secured brought twelve hundred dollars in London--and it was +not so fine a specimen as this. + +Lustrous, silky, black as anthracite; every hair in place, and not a +white hair showing except the tuft at the end of the brush. + +"Where did you get it?" Ambrose asked, amazed. + +"I trap him, me, myself," said Alexander. + +"When?" + +"Las' Februar'." + +"Are you offering it to me?" asked Ambrose, eying it desirously. + +"'Ow much?" demanded Alexander, affecting a wall-eyed indifference. + +Ambrose made a more careful examination. There was no doubt of it; the +skin was perfect. He thrilled at the idea of returning with such a +prize to his partner. He made a rapid calculation. + +"Five hundred and fifty cash," he said. "Seven hundred fifty in trade." + +A spark showed in Alexander's eyes. + +"It is yours," he said. + +"How can we make a trade?" asked Ambrose, perplexed. "John Gaviller +would never honor any order of mine. I have no goods here to give you +in trade." + +"All right," said Alexander imperturbably. "I go to Moultrie to get +goods." + +"You, too," said Ambrose. "I can't import you all." + +"I got go Moultrie, me," said Alexander. "I got trouble wit' Gaviller. +He starve me and my children. They sick." + +"Starve you!" + +"Gaviller say give no more debt till I bring him my black fox," +Alexander went on apathetically. "Give no flour, no sugar, no meat, no +tea. My brot'er feed us some. Gaviller say to him better not. So now +we have nothing. We ongry." + +This promised difficulties. Ambrose frowned. "Tell me the whole +story," he said. + +The little man was eying the grub-box wolfishly. Throwing back the +cover, Ambrose offered him a cold bannock. + +"Here," he said. "Eat and tell me." + +Alexander without a word turned and scrambled up the bank and +disappeared, clutching the loaf to his breast. The white man shouted +after him without effect. He left the precious pelt behind him. + +Ambrose shrugged philosophically. "You never can tell." + +Presently Alexander came back, his seamy brown face as blank as ever. +He vouchsafed no explanation. Ambrose affected not to notice him. He +had long since found it to be the best way of getting what he wanted. +The breed squatted on the stones, prepared to wait for the +judgment-day, it seemed. + +After a while he said with the wary, defiant look of a child beggar who +expects to be refused, perhaps cuffed: "Give me 'not'er piece of bread." + +Ambrose without a word broke his remaining bannock in two and gave him +half. Alexander bolted it with incredible rapidity and sat as before, +waiting. + +Ambrose, wearying of this, dropped the pelt on his knees, saying: "Take +your black fox. I cannot trade with you." + +It had the desired effect. Alexander arose and put the skin inside the +tent. "It is yours," he said. "Give me tobacco." + +Ambrose tossed him his pouch. + +When the little man got his pipe going, squatting on his heels as +before, he told his tale. "Me spik Angleys no good," he said, +fingering his Adam's apple, as if the defect was there. "Las' winter I +ver' poor. All tam moch sick in my stummick. I catch him fine black +fox. Wa! I say. I rich now. + +"I tak' him John Gaviller. Gaviller say: 'Three hunder twenty dollar +in trade.' Wa! That is not'in'. I am sick to hear it. Already I owe +that debt on the book. Then I am mad. Gaviller t'ink for because I +poor and sick I tak' little price. I t'ink no! + +"So I tak' her home. The men they look at her. Wa! they say, she is +_miwasan_--what you say, beauty? They say, don' give Gaviller that +black fox, Sandy. He got pay more. So I keep her. Gaviller laugh. +He say: 'You got give me that black fox soon. I not pay so moch in +summer.'" + +The apathetic way in which this was told affected Ambrose strongly. +His face reddened with indignation. The story bore the hall-marks of +truth. + +Certainly the man's hunger was not feigned; likewise his eagerness to +accept the moderate price Ambrose had offered him was significant. +Ambrose scowled in his perplexity. + +"Hanged if I know what to do for you!" he said. "I'll give you a +receipt for the skin. I'll give you a little grub. Then you go home +and stay until I can arrange something." + +Alexander received this as if he had not heard it. + +"You hear," said Ambrose. "Is that all right?" + +"I got go Moultrie," the little man said stolidly. + +"You can't!" cried Ambrose. + +Alexander merely sat like an image. + +This was highly exasperating to the white man. "You've got to go home, +I tell you," he cried. + +"I not go home," the native said with strange apathy. "Gaviller kill +me now." + +"Nonsense!" cried Ambrose. "He has got to respect the law." + +Alexander was unmoved. "He not give me no grub," he said. "I starve +here." + +This was unanswerable. Ambrose, divided between annoyance and +compassion, fumed in silence. He himself had only enough food for a +few days. The breed wore him out with his stolidity. + +"Well, what do you want me to do?" he asked at last. + +"Give me little flour," said Alexander. "I go to Moultrie." + +"What will you do with your family?" + +"I tak' them." + +"How many?" + +"My woman, my boy, my two girl, my baby." + +"Good Lord!" cried Ambrose. "Have you a boat?" + +"_Non_! There is timber down the river. I mak' a raf, me." + +"It would take you two weeks to float down," cried Ambrose. "I have +only thirty pounds of flour." + +Alexander shrugged. "We ongry, anyway," he said. "We lak be ongry on +the way." + +Ambrose swore savagely under his breath. This was nearly hopeless. He +strode up and down, thrashing his brains for a solution. + +Alexander, squatting on his heels, waited apathetically for the +verdict. He had shifted his burden to the white man. + +"Where is your family?" demanded Ambrose. + +Alexander looked over his shoulder and spoke a word in Cree. Instantly +four heads appeared over the edge of the bank. Job barked once in +startled and indignant protest, and went to Ambrose's heels. + +Ambrose could not forbear a start of laughter at the suddenness of the +apparition. It was like the genii in a pantomime bobbing up through +the trapdoors. + +"Come down," he said. + +A distressful little procession faced him; they were gaunt, ragged, +appallingly dirty, and terrified almost into a state of idiocy. First +came the mother, a travesty of womanhood, dehumanized except for her +tragic, terrified eyes. + +A boy of sixteen followed her, ugly and misshapen as a gargoyle; he +carried the baby in a sling on his back. Two timorous little girls +came last. + +They lugged their pitiful belongings with them--a few rags of bedding +and clothes, some traps and snowshoes, and cooking utensils. The +smaller girl bore a holy picture in a gaudy frame. + +Ambrose's heart was wrung by the sight of so much misery. He stormed +at Alexander. "Good God! What a state to get into. What's the matter +with you that you can't keep them better than that? You've no right to +marry and have children!" + +Somehow they apprehended the compassion that animated his anger, and +were not afraid of him. They lined up before him, mutely bespeaking +his assistance. + +Their faith in his power to rescue them was implicit. That was what +made it impossible for him to refuse. + +"Here," he said roughly. "You'll have to take my dugout. I'll get +another from Grampierre. You can make Moultrie in six days in that if +you work. That'll give you five pounds of flour a day--enough to keep +you alive." + +The word "dugout" galvanized Alexander into action. Without a glance +in Ambrose's direction, he ran to the craft, and running it a little +way into the water rocked it from side to side to satisfy himself there +were no leaks. + +Turning to his family he spoke a command in Cree, and forthwith they +began to pitch their bundles in. + +Ambrose was accustomed to the thanklessness of the humbler natives. +They are like children, who look to the white man for everything, and +take what they can get as a matter of course. Still he was a little +nonplused by the excessive precipitation of this family. + +It occurred to him there was something more in their desperate +eagerness to get away than Alexander's tale explained. But having +given his word, he could not take it back. + +From father down to babe their faces expressed such relief and hope he +had not the heart to rebuke them. Alexander came to him for the food, +and he handed over all he had. + +"Wait!" he said. "I will give you a letter for Peter Minot. Lord!" he +inwardly added. "Peter won't thank me for dumping this on him!" + +On a leaf of his note-book he scribbled a few lines to his partner +explaining the situation. + +"You understand," he said to Alexander, "out of your credit for the +black fox, John Gaviller must be paid what you owe him." + +Alexander nodded indifferently, mad to get away. + +As Alexander's squaw was about to get in the dugout she paused on the +stones and looked at Ambrose, her ugly, dark face working with emotion. +Her eyes were as piteous as a wounded animal's. She flung up her hands +in a gesture expressing her powerlessness to speak. + +It seemed there was some gratitude in the family. Moved by a sudden +impulse she caught up Ambrose's hand and pressed it passionately to her +lips. The white man fell back astonished and abashed. Alexander paid +no attention at all. + +In less than ten minutes after Ambrose had given them the dugout the +distressed family pushed off for a new land. Father and son paddled as +if the devil were behind them. + +"I wonder if I done the right thing?" mused Ambrose. + + +The Selkirks had not long disappeared down the river when Ambrose +received another visitor. This was a surly native youth who, without +greeting, handed him a note, and rode back to the fort. Ambrose's +heart beat high as he examined the superscription. + +He did not need to be told who had written it. But he was not prepared +for the contents: + + +DEAR: + +Come to me at once. Come directly to the house. I am in great trouble. + +COLINA. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERING SHADOWS. + +Ambrose, hastening back to Gaviller's house with a heart full of +anxiety, came upon Gordon Strange as he rounded the corner of the +company store. The breed was at the door. Evidently he harbored no +resentment, for his face lighted up at the sight of an old friend. + +"Well!" he said. "So you came to see us." + +Ambrose felt the same unregenerate impulse to punch the smooth face. +However, with more circumspection than upon the previous occasion, he +returned a civil answer. + +"Have you heard?" asked Strange, with an expression of serious concern. + +Ambrose reflected that Strange probably knew a message had been sent. + +"Heard what?" he asked non-committally. + +"Mr. Gaviller was taken sick last night." + +"What's the matter with him?" asked Ambrose quickly. + +Strange shrugged. "I do not know exactly. The doctor has not come out +of the house since he was sent for. A stroke, I fancy." + +"I will go to the house and inquire," said Ambrose. + +He proceeded, telling himself that Strange had not got any change out +of him this time. He was relieved by the breed's news; he had feared +worse. + +To be sure, it was terribly hard on Colina, but on his own account he +could not feel much pain of mind over a sickness of Gaviller's. + +The half-breed girl who admitted him showed a scared yellow face. +Evidently the case was a serious one. She ushered him into the +library. The aspect, the very smell of the little room, brought back +the scene of two days before and set Ambrose's heart to beating. + +Presently Colina came swiftly in, closing the door behind her. She was +very pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She showed the +unnatural self-possession that a brave woman forces on herself in the +presence of a great emergency. Her eyes were tragic. + +She came straight to his arms. She lowered her head and partly broke +down and wept a little. + +"Ah, it's so good to have some one to lean on!" she murmured. + +"Your father--what is the matter with him?" asked Ambrose. + +The look in her eyes and her piteous shaking warned him to expect +something worse than the tale of an illness. + +She lifted her white face. + +"Father was shot last night," she said. + +"Good God!" said Ambrose. "By whom?" + +"We do not know." + +"He's not--he's not--" Ambrose's tongue balked at the dreadful word. + +She shook her head. "A dangerous wound, not necessarily fatal. We +can't tell yet." + +"You have no idea who did it?" + +Colina schooled herself to give him a coherent account. The sight of +her forced calmness, with those eyes, was inexpressibly painful to +Ambrose. + +"No. He went out after dinner. He said he had to see a man. He did +not mention his name. He came back at dusk. I was on the veranda. He +was walking as usual--perfectly straight. But one hand was pressed to +his side. + +"He passed me without speaking. I followed him in. In the passage he +said: 'I am shot. Tell no one but Giddings. Then he collapsed in my +arms. He has not spoken since." + +Ambrose heard this with mixed feelings. His heart bled for Colina. +Yet the grim thought would not down that the tyrannous old trader had +received no more than his deserts. He soothed her with clumsy +tenderness. + +"Why do you want to keep it a secret?" he asked, after a while. + +"Father wished it," said Colina. "We think he must have had a good +reason. The doctor thinks it is best. There has been a good deal of +trouble with the natives; many of them are ugly and rebellious. And we +whites are so few! + +"Father could keep them in hand. They are in such awe of him; they +regard him as something almost more than mortal. If they learn that he +is vulnerable--who knows what might happen!" + +"I understand," said Ambrose grimly. + +"So no one knows, not even the servants. I have hidden all +the--things. Of course, the man who did it will never tell." The calm +voice suddenly broke in a cry of agony. "Oh, Ambrose!" + +He comforted her mutely. + +"It is so dreadful to think that any one should hate him so!" said poor +Colina. "So unjust! They are like his children. He is severe with +them only for their good!" + +Ambrose concealed a grim smile at this partial view of John Gaviller. + +"He lies there so white and still," she went on. "It nearly breaks my +heart to think how I have quarreled with him and gone against his +wishes. If waiting on him day and night will ever make it up to him, +I'll do it!" + +Ambrose's breast stirred a little with resentment, but he kept his +mouth shut. He understood that it was good for Colina to unburden her +breast. + +"Ah, thank God I have you!" she murmured. + +They heard the doctor coming, and Colina drew away. She introduced the +two men. + +"Mr. Doane is my friend," she said. "He is one of us." + +The doctor favored Ambrose with a glance of astonishment before making +his professional announcement. Ambrose saw the typical hanger-on of a +trading-post, a white man of Gaviller's age, careless in dress, with a +humorous, intelligent face, showing the ravages of a weak will. At +present, with the sole responsibility of an important case on his +shoulders, he looked something like the man he was meant to be. + +It was no time for commonplaces. + +"John is conscious," he said directly. "He is showing remarkable +resistance. There is no need for any immediate alarm. He wants to +make a statement. I made the excuse of getting pencil and paper to +come down. In a matter of such importance I think there should be +another witness." + +"I will go," said Colina. + +Giddings shook his head. "Your father expressly forbade it," he said. +"He wishes to spare you." + +Colina made an impatient gesture, but seemed to acquiesce. + +"You go," she said to Ambrose. + +Giddings looked doubtful, but said nothing. + +"I'm afraid the sight of me--" Ambrose began. + +"I don't mean that you should go in," said Colina. "If you stand in +the doorway he cannot see you the way he lies." + +Ambrose nodded and followed Giddings out. + +"What is the wound?" he asked. + +"Through the left lung. He will not die of the shot. I can't tell yet +what may develop." + +Ambrose halted at the open door of Gaviller's room. The windows looked +out over the river, and the cooling northwest wind was wafted through. +The hospital-like bareness of the room evinced a simple taste in the +owner. The gimcracks he loved to make were all for the public rooms +below. + +The head of the bed was toward the door. On the pillow Ambrose could +see the gray head, a little bald on the crown. + +Giddings, after feeling his patient's pulse, sat down beside the bed +with pad and pencil. + +"I'm ready to take down what you say," he said. + +The wounded man said in a weak but surprisingly clear voice: + +"You understand this is not to be used unless the worst happens to me." + +Giddings nodded. + +"You must give me your word that no proceedings will be taken against +the man I name--unless I die. I will not die. When I get up I will +attend to him." + +"I promise," said Giddings. + +After a brief pause Gaviller said: + +"I was shot by the breed known as Sandy Selkirk." + +Ambrose sharply caught his breath. A great light broke upon him. + +Gaviller went on: + +"He caught a black fox last winter that he has persistently refused to +give up to me. Out of sheer obstinacy he preferred to starve his +family. Yesterday Strange told me he thought it likely Selkirk would +try to dispose of the skin to Ambrose Doane, the free-trader who is +hanging around the fort." + +Giddings sent a startled glance toward the door. + +"Strange said perhaps news of it had been carried down the river, and +that was what Doane had come for. So I went to Selkirk's shack last +night to get it. I consider it mine, because Selkirk already owes the +company its value. Any attempt to dispose of it elsewhere would be the +same as robbing me. + +"Selkirk refused to give it up, and I took it. He shot me from behind. +There were no witnesses but his family. That is all I want to say." + +"I have it," murmured Giddings. + +The gray head rolled impatiently on the pillow. "Giddings, don't let +that skin get away. I rely on you. Be firm. Be secret." + +"I'll do my best," said the doctor. + +He came to the door, ostensibly to close it, showing a scared face. "I +didn't know what was coming," his lips shaped. + +Ambrose nodded to him reassuringly, meaning to convey that nothing he +had heard would influence his actions. + +Giddings closed the door, and Ambrose returned down-stairs with a heart +that sunk lower at each step. What he had at first regarded calmly +enough as Gaviller's tragedy he now clearly saw was likely to prove +tragic for himself. + +It was useless to try to put Colina off. + +"I must know!" she cried passionately. "I'm the head here now. I must +know where we all stand." + +Ambrose told her. To save her feelings he instinctively softened the +harsher features. It did not do his own cause any good later. + +"Oh, the wretch!" breathed Colina between set teeth. "I know him! A +sneaking little scoundrel! Just the one to shoot from behind! To +think we must let him go! That is the hardest." + +Ambrose was silent. + +"We must get the skin," she went on eagerly. "Giddings can't handle +the natives. You do that for me." + +"It is too late," said Ambrose grimly. "He is gone with it." + +"Gone?" she exclaimed, with raised eyebrows. "How do you know?" + +"He came to my camp at dawn," said Ambrose. Honesty compelling him, he +added with a touch of defiance; "I gave him my dugout." + +Colina shrank from him. + +"You helped him get away!" she cried. + +"I didn't know what had happened," he said indignantly. + +"Of course not!" said Colina, with quick penitence. + +But she did not return to him. Presently the frown came back; she +began to breathe quickly. "You saw the skin; you must have talked with +him. You took his part against father!" + +Ambrose had nothing to say. He could have groaned aloud in his +helplessness to avert the catastrophe that he saw coming. + +It was as if a horrible, black-shrouded shape had stepped between him +and Colina. + +She, too, was aware of it. For an age-long moment they stared at each +other with a kind of chilled terror. + +Neither dared speak of what both were thinking. + +At last Colina tried to wave the hideous fantom away. + +"Ah, we mustn't quarrel now!" she said tremulously. "Couldn't the man +be overtaken and the skin recovered?" + +"Possibly," admitted Ambrose. "I wouldn't advise it." + +Colina, freshly affronted, struggled with her anger. + +"Let me explain," said Ambrose. "I agreed to take the skin from him, +but on the understanding that out of the price Mr. Gaviller must be +paid every cent of what was owing him." His reasonable air suddenly +failed him. "Colina," he burst out imploringly, "it was worth more +than double what your father offered! That was the trouble! What is a +skin to us? I pledge myself to transmit whatever price it brings to +your father. Won't that do?" + +"Don't say anything more about it," said Colina painfully. "You're +right; we mustn't quarrel about a thing like that." + +A wretched constraint fell upon them. For the moment the catastrophe +had been averted, but both felt it was only for the moment. + +They had nothing to say to each other. + +Finally Colina moved toward the door. + +"I must see if anything is wanted up-stairs," she murmured. "Wait here +for me." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE QUARREL. + +When Colina returned she said immediately: "Ambrose, can you stay at +Fort Enterprise a little while longer?" + +His heart leaped up. "As long as I can help you!" he cried. + +They looked at each other wistfully. They wanted so much to be +friends--but the black shape was still there in the room. + +"I'd be glad to have you stay here in the house," said Colina. + +Ambrose shook his head. "I'd much better stay in camp." + +She acquiesced. "There are three white men here," she went on, +"Giddings, Macfarlane the policeman, and Mr. Pringle the missionary. +Each is all right in his way, but--" + +"They're all in love with you," suggested Ambrose. + +She smiled faintly. "How did you know?" + +Ambrose shrugged. "Deduced it." + +"You see I cannot take any of them into my confidence." + +"Colina!" he said. "If you would only let me--" + +"Ah, I want to!" she returned. "If only, only you will not abuse +him--wounded and helpless as he is!" + +Here was the black shape again. + +"I suppose Gordon Strange will run the business," said Ambrose. + +"Naturally," said Colina. "He knows everything about it." + +"If you want my advice," Ambrose said diffidently, "do not trust him +too far." + +She looked at him in astonishment. "Mr. Strange is almost like one of +the family. He's been father's right-hand man for years and years. +Father says he's the best servant the company possesses." + +"That may be," said Ambrose doggedly, "but a good servant makes a bad +master. After all, he is not one of us. If you value my advice at all +you will never let him know he is running things." + +"How can I help it? I haven't told him yet what has happened; but Dr. +Giddings and I agreed that he must be told. He never mixes with the +natives." + +"Of course he must know your father was wounded, but he needn't be told +how seriously. If I were you I would make him inform me of every +detail of the business on the pretext of repeating it to your father. +And I would issue orders to him as if they came from your father's bed." + +"How can I?" said Colina. "I know nothing of the business." + +"I can help you," said Ambrose--"if you want me to. I know it." + +"But, Ambrose," she objected, "what reason have you to feel so strongly +against Mr. Strange?" + +"No reason," he said; "only an instinct. I believe he's a crook." + +"Father relies on him absolutely." + +"Maybe his influence with your father was sometimes unfortunate." + +Colina's eyebrows went up. "Influence! Father would hardly allow his +judgment to be swayed by a breed." + +"You're a woman," said Ambrose earnestly. "You should not despise +these feelings that we have sometimes and cannot give a reason for. I +saw Strange on my way here. I exchanged only half a dozen words with +him, yet I am as sure as I can be that he was glad of the accident to +your father and hopes to profit by it somehow." + +Colina was still incredulous. + +"Look what he wrote me this morning!" she cried. "It sounds so +genuine." + +She handed him a note from the desk. He read: + + +DEAR MISS COLINA: + +They are saying that your father has been taken ill; that the doctor +has been with him all night. I am more distressed than I can tell you. +You know what he is to me! Do send me some word. He was so cheerful +and well yesterday that I cannot believe it can be serious. Native +gossip always magnifies everything. + +If it is all right to speak to him about business, will you remind him +that a deputation from the farmers is due at the store this morning to +receive his final answer as to the price of wheat this year. As far as +I know his intention is to offer one-fifty a bushel, but something may +have come up to cause him to change his mind. Unless he is very ill, I +would rather not take this responsibility upon myself. + +Do let me have word from you. + +G.S. + + +"Anybody can write letters," said Ambrose. "It sounds to me as if he +was just trying to find out how bad your father is. He could easily +put the farmers off." + +"I can't believe he's as bad as you say," said Colina gravely. "Why, +he was here long before I was born. But I will be prudent. With your +help I'll try to run things myself." + +Ambrose sent her a grateful glance--shot with apprehension. He dreaded +what was still to come. + +"This question of the price of the wheat," Colina went on; "we have to +give him an answer or confess father is very ill." + +Ambrose nodded gloomily. + +"Fortunately that is easy," she continued; "for he spoke about it at +dinner last night. He means to pay one-fifty." She moved toward the +desk. "I'll send a note over at once." + +The critical moment had arrived--even more swiftly than he feared. He +could not think clearly, for the pain he felt. + +"Ah, Colina, I love you!" he cried involuntarily. + +She paused and smiled over her shoulder. + +"I know," she said, surprised and gentle. "That's why you're here." + +"I've got to advise you honestly," he cried, "no matter what trouble it +makes." + +"Of course," she said. "What's the matter, Ambrose?" + +"You should offer them one-seventy-five for their wheat." + +The eyebrows went up again. "Why?" + +"It's only fair. Two dollars would be fairer." + +"But father said one-fifty." + +"Your father is wrong in this instance." + +Colina frowned ominously. + +"How do you know?" she demanded. + +"I know the price of flour at the different posts," he said +deprecatingly. "I know the risks that must be allowed for and the fair +profit one expects." + +"Do you mean to say that father is unfair?" she cried. + +He was silent. An unlucky word had betrayed him. He could have bitten +his tongue. Still, he reflected sullenly, it was bound to come. You +can't make black white, however tenderly you describe it. + +Colina sprang to her feet. + +"Unfair!" she cried. "That is to say a cheat! You can say it while he +is lying up-stairs desperately wounded!" + +"Colina, be reasonable," he implored. "The fact that he is suffering +can't make a wrong right." + +"There is no wrong!" she cried. "What do you know about conditions +here?" + +"They come to my camp," he said simply, "one after another to beg me to +help them." + +"And you were not above it," she flashed back, "murderers and others!" + +An honest anger fired Ambrose's eyes. "You're talking wildly," he said +sternly. "I'm trying to help you." + +Colina laughed. + +With a great effort he commanded his temper, "What do you see yourself +in your rides about the settlement?" he asked. "Poverty and +wretchedness! How do you explain it when times are good--when this is +known as the richest post in the north?" + +Colina would have none of his reasoning. "These are just the dangerous +ideas my father warned me against!" she cried passionately. "This is +how you make the natives discontented and unruly!" + +"You will not listen to me!" he cried in despair. + +"Listen to you! I see him lying there--helpless. I am sick with +compassion for him and with hatred against the creatures who did it. +And you dare to attack him, to excuse them! I will not endure it!" + +"I am not attacking him. Right or wrong, he has brought about a +disastrous situation. He's the first to suffer. We're all standing on +the edge of a volcano. We are five whites here, and three hundred +miles from the nearest of our kind. If we want to save him and save +ourselves we've got to face the facts." + +Of this Colina heard one sentence. "Do you mean, to say that father +brought this on himself?" she demanded, breathlessly angry. + +Ambrose made a helpless gesture. + +"I am to understand that you justify the breed?" she persisted. + +"You have no right to put words into my mouth!" + +Colina repeated like an automaton. "Do you think the breed was +justified in shooting my father?" + +"I will not answer." + +"You've got to answer--before you and I go any farther!" + +"Colina, think what you're doing!" he cried. "We must not quarrel." + +"I'm not quarreling," she said with an odd, flinty quietness. "I'm +trying to find out something necessary for me to know. You might as +well answer. Do you think the breed was justified in shooting my +father?" + +Ambrose, baited beyond endurance, cried: "I do! He went into the man's +house and laid hands on his property. Even a breed has rights." + +Colina bowed her head as if in polite acceptance. "You had better go," +she said in soft tones more terrible than a cry. "I am sorry I ever +saw you!" + +The bitterness of lovers' quarrels is in ratio with their passion for +each other. These two loved with complete abandon, consequently each +could wound the other maddeningly. + +But the plant of their love, vigorous as it was, was not rooted in old +acquaintance. When the top withered under the blasts of anger there +was no store of life below. Now each was secretly terrified by the +strangeness of the being to whom he had yielded his soul. + +Ambrose, wild with pain, no longer recked what he said. "You make a +man mad!" he cried. "You will not listen to reason. A thing must be +so just because you want it that way. I rack my brains for words to +save your feelings, and this is what I get! Very well, you shall have +the bald truth." + +"Leave the house!" cried Colina. + +"Not until I have spoken out!" + +She clapped her hands over her ears. + +"That is childish!" he said scornfully. "You can hear me! Throughout +the whole north your father is called the slave-driver!" + +Colina faced him still and white. This was the very incandescence of +anger. "Go!" she said. "I'm done with you!" + +"One thing more," he said doggedly. "The price of wheat. I shouldn't +have said anything about justice. Putting that aside, it will be good +business for you to pay the farmers their price. Otherwise you'll have +red rebellion on your hands!" + +As Ambrose made for the door he met Gordon Strange coming in. + +"Wait!" Colina commanded. "I want you to hear this." + +It was impossible to tell from her set face what she meant to do, +Ambrose waited, hoping against hope. + +"You want to know about the wheat?" said Colina. + +"First, your father," said Strange, anxious and compassionate. + +"He is not dangerously ill," said Colina. + +"Ah!" said Strange. "Yes, the farmers are waiting." + +Colina said clearly: "The price is to be one-fifty per bushel." + +"That's what I thought," said Strange. "I will tell them." He went. + +"Ah, Colina!" cried Ambrose brokenly. + +She left the room slowly, as if he had not been there. + +Ambrose could not have told how he got out of the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SIMON GRAMPIERRE. + +Ambrose lay in his tent with his head hidden in his arms, trying not to +think. Job licked his hand unheeded. A hail from the river forced him +to rouse himself. As he crawled out he instinctively cast a glance at +the sun. It was mid-afternoon. + +Tole Grampierre landed on the stones. "You are seeck!" he exclaimed, +seeing Ambrose's face. + +Though life loses all its savor, it must be carried on with a good air. +"_Mal de tete_!" said Ambrose, making light of it. "It will soon pass." + +Tole accepted the explanation. He told Ambrose that he had come that +morning and found him gone. He had come back to tell him what the +white man already knew--that, though Gaviller had been laid low by a +mysterious stroke, he had sent word from his sick-bed that he would pay +no more than one-fifty for wheat. + +"The men are moch mad," Tole went on in his matter-of-fact way. "They +not listen to my fat'er no more. Say he too old. All come to meet to +our house to-night. There will be trouble. My fat'er send me for you. +He say maybe you can stop the trouble." + +"I stop it?" said Ambrose, laughing harshly. "What the devil can I do?" + +Tole shrugged. "My fat'er say nobody but you can stop it." + +It was clear to Ambrose that "trouble" signified danger to Colina. +"I'll come," he said apathetically. + +"Where is your dugout?" asked Tole. + +Ambrose explained. + +"Bring all your things," said Tole. "You stay at our house now till +you go back. My mot'er got good medicine. She cure _mal de tete_." + +Ambrose reflected bitterly that Mrs. Grampierre's simples could hardly +reach his complaint. Nevertheless, he was not anxious to be left +alone--he was not one to nourish a sorrow. He packed up what remained +of his outfit, and Tole stowed it in the dugout. + +The Grampierre house was a mile and a half above the Company's +establishment on the other side of the river. The two young men had, +therefore, a three-mile paddle against the current. + +Landing, Ambrose saw before him a low, wide-spreading house built of +squared logs and whitewashed. Ample barns and outhouses spread around +a rough square. The whole picture brought to mind a manor-house of +earlier and simpler times. + +The patriarch himself waited at the door. He was a fine figure of +manhood--lean, straight, rugged as a jack-pine. He had the noble +aquiline features of the red side of the house, and his dark face was +wonderfully set off by a luxuriant, snowy thatch. + +Ambrose, indifferent as he was, could not but be struck by the old +man's beauty, and his dignity was equal to his good looks. Young +Tole's naive pride in his parent was explained. + +Ambrose was introduced to a wide interior of a dignified bareness. +This was the main room of the house; the kitchen they called it, though +the cooking was done outside. + +It was spotlessly clean; none too common a thing in the north. Clearly +these people had their pride. + +Still Ambrose was reminded of the difference between white and red, for +the women of the house were ignored, and when later he sat down to sup +with Simon and his five strong sons the wives waited humbly on the +table. + +Afterward the men sat before the door, smoking. Simon kept Ambrose at +his right hand, and conversed with him as with an honored guest. He +avoided all reference to what had brought him. + +When Ambrose, not understanding the reason for his delicacy, asked +about the coming meeting, Simon said: + +"When all come you learn what every man thinks. I not want to shape +your mind to my mind until all are here." + +They came by ones and twos, a little company of twenty-odd. Many +anomalies of race were exhibited. Some showed a Scotch cast of +feature, some French, some purely Indian. + +One or two might have been taken for white men had it not been for an +odd cast of the eye. Yet it might happen the Indian and the white man +were full brothers. The general character of the faces was stolid +rather than passionate. + +There was little talk. + +The room having been cleared, they went inside. The women had +disappeared. Simon Grampierre sat at an end of the room, with Ambrose +at his right, and his sons ranged about him. The other men faced them +from the body of the room. + +There were not chairs for all, but indeed chairs suggested church, the +trader's house, and other places of ceremony; and those without, +squatting on their heels around the walls, were the happier. + +Talk was slow to start. They kept their hats on and stolidly looked +down their noses. When it began to grow dark a single little lamp was +brought in and stood upon a dresser in the corner. + +The wide room with its one spot of light and all the still, shadowy +figures conveyed an effect of grimness. + +Simon Grampierre opened the meeting. Out of courtesy to Ambrose all +the talk was in English. + +"Men!" said the patriarch. "John Gaviller send word that he will pay +only one-fifty a bushel for our grain. We meet to talk and decide what +to do. All must agree. In agreement there is strength. + +"Already there has been much talk about our grain. I will waste no +words now. For myself and my sons I pledge that we will not sell one +bushel of grain less than dollar-seventy-five. What do the others say?" + +One by one the men arose and repeated the pledge, each raising his +right hand. Ambrose began to be aware that the stolidity masked a high +emotional tension. It was his own presence that restrained them. + +Simon rose again. "I have heard talk that you will spoil your grain," +he said. "Some say let the cattle and horses in the field while it is +green. Some say burn it when it gets ripe. That is foolish talk. + +"Grain is as good as money or as fur. A man does not feed money to +cattle nor burn up fur. I say cut your grain and thrash it and store +it. Some one will buy it. + +"Gaviller himself got to buy when he see we mean to stand together. He +has made contracts to send flour to the far north. Who wants to speak?" + +A little man of marked French characteristics sprang to his feet. His +eyes flashed. "I speak!" he cried. + +"This Jean Bateese Gagnon," explained Simon to Ambrose. + +"Simon Grampierre say wait!" cried the little man passionately. +"Always he say, 'Wait, wait, wait!' All right for Simon Grampierre to +wait. He got plenty beef and potatoes and goods in his house. He can +wait. + +"What will a poor man do while he wait? What will I do--starve, and +see my children starve? If we not sell grain we get no credit at the +store. Where I get warm clothes for the winter and meat and sugar and +powder for my gun? + +"What do we wait for, _un miracle_? Do we wait for Gaviller's heart to +soften? We wait a long tam for that I fink, me! While we wait I think +Gaviller get busy. He say he come and cut our grain. Will we wait and +let him?" + +The old man interrupted here: "If Gaviller put his men on our land we +fight," he said. + +"Aha!" cried Jean Bateese. "He will not wait then. You say let us cut +our grain and store it and wait for one to buy," he went on. "What +will Gaviller do? I tell you. He will go to law! It is not the first +time. He mak' the law to serve him. + +"We all owe him for goods. He will send out and get law papers to say +because we owe him money for goods our grain is his grain. If he got +law-papers the police come and take our grain for him. Wat you say to +t'at, hein?" + +Old Simon was plainly disconcerted. He turned to Ambrose. "Will you +speak?" + +Ambrose's heart sank. How is a dead man to sway passionate, living +men? However, he rose with the best assurance he could muster. + +"I have only one thing to say," he began, conscious of the feebleness +of his words. "John Gaviller is a sick man. I have seen the doctor. +You cannot fight a sick man. I say do not accept his price--do not +refuse it. The grain is not ripe yet. Wait till he is well." + +A murmur of dissent went around the room. Ambrose being a stranger, +there was a note of politeness in it. + +Jean Bateese sprang to his feet again. "Ambrose Doane say wait!" he +said. "He is good man. We lak him. But me, I am sick of waiting! + +"To-day we hear John Gaviller is sick. All are sorry. All forget we +have trouble wit' him. We wait to hear how he is. Wa! he say to us +right out of his bed dollar-fifty or starve! Why should we wait till +he get well? He does not wait!" + +Another man, a burly, purple-cheeked son of earth, took up the harangue +at the point where Jean Bateese dropped it. This was Jack Mackenzie, +Simon said. + +"Me, I am sick of waiting, too!" he cried. "Always we wait, and John +Gaviller do what he like! Why he put down the price of grain? Why he +do everything? It is to keep us in his debt. We can work till our +backs break, but he fix it so we are still in debt. + +"Because we can do not'ing when we are in his debt. We are his slaves! +We got to break our slave chains. It is time to act. Now I say out +loud what all are whispering: let us burn the store!" + +Thirty men took a sharp breath between their teeth. There was a little +silence; then quick cries of approval broke out. The meeting was with +the speaker. + +Ambrose, thinking of Colina, turned a little sick with apprehension. +Simon rose to still the noise, but Mackenzie held the floor. + +"I know w'at Simon Grampierre goin' to say!" he cried, pointing. "He +goin' to say if you break the law you fix yourselves. They send many +police and put you all in jail. Simon Grampierre got good property. +He not want lose it. + +"Me, I say all right! I go to jail. There is a trial. Everything got +come out. John Gaviller he cannot make slaves after that. I say let +them send me to jail. My children will be free!" + +The meeting went wild at this. Simon had lost control. Even his own +sons, as could be read in their faces, sympathized with the speakers. +The old man betrayed nothing in his face. He stood like a rock until +he could get a hearing. + +"Jack Mackenzie say I rich," he said proudly. "Say I think of my +property first. I now say whatever we do, we do together. We will +decide by vote. If you vote to burn the store I will put the fire to +it myself!" + +They cheered him to the echo. Some cried: "Burn the store!" Some +cried: "Vote!" By this move Simon captured their attention again. He +held up a hand for silence. + +"Wait!" he said. "I have a little more to say. Jack Mackenzie say we +got to break our chains. Those are true words! But how? If we burn +the store we only rivet them tighter. + +"Gaviller will cry these are bad men and lawbreakers. These are +_incendiaries_! It is a word the white men hate. They will say do +what you like to the incendiaries. They deserve no better." + +The strange word intimidated them. But a voice cried defiantly: "Must +we wait some more?" And their cries threatened to down the old man. + +"No!" he cried in a voice that silenced them. "Here is Ambrose Doane!" +He paused for dramatic effect. + +"I ask Ambrose Doane to our meeting to talk with us. I now say to +him"--he turned to Ambrose--"you have heard these men. They are so +much wronged they cannot see the right. They are so mad they don't +know what they do. + +"I ask, Ambrose Doane, will you save them from their madness? Will you +help us break our chains? _Buy our grain_?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. + +An absolute silence followed Simon Grampierre's unexpected words. The +astute old man had withheld his proposal until the psychological +moment. Ambrose was a little dazed by it. He rose, feeling every +eager eye upon him, and said slowly: + +"I must have a little time to consider. I must talk with Simon +Grampierre. I will give him my answer before morning." + +Simon said to the company: "Men, will you sell your wheat to Ambrose +Doane at a dollar-seventy-five?" + +The question broke the spell of silence. There could be no mistake +that the proposal was successful. A chorus of acclamations filled the +room. + +"Very good!" said Simon. "I will talk with Ambrose Doane and try to +make him trade with us." + +The meeting broke up. It was then a little after nine. + +Simon and Ambrose went apart to a bench on the river bank. There were +innumerable questions to be asked and answered. Simon estimated that +the grain in question, provided they had no frost, would amount to +twenty thousand bushels of wheat, and half as much oats. It was a +momentous decision for a youth like Ambrose to be called upon to make. + +The greatest difficulty was how to grind the wheat. + +"You have an engine here?" asked Ambrose. + +"Yes, for our thrashing-machine," said Simon. + +"I could order a small process mill from outside," said Ambrose, "but +it's doubtful if we could get it in this year." + +"I have a hand mill," said Simon. "We call her the mankiller. Work +all day, grind a couple bags of flour. It is very old." + +"Could it be rigged to the engine?" Ambrose asked. + +"Wa! I never think of that," said Simon. "Maybe grind four bags a +day, then." + +Ambrose had no intention of giving an answer until he had communicated +with Colina. Strongly against Simon's advice, he insisted that +Gaviller, as he said, must be given one more chance to relent. Simon +unwillingly yielded. At ten o'clock Ambrose and Tole started down the +river in a dugout. + +Ambrose did not mean to seek the interview with Colina. Before +starting he scribbled a hasty note. + + +DEAR COLINA: + +The farmers have asked me to buy their grain. I've got to do it unless +you will pay their price. It's not much good to say it now, but I'd +sooner cut off my hand than seem to be fighting you. + +I can't help myself. You won't believe it, but it's a fact just the +same, if you won't pay their price I must, in order to save you. If +you will agree to pay them one-seventy-five, I'll go back to Moultrie +to-morrow, and never trouble you again. AMBROSE. + + +Landing below Gaviller's house Ambrose sent Tole up the bank with this. +In a surprisingly short time he saw the half-breed returning. + +"Did you see her?" he demanded. + +"Yes," said Tole. + +"Did she send an answer back?" + +"Only this." + +Ambrose held out his hand, and Tole dropped the torn fragments of his +own letter into it. Ambrose stared at them stupidly. He had steeled +himself against a possible humiliation at her hands--but to be +humiliated before the half-breed! + +He drew a long breath to steady himself, and opening his hand, let the +fragments float away on the current. + +"Let us go back," he said quietly. + +During the whole of the way he did not speak. + +Grampierre was waiting for them in the big kitchen. + +"I will now give you my answer," said Ambrose. + +"Well?" said the old man eagerly. + +"It is only a partial answer. I agree to purchase enough of your grain +at one-seventy-five to see you all through the winter; and I agree to +bring a stock of goods here to supply your necessities." + +Simon warmly grasped his hand. "It is well!" he cried. "I expected no +more." + +"I will return to Moultrie to-morrow," Ambrose went on in his dull, +quiet way. "I will consult with my partner, and if we can finance it, +we will buy all your grain." + +"Tole shall go with you," said Simon. "You can send him back to me +with a letter." + +Ambrose went to bed, and slept without dreaming. Nature is merciful. +After a certain point of suffering has been passed, she administers an +anesthetic. + +Next morning Ambrose transacted his business with Simon, and prepared +for the journey, to all appearances his usual matter-of-fact self. + +Only Job perceived the subtle change in his master. The faithful brown +eyes continually sought Ambrose's face, and the ridiculous curly tail +was agitated in vain to induce a smile. + + +On the afternoon of the sixth day following, Ambrose and Tole landed at +Moultrie. Nothing was changed there. The sight of Peter's honest red +face was like balm to Ambrose's sore heart. + +Seeing Ambrose, the remnants of Peter's anger evaporated like mist in +the sun. He clapped his young partner on the back until the other's +lungs rang. + +Peter's blue eyes beamed with honest gladness, meanwhile he uttered +loud abuse in his own style. + +"So you're back, damn you! You ornery little whipper-snapper! To +sneak off from working like a breed after you feed him! I was hoping +I'd never lay eyes on you again. But here you are to plague me!" + +Ambrose smiled sheepishly, and gripped his hand. + +Peter sent Tole off to Eva to be fed, while he went with Ambrose to the +latter's little shack. Ambrose looked around his own place curiously. +It was like another man's house now. He had lost the old self who used +to live here. + +"What's happened to you?" asked Peter with an offhand air. + +"Why do you ask?" said Ambrose quickly. He hated to think it was all +written in his face. + +"You look older," said Peter. "I don't see you grinning so much." + +Ambrose immediately grinned--after a fashion. "I've got a lot to tell +you," he said. "We'll talk after supper." + +Half the night they talked. Ambrose laid his proposal before Peter in +anxious trepidation. Peter earned the young man's lifelong gratitude +by the promptness and heartiness of his response. + +"You did right!" he cried with another clap on the back. "It will be a +fine adventure! We'll go into Fort Enterprise and make a killing! +We'll buy all the grain in sight!" + +"It's a big weight to swing," murmured Ambrose. + +"Sure!" cried Peter. "But no man would refuse it. What if it does +break us? We're young. And we'll have a grand run for our money." + +The excess of Ambrose's relief unnerved him a little. "Peter, you're a +man!" he murmured brokenly. "I was near crazy, wondering if you'd +stand by me!" + +"Hey, cut it out!" cried Peter. "Buck up! We got work to do to-night!" + +Throughout the hours of darkness they counted up their resources, +decided as to the friends they could call on for assistance, and +planned ways and means. + +There was not a day to be lost, and it was first of all decided that +Ambrose must start for the outside world next morning. Once started he +would be out of touch with his partner for good, therefore every +question had to be discussed that night, and there were a hundred. + +Ambrose was astonished by Peter's pluck and dash in business affairs. +Like many another junior partner he had been accustomed to patronize +his elder a little. + +"I'll stand by you to the limit," Peter had said. "But this is your +put. You must do everything yourself." + +Therefore, after the details had been arranged, it fell to Ambrose to +compose the letter to Simon Grampierre. It was the longest letter he +had ever written. + + +Tole and I arrived yesterday after a quick trip. I have talked with my +partner. We agree to purchase all the grain grown around Fort +Enterprise this season at one-seventy-five per bushel. + +We will load up a york boat immediately with a small load of supplies +for present use. Tole will steer it up the river. He will take this +letter to you. It may take four or five days to get a crew. + + +(Here followed an inventory of the goods they had decided to send.) + + +We appoint you our agent to distribute these goods. I will send you a +book in which to put down all the charges. Let the crew of the york +boat have two dug-outs to return home in, and keep the york boat at +your place to send down grain and flour later. + +I have missed the steamboat on her first trip out. I will start to-day +by canoe with an Indian. It will take me ten days to cross the lake +and go up the Miwasa to the landing and so to town. + +I will order a full outfit in town, and bring it in immediately by way +of Caribou Lake, and down stream to you. I will bring a little process +mill if I can get one. If I have no trouble you will see me about the +first of September. Anyway I will be in before the ice begins to run. + +Coming back I will have no trouble going up the Miwasa or Musquasepi or +across Caribou Lake, because Martin Sellers has steamboats there, and +he is independent and friendly to us. They can't stop me on the Spirit +River either, because I can build a raft and bring my stuff down. + +Where they will try to get me is on the portage between Caribou Lake +and the Spirit. They will try to tie up the teams. On my way out I +will see Martin Sellers about it. He has power. + +As soon as the grain is begun to be thrashed start the mankiller going +to try and get a little ahead with the flour. + +Send Tole and another good man in a dugout up to the crossing to meet +me. Let them start August 8. + +I am sending by Tole two bottles of Madeira wine. Send it to the sick +man at the fort without letting him know it comes from me. For +yourself Peter Minot sends a box of cigars with his compliments. + +If I think of anything else I'll write at the landing and send it in by +the August mail. My regards to the boys. + +Yours truly, + +AMBROSE DOANE. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +COLINA COMMANDS. + +On August 25, well within his schedule, Ambrose arrived at Spirit River +Crossing with ten loaded wagons. + +For six long days they had been floundering through the bottomless +mudholes of the portage trail and men and horses were alike played out; +but the rest of the way to come was easy, and Ambrose paid off his +drivers with a light heart. + +The york boat and crew he had engaged at the crossing were +non-existent, and no explanation forthcoming. He had met with similar +small reverses all along the line. This one was not important; it +meant three days delay to build a raft. + +There was a current of nearly four miles an hour to carry him to his +destination, and no rapids in the three hundred miles to endanger his +cargo. + +Tole Grampierre and his brother Germain were waiting for Ambrose. With +two such aides he could afford to smile at the mysterious scarcity of +labor which developed on his arrival. + +Tole's budget of news from down the river contained nothing startling. +John Gaviller had been very sick all summer with pneumonia as a result +of his wound. He was getting better: "pale and skinny as an old rabbit +in the snow," in Tole's words. + +Gaviller had sent up the launch to get what grain had been grown at the +crossing; but it was not enough to fill his contracts for flour up +north. He had been obliged to pay two dollars a bushel for it. +Ambrose smiled at this piece of information. + +Ambrose waited eagerly for some word of her who was seldom out of his +thoughts, but to Tole the matter was not of such great importance. +Ambrose could not bring himself to name her name. Not until Tole had +covered everything else did he say casually: + +"Colina Gaviller rides all around on her yellow horse. She is proud +now. Never speaks to the people." + +That was all. Ambrose's heart stirred with compassion for the one, who +by her loyalty was forced to embrace the wrong cause. + +Another time Tole remarked: "Gordon Strange run the store all summer." + +"So!" said Ambrose. "What do the people say about him? What does your +father say?" + +Tole shrugged. "He say not'ing," he said cautiously. He could not be +induced to commit himself further in this direction. + +They built their raft, and loading up, started without untoward +incident. Traveling day and night, allowing for stoppages and delays, +they expected to be nearly five days on the way. + +On the third day, Ambrose chafing at their slow progress, put the +dugout overboard, and set off ahead to warn the settlement of their +coming. He had no hesitation leaving the raft with the Grampierre +boys; they could handle it better than himself. + +He paddled all day, and at night cut down a tree so that it would fall +in the water, and tied his canoe to it, that he might not be blown +ashore while he slept. + +For hours he lay waiting for sleep, watching the stars circle round his +head as his canoe was swung in the eddies, and considering his +situation. + +He could not rest for his eagerness to be at the end of his journey, +though he had no hope of what awaited there--that is to say not much +hope; there is always a perhaps. + +But how could Colina relent when she beheld him arriving laden with +ammunition to make war upon her? Ambrose wondered sadly if any lover +before him ever found himself in such a plight. + +By ten o'clock next morning he was within a mile or two of Grampierre's +place. The river was dazzling in the morning sunlight, the air like +wine. + +The poplar trees had put on their gorgeous autumn dress of saffron and +scarlet, which showed like names against the chocolate colored hills. +Suddenly in a grassy ravine on his right, Ambrose saw the "yellow" +horse feeding. + +His heart set up a furious beating. No power on earth could have +prevented him from landing, though common sense told him clearly no +good could come of it. That "perhaps" drew him ashore, that hope +against hope. + +After a short search he found her sleeping under a poplar-tree in a +hollow of the bank that was hidden from the river. + +She wore her khaki riding-habit, as usual; her head was couched in the +crook of her arm, and in the other hand she held her Stetson hat by its +strap. Ambrose brooded over her wistfully. + +Her face was paler and thinner; evidently she herself had not been +having too easy a time these two months past. + +These blemishes on her beauty made her seem infinitely more beautiful +and dearer to him. And all relaxed and disarmed in sleep as she was, +it seemed so easy a thing to gather her up in his arms and make her +forget what divided them. + +Ambrose's dim thought was: "If somehow I could only send her real self +a message while her head-strong, unreasonable self is asleep, maybe +she'd confess the truth when she woke." + +While he was hungrily gazing at her her eyelids fluttered. He moved +back to a more respectful distance. She awoke without alarm. For an +instant she lay looking at him as calmly as a babe in its crib. + +Then in a flash recollection returned, and she sprang to a sitting +position, both hands, womanlike, flying to her hair. She eyed him with +a certain discomposure. It was as if she felt that she ought to be +furiously angry, and was somewhat dismayed because it did not come. + +"What do you want?" she asked coldly. + +In her cold eye Ambrose was conscious of a wall between them more +impenetrable than granite. His heart gave up hope. "Nothing," he said +sullenly. + +"It's not exactly agreeable," she said, frowning, "to find oneself +spied upon." + +Ambrose started and frowned. This construction of his act had not +occurred to him. "I saw Ginger from the river," he said indignantly. +"I landed to find you." + +"What did you want?" she asked coolly. + +"I don't know," said Ambrose. + +There was a silence between them. Her cold look told him to go. Pride +and common sense both urged him to obey--but he could not. He was like +a bit of iron filing in the presence of a magnet. + +"I--I suppose I wanted to find out how you were," he said at last. +"Was that so extraordinary?" + +She ignored the question. "I am well," she said. + +"How is your father?" he asked. + +She looked at him levelly and did not answer. + +A slow red crept up from Ambrose's neck. "I asked you a civil +question," he muttered. + +"If you want a truthful answer," said Colina clearly, "I think you have +a cheek to ask." + +"I didn't shoot him!" Ambrose burst out. + +"What is the use of our bandying words?" she asked with cold scorn. +"Nothing you can say to me or I to you can help matters now." + +"Good Lord, but women can be stony!" Ambrose cried involuntarily. + +Colina took it as a compliment. Her eye brightened with a kind of +pride. "I don't know what men are!" she cried. "Apparently you want +to fight me with one hand and hold the other out in friendship. Only a +man could think of such a thing." + +Ambrose gazed at her sullenly. "You are right!" he said abruptly. "I +am a fool!" + +He left her with his head up, but inwardly beaten and sore. Somehow +she had got the better of him, he could not have told how. He was +conscious of having intended honestly. This cold parting was worse +than the most violent of quarrels. + +Simon Grampierre was waiting on a point of his land that commanded a +view up and down river. Here he had set up a lookout bench like that +at the fort. At sight of Ambrose he shouted from a full breast and +hastened down to the waterside. He received him with both hands +extended. + +"You have come!" he cried. "It is well!" + +Ambrose was surprised and a little disconcerted to see the grim old +patriarch so moved. + +"Where is your outfit?" Simon asked anxiously. + +"Half a day behind me," said Ambrose. "It is safe." + +"Have you flour?" asked Simon. + +"Flour? No!" said Ambrose staring. "With twenty thousand bushels of +wheat here?'" + +"Have you got a little mill?" + +Ambrose shook his head. "There was none in Prince George," he said. +"I had to telegraph to the East. It had not arrived when I was ready +to start, and I couldn't wait. + +"I made arrangements for it to be forwarded; a friend of mine will +bring it in. Martin Sellers promised to hold the last boat at the +landing until October 1st for it." + +"Wa!" said Simon, raising his hands. "That is bad! We need flour. We +cannot wait a month for flour." + +"What's the matter with the mankiller?" + +"Broke," was the laconic answer. "We fix it. Every day it break +again. Now it is all broke." + +"Well, every family will have to grind for themselves," said Ambrose. + +Simon shrugged. "We have a new trouble here." + +"What is it?" Ambrose anxiously demanded. + +"The Kakisa Indians," Simon said. "They are the biggest tribe around +this post, and the best fur bringers. They live beside the Kakisa +River, hundred fifty miles northwest. + +"All summer they come in two or six or twenty and get a little flour, +little sugar, tea, tobacco from me. They want to trade with you +because Gaviller is hard to them like us. They are good hunters, but +he keep them poor. + +"In the late summer they come all together to get a fall outfit. They +are here now. They want a hundred bags of flour. They come to me. I +say I have got no flour. They go to the fort. + +"Gaviller say; 'Ambrose Doane bought all the grain. You want to trade +with him; all right. Make him sell you flour now.' + +"They are here a week now--sixty teepees. I feed them what I can. It +is not much. They are ongry. They begin to talk ugly." + +Ambrose would not let Simon see that he was in any way dismayed by this +situation. "Where are the Indians camped?" he asked coolly. + +"Mile and a half down river. Across from the fort." + +"Very well," said Ambrose. "Tell them at your house to keep watch here +until Tole and Germain come with the raft. Six men should be ready to +help them land and unload. You come with me in the dugout, and we will +go down and talk to the Indians." + +A gleam of approval shot from under Simon's beetle brows. "Good!" he +said. "You go straight to a thing. I like that, me!" + +Ambrose found the teepee village set up in the form of a square on a +grassy flat beside the river. The quadrangle was filled with the usual +confusion of loose horses, quarrelsome dogs, and screaming children. + +Simon called his attention to a teepee in the middle of the northerly +side distinguished by its size and by gaudy paintings on the canvas. + +"Head man's lodge," he said. "Name Joey Providence Watusk." + +"A good mouthful," said Ambrose. + +"Joey for English, Providence for French, Watusk for Kakisa," explained +Simon. + +He called a boy to him, and made him understand that they wished to see +the head man. + +"I send a message that we are coming," he explained to Ambrose. "He +lak to be treated lak big man. It is no harm when you are trading with +them." + +Ambrose agreed. "So this what's-his-name fancies himself," he remarked +while they waited. + +"It is so," said Simon, grimly. "Thinks he is a king! All puff up +with wind lak a bull frog. He mak' me mad with his foolishness. What +would you? You cannot deal with the Kakisas only what he say. Because +only Watusk speaks English. He does what he wants." + +"And can nobody here speak Kakisa?" Ambrose asked. + +"Nobody but Gordon Strange. It is hard talk on the tongue." + +"What else about him?" + +"Wa! I have told you," said Simon. "You will know him when you see! +All tam show off lak a cock-grouse in mating-time. He is not Kakisa. +He is a Cree who went with them long tam ago. Some say his father was +a black man." + +"So!" said Ambrose. "And they stand for that?" + +Simon shrugged. "The Kakisas a funny people. Not mix with the whites, +not mix with other Indians lak Crees. They keep old ways. They not +talk about their ways to other men. So nobody knows what they do at +home." Simon lowered his voice. "Some say cannibals." + +"Pooh!" said Ambrose, "that yarn is told about every strange tribe!" + +"Maybe," said Simon, cautiously. "I do not know myself." + +The Indian boy returning, signified that Joey Providence Watusk awaited +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE STAFF OF LIFE. + +Lifting the blind over the entrance, Ambrose dived inside the teepee, +Simon Grampierre at his heels. In the center a small fire burned on +the ground, and behind it sat five dark-skinned figures in a semicircle. + +Not one of the five faces changed a muscle at their entrance. The +principal man with a grave inclination of the head, waved them a +blanket which had been placed for them opposite him. + +It was like an old-time Indian council, but the picturesqueness was a +good deal spoiled by the gingham shirts they wore, and the ill-fitting +coats and trousers from the store. + +Moreover, the red men's pipes, instead of the graceful calumets were +English briars with showy silver bands. The bowl of Watusk's pipe, of +which he appeared to be inordinately proud, was roughly carved into the +likeness of a death's head. + +Watusk was an extraordinary figure. Ambrose was reminded of a quack +doctor in poor circumstances. He was middle-aged and flabby, and had +long, straggling gray hair, bound round with a cotton fillet, none too +clean. + +He wore a frock coat all buttoned up before, each button constricting +his fat, with a bulge between. His trousers were made from a blanket +once white, with a wide black band around the calf of each leg, and he +wore fine doeskin moccasins, richly embroidered with silk. + +His dirty fingers displayed a quantity of brass rings from the store, +set with gems of colored glass. His heavy, loose-featured face was +unremarkable, except for the extraordinarily bright, quick, shallow +eyes, suggesting at different moments the eyes of a child, an animal, +and a madman. + +His skin showed a tinge of yellow as distinguished from the pure copper +of his companions, and Ambrose was reminded of the black man. + +Watusk grandiloquently introduced his four companions. "My +councilors," he said: "Toma, minister of state; Lookoovar, minister of +war; Mahtsonza, minister of interior; Tatateecha, minister of medicine." + +Thus their uncouth names as Ambrose got them. He avoided Simon's eye, +and bit his lip to keep from laughing. The four were all small men +with the fine characteristic faces of pure bred savages. + +They understood not a word of what was said, but preserved an +unshakable gravity throughout. Ambrose, as they were named, christened +them anew, according to their several characteristics: Coyote, Moose, +Bear and Weasel. + +The last was a little shriveled creature, hung with charms and amulets +in tobacco bags until he looked like a scarecrow. He had an eye even +wilder and shiftier than his master's. + +"Conjure-man," murmured Simon in Ambrose's ear. + +"Let Ambrose Doane speak," said Watusk. He used good English. + +Ambrose had adopted from Peter Minot the maxim: "Make the other man +speak first, and get a line on him." He bowed politely. "Ambrose +Doane will not speak until Watusk has spoken," he said. + +Watusk highly gratified, bowed again, and forthwith began. "I am glad +to see Ambrose Doane. He is good to my eyes lak the green leaves in +spring. He is come to Fort Enterprise and there is no more winter. + +"The name of Peter Minot and the name of Ambrose Doane make good words +to my ear. They are the friends of the red men. They pay good price +for fur. They sell outside goods cheap. I want a box of cigars me, +same lak you send Simon Grampierre." + +Ambrose recognizing Watusk's type was not put out by the sudden drop +from the sublime to the ridiculous. He now had a "line" on his man. +Swallowing his laughter, he answered in a similar strain. + +"I am glad to see Watusk. I wish to be his friend. I come from the +big lake six days' journey toward the place of the rising sun. So far +as that men tell me of the Kakisa nation, and tell of Watusk who rules +them. + +"Men say the Kakisa men are the best hunters of the north and honest as +the sun in summer-time. Men say Watusk is a wise chief and a good +friend of the white men. I have plenty cigars in my outfit." + +The chief swelled with gratification until his much-tried buttons +threatened altogether to part company with his coat. + +A good deal more of this airy exchange was necessitated before Watusk +could be induced to talk business. When he finally condescended to it, +the story was as Simon had forecast: + +"When Ambrose Doane come here I say to my people: 'Trade with him. He +will be your father. He will feed you.' Now when they come for flour +Simon Grampierre say you got no flour. + +"When I go to John Gaviller for flour, he mock me. He say: 'You take +Ambrose Doane for your father. All right. Let him feed you now.' So +I am not know what to do. Every day my people more ongry, more mad. + +"Pretty soon the young men make trouble. There is no game here. We +can't stay here without flour. We can't go back without flour. I am +feel moch bad. But Ambrose Doane is come now. It is all right!" + +The last of this was delivered with something like a leer, warning +Ambrose's subconsciousness that Watusk, notwithstanding the flowery +compliments, wished him no good. + +"I have plenty of grain," he said warily. "Let each woman grind for +her own family." + +Watusk shook his head. "Long tam ago we got stone bowls for grind wild +rice in," he said. "So many years we buy flour all the bowls is broke +and throw away now." + +Ambrose could not deny to himself the gravity of the situation. He was +reminded afresh that he was dealing with a savage by the subtle, +threatening note that presently crept into Watusk's smooth voice. + +"John Gaviller say to Gordon Strange for say to me: 'Ambrose Doane got +all the grain. Let Ambrose Doane sell his grain to me, and I give you +flour.'" + +Ambrose, perceiving the drift, swore inwardly. + +"Gordon Strange tell that in Kakisa language," Watusk went on slyly; +"some hear it and tell the others. All know now. If my people get +more hungry what can I do? Maybe my young men steal the grain and take +it to Gaviller." + +"If they lay hands on my property they'll be shot," said Ambrose, +curtly. + +Watusk spread out his hands deprecatingly. "Me, I tell them that," he +said. "But they are so mad!" + +"John Gaviller is trying to use you to work his own ends," said Ambrose. + +Watusk shrugged indifferently. This was the real man, Ambrose thought. +"Maybe so. You got trouble with Gaviller. That is not my trouble. +All I want is flour." + +"You shall have it!" cried Ambrose boldly. "Enough to-morrow morning +to feed every family. Enough in three days to fill your order." + +Watusk appeared to be a little taken aback, by the prompt granting of +his demand. "Where will you get it?" he asked. + +"I will get it," Ambrose said. "That is enough." + +When Ambrose and Simon got outside the teepee Simon asked the same +question: "Where _will_ you get it?" + +"I don't know," said Ambrose. "Give me time. I'll find a way!" + +"If Gaviller gets the Kakisa fur you'll make no profit this year," +suggested Simon. + +"I have to consider other things as well as profit," Ambrose said. +"There are more years to come." + +Reaching the dugout, Simon asked: "Where now?" + +"To the Fort," said Ambrose. "You don't have to come." + +"We are together," said Simon grimly. + +Ambrose, deeply moved by gratitude, growled inarticulately. He felt +himself young to stand alone against such powerful forces. + +Crossing the river, they landed below the big yellow house and applied +at the side door for Colina. She had returned from her ride, they were +told. They were shown into the library. + +In this little room Ambrose had already touched the summit of +happiness, and tasted despair. He hated it now. He kept his eyes on +the carpet. + +Simon was visibly uneasy while they waited. "You think this any good?" +he suggested. + +"No," said Ambrose bitterly. "I know well enough what I'll get. But +I've got to go through with it before taking the next step." + +"John Gaviller live well," said Simon significantly, but without +bitterness. + +Colina came in with her queenliest air. She had changed her riding +habit for clinging white draperies that made her look like a lovely, +arrogant saint. Ambrose, raising his sullen eyes to her, experienced a +new shock of desire that put the idea of flour out of his head. + +To old Simon, Colina inclined her head as gracefully and indifferently +as a swan. The grim patriarch became humble under the spell of her +white beauty. He fingered his hat nervously. To Ambrose Colina said +with subtle scorn meant for his ear alone: + +"What is it?" + +Ambrose screwed down the clamps of self-control. "I asked for you," he +said stolidly, "because I did not know if your father was well enough +to talk business. May I see him for five minutes?" + +"No," she said, without condescending to explain. + +"Then I will tell you," said Ambrose. "It is about the Indians across +the river. I must have some flour for them." + +"Must?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows. + +"They are suffering from hunger," he said firmly. + +"You will have to see Mr. Strange," she said coolly. "He is in charge +of the business." + +"This is a question for the head to decide," warned Ambrose. + +"You will have to see Mr. Strange," she repeated, unmoved. + +Ambrose's eyes flamed up. For a moment the two pairs +contended--Ambrose's passionate, Colina's steely. The man was +struggling with the atavic impulse to thrash the maddening, arrogant +woman creature into a humbler frame of mind. + +It may be, too, that deep in her heart of hearts Colina desired +something of the kind. Perhaps she could not master her worser self +alone. Anyhow, it was impossible there in her own stronghold, with +Simon looking on. They were too civilized or not civilized enough. + +Ambrose merely bowed to her and led the way out of the room and out of +the house. + +"Thank God, that is over!" he murmured outside. + +Crossing the square, they entered the store. It was the first time +Ambrose had been inside that famous show-place of the north, but he had +no eyes for it now. Gordon Strange welcomed them with smiling +heartiness. + +"Come in! Come in!" he cried, leading the way into the rear office. +"Sit down! Have a cigar!" + +The scowling Ambrose stared as if he thought the man demented. He +waved the cigar away and came directly to the point. + +"I want to find out what you're willing to do about the Kakisa Indians." + +"Sure!" cried Strange with apparently the best will in the world. "Sit +down. What do you propose?" + +"How much will you charge me to grind me five hundred bushels of grain +for them?" + +"I'm sorry," said Strange. "The old man won't hear of it." + +"Will you let them starve?" cried Ambrose. + +"What can I do?" said Strange distressfully. "I'm not the head." + +"Grind it in spite of him," said Ambrose. "Humanity and prudence would +both be on your side. You'll get their fur by it." + +"I think Mr. Gaviller expects to get the fur anyway," said Strange with +a seeming deprecatory air--but the suspicion of a smirk wreathed his +full lips. + +"Then I am to understand that you refuse to grind my grain at any +price," said Ambrose. + +"Orders are orders," murmured Strange. + +"Has Gaviller given you this order since he knew the people were +hungry?" + +"He has told me his mind many times." + +"That is not a direct answer. Some one must take the full +responsibility. If I write a short note to Gaviller will you deliver +it and bring me back an answer?" + +Strange hesitated for the fraction of a second. "Yes," he said. + +Ambrose wrote a succinct statement of the situation, and Strange +departed. + +"Gaviller will never do it," said Simon. + +"I don't expect him to," said Ambrose. "But he's got to commit +himself." + +In due course Strange returned. He offered Ambrose a note, still with +his deprecating air. It was in Colina's writing. Ambrose read: + + +"John Gaviller begs to inform Mr. Ambrose Doane that the only proposal +he is willing to discuss will be the sale to him of all the grain in +Mr. Doane's possession at one dollar and a half per bushel. In such an +event he will also be willing to purchase Mr. Doane's entire outfit of +goods at cost. It will be useless for Mr. Doane to address him further +in any other connection. + +"Enterprise House, September 3." + + +Ambrose stood reflecting with the note in his hand. For a single +moment his heart failed him. His inexperience was appalled by the +weight of the decision he had to make. + +Oh, for Peter Minot's strong, humorous sense at this crisis! The +thought of Peter nerved him. Peter had taken it for granted that he +would make good. Ambrose remembered the sacrifices Peter had +cheerfully made to finance this expedition. + +To accept John Gaviller's contemptuous offer would not only be to +confess a humiliating failure, it would mean pocketing a loss that +would cripple the young firm for the time being. + +Peter would say: "Lose it if you must, but lose it fighting." This +thought was like an inspiration to Ambrose. His jaw stiffened, and a +measure of serenity returned to his eyes. He passed the note to Simon. + +"Read it," he said coolly, "and save it. It may be useful as evidence, +later." + +A subtle change passed over Gordon Strange's face. For the moment he +was pure Indian. Quickly veiling his eyes, he asked with an innocent +air: "What does Mr. Gaviller say?" + +This was too much for Ambrose to stomach. "You know damned well what +he says!" he answered scornfully. + +Strange swallowed it. "Is there any answer?" he asked. + +"No!" said Ambrose. + +The half-breed's curiosity overcame his prudence. "What are you going +to do?" he asked slyly. + +Ambrose strode out of the store without answering. + +The two men paddled back to Grampierre's place in silence. Simon with +native tact, forbore to ask questions. Such is the potency of the +white man's eye that the leader of the breeds had unhesitatingly +yielded the direction of affairs to the youth who was little more than +a third of his age. + +Upon landing, Ambrose pointed to the lookout bench. "Let us sit there +and talk," he said. + +"Simon," he said immediately, "suppose it came to a fight, how many men +do you think Gaviller could count on?" + +The old man took the question as a matter of course. "There is the +policeman, the doctor and the parson," he said. "The parson is best +for praying. There is the engineer and the captain of the steamboat; +there is young Duncan Greer. + +"In summer he is purser on the steamboat; in winter he is the miller. +That is six white men. John Gaviller is no good yet. There is the +crew of the steamboat, and the men who work for wages, maybe fifteen +natives, not more." + +"What sort of a man is Greer?" asked Ambrose. + +"A lad; full of fun and jokes; a good machinist." + +"Where does he sleep at the Fort?" + +"He has a room in the old quarters. Gaviller's old house." + +"Does he sleep alone?" + +"He does." + +"Simon," said Ambrose, finally, "can you get me twenty-five good men by +dark; steady men with cool heads, who will do what I tell them?" + +"I can," said Simon. + +"Let them meet at your house," Ambrose went on. "Let every man carry +his gun, but you must see that the magazines are emptied, and that no +man has any shells in his pocket. I will have no shooting. Above all, +do not let the Indians know that anything is going on to-night." + +"It is well!" said Simon laconically. The old dark eyes gleamed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +A BLOODLESS CAPTURE. + +In a more innocent state of society such as that which exists in the +north, such a thing as a nightwatch is undreamed of. Insomnia is +likewise unknown there. At eleven o'clock every soul in Fort +Enterprise was drowned deep in slumber. + +There was no light in any window; the very buildings seemed to crouch +on the earth as if they slept, too. At sundown a film of cloud had +crept across the sky, and the moon was dark. It was the very night for +deeds of adventure. + +Down on the current came a rakish york boat floating as idly as a piece +of wreckage. Its hold was filled with bags of grain, on which squatted +and lay many dark figures scarcely to be distinguished from the bags. + +No whisper marked its passage; not a pipe-bowl glowed. On the little +steering platform stood Simon Grampierre wielding a long sweep run +through a ring astern. The ring was muffled with strips of cloth. + +Simon kept the craft straight in the current, and as they approached +the Company buildings, gradually edged her ashore. + +The dark steamboat lay with her nose drawn up on a point of stones +below the flagstaff. Steamboat and point together caused a little +backwater to form beyond, of which Simon was informed. + +All he had to do was to urge the nose of his boat into it, and she +grounded of herself at the spot where they had chosen to land; that is +immediately below the mills. + +A dozen moccasined men let themselves softly into the water, and +putting their backs under the prow lifted her up a little on the +stones. Instantly, as if by the starting of a piece of machinery a +chain of bags was started ashore from hand to hand. + +Ambrose and Tole, who was to be engineer, climbed the bank to +reconnoiter. So far no word had been spoken. + +Above, along the edge of the bank, were three small buildings in a +line, close together. That in the middle was the engine house, with +the sawmill on the left and the flour mill on the right. + +Ambrose and Tole made for the engine which was housed in a little +structure of corrugated iron. The door faced the sawmill. It was an +iron sliding door, fastened with hasp and padlock. + +Ambrose inserted the point of a crowbar under the hasp, and the whole +thing came away with a single metallic report. If any sleeper was +awakened by the sound, hearing no other sounds, he probably fell asleep +again. Anyhow no alarm was raised as yet. + +Tole went back to get assistance in carrying slabs into the engine +room. The sawmill was merely an open shed, and there was an abundance +of fuel in sight. + +The water supply, being furnished by gravity from a tank overhead, was +secure. + +With the aid of his electric torch, Ambrose found the belt to run the +flour mill in a corner of the engine room. So far so good. His +instructions to Tole were simple. + +"I'll let you have one man to help you. If they besiege us, I won't be +able to communicate with you. Whatever happens, keep the engine going. +Store enough slabs in here to keep her going all night, then close the +door, and fasten it some way." + +The flour mill was likewise built of corrugated iron. It had two iron +doors, one giving on the road, fastened with a padlock, the other on +the river side, hooked from within. + +Ambrose broke open the first, and throwing back the second, allowed the +grain bags to be hustled inside direct from the beach. + +He lit a lantern, and cloaking it within his coat, examined the +machine. His heart sank at the thought of his difficulties, supposing +the next step of his plan should fail. + +Ambrose was enough of a machinist to appreciate the difficulty of +operating this complicated arrangement of wheels and rollers and frames +by lantern light. + +Taking five velvet-footed men, he set off around the back of the store, +and across the corner of the square to the "quarters." The building so +designated was in the middle of the side of the square facing the river. + +It was a low, spreading affair, of several dates of construction. Once +Gaviller's residence, it was now used to house the white employees of +the company and chance travelers. + +Greer's room was in the end of the building nearest the store. The +policeman slept at the other side, separated by several partitions. + +The room they were making for had a door opening directly on the yard. +It was not locked. Ambrose merely lifted the latch and walked in with +his five men at his heels. + +Inside, in the thick darkness they heard the sound of deep breathing. +Ambrose flashed his light around. A typical boy's room was revealed, +with college banners, colored prints, photographs and firearms. + +On a bed in the corner lay the owner, a good-looking blond boy sleeping +on his back with an arm flung above his head. He was a hearty sleeper. + +Not until the command was twice repeated in no uncertain tones, did he +waken. It was to find himself looking into the blazing white eye of +the electric torch. + +"What time is it?" he murmured, blinking. + +One of the men chuckled. + +"Time to get up," said Ambrose grimly. + +"Hey, what's the matter?" cried the voice from the bed in accents of +honest alarm. + +"Get up and dress," commanded Ambrose. + +"What for?" stammered the boy. + +"I have five armed men here," said Ambrose. "Do what you're told +without asking questions. If you make a racket you'll be cracked over +the head with the butt of a gun." + +As he spoke Ambrose flashed the light from one to another of his men. +The sight of the quiet dark-skinned breeds, each with a Winchester on +his arm was sufficiently intimidating. The boy swung his legs out of +bed. + +"All right," he said, philosophically. "Throw your light on my +clothes, will you?" + +He commenced to dress without more ado. Presently he asked coolly; +"What do you want me for, and who are you anyway?" + +"I'm Ambrose Doane," said Ambrose. "I've seized the flour mill. +You've got to run it." + +"There's no grain there," said Greer. + +"I brought my grain with me," said Ambrose. + +A sound like a chuckle escaped the boy. No doubt he was well-informed +as to the situation. "You didn't lose much time," he said. + +They started back to the mill, a breed on either side of Greer with a +hand upon his shoulder. + +"If you make a break, you'll be knocked down and carried in," warned +Ambrose. + +Apparently Greer had no such intention. He was a matter-of-fact youth +and prone to laughter. He laughed now. "Golly! the old man will be in +a wax when he hears of it! How many men have you got?" + +"Twenty-five," said Ambrose. + +"Well, he can't blame me if I'm forced to work by overwhelming numbers! +Oh, golly! but there'll be a time to-morrow!" + +Ambrose breathed more freely. This which had promised to be the most +difficult part of his plan was proving easy. + +Entering the mill, Greer looked around the dim place with its little +crowd of still, silent, armed men, and chuckled again. "Darned if it +isn't as good as a melodrama!" he said. + +"Go to it!" said Ambrose, pointing to the machinery. He lit plenty of +lanterns, careless now if the fort were aroused. They had to wake up +sooner or later. "You can smoke," he said to his men. + +Matches were quickly struck, and coals pressed into pipe bowls with +guttural grunts of satisfaction. + +Greer lit a cigarette, and picked up his oil can and wrench as a matter +of course. He set to work, whistling softly between his teeth. + +Ambrose, watching him, could not make up his mind whether this was due +to pluck or sheer light-headedness. Either way, he was inclined to +like the boy. + +"I say, Ambrose," Greer said cheekily. "Give us a hand with these +bolting frames, will you? Do you want fine flour or coarse?" + +"The most in the least time," said Ambrose. + +"We'll leave in the middlings then. It's wholesome." + +They worked amicably together. Greer in his simplicity explained +everything as they went, and Ambrose cannily stored it away. + +Fortunately, the mill had lately been operated, grinding the grain from +the Crossing, and all was practically in readiness to start. Within an +hour after the landing of the party, Tole turned on his steam. + +The wheels began to revolve, Greer threw in the clutch, and presently a +veritable stream of flour began to issue from the mouth of the machine. +Ambrose repressed an inclination to cheer. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +WOMAN'S WEAPONS. + +The steady hum of machinery was more effective to awaken the +inhabitants of the Fort than any scattered noises. + +The sounds of movement began to be heard among the houses. Lights were +lit, and doors opened. No one who looked out of doors could mistake +what was going on, for a stream of sparks was now issuing from the +engine-house stack. + +The first notice of attack came in a single shot from across the road. +A bullet sang through the doorway, flattening itself with a whang on +the iron wall. Those around the opening fell back. + +Some one crashed the door to. Ambrose as quickly opened it, and +stooping low, peered out. He was in time to see a crouching figure +disappear around the corner of the store. Something in the bulk of it, +the neat outline gave him a clue. + +"Strange, by gad!" he said to himself. + +Aloud, Ambrose said: "The door must be open. We've got to see and hear +what they're up to. Let every man keep out of range. Make a wall of +the bags of grain on this side of the machine, and put the lanterns +behind it, so Greer will have light." + +While they worked to obey him, Ambrose, flinging himself down at full +length, watched with an eye at the crack of the door. He saw a group +of men gradually gather at the corner of the store. They advanced, +hesitated, fell back. + +Finally, an authoritative figure showed itself. Ambrose guessed it to +be Macfarlane, the policeman. He advanced boldly down the sidewalk, +and took up a position across the road. The others straggled after him. + +"Who is there?" challenged the leader. Ambrose distinguished the tunic +and forage cap. + +Ambrose rose, and opening the door wider, showed himself. "Ambrose +Doane," he said. He warily watched the crowd, for any movement +suggestive of raising a gun. + +"You're under arrest!" cried the policeman. + +"All right," said Ambrose coolly. "What charge?" + +"Unlawful entry." + +"You'll have to come and take me!" + +"If you resist the law the consequences will be on your own head!" + +"I accept the consequences." + +"Stop the machinery!" cried the policeman. "If you destroy the mill +we'll all starve!" + +"The miller himself is running it," said Ambrose coolly. "With a gun +to his head," he added, grinning over his shoulder. "I seized him in +his bed and carried him here." + +"Good man!" Greer, behind him, gratefully murmured. + +"If you refuse to give yourself up I'll take you by force!" cried +Macfarlane. + +"Come ahead!" sang Ambrose. "I've got twenty-five men here. They have +orders not to shoot, but if you open fire on us, the consequences will +be on your head!" + +"I'll do my duty!" shouted the policeman. + +"Get your crowd together!" taunted Ambrose. "Lay your guns down, and +come on over and put us out if you're men enough. We'll stand by the +result." + +The men behind Ambrose raised a cheer. The sound did not improve the +morale of the other side. Even in the dark, the difference between the +two crowds could be felt. + +Ambrose's men were fighting for what they felt to be their rights; the +men behind the policeman had no incentive--except their jobs. +Macfarlane paused to consult with another man--probably Gordon Strange. + +The others talked in excited whispers, and circled on one another +without making any forward movement. Messengers were despatched up and +down the road. + +Suddenly a petticoated figure came flying down the sidewalk from the +store. Ambrose's heart leaped up, and then as suddenly calmed. He +told himself grimly he was cured. + +It was Colina. "What are you standing here for?" she cried +passionately. "Are you afraid? They are nothing but common robbers! +Go and put them out!" + +No man moved. + +"Fire on them!" cried Colina. "I order it! I take the responsibility." + +They still hung back. Macfarlane could be seen attempting to +expostulate with her. + +"Don't speak to me!" cried Colina. "When you find robbers in your +house you shoot them down! You're afraid! I will go myself!" + +All in a breath she came flying across the road. Ambrose, surprised, +fell back a step from the door. Before he could recover himself she +stood in the middle of the shed facing them with blazing eyes. + +She had risen hastily; her glorious hair was twisted in a loose coil +and pinned insecurely; the habit she had thrown on was still open at +the throat. + +She had caught up a riding-crop; the knuckles that gripped it were +white. Ambrose, admiring her in an odd, detached way, was reminded of +Bellona, the goddess of anger. + +"What does this mean?" she cried. + +"What you see," said Ambrose coldly. + +"Get out!" she cried. "All of you! I order it!" + +The men cringed under her angry glances, and their eyes bolted. Only +the sight of Ambrose standing firm, kept them in their places. Colina +turned on Ambrose. + +"You thief!" she cried with ringing scorn. + +Ambrose coldly faced her out. Somehow he found it was his turn to +smile. As a matter of fact he had suffered so much at her hands that +he had become callous and strong enough to resist her. + +Indeed there was a kind of bitter sweetness in this moment. She, who +had humiliated him so many times was now powerless before him, let her +rage as she might. He was only human. + +Seeing the cold smile Colina felt as if the ground was suddenly cut +from under her. Her cheeks paled, and the imperious blaze of her eyes +was slowly dimmed. + +When the bolt of passion is launched without effect, a horrible +blankness faces the passionate one. The men seeing Colina falter +breathed more freely. They were frankly terrified of her. + +Colina fought on though her forces were in confusion. "Have you +anything to say for yourself?" she demanded of Ambrose. "What are you +doing on my father's property?" + +"I have nothing to say," said Ambrose. "You know the situation as well +as I." + +Once more their eyes contended. Hers fell. She turned away from him. +When she came back it was with an altered air. "May I speak to you +alone?" she asked in low tones. + +"Please say it here," said Ambrose. "They cannot hear." + +"My father--" she murmured with a deprecating air, "I am afraid this +will kill him. I have locked him in his room. I don't know what he +will do. Can't you stop until to-morrow?" + +"If you will pledge yourself for him to finish grinding my grain +to-morrow," said Ambrose. + +"How can I pledge him?" she said pettishly. "I am not his master." + +"Then we must grind on." + +She was silent for a moment, looking on the ground. When she raised +her eyes the look in them sent all the blood flying from his heart. +"Ambrose!" she murmured on the deep note he remembered so well. "Have +you forgotten?" + +He stared at her in a kind of horror. + +"How can you be so hard to me?" she murmured. + +She overdid it. Behind the intoxicating, soft appeal of her eyes, he +perceived a dangerous glitter, and steeled himself. + +"Come outside a moment," she whispered, turning up her face a little. + +The unregenerate man in him leaped to accept what she offered and still +hold firm. If she chose to play that game let her take the +consequences? His more generous self held back. Somehow he realized +that the humiliation would almost kill her--later. + +"It is too late," he said coldly. + +This in itself was a humiliation the proud Colina could not have +conceived herself living after. From between narrowed lids she shot +him a glance of the purest hate, and quickly turned away. + +The riding crop switched the air like the tail of an angry cat. There +was a silence. All watched to see what she would do next. + +Meanwhile the mill was grinding smoothly. The young miller was hidden +from Colina by the barricade of grain bags. Finally she looked over +the top and saw him attending the machine. + +"Greer!" she exclaimed in surprise. + +The boy started, and turned a pair of stricken eyes in her direction. +His ruddy cheeks paled a little. Manifestly she wielded a power over +him too. + +"Are you against me?" she murmured sadly. + +This was the same tone she had just used to Ambrose. His lip curled. +"He has to do what I tell him or be knocked on the head," he said +quickly. + +Colina ignored this. "You could fight for me if you would," she +murmured to the boy. + +A hot little flame of jealousy scorched Ambrose's breast. He laughed +jeeringly. "Who's next?" he cried. + +Colina, not looking at him, drew a baleful breath between her teeth. +Suddenly she turned, and with hanging head slowly made her way toward +the door. + +Ambrose thought she was beaten, and a swift wave of compassion almost +unmanned him. He abruptly turned away. He could stand anything but to +see Colina defeated and grieving. He clenched his teeth to keep from +crying out to her. + +She had another card to play. She stopped at the door, and looked +about through her lashes to see if the way out was clear. + +"Duncan!" she softly cried. The word was accompanied by a dazzling +smile of invitation. + +The boy dropped his wrench as if he had been shot, and vaulting over +the grain bags, was out through the door after her before any one could +stop him. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +UNDERCURRENTS. + +As Greer disappeared in the darkness several men started in pursuit. + +Ambrose was quicker. He flung himself into the opening, and thrust +them back. Though he was on fire with jealousy, he would not go after +Greer, nor let the others go. + +He could scarcely have explained why--perhaps because he dimly +apprehended that it was Colina's game to drive him mad with jealousy. + +"Let him go," he said thickly. "I will run the mill myself!" + +So long as the wheels revolved smoothly and the stream of creamy flour +issued from the mouth of the machine the miller had a sinecure. +Ambrose scowling and grinding his teeth scarcely saw what his eyes were +turned on. His mind was busy outside. + +He was sharply recalled to his job by a tearing sound from within the +machinery. The flour came out mixed with bran. The wheels jammed and +stopped. + +Ambrose threw out the clutch, and doggedly attacked the problem. It +was cruelly hard to concentrate his mind on machinery while a damnable +little voice in his brain persisted in asking over and over: + +"Where are they? What are they doing? How far will rage carry her?" + +He contrived to remove the torn frame without much difficulty, but how +to clean out the mass of stuff that clogged every part of the mechanism +defied his ingenuity. Apparently the thing must be taken apart. How +could he hope to put it together by lantern light? + +There was a stir at the door, and Duncan Greer slouched in with a +hang-dog scowl. Never in his life had Ambrose been so glad to see a +man. He was careful to mask his joy. He glanced at the boy carelessly +and went on with his work. Duncan came directly to him. + +"I'm your man," he muttered. "For keeps, if you want me." + +"Sure," said Ambrose, very offhand. "Help me get this thing going, +will you?" + +As they worked side by side in the lantern light, Ambrose perceived a +red welt across the boy's forehead and cheek that was momentarily +growing darker. He smiled grimly. Duncan, finding his eyes fixed on +it, flushed up painfully. + +"Women are the devil!" he muttered. + +A great unholy joy filled Ambrose's breast. In his relief he could +have hugged the boy, and laughed. + +"Don't abuse the women, my son," he said grimly. "They have to fight +with what weapons they can. You were warned. You only got what was +coming to you!" + +When the machine was running smoothly again, Ambrose went to the door +to reconnoiter. + +"They've gone," he said. "I don't think they'll trouble us again +before morning. You can all sleep." + +Daybreak and the following hours found Ambrose and his party on the +_qui vive_ for a renewed demonstration from the other side. None was +made. + +Neither Macfarlane, Gordon Strange, nor Colina could have mustered a +corporal's guard of the natives to their aid. The breeds in their own +mysterious way had simply disappeared. + +Without them, the half dozen whites could do nothing against Ambrose's +strong party. Colina herself had suffered a moral defeat, and required +time to recoup her losses. + +In the back of the store the white men and Gordon Strange held lengthy +consultations without agreeing on any course of action. Strange in his +modest way deferred to Macfarlane and the others. + +But John Gaviller's absolute sway at the post had sapped the lesser +men's initiative. He was not able to be present, and they were +helpless. + +It was decided to send for help to police headquarters at Caribou Lake. +They could not despatch the big steam-boat which had been dismantled +for the winter, but the launch was available. + +Gaviller had it to use at the end of summer when the water ran low in +the river. They managed to collect enough half-breeds for a crew; +Masters ran the engine, and Captain Stinson piloted. + +Thus in order to send for help the little force had to rob itself of +two of its best defenders. They got away in the middle of the +afternoon. With luck they could be back with the red-coats in two +weeks or three. + +Meanwhile the mill was grinding blithely. + +Ambrose, who desired at all costs to keep the Indians in ignorance of +what was happening, for fear they might get out of hand, sent Germain +Grampierre to his father's house to get what little flour they had, and +carry it to Watusk to feed the Kakisas for that day. + +As far as he could see there was no other communication from one side +of the river to the other. He observed the departure of the launch, +with a calm brow. He guessed its errand, and was not at all averse to +having the police brought down, and the whole matter thoroughly aired. + +All day the wheels revolved, and all during the following night, +Ambrose and young Greer watching the machine by turn. + +At breakfast time on the second morning the hopper was empty, and the +last bag of flour tied up. They had enough to satisfy the Kakisas +demands, and something besides. + +In the center of the shed Ambrose left the miller's tithe in payment, +with an ironical note affixed to one of the bags. The flour was loaded +in the york boat, and the entire party set off in high feather. + +Their arrival with the flour at the Indian camp created something of a +sensation. The children came running down to the water, capering and +shrieking, accompanied by the barking dogs. + +Men followed, eager to toss the bags to their shoulders. They made a +long procession back to the teepees, the women crowding around, +laughing, gesticulating, and caressing the fat, dusty bags. + +By Ambrose's orders the bags were piled up in an imposing array in the +middle of the square. He knew the value of a dramatic display. + +The half-breeds who had been on duty for thirty-six hours, scattered to +their homes up and down the river. Simon Grampierre and Tole remained +with Ambrose. + +The york boat was left drawn up on the beach below the camp. To this +fact Ambrose traced all the subsequent disasters. But he could not +have foreseen what would happen. The Indians at the sight of so much +food were as candid and happy as children. + +When the last bag of flour topped the pile, Ambrose sought out Watusk. +He found the head man as before, evidently awaiting an official +communication, with his dummy councilors on either hand. Watusk's +smooth, flabby face was as blank as a plaster wall. + +"I have brought your flour," said Ambrose with a note of exultation +justifiable under the circumstances. + +Watusk was not impressed. "It is well," he said with a stolid nod. + +Ambrose was somewhat taken aback. An instant told him that Watusk +alone of all the tribe was not glad to see the flour. Ambrose scented +a mystery. + +"Where you get the flour?" asked Watusk politely. + +"I borrowed Gaviller's mill to grind it," Ambrose answered in kind. + +Watusk's eyes narrowed. He puffed out his cheeks a little, and Ambrose +saw that an oration was impending. + +"I hope there will be no trouble," the Indian began self-importantly. +"Always when there is trouble the red man get blame. When the fur is +scarce, when summer frost turn the wheat black it is the same. They +say the red man make bad medicine. + +"Two white men have a fight, red man come along, know nothing. Those +two white men say it is his fault, and kick him hard. You break open +Gaviller's mill. Gaviller is mad, send for police. When the police +come I think they say it is Watusk's fault. Send him to jail!" + +It was evident from this that Watusk was pretty well informed of what +had happened. "How do you know they have sent for the police?" Ambrose +demanded. + +Watusk shrugged expressively. "I see the launch go up the river in a +hurry," he said. + +In the light of his insolent demand two days before, the Indian's +present attitude was more than exasperating. "This is foolishness," +said Ambrose sharply. "I sell you the flour. How I got it is my +affair. I take the responsibility. The police will deal with _me_!" + +"I hope so," said Watusk smugly. + +"I have made out a receipt," Ambrose went on. "You sign it, then +distribute the flour among the people, and give me the men's names so I +can charge them on my book. + +"To-morrow I give it out," said Watusk. "To-day I put the flour in +Gaston Trudeau's empty house by the river. Maybe goin' to rain +to-night." + +"Just as you like about that," said Ambrose. "When are you going to +pull out for home?" + +"Soon," replied Watusk vaguely. + +"They tell me it is the best time now to hunt the moose," remarked +Ambrose suggestively. "And the bear's fur is coming in thick and soft. +You have been here two weeks without hunting." + +Again Watusk's eyes narrowed like a sulky child's. "Must the Kakisas +got hunt every day?" he asked spreading out his hands. "The people are +weak with hunger. We got eat before we travel." + +Ambrose left this interview in a highly dissatisfied state of mind. + +Later in the day Watusk must have thought better of his surliness for +he sent a polite message to Ambrose at Simon Grampierre's house, +requesting him and Simon to come to a tea dance that night. + +He had borrowed Jack Mackenzie's house for the affair since no teepee +was big enough to contain it. Mackenzie's was the first house west of +the Kakisa encampment. + +"Tea-dance! Bah! Indian foolishness!" said Simon. + +"Let us go anyway," said Ambrose. "I feel as if there was something +crooked going on. This Indian will bear watching." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE SUBTLETY OF GORDON STRANGE. + +At the same moment Gordon Strange was sitting on the bench at the foot +of the flag-staff, smoking, and gazing speculatively across the river +at the teepee village. + +Colina issued out of the big house, and seeing him, joined him. It was +her first public appearance since the scene at the mill, and it was +something of an ordeal. + +Her face showed what she was going through. She was elaborately +self-conscious; defiance struggled with a secret shame. In her heart +she knew she was wrong, yet she thirsted for justification. + +"What is the situation?" she asked haughtily. + +Strange told her briefly. His air was admirable. He betrayed no +consciousness of anything changed in her; he was deferential without +being obsequious. + +He let her understand that she was still his peerless mistress who +could do no wrong. This was exactly what Colina wanted. She warmed +toward him, and sat down. + +"Ah! I can talk straight to you," she said. "The others act as if the +truth was too strong for me!" + +"I know better than that," said Strange quietly. "You have the best +head of any of us." + +"Except when I lose it!" Colina thought. She smiled at him more warmly +than she knew. A little flame that leaped up behind the man's eyes +warned her. "Would he ever dare!" she thought. + +"How is your father?" asked Strange quietly. + +She shrugged helplessly. "Still weak," she said, "but there has been +no return of fever. I have managed to keep the truth from him, but he +suspects if. I cannot keep him in his room much longer." + +"Ah! It makes me mad when I think of him!" Strange muttered. + +There was a silence between them. His sympathy was sweet to her. She +allowed it to lull her instinct of danger. + +"What about the Kakisas?" she asked. "I gathered from Macfarlane's and +Dr. Giddings's careful attempts to reassure me, that they feared danger +from that source." + +Strange smiled enigmatically. + +"Surely the idea of an Indian attack is absurd," said Colina. "There +hasn't been such a thing for thirty years." + +"I know the Indians better than any man here," said Strange. "One may +expect danger without being afraid." + +"Danger!" cried Colina, elevating her eyebrows. "They would never +dare!--" + +"Not of themselves--but with a leader!" + +"Ambrose Doane?" said Colina quickly. Her intelligence instantly +rejected the suggestion, but self-love snatched at it in justification. +Wounded vanity makes incongruous alliances. "That would be devilish!" +she murmured. + +Strange shrugged. "I can't be sure of what is going on," he said. "I +don't want to alarm you unnecessarily. But I have a reason to suspect +danger." + +Colina turned pale. "Tell me exactly what you mean," she said. + +"The Indians have learned by now how easy it was to seize the mill," he +said with admirable gravity. "It seems to me that to the Indian mind +looting the store will next suggest itself. We know they are incensed +against your father. His long weakness makes them bold." + +"But these are merely surmises!"' cried Colina. + +"There is something else. Their minds work obliquely. They never come +out straight with anything. I have received a kind of warning. It was +an invitation to spend the night with Marcel Charlbois down the river. +But it came from the other side." + +"Why should they warn you?" asked Colina. + +"Some man among them probably has compunctions," said Strange. +"Watusk, the head man is a decent sort. Perhaps this is his way of +letting me know that he cannot keep his people in hand." + +"What do you expect will happen?" she asked. + +"I think there will be an attack to-night," he said quietly. "It is my +duty to tell you. If it doesn't come, no harm done." + +Strange's quiet air was terribly impressive. Colina sat pale and +silent, letting the horror sink in. She was no weakling, but this was +a prospect to appal the strongest man. + +"We are so helpless!" she murmured at last. + +A spark, one would have said of satisfaction, shot from beneath +Strange's demurely lowered eyelids. "We cannot depend on our breeds," +he went on soberly, "and Greer has gone over to the other side." + +Colina winced. + +"That leaves us four men and yourself and your father. If we had a +stone building we could snap our fingers at them but everything is of +wood. And fire is their favorite weapon. There are two courses open +to us. We can go before they come, or we can stay and defend +ourselves." + +Colina stared before her, wide-eyed. "Father would never let us take +him away without an explanation," she murmured. "And if we told him +what we feared, he would flatly refuse to go--" + +Strange maintained a discreet silence. + +Colina suddenly flung up her head. "We stay here!" she cried. + +Strange's dark eyes burned--but with what kind of a feeling Colina was +in no state to judge. "You're brave!" he cried. "That's what I wanted +you to say!" + +"What must we do to prepare?" + +"There is little we can do. We must abandon the store. There is no +way to defend it. Perhaps they will be satisfied with looting it. We +will all take up our station in the house. At the worst, I do not fear +any harm to any of us, except perhaps--" + +"Father?" murmured Colina. + +"They have been wrought up to a high pitch against him," Strange said +deprecatingly. + +"Oh, why did that man have to come here!" murmured Colina. + +They were silent for a while, Colina looking on the ground, and Strange +watching Colina with his peculiar limpid, candid eyes, which, when one +looked deep enough, were not candid at all. + +He finally looked away from her. + +"There is something I want to say," he began an low tones. "Your +father--he shall be my special care to-night. They can strike at +him--only through me." + +"Ah, you're so good to me!" murmured Colina. + +"Do not thank me," he said quickly. "Remember I owe him everything. +All I am. All I have I would gladly--gladly--I sound melodramatic, +don't I. But I don't often inflict this on you. You know what I mean. +If I could save him!" + +Colina impulsively seized his hand. Tears of gratitude sprang to her +eyes. "I will thank you!" she cried. "You're the best friend I have +in the world!" + +"And even if I owed him nothing," Strange went on, not looking at her, +"he would still be your father!" + +An hour before Colina would have crushed him. But it came at an +emotional moment. She was blind to his color then. + +"I will never, never forget this," she said. + +He respectfully lifted her hands to his lips. + +The under devil whose especial business it is to preside over fine +acting must have rubbed his hands gleefully at the sight of his +dark-skinned protege's aptitude. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE "TEA DANCE." + +When Ambrose and Simon Grampierre arrived at the tea-dance they found +present as many of the Kakisas of both sexes as could be wedged within +Jack Mackenzie's shack. + +All around the room they were pressed in tiers, the first line +squatting, the second kneeling, the third standing, and others behind, +perched on chairs, beds and tables, that all might have a clear view of +the floor. + +The cook-stove occupied the center of the room, and around it a narrow +space had been left for the dancers. The air was suffocating to white +lungs, what with human emanations combined with the thick fumes of +kinnikinic. + +Watusk, still sporting the frock coat and the finger-rings, had +improved his costume by the addition of a battered silk hat with a +chaplet of red paper roses around the brim. + +He squatted on the floor in the center of the back wall, and places had +been left at his right and left for Ambrose and Simon. He was disposed +to be gracious and jocular to-night. + +For very slight cause, or for none at all he laughed until he shook all +over. This was his way of appearing at his ease. + +As they took their places Ambrose was struck by the pretty, wistful +face of a girl who knelt on the floor behind Watusk. It had a fine +quality that distinguished it sharply from the stolid flat countenances +of her sisters. + +It was more than pretty; it was tragically beautiful, though she was +little more than a child. What made it especially significant to +Ambrose was the fact that the girl's sad eyes instantaneously singled +him out when he entered. + +As he sat in front of her he was aware that they were dwelling on him. +When he caught her glance, the eyes naively suggested that she had a +communication to make to him, if she dared! + +The fun had not yet commenced. The two drummers sat idle in a corner, +and all the company sat in stolid silence. Only Watusk chatted and +laughed. The women stared at Ambrose, and the men looked down their +noses. All were somewhat embarrassed by the presence of a white man. +Ambrose, looking around, was struck by the incongruity of the women's +neat print dresses and the men's store clothes taken with their savage, +walled faces. Such faces called for blankets, beads, war paint and +eagles' feathers. + +Ambrose, seeing the entire tribe gathered here as it seemed, thought a +little anxiously of the flour he had been at such pains to grind. + +Mackenzie's house was a good distance from the teepees, and the shack +they were using for a store-house almost as far on the other side. + +"Is anybody watching your flour?" he asked Watusk. + +"I send four men to watch," was the reply. + +"Good men? Men who will not sneak up to the dance?" + +"Good men," said Watusk calmly. + +Watusk presently gave a signal to the stick-kettle men, and they +commenced to drum with their knuckles. The drums were wide wooden +hoops with a skin drawn over one side. + +The drummers had a lamp on the floor between them, and when the skin +relaxed they dried it over the chimney. Like dances everywhere this +one was slow to get under way. No one liked to be the first one to +take the floor. + +Gradually the drummers warmed to their work. The stick-kettle had a +voice of its own, a dull, throbbing complaint that caused even +Ambrose's blood to stir vaguely. + +Finally a handsome young man arose and commenced to hitch around the +stove with stiff joints, like a mechanical figure. The company broke +into a wild chant in a minor key, commencing on a high note and +descending the whole gamut, with strange pauses, lifts and falls. + +Half way down the women came in with a shrill second part. It died +away into a rumble, ever to be renewed on the same high, long-drawn +note. Ambrose was reminded of the baying of hounds. + +The dancer knotted his handkerchief as he circled the stove. Dancing +up to another man, he offered him the end of it with some spoken words. + +It was accepted, and they danced together around the stove, joined by +the handkerchief. + +The hunching, spasmodic step never varied. Ambrose asked Watusk about +it. + +"This is the lame man's dance," his host explained. + +"What lame man?" asked Ambrose. "How did it begin?" + +Watusk shrugged. "It is very old," he said. + +The first man dropped out, and the second chose a new partner. +Sometimes there were two or three couples dancing at once. Partners +were chosen indiscriminately from either sex. + +In each case the knotted handkerchief was offered with the same spoken +formula. Ambrose asked what it was they said. + +"This is give-away dance," Watusk explained. "He is say: 'This my +knife, this my blanket, this my silk-worked moccasins.' What he want +to give. After he got give it." + +Ambrose observed that each dancer laid two matches on the cold stove as +he took his place, and when he retired from the dance picked them up +again. He asked what that signified. + +Watusk shrugged again. "How do I know?" he said. "It is always done." + +Ambrose learned later that this was the invariable answer of the +Kakisas to any question concerning their customs. + +Watusk was exerting himself to be hospitable, continually pressing cups +of steaming bitter tea on Ambrose and Simon. Ambrose, watching him, +made up his mind that the chief's unusual affability masked a deep +disquiet. + +The sharp, shifty eyes were continually turning with an expectant look +to the door. Ambrose found himself watching the door, too. + +To Ambrose the uncouth dance had neither head nor tail; nevertheless, +it had a striking effect on the participators and spectators. + +Minute by minute the excitement mounted. The stick-kettles throbbed +faster and ever more disquietingly. It seemed as if the skin of the +drums were the very hearts of the hearers, with the drummers' knuckles +searching out their secrets. + +Eyes burned like stars around the walls, and the chant was renewed with +a passionate abandon. The figures hitched and sprang around the homely +iron stove like lithe animals. + +Suddenly the noise of running feet was heard outside, and a man burst +in through the door with livid face and starting eyes. The drumming, +the song, and the dance stopped simultaneously. + +The man cried out a single sentence in the Kakisa tongue. Cried it +over and over breathlessly, without any expression. + +The effect on the crowd was electrical. Cries of surprise and alarm, +both hoarse and shrill, answered him. A wave of rage swept over them +all, distorting their faces. They jammed in the doorway, fighting to +get out. + +"What is it?" cried Ambrose of Watusk. + +Watusk's face was working oddly with excitement. + +But it was not rage like the others. The difference between him and +all his people was marked. + +"The flour is burning!" the chief cried. + +"This was what he expected," thought Ambrose. + +As he struggled to get out, Ambrose's hand was seized and pressed by a +small warm one. + +He had a momentary impression of the wistful girl beside him. Then she +was swept away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +FIRE AND RAPINE. + +The Kakisas ran down the trail like a heap of dry leaves propelled by a +squall of wind. To Ambrose it all seemed as senseless and unreal as a +nightmare. + +The alarm had been given at a moment of extreme emotional excitement, +and restraint was thrown to the winds. It was like a rout after battle. + +The men shouted; the women wailed and forgot their children. The +throng was full of lost children; they fell by the road and lay +shrieking. + +Ambrose never forgot the picture as he ran, of an old crone, crazed by +excitement, whirling like a dervish, rocking her skinny arms and +twisting her neck into attitudes as grotesque as gargoyles. + +The trail they covered was a rough wagon-road winding among patches of +poplar scrub and willow. Issuing out upon the wide clearing which +contained their village they saw afar the little storehouse burning +like a torch, and redoubled their cries. + +They swept past the teepees without stopping, the biggest ones in the +van, the little ones tailing off and falling down and getting up again +with piteous cries. + +Reaching the spot, all could see there was nothing to be done. The +shack was completely enveloped in names. There were not half a dozen +practicable water-pails in the tribe, and anyhow the fire was a good +furlong from the river. + +Ambrose, seeing what a start it had got, guessed that it was no +accident. It had been set, and set in such a way as to insure the +shack's total destruction. He considered the sight grimly. + +The mystery he had first scented that morning was assuming truly +formidable proportions. He believed that Watusk was a party to it; but +he could not conceive of any reason why Watusk should burn up his +people's bread. + +There was nothing to be done, and the people ceased their cries. They +stood gazing at the ruby and vermilion flames with wide, charmed eyes. + +Among the pictures that this terrible night etched with acid on +Ambrose's subconsciousness, the sight of them standing motionless, all +the dark faces lighted by the glare, was not the least impressive. + +With a sickening anxiety he perceived the signs of a rising savage +rage. The men scowled and muttered. More than once he heard the +words: "John Gaviller!" Men slipped away to the teepees and returned +with their guns. + +Ambrose looked anxiously for Watusk. He could not reach the people +except through the man he distrusted. + +He found him by himself in a kind of retreat among some poplars a +little way off, where he could see without being seen. Ambrose dragged +him back willy-nilly, adjuring him by the way. + +"The people are working themselves into a rage. They speak of +Gaviller. You and I have got to prevent trouble. You must tell them +Gaviller is a hard man, but he keeps the law. He did not do this +thing. This is the act of another enemy." + +"What good tell them?" said Watusk sullenly. "They not believe." + +"You are their leader!" cried Ambrose. "It's up to you to keep them +out of trouble. If you do not speak, whatever happens will be on your +head! And I will testify against you. Tell the people to wait until +to-morrow and I pledge myself to find out who did this." + +"You know who did it?" asked Watusk sharply. + +"I will not speak until I have proof," Ambrose said warily. + +"What happened to the men you left on guard?" + +"They say they play jack-pot with a lantern near the door," said +Watusk. "See not'ing. Hear not'ing. Poof! she is all burn!" + +"H-m!" said Ambrose. + +They were now among the people. + +"Speak to them!" he cried. "Tell them if they keep quiet Ambrose Doane +will pay for the flour that is burned up, and will grind them some +more. Tell them to wait, and I promise to make things right. Tell +them if they make trouble to-night the police will come and take them +away, and their children will starve!" + +Watusk did, indeed, move among the men speaking to them, but with a +half-hearted air. He cut a pitiful figure. It was not clear whether +he was unwilling to oppose them or afraid. + +Ambrose did not even know what Watusk was saying to them. At any rate +the men ignored their leader. Ambrose was wild at the necessity which +made him dependent on such a poor creature. + +He followed Watusk, imploring them in English to keep their heads. +Some of the sense of what he said must have reached them through his +tones and gestures, but they only turned sullen, suspicious shoulders +upon him. + +That Ambrose should take the part of his known enemy, John Gaviller, +seemed to their simple minds to smack of double-dealing. + +The roof of the burning shack fell in, sending a lovely eruption of +sparks to the black sky. At the same moment as if by a signal one of +the savages brandished his gun aloft and broke into a passionate +denunciation. + +Once more Ambrose heard the name of Gaviller. Instantly the crowd was +in an uproar again. Cries of angry approval answered the speaker from +every throat. The man was beside himself. He waved his gun in the +direction of the river. + +Ambrose waited to hear no more. He saw what was coming. Black horror +faced him. He ran to the river, straining every nerve. He heard them +behind him. Then it was that he so bitterly reproached himself for +having left the york boat within reach. + +Leaping down the bank, he put his back under the bow and struggled to +push it off. He would gladly have sacrificed it. It was too heavy for +him to budge. Tole Grampierre and Greer reached his side. + +"Quick!" cried Ambrose breathlessly. "Set her adrift!" + +But at that moment the whole tribe came pouring over the bank like a +flood. Ambrose and the breed sprang into the bow of the boat in an +endeavor to hold it against them. Old Simon presently joined them. + +"Back! Back!" cried Ambrose. "For God's sake listen to me, men! Go +to your lodges and talk until morning. The truth will be clear in the +daylight! The police are coming. They will give you justice. + +"Justice is on your side now. If you break the white man's law he will +wipe you out! Where is your leader? He knows the truth of what I say. +Watusk is not here! He won't risk his neck!" + +It had about as much effect as a trickle of water upon a conflagration. +They made no attempt to dislodge Ambrose from in front, but swarmed +into the water on either side, and putting their backs under the boat, +lifted her off the stones. Scrambling over the sides, they shouldered +Ambrose and the breed ashore from behind. + +Ambrose shouted to the breeds: "Go home and stay there all night. You +must not be mixed up in this." + +"What will you do?" cried Simon. + +The york boat was already floating off, the crew running out the +sweeps. Ambrose, without answering, ran into the water and clambered +aboard. In the confusion and the dark the Indians could not tell if he +were white or red. + +He made himself inconspicuous in the bow. His only conscious thought +was how to get a gun. He had no idea of what to do upon landing. + +Upon pushing off, moved by a common instinct of caution, the Indians +fell silent, and during the crossing there was no sound but the +grumbling of the clumsy sweeps in the thole-pins, and the splash of the +blades. + +Standing on the little platform astern, silhouetted against the sky, +Ambrose recognized the man who had given the word to attack Gaviller. + +He marked him well. He was of middle size, a tall man among the little +Kakisas, with a great shock of hair cut off like a Dutchman's at the +neck. + +On the way over Ambrose was greatly astonished to feel his sleeve +gently plucked. He studied the men beside him, and finally made out +Tole under his flaring hatbrim. + +Into his ear he whispered: "I told you to go home." + +"I go with you," Tole whispered back. "I your friend." + +Ambrose's anxious heart was warmed. He needed a friend. He gripped +Tole's shoulder. + +"Have you a gun?" he asked. + +The breed shook his head. + +"Get guns for us both if you can," said Ambrose. + +On the other side, the instant the york boat touched the shingle, the +Indians set up a chorus of yelling frightful to hear, and scrambled +ashore. + +Ambrose and Tole were among the first out. Together they drew aside a +little way into the darkness to see what would happen. There was no +need to warn the Company people; the yelling did that. + +The Indians set off across the beach and up the bank, working +themselves up with their strident, brutish cries. The habits of thirty +years of peace were shed like a garment. The young men of the tribe +had never heard the war-cry until that moment. + +Ambrose followed at their heels. At the top of the bank, to his +unbounded relief, they turned toward the store. He still had a little +time. All he could do was to offer himself to the defenders. + +"I'm going to the side door of Gaviller's house," he said to Tole. +"Get guns for us, somehow, and come to me there." + +He knew that Tole, who was as dark as the Kakisas, and in no way +distinguished from them in dress, ran little risk of discovery in the +confusion. + +There was no sign of life about the post; every window was dark. The +Indians swarmed across the quadrangle without meeting any one. + +As Ambrose reached the fence around Gaviller's house he heard the +store-door and the windows go in with a series of crashes. He crouched +beside the gate to wait for Tole. It was useless for him to offer +himself without a weapon. + +They started a fire outside the store. Fed with excelsior and empty +boxes, the flames leaped up instantaneously, illuminating every corner +of the quadrangle, and throwing gigantic, distorted shadows of men on +the store front. + +On the nearer side of the fire the silhouettes darted back and forth +with the malignant activity of demons in a pit. Men issued out of the +store with armfuls of goods that they flung regardless to the flames. + +Already they were dressing themselves up in layer after layer of +clothes until they no longer resembled human creatures. What they +could not wear they hung about their necks. + +Some came out tearing at food like wolves. Others darted into dark +corners of the square to hide their prizes. A man appeared dressed in +a woman's wrapper and hat, and capered around the fire to the +accompaniment of shrieks of obscene laughter. + +There was a continuous sound of rending and crashing from within the +store. The trader in Ambrose groaned to witness the destruction of +good weapons and cloth stuffs and food. Some one would suffer for the +lack of it in the winter. + +Within the store, by the door, a furious altercation arose. This was +where the case of cheap jewelry stood. Two men rolled out on the +platform fighting. + +Ambrose saw a raised arm, and the gleam of steel. After a few moments +one of the men got up and the other lay still. Thereafter, all who +went in and came out stepped indifferently over his body. + +Ambrose gazed fascinated and oddly unmoved. It was like a horrible +play in a theater. The insane yelling rose and fell intermittently. + +At last Ambrose saw a man detach himself from the group and run around +the square, darting behind the houses for cover. The runner reappeared +nearer to him, and he saw that it was Tole. He came to him, running +low under shelter of the palings. He thrust a rifle into Ambrose's +hands. + +"Loaded!" he gasped. "Plenty more shells in my pocket." + +"Did you hear any talk?" asked Ambrose. "Are they coming over here?" + +"Talk no sense," said Tole. "Only yell. It is moch bad. They got +whisky." + +"Whisky!" echoed Ambrose, aghast. + +"A big jug. It was in the store." + +Ambrose's heart sank. "Come," he said grimly. + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +COLINA RELENTS. + +As Ambrose and Tole started in the gate they were hailed from the dark +doorway under the porch. "Stand, or I fire!" It was the voice of +Macfarlane. + +"It is Ambrose Doane and Tole Grampierre," cried Ambrose. + +They heard an exclamation of astonishment from the door. + +"What do you want?" demanded the voice. + +"To help you defend yourselves." + +From the sounds that reached him, Ambrose gathered that the door was +open and that Macfarlane stood within the hall. From farther back +Colina's voice rang out: + +"How dare you! Do you expect us to believe you? Go back to your +friends!" + +"They are not my men," Ambrose answered doggedly. + +"Wait!" cried still another voice. Ambrose recognized the smooth +accents of Gordon Strange. "We can't afford to turn away any +defenders. I say let him come in." + +Ambrose was surprised, and none too well pleased to hear his part taken +in this quarter. There was a silence. He apprehended that they were +consulting in the hall. Finally Macfarlane called curtly: + +"You may come in." + +As he went up the path Ambrose saw that the windows of the lower floor +had been roughly boarded up. The thought struck him oddly: "How could +they have had warning of what was going to happen?" + +"There's barbed wire around the porch," said Macfarlane, "You'll have +to get over it the best way you can." + +Ambrose and Tole helped each other through the obstruction. They found +Macfarlane sitting on a chair in the doorway, with his rifle across his +knees. + +"Go into the library," he said. + +The door was on the right hand as one entered the hall. Within a lamp +had just been lighted; even as Ambrose entered Colina was turning up +the wick. + +Heavy curtains had been bung over the windows to keep any rays of light +from escaping, and the door was instantly closed behind Ambrose and +Tole. + +Inside the little room that he already knew so well Ambrose found all +the defenders gathered. The only one strange to him was little +Pringle, the missionary, who sat primly on the sofa. It had much the +look of an ordinary evening party, but the row of guns by the door told +a tale. + +John Gaviller sat in his swivel chair behind his desk, leaning his head +on his hand. Ambrose was shocked by the change that three months' +illness had worked in him. + +The self-assured, the scornfully affable trader had become a mere +pantaloon with sunken cheeks and trembling hands. Ambrose looked with +quick compassion toward Colina. + +She went to her father and stood by his chair with a hand on his +shoulder. She coldly ignored Ambrose's glance. + +"What have you to say for yourself?" Gaviller demanded in a weak, harsh +voice. + +"Do you know the reason for this attack?" demanded Ambrose. + +Several voices answered "No!" + +"All the flour was stored in Michel Trudeau's shack. Some wretch set +fire to it and destroyed it all. Naturally they thought it was done by +John Gaviller's orders. This is their reprisal." + +"You dared to think we would stoop to such a thing!" cried Colina. + +The general animosity that he felt like a wall around him made Ambrose +defiant. + +"I said they thought so," he retorted. "I harangued them until my +throat was sore. I couldn't hold them, and I hid myself and came with +them, thinking perhaps I could help you." + +"How did they come?" asked Strange smoothly. + +"In my boat that they seized," said Ambrose. + +"It all comes back to you whichever way you trace it," cried Gaviller. +"If you had not attacked us yesterday, they would never have dared +to-day! You have brought us to this! I hope you're satisfied. I +warned you what would happen as a result of your tampering with the +natives. If we're all murdered it will be on your head!" + +"On the contrary, if we're murdered it will be because they found +whiskey in your store," retorted Ambrose. + +"Impossible!" cried Gaviller and Strange together. + +Ambrose laid a hand on Tole's shoulder. "This man saw it on the +counter," he said. "I sent him to the store to get guns for us both. +It had no business to be there, as you all know." + +"They must have brought it with them," said Strange. "I locked the +store myself." + +"Of course they brought it," said Gaviller. + +"Not much use to discuss that point," said Ambrose curtly. "They have +it, and it has robbed them of the last vestiges of manhood. They're +nothing but brutes now." + +The old man rose. "Silence!" he cried quaveringly. "You are insolent! +By your light-mindedness and vanity you have raised a storm that no man +can see the end of! You have plunged us into the horrors of Indian +warfare after thirty years' peace! How dare you come here and attempt +to hector us! Silence, I say, and keep your place!" + +"Father," murmured Colina remonstratingly. "You must save your +strength." + +He shook her off impatiently. "Must I submit to be bearded in my own +house by this scamp, this fire-brand, this destroyer?" + +Ambrose could not bandy words with this wreck of a strong man. He +signed to Tole, and they went outside and joined Macfarlane. + +The three of them waited in the doorway in a kind of armed truce, +smoking and watching the Indians across the square. At any moment they +expected to see the yelling demons turn against the house. + +By and by Ambrose heard the library door open. The light inside had +been put out again for greater safety. + +He heard Colina come out, and go the other way in the passage. He knew +her by the rustle of her skirts. She went up-stairs on some errand. + +His heart leaped up. He could no longer deceive himself with the fancy +that he had ceased to love her. Not with death staring them both in +the face. He quietly made his way back into the house to intercept her +on her return. + +When he heard her coming he whispered her name. Here in the middle of +the house it was totally dark. + +"You!" she gasped, stopping short. But the scorn had gone out of her +voice, and somehow he knew that he was already in her thoughts when he +spoke. He put out a hand toward her. + +"Don't touch me!" she whispered, shrinking sharply. + +There, in the compelling darkness, with danger waiting outside, they +could not hide their souls from each other. "Colina," he whispered, +"don't harden yourself against me to-night. I love you!" + +Her breath came quickly. She could not speak. Her anger against +Ambrose was, at the best, a pumped-up affair. She felt obliged to hate +him because she loved her father. And her overweening pride had +supported it. All this fell away now. She longed to believe in him. + +Perceiving his advantage he followed it close. + +"It may be the last night," he whispered. "I'm not afraid to speak of +death to you. You're no coward. Colina, it would be hard to die +thinking that you hated me!" + +"Don't!" she murmured painfully. "Don't try to soften me. I need to +be hard." + +"Not to me," he whispered. "I love you!'" + +She was silent. He heard her breathing on a shaken breast. + +"If I knew it was my last word I should say the same," he went on. "I +came back to Enterprise because I thought I had to come to save you!" + +"It hasn't turned out that way, has it?" she said sadly and bitterly. + +"There is some evil influence working against us all," he said. "If I +live I shall show you." + +"I don't know what to think," she murmured. + +They were standing close together. Suddenly the sense of her nearness +in the dark, the delicate emanation of her hair, of her whole person, +overwhelmed his senses like a wave. + +"Oh, my darling," he murmured brokenly. "Those devils outside can only +kill me once. You make me die a thousand deaths!" + +"Ah, don't!" she whispered sharply. "Not now. First, I must believe +in you!" + +He beat down the passion that dizzied him. He sought for her hand and +gripped it firmly. She allowed it. "Listen," he said. "Take me into +the light and look in my eyes." + +Her hand turned in his and took command of it, drawing him after her. +Crossing the stair-hall they entered the dining-room. Colina closed +the door and lighted the lamp. + +Ambrose gazed at her hungrily. She came to him straight and, offering +him both her hands, looked deep into his eyes. + +"Now tell me," she murmured. + +This was the real Colina, simple as a child. Her eyes--the lamp being +behind her--showed as deep and dark as the night sky. + +Her lovely face yearned up to his, and Ambrose's self-command tottered +again--but this was no moment for passion. His voice shook, but his +eyes were as steady as hers. + +"I love you," he said quietly. "When you hated me most I was doing the +best for you that I could. I--I'm afraid I sound like a prig. But it +is the truth. I stood out against you when I thought you were wrong +because I loved you!" + +Her eyes fell. Her hands crept confidingly up his arms. "Ah! I want +so to believe it," she faltered. + +He thought he had won her again. His arms swept around her, crushing +her to him. "My love!" he murmured. + +She went slack in his arms and coldly averted her head. "Do not kiss +me," she said. + +He instantly released her. + +"It's not the time," she murmured. "It seems horrible to-night. I--I +am not ready. By what happens to-night I will know for always!" + +"But, Colina--" he began. + +She offered him her hand with a beseeching air. "I do not hate you any +more," she said quickly. "You have a lot to forgive in me, too. Be +merciful to me. Show me--to-night." + +He drew a steadying breath. "Very well," he said. "I am contented." + +CHAPTER XXV. + +ACCUSED. + +The long suspense wore terribly on the defenders of the house. + +To wait inactive, listening to the frightful yelling and watching the +play of the fire, not knowing at what moment yelling, bullets, and fire +might be directed at themselves, was disorganizing to the stoutest +nerves. + +When the attack should come all knew that their refuge was more like a +trap than a fortress. Ambrose wished to abandon the house for the +Catholic church up the river. + +This little structure was stoutly built of squared logs; moreover, it +was possible that some lingering religious feeling might restrain the +Indians from firing it. + +The suggestion was received with suspicion. John Gaviller refused +point-blank to leave his house. + +As the hours passed without any change in the situation they began to +feel as if they could endure no more. They were almost ready to wish +that the savages might attack them and have done with it. + +They endlessly and vainly discussed what might be passing in the red +men's minds. Tole Grampierre, hearing this talk, offered to go and +find out. + +There was no danger to him, he said. Even if they should discover that +he was not one of themselves, they had no quarrel with his people. +Ambrose let him go. + +He never returned. Ambrose and Macfarlane helped him through the +barbed wire, and he set off, making a wide detour behind the houses +that faced the river, meaning to join the Indians from the other side. + +Most of the Indians had for some time been engaged in rifling the +warehouse, which adjoined the store behind. + +Ambrose and Macfarlane, anxiously watching from the porch, heard a +sudden outcry raised in this quarter, and saw a man come running +desperately around the corner of the store, pursued by a howling dozen. + +Ambrose knew the runner by his rakish, broad-brimmed hat and flying +sash. His heart leaped into the race. Tole was gaining. + +"Go it! Go it!" Ambrose cried. + +Tole was not bringing his pursuers back to the big house, but led the +way off to one side by the quarters. Only a few yards separated him +from the all-concealing darkness. + +"He's safe!" murmured Ambrose. + +At the same moment half of Tole's pursuers stopped dead, and their +rifles barked. The flying figure spun around with uptossed arms, and +plunged to the ground. + +Ambrose groaned from the bottom of his breast. Nerved by a blind rage, +his own gun instinctively went up. He could have picked off one or two +from where he stood. Macfarlane flung a restraining arm around him. + +"Stop! You'll bring the whole mob down on us!" he cried. He looked at +Ambrose not unkindly. The sacrifice of Tole obliged him to change his +attitude. + +Ambrose turned in the door, silently grinding his teeth. At the end of +the passage he found a chair, and dropped upon it, holding his head +between his hands. + +The face of Tole as he had first beheld it--proud, comely, and full of +health--rose before him vividly. + +He remembered that he had said to himself then: "Here is one young, +like myself, that I can make a friend of." And almost the last thing +Tole had said to him was: "I am your friend." + +It was his youth and good looks that made it seem most horrible. +Ambrose pictured the bloody ruin lying in the square, and shuddered. + +Gordon Strange offered to go out in order to make sure that Tole was +beyond aid. It seemed like a kindly impulse, but Ambrose suspected its +genuineness. + +Even from where they were, a glance at the huddled figure was enough to +tell the truth. None of the others would hear of Strange's going. +Colina and Giddings pleaded with him. Gaviller forbade him. Strange +with seeming reluctance finally gave in. + +Whenever he witnessed such evidences of their trust in the half-breed +Ambrose's lip curled in the darkness. He was more than ever convinced +that Strange was a blackguard. + +Evidence he had none, only his warning intuition, which, among the male +sex at least, is not considered much to go on. + +It gave Ambrose a shrewd little twinge of jealousy to hear Colina +begging this man not to risk his life by leaving the house. + +About three o'clock it began to seem as if they might allow themselves +to relax a little. The madness of the Indians had burned itself out. +There had not been enough whisky perhaps to maintain it for more than a +few hours. + +In any case, since the whites had been spared at the height of their +fury, it seemed reasonable to hope they might escape altogether. The +yelling had ceased. + +Most of the men were now engaged in carrying flour and other goods down +to the york boat. The watchers from the house wondered if they dared +believe this signified an early departure. + +As the tension let down it could be seen that John Gaviller was on the +verge of a collapse. Colina strove with him to go to his room and rest +on his bed. + +He finally consented upon condition that she lay in her own room +up-stairs. Colina and Gordon Strange half led, half carried the old +man up-stairs. + +Strange, returning, relieved Macfarlane's watch at the side door. +Macfarlane, Ambrose, Giddings, and Pringle lay down on the sofa and on +the floor of the library. + +Three of them were almost instantly asleep. Not so Ambrose. As soon +as he saw the half-breed left in sole charge his smoldering suspicions +leaped into activity. + +"If he's meditating anything queer this is the time he'll start it!" he +thought. He took care to choose his position on the floor nearest the +door. He left the door open. + +From the outside only occasional sounds came now. The Indians were +busy and silent. Within the house it was so still that Ambrose could +hear Gordon Strange puffing at his pipe. + +The half-breed was sitting in the doorway outside, with his chair +tipped back against the wall. By and by Ambrose heard the front legs +of the chair drop to the floor, and an instinct of caution bade him +close his eyes and breathe deeply like a man asleep. + +Sure enough Strange came into the library. He was taking no pains to +be silent. Stepping over Ambrose he crossed to the mantel, where he +fumbled for matches, and striking one made believe to relight his pipe. + +Now Ambrose knew that Strange had matches, for when they took John +Gaviller up he had seen him light the lamp at the foot of the stairs +and return the box to his pocket. + +This then must be a reconnoitering expedition. Ambrose had no doubt +that when the match flared up the half-breed took a survey of the +sleeping men. + +He left the room, and Ambrose heard the chair tipped back against the +wall once more. + +A little later Ambrose became conscious that Strange was at the library +door again, though this time he had not heard him come. + +He paused a second and passed away as silently as a ghost--but whether +back to his chair or farther into the house Ambrose could not tell. + +Rising swiftly to his hands and knees he stuck his head out of the +door. There was light enough from the outside to reveal the outlines +of the chair--empty. + +Without a thought Ambrose turned in the other direction and crept +swiftly and softly through the passage into the stair hall. He did not +know what he expected to find. His heart beat thick and fast. + +He scarcely suspected danger to Colina, who was strong and brave. Was +it her father? Reaching the foot of the stairs he heard a velvet +footfall above. + +He hastened up on all fours. The stairs were thickly carpeted. +Gaining the top his strained ears detected the whisper of a sound that +suggested the closing of Gaviller's door. + +He knew the room. It was over the drawing-room, and cut off from the +other rooms of the house. To reach the door one had to pass around the +rail of the upper landing. + +Arriving at the door he did indeed find it closed. Under the +circumstances he was sure Colina would have left it open. + +He did not stop to think of what he was doing. With infinite slow +patience he turned the knob with one hand, holding his electric torch +ready in the other. + +When the door parted he flashed the light on the spot where he knew the +bed stood. The picture vividly revealed in the little circle of light +realized his unacknowledged fears. + +He saw Strange kneeling on the bed, his face hideously distorted, his +two hands at the old man's throat. + +Strange yelped once in mingled terror and rage like an animal +surprised--and with the quickness of an animal sprang at Ambrose. + +The two men went down with a crash athwart the sill, and the door +slammed back against the wall. There was a desperate struggle on the +floor. + +Strange was nerved with the strength of a madman. He could not have +seen who it was that surprised him, but in that frantic embrace he +learned. + +"It's you, is it?" he snarled. "I've got you now!" + +Forthwith he began to shout lustily for help. "Macfarlane! Giddings!" + +Colina was already out of her room. She did not scream. The three men +were on the stairs. + +"Bring a light!" gasped both the struggling men. + +It was Colina who lit a lamp and carried it out into the hall with a +steady hand. Ambrose was seen to be uppermost. Recognizing the two +men her face darkened with anger. + +"What does this mean?" she cried. "Get up instantly!" + +Ambrose wrenched himself free and stood up. + +"Don't let him escape!" cried Strange. + +Ambrose laughed a single note. + +"He tried to kill your father!" panted Strange. "I arrived in the nick +of time!" + +Ambrose gasped and fell back in astonishment. Such stupendous +effrontery was beyond the scope of his imagination. + +"It's a lie!" he cried. "It was I who discovered him in the act of +strangling your father!" + +Then for the first Colina swayed. "Oh, God!" she murmured, "have we +all gone mad!" + +Macfarlane seized the lamp from her failing hand. Colina ran unevenly +into her father's room. They heard her cry out within. Giddings ran +to her aid. He made a light in the room and closed the door. The +little parson moaned and wrung his hands. + +Macfarlane had drawn his revolver. "If you make a move I'll shoot you +down!" he said to Ambrose--thus making it clear whose story he believed. + +"You can put it up," said Ambrose coolly. "I'm going to see this thing +through." + +Strange had got his grip again. His smoothness was largely restored. +He actually laughed. "He's a cool hand!" he said. + +"You damned black villain!" said Ambrose softly. "I know you now. And +you know that I know you!" + +It did not improve Ambrose's case to say it, but he felt better. The +half-breed changed color and edged behind Macfarlane's gun. + +Colina presently reappeared, showing a white and stony face. "Mr. +Pringle," she said, "go down and lock the side door and bring me the +key. The rest of you go to the library and wait for me." + +Ambrose flushed darkly. That Colina should even for a moment hold the +balance between him and the half-breed made him burn with anger. +Passionate reproaches leaped to his lips, but pride forced them back. + +Turning stiffly he marched downstairs before Macfarlane without a word. +She should suffer for this when he was exonerated, he vowed. That he +might not be exonerated immediately did not occur to him. + +In the library Strange and Macfarlane whispered together. When Pringle +rejoined them all were silent. For upward of ten minutes they waited, +facing each other grimly. + +The strain was too great for the nerves of the little parson. He +finally broke into a kind of terrified, dry sobbing. + +"For God's sake say something!" he faltered. "This is too horrible!" + +Macfarlane glanced at him with a contemptuous pity and stood a little +aside from the door. "Better go into the front room," he said. "You +can't do any good here." + +The little man shook his head, and going to the window turned his back +on them and endeavored to master his shaking. + +Shortly afterward Colina came down-stairs. At her entrance all looked +the question none dared put into words. + +Colina veiled her eyes. "My father only fainted," she said levelly. +"Dr. Giddings says he is little worse than before." + +A long breath escaped from her hearers. + +Strange cunningly contrived to get his story out first. As he spoke +all eyes were bent on the ground. They could not face the horror of +the other eyes. + +Pringle was obliged to sit on the sofa to control the trembling of his +limbs. The others stood--Macfarlane, Colina, and Strange near the +door--Ambrose facing them from in front of the desk. + +"You will remember," Strange began collectedly, "it was I who advised +that this man should be admitted to the house. I thought we could +watch him better from the inside. I have never ceased to watch him +from that moment. + +"When you all turned in and I was left at the side door I kept my eye +on this room. The last time I looked in I saw that he had disappeared. +He had slipped so softly down the hall I had not heard anything. + +"I instantly thought of danger to those up-stairs, and crept up as +quickly as I could without making any sound. I found the door of Mr. +Gaviller's room closed. I knew Miss Colina had left it open. I opened +it softly, and saw Doane on the bed with his hands at Mr. Gaviller's +throat." + +A shuddering breath escaped from Colina. The little parson moaned. + +"He sprang at me," Strange went on. "We rolled on the ground. I +called for help, and you all came. That is all." + +Ambrose was staggered by the breed's satanic cleverness. After this +his own story must sound like a pitiful imitation. He could never tell +it now with the same assurance. + +"Surely, surely they must know that a true man couldn't take it so +coolly," he thought. But they were convinced; he could see it in their +faces. + +He felt as powerless as a dreamer in the grip of a nightmare. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CONVICTED. + +When Strange finished there was a significant silence. They were +waiting for Ambrose to speak. Stiffening himself he told his story as +manfully as he could. Conscious of its weakness he wore a hang-dog air +which contrasted unfavorably with Strange's seeming candor. + +No comment was made upon it. Ambrose could feel their unexpressed +sneers like goads in the raw flesh. Only Colina gave no sign. +Macfarlane turned to her for instructions. + +She contrived to maintain her proud and stony air up to the moment she +was obliged to speak. But her self-command went out with her +shuddering voice. "I--I don't know what to say," she whispered +tremblingly. + +"Surely there can be no question here!" cried Strange with a voice full +of reproachful indignation. "I have served Mr. Gaviller faithfully for +nearly thirty years. This man's whole aim has been to ruin him!" + +"This is the tone I should be taking instead of letting him run me +out," Ambrose thought dispassionately, as if it were somebody else. +But he remained dumb. + +"What earthly reason could I have for trying to injure my benefactor?" +cried Strange. His voice broke artistically on the final word. "You +all know what I think of him. Your suspicions hurt me!" + +Macfarlane crossed over and clapped him on the shoulder. Colina kept +her eyes down. She was very pale; her lips were compressed and her +hands clenched at her sides. + +Ambrose bestirred himself to his own defense. "Let me ask a question," +he said quietly to Strange. "You say when you opened the door you saw +me with my hands on Mr. Gaviller. How could you see me?" + +"With my electric flash-light," Strange instantly answered. + +"That's a lie," said Ambrose. "The flash-light was mine. I can prove +it by a dozen witnesses." + +"Produce it," said Strange sneering. + +"You knocked it out of my hand," said Ambrose. "It will be found +somewhere on the floor up-stairs." + +Strange drew his hand out of his pocket. "On the contrary, it is +here," he said. "And it has never been out of my possession. As to +your identifying it, there are dozens like it in the country. It is +the style all the stores carry." + +Ambrose shrugged. "I've nothing more to say," he said. "The man is a +liar. The truth is bound to come out in the end." + +The white men paid little attention to this, but it stung Strange to +reply. "If Mr. Gaviller were able to speak he'd soon decide between +us!" + +At that moment, as if Strange's speech had evoked, him, they heard +Giddings in the hall. + +"Has he spoken?" they asked breathlessly. + +Colina kept her eyes hidden. + +Giddings nodded. "He sent me down-stairs to order Macfarlane to arrest +Doane." + +Colina fell back against the door-frame with a hand to her breast. +"Did he--did he _see_ him?" she whispered. + +"No," said Giddings reluctantly. "He did not see his assailant. But +said to accuse Strange of the deed was the act of a desperate criminal." + +"You're under arrest!" Macfarlane said bruskly to Ambrose. Turning to +Colina, he added deprecatingly: "You had better leave the room, Miss +Gaviller." + +She shook her head. Clearly speech was beyond her. Not once during +the scene had Ambrose been able to see her eyes, Macfarlane waited a +moment for her to go, then shrugged deprecatingly. + +"Will you submit to handcuffs or must I force you?" he demanded of +Ambrose. + +Ambrose did not hear him. His eyes were fastened on Colina. So long +as he was tortured by a doubt of her he was oblivious to everything +else. + +The heart knows no logic. It deals directly with the heart. Love +looks for loyalty as its due. Ambrose was amazed and incredulous and +sickened by his love's apparent faint-heartedness. + +"Colina!" he cried indignantly, "have you nothing to say? Do you +believe this lie?" + +Her agonized eyes flew to his--full of passionate gratitude to hear him +defend himself. His scorn both abased and overjoyed her. Her heart +knew. + +None of the others recognized what was passing in those glances. + +Macfarlane took a step forward. "Here! Leave Miss Gaviller out of +this!" he said harshly. + +Ambrose did not look at him, but his hand clenched ready to strike. +His eyes were fixed on Colina, demanding an answer. + +Color came back to her cheeks and firmness to her voice. "Stop!" she +cried to Macfarlane in her old imperious way. "I'm the mistress here. +My father is incapable of giving orders. You've no right to judge this +man. None of us can choose. There is no evidence. I will not have +either one handcuffed!" + +Macfarlane fell back disconcerted. "I was thinking of your father's +safety," he muttered. + +"I will watch over him myself," she said. She went swiftly up the +stairs. + +Ambrose sat by himself on a chair at the junction of the side passage +with the stair hall. Naturally, after what had passed, he avoided the +other men--and they him. + +It was growing light. He saw the panes of the side door gray and +whiten. Later he could make out the damaged front of the store across +the square. + +Macfarlane was again upon watch by the door. Strange and Pringle were +in the library. Giddings was with Colina and the sick man up-stairs. + +Ambrose watched the coming of day with grim eyes. He had had plenty of +time to consider his situation. True, Colina had not failed him, but +he did not minimize the dangers ahead. + +He knew something of the uncertainty of men's justice. Out of the +tumult of rage that had at first shattered him had been born a resolve +to guard himself warily. + +Daylight had an odd effect of novelty. It seemed to him as if years +separated him from the previous day. + +Strange came out of the library to take an observation. At the sight +of him Ambrose's eyes burned. If scorn could kill the half-breed would +have fallen in his tracks. + +"They're still quiet," remarked Macfarlane. + +"Too quiet," said Strange. "If they made a noise we could guess what +they were up to!" + +The two men held a low-voiced colloquy by the door. Ambrose supposed +that Strange was again offering to go out to reconnoiter. The +policeman was expostulating with him. + +He heard Strange say; "I'm afraid they may attempt to wreck the mill +before they go. That would be fatal for all of us. I had no +opportunity yesterday to put on new locks." + +Macfarlane begged Strange not to risk himself. + +"He's safe enough," thought Ambrose grimly. + +Strange finally had his way. + +Ambrose speculated on what his real object might be. "That bull-headed +redcoat is likely to get a surprise!" he thought. + +In less than ten minutes the half-breed returned. Macfarlane warmly +grasped his hand. + +"It's all right," said Strange. "I went straight up to them. I had no +trouble. Even now the older heads are thinking of the consequences. I +think they'll be gone directly." + +After some further talk in low tones Strange went back into the +library, and Macfarlane sat down with his gun across his knees. + +Once more quiet ruled the house. Ambrose's head fell forward on his +breast and he slept uneasily. + + +He was roused by the cry they had waited all night in dread of hearing: +"They're coming!" + +Strange and Pringle ran out into the hall. Low as the cry was it was +heard above. Colina and Giddings came flying down-stairs. Ambrose had +already joined the others. + +In the face of the deadly danger that threatened the men forgot their +animosity for the moment. They were all crowded together in the narrow +passage, far enough back from the closed door to see through the panes +without being seen. + +The five whites were afraid, as they might well be--but without panic. +The half-breed was suspiciously calm. They lacked an unquestioned +leader. + +"That is Myengeen leading them," said Strange; "a bad Indian!" + +"Macfarlane--tell us what to do," said Giddings. + +"They're quiet now," said Colina. "I shall speak to them!" + +Macfarlane put out a restraining hand. "Leave this to me!" he said +quickly. + +"We're in each other's way here," cried Ambrose. "Let us spread +through some of the rooms." + +"Right!" said Macfarlane. "Doane, Giddings, and Miss Colina--go into +the library and throw up the windows on this side. Shoot between the +boards if I give the word. The guns are inside the door." + +A cry from Strange brought them out into the hall again. "They've +raised a white flag! They want to parley not to fight." + +The others murmured their relief. + +"Open the door!" cried Strange. "I will speak to them." + +Ambrose fell back a little. The other men crowded around Strange, +urging him to be careful of himself. Strange was doing the modest hero! + +It was a pretty little play. At the sight of it a harsh jangle of +laughter rang inside Ambrose. Colina took no part in the scene. + +Strange stepped out on the porch. Ambrose heard him speaking the +uncouth Kakisa tongue, and heard the murmur of replies. He would have +given a bale of furs to understand what was being said. + +The exchange was brief. Strange presently stepped inside and said: + +"They say they want their leader--Ambrose Doane." + +A dead silence fell on the little group. They turned and stared at +Ambrose. He, for the moment, was stunned with astonishment. He was +aware only of Colina's stricken, white face. She looked as if she had +been shot. + +"They say they are ready to go," Strange went on. "They promise to +make no more trouble if we give Doane up. If we refuse, they say they +will take him, anyway." + +"It's an infernal lie!" cried Ambrose desperately. "I am no leader of +theirs!" + +She did not believe him. Her eyes lost all their luster and her lovely +face looked ashen. She seemed about to fall. + +Giddings went to her aid, but she pushed him away. She seemed +unconscious of the presence of the ethers. Her accusing eyes were +fixed on Ambrose. + +"I believed in you," she murmured in a dead voice. "I believed in you! +Oh, God!" Her hands were flung up in a despairing gesture. "Let him +go!" she cried to Macfarlane over her shoulder, and ran down the hall +and up the stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A CHANGE OF JAILERS. + +There was a significant silence in the passage when Colina had gone. + +Finally Macfarlane said stubbornly, "He's my prisoner. It's my duty to +hold him against any odds. It's the first rule of the service." + +Giddings and Pringle urgently remonstrated with him. Strange held +apart as if he considered it none of his business. At last, with a +deprecating air, he added his voice to the other men's. + +"Look here," he said smoothly; "you know best, of course; but aren't +there times when a soldier must make his own rules? All of us men +would stand by you gladly, but there's a sick man up-stairs that they +have been taught to hate. And a woman." + +Macfarlane gave in with a shrug. "I suppose you'll stand by me if I'm +hauled up for it," he grumbled. + +He drew his revolver and stood aside to let Ambrose pass. The others +likewise drew back, as from one marked with the plague. Every face was +hard with scorn. + +Ambrose kept his eyes straight ahead. When he appeared on the porch, +cries, apparently of welcome, were raised by the Kakisas. + +Ambrose supposed that Strange had made a deal with the Kakisas to put +him out of the way. He believed that he was going straight to his +death. + +He accepted it sooner than make an appeal to those who scorned him. He +wished to speak to them before he went; but it was to warn them, not to +ask for aid for himself. + +He faced the little group in the doorway. "I tell you again," he said, +"this is all a put-up job. You know nothing of what is going on but +what this breed chooses to tell you. He's a liar and a murderer. If +you put yourselves in his hands, so much the worse for you." + +The white men laughed in Ambrose's face. The breed smiled +deprecatingly and forgivingly. + +"Hold your tongue, and be thankful you're getting off so easy," +Macfarlane said, full of honest contempt. + +Ambrose became very pale. He turned his back, on them, and, climbing +over the wire barrier, marched stiffly down to the gate. The +consciousness of innocence is supposed to be sufficient to armor a man +against any slanders, but this is only partially true. + +When one's accusers are honest, their scorn hurts, hurts more than any +other wound we are capable of receiving. Ambrose was of the type that +rages against a hurt. At present, for all he was outwardly so pale and +still, he was deafened and blinded by rage. + +It was now full daylight. An extraordinary picture faced the watchers +from the doorway--the ruined store in the background, the grotesque +crew hanging to the fence palings. + +Their ordinary rags were covered with layers of misfit clothing out of +the store, while many of them wore several hats, and others had extra +pairs of shoes hanging around their necks. + +There was a great display of gaudy silk handkerchiefs. Pockets bulged +with small articles of loot, and nearly every man lugged some +particular treasure according to his fancy, whether it was an alarm +clock or a glass pitcher or a bolt of red flannel. + +The younger men, still susceptible to gallantry, mostly were burdened +with crushed articles of feminine finery, gaily trimmed hats, red or +blue shawls, fancy satin bodices, corsets with the strings dangling. + +The faces, after a night of unbridled license, showed dull and slack in +the daylight. + +Myengeen, whom Ambrose had marked earlier as a leader of the mob, +gripped his hand at the gate and cried out with hypocritical joy. +Others crowded around, those who could not obtain his hands, stroking +his sleeves and fawning upon him. + +There was an ironical note in the demonstration. Ambrose observed that +the majority of the Indians looked on indifferently. He smelted +treachery in the air. + +The mob, facing about, started to move in open order toward the river. +Ambrose, as they opened up, caught sight of the two dead bodies. It +afflicted him with a dull at the pit of the stomach--these were the +first deaths by violence he had witnessed. + +They still lay where they had fallen--the Indian sprawling in the +middle of a black stain on the platform; Tole huddled on the bare earth +of the quadrangle. Ambrose's heart sank at the thought of returning to +Simon Grampierre with the gift of a dead son. + +The Indians gave no regard to the bodies--apparently they meant to +leave them behind. Ambrose with no uncertain gestures commanded +Myengeen to have them taken up and carried to the boat. It was done. + +When they got down the bank out of sight of the house Myengeen and the +others gave over their hollow pretense of enthusiasm at Ambrose's +release. + +Thereafter none paid the least attention to him. + +He saw that they had not only loaded the boat they came in, but on the +principle of in for a penny, in for a pound, had also taken possession +of one of the company york boats, and had loaded it to the gunwale. + +They immediately embarked and pushed off. Ambrose secured a place +below Myengeen's steering platform. In the bottom of the boat, at his +feet, lay the wizened Indian in his rags, and the straight, slim body +of Tole--side by side like brothers in a bed. + +Tole's face was not disfigured; serene, boyish, and comely, it gave +Ambrose's heart-strings a fresh wrench. He covered them both with a +piece of sail-cloth. + +Across the river, as the Indians started to unload, Watusk came down to +the beach, followed by several of his councilors. It was impossible to +tell from his inscrutable, self-important air what he thought of all +this. + +His flabby, yellow face changed neither at the sight of all the wealth +they brought nor at the two dead men. Ambrose demanded four men of him +to carry Tole's body to his father's house. + +Watusk kept him waiting while he listened to a communication from +Myengeen. Ambrose guessed that it had to do with himself, for both men +glanced furtively at him. Watusk finally turned away without having +answered the white man. + +Ambrose, growing red, imperiously repeated his demand. Watusk, still +without looking at him directly, spoke a word to some Indians within +call, and Ambrose was immediately seized by a dozen hands. + +He was finally bound hand and foot with thongs of hide. This was no +more than he expected, still he did not submit without a fierce but +ineffectual struggle. + +When it was done his captors looked on him with respect--they did not +laugh at him nor evince any anger. It was impossible for him to read +any clue in their stolid faces what was going forward. + +Half a dozen of them carried him up the bank and laid him at the door +of a teepee. Presently Watusk passed by. Ambrose so violently +demanded an explanation that the Indian was forced to stop. He said, +still without meeting Ambrose's eye: + +"Myengeen say you kill Tom Moosa. You got to take our law." + +"It's a lie!" cried Ambrose, suffocating with indignation. + +Watusk shrugged and disappeared. It was useless for Ambrose to shout +at any of the others. He fumed in silence. The Indians gave his +dangerous eyes a wide berth. + +Meanwhile the camp was plunged into a babel of confusion by the order +to move. + +Boys ran here and there catching the horses, the teepees came down on +the run, and the squaws frantically to pack their household gear. +Infants and dogs infected with a common excitement outvied each other +in screaming and barking. + +Ambrose saw only the beginning of the preparations. A horse was +brought to where he lay, and the six men whom he was beginning to +recognize as his particular guard unbound his ankles and lifted him +into the saddle. + +They never dared lay hands on him except in concert--he took what +comfort he could out of that tribute to his prowess. They tied his +bound wrists to the saddle-horn, and also tied his ankles under the +horse's belly, leaving just play enough for him to use the stirrups. + +The six then mounted their own horses, and they set off at a swift lope +away from the river--one leading Ambrose's horse. + +They extended themselves in single file along a well-beaten trail. +This, Ambrose knew, was the way to the Kakisa River--their own country. + +A chill struck to his breast. Any intelligible danger may be faced +with a good heart, but to be cast among capricious and inscrutable +savages, whom he could neither command nor comprehend, was enough to +undermine the stoutest courage. + +Nevertheless he strove with himself as he rode. "They cannot put it +over me unless I knuckle under," he thought. "They're afraid of me. +No Indian that ever lived can face out a white man when the white man +knows his power." + +Several dogs followed them out of camp. There was one that the others +all snapped at and drove from among them. Ambrose suddenly recognized +Job, and his heart leaped up. + +He had left him at Grampierre's the night before. The faithful little +beast must have followed him down to the Kakisa camp and have been +waiting for him ever since to return. + +During the events of the last half-hour Job had no doubt been regarding +his master from afar. The other dogs would not let him run at the +horses' heels, but he followed indomitably in the rear. + +Every time they went over a hill Ambrose saw him trotting patiently far +behind in the trail. When they stopped to eat there was a joyful +reunion. + +Ambrose no longer felt friendless. He divided his rations with his +humble follower. The Indians smiled. In this respect they evidently +considered the formidable white man a little soft-headed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +A GLEAM OF HOPE. + +In the middle of the third day of hard riding over a flower-starred +prairie, and through belts of poplar bush, they came to the Kakisa River. + +By this time Ambrose had become somewhat habituated to his captivity. At +any rate, he was more philosophical. He had been treated well enough. + +There was a village at the end of the trail. Hearing the astonishing +news of what had happened, the people stared at Ambrose with their hard, +bright eyes as at a phenomenon. + +Ambrose figured that they had left Fort Enterprise a hundred and fifty +miles behind. He looked at the river with interest. He had heard that +no white man had ever descended it. + +He saw a smoothly flowing brown flood some two hundred yards wide winding +away between verdant willows. A smaller stream joined it at this point, +and the teepees stretched along either bank. + +Across the larger stream loomed a bold hill-point with a striking clump +of pines upon it, and under the trees the gables of an Indian +burying-ground like a village of toy houses. + +The flat where the rivers joined was hemmed all around by low hills. On +the right, half-way up the rise, a log shack dominated the village--and +to it Ambrose's captors led him. + +This was evidently intended to be his prison. Window and door were +closely boarded up. The Indians tore the boards from the doorway and, +casting off Ambrose's bonds, thrust him inside. They closed the door, +leaving him in utter darkness. He heard them contriving a bar to keep +him in. + +Ambrose, after waving his arms about to restore the circulation, set to +exploring his quarters by sense of touch. First he collided with a +counter running across from side to side. + +Behind, in the middle of the room, he found an iron cook-stove; against +the right hand wall were tiers of empty shelves; at the back a bedstead +filled with moldy hay; on the left side an empty chest, a table, and a +chair. + +Thus it was a combination of store and dwelling; no doubt it had been +built for Gordon Strange's use when he came to trade with the Kakisas. + +The window was over the table. Ambrose found it nailed down, besides +being boarded up outside. He had no intention of submitting to the +deprivation of light and air. + +He picked up the chair and swinging it delivered a series of blows that +shattered the glass, cracked the frame, and finally drove out the boards. +He found himself looking into the impassive faces of his jailers. + +They did not even seem surprised, and made no demonstration against him. +Ambrose whistled. Job came running and scrambled over the window-sill +into his master's arms. + +Later one of the Indians came with strips of moose hide which he pinned +across outside the window. From each strip dangled a row of bells, such +as are fastened to dog-harness. It was cunningly contrived--Ambrose +could not touch one of the strips ever so gently without giving an alarm. + +Thereafter, as long as it was light, he could see them loafing and +sleeping in the grass outside with their guns beside them. After dark +their pipe-bowls glowed. + +Three days of inexpressible tedium followed. Had it not been for Job, +Ambrose felt he would have gone out of his mind. His window overlooked +the teepee village, and his sole distraction from his thoughts lay in +watching the Indians at work and play. + +His jailers put up a teepee outside the shack. There were never less +than three in sight, generally playing poker--and with their guns beside +them. + +Ambrose knowing the inconsequentiality of the Indian mind guessed that +they must have had strong orders to keep them on guard so faithfully. +Any thought of escape was out of the question. He could not travel a +hundred and fifty miles without a store of food. He sought to keep out a +little from every meal that was served him, but he got barely enough for +him and Job, too. + +On the fourth day the arrival of the main body of Indians from Fort +Enterprise created a diversion. They came straggling slowly on foot down +the hill to the flat, extreme weariness marked in their heavy gait and +their sagging backs. + +Only Watusk rode a horse. Every other beast was requisitioned to carry +the loot from the store. Some of the men--and all the women bore packs +also. This was why they had been so long on the way. + +True to their savage nature they had taken more than they could carry. +As Ambrose learned later, there were goods scattered wantonly all along +the trail. + +Ambrose naturally anticipated some change in his own condition as a +result of the arrival of Watusk. But nothing happened immediately. The +patient squaws set to work to make camp, and by nightfall the village of +teepees was increased fourfold. + +In the motionless twilight each cone gave a perpendicular thread of smoke +to the thin cloud that hung low over the flat. + +As the darkness increased the teepees became faintly luminous from the +fires within, and the streets gleamed like strings of pale Japanese +lanterns. Ambrose, expecting visitors, watched at his window until late. + +None came. + +In the morning he made the man who brought his breakfast understand by +signs that he wished to speak with Watusk. The chief did not, however, +vouchsafe him a call. + +To-day it transpired that the Indians were only making a temporary halt +below. After a few hours' rest they got in motion again, and all +afternoon were engaged in ferrying their baggage across the river in +dugouts and in swimming their horses over. + +On the following morning, with the exception of Watusk's lodge and half a +dozen others, all the teepees were struck, and the whole body of the +people crossed the river and disappeared behind the hill. All on that +side was no man's land, still written down "unexplored" on the maps. + +Thereafter day succeeded day without any break in the monotony of +Ambrose's imprisonment. He occasionally made out the portly figure of +Watusk in his frock coat, but received no word from him. + +It was now the 20th of September, and the poplar boughs were bare. Every +morning now the grass was covered with rime, and to-day a flurry of snow +fell. Winter would increase the difficulties of escape tenfold. + +Ambrose speculated endlessly on what might be happening at Fort +Enterprise. He thought, too, of Peter Minot who was relying on him to +steer the hazarded fortunes of the firm into port--and groaned at his +impotence. + +As with all solitary prisoners, throughout the long hours Ambrose's mind +preyed upon itself. True, he had Job, who was friend and consoler in his +dumb way, but Job was only a dog. + +To joke or to swear at his jailers was like trying to make a noise in a +vacuum. Not to be able to make himself felt became a positive torture to +Ambrose. + +On the night of this day, lying in bed, he found himself wide awake +without being able to say what had awakened him. He lay listening, and +presently heard the sound again--the fall of a little object on the floor. + +The chinks of the log walls were stopped with mud which had dried and +loosened; nothing strange that bits of it should fall--still his heart +beat fast. + +He heard a cautious scratching and another piece dropped and broke on the +floor. Now he knew a living agency was at work. Job growled. Ambrose +clutched his muzzle. + +Suddenly a whisper stole through the dark--in his amazement Ambrose could +not have told from what quarter. "Angleysman! Angleysman!" + +Awe of the supernatural shook Ambrose's breast. He had come straight +from deep slumber. A fine perspiration broke out upon him. It was a +woman's whisper, with a tender lift and fall in the sound. + +Job struggled to release his head. Ambrose sternly bade him be quiet. +The dog desisted, but crouched trembling. + +The whisper was repeated; "Angleysman!" + +A man must answer his summons. "What do you want?" asked Ambrose softly. + +"Come here." + +"Where are you?" + +"Here--at the corner. Come to the foot of your bed." + +Ambrose obeyed. Reaching the spot he said: "Speak again." + +"Here," the voice whispered. "I mak' a hole in the mud. Put your ear +down and I spik sof'." + +Ambrose identified the spot whence the sound issued. He put his lips to +it. "Who are you?" he whispered. + +"Nesis," came the softly breathed answer. "I your friend." + +Friend was always a word to warm Ambrose's breast, and surely at this +moment of all his life he needed a friend. "Thank you," he said from a +full heart. + +"I see you at the tea-dance," the voice went on. + +Ambrose had an intuition. "Were you the girl--" + +"Yes," she said. "I sit be'ind you. I think you pretty man. When we +run out I squeeze your hand." + +Ambrose grinned into the darkness. "I thought you were pretty, too," he +returned. + +"Oh, I wish I in there," she whispered. + +He was a little nonplused by her naive warmth. + +"The men say you strong as one bear," she went on. "They say you got +gold in your teeth. Is that true?" + +"Yes," said Ambrose laughing. + +"I lak' to see that." + +In spite of the best intent on both sides conversation languished. It is +difficult to make acquaintance through a wall of logs. Finally Ambrose +asked how it was she could speak English, and that unlocked her simple +story. + +"My fat'er teach me," she said. "He is half a white man. He come here +long tam ago and marry Kakisa. He spik ver' good Angleys. When Watusk +is make head man he mad at my fat'er because my fat'er spik Angleys. + +"Watusk not want nobody spik Angleys but him around. Watusk fix it to +mak' them kill my fat'er. It is the truth. Watusk not know I spik +Angleys, too. My fat'er teach me quiet. If Watusk know that he cut out +my tongue, I think. I lak spik Angleys--me. I spik by myself so not +forget. I come spik Angleys with you." + +"Your father is dead?" said Ambrose. "Who do you live with?" + +"Watusk," came the surprising answer. "I Watusk's youngest wife. Got +four wives." + +"Good Lord!" murmured Ambrose. + +"When my fat'er is kill, Watusk tak' me," she went on. "I hate him!" + +"What a shame!" cried Ambrose, remembering the wistful face. + +"I wish I in there!" she whispered again. + +"Will you help me to get out?" Ambrose asked eagerly. "I can make it if +you can slip me some food." + +"I not want you go 'way," she said slowly. + +"I can't live locked up like this!" he cried. + +"Yes, I help you," she whispered. + +"Could you get me a horse, too?" he asked. + +"Yes," she said. "But many men is watch the trail for police. Tak' a +canoe and go down the river." + +"Where does this river go?" + +"They say to the Big Buffalo lake." + +"Good! I can get back to Moultrie from there. Can you bring me a strong +knife?" + +"I bring him to-morrow night, Angleysman." + +"I will cut a hole in the floor and dig out under the wall." + +Nesis was not anxious to talk over the details of his escape. "Have you +got a wife?" she asked. "Why not?" There was no end to her questions. + +Finally she said with a sigh: "I got go now. I put my hand inside. You +can touch it." + +Ambrose felt for the little fingers that crept through the slit, and +gratefully pressed his lips to them. + +"Ah!" she breathed wonderingly. "Was that your mouth? It mak' me jomp! +Put your hand outside, Angleysman." + +He did so, and felt his fingers brushed as with rose-petals. + +"Goo'-by!" she breathed. + +"Nesis," he asked, "do you know why Watusk is keeping me locked up here? +What does he think he's going to do with me?" + +"Sure I know," she said. "Ev'rybody know. If the police catch him he +say he not mak' all this trouble. He say you mak' him do it all. Gordon +Strange tell him say that." + +A great light broke on Ambrose. "Of course!" he said. + +"Goo'-by, Angleysman!" breathed Nesis. "I come to-morrow night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +NESIS. + +After this, Ambrose's dreary imprisonment took on a new color. True, +the hours next day threatened to drag more slowly than ever, but with +the hope that it might be the last day he could bear it philosophically. + +Hour after hour he paced his floor on springs. "Tomorrow the free sky +over my head!" he told himself. "I'll be doing something again!" + +He watched the teepees with an added interest, wondering if any of the +women's figures he saw might be hers. The most he could distinguish at +the distance was the difference between fat and slender. + +In the middle of the morning he saw Watusk ride forth, accompanied by +four men that he guessed were the councilors. Watusk now had a +military aspect. + +On his head he wore a pith helmet, and across the frock coat a broad +red sash like a field marshal's. He and his henchmen climbed the trail +leading back to Enterprise. + +Later, Ambrose saw a party of women leave camp, carrying birch-bark +receptacles that looked like school-book satchels. They commenced to +pick berries on the hillside. Ambrose wondered if his little friend +were among them. + +They gradually circled the hill and approached his shack. As they drew +near he finally recognized Nesis in one who occasionally straightened +her back and glanced toward his window. She was slenderer than the +others. + +The shack stood on a little terrace of clean grass. Above it and below +stretched the rough hillside, covered with scrubby bushes and weeds. +It was in this rough ground that the women were gathering wild +cranberries. + +Coming to the edge of the grass, they paused with full satchels, +talking idly, nibbling the fruit and casting inquisitive glances toward +Ambrose's prison. + +There were eight of them, and Nesis stood out from the lot like a star. +The four men playing poker in the grass at one side paid no attention +to them. + +Nesis with a sly smile whispered in her neighbor's ear. The other girl +grinned and nodded, the word was passed around, and they all came +forward a little way in the grass with a timid air. + +Their inquisitive eyes sought to pierce the obscurity of the shack. +Ambrose, not yet knowing what was expected of him, kept in the +background. + +The fat girl, prompted and nudged by Nesis, suddenly squalled something +in Kakisa, which convulsed them all. Ambrose had no difficulty in +recognizing it as a derisive, flirtatious challenge. + +Not to be outdone, he came to the window and answered in kind. They +could not contain their laughter at the sound of the comical English +syllables. + +Badinage flew fast after that. Ambrose observed that Nesis herself +never addressed him, but circulated slyly from one to another, making a +cup of her hand at each ear. + +Becoming emboldened, they gradually drew closer to the window. They +made outrageous faces. Still the poker-players affected not to be +aware of them. As men and hunters they disdained to notice such +foolishness. + +Suddenly Nesis, as if to prove her superior boldness, darted forward to +the very window. Ambrose, startled by the unexpected move, fell back a +step. Nesis put her hands on the sill and shrieked an unintelligible +jibe into the room. + +The other girls hugged themselves with horrified delight. This was too +much for the jailers. They sprang up and with threatening voice and +gestures drove the girls away. They scampered down-hill, shrieking +with affected terror. + +When Nesis placed her hands on the sill a thin package slipped out of +her sleeve and thudded upon the floor. Ambrose's heart jumped. + +As the girls ran away, under cover of leaning out and calling after +them, he pushed her gift under the table with his foot. One of the +jailers, coming to the window and glancing about the room, found him +unconcernedly lighting his pipe. + +When the poker game was resumed Ambrose retired with his prize to the +farthest corner of the shack. It proved to be the knife he had asked +for, a keen, strong blade. + +She had wrapped it in a piece of moose hide to keep it from clattering +on the floor. Ambrose's heart warmed toward her anew. "She's as +plucky and clever as she is friendly," he thought. He stuffed the +knife in his bed and resigned himself as best he could to wait for +darkness. + +Fortunately for his store of patience, the days were rapidly growing +shorter. His supper was brought him at six, and when he had finished +eating it was dark enough to begin work. + +Outside the moon's first quarter was filling the bowl of the hills with +a delicate radiance, but moonlight outside only made the interior of +the shack darker to one looking in. + +Ambrose squatted in the corner at the foot of his bed, and set to work +as quietly as a mouse in the pantry. + + +He had finished his hole in the flooring and was commencing to dig in +the earth, when a soft scratching on the wall gave notice of Nesis's +presence outside. + +"Angleysman, you there?" she whispered through the chink. + +"Here!" said Ambrose. + +"The boat is ready," she said. "I got grub and blanket and gun." + +"Ah, fine!" whispered Ambrose. + +"You almost out?" she asked. + +He explained his situation. + +"I dig this side, too," she said. "We dig together. Mak' no noise!" + +Since the shack was innocent of foundation it was no great matter to +dig under the wall. With knife and hands Ambrose worked on his side +until he had got deep enough to dig under. + +Occasional little sounds assured him that Nesis was not idle. Suddenly +the thin barrier of earth between them caved in, and they clasped hands +in the hole. + +Five minutes more of scooping out and the way was clear. Ambrose +extended his long body on the floor and wriggled himself slowly under +the log. + +Outside an urgent hand on his shoulder restrained him. Throwing +herself on the ground, she put her lips to his ear. "Go back!" she +whispered. "The moon is moch bright. You must wait little while." + +Ambrose, mad to taste the free air of heaven, resisted a little +sullenly. + +"Please go back!" she whispered imploringly. "I come in. I got talk +with you." + +He drew himself back into the shack with none too good a grace. +Standing over the hole when she appeared, he put his hands under her +arms and, drawing her through, stood her upon her feet. + +He could have tossed the little thing in the air with scarcely an +effort. She turned about and came close to him. + +"I so glad to be by you!" she breathed. + +She emanated a delicate natural fragrance like pine-trees or wild +roses--but Ambrose could only think of freedom. + +"You managed to get here without being seen," he grumbled. + +"You foolish!" she whispered tenderly. "I little. I can hide behind +leaves sof' as a link. Your white face him show by the moon lak a +little moon. Are you sorry you got stay with me little while?" + +"No!" he said. "But--I'm sick to be out of this!" + +She put her hands on his shoulders and drew him down. "Sit on the +floor," she whispered. "Your ear too moch high for my mouth."' + +They sat, leaning against the footboard of the bed, Like a confiding +child she snuggled her shoulder under his arm and drew the arm around +her. What was he to do hut hold her close? + +"It is true, you ver' moch strong," she murmured. "Lak a bear. But a +bear is ogly." + +"You didn't think I was pretty to-day, did you,", he said with a grin, +"with a week's growth on my chin?" + +She softly stroked his cheek. "Wah!" she said, laughing. "Lak +porcupine! Red man not have strong beard lak that. They say you +scrape it off with a knife every day." + +"When I have the knife," said Ambrose. + +"Why you do that?" she asked. "I lak see it grow down long lak my +hair. That would be wonderful!" + +Ambrose trembled with internal laughter. + +"I lak everything of you," she murmured. + +He was much troubled between his gratitude and his inability to +reciprocate the naive passion she had conceived for him. It is +pleasant to be loved and flattered and exalted, but it entails +obligations. + +"I never can thank you properly for what you've done," he said clumsily. + +"I do anything for you," she said quickly. "So soon my eyes see you to +the dance I know that. Always before that I am think about white men. +I not see no white men before, only the little parson, and the old men +at the fort. They not lak you? My father is the same as me. He lak +white men. We talk moch about white men. My fat'er say to me never +forget the Angleys talk. Do I spik Angleys good, Angleysman?" + +"Fine!" whispered Ambrose. + +She pulled his head forward so that she could breathe her soft speech +directly in his ear. + +"My father and me not the same lak other people here. We got white +blood. Men not talk with their girls moch. My fat'er talk man talk +with me. Because he is got no boys, only me. So I know many things. + +"I think, women's talk foolish. Many tam my fat'er say to me, Angleys +talk mak' men strong. He say to me, some day Watusk kill me for cause +I spik the Angleys. + +"So in the tam of falling leaves lak this, three years ago, my fat'er +he is go down the river to the big falls to meet the people from Big +Buffalo Lake. + +"My fat'er and ten men go. Bam-by them come back. My fat'er not in +any dugout. Them say my fat'er is hunt with Ahcunza one day. My +fat'er is fall in the river and go down the big falls. + +"They say that. But I know the truth. Ahcunza is a friend of Watusk. +Watusk give him his vest with goldwork after. My fat'er is dead. I am +lak wood then. My mot'er sell me to Watusk. I not care for not'ing." + +"Your mother, sell you!" murmured Ambrose. + +"My mot'er not lak me ver' moch," said Nesis simply. "She mad for +cause I got white blood. She mad for cause my fat'er all tam talk with +me." + +"Three years ago!" said Ambrose. "You must have been a little girl +then!" + +"I fourteen year old then. My mot'er got 'not'er osban' now. Common +man. They gone with Buffalo Lake people. I not care. All tam I think +of my fat'er. He is one fine man. + +"Las' summer the priest come here. Mak' good talk, him. Say if we +good, bam-by we see the dead again. What you think, is that true talk, +Angleysman?" + +Ambrose's arm tightened around the wistful child. "Honest truth!" he +whispered. + +She opened her simple heart fully to him. Her soft speech tumbled out +as if it had been dammed all these years, and only now released by a +touch of kindness. + +Ambrose was touched as deeply as a young man may be by a woman he does +not love, yet he could not help glancing over her head at the square of +sky obliquely revealed through the window. It gradually darkened. + +"The moon has gone down," he said at last. + +Nesis clung to him. "Ah, you so glad to leave me!" she whimpered. + +He gently released himself. "Think of me a little," he said. "I must +get a long start before daylight." + +She buried her face on her knees. Her shoulders shook. + +"Nesis!" he whispered appealingly. + +She lifted her head and flung a hand across her eyes. "No good cry," +she murmured. "Come on!" + +Nesis led the way out through the hole they had dug. Job followed +Ambrose. Outside, for greater safety, he took the dog in his arms. + +The moon had sunk behind the hill across the river, but it was still +dangerously bright. Nesis took hold of Ambrose's sleeve and pointed +off to the right. She whispered in his ear: + +"Ev'ry tam feel what is under your foot before step hard." + +She did not make directly for the river, but led him step by step up +the hill toward a growth of timber that promised safety. The first +hundred yards was the most difficult. + +They rose above the shack into the line of vision of the guards in +front, had they elevated their eyes. Nesis, crouching, moved like a +cat after a bird. + +Ambrose followed, scarcely daring to breathe. Even the dog understood +and lay as if dead in Ambrose's arms. + +The danger decreased with every step. When they gained the trees they +could fairly count themselves safe. Even if an alarm were raised now +it would take time to find them in the dark. + +Nesis, still leading Ambrose, pattered ahead as if every twig in the +bush was familiar to her. She did not strike down to the river until +they had gone a good way around the side of the hill. + +This brought them to the water's edge at a point a third of a mile or +more below the teepees. Ambrose distinguished a bark canoe drawn up +beneath the willows. In it lay the outfit she had provided. + +He put it in the water, and Job hopped into his accustomed place in the +bow. + +"You love that dog ver' moch," Nesis murmured jealously. + +"He's all I've got," said Ambrose. + +Her hand swiftly sought his. + +"Tell me how I should go," said Ambrose hastily, fearing a +demonstration. + +Nesis drew a long sigh. "I tell you," she said sadly. "They say it is +four sleeps to the big falls. Two sleeps by quiet water. Many bad +rapids after that. You mus' land by every rapid to look. They say the +falls mak' no noise before they catch you. Ah! tak' care!" + +"I know rivers," said Ambrose. + +"They say under the water is a cave with white bones pile up!" she +faltered. "They say my fat'er is there. I 'fraid for you to go!" + +"I'll be careful," he said lightly. "Don't you worry!" + +"At the falls," she went on sadly, "you mus' land on the side away from +the sun, and carry your canoe on your back. There is pretty good +trail. Three miles. After that one more sleep to the big lake. A +Company fort is there." + +Like an honest man he dreaded the mere formulas of thanks at such a +moment, but neither could an honest man forego them. "How can I ever +repay you!" he mumbled. + +She clapped a warm hand over his mouth. + +As he was about to step in the canoe Ambrose saw a bundle lying on the +ground to one side that he had not remarked before. "What is that?" he +asked. + +"Nothing for you," she said quickly. + +The evasive note made him insist upon knowing. + +For a long time she would not tell, thus increasing his determination +to find out. Finally she said very low: "I jus' foolish. I think +maybe--maybe you want tak' me too!" + +Ambrose's heart was wrung. His arm went around her with a right good +will. "You poor baby!" he murmured. "I can't!" + +She struggled to release herself. "All right," she said stiffly. "I +not think you tak' me. Only maybe." + +"By God!" swore Ambrose. "If I live through my troubles I'll find a +way of getting you out of yours!" + +"Ah, come back!" she murmured, clinging to his arm. + +"Good-by," he said. + +"Wait!" she said, clinging to him. She lifted her face. "Kiss me +once, lak' white people kiss!" + +He kissed her fairly. + +"Goo'-by," she whispered. "I always be think of you. Goo'-by, +Angleysman!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +FREE! + +Ambrose put off with a heart big with compassion for the piteous little +figure he was leaving behind him. His impotence to aid her poisoned +the joy of his escape. + +The worst of it was that it was impossible for him to return the +feeling she had for him--even though Colina were lost to him forever. +Her unlucky passion almost forbade him to be the one to aid her. + +Yet he had profited by that passion to make his escape. He must find +some way. + +As he drove his paddle into the breast of the dark river, and put one +point of willows after another between him and danger, it must be +confessed that his spirits rose steadily. + +Never had his nostrils tasted anything sweeter than the smell of warm +river water on the chill air, nor his eyes beheld a friendlier sight +than the cheery stars. The one who fares forth does not repine. + +After all he had only known Nesis for two days; she was fine and +plucky--but he could not love her, and that was all there was to it. +He had matters nearer his heart than the sad fate of an Indian maiden. + +Master of his actions once more it was time for him to consider what to +do to get out of the coil he was in. Nesis passed into the back of his +mind. + +No desire for sleep hampered him. He had had enough of sleeping the +past two weeks. His arms had ached for this exercise. There was a +fair current, and the willows moved by at a respectable rate. + +He estimated that he could put forty miles between him and the Kakisa +village by morning. The pleasant taste of freedom was heightened by +the spice of heading into the unknown, and by night. + +Night returns a rare sympathy to those who cultivate her. Ambrose, so +far as he knew, was the first white man ever to travel this way. This +river had no voice. The night was so still one could almost fancy one +heard the stars. + +Sometimes the looming shapes of islands confused him as to his course, +but if he held his paddle the canoe would of itself choose the main +current. + +He had no apprehension as to what each bend in the stream would reveal, +for with the experienced riverman's intuition he looked for a change in +the character of the shores to warn him of any interruption of the +current's smooth flow. + +"Like old times, old fel'!" he said to his dumb partner. + +Job's tail thumped on the gunwale. Ambrose contended that at night Job +purposely turned stern formost to the most convenient hard object that +his signals might be audible. + +"To-night is ours anyway, old fel'," said Ambrose. "Let's enjoy it +while we can. The worst is yet to come!" + +It was many a day since Job had heard this jocular note in his master's +voice. He wriggled a little and whined in his eagerness to reach him. +Job knew better than to attempt to move much in the bark canoe. + +In due course the miracle of dawn was enacted on the river. The world +stole out of the dark like a woman wan with watching. First the line +of tree-tops on either bank became blackly silhouetted against the +graying sky, then little by little the masses of trees and bushes +resolved into individuals. + +Perspective came into being, afterward atmosphere, and finally color. +The scene was as cool and delicate as that presented to a diver on the +floor of the sea. As the light increased it was as if he mounted into +shallower water toward the sun. + +The first distinctive note of color was the astonishing green of the +goosegrass springing in the mud left by the falling water; then the +current itself became a rich, brown with creamy flakes of foam sailing +down like little vessels. While Ambrose looked, the world blossomed +from a pale nun into a ruddy matron. + +With the rising of the sun the need of sleep began to afflict him. He +had thought he never would need sleep again. His paddle became leaden +in his hands, and Olympian yawns prostrated him. + +He did not wish to take the time to sleep as yet, but he resolved to +stimulate his flagging energies with bread and hot tea. + +Landing on a point of stones, he built a fire, and hung his little +copper pot over it. The sight of everything he had been provided with +brought the thought of Nesis sharply home again, and sobered him. + +Here was everything a traveler might require, even including two extra +pairs of moccasins, worked, he was sure, by herself. "How can I ever +repay her?" he thought uncomfortably. + +Job was gyrating madly up and down the beach to express his joy at +their deliverance. Ambrose was aroused from a drowsy contemplation of +the fire by an urgent bark from the dog. + +Looking up, he was frozen with astonishment to behold another bark +canoe sweeping around the bend above. When motion returned to him, his +hand instinctively shot out toward the gun. But there was only one +figure. It was a woman--it was Nesis! + +Ambrose dropped the gun and, jumping up, swore helplessly under his +breath. He stared at the oncoming boat, fascinated with perplexity. + +During the few seconds between his first sight of it and its grounding +at his feet, the complications bound to follow on her coming presented +themselves with a horrible clearness. His face turned grim. + +Nesis, landing, could not face his look. She flung up an arm over her +eyes. "Ah, don't look so mad to me!" she faltered. + +"God help us!" muttered Ambrose. "What will we do now?" + +She sank down in a heap at his feet. "Don't, don't hate me or I die!"' +she wailed. + +It was impossible for him to remain angry with the forlorn little +creature. He laid a hand on her shoulder. + +"Get up," he said with a sigh. "I'm not blaming you. The question +is--what are we going to do?" + +She lifted her head. "I go with you," she whispered breathlessly. "I +help you in the rapids. I bake bread for you. I watch at night." + +He shook his head. "You've got to go back," he said sternly. + +"No! No!" she cried, wringing her hands. "I can' go back no more! +Las' night when you go I fall down. I think I goin' die. I sorry I +not die. I want jump in river; but the priest say that is a bad thing. + +"I can' go back to Watusk's teepee no more. If he touch me I got kill +him! That is bad, too! I don't know what to do! I want be good so I +see my fat'er bam-by!" + +Ambrose groaned. + +She thought he was relenting, and came and wound her arms about him. +"Tak' me wit' you," she pleaded like a little child. "I be good, +Angleysman!" + +Ambrose firmly detached the imploring arms. "You mustn't do that," he +said as to a child. "We've got to think hard what to do." + +"Ah, you hate me!" she wailed. + +"That's nonsense!" he said sharply. "I am your friend. I will never +forget what you did for me!" + +He took an abrupt turn up and down the stones, trying to think what to +do. "Look here," he said finally. "I've got to hurt you. I should +have told you before, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt you. I can't +love you the way you want. I'm in love with another woman." + +She flung away from him, shoulder up as if he had raised a whip. Her +face turned ugly. + +"You love white woman!" she hissed with extraordinary passion. "Colina +Gaviller! I know! I hate her! She proud and wicked woman. She hate +my people!" Nesis's eyes flamed up with a kind of bitter triumph. Her +voice rose shrilly. + +"She hate you, too! Always she is bad to you. I know that, too. What +you want wit' Colina Gaviller? Are you a dog to lie down when she beat +you?" + +Ambrose's eyes gleamed ominously. "Stop it!" he cried. "You don't +know what you're talking about." His look intimidated her. The fury of +jealousy subsided to a sullen muttering. "I hate her! She bad to the +people. She want starve the people. She think her yellow horse better +than an Indian!" + +Ambrose, seeing her lip begin to tremble and her eyes fill, relented. +"Stop it," he said mildly. "No use for us to quarrel." + +She suddenly broke into a storm of weeping and cast herself down, +hiding her face in her arms. Ambrose could think of nothing better to +do than let her weep herself out. He sat down on a boulder. + +She came creeping to him at last, utterly humbled. "Angleysman, tak' +me wit' you," she murmured, clasping her hands before him. Her breath +was still caught with sobs. "I not expec' you marry me. I not bot'er +you wit' much talk lak' a wife. I jus' be your little servant. You +not want me, you say: Go 'way. I jus' wait till you want me again." + +Ambrose turned his head away. He had never imagined a man having to go +through with anything like this. + +"Always, always I work for you," she whispered. "Let Colina Gaviller +marry you. She not mind me. I guess she not mind that little dog you +love. I jus' poor, common red girl. She think not'ing of me!" + +Ambrose laughed a bitter note at the picture she called up. "That +would hardly work," he said. + +"But tak' me wit' you," she implored. She finally ventured to lay her +cheek on his knee. + +He laid a hand on her hair. "Listen, you baby," he said, "and try to +understand me. You know that they are going to try to put off all this +trouble on me. They will say I made the Indians do bad. They will say +I tried to kill John Gaviller. The police will arrest me, and there +will be a trial. You know what that is." + +"Everybody see you not a bad man," she said. + +"It's not as simple as that," he said with a wry smile. "I have nobody +to speak for me but myself. Now, if you go away with me everybody will +say: 'Ambrose Doane stole Watusk's wife away from him. Ambrose Doane +is a bad man.' And then they will not believe me when I say I did not +lead the Indians into wrong; I did not try to kill John Gaviller." + +"I speak for you," cried Nesis. "I tell Gordon Strange and Watusk fix +all trouble together." + +"If you go with me, they will not believe you either," said Ambrose +patiently. "They will say: 'Nesis is crazy about Ambrose Doane. He +makes her say whatever he wants.'" + +"It is the truth I am crazy 'bout you," said Nesis. + +Ambrose sighed. "Listen to me. I tell you straight, if you go with me +it will ruin me. I am as good as a jailbird already." + +She gave her head an impatient shake. "I not understand," she said +sadly. "You say it. I guess it is truth." + +There was a silence. Nesis's childlike brows were bent into a frown. +She glanced into his face to see if there was any reprieve from the +hard sentence. Finally she said very low: + +"Angleysman, you got go to jail if you tak' me?" + +"Sure as fate!" he said sadly. + +She got up very slowly. "I guess I ver' foolish," she murmured. She +waited, obviously to give him a chance to speak. He was mum. + +"I go back now," she whispered heart-brokenly, and turned toward her +canoe. + +With her hand on the prow she waited again, not looking at him, hoping +against hope. There was something crushed and palpitating in her +aspect like a wounded bird. Ambrose felt like a monster of cruelty. + +Suddenly a fresh fear attacked him. "Nesis," he asked, "how will you +explain being away overnight? They will connect it with my escape. +What will they do to you?" + +She turned her head, showing him a painful little smile. "You not +think of that before," she murmured. "I not care what they do by me. +You not love me." + +He strode to her and clapped a rough hand on her shoulder. "Here, I +couldn't have them hurt you!" he cried harshly. "You baby! You come +with me. I'm in as bad as I can be already. A little more or less +won't make any difference. I'll chance it, anyway. You come with me!" + +"Oh, my Angleysman!" she breathed, and sank a little limp heap at his +feet. + +Ambrose blew up the forgotten fire and made tea. Nesis quickly +revived. Having made up his mind to take her, he put the best possible +face on it. + +There were to be no more reproaches. Her pitiful anxiety not to anger +him again made him wince. Her eyes never left his face. If he so much +as frowned at an uncomfortable thought they became tragic. + +"Look here, I'm not a brute!" he cried, exasperated. + +Nesis looked foolish, and quickly turned her head away. + +Over their tea and bannock they became almost cheerful. Motion had +made them both hungry. + +Ambrose glanced at their slender store. "We'll never hang out to the +lake at this rate," he said laughing. + +"I set rabbit snare when we sleep," Nesis said quickly. "I catch fish. +I shoot wild duck." + +"Shall we leave one of the canoes?" asked Ambrose. + +She shook her head vigorously. "Each tak' one. Maybe one bus' in +rapids. You sleep in your canoe now. I pull you." + +Ambrose shook his head. "No sleep until to-night," he said. + +Ambrose was lighting his pipe and Nesis was gathering up the things +when suddenly Job sprang up, barking furiously. At the same moment +half a score of dark faces rose above the bank behind them, and +gun-barrels stuck up. + +Among the ten was a distorted, snarling, yellow face. Ambrose snatched +up his own gun. Nesis uttered a gasping cry; such a sound of terror +Ambrose had never heard. + +"Shoot me!" she gasped, crawling toward him. "You shoot me! +Angleysman, quick! Shoot me!" + +Her heartrending cries had so confused him, he was seized before he +could raise his gun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE ALARM. + +Ambrose was pacing his log prison once more. The earth had been filled +in, the hole in the floor roughly repaired, and now his jailers took +turns in patrolling around the shack. + +Imprisonment was doubly hard now. Day and night Nesis's strange cries +of terror rang in his ears. He knew something about the Indians' ideas +of punishing women. His imagination never ceased to suggest terrible +things that might have befallen her. + +"God! Every one that comes near me suffers!" he cried in his first +despair. + +The explanation of their surprise proved simple. Watusk and his crew, +pursuing them in two dugouts, had seen the smoke of their fire from up +the river. + +They had landed above the point and, making a short detour inland, had +fallen on Ambrose and Nesis from behind. Nesis had been carried back +in one dugout, Ambrose in the other. + +During the trip no ill-usage had been offered her, as far as he could +see, but upon reaching the village she had been spirited away, and he +had not seen her since. + +His last glimpse had shown him her child's face almost dehumanized with +terror. + +Ambrose now for the first time received a visit from Watusk. Watusk +had also traveled in the other dugout ascending the river, and they had +exchanged no words. + +He came to the shack attended by his four little familiars, and the +door was closed behind them. These four were like supers in a theater. +They had no lines to speak. Watusk's aspect was intended to be +imposing. + +In addition to the red sash he now wore three belts, the first full of +cartridges, the second supporting an old cavalry saber, the third +carrying two gigantic .45 Colts in holsters. + +He carried the Winchester over his arm, and still wore the grimy pith +helmet. Ambrose smiled with bitter amusement. It seemed like the very +sport of fate that he should be placed in the power of such a poor +creature as this. + +"How!" said Watusk, offering his hand with an affable smile. + +Ambrose, remembering the look of his face when it rose over the bank, +was sharply taken aback. He lacked a clue to the course of reasoning +pursued by Watusk's mongrel mind. However, he quickly reflected that +it was only by exercising his wits that he could hope to help Nesis. +He took the detestable hand and returned an offhand greeting. + +"You mak' beeg mistak' you try run away," said Watusk. "You mos' safe +here." + +"How is that?" asked Ambrose warily. + +"I your friend," said Watusk. + +Ambrose suppressed the inclination to laugh. + +"I keep you here so people won't hurt you," Watusk went on. "My people +lak children. Pretty soon forget what they after. Pretty soon forget +they mad at you. Then I let you out." + +"Do you still mean to say that I killed one of your men?" demanded +Ambrose hotly. + +Watusk shrugged. "Myengeen say so." + +"It's a lie!" cried Ambrose scornfully. An expectant look in Watusk's +eye arrested him from saying more. "He's trying to find out how much +Nesis told me," he thought. Aloud he said, with a shrug like Watusk +himself: "Well, I'll be glad when it blows over." + +"Two three day I let you out," Watusk said soothingly. "You can have +anything you want." + +"How is Nesis?" demanded Ambrose abruptly. + +There was a subtle change in Watusk's eyes; no muscle of his face +altered. + +"She all right," he said coolly. + +"Where is she?" + +"I send her to my big camp 'cross the river." + +"You shouldn't blame Nesis for helping me out," Ambrose said +earnestly--not that he expected to make any impression. "She's only a +child. I made her do it." + +Watusk spread out his palms blandly. "I not blame her," he said. "I +not care not'ing only maybe you get drown in the rapids." + +Ambrose studied the brown mask narrowly. Watusk gave nothing away. +Suddenly the Indian smiled. + +"You t'ink I mad for cause she go wit' you?" he said. He laughed +silently. "Wa! There are plenty women. When I let you out I give you +Nesis." + +This sounded a little too philanthropic. + +"H-m!" said Ambrose. + +"You lak little Nesis, hey?" inquired Watusk, leering. + +Ambrose was warned by a crafty shadow in the other man's eye. + +"Sure!" he said lightly. "Didn't she help me out of here?" + +"You lak talk wit' her, I t'ink." + +Ambrose thought fast. The only English words Nesis had spoken in +Watusk's hearing were her cries of fright at his appearance. In the +confusion of that moment it was possible Watusk had not remarked them. + +"Talk to her?" said Ambrose, simulating surprise. "Only by signs." + +"How she get you out, then?" Watusk quickly asked. + +This was a poser. To hesitate was to confess all. Ambrose drew a +quick breath and plunged ahead. + +"Why, she and a lot of girls were picking berries that day. They came +around the shack here and began to jolly me through the window. I +fixed Nesis with my eye and scared her. I made a sign for her to bring +me a knife. She brought it at night. I put my magic on her and made +her help me dig out and get me an outfit. I was afraid she'd raise an +alarm as soon as I left, so I made her come, too." + +"Why you tak' two canoe?" asked Watusk. + +"In case we should break one in the rapids." + +"So!" said Watusk. + +Ambrose lighted his pipe with great carelessness. He was unable to +tell from Watusk's face if his story had made any impression. Thinking +of the conjure-man, he hoped the suggestion of magic might have an +effect. + +"I let you out now," said Watusk suddenly. "You got promise me you not +go way from here before I tell you go. Give me your hand and swear." + +Ambrose smelled treachery. He shook his head. "I'll escape if I can!" + +Watusk shrugged his shoulder and turned away. + +"You foolish," he said. "I your friend. Good-by." + +"Good-by," returned Ambrose ironically. + +Ambrose walked his floor, studying Watusk's words from every angle. +The result of his cogitations was nil. Watusk's mind was at the same +time too devious and too inconsequential for a mind like Ambrose's to +track it. Ambrose decided that he was like one of the childish, +unreasonable liars one meets in the mentally defective of our own race. +Such a one is clever to no purpose: he will blandly attempt to lie away +the presence of truth. + + +In the middle of the afternoon Ambrose, making his endless tramp back +and forth across the little shack, paused to take an observation from +the window, and saw three horsemen come tearing down the trail into +camp. + +They flung themselves off their horses with excited gestures, and the +camp was instantly thrown into confusion. The natives darted among the +teepees like ants when their hill is broken into. + +Watusk appeared, buckling on his belts. The women that were left in +camp started to scuttle toward the river, dragging their children after +them. + +Ambrose's heart bounded at the prospect of a diversion. Whatever +happened, his lot could be no worse. At the first alarm three of his +jailers had run down to the teepees. They came back in a hurry. + +The door of the shack was thrown open, and the whole six rushed in and +seized him. Ambrose, seeking to delay them, struggled hard. They +finally got his hands and feet tied, cursing him heartily in their own +tongue. They hustled him down to the riverside. + +All the people left on this side were already gathered there. They +continually looked over their shoulders with faces ashen with terror. +The men who had horses drove them into the river and swam across with a +hand upon the saddle. + +The women and children were ferried in the dugout. So great was their +haste they came empty-handed. The teepees were left as they stood with +fires burning and flaps up. + +Watusk passed near Ambrose, his yellow face livid with agitation. + +"What's the matter?" cried the white man. + +The chief was afflicted with a sudden deafness. Ambrose was cast in a +dugout. The indefatigable Job hopped in after and made himself small +at his master's feet. + +The mad excitement of the whole crowd inspired Ambrose with a strong +desire to laugh. The water flew in cascades from the frantic paddles +of the boat-men. + +Arriving on the other side, Ambrose was secured on a horse, as on his +first journey, and instantly despatched inland with his usual guard. +As he was carried away they were dragging up the dugouts and concealing +them under the willows. Watusk was sending men to watch from the +cemetery on top of the bold hill. + +Ambrose's guards led his horse at a smart lope around a spur of the +hill and along beside a wasted stream almost lost in its stony bed. A +dense forest bordered either bank. The trail was broken and spread by +the recent passage of a large number of travelers; these would be the +main body of the Kakisas a week before. Ambrose guessed that they were +following the bed of a coulee. + +Through the tree-tops on either hand he had occasional glimpses of +steep, high banks. + +After a dozen miles or so of this they suddenly debouched into a +verdant little valley without a tree. The stream meandered through it +with endless twists. + +Except for two narrow breaks where it entered and issued forth, the +hills pressed all around, steep, grassy hills, fantastically knobbed +and hollowed. + +The floor of the valley was about a third of a mile long and half as +wide. It was flat and covered with a growth of blue-joint grass as +high as a man's knee. + +The whole place was like a large clean, green bowl flecked here and +there with patches of bright crimson where the wild rose scrub grew in +the hollows. + +Ambrose, casting his eyes over the green panorama, was astonished to +see at intervals around the sky-line little groups of men busily at +work. They appeared to be digging; he could not be sure. One does not +readily associate Indians with spades. His guards pointed out the +workers to one another, jabbering excitedly in the uncouth Kakisa. + +They rode on through the upper entrance of the valley and plunged into +forest again. Another mile, and they came abruptly on the Indian +village hidden in a glade just big enough to contain it. + +It had grown; there were many more teepees in sight than Ambrose had +counted before. They faced each other in two long double rows with a +narrow green between. Down the middle of the green ran the stream, +here no bigger than a man might step across. + +Ambrose was unceremoniously thrust into one of the first teepees and, +bound hand and foot, left to his own devices. He managed to drag +himself to the door, where he could at least see something of what was +going on. He looked eagerly for a sight of Nesis, or, failing her, one +of the girls who had accompanied her on the berry-picking expedition, +and who might be induced to give him some honest information about her. +He was not rewarded. + +All who entered the village from the east passed by him. Watusk and +the rest of the people from the river arrived in an hour. + +Here among safe numbers of their own people they recovered from their +alarm. Ambrose suspected their present confidence to be as little +founded on reason as their previous terror. Watusk, strutting like a +turkey-cock in his military finery, issued endless orders. + +At intervals the workers from the hills straggled into camp. Ambrose +saw that they had been using their paddles as spades. A general and +significant cleaning of rifles took place before the teepees. + +At dusk two more men rode in, probably outposts Watusk had left at the +river. One held up his two bands, opening out and closing the fingers +twice. Ambrose guessed from this that the coming police party numbered +twenty. + +The last thing he saw as darkness infolded the camp was the boys +driving in the horses from the hills. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE TRAP. + +He shared the teepee with his six guards. Sleep was remote from his +eyes. Nevertheless, he did fall off at last, only, it seemed to him, +to be immediately awakened by his guards. + +His ankles were unbound, and he was made to understand that he must +ride again. Ambrose, seeing no advantage to be gained by resistance, +did what they ordered without objection. + +He got to his feet and went outside. A pitiful little yelp behind him +caused him to whirl about and dart inside again. + +"Hands off my dog!" he cried in a voice that caused the Kakisas to fall +back in affright. + +There was a little light from the fire. Their attitude was +conciliatory. In their own language they sought to explain. One +pointed to a kind of pannier of birch-bark hanging from a teepee pole, +whence issued a violent scratching. + +"Let him out!" cried Ambrose. + +They expostulated with him. None made any move to obey. + +"Let him out!" commanded Ambrose, "or I'll smash something!" + +Watusk, attracted by the noise, stuck his head in. The matter was +explained to him. Lifting the cover of the pannier, he exhibited the +frightened but unharmed Job to his master. + +"Him all right," he said soothingly. "Let be. We got mak' new camp +to-night. Can't tak' no dogs. Him come wit' women to-morrow." + +Ambrose did not believe him, of course; but if help were really so +near, he felt it would be suicidal to provoke a conflict at this +moment. Apparently they intended the dog no harm. He assumed to be +contented with Watusk's explanation. + +"Good dog," he said to Job. "You're all right. Lie down." + +Ambrose mounted, and they tied him on as usual. On every hand he could +see men mounting and riding out of the village. His heart slowly rose +into his throat. + +Could it be meant that he was to take part in a night attack on the +police? Surely the redcoats would never allow themselves to be +surprised! Anyhow, if he was to be present, it would be strange if he +could not help his own in some way. + +His horse was led up the hill, off at right angles to the village. +Watusk remained near him. As they rose to higher ground the moon came +into view, hanging above the tree-tops across the valley, preparatory +to sinking out of sight. + +In its light the objects around him were more clearly revealed. +Apparently the riders were straggling to a rendezvous. There was no +haste. The terrible depression which had afflicted Ambrose since Nesis +had disappeared was dissipated by the imminence of a great event. + +He lived in the moment. Out of the tail of his eye he observed +Watusk's mount, a lustrous black stallion, the finest piece of +horseflesh he had seen in the north. + +Ambrose heard a confused murmur ahead. Rising over the edge of the +hill he saw its cause. A great body of horses was gathered close +together on the prairie, each with its rider standing at its head. + +The animals jostled each other, bit and squealed, stamped their +forefeet, and tossed their manes. The men were silent. It made a +weird scene in the fading moonlight. + +Men and horses partook of a ghostly quality; the faces nearest him +blank, oval patches, faintly phosphorescent, were like symbols of the +tragedy of mankind. + +Watusk kept Ambrose at his side. Facing his men, he raised his hand +theatrically. They sprang to their saddles and, wheeling, set out over +the prairie. Gradually they lengthened out into single file. + +Presently the leader came loping back, and the whole body rode around +Watusk and Ambrose in a vast circle. It was like an uncanny midnight +circus. + +The riders maintained their silence. The only sounds were the thudding +of hoofs on turf and the shaking of the horsemen in their clothes. +Only one or two used saddles. The rifle-barrels caught dull gleams of +moonlight. + +At another signal from Watusk they pulled up and, turning their horses' +heads toward the center, made as small a circle as their numbers could +squeeze into. + +Watusk addressed Ambrose with a magniloquent air. "See my children, +white man! Brave as the white-face mountain bear! Swift as flying +duck! This only a few my men. Toward the setting sun I got so many +more wait my call. + +"By the big lake I got 'nother great army. Let white men tak' care how +they treat us bad. To-morrow red man's day come. He got Watusk lead +him now. Watusk see through white man's bluff!" + +It was impossible for Ambrose not to be impressed, ridiculous as +Watusk's harangue was. There were the men, not less than two +hundred--and twenty police to be attacked. + +Watusk now rode around the circle, addressing his men in their own +tongue, singling out this man and that, and issuing instructions. It +was all received in the same silence. + +Ambrose believed these quiet, ragged little warriors to be more +dangerous than their inflated leader. At least in their ignorance they +were honest; one could respect them. + +In more ways than one Ambrose had felt drawn to the Kakisas. They +seemed to him a real people, largely unspoiled as yet by the impact of +a stronger race. + +If he could only have talked to them, he thought. Surely in five +minutes he could put them to rights and overthrow this general of straw! + +Watusk rode out of the circle, followed by Ambrose and Ambrose's guard. +Several of the leading men, including one that Ambrose guessed from his +size to be Myengeen, joined Watusk in front, and the main body made a +soft thunder of hoofs in the rear. + +They were headed in a southeasterly direction--that is to say, back +toward the Kakisa River. They rode at a walk. There was no +conversation except among the leaders. The moon went down and the +shadows pressed closer. + +In a little while there was a division. Myengeen, parted from Watusk +and rode off to the right, followed, Ambrose judged from the sounds, by +a great part of the horsemen. + +The remainder kept on in the same direction. Half a mile farther +Watusk himself drew aside. Ambrose's guards and others joined him, +while the balance of the Indians rode on and were swallowed in the +darkness. + +Watusk turned to the right. Presently they were stopped by a bluff of +poplar saplings growing in a hollow. Here all dismounted and tied +their horses to trees. + +Ambrose's ankles were loosed and, with an Indian's hand on either +shoulder, he was guided through the grass around the edge of the trees. +He speculated vainly on what this move portended. + +No attack, certainly; they were striking matches and lighting their +pipes. Suddenly the dim figures in front were swallowed up. + +Immediately afterward Ambrose was led down an incline into a kind of +pit. The smell of turned earth was in his nostrils; he could still see +the stars overhead. They gave him a corner, and his ankles were again +tied. + +Soon it began to grow light. Little by little Ambrose made out the +confines of the pit or trench. It was some twenty-five feet long and +five feet wide. When the Indians stood erect, the shortest man could +just look over the edge. + +Ambrose counted twenty-one men besides Watusk and himself. It was +close quarters. When it became light enough to see clearly, they lined +up in front of him, eagerly looking over. One was lighting a little +fire and putting grass on it to make a smudge. + +Ambrose got his feet under him, and managed after several attempts to +stand upright. He was tall enough to look over the heads of the +Indians. + +Stretching before him he saw the valley he had remarked the evening +before, with the streamlet winding like a silver ribbon in a green +flounce. + +But what the Indians were looking at were little pillars of smoke which +ascended at intervals all around the edge of the hills, hung for a +moment or two in the motionless air, and disappeared. Ambrose counted +eight besides their own. + +Watusk exclaimed in satisfaction, and ordered the fire put out. This, +then, was the explanation of the digging--rifle-pits! + +Ambrose marveled at the cunning with which it had all been contrived. +The excavated earth had been carried somewhere to the rear. + +Wild-rose scrub had been cut and replanted in the earth around three +sides of the pit, leaving a clear space between the stems for the men +to shoot through, with a screen of the crimson leaves above. + +So well had it been done that Ambrose could not distinguish the other +pits from the patches of wild-rose scrub growing naturally on the hills. + +Ambrose's heart sank with the apprehension of serious danger. He began +to wonder if he and all the other whites in the country had not +under-rated these red men. Where could Watusk have learned his +tactics? The thing was devilishly planned. + +With the cross-fire of two hundred rifles they could mow down an army +if they could get them inside that valley. Each narrow entrance was +covered by a pair of pits. Every part of the bowl was within range of +every pit. + +Ambrose feared that the police, in their careless disdain of the +natives, might ride straight into the trap and be lost. + +"Watusk, for God's sake, what do you mean to do?" he cried. + +Watusk was intensely gratified by the white man's alarm. He smiled +insolently. "Ah!" he said. "You on'erstan' now!" + +"You fool!" cried Ambrose. "If you fire on the police you'll be wiped +clean off the earth! The whole power of the government will descend on +your head! There won't be a single Kakisa left to tell the story of +what happened!" + +Watusk's face turned ugly. His eyes bolted. "Shut up!" he snarled, +"or I gag you." + +Ambrose, bethinking himself that he might use his voice to good purpose +later, clenched his teeth and said no more. + +At sunrise a fresh breeze sprang up from the south. Soon after a +whisper of distant trotting horses was home upon it. Ambrose's heart +leaped to his throat. An excited murmur ran among the Indians. They +picked up their guns. + +Watusk's pit was one of the pair covering the upper entrance to the +valley. It was thus farthest away from the approaching horsemen. It +faced straight down the valley. Through the lower gap they caught the +gleam of the red coats. + +Ambrose beheld them with a painfully contracted heart. He gaged in his +mind how far his voice might carry. The wind was against him. + +Presumably he would only be allowed to cry out once, so it behooved him +to make sure it was heard. However, the same thought was in the minds +of the Indians. They scowled at him suspiciously. + +Suddenly, while it was yet useless for him to cry out, they fell upon +him, bearing him to the ground! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE TEST. + +After a fierce struggle Ambrose was securely bound and gagged. He +managed to get to his feet again. His soul sickened at the tragedy it +forecast, yet he had to look. + +To his overwhelming relief he saw that the redcoats had halted in the +lower entrance to the valley. Evidently the possibility of an ambush +in so favored a spot had occurred to their leader. The baggage was +sent back. + +His relief was short-lived. Presently the advance was resumed at a +walk, and a pair of skirmishers sent out on either side to mount the +hills. Ambrose counted sixteen redcoats in the main body, and a man in +plain clothes, evidently a native guide. + +One skirmisher on the left was headed all unconscious straight for a +rifle pit. Ambrose, suffocated by his impotence, tugged at his bonds +and groaned under the gag. "Turn back! Turn back!" shouted his +voiceless tongue. + +There was a shot. Ambrose closed his eyes expecting a fusillade to +follow. It did not come. From his pit, Watusk hissed a negative order. + +Ambrose heard a shrill whistle from the bottom of the valley, and +opening his eyes, he saw the skirmishers riding slowly back to the main +body. Even at the distance their nonchalant air was evident. + +The main body had quietly halted in the middle of the valley. After a +moment's pause, one of their number raised a rifle with a white flag +tied to the barrel. + +The Indians surrounding Ambrose, lowered their guns, and murmured +confusedly among themselves. Ambrose looked at Watusk. + +The chief betrayed symptoms of indecision, biting his lip, and pulling +his fingers until the joints cracked. Ambrose took a little +encouragement from the sight. + +To Ambrose's astonishment he saw the troopers dismounting. Flinging +the lines over their horses' heads, they allowed the beasts to crop the +rich grass of the bottoms. + +The men stood about in careless twos and threes, lighting their pipes. +Only their leader remained in the saddle, lolling comfortably sidewise. +The breeze brought the sound of their light talk and deep laughter. + +The effect on the Indians was marked. Their jaws dropped, they looked +at each other incredulously, they jabbered excitedly. + +Plainly they were divided between admiration and mystification. Watusk +was demoralized. His hand shook, an ashy tint crept under his yellow +skin, an agony of impotent rage narrowed his eyes. + +Ambrose's heart swelled with the pride of race. "Splendid fellows!" he +cried to himself. "It was exactly the right thing to do!" + +Presently a hail was raised in the valley below; a deep English voice +whose tones gladdened Ambrose's ears. "Ho, Watusk!" + +Every eye turned toward the leader. Watusk had the air of a wilful +child called by his parent. He pished and swaggered, and made some +remark to his men with the obsequious smile with which child--or +man--asks for the support of his mates in his wrong-doing. + +The men did not smile back; they merely watched soberly to see what +Watusk was going to do about it. + +The hail was repeated. "Ho, Watusk! Inspector Egerton orders you to +come and talk to him!" + +So it was Colonel Egerton, thought Ambrose, commander of B district of +the police, and known affectionately from Caribou Lake to the Arctic as +Patch-pants Egerton, or simply as "the old man." He was a veteran of +two Indian uprisings. Ambrose felt still further reassured. + +Watusk, still swaggering, nevertheless visibly weakened. In the end he +had to go, just as a child must in the end obey a calm, imperative +summons. + +He issued a petulant order. All the men except Ambrose's guard of six +took their guns and filed out through the back of the pit. + +Watusk went last. Glancing over his shoulder and seeing that those +left behind were busily watching the troopers in the valley, he +produced a flask from his pocket and took a pull at it. Ambrose caught +the act out of the corner of his eye. + +A few minutes later, Watusk and his followers rode over the edge of the +hill to the left of the rifle pit, and down into the valley. The +policemen scarcely looked up to see them come. + +Inspector Egerton and Chief Watusk faced each other on horseback. The +other Indians remained at a respectful distance. Ambrose mightily +desired to hear what was being said on either side. He learned later. + +"Watusk!" cried the peppery little inspector. "What damn foolishness +is this? Rifle pits! Do you think you're another Louis Riel?" + +Watusk, glowering sullenly, made no answer. + +"Have you got Ambrose Doane here?" the officer demanded. + +"Ambrose Doane here," said Watusk. + +"I want him," said Egerton crisply. "I also want you, Watusk, +Myengeen, Tatateecha, and three others whose names I can't pronounce. +I have a clerk belonging to the Company store who will pick them out. + +"I've got to send you all out for trial before the river closes, so +there's no time to lose. We will start back to-day. I will leave half +my men here under Sergeant Plaskett to look after your people. You +will instruct your people to bring in all the goods stolen from the +Company store. + +"Plaskett will have a list of everything that was taken and will credit +what is returned. The balance, together with the amount of damage done +the store will be charged in a lump against the tribe, and the sum +deducted pro rata from the government annuities next year. They're +lucky to get off so easy." + +"We get pay, too, for our flour burn up?" muttered Watusk. + +"That will be investigated with the rest," the inspector said. "Bring +in your people at once. Look sharp! There's not an hour to lose!" + +Watusk made no move. The fiery spirit he had swallowed was lending a +deceitful warmth to his veins. He began to feel like a hero. His eyes +narrowed and glittered. "Suppose I don' do it?" he muttered. + +The inspectors white eyebrows went up. "Then I will go and take the +men I want," he said coolly. + +"You dead before you gone far," said Watusk. He swept his arm +dramatically around the hills. "I got five hundred Winchesters point +at your red coats!" he cried. "When I give signal they speak together!" + +"That's a lie," said the inspector. "You've only a few over two +hundred able men in your tribe." + +"Two hundred is plenty," said Watusk unabashed. "That is ten bullets +for every man of yours. They are all around you. You cannot go +forward or back. Ask Company man if Kakisas shoot straight!" + +Inspector Egerton's answer was a hearty laugh. "Capital!" he cried. + +"Laugh!" cried Watusk furiously. "You no harder than ot'er man. You +got no medicine to stop those bullets you sell us! No? If bullets go +t'rough your red coats you die lak ot'er men I guess!" + +"Certainly!" cried the old soldier with a flash of his blue eyes. +"That's our business. But it won't do you any good. We're but the +outposts of a mighty power that encircles the world. If you defy that +power you'll be wiped out like the prairie grass in a fire." + +"Huh!" cried Watusk. "White man's bluff! White man always talk big +about the power behind him. I lak see that power, me! I will show the +red people you no better than them! + +"When it was known Watusk has beat the police, as far as the northern +ocean they will take arms and drive the white men out of their country! +I have sent out my messengers!" + +"What do you expect me to say to that?" inquired the officer +quizzically. + +"Tell you men lay their guns on the ground," said Watusk. "They my +prisoners. I treat them kind." + +Inspector Egerton laughed until his little paunch shook. "Come," he +said good-naturedly, "I haven't got time to exchange heroics with you. +Run along and bring in your people. I'll give you half an hour." + +The inspector drew out his watch, and took note of the time. He then +turned to address his sergeant, leaving Watusk in mid air, so to speak. + +There was nothing for the Indian leader to do but wheel his horse and +ride back up the hill with what dignity he could muster. His men fell +in behind him. + +They had understood nothing of what was said, of course, but the byplay +was sufficiently intelligible. The whole party was crestfallen. + +Observing this air on their return to the rifle pit, Ambrose's eye +brightened. Watusk seeing the keen, questioning eye, announced with +dignity. + +"We won. The red-coats surrendered." + +This was so palpably a falsehood Ambrose could well afford to smile +broadly behind his gag. + +The half hour that then followed seemed like half a day to those who +watched. Ambrose, ignorant of what had occurred, could only guess the +reason of the armistice. + +The police had taken down their white flag. He could see the inspector +glance at his watch from time to time. Wondering messengers came from +the other pits presumably to find out the reason of the inaction, to +whom Watusk returned evasive replies. + +Bound and gagged as he was, it was anything but an easy time for +Ambrose. He had the poor satisfaction of seeing that Watusk was more +uneasy than himself. + +To a discerning eye the Indian leader was suffering visible torments. +Egerton, the wily old Indian fighter, knew his man. + +If he had made the slightest move to provoke a conflict, raged, +threatened, fired a gun, the savage nature would instantly have +reacted, and it would have all been over in a few moments. But to +laugh and light a cigarette! Watusk was rendered impotent by a morale +beyond his comprehension. + +The longest half hour has only thirty minutes. Inspector Egerton +looked at his watch for the last time and spoke to his men. The +policemen caught their horses, and without any appearance of haste, +tightened girths and mounted. + +They commenced to move slowly through the grass in the track of +Watusk's party, spreading out wide in open formation. The inspector +was in the center of the line. He carried no arms. His men were still +joking and laughing. + +They commenced to mount the hill, walking their horses, and sitting +loosely in their saddles. Each trooper had his reins in one hand, his +rifle barrel in the other, with the butt of the weapon resting on his +thigh. + +They were coming straight for the rifle pit; no doubt they had marked +the bushes masking it. Ambrose saw that they were young men, +slim-waisted and graceful. The one on the right end had lost his hat +through some accident. He had fair hair that caught the sun. + +This was the critical moment. The fate of the nineteen boys and their +white-haired leader hung by a hair. Ambrose held his breath under the +gag. A cry, an untoward movement would have caused an immediate +slaughter. + +The Indians' eyes glittered, their teeth showed, they fingered their +rifles. A single word from their leader would have sufficed. Watusk +longed to speak it, and could not. The sweat was running down his +yellow-gray face. + +One of the horses stumbled. The Indians with muttered exclamations +flung up their guns. Ambrose thought it was all over. + +But at that moment by the grace of God, one of the troopers made a good +joke, and a hearty laugh rang along the line. The Indians lowered +their guns and stared with bulging eyes. They could not fight supermen +like these. + +Watusk, with the groan of total collapse, dropped his gun on the +ground, and turned to escape by the path out of the pit. + +Instantly there was pandemonium in the narrow place. Some tried to +escape with their leader; others blocked the way. Ambrose saw Watusk +seized and flung on the ground. One spat in his face. He lay where he +had fallen. + +Thus ended the Kakisa rebellion. The Indians had no further thought of +resistance. The butts of their guns dropped to the ground, and they +stared at the oncoming troopers with characteristic apathy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +ANOTHER CHANGE OF JAILERS. + +The police advanced to within twenty-five yards and, drawing closer +together, halted. + +"Watusk, come out of that!" barked the inspector in his parade ground +voice. + +Ambrose had his first look at him. He was a little man, trigly built, +with a bullet head under a closely cropped thatch of white. A heavy +white mustache bisected his florid face. + +No one could have mistaken him in any dress, for aught but a soldier. +He did not look as if patience and fair-mindedness were included among +his virtues, which was unfortunate for Ambrose as the event proved. + +As Watusk gave no sign of stirring, he was seized by many hands and +boosted over the edge of the pit. He rolled over, knocking down some +of the bushes and finally rose to his feet, standing with wretched, +hang-dog mien. + +His appearance, with the frock coat all rubbed with earth and the +military gear hanging askew, caused the troopers to shout with +laughter. Here was a change from the fire-eater of half an hour before. + +"Ho!" cried Inspector Egerton. "The conqueror of the English!" + +Watusk drew closer and began to whine insinuatingly. "I sorry I mak' +that talk, me. I can' help it at all. Ambrose Doane tell me that. He +put his medicine on me. I sick." + +Ambrose attempted to cry out in his angry astonishment, but only a +muffled groan issued through the handkerchief. He was not visible to +the troopers where he stood in the corner, and he could not move. + +"Is Ambrose Doane there?" demanded the officer. + +Watusk quickly turned and spoke a sentence in Kakisa. Ambrose saw the +look of craft in his yellow face. One of the men who guarded Ambrose +drew his knife and cut his bonds and untied the handkerchief. + +Ambrose's heart beat high. It never occurred to him that they could +believe the wretched liar! He drew himself over the edge of the pit, +helped by those behind. + +"Hello!" he cried. + +There was no answering greeting. The faces before him were as grim as +stone. For Watusk they had a kind of good-humored contempt--for him a +cold and deadly scorn. + +Evidently their minds were made up in advance. The inspector twirled +his mustache and regarded him with a hard, speculative eye. + +Ambrose's heart failed him terribly. These were men that he admired. +"What's the matter?" he cried. "Do you believe this liar? I have been +a prisoner up to this moment--bound hand and foot and gagged. The +marks are still on my wrists!" + +Inspector Egerton did not look at his wrists. "H-m! Not bad!" he said +grimly. "You're a cool hand, my man!" + +The blood rushed to Ambrose's face. "For God's sake, will you tell me +what I could hope to gain by stirring up the Indians?" he demanded. + +"Don't ask me," said the inspector. "You were ready to grasp at any +straw, I expect." + +In the face of injustice so determined, it was only humiliating for +Ambrose to attempt to defend himself. His face hardened. He set his +jaw and shrugged callously. + +"You're under arrest," said the inspector. + +"On what charge?" Ambrose sullenly demanded. + +"A mere trifle," said the inspector ironically. "Unlawful entry, +conspiracy, burglary, and assault with intent to kill. To which we +shall probably add treason." + +Ambrose made no answer. In his heart he had hoped that the empty +charges at Fort Enterprise had fallen of their own weight before this. + +The inspector turned his attention back to Watusk. "Deliver over your +arsenal!" he said. + +Watusk meekly unfastened his various belts and handed them to a +trooper. Having observed Ambrose's rebuff, his face had become smooth +and inscrutable again. + +By this time the Indians had issued out of the pit by the rear and were +standing in an uncertain group a little way off. + +"Order them to pile their weapons on the ground," commanded the +inspector. "Let each man make a mark upon the stock of his rifle so +that he can identify it when it is returned. Send messengers to the +other pits with orders for all the men to bring their guns here." + +Watusk was eager to obey him. + +"Where is your camp?" the inspector asked him. + +Watusk pointed. "One mile," he said. + +"After we get the guns you shall go there with me and we will examine +the people." + +Ambrose, hearing this, turned to the trooper who was nearest. "If you +go to the camp get me my dog, will you?" he asked sullenly. + +"What's that?" demanded the inspector. + +Ambrose explained where his dog was to be found. They looked at him +curiously as if surprised that such a desperate criminal should be +solicitous about a dog. The trooper promised to bring him. + +Inspector Egerton continued to issue his orders. "Bafford, ride back +and bring up the baggage. Have my tent pitched in the middle of the +valley below. Emslie"--this was the yellow-haired youth--"I shall hold +you responsible for the white prisoner. You needn't handcuff him. He +couldn't escape if he wished to." + +Ambrose had to undergo the humiliation of walking down hill at the +stirrup of the young trooper's horse. Emslie showed a less hard face +than some of the others. + +Ambrose sought to establish relations with him by asking for tobacco. +He was hungry for speech with his own kind. But the look of cold +contempt with which his request was granted precluded any further +advances. + +Upon Inspector Egerton's return from the Kakisa village a meal was +served. Afterward the inspector sat at his folding-table inside his +tent and held his investigations. + +There was a deal of business to be transacted. In due course Ambrose +was brought before him. Watusk, whose services were in continual +demand as interpreter, was present, and several troopers. + +"It is customary to ask a prisoner upon arrest if he has anything to +say for himself," said the inspector. "I must warn you that anything +you say may be used against you." + +Ambrose felt their animosity like a wall around him. "What's the use?" +he said sullenly. "You've already convicted me in your own mind." + +"What I think of your case has nothing to do with it," said the +inspector coldly. "You will be brought before competent judges." + +"There is something I want to say," said Ambrose, looking at Watusk. +"But not before that mongrel." + +The inspector spoke to a trooper, and Watusk was led outside. "Now, +then!" he said to Ambrose. + +"Watusk means to turn king's evidence," said Ambrose. "He will make up +what story he pleases, thinking that none of the Kakisas can testify +except through him--or through Gordon Strange, who is his friend." + +"Are you accusing Strange now?" interrupted the inspector. "Let me +tell you: Strange is pretty highly thought of back at the fort." + +"No doubt!" said Ambrose with a shrug. "There is one member of the +tribe beside Watusk who can speak English," he went on. "In the +interest of justice I ask you to find her." + +"Who is it?" + +"Her name is Nesis. She is the youngest of the four wives of Watusk." +Ambrose told her story briefly and baldly. + +"So!" said the inspector with a peculiar smile. "According to your own +story you eloped with Watusk's wife. Upon my word! Do you expect a +jury to attach any weight to her evidence?" + +"I take my chance of that," said Ambrose. "If you want to get at the +truth you must find her." + +"I'll have a search made at once." + +"Watch Watusk," warned Ambrose. "He'll stop at nothing to keep her +evidence out of court--not even murder." + +The inspector smiled in an annoyed way. Ambrose's attitude did not +agree with his preconceptions. + +However, he immediately rode back to the Kakisa village with three +troopers. In an hour he sent one of the men back for Watusk. In two +hours they all returned--without Nesis. + +Ambrose's heart sank like a stone. By instinct he strove to conceal +his discouragement from his enemies under a nonchalant air. + +The inspector, feeling that some explanation was due to Ambrose, had +him brought to his tent again. + +"I have searched," he said. "I can find no trace of any such person as +you describe." + +"Naturally, not with Watusk's help," said Ambrose bitterly. + +The inspector bit his lip. According to his lights he was honestly +trying to be fair to the prisoner. + +"First I searched the teepees myself," he condescended to explain. "It +appears there are several girls by that name. When I called on Watusk +I had him watched and checked." + +"The Indians were primed in advance," said Ambrose. "Watusk can pull +wool over your eyes." + +"Silence!" cried the exasperated inspector. "Your story is +preposterous anyway. Pure romance. Nevertheless I have instructed +Sergeant Plaskett to continue the search. If any such girl should be +found, which would surprise me, she will be sent out. You can go." + +Inspector Egerton with half his force started back for the Kakisa River +_en route_ to Fort Enterprise that same afternoon. They convoyed seven +prisoners, and five additional members of the Kakisa tribe, whom Watusk +had indicated would be material witnesses. + +Ambrose watched Watusk ingratiating himself with bitterness at his +heart. The Indian ex-leader's air of penitent eagerness to atone for +past misdeeds was admirable. + +They rode hard, and crossed the river before making their first camp. +The next day they covered sixty miles, reaching a station established +by Inspector Egerton on the way over, where they found fresh horses. +At the end of the third day they camped within thirty miles of Fort +Enterprise. + +Ambrose could never afterward think of these days without an inward +shudder. Pain angered him. Outwardly he looked the hard and reckless +character they thought him, because his sensibilities were raw and +quivering. + +The dog knew. He was free to move about; he was well-fed and freshly +clothed, and the policemen acted toward him with a disinterestedness so +scrupulous it was almost like kindness. + +Nevertheless Ambrose felt their belief in his guilt like a hunchback +feels the difference in the world's glance. In his moments of blackest +discouragement the suggestion flitted oddly through his brain that +maybe he was guilty of all these preposterous crimes. + +If this was not enough, once he heard them discussing his case. He was +lying in a tent, and there was a little group of troopers at the door, +smoking. They thought he was asleep. + +He heard Emslie say: "Doane looks like a decent-enough head, doesn't +he? Shows you never can tell." + +"The worst criminals are always a decent-looking sort," said another. +"That's why they're dangerous." + +"By gad!" said a third, "when you think of all he's responsible for, +even if he didn't do it with his own hands--arson, robbery, +murder--think what that girl at Enterprise has been through! By gad! +hanging's too good for him!" + +"Any man that would lower himself to rouse the passions of the Indians +against his own kind--he isn't worth the name of white man!" + +"The worst of it is nothing you can do to Doane will repair the damage. +He's put back the white man's work in this country twenty years!" + +Ambrose rolled over and covered his head with his arms. These were +honest men who spoke, men he would have chosen for friends. + +Nest morning he showed no sign, except perhaps an added sullenness. +Nevertheless he had received a hurt that would never altogether heal +while he lived. + +No matter how swift rehabilitation might follow, after an experience +like this a man could never have the same frank confidence in the power +of truth. + +It was a point of pride with him to be a model prisoner. He gave as +little trouble as possible, and during the whole journey made but one +request. + +That was at the last spell before reaching the fort. He asked for a +razor. Colina might scorn him like the others, but she should not see +him looking like a tramp. + +Immediately upon their arrival at Fort Enterprise, John Gaviller in his +capacity as Justice of the Peace held a hearing in the police room in +the quarters. + +Gaviller's health was largely restored, but the old assurance was +lacking, perhaps he would never be quite the same man again. He was +prompted by Gordon Strange. Colina was not present. Ambrose had not +seen her upon landing. + +The hearing was merely a perfunctory affair. All the prisoners were +remanded to Prince George for trial. + +Ambrose gathered from the talk that reached his ears that it was +intended to send everybody, prisoners, and witnesses, including Gordon +Strange, Gaviller and Colina up the river next day in the launch and a +scow. + +To travel seven days in her sight, a prisoner--he wondered if there +were any dregs of bitterness remaining in the cup after this! + +They gave Ambrose the jail to himself. This was a little log-shack +behind the quarters with iron-bound door and barred window. + +To him in the course of the afternoon came Inspector Egerton moved by +his sense of duty. He officially informed Ambrose that he was to be +taken up the river next morning. + +"Is there anything you want?" he asked stiffly. + +"I left a friend here," Ambrose said with a bitter smile. "I'd like to +see him if he's willing to come." + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"Simon Grampierre." + +The inspector looked grave. "He's under arrest," he said. "I can't +let you communicate." + +"Can I see his son then, Germain Grampierre?" + +"Sorry. He's on parole." + +Ambrose had been counting on this more than he knew, to talk with some +man, even a breed, who believed in him. It is a necessity of our +natures under trial. To deny it was like robbing him of his last hope. +Some power of endurance suddenly snapped within him. + +"What do you come here for?" he cried in a breaking voice. "To torture +me? Must I be surrounded day and night only by those who think me a +murderer! For God's sake get the thing over with! Take me to town and +hang me if that's what you want! A month of this and I'd be a +gibbering idiot anyway!" + +The ring of honest pain in this aroused dim compunctions in the +admirable little colonel. He twisted his big mustache uncomfortably. +"I'm sure I've done what I could for you," he said. + +"Everything except let me alone," cried Ambrose. "For God's sake go +away and let me be!" He flung himself face downward on his cot. + +Inspector Egerton withdrew stiffly. + +Ambrose lay with his head in his arms, and let his shaking nerves quiet +down. A fit of the blackest despair succeeded. To his other troubles +he now added hot shame--that he had broken down before his enemy. + +It seemed to him in the retrospect that he had raved like a guilty man. +He foresaw weeks and weeks of this yet to come with fresh humiliations +daily and added pain; if he gave way already what would become of him +in the end? How could he hope to keep his manhood? A blank terror +faced him. + +The sound of the key in the lock brought him springing to his feet. +None of them should see him weaken again! With trembling hands he put +his pipe in his mouth, and lighted it nonchalantly. + +It was Emslie with his supper. + +"Playing waiter, eh?" drawled Ambrose. "You fellows have to be +everything from grooms to chambermaids, don't you?" + +Young Emslie stared, and grew red. "What's the matter with you?" he +demanded. + +"A man must have a little entertainment," said Ambrose. "I'm forced to +get it out of you. You don't know how funny you are, Emslie." + +"You'd best be civil!" growled the policeman. + +"Why?" drawled out Ambrose. "You've got to keep a hold on yourself +whatever I say to you. It's regulations. Man to man I could lick you +with ease!" + +"By gad!" began Emslie. Very red in the face, he turned on his heel, +and went out slamming the door. + +Ambrose laughed, and felt a little better. Only by allowing his bitter +pain some such outlet was he able to endure it. + +Disregarding the supper, he strode up and down his prison, planning in +his despair how he would harden himself to steel. No longer would he +suffer in silence. To the last hour he'd swagger and jeer. + +These red-coats were stiff-necked and dull-witted; he could have rare +fun with them. + +He saw himself in the court-room keeping the crowd in a roar with his +outrageous gibes. And if at the last he swung--he'd step off with a +jest that would live in history! + +The key turned in the lock again. He swung around ready with an insult +for his jailer. + +Colina stood in the doorway. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE JAIL VISITOR. + +The light was behind Colina, and Ambrose could not at first read her +expression. There was something changed in her aspect; her chin was +not carried so high. + +She was wearing a plain blue linen dress, and her hair was done low +over her ears. Colina was one of the women who unconsciously dress to +suit their moods. + +She looked different now, but she was indisputably Colina. + +The sight of her dear shape caused him the same old shock of +astonishment. All the blood seemed to forsake his heart; he put a hand +against the wall behind him for support. + +He presently distinguished changes in her face also. It bore the marks +of sleeplessness and suffering. Pride still made her eyes reticent and +cold, but the old outrageous arrogance was gone. + +In the wave of tenderness for her that engulfed him he clean forgot the +self-pleasing defiance he had imagined for himself, forgot his +desperate situation, forgot everything but her. + +He was unable to speak, and Colina did not immediately offer to. She +stood a step inside the door, with her hand on the back of the one +chair the room contained. Her eyes were cast down. It was Emslie who +broke the silence. + +"Do you wish me to stay?" he respectfully asked Colina. + +She raised grave eyes to Ambrose. "Is there anything I can do for +you?" she asked evenly. + +"Yes," said Ambrose breathlessly. + +After a moment's hesitation she said to Emslie: "Please wait outside." + +Ambrose's heart leaped up. No sooner had the door closed behind Emslie +than, forgetting everything, it burst its bonds. "Colina! How good of +you to come! It makes me so happy to see you! If you knew how I had +hungered and thirsted for a sight of you! How charming you look in +that dress! Your hair is done differently, too. I swear it is like +the sun shining in here. You look tired. Sit down. Have some tea. +What a fool I am! You don't want to eat in a jail, do you?" + +Her eyes widened with amazement at his outburst. + +She shrank from him. + +"Don't be afraid," he said. "I'm not going to touch you--a jailbird! +I'm not fooling myself. I know how you feel toward me. I can't help +it. If you knew how I had been bottled up! I must speak to some one +or go clean off my head. It makes me forget just to see you. Ah, it +was good of you to come!" + +"I am visiting all the prisoners," Colina was careful to explain. "And +getting them what they need for the journey to-morrow." + +It pulled him up short. He glanced at her with an odd smile, tender, +bitter, and grim. "Charity!" he murmured. "Thanks, I have plenty of +warm clothes, and so forth." + +Colina bit her lip. There was a silence. He gazed at her hungrily. +She was so dear to him it was impossible for him to be otherwise than +tender. + +"Just the same, it was mighty good of you to come," he said. + +"You said there was something I could do for you," she murmured. + +"Please sit down." + +She did so. + +"I don't want to beg any personal favors," he said. "There is +something you might do for the sake of justice." + +"Never mind that," she said. "What is it?" + +"Let me have a little pride, too," he said. "It isn't easy to ask +favors of your enemies. I am surrounded by those who hate me and +believe me guilty. Naturally, I stand as much chance of a fair trial +as a spy in wartime. I'm just beginning to understand that. At first +I thought as long as one's conscience was clear nothing could happen." + +"What is it I can do?" she asked again. + +"I am taking for granted you would like to see me get off," Ambrose +went on. "Admitting that--that the old feeling is dead and all +that--still it can't be exactly pleasant for you to feel that you once +felt that way toward a murderer and a traitor--" + +"Please, please--" murmured Colina. + +"You see you have a motive for helping me," Ambrose insisted. "I +thought first of Simon Grampierre. He's under arrest. Then I asked to +be allowed to see Germain, his son. The inspector wouldn't have it. I +gave up hope after that. But the sight of you makes me want to defend +myself still. I thought maybe you would have a note carried to Germain +for me." + +"Certainly," she said. + +"You shall read it," he said eagerly, "so you can satisfy yourself +there's nothing treasonable." + +She made a deprecating gesture. + +"I'll write it at once," he said. He carried the tray to the bed. +Colina gave him the chair. + +"They let me have writing materials," Ambrose went on with a rueful +smile. "I think they hope I may write out a confession some night." + +To Germain Grampierre he wrote a plain, brief account of Nesis, and +made clear what a desperate need he had of finding her. + +"Will you read it?" he asked Colina. + +She shook her head. He handed it to her unsealed, and she thrust it in +her dress. + +"I'm ever so much obliged to you," he said, trying to keep up the +reasonable air. "How pretty your hair looks that way!" he added +inconsequentially. The words were surprised out of him. + +She turned abruptly. It was beginning to be dark in the shack, and he +could no longer see into her face. + +Her movement was too much for his self-control. "Ah, must you go?" he +cried sharply. "Another minute or two! It will be dreadful here after +you've gone!" + +"What's the use?" she whispered. + +"True," he said harshly. "What's the use?" He turned his back on her. +"Good night, and thank you." + +She lingered, hand upon the doorlatch. "Isn't there--isn't there +something else I can do?" she asked. + +"No, thank you." + +Still she stayed. "You haven't touched your supper," she said in a +small voice. "Mayn't I--send you something from the house?" + +"No!" he cried swiftly. "Not your pity--nor your charity, neither!" + +Colina fumbled weakly with the latch--and her hand dropped from it. + +"Why don't you go?" he cried sharply. "I can't stand it. I know you +hate me. I tell myself that every minute. Be honest and show you hate +me, not act sorry!" + +"I do not hate you," she whispered. + +He faced her with a kind of terror in his eyes. "For God's sake, go!" +he cried. "You're building up a hope in me--it will kill me if it +comes to nothing! I can't stand any more. Go!" + +His amazed eyes beheld her come falteringly toward him, reaching out +her hands. + +"Ambrose--I--I can't!" she whispered. + +He caught her in his arms. + +Colina broke into a little tempest of weeping, and clung to him like a +child. He held her close, stroking her hair and murmuring clumsy, +broken phrases of comfort. + +"Don't! My dear love, don't grieve so! It's all right now. I can't +bear to have you hurt." + +"I love you!" she sobbed. "I have never stopped loving you! It was +something outside of me that persuaded me to hate you. I've been +living in a hell since that night! And to find you like this! Nothing +to eat but bread and salt pork! Every word you said was like a knife +in my breast. And not a single word of reproach!" + +"There!" he said, trying to laugh. "You didn't put me here." + +She finally lifted a tear-stained face. Clinging to his shoulders and +searching his eyes, she said: "Swear to me that you are innocent, and +I'll never have another doubt." + +He shook his head. "No more swearing!" he said. "If you let yourself +be persuaded by the sound of the words, as soon as you left me and +heard the others you'd doubt me again. It's got to come from the +inside. Words don't signify." + +Colina hung her head. "You're right," she said in a humbled voice. "I +guess I just wanted an excuse to save my pride. I do believe in +you--with my whole heart. I never really doubted you--I was ashamed, +afraid, I don't know what. I was a coward. But I suffered for +it--every night. Do you despise me?" + +He laughed from a light breast. + +"Despise you? That's funny! It was natural. A damnable combination +of circumstances. I never blamed you." + +They were silent for a few moments. She looked up to find him smiling +oddly. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"Nothing much," he said. "I was thinking--human beings are sort of +elastic, aren't they? After all I've been through the last few +days--you don't know!--and then this--you dear one! It's a wonder the +shock didn't kill me--but I feel fine! Just peaceful. I don't care +what happens now." + +It was Colina's turn to lavish her pent-up tenderness upon him then. + +After a while she disengaged herself from his arms. "They will wonder +what makes me stay so long," she murmured. "And my eyes are red. +Emslie will see when I go out." + +Ambrose poured out water in his basin. "Dabble your eyes in this," he +said. "When you're ready to go I'll call Emslie in. Coming in from +the light, he won't notice anything. You can slip out ahead of him." + +Colina bathed her face as he suggested. Catching each other's eyes, +they blushed and laughed. + +"We must decide quickly what we're going to do," she said hastily. + +"First read that letter," said Ambrose. + +She read it, leaning back against his shoulder. "A woman!" she said in +a changed voice and straightened up. She read further. "She helped +you escape!" Colina turned and faced him. "She believed in you, eh?" +she said, her lip curling. + +Ambrose's heart sank. "Now, Colina--" he began. "Why, she never +thought anything about it!" + +Colina consulted the letter again. "She ran away with you!" she cried +accusingly. + +"Followed me," corrected Ambrose. + +"She was in love with you!" Colina's voice rang bitterly. + +"Are you beginning to doubt me already?" he cried, aghast. "Be +reasonable! You know how it is with these native girls. The sight of +a white man hypnotizes them. You can't have lived here without seeing +it. Do you blame me for that?" + +She paid no attention to the question. Struggling to command herself, +she said: "Answer me one question. It is my right. Did you ever kiss +her?" + +Ambrose groaned in spirit, and cast round in his mind how to answer. + +"You hesitate!" cried Colina, suddenly beside herself. "You did! Ah, +horrible!" She violently scrubbed her own lips with the back of her +hand. "A brown girl! A teepee-dweller! A savage! Ugh! That's what +men are!" + +An honest anger nerved Ambrose. He roughly seized her wrists. +"Listen!" he commanded in a tone that silenced her. "As I bade her +good-by on the shore she asked me to. She had just risked death to get +me out, remember--worse than death perhaps. What should I have done? +Answer me that!" + +Colina refused to meet the question. Her assumption of indifference +was very painful to see. She was not beautiful then. "Don't ask me," +she said with a sneer. "I suppose men understand such women. I +cannot." + +Ambrose turned away with a helpless gesture. Colina moved haughtily +toward the door. Within ten minutes their wonderful happiness had been +born and strangled again. + +"I don't suppose you will want to send my letter now," Ambrose said +with a sinking heart. + +Colina blushed with shame, but she would not let him see it. +"Certainly," she said coldly. "What has this to do with a question of +justice?" + +Ambrose, sore and indignant, would not make any more overtures. +"There's a postscript I must add," he said coldly, extending his hand +for the letter. + +"I cannot wait for you to write it," she said. "Tell me. I will add +it myself." + +"I think it likely," Ambrose said, "that Nesis"--Colina winced at the +sound of the name--"has been spirited away from the Kakisa village. +There are two other villages, one on Buffalo Lake and one on Kakisa +Lake, about sixty miles up the Kakisa River. + +"They brought her up the river with me, so it is hardly likely she was +sent down again to Buffalo Lake. I think she's at Kakisa Lake, if +she's alive." + +Colina bowed. "I will tell Germain Grampierre," she said. Her hand +rose to the door. + +Ambrose's heart failed him. "Ah, Colina!" he cried reproachfully and +imploringly. + +She slipped out without answering. + +Ambrose flung himself on his bed and cursed fate again. He was not +experienced enough to realize that this was not necessarily a fatal +break. + +All night he tried to steel his heart against fate and against Colina. +It was harder now. It was an utterly wretched Ambrose that faced the +dawn. + +While it was still early Emslie passed him a note through the window. +Ambrose knew the handwriting, and tore it open with trembling fingers. +He read: + + +MY DEAR LOVE: + +I was hateful. It was the meanest kind of jealousy. I was furious at +her because she helped you at the time when I was on the side of your +enemies. I have been suffering torments all night. Forgive me. I am +going to find Nesis myself. That is the only way I can make up for +everything. I love you. + +COLINA. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +COLINA'S ENTERPRISE. + +Upon leaving Ambrose, Colina despatched his letter across the river by +Michel Trudeau. She then dressed for dinner. + +To-night was to be an occasion, for beside Inspector Egerton they had +Duncan Seton, inspector of Company posts, and his wife. + +The Setons had come down with the police. Seton was to run the post at +Fort Enterprise while John Gaviller and Gordon Strange were absent at +the trials. + +Colina, buoyed up with anger, dressed with care. She saw herself +self-possessed and queenly at the foot of her own table's favorite +picture of herself. + +Nevertheless, the reaction was swiftly setting in. She couldn't help +having a generous heart, nor could she put away the picture of Ambrose +and his miserable, untasted supper. + +At the last moment her courage failed her. She knew the conversation +would have to do solely with the coming trials. She knew Inspector +Egerton's style in dealing with Ambrose. She could not face it. + +She sent down-stairs the time-honored excuse of young ladies and, +tearing off her finery, flung herself, like Ambrose, on her bed. + +She passed a worse night than he, for while the man accused fate, she +had to accuse herself. Colina was nothing if not whole-hearted; coward +was the gentlest of the names she called herself. + +More than once she was on the point of rushing out of the house and, +regardless of consequences, imploring Ambrose's forgiveness. + +However, after midnight a way out of her coil suggested itself like a +star shining out. She slept for a peaceful hour. + +Long before dawn she arose and awakened her maid. This was Cora, a +stolid Cree half-breed, doggedly devoted to her mistress and accustomed +to receiving her impulsive orders like inscrutable commands from Heaven. + +Upon being notified, therefore, that they were about to set off on a +long journey overland instead of by the launch, she set to work to get +ready without surprise or question. + +Colina wrote the letter to Ambrose and another to her father. The +latter was a little masterpiece of casualness, designed to prevent +pursuit, if that were possible. + +She knew that they dared not wait another day, before starting +up-stream in the launch. + + +DEAR FATHER: + +I have heard a rumor of new evidence bearing on the trials. It's not +worth while telling Inspector Egerton and delaying everything, because +I'm not sure of anything. I'm off to investigate for myself. + +I'm taking Cora, and shall have a couple of reliable men with me, so +there's no occasion to worry. You must not attempt to wait for me, of +course. + +If I secure any information worth while Mr. Seton will find a way to +send me out with it. If I do not, why I'm not an essential witness at +the trials, and of course I'll be all right here with the Setons until +you get back. + +Affectionately, + +COLINA. + + +She left the letters with the cook, giving precise instructions for +their delivery. That to her father was not to be handed over until her +absence from the house should be discovered. Nothing was to be said +about the other letter. + +The two girls saddled Ginger and the next best horse in the stable for +Cora to ride, and took a third horse with a pack-saddle for their +baggage. + +They rowed across the river, making the horses swim in the wake of the +boat. On the other side they set off forthwith on the Kakisa trail. +Colina had decided that it would be a waste of precious time to turn +aside to the Grampierres. + +Whether Germain started before or after her, she could find him on the +way. That he would start for the Kakisa River this morning she had no +doubt. + +When they had ridden a couple of miles Cora pointed out to her where +the tracks of four horses struck into the trail. They were just ahead, +she said. + +They came upon Germain Grampierre and his brother Georges making their +first spell by the trail. Great was their astonishment upon hearing +Colina announce her intentions. + +Germain used all the obvious arguments to turn her back, and Colina +smilingly overruled them. He was openly in awe of her, and, of course, +in the end she had her way, and they rode together, Germain shaking his +head with secret misgivings. + +They pushed their horses to the utmost, ever urged on by Colina, who +could not know what might be behind them. But she knew they rode the +best horses to be had at Enterprise. + +They reached the Kakisa River on the third day without any surprise +from the rear. + +They found that the main body of the Kakisas had been brought back to +their village here, where they were pursuing their usual avocations +under the eye of the police encamped on the terrace around the shack. + +Colina immediately addressed herself to the police headquarters. + +She had remarked Sergeant Plaskett on his arrival at Fort Enterprise, a +typical mounted policeman, and a fine figure of a man to boot--tall, +lean, deep-chested, deep-eyed--a dependable man. + +She approached him with confidence. The sight of her astonished, +confused, and charmed him, as she meant it should. He was only a man. + +But as she told her story he stiffened into the policeman. "Sorry," he +said uncomfortably. "I have explicit orders from Inspector Egerton not +to allow any communication between these people here and the other +branches of the tribe." + +"Why not?" asked Colina. + +Plaskett shrugged deprecatingly. "Not for me to say. I can guess, +perhaps. It's not possible to lock them all up, but these people are +under arrest just the same. I must keep the disaffected from mingling +with the loyal." + +"That's all right," said Colina, "but you can give me a policeman to go +up the river with me and make a search." + +He shook his head regretfully but firmly. "Inspector Egerton ordered +me to leave the up-river people alone," he said. "The coming of a +policeman would throw them into excitement. No one can say what they +might do. I can't take the responsibility." + +Colina shrugged. "Then the Grampierres and I must go by ourselves," +she said. + +Plaskett became even stiffer and more uncomfortable. "Germain +Grampierre and his brother had no business to leave home," he said. + +"By their own confessions they are implicated in the raid on the +Company's flour-mill. They were told that if they remained at home +they would not be molested. But if they attempted to escape they would +immediately be arrested." + +"They're not trying to escape!" cried Colina. + +"I don't believe they are," said Plaskett. "But I've got to send them +home. Orders are orders." + +But this was not the kind of argument to use with a young woman whose +blood is up. + +"Don't you recognize anything but orders?" she cried. "Inspector +Egerton is hundreds of miles away by this time. Are you going to wait +for his orders before you act?" + +Plaskett's position was not an enviable one. "When anything new comes +up I have to act for myself," he explained stiffly. "The story about +this girl is not new. During the past week I have examined every +principal man in the tribe and many of the women. + +"I have not found any clue to the existence of such a person. +Moreover, every man has testified in unmistakable signs that Ambrose +Doane was not only at large while he was with them, but that he +directed all their movements." + +"They have been told that by saying this they can save themselves," +said Colina. + +"Possibly," said Plaskett, "but I cannot believe that among so many +there is not one who would betray himself." + +For half an hour they had it out, back and forth, without making any +progress. Plaskett used all of a man's arguments to persuade her to +return to Enterprise. + +Colina, seeing that she was getting nowhere, finally feigned to submit. +She obtained his permission to go among the Indians by herself in the +hope that they might tell her something they were afraid to tell the +police. + +Accompanied by Cora she went from teepee to teepee. The Kakisas showed +themselves awed by her condescension, but still they were +uncommunicative. + +She was Gaviller's daughter. The place of honor by the fire was made +for her, tea hastily warmed up, and doubtful Indian delicacies +produced. But she learned nothing. + +At any mention of the names Ambrose Doane or Nesis a subtle, walled +look crept into their eyes, and they became unaccountably stupid. + +She was about to give up this line of inquiry when, at a little +distance from the nearest teepee, she came upon a girl engaged in +dressing a moose-hide stretched upon a great frame. There were no +other Indians near. Colina resolved upon a last attempt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MARYA. + +Colina drew near the girl, pausing as if casually interested in her +work. She was a fat girl, with a peculiarly good-humored expression, +and evinced no awe at Colina's approach, but unaffected delight. + +Colina obeyed an inward suggestion, sent Cora back to the Grampierres, +and sat down beside Marya, determined to take plenty of time to +establish friendly relations. + +This was not difficult. The plump, copper-skinned maiden was overjoyed +by the opportunity to examine anything so wonderful as a white girl at +close range. + +No part of Colina's person or attire escaped her scrutiny. Marya +stroked her with a soft crooning. The fastidious Colina bore it, +smiling. At the throat of her waist Colina was wearing a topaz-pin, to +which the Indian girl's eyes ever returned, dazzled. + +Colina finally took it off, and pinned it in Marya's cotton dress. +Marya gave way to an extravagant pantomime of joy. Bowing her head, +she seized Colina's hand, and pressed it to her forehead. + +Meanwhile they exchanged such simple remarks as lent themselves to the +medium of signs. Colina finally ventured to pronounce the name "Nesis" +at the same time asking by a sign which included the teepees if she was +there. + +Marya looked startled. She hesitated, but Colina's hold was now strong +upon her. She shook her head. First glancing cautiously around to +make sure they were not observed, she nodded in the direction of up +river. + +By simple signs she told Colina that Nesis was in a village (crossed +fingers for teepees) beside a lake (a wide sweep, and an agitated, +flattened hand for shimmering water), and that it could be reached by a +journey with one sleep upon the way. (Here she paddled an imaginary +canoe, stopped, closed her eyes, inclined her head on her shoulder and +held up one finger.) + +Colina, overjoyed, proceeded to further question. In the same graphic, +simple way she learned the story of Ambrose's imprisonment and how +Nesis got him out. + +"Come!" she cried, extending her hand. "We'll see what Sergeant +Plaskett has to say to this!" + +But when Marya understood that she was expected to repeat her story to +the policeman, a frantic, stubborn terror took possession of her. She +gave Colina to understand in no uncertain signs that the Indians would +kill her if she told the secret. + +Colina, taking into account the pains they had gone to to keep it, +could not deny the danger. She finally asked Marya if she would take +her, Colina, to the place where Nesis was. + +Marya, terrified, positively refused. + +Pulling off her gauntlet, Colina displayed to Marya a ring set with a +gleaming opal. It was Marya's she let her understand, if she would +serve her. + +Marya's eyes sickened with desire. She wavered--but finally refused +with a little moan. Terror was stronger than cupidity. + +Colina debated with herself. She asked Marya if the way to go was by +paddling. + +Marya shook her head. She gave Colina to understand that the canoes +were all tied up together and watched by the police. She signed that +the Kakisas had a few horses up the river a little way that the police +did not know about. + +They stole out of camp at dawn, caught a horse and rode up the river. +Evidently there was regular travel between the two villages. Colina, +thinking of the policeman's confident belief that he had intercepted +all communications, smiled. + +Colina finally asked if Marya would put her on the trail to the other +village--in exchange for the ring. Marya, after a struggle with her +fears, consented, stipulating that they must start before dark. + +Colina understood from her signs that the biggest opal ever mined would +not tempt Marya to wander in the bush after dark. + +Colina did some rapid thinking. She doubted whether Germain Grampierre +after having been warned by the police would go with her to the other +village. + +She quickly decided that she didn't want him with her anyway, worthy, +stupid fellow that he was. Yet he had constituted himself her +protector, and he would hardly let her go without him. It did not +promise to be easy to hoodwink both Plaskett and Grampierre. + +What she was going to do when she found Nesis, Colina did not stop to +consider. The thing to do was to find the girl, and trust to pluck and +mother wit for the rest. + +Colina finally thought she saw her way clear. She asked Marya if she +would meet her in an hour on the Enterprise trail outside of camp. It +was now three o'clock. + +Marya, with her eyes upon the opal, nodded. She gave Colina to +understand that she would be waiting at a place where the trail crossed +a stream, and climbed to a little prairie with thick bushes around it. + +Leaving Marya, Colina returned to the police tents. Climbing the hill, +she had the satisfaction upon looking back to see that the Indian girl +had foresaken her moose-hide. + +The edge of the bush was near her: it would not be hard for her to lose +herself. Simulating an air of discouragement, Colina told Sergeant +Plaskett she had learned nothing and signified her willingness to +return to Enterprise. + +"I'd start at once," she said suggestively, "but my horses are tired." + +Plaskett was greatly relieved. "I'll furnish you with fresh horses," +he said instantly. "Let your horses stay here and rest up. I'll send +them in with the first patrol, and you can then return mine." + +This was what Colina desired. She smiled on the policeman dazzlingly. + +Plaskett sent a trooper for the horses, and himself escorted Colina +back to the spot at the foot of the hill where she had ordered the +Grampierres and Cora to wait for her. + +She told Germain the same story. The half-breed who had been +interviewed by Plaskett in the meantime, was delighted by her resolve +to return. He instantly set to work to pack up. + +In less than half an hour they started for home. As they mounted the +hill, Plaskett gallantly waved his cap from below. The bush swallowed +them. Colina was thinking: "What shall I do if she is afraid, and +doesn't come?" + +However, less than a mile from the river, they forded a little brook, +climbed a shallow hill, and there, true to her agreement, waited Marya, +standing like a statue beside the trail. + +Colina, making believe to be greatly astonished, dismounted, and drew +her apart. Marya, understanding from her glance of intelligence that +the others were not in the secret, gesticulated vividly for their +benefit. + +"She tells me she knows where Nesis is hidden," Colina said to Germain. +"She says she will take me there." + +"We will go back," said Germain. + +Colina shook her head. "No need for you to come back," she said. "It +will only anger the policeman. You and Georges go on home. I will get +a policeman to go with me." + +Germain protested, but his secret desire was to obey the sergeant's +orders, and Colina had no difficulty in persuading him. + +A division of the baggage was made on the spot, and they parted. The +Grampierres continued toward Enterprise, and the three girls turned +back. + +Colina breathed more freely. Plaskett now believed that she had gone +home with Germain, and Germain believed she had gone back to Plaskett. + +Marya had mounted on their pack-horse. They had not gone far in the +trail, when she signified that they were to strike off to the left. + +Colina pulled up. "Cora," she said, "it's not true that I am going to +get help from the police. I mean to go myself to the other Indian +village to get the girl I want. You don't have to come. You can ride +after Germain, and tell him I decided I didn't need you." + +"I go wit' you," Cora said stolidly. + +Colina beamed on her handmaiden, and offered her her hand. She was +willing to face the thing alone, but it was a comfort to have the +stolid dependable Cora at her side. Moreover, Cora was an admirable +cook and packer. Colina was not enamored of the drudgery of camp. + +Marya led the way slowly through the trackless bush in the general +direction of the afternoon sun, or southwest. Colina guessed that they +were making a wide detour around the Indian village. + +The going was not too difficult, for it was only second growth timber, +poplar and birch, with spruce in the hollows. The original monarchs +had been consumed by fire many years before. + +They had covered, Colina guessed, about five miles when the sky showed +ahead through the tree trunks, and Marya signed that they were to +dismount and tie the horses. Leading them to the edge of the trees, +she made them lie down. + +They found themselves overlooking a grassy bottom similar to that upon +which the Kakisa village stood. The outer edge of the meadow was +skirted by the brown flood of the river, and trees hemmed it in on +either side. A score of Indian ponies were feeding in the grass. + +Marya made Colina understand that the trail to Kakisa Lake traversed +the little plain below alongside the river. She signified that some +men were expected from the upper village that day, and that Colina must +wait where she was until she saw them pass below. Finally Marya +pointed avidly to the opal ring. + +Colina handed it over. The Indian girl slipped it on her own finger, +gazing at the effect with a kind of incredulous delight. The stolid +Cora looked on disapprovingly. + +Suddenly Marya, without so much as a look at her companions, scrambled +to her feet, and hastened silently away through the trees. She was +clutching the ring finger with the other hand as if she feared to lose +it, finger and all. That was the last of Marya. + +Sure enough before the sun went down, they saw a party of four Indians +issue out on the little plain from the direction of up river. Crossing +the grass and dismounting, they turned their horses out and cached +their saddles under the willows. + +Then they proceeded afoot. Colina waited until she was sure there were +no more to follow; then mounting, she and Cora rode down to the trail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE FINDING OF NESIS. + +The afternoon was waning, and Colina, knowing she must have covered +nearly sixty miles, began to keep a sharp lookout ahead. They had had +no adventures by the way, except that of sleeping under the stars +without male protectors near, in itself an adventure to Colina. Colina +took it like everything else, as a matter of course. + +Cora had been raised on the trail. In her impatience to arrive Colina +had somewhat scamped her horses' rest, and the grass-fed beasts were +tired. + +Issuing from among the trees upon one of the now familiar grassy +bottoms that bordered the river, they saw grazing horses and knew they +were hard upon their destination. + +A spur of the hills cut off the view up river. Rounding it, the +teepees spread before them. They were contained in a semicircular +hollow of the hills like an amphitheater, with the river running close +beside. + +Colina had decided that in boldness lay her best chance of success. +Clapping heels to her horse's ribs, therefore, she rode smartly into +the square, appearing in the very midst of the Indians before they were +warned. This village differed in no important respect from the others. +Some of the teepees were made of tanned hides in the old way. The +people were of the same stock, but even less sophisticated. Few of +these had even been to Fort Enterprise to trade. + +The sudden appearance of Colina's white face affected them something in +the way of a miracle. + +Every man dropped what he was about and stared with hanging jaw. +Others came running out of the teepees and stopped dead at the door. +For a moment or two there was no movement whatever in the square. + +But they knew Gaviller's daughter by repute, of course, and the word +was passed around that it was she. The tension relaxed. They slowly +gathered around, looking at her with no friendly eye. + +Colina searched rapidly among them for one that might answer to the +description of Nesis. There was no girl that by any stretch of the +imagination could have been called beautiful. Not wishing to give them +time to spirit her away, Colina suddenly raised her voice and cried: +"Nesis!" + +There was no answer, but several heads in the crowd turned +involuntarily toward a certain teepee. Colina, perceiving the +movement, wheeled her horse and loped across the square in that +direction. + +Cora followed, leading the pack-horse. The Indians sidled after. +Approaching the teepee she had marked, Colina heard sounds of a muffled +struggle inside. Flinging herself off her horse and throwing up the +flap, she saw a figure on the ground, held down by several old crones. + +"Hands off!" cried Colina in a voice so sudden and peremptory that the +old women, though the words meant nothing to them, obeyed. + +Nesis, lithe and swift as a lynx, wriggled out of their grasp, sprang +to her feet, and darted outside, all in a single movement, it seemed. + +The two girls faced each other, Nesis panting and trembling. The same +look of bitter curiosity was in each pair of eyes. Each acknowledged +the other's beauty with a jealous twinge. But in the red girl's sad +eyes there was no hope of rivalry. She soon cast down her lids. + +Colina thought her eyes the saddest she had ever seen in a human face. +She saw that there was little resemblance between her and her Kakisa +sisters. + +Nesis was as slender as a young aspen and her cheeks showed a clear +olive pallor. Her lips were like the petals of a Jacqueminot rose. +Colina, remembering that Ambrose had kissed them, turned a little hard. + +"You are Nesis?" she asked, though she knew it well. + +The girl nodded without looking up. + +"You know Ambrose Doane?" + +Again the mute nod. + +"Will you come with me to testify for him?" + +Nesis looked up blankly. + +"I mean," explained Colina, "will you come and tell his judges that he +did not lead the Kakisas into trouble?" + +Nesis, by vivid signs, informed Colina that Ambrose had been a prisoner +among the Indians. + +It occurred to Colina as strange, since she could understand English, +that she should use signs. "I know he was a prisoner," she said. +"Will you come with me and tell the police that?" + +Nesis turned and with a despairing gesture called Colina's attention to +the gathering Indians who would prevent her. Not a sound issued from +her lips. + +"Never mind them," said Colina scornfully. "Are you willing to come?" + +Nesis lifted her eyes to Colina's--eyes luminous with eagerness and +emotion--and quickly nodded again. + +"Why doesn't she speak!" thought Colina. Aloud she said: "All right. +Tell them I am going to take you. Tell them anybody that interferes +does so at his peril." She pointed to her rifle. + +To Colina's astonishment, the girl lowered her head and flung an arm up +over her face. + +"What's the matter?" she cried. "I'll take care of you." She drew the +arm down. "Speak to them!" she said again. + +Nesis slowly raised her head. Her eyes crept to Colina's, humble and +unspeakably mournful. She opened her mouth and pointed within. + +Colina looked--and sickened. A little cry of utter horror was forced +from her, and she fell back a step, She saw why Nesis did not speak. +The disclosure was too sudden and dreadful. + +For the first and last time during that hazardous enterprise her strong +spirit failed. She became as pale as snow and her hands flew to her +breast. Cora, watching her, slipped out of the saddle and glided to +her aid. + +The weakness was momentary. Before Cora got to her the color came +winging back into Colina's cheeks. She thrust the half-breed girl from +her and, striding forward, faced the assembled Indians with blazing +eyes. + +"You cowards!" she cried ringingly. "You pitiful, unmanly brutes! I +don't know which one of you did it. It doesn't matter. You all +permitted it. You shall all suffer for it. I promise you that!" + +Under the whips of her eyes and voice they cringed and scowled. + +Colina thrust her riding-crop into the hands of Nesis. "Get on that +horse," she commanded, pointing to the pack-animal. "Mount!" she cried +to Cora. + +Meanwhile, from her own saddle she was hastily unfastening her rifle. +She resolutely threw the lever over and back. At the ominous sound the +Indians edged behind each other or sought cover behind convenient +teepees. + +Nesis and Cora were mounted. Colina, keeping her eyes on the Indians, +said to them: "Go ahead. Walk your horses. I'll follow." She swung +herself into her own saddle. + +Cora and Nesis started slowly out of the square. Colina followed, +swinging sidewise in her saddle and watching the Indians behind. + +None offered to follow directly, but Colina observed that those who had +disappeared around the teepees were catching horses beyond. Others +running out of the square on the other side had disappeared around the +spur of the hill. + +Plainly they did not mean to let her take Nesis unopposed. + +The girls finally issued from among the teepees and extended their +horses into a trot. Cora rode first, her stolid face unchanged; from +moment to moment she looked over her shoulder to make sure that Colina +was safe. Nesis, blinded with tears, let her horse follow unguided, +and Colina brought up the rear. + +Colina's face showed the fighting look, intent and resolute. Her brain +was too busy to dwell on tragedy then. + +Rounding the hill, she saw that those who had gone ahead had +disappeared. The horses that had been grazing here were likewise gone. + +It was not pleasant to consider the possibility of an ambush waiting in +the woods ahead. Other Indians began to appear in pursuit around the +hill. + +Seeing the girls, they pulled in their horses and came on more slowly. +Colina, wishing to see what they would do, drew her horse to a walk, +whereupon the Indians likewise walked their horses. + +Evidently they meant to stalk the girls at their leisure. + +Colina, like a brave and hard-pressed general, considered the situation +from every angle without minimizing the danger. She had really nothing +but a moral weapon to use against the Indians. If that failed her, +then what? + +Night was drawing on, and it would be difficult to intimidate them with +eyes and voice after dark. Moreover, her horses were fatigued to the +point of exhaustion. How could she turn them loose to rest and graze +with enemies both in the front and the rear? + +She knew that a favorite Indian stratagem is to stampede the +adversaries' horses after dark. Colina carried the only gun in their +little party. + +Striking into the woods out of sight of their pursuers, they urged +their horses to the best that was in them. Colina bethought herself of +profiting by Nesis's experience. + +"Nesis," she called, "you know these people! What should we do?" + +Nesis, rousing herself and turning her dreadfully eloquent eyes upon +Colina, signified that they must ride on for the present. When the sun +went down she would tell what to do. + +For an hour thereafter they rode without speaking. + +While it was still light they came out on another meadow. Nesis signed +to Colina that they should halt at the edge of the trees on the other +side, and, picketing the horses, let them graze for a little while. + +It was done. The horses had to feed and rest, and this looked like as +good a place as any. Meanwhile Cora built a fire and cooked their +supper as unconcerned as if it were a picnic party an hour's ride from +home. + +They had no sooner dismounted than the Indians appeared out of the +woods at the other side of the meadow. Seeing the girls, they likewise +dismounted without coming any closer, and built a great fire. + +About a quarter of a mile separated the two fires. It grew dark. +Colina sat out of range of the firelight, watching the other fire. + +Nesis took the gun and went on up the trail to guard against the +surprise from that side. Cora kept an eye upon the dim shapes of the +tethered horses, and watched her mistress with sullen, doglike devotion. + +After an hour and a half Nesis returned, and signing to Cora to saddle +the horses, made a reconnaissance across the meadow. + +Coming back to the fire presently, she indicated to Colina that they +were not watched from that side, and that they should now ride on. + +Evidently the Indians thinking they had them trapped in the trail were +careless. Indians are not fond of scout duty in the dark in any case. + +They softly made ready, taking care not to let the firelight betray +their activities. Nesis's last act was to heap fresh wood on the fire. +Colina, approving all she did was glad to let her run things. She +could not guess how she purposed evading the Indians in front. + +They mounted, and proceeded into the woods, walking their horses +slowly. Colina could not make out the trail, but her horse could. + +Nesis led the way. They climbed a little hill and descended the other +side. At the bottom the trail was bisected by a shallow stream making +its way over a stony bed to the river. + +Halting her horse in the middle of it, Nesis allowed Colina to +approach, and pointed out to her that they must turn to the right here, +and let their horses walk in the water to avoid leaving tracks. + +For more than an hour they made a painfully slow journey among the +stones. The intelligent horses picked their way with noses close to +the ground. + +They were now between the steep high banks of a coulee. The trees +gradually thinned out, and a wide swath of the starry sky showed +overhead. Colina's heart rose steadily. + +The Indians could not possibly find the place where they had left the +trail until daylight. + +They would instantly understand their own stratagem, of course, but +they must lose still more time, searching the bed of the creek for +tracks leaving it. If only the horses had been fresher! + +Finally Nesis left the bed of the creek, and urged her horse obliquely +up the steep side of the coulee on the left. + +This was the side farther from the lower village, and the Enterprise +trail, and Colina wondered if she had not made a mistake. + +Mounting over the rim of the coulee a superb night-view was open to +them. Before them rolled the bald prairie wide as the sea, with all +the stars of heaven piercing the black dome overhead. + +It was still and frosty; the horses breathed smoke. To Colina's +nostrils rose the delicate smell of the rich buffalo grass, which cures +itself as it grows. The tired horses, excited by it, pawed the earth, +and pulled at the lines. + +They halted, and Nesis turned her face up, fixing their position by the +stars. She finally pointed to the southeast. Colina knew it was +southeast because when she faced in that direction the north star, +friend of every traveler by night, was over her left shoulder. + +"But the Kakisa village, the trail back to Enterprise is there," she +objected, pointing northeast. + +Nesis nodded. With her graceful and speaking gestures she informed +Colina that all the country that way was covered with almost +impenetrable woods through which they could not ride without a trail. + +Southeast, the prairie rolled smoothly all the way to the great river +that came from the distant high mountains. + +"The spirit river?" asked Colina. + +Nesis nodded, adding in dumb-show that when they reached its banks they +would make a raft and float down to Fort Enterprise. + +"Good!" said Colina. "Let's ride on. The moon will be up later. +We'll camp by the first water that we come to." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THE TRIAL. + +Mr. Wilfred Pascoe, K.C., arose and cleared his throat musically. He +drew out his handkerchief, polished his glasses, returned the +handkerchief, and paused suggestively. + +Mr. Pascoe was assured that he was the leading attraction at the trial +of Ambrose Doane, and that the humming crowd which filled every corner +of the court-room had come for the express purpose of hearing him, the +famous advocate from the East, sum up for the crown. + +Indeed, in his opinion, there was no one else in the case. Denholm for +the defense was a sharp and clever lad, but a mere lad! As for the +judge--well one knows these judges in the outlying provinces! + +The people of Prince George did not often get a chance to listen to a +man like him, therefore he wished to give them the worth of their money. + +He was a dignified, ruddy little gentleman, clad in a well turned +cutaway that fell from his highly convex middle like the wings of a +pouter pigeon. + +"My lord and gentlemen of the jury," he began in a voice of insinuating +modesty and sweetness, "in this room during the past four days we have +witnessed the unfolding of an extraordinary drama. + +"Through all the criminal annals of this country we may search in vain +for a precedent to this case. In the past we have had to try Indians +and half-breeds for rebelling against the government. + +"In such cases punishment was always tempered with mercy; we were in +the position of a parent chastising his child. + +"Here we are faced by a different situation. Here we have a white man, +one of our own race charged with inciting and leading the natives to +rebel against authority. By tongue and deed he strove to unloosen the +passions of hell to his own profit! + +"Every man of middle age in this Western country knows what Indian +warfare means. The flesh crawls at the picture of shrieking, painted +demons that is called up, the flames, the tortures, the dishonored +homes--gentlemen, it--it is difficult for me to speak of this matter +with a becoming restraint. + +"When we come to examine the evidence we are faced by a well-nigh +inextricable confusion. But, gentlemen, the main issue is clear. + +"We see the prisoner having made his first false step drawn by +inevitable succession deeper and deeper into the quicksands of passion +and violence. Out of the mass of details I ask you to choose three +facts which in themselves constitute a strong presumptive case. + +"First, the trouble at Fort Enterprise--that pleasant little Eden of +the far north, invaded, alas! by the serpent--the beginning of the +trouble I say was exactly coincident with the arrival of Ambrose Doane. + +"Second, in every scene of violence that followed we find him a leading +figure. Third, all trouble ceased upon his arrest. + +"Let us glance in passing at the first act of lawlessness, the seizing +of the Company's mill. The prisoner admits that he forcibly broke into +the mill, hoping, no doubt, that by confessing the minor offense he may +persuade you to believe him when he denies the greater. This is a very +ancient expedient of accused persons. + +"He ground his grain and carried it back to the Indians, and they +stored it in an empty shack across the river. This is conceded by both +sides. + +"On the following night during the progress of a barbaric dance among +the Kakisas, at which the prisoner was a guest--an honored guest, +remember--an alarm of fire was given. + +"Upon running to the scene they found the shack in flames. It was +completely destroyed, together with its contents. + +"Now, gentlemen, this is one of the mysteries of the case. No evidence +has been adduced to show who set that fire. Its suddenness and +violence precludes the possibility of its having caught by accident. +It was set, but who set it? + +"We are reduced to mere speculation here. Was it any one connected +with the Company? No! They had thousands of dollars' worth of +unprotected goods across the river; they were a mere handful, and the +Indians three hundred. It isn't reasonable. + +"Well, then, did any of the Indians set it? Why should they? It was +their flour; they had receipted for it. Lastly, did Ambrose Doane do +it, or have it done? Ah! Let us look for possible motives. + +"He was a trader, remember. It had been so easy for him to secure the +first lot; perhaps he wanted to sell them another lot. The simple +Indians, of course, would be persuaded that the incendiary came from +across the river--" + +Mr. Denholm rose. "I object," he said. "My eminent friend has no +right to suggest such ideas to the jury. There is no evidence--" + +Mr. Pascoe beamed upon his young opponent. "Counsel overlooks the +fact," he said gently, "that I expressly stated this was mere +speculation on my part." + +"Overruled," murmured the judge. + +Mr. Pascoe resumed: "As to what followed there are several versions. +The prisoner says that he pleaded with the Indians, and tried to keep +them from crossing the river. Simon Grampierre corroborates this; but +Grampierre, you must remember, is the prisoner's self-confessed +accomplice in the seizure of the flour-mill. + +"Still, he may be telling the truth. Grampierre was not with Doane all +the time. It is highly probable that the prisoner, seeking to impress +Grampierre, pleaded with the Indians in his hearing. The Indians +couldn't understand English, anyway. + +"Watusk testified that he had a conversation with the prisoner during +the fire, but the confusion was so great he cannot remember what was +said. This is very natural. + +"Myengeen, Tatateecha, and the other Indians who testified said that +the prisoner did harangue them, and that they understood from his +gestures that he was urging them to cross the river and revenge +themselves. + +"All say it was from him that they first heard Gaviller's name. I +don't think we need look any further. + +"Anyhow, the prisoner led the mob down to the beach where his york-boat +was lying, and they all embarked in his boat. He says he tried to keep +them out, but he does not deny crossing with them. Hardly likely they +would take him as a passenger, is it, if he had fought them so +strenuously? + +"On what took place in John Gaviller's house that night I will touch +very briefly. It was a ghastly night for the little company of +defenders! We have no eye-witness to the prisoner's dastardly attack +on Mr. Gaviller. Mr. Strange, through the most praiseworthy motives, +has refused to testify against him. + +"Mr. Strange takes the ground that since he is obliged to act as +interpreter in this case, no other being obtainable, it would be +improper for him to give evidence. + +"In the light of the prisoner's impudent charge against Mr. Strange, +the latter's conduct is truly magnanimous. The charge that Strange +tried to murder his employer is simply laughable. Twenty-nine years of +faithful service give it the lie. + +"A great point has been made by the defense that the prisoner had no +motive in attempting to kill Mr. Gaviller. Gentlemen, he had the same +motive that has inspired every murder in history--hate! + +"There is any amount of testimony to show with what hatred the prisoner +always spoke of Mr. Gaviller. Gaviller was his business rival, his +rich and successful rival. Gaviller was the head and front of the +powers that opposed his headstrong will. I repeat, it is hate and +opportunity that make a murder. + +"Mr. Gaviller was prostrated with weakness. How simple to creep +up-stairs in the dark and finish what the other coward's bullet had +almost accomplished! And how impossible to prove that it was a murder! +Mr. Gaviller's vitality was so low that night, the doctor has +testified, that he himself would not have suspected foul play if he had +found him dead in the morning. + +"When they arrested Doane in the house the gun they took from him was +one that had been stolen from the Company store earlier in the night. +Remember that. + +"At daylight the Indians came and made a demand on the defenders of the +house for their leader, Ambrose Doane. They threatened to burn the +house down if he was not given up to them. They welcomed him with +extravagant expressions of joy. + +"This is positive evidence, gentlemen. Those in the house saw the +prisoner give an order to bear away the dead bodies, and the order was +obeyed. Such little facts are highly significant. + +"Watusk's evidence makes the next link. I do not attempt to justify +this unfortunate man, gentlemen. At least he is contrite, and throws +himself on the mercy of the court. Watusk says when they came back +across the river the Indians were sorry for what they had done and +terrified of punishment. + +"Watusk urged them to return what they had stolen. He had taken no +part in the looting of the store. But Ambrose Doane would have none of +it. He persuaded Watusk to give the order to break camp and fly back +to the Kakisa River. Doane promised the bewildered Indian that he +would make good terms for the offenders with the police when they came. + +"Doane's contention that he was a prisoner among the Kakisas is +unsupported. Watusk and five other Indians have sworn that not only +was he free to come and go as he chose, but that he directed their +movements. + +"As to the prisoner's story of the Indian girl, ah--a touching story, +gentlemen!" Mr. Pascoe paused for a comfortable, silent little laugh. +He wiped his eyes. "Almost worthy of one of our popular romancers! + +"Not very original perhaps, the beautiful Indian maid falling a victim +to the charms of the pale-faced prisoner, whispering to him at night +through a chink in his prison wall, and smuggling a knife to assist his +escape! + +"Not very original, I say; is it possible he could have read it +somewhere, adding a few little touches of his own? Unfortunately, our +story-teller in his desire for artistic verisimilitude has overreached +himself. + +"That touch about Nesis--if that is what he called her, being the +fourth wife of Watusk. Why fourth? one wonders. You have heard Lona +testify that she was Watusk's one and only wife. She ought to know. I +fancy I need say no more about that. + +"Next comes Inspector Egerton. The inspector testifies that the trap +set for his men in the hills north of the Kakisa River was of an +ingenuity far beyond the compass of the Indian imagination. You have +seen a plan of it. You have heard these simple, ignorant red men +testify here. Could they have made such a plan? Impossible! + +"Gentlemen, I ask you to consider the situation on that fair morning in +September when the gallant little band of redcoats rode into that +hellishly planned trap. The heart quails at the imminence of their +peril! + +"That a horrible tragedy was by a miracle averted is no credit to this +prisoner. That, instead of being the most execrated murderer in the +history of our land, he is only on trial for a felony he has not +himself to thank. He has to thank the Merciful Providence on High who +caused the red man's heart to relent at the critical moment! + +"Watusk could not give the order to shoot. You have heard the +policemen testify that the prisoner was furious at the Indian's +pusillanimity. I say it was a God-sent pusillanimity! + +"Our merciful law makes a distinction between successful and +unsuccessful crimes, though there is no difference in the criminal. He +is lucky! Gentlemen, all that justice demands of you is that you +should find him guilty of treason-felony!" + +Mr. Pascoe sat down and blew his nose with loud, conscious modesty. +The jury looked pleased and flattered. An excited murmur traveled +about the courtroom, and the judge picked up his gavel to suppress +threatened applause. + +There could be no doubt as to the way popular opinion tended in this +trial. Though the applause was stopped before it began, one could feel +the crowd's animus against the prisoner no less than if they had +shouted "Hang him!" with one voice. + +They believed that he had plotted against the popular idols, the +mounted police; that was enough. + +The prisoner sat at a table beside his counsel with his chin in his +palm. He was well dressed and groomed--Denholm saw to that--and his +face composed, though very pale; the eyes lusterless. + +Throughout Mr. Pascoe's arraignment he scarcely moved, nor appeared to +pay more than cursory attention. + +It is the characteristic picture of a prisoner on trial; guilty or +innocent makes little difference on the surface. Nature, when we have +reached the limit of endurance, lends us apathy. + +Ambrose had suffered so much he was dulled to suffering. He had not a +friend in the court-room except Arthur Denholm. Peter Minot, after +making a deposition in his favor, had been obliged to hasten north to +look after their endangered business. + +There were others who would have been glad to support him, but he would +not call on them. Indeed what he most dreaded were the occasional +testimonials of sympathy which reached him. Friendliness unmanned him. + +The other way in which his ordeal made itself felt was in his great +longing to have it over with. He looked forward to the cell which he +believed awaited him as to relief. There at least he would be safe +from the hard, inquisitive eyes which empaled him. + +Meanwhile, as they argued back and forth and his fate hung in the +balance, he found himself staring at the patch of pale winter sky which +showed in the tall window. The air was clean up there. The sky was a +noble, empty place unpolluted by foul breath and villainy and lies! + +When Denholm arose to speak for the prisoner, the jury regarded him +with curiosity tempered by pity. They liked Denholm, liked his +resourcefulness, his unassailable good-humor, his gallant struggle on +behalf of a bad cause. Plainly they were wondering what he could say +for his client now. + +If Denholm felt that his case was hopeless, he gave no sign of it. He +was frank, unassuming, friendly with the jury. His style of delivery +was conversational. + +"I will be brief," he said. "I do not mean to take you over the +evidence again. Every detail must be more than familiar to you. + +"What my learned friend has just said to you, what I say to you now, +and what his lordship will presently say to you from the bench all +amounts to the same thing--choose for yourselves what you are to +believe. Somewhere in this jungle of contradictions lurks the truth. +It is for you to track it down. + +"The prisoner's case stands or falls by his own testimony. We have an +instinct that warns us to disregard what a man says in his own defense. +In this case we cannot disregard it. I ask you not to consider it as +evidence against the prisoner that he has no witnesses. + +"If we go over the story in our minds, we will see that under the +conditions of these happenings he could not have witnesses. Therefore, +if we wish to do justice, we must weigh his own story. + +"Never mind the details now, but consider his attitude in telling it. +For an entire session of the court he sat in the witness chair telling +us with the most painstaking detail everything that happened from the +time of his first arrival at Fort Enterprise up to his arrest. + +"During the whole of the following day he was on the stand under a +perfect fusillade of questions from my learned friend, admittedly the +most brilliant cross-examiner at the bar. He did not succeed in +shaking the prisoner's story in any important particular. + +"How, I ask you, could the prisoner have foreseen and prepared for all +those ingenious traps formulated in the resourceful brain of my learned +friend, unless he was telling the simple truth? + +"Moreover, the gaps, the inconsistencies, the improbabilities in the +story which my friend has pointed out, to my mind these are the +strongest evidences of its truth. For if he had made it all up he +would be logical. Man's brain works that way. + +"Suppose for the sake of argument that the prisoner did accomplish that +miracle; that in his brain he formulated a story so complete in every +ramification that nine hours' cross-examination could batter no holes +in it. + +"If that is true, it is a wonderful brain, isn't it? The prisoner, in +short, is an amazingly clever young man. Now, can you imagine a man +with even the rudiments of good sense persuading himself that he could +make a successful Indian uprising at this date? There is a serious--" + +Denholm was stopped by a commotion that arose outside the door of the +court-room. There was a great throng in the corridor as well. He +looked to the bench for aid. + +His lordship rapped smartly with his gavel. "Silence!" he cried, "or I +will have the room cleared!" + +But the noise came nearer. + +"Officer, what is the trouble outside?" demanded the bench. + +The two doorkeepers with great hands were pressing back a threatened +irruption from the corridor. One spoke over his shoulder. + +"If you please, sir, there's a young woman here says she has evidence +to give in this case." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +AN UNEXPECTED WITNESS. + +Those in the court-room jumped up and looked toward the door, and the +confusion was redoubled. Several policemen hurried to the assistance +of the doorkeepers. The judge rapped in vain. + +Finally one of the doorkeepers made his voice heard above the scuffling: + +"She says her name is Colina Gaviller." + +A profound sensation was created within the court. The confusion was +stilled as by magic. All those inside turned back to look at the young +prisoner. + +He had leaped to his feet, and stood gazing toward the door with a +wild, white, awakened face. Denholm had a restraining hand on his +shoulder. John Gaviller, Gordon Strange, Inspector Egerton; there was +no man connected with the case but betrayed something of the same +agitation. + +"Admit Miss Gaviller," commanded the judge. + +The two policemen, with herculean exertions, made an opening in the +crowd for Colina and two companions to enter and kept every one else +out. The doors were then closed. + +At Colina's appearance an odd murmur rippled over the crowd. Her +beauty astonished them. She walked down the aisle of the court-room, +pale, erect, and self-controlled. Captain Stinson and Cora followed +her. + +The crowd observed her movements with breathless attention. + +All three were admitted within the rail. John Gaviller sat near the +gate. He looked somewhat dazed. They saw her offer him her hand with +a swift smile, charged with meaning. + +The gentlemanly half-breed, Gordon Strange, leaned forward, seeking to +attract her attention with an eager smile. Him she ignored. She +turned to the prisoner. This was what the crowd was waiting for. + +The pale youth and the pale girl had all the look of the principal +actors in a drama. What was between them? They saw her smile at him, +too--an extraordinary smile, sorrowful, solicitous, cheery. None could +interpret it. + +Ambrose was engaged in a desperate struggle to command himself. At the +announcement of her coming hope had sprung up, only to receive a +deadlier wound at the first glimpse of her. + +She had not found Nesis; very well, it was all up with him. What +matter how dearly Colina loved him if he had to go to jail? He saw the +cheer she offered him in her smile, but he rejected it. + +"Nothing can help me now," he stubbornly insisted. "If I let myself +hope, the disappointment will drive me insane." He fought to recover +his apathy. + +Pascoe and Denholm each sprang up to greet the new witness as if by the +warmth of his welcome she would be attracted to his side. + +"One moment, gentlemen," said the judge. He addressed Colina, "You +have evidence to give in this case?" + +Colina gravely inclined her head. + +His lordship frowned. "This is very irregular. I must ask you why you +have delayed until this moment?" + +"I have just arrived in town," said Colina. + +"Couldn't you have communicated with counsel?" + +"I have come from the north. There was no way of sending out a message +ahead. I am the first one out since the freeze-up." + +The judge nodded to show himself satisfied. "Is the evidence you have +to give favorable to the prisoner or unfavorable?" + +The court-room held its breath for her answer. + +"Favorable," she murmured. + +John Gaviller looked up astonished. + +The judge gave her over to Denholm. "Will you examine?" he asked. + +Denholm consulted with his client. Ambrose, up to this moment so +indifferent to the lawyers, could be seen giving him positive +instructions. Denholm expostulated with him. The bench showed +symptoms of impatience. Finally Denholm rose. + +"My lord," he said. "I have never seen Miss Gaviller before this +moment. I have no inkling of the nature of her evidence. Left to +myself, I should ask for an adjournment; surely we are entitled to it. +But my client insists on going ahead. My lord"--his voice shook a +little--"none but an innocent man could be so rash!" + +"Never mind that," rebuked the judge. He was distinctly nettled by the +upset of court decorum. + +"I will therefore respectfully ask the indulgence of the court," +Denholm went on, "and move to reopen the taking of testimony." + +"Proceed," said the judge. + +A court attendant led Colina to the witness stand. She was sworn. +Judge, lawyers, and spectators alike searched her grave, composed face +for some suggestion of what she had to say. Nothing was to be read +there. + +"Miss Gaviller," said Denholm, "I can only ask you to tell in your own +words all that you know bearing on the offenses with which Ambrose +Doane is charged." + +"My father, Mr. Macfarlane, Dr. Giddings have all testified, I +suppose," said Colina. "They can tell you as much or more than I can. +I have come to tell you of things that happened after his arrest, after +all the others went out of the country." + +Every one connected with the case sat up. Denholm's eye brightened. + +"Please go on," he said and sat down. + +Colina, in a low, steady voice, commenced her story at the point where +Ambrose had asked her to find some one to go in search of Nesis. + +While she spoke her grave eyes were brooding over the prisoner's bent, +dark head below. He dared not look at her. The court-room was so +still that when she paused for a word one could hear the clock on the +wall tick. + +She told of her journey to the Kakisa River; her interview with +Sergeant Plaskett (which provoked a smile); her search among the +teepees; her encounter with Marya, and all that followed on that. + +Without a trace of self-consciousness she told how she and Cora had set +off at night on the unknown trail, and how she had ridden into the +middle of the hostile village next day and demanded Nesis. + +"Two girls to defy a whole tribe of redskins!"--the thought could be +read in the jurymen's startled eyes. + +The twelve men hung out of the box, listening with parted lips. All +that had gone before in this startling trial was nothing to Colina's +story. + +When Colina came to her meeting with Nesis her brave port was shaken. +Her voice began to tremble. She could not bring herself to name the +dreadful thing. The judge, perceiving a stoppage in her story, +interrupted her. + +"Miss Gaviller, if the girl could understand you, why did she answer by +signs?" + +Colina lowered her head. Those near saw her struggling to control a +shaken breast, saw two tears steal down her pale cheeks. + +"Do you wish to be excused?" asked the judge solicitously. + +She shook her head. "One moment," she was understood to whisper. + +An attendant handed up a glass of water. + +She finally managed to produce her voice again. "She could not speak," +she said very low. + +"Why?" asked the judge. One would have said the whole room breathed +the question. + +"They--had mutilated her," whispered Colina. "Her--her tongue--was cut +off." + +A single low sound of horror was forced from the crowd. The prisoner +half rose with a choking cry and collapsed with his head in his arms on +the table. + +Denholm, as pale as a sheet, flung an arm around his shoulders. Every +man connected with the case stared before him as if he beheld the +horror with his physical eyes. Colina's self-control escaped her +entirely. + +She covered her face with her hands and wept like any girl. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +FROM DUMB LIPS. + +The judge proposed an adjournment. The witness, the prisoner, the +prisoner's counsel were all against it. It was decided to continue. A +breath of relief escaped the spectators. Another day they might not be +able to secure seats in the court-room. + +Colina described how they gave their pursuers the slip and gained the +prairie. + +"We decided to make for the nearest point on the Spirit River," she +went on, "and headed southeast. After we had ridden for two hours we +came to a slough of fresh water, and camped for the rest of the night +to let the horses feed and rest. Nesis and I could not sleep. We +talked until morning. + +"I asked her questions, and she would answer yes or no, or let me know +by signs when I was on the wrong track. She was wonderfully clever in +making up signs. + +"As she made signs to me I interpreted them aloud, and she would nod or +shake her head according to whether I was right or wrong. I had to try +one question after another until I hit on the one she could answer. In +this way little by little I built up her story. + +"The next day we continued on the prairie. The sky was heavily +overclouded, and there were flurries of snow. We were lost for several +hours, until the sun came out again. Our food was almost gone, but I +managed to shoot a rabbit. + +"The horses were very tired. Whenever we stopped I talked to Nesis. +We stayed up most of that night. It was too cold to sleep. By the end +of the second day I knew everything she had to tell me." + +Colina drank some water and went on. "Nesis's story begins a year ago. +In the middle of the winter my father was accustomed to send Gordon +Strange with an outfit to the Kakisa River to trade with the tribe and +bring back the fur. + +"While there he lived in a little log shack overlooking the Indian +village. Nesis said it was Watusk's custom to go up to the shack every +night and the two men would talk. She knew that they talked English +together, and she used to steal up after Watusk and listen outside +through a chink between the logs." + +Every eye in the court-room was turned on Gordon Strange. The +half-breed made marks with a pencil on a pad and tried to call up the +old modest, deprecating smile. But an extraordinary ashy tint crept +under his swarthy skin. + +In spite of himself, his eyes darted furtively to measure the distance +to the door. There were half a thousand people between; moreover, the +doors were closed and guarded by six policemen. + +Colina carefully avoided glancing in Strange's direction. + +"At that time Nesis had no idea of using what she learned from their +talk," she went on. "She merely wished to hear English spoken, so that +she would not forget what her father had taught her. Nesis attached a +mysterious virtue to the ability to speak English. It was a kind of +fetish with her. + +"She believed that her father's ability to speak English had threatened +Watusk's power in the tribe, and that Watusk, on that account, had had +her father put out of the way. Therefore she kept it a secret that she +could speak it, too. + +"Nesis said that all of Mr. Strange's and Watusk's talk was against the +white people. She said they used to discuss how the whites could be +driven out of the country. She said that Mr. Strange used to tell +Watusk about how Louis Riel fought the whites. + +"He said that Louis Riel would be the king of this country to-day if he +had not gone crazy. He used to ask Watusk how he would like to be a +king. He used to flatter Watusk and tell him he was a great chief. + +"He explained to Watusk how he could kill a whole army of the whites if +he could lead them into the little valley beyond the Kakisa." + +A gasp of astonishment escaped the court. In almost every sentence of +Colina's there was the material of a fresh sensation. + +Ambrose lifted his head, and a little color came back to his cheeks. +Whether or not it saved him in the end, it was sweet to hear himself +justified. + +Colina continued: "Nesis said that Watusk often complained to Mr. +Strange that my father was always making the goods dearer and the fur +cheaper. Mr. Strange told him to wait a little while and he would see +great changes. + +"Pretty soon things would get so bad, he explained, that the Company +would take John Gaviller away and make him the trader. He told Watusk +to wait until the grain was thrashed next year, meaning last summer, +and there would be great trouble. + +"He said if Watusk did everything he told him he would make Watusk a +great man. At different times he gave Watusk presents--silk +handkerchiefs, finger rings, pistols, a sword. By and by he said he +would make Watusk great presents. + +"Nesis's story then jumped to the time, last summer, when Watusk and +many of the people rode into Fort Enterprise to get flour," Colina went +on. "In the mean time Ambrose Doane had been to Enterprise, and had +gone away again to get an outfit. + +"My father refused to give the Indians any flour because they had been +trading with his competitor. The Indians were angry, Nesis said, and +Watusk was scared. One night Gordon Strange came to see Watusk, and +Nesis listened outside the teepee. + +"She said Strange said to Watusk to let the Indians get mad. Strange +said he wanted to have trouble. There was talk of burning the store +then. Strange said that would fix John Gaviller, all right. He told +Watusk that the police would let the people off easily because, as he +said, my father had treated them so badly." + +Colina drew a long breath to steady herself. "They talked about the +chances of my father's dying," she went on. "He was very sick at that +time. Mr. Strange suggested to Watusk that it wouldn't take much to +finish him. They both laughed at that. + +"He told Watusk that if John Gaviller died he, Strange, would settle +all the trouble, and then the Company would make him the trader for +good. He told Watusk that when he got to be trader he would soon fix +Ambrose Doane, too. + +"Mr. Strange was always telling Watusk to tell the Kakisas that my +father hated them, but that he, Strange, was their friend. + +"Nesis said that a couple of days after this Ambrose Doane came down +the river, and after him his outfit on a raft. When Ambrose Doane +heard that the Indians were hungry he took men and crossed the river +and broke into the flour-mill and ground flour for them. + +"This took two nights and a day. On the second night Gordon Strange +came across to see Watusk again. Nesis said he was so angry that he +started in talking without sending her out of the teepee. He had no +idea, of course, that she could understand English. She made herself +look stupid, she said. + +"Mr. Strange was angry because, if the Indians got their flour and went +back to the Kakisa River satisfied, all his plans would be spoiled. +His attempt to create a rebellion among the half-breed farmers had +already failed. + +"Nesis said that Strange cursed Ambrose Doane for spoiling his plans. +She said he told Watusk he must burn the flour, and then the Indians +would surely make trouble. They talked about how to do it. + +"It was arranged that Strange was to bring Watusk a big can of +coal-oil: Watusk was to hide it under the floor of Gaston Trudeau's +empty shack, and afterward store the flour there. Then Watusk was to +give a big tea-dance to get all the people out of the way. + +"Before going to the dance he was to pour oil over the bags, and leave +the window open so Strange could fire it after he had gone." + +Colina paused to take a drink of water. The judge whispered to a court +attendant, who in turn whispered to a policeman. Thereafter the +blue-coat's eyes never left Gordon Strange. The half-breed had lost +all pretense of smiling. + +He looked like a trapped animal. The court-room scarcely regarded him. +They hung upon Colina's lips. + +Every time she paused her listeners' pent-up breath escaped. + +Colina went on: "At the tea-dance Nesis saw Ambrose Doane for the first +time. She said she--" Colina lowered her eyes and sought for a +word--"she liked him. After that she wanted to help him. When the +alarm of fire was raised, and all ran to the burning building, Nesis +kept near to Ambrose Doane and watched all that he did. + +"She said she saw him go after Watusk, and heard him make Watusk tell +the Indians not to be foolish, but go back to the teepees until +morning. But Watusk spoke to them half-heartedly and they did not +listen. It was Myengeen, Nesis said, who urged them to go across the +river, and break into the store. + +"Nesis did not see what happened at the boat. The crowd was too great +for her to get near. But next morning when they came back she heard +Myengeen say to Watusk that Gordon Strange had sent word that they must +tie Ambrose Doane up and carry him away. + +"She said it was soon known throughout the tribe that if the police +came everybody was to say that Ambrose Doane made all the trouble. She +said he was tied up and carried away on a horse. + +"When they all got to the Kakisa River a week later she found that he +was imprisoned in Gordon Strange's house, and watched day and night." + +So far the power of Colina's story had carried her hearers along +breathlessly with her. Not until she reached this point did a very +obvious question occur to the judge. + +"One moment, Miss Gaviller," he said. "I presume you understand that +this story would have more weight as evidence if the girl Nesis was +produced in court. Can she be brought here?" + +Once more Colina faltered--and steeled herself. Her eyes became misty, +but she looked directly at the judge. "My Lord," she said simply, "she +is dead." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE AVENGING OF NESIS. + +His lordship started back thoroughly discomposed. "Really! Really!" +he murmured helplessly. The prisoner hid his face in his arms again. +An audible wave of compassion traveled over the room. + +"Should I tell about that?" Colina asked quietly. The judge signified +his assent. + +"On the third morning on the prairie," Colina continued, "the Indians +found us again. They had tracked us all the way from the Kakisa. They +did not attack us, but followed about a quarter of a mile behind. + +"There were about fifty of them. Whenever we stopped to rest or eat, +they rode around us in a big circle yelling and firing their guns in +the air--trying to break our nerve." + +A gasp escaped her hearers at the picture she evoked--three women on +the wide prairie, and a horde of yelling savages! + +"I did not mind them so much," Colina went on simply, "for I was sure +they were too cowardly to attack us. But our food was all gone by this +time, and I could not leave the others to hunt for game. The horses +were completely played out. + +"At night we suffered from the cold. We could not make a fire because +the light of it blinded us and showed us to the Indians. On the fourth +night as we were trying to push on in the hope of losing them in the +dark, the horse that Nesis was riding fell down and died in his tracks. +After that we took turns walking. + +"Next day they easily found us again. It was very cold, and we could +scarcely keep going. In the afternoon we came to the edge of the bench +of the Spirit River. It was a long way down to the bank. + +"When we got there we saw that heavy ice was running in the river. We +had to travel another mile along the bank before we saw enough dead +timber in one place to make a raft. I was afraid we wouldn't have +strength enough to move it. We hadn't eaten for two days. + +"It was still daylight, and we made a fire there. The Indians came and +watched us from a little knoll, less than a quarter of a mile back. + +"Cora took one of the remaining horses away and killed it, and brought +back meat to the fire and we ate a little. I thought if we slept a +little while we would be better able to start the raft. So Cora and I +lay down while Nesis kept watch." + +Colina's voice was shaking. She paused to steady it. "I was careful +to choose a place out in the open," she went on. "We were in a grassy +bottom beside the river. + +"The nearest cover was a poplar bluff about three hundred yards back. +He--he must have crawled down to that. I was awakened by a shot. They +had got her!" + +Colina's clenched hands were pressed close together, her head was down. +The quiet voice broke out a little wildly. + +"Ah! I have never, never ceased to blame myself! I should not have +slept! I ought not to have let her watch! But I never thought they +would dare shoot!" + +Colina went on in a schooled voice more affecting than an outcry. + +"Nesis was shot through the breast. I had nothing to give her. I +stanched the wound the best way I could. + +"I saw at once that she could not live. Indeed, I prayed that she +would not linger--in such pain. She lived throughout the night. She +was conscious most of the time--and smiling. She died at daybreak. + +"I do not know what happened after that. I gave out. It was Cora who +saw the launch coming down the river, and signaled it with her +petticoat. They landed and carried us aboard. I remember that. + +"I wanted them to turn back and take us up to the crossing. But it was +impossible to go against the current on account of the ice. They took +us down to Fort Enterprise. We took Nesis. She is buried there. + +"At Fort Enterprise we had to wait until the ice packed in the river, +and enough snow fell to make a winter trail. Then we started with dog +teams. I brought Captain Stinson and my servant, Cora Thomas, for +additional witnesses. It is seven hundred miles. That is why we were +so long." + +Mr. Pascoe rose. His erstwhile ruddy cheeks showed an odd pallor under +the purple veins, and he looked thoroughly disconcerted. "My Lord," he +said, "this is a very affecting tale. It is, however, my painful duty +to protest against its admission as evidence." + +Colina interrupted him. "I beg your pardon," she said quickly. She +produced a little book from inside her dress. "May I explain further?" +she asked the judge eagerly. + +"One moment, please, Mr. Pascoe," said his lordship. He signed to +Colina to proceed. + +"I meant, of course, to bring Nesis here," Colina continued. "When I +saw that--that I never would, while I didn't know anything about courts +or evidence, I felt that it would be safer to have a written statement. + +"This book is my diary that I always carry with me. That night I wrote +in the blank pages what Nesis had told me, and later when she was +conscious I read it to her, and she affirmed it sentence by sentence. +She understood how important it was. + +"You may know that she comprehended what she was doing because she made +me make changes--you will find them here. At the end I wrote her name +and she made a cross. Cora Thomas heard me read it to her, and saw her +make her mark." + +The judge held out his hand for the book. + +Once more Mr. Pascoe rose. "My Lord," he said, "it must be clear to +you that the ends of justice have been defeated by the dramatic power +of this tale. It would be farcical to ask this jury to deliver an +impartial verdict now. This new evidence must be weighed and sifted +with calm minds. I request that you declare a mistrial, and that--" + +A still more dramatic surprise awaited Mr. Pascoe and the court. +Toward the end of the telling of Colina's painful tale Gordon Strange +had been forgotten by all in the room except the policeman detailed to +watch him. This man suddenly made a spring toward the half-breed, +where he sat huddled beside his table. He was too late. The court was +electrified by the muffled sound of a shot. Strange fell forward on +the table. A revolver clattered to the floor from under his coat. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS. + +The following is taken from the Prince George _Star_, January 19, 19--. +Extra. + +NOT GUILTY! + +At 7.53 P.M. the jury in the trial of Ambrose Doane for treason-felony +returned a verdict of not guilty without leaving their seats. This was +a foregone conclusion. Upon issuing from the courthouse the acquitted +man received an immense ovation from the waiting crowd. + + +From the Prince George _Star_, January 24, 19--: Editorial. + +THE REAL CRIMINAL! + +Now that the trial of Ambrose Doane is a thing of the past, a tragic +miscarriage of justice happily averted, and the excitement abated, it +is time for the thoughtful to examine into the underlying causes of the +trouble at Fort Enterprise. + +That there was serious trouble no one denies; but the general +disposition is, since the innocent man is free and the guilty one dead +by his own hand, to forget the whole matter. Now is the time to take +measures to make it impossible for anything of the kind to occur again. + +Granting that Gordon Strange, that extraordinary character, played for +high stakes, lost and paid--was he the sole criminal? What sort of +conditions were they up there that made it possible for him to engineer +his unique schemes of villainy? + +For years the arrogant policy and the unscrupulous methods of the great +corporation that holds the north of our province in thrall have been +matters of common gossip in the streets. But no man has dared to raise +his voice. + +"They say" that the mighty corporation rides over the helpless redskins +roughshod. "They say" that the Indians are charged exorbitant prices +for the necessities of life, while a mere pittance is given them for +their valuable furs. + +Is it true? Who knows? No news comes out of that sealed country save +by the pleasure of the great Company. Certain aspects of the testimony +given in the Ambrose Doane trial leads us to suspect that these charges +are not without foundation. + +Parliament should investigate. The question is, does the Province of +Athabasca control the Northwest Fur Company, or does the Company run +the province? + + +From the Prince George _Star_, January 27, 19--. + +GAVILLER IS OUT! + +At the head offices of the Northwest Fur Company it was given out this +morning that the resignation of John Gaviller, the Company's trader at +Fort Enterprise, had been accepted to take effect immediately. + +Duncan MacDonald, general manager of the Company, said, when asked for +a further statement: "Mr. Gaviller's resignation was requested for the +good of the service. Owing to the conditions of our business the +traders have to be given the widest latitude in the command of their +posts, and we do not always know what is going on. + +"Mr. Gaviller was very successful at Enterprise, but the disclosures at +the Doane trial showed that his acts have not always been in accord +with the policy of this company in dealing with the Indians. To our +mind the welfare of the Indians is more important than profits." + +Mr. Gaviller was later found at the Royal George Hotel. Upon being +shown the foregoing he did not hesitate to express an opinion of it. + +"Put not your trust in corporations!" he said. "I have given them +thirty years of my life, my best years, and here I am turned out over +night! It is the threat of a parliamentary investigation that has led +them to their present panic and attempt to make a scapegoat of me. + +"If they think I'll take it lying down they are much mistaken. The +Indians' welfare more important than profits, eh? Excuse me if I +laugh." Mr. Gaviller added somewhat stronger expression. + +"You can say from me," he went on, "that not only have I always +followed instructions to the letter, but that twice a year I laid my +books open to the Company inspector, who was informed of the minutest +details of my transactions. + +"I accept my share in the blame for what happened. I have learned my +lesson. But let me tell you this, that the policy pursued at Fort +Enterprise was the Company's policy--letter and spirit. + +"Moreover, in my time Fort Enterprise has paid thousands and thousands +of dollars to the shareholders of the Company, and I have not profited +one cent beyond my salary." + +At this point Mr. Gaviller's daughter came downstairs and he would say +no more. Miss Gaviller declined to speak for publication. + + +From the Prince George _Star_, February 3, 19--. + +A BEAUTIFUL ADORNMENT. + +Our city has the honor of containing at the present moment the most +beautiful set of furs ever exhibited in America. It is to be seen in +the window of Messrs. Renfrew & Watkins's establishment on Oliver +Avenue. + +It consists of three magnificent black fox skins smooth and lustrous as +jet, except for the snowy tips of the brushes. Two of the pelts go to +the neck-piece, while the third--the most beautiful skin that ever came +out of the north in the opinion of these experienced furriers--makes +the muff. + +Mr. Renfrew refused to set a value on the furs, but we learn on good +authority that they are insured for five thousand dollars. + +There are romantic and tragic associations with these furs. Two of the +pelts have been in the possession of Mr. Renfrew for some time. He +held them on speculation until he could obtain a third to complete the +set. + +This one, the finest of the three, was brought out last August by +Ambrose Doane. This was the skin which almost cost John Gaviller his +life, and indirectly induced a rebellion among the Kakisa Indians. All +those who followed the course of the recent trial will remember it. + +Upon obtaining the third pelt, Mr. Renfrew sent the three to London to +be dressed and made up. They have just been returned. + +A purchaser has already been found for the set. His name is kept +secret, but we are assured that the beautiful furs will remain in this +province. + + +From the Prince George _Star_, February 3, 19--. + +GAVILLER GOES WITH MINOT & DOANE. + +An interesting fact leaked out yesterday when it became known that +Ambrose Doane had made an offer to John Gaviller to take charge of the +new trading-post that Minot & Doane purpose establishing on Great +Buffalo Lake. + +Mr. Doane could not be found by the Star reporter. Since the trial he +has spent a good deal of his time dodging reporters. He has a private +room at the Athabasca Club which no representative of the press has yet +succeeded in locating. + +John Gaviller was found at the Royal George Hotel. He admitted the +truth of the report, and seemed very pleased by his new prospects. + +"It tells its own story, doesn't it?" he said. "I belong to the north. +I have traded up there thirty years, and I will not be any worse trader +for what has happened." + +In answer to further questions he only shook his head. "I talked too +much to you fellows the other day," he said. "You caught me at a +disadvantage. Nothing more to say. The arrangements between Ambrose +Doane and me concern nobody but ourselves. I may say, however, that +our relations are of the happiest nature." + + +From the Prince George _Star_, February 21, 19--. + +THE CULMINATION OF A ROMANCE. + +In another column of this paper will be found a notice of the marriage +of Ambrose Doane to Miss Colina Gaviller, which took place a week ago +to-day at the Chapel of the Redeemer on Jarvis Street. + +The ceremony was performed by the rector, Rev. Algernon Mitford. The +only witnesses were the bride's father, who gave her away, and Mr. and +Mrs. Arthur Denholm. + +With the traveling costume the bride wore the wonderful set of +black-fox furs which have been town talk during the past month. +Ambrose Doane was the purchaser. + +The news was suppressed until to-day on account of the desire of all +parties to avoid further publicity. We learn that Mr. and Mrs. Doane +and Mr. Gaviller left for the north by stage on the same day. + +They part company at Miwasa landing; the bride and groom continue north +to Moultrie on Lake Miwasa, while Mr. Gaviller goes northwest to Fort +Enterprise to settle his affairs, thence to his new post on Great +Buffalo Lake. + +We learn that Mr. Doane is to run the post at Moultrie, while his +partner, Mr. Minot, will operate an opposition store to the Company at +Fort Enterprise. + +A private letter from the landing tells of a wonderful van on runners +that Ambrose Doane is building there to house his bride on their long +journey north. + +It is to contain a stove, bookshelves, side-board, piano, and all the +comforts of a city residence, and will be drawn by four horses. + +Their way lies over the regular winter road over the ice of the Miwasa +River. Job, the little dog who was mentioned so often during the +trial, will be a member of the party. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fur Bringers, by Hulbert Footner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FUR BRINGERS *** + +***** This file should be named 16289.txt or 16289.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/8/16289/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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