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diff --git a/30349-0.txt b/30349-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95b209c --- /dev/null +++ b/30349-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7249 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30349 *** + +THE PEACE OF ROARING RIVER + + + + +[Illustration: "God bless you, Madge," said the man. "I will come soon." +See page 306] + + + + +THE PEACE OF ROARING RIVER + +BY + +GEORGE VAN SCHAICK + +AUTHOR OF + +SWEET APPLE COVE, THE SON OF THE OTTER, +A TOP-FLOOR IDOL, ETC. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + +W. H. D. KOERNER + +NEW YORK + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1918 + +BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY + +(INCORPORATED) + +Second Printing + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. The Woman Scorned 13 + II. What Happened to a Telegram 26 + III. Out of a Wilderness 42 + IV. To Roaring River 71 + V. When Gunpowder Speaks 102 + VI. Deeper in the Wilderness 124 + VII. Carcajou Is Shocked 152 + VIII. Doubts 165 + IX. For the Good Name of Carcajou 189 + X. Stefan Runs 211 + XI. A Visit Cut Short 223 + XII. Help Comes 237 + XIII. A Widening Horizon 251 + XIV. The Hoisting 279 + XV. The Peace of Roaring River 290 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + "God bless you, Madge," said the man. "I will come + soon." See page 306 _Frontispiece_ + Truth flashed upon her! In a few moments she would + see for the first time the man she was to marry 98 + "I'm glad you were not hurt. Rather unexpected, + wasn't it" 122 + He put out a brown hand and touched the girl's arm 270 + + + + +THE PEACE OF ROARING RIVER + + + + +THE PEACE OF ROARING RIVER + +CHAPTER I + +The Woman Scorned + + +To the village of Carcajou came a young man in the spring. The last +patches of snow were disappearing from under the protecting fronds of +trees bursting into new leaf. From the surface of the lakes the heavy +ice had melted and broken, and still lay in shattered piles on the lee +shores. Black-headed chickadees, a robin or two, and finally swallows +had appeared, following the wedges of geese returning from the south +on their way to the great weedy shoals of James' Bay. + +The young man had brought with him a couple of heavy packs and some +tools, but this did not suffice. He entered McGurn's store, after +hesitating between the Hudson's Bay Post and the newer building. A +newcomer he was, and something of a tenderfoot, but he made no +pretence of knowing it all. A gigantic Swede he addressed gave him +valued advice, and Sophy McGurn, daughter of the proprietor, joined +in, smilingly. + +She was a rather striking girl, of fiery locks and, it was commonly +reported, of no less flaming temper. To Hugo Ennis, however, she +showed the most engaging traits she possessed. The youth was +good-looking, well built, and his attire showed the merest trifle of +care, such as the men of Carcajou were unused to bestow upon their +garb. The bill finally made out by Sophia amounted to some seventy +dollars. + +"Come again, always glad to see you," called the young lady as Hugo +marched out, bearing a part of his purchases. + +For a month he disappeared in the wilderness and finally turned up +again, for a few more purchases. On the next day he left once more +with Stefan, the big Swede, and nothing of the two was seen again +until August, when they returned very ragged, looking hungry, their +faces burned to a dull brick color, their limbs lankier and, if +anything, stronger than ever. The two sat on the verandah of the store +and Hugo counted out money his companion had earned as guide and +helper. When they entered the store Miss Sophia smiled again, +graciously, and nodded a head adorned with a bit of new ribbon. There +were a few letters waiting for Hugo, which she handed out, as McGurn's +store was also the local post-office. The young man chatted with her +for some time. It was pleasant to be among people again, to hear a +voice that was not the gruff speech of Stefan, given out in a powerful +bass. + +"More as two months ve traipse all ofer," volunteered the latter. +"Ye-es, Miss Sophy, ma'am, ve vork youst like niggers. Und it's only +ven ve gets back real handy here, by de pig Falls, dat ve strike +someting vhat look mighty good. Hugo here he build a good log-shack. +He got de claim all fix an' vork on it some to vintertime. Nex spring +he say he get a gang going. Vants me for foreman, he do." + +This was pleasant news. Hugo would be a neighbor, for what are a dozen +miles or so in the wilderness? He would be coming back and forth for +provisions, for dynamite, for anything he needed. + +"We had a fine trip anyway, and saw a lot of country," declared Hugo, +cheerfully. + +"Ve get one big canoe upset in country close in by Gowganda," said +Stefan again. "Vidout him Hugo I youst git trowned." + +"That wasn't anything," exclaimed Hugo, hastily. + +"It was one tamn pig ting for me, anyvays," declared Stefan, roaring +out with contented laughter. + +Miss Sophy was not greatly pleased when Hugo civilly declined an +invitation to have dinner with her ma and pa. The young man was +disappointing. He spoke cheerfully and pleasantly but appeared to take +scant notice of her new ribbon, to pay little heed to her grey-blue +eyes. + +After this, once or twice a week, Hugo would come in again, for +important or trifling purchases. It might be a hundred pounds of flour +or merely a new pipe. He was the only man in Carcajou who took off his +cap to her when he entered the store, but when she would have had him +lean over the counter and chat with her he seemed to be just as +pleased to gossip with lumberjacks and mill-men, or even with Indians +who might come in for tobacco or tea and were reputed to have vast +knowledge of the land to the North. Once he half promised to come to a +barn-dance in which Scotty Humphrey would play the fiddle, and she +watched for him, eagerly, but he never turned up, explaining a few +days later that his dog Maigan, an acquisition of a couple of months +before, had gone lame and that it would have been a shame to leave the +poor old fellow alone. + +Sophy met him in the village street and he actually bowed to her +without stopping, as if there might be more important business in the +world than gossiping with a girl. She began to feel, after a time, +that she actually disliked him. The station agent, Kid Follansbee, +admired her exceedingly, and had timidly ventured some words of +hopeful flirtation as a preliminary to more serious proposals. Two or +three other youths of Carcajou only needed the slightest sign of +encouragement, and there was a conductor of the passenger train who +used to blow kisses at her, once in a while, from the steps of the +Pullman. In spite of all this Sophy continued to smile and talk +softly, whenever he entered the store, and he would answer civilly and +cheerfully, and ask the price of lard or enquire for the fish-hooks +that had been ordered from Ottawa. He would pat the head of the big +dog that was always at his heels, throw a coin on the counter, slip +his change in his pocket and go out again, as if time had mattered, +when, as she knew perfectly well, he really hadn't much to do. The +poor fellow, she decided, was really stupid, in spite of his good +looks. + +The worst of it all was that some folks had taken notice of her +efforts to attract Hugo's attention. The people of Carcajou were +good-natured but prone to guffaws. One or two asked her when the +wedding would take place, and roared at her indignant denials. + +In the meanwhile Hugo was utterly ignorant of the feelings that had +arisen in Miss Sophy McGurn's bosom. He worked away at a great rocky +ledge, and loud explosions were not uncommon at the big falls of +Roaring River. Also he cut a huge pile of firewood against the coming +of winter, and, from time to time, would take a rod and lure from the +river some of the fine red square-tailed trout that abounded in its +waters. A few books on mining and geology, and an occasional magazine, +served his needs of mental recreation. A French Canadian family +settled about a mile north of his shack soon grew friendly with him. +There were children he was welcomed by, and a batch of dogs that tried +in vain to tear Maigan to pieces, until with club and fang they were +taught better manners. To the young man's peculiar disposition such +surroundings were entirely satisfactory. There was a freedom in it, a +sense of personal endeavor, a hope of success, that tinted his world +in gladdening hues. + +When autumn came he shouldered his rifle and went out to the big +swampy stretches of the upper river, where big cow moose and their +ungainly young, soon to be abandoned, wallowed in the oozy bottoms of +shallow ponds and lifted their heads from the water, chewing away at +the dripping roots of lily-pads. There were deer, also, and he caught +sight of one or two big bull-moose but forebore to shoot, for the +antlers were still in velvet and there was not enough snow on the +ground to sledge the great carcasses home. He contented himself with a +couple of bucks, which he carried home and divided with his few +neighbors, also bringing some of the meat to Stefan's wife at +Carcajou. Later on he killed two of the big flathorns, hung the huge +quarters to convenient trees and went back to Papineau's, the +Frenchman's place, for the loan of his dog-team. + +After this came the winter with heavy falls of snow and cold that sent +the tinted alcohol in the thermometer at the station down very close +to the bulb. Carcajou and its inhabitants seemed to go to sleep. The +village street was generally deserted. Even the dogs stayed indoors +most of the day, hugging the cast-iron stoves. At this time all the +Indians were away at their winter hunting grounds, and many of the +lumberjacks had gone further south where the weather did not prevent +honest toil. The big sawmill was utterly silent and the river, wont to +race madly beneath the railroad bridge, had become a jumbled mass of +ice and rock. + +The only men who kept up steady work in and near Carcajou formed the +section gang on the railroad. One day, in the middle of winter, and in +quickly gathering shadows, Pete Coogan, their foreman, was walking the +track back towards the village and had reached the big cut whose other +end led to the bridge at Carcajou. The wind bit hard as it howled +through the opening in the hill and the man walked wearily, pulling +away at a short and extinct pipe and thinking of little but the +comfort that would be his after he reached his little house and kicked +off his heavy Dutch stockings. A hot and hearty meal would be ready +for him, and after this he would light another pipe and listen to his +wife's account of the village doings. Since before daylight he had +been toiling hard with his men, in a place where tons of ice and snow +had thundered down a mountainside and covered the rails, four or five +feet deep. The work had been hurried, breathless, anxious, but finally +they had been able to remove the warning signals after clearing the +track in time to let the eastbound freight thunder by, with a lowing +of cold, starved cattle tightly packed and a squealing of hogs by the +legion. A frost-encased man had waived a thickly-mittened hand at them +from the top of a lumber car, and the day's work was over, all but +clearing a great blocked culvert, lest an unexpected thaw or rain +might flood the right of way. To these men it was all in the day's +work and unconscious passengers snored away in their berths, unknowing +of the heroic toil their safety required. + +So Pete walked slowly, his grizzled head bent against the blast as he +struggled between the metals, listening. At a sudden shrieking roar he +moved deliberately to one side, his back resting against a bank of +snow left by the giant circular plough whose progress, on the previous +day, had been that of a slow but irresistible avalanche. A crashing +whistle tore the air and the wind of the rushing train pulled at his +clothes and swirled sharp flakes into his eyes. Yet he dimly saw +something white flutter down to his feet and he picked it up. It +chanced to be a paper tossed out by some careless hand, a rather +disreputable sheet printed some thousand miles away, one of the things +that lie like scabs on the outer hide of civilization. It was much too +dark and cold for him to think of removing a mitten and searching for +the glasses in his coat pocket. But the respect is great, in waste +places, for the printed word. There news of the great outside world +trickles in slowly, and he carefully stuffed the thing between two of +the big horn buttons of his red-striped mackinaw. + +There were but a few minutes more of toil for him. At last he passed +over the bridge, in a flurry of swirling ice-crystals, and finally +made his way into McGurn's store, which is across the way from the +railway depot. + +"Cold night," he announced, stamping his feet near the door. + +"Follansbee he says they report fifty below at White River," a man +sitting by the stove informed him. + +Coogan nodded and approached the counter. + +"Give me a plug, Miss Sophy," he told the girl who sat at a rough +counter, adding figures. "The wind's gettin' real sharp and I got the +nose most friz off'n my face." + +The girl rose, with a yawn, and handed him the tobacco. She swept his +ten-cent piece in a drawer and sat down again. One of the men lounging +about the great white-topped stove in the middle of the room pointed +to Coogan's coat. + +"Ye're that careless, Pete," he said. "I 'low that's a bundle o' +thousand dollar bills as is droppin' off'n yer coat." + +The old section foreman looked down. + +"Oh! I'd most forgot. This here's some kind o' paper I picked up on +the track. Beats anything how passengers chucks things off. Mike Smith +'most got killed last week with an empty bottle. Lucky he had his big +muskrat cap on. May be ye'd like to see it, Miss Sophy? Guess my old +woman wouldn't have no use for it as it don't seem to have any picters +in it." + +He was about to place it on the counter when one of the men took it +from his hand and held it under the hanging oil lamp. + +"Why!" he chuckled, somewhat raspingly. "It's just what Sophy needs +real bad. Ye wants ter study that real careful, Sophy. It'll show ye +as there's just as good fish in the sea as was ever took out of it." + +The girl leaned far out over the counter and snatched the paper away +from him. + +"Yes, there's just as good fish as that there Ennis lad," repeated the +man. + +A single glance had acquainted Sophy with the title. It was the +_Matrimonial Journal_. She flung it down to her feet, angrily. + +"You get out of here with your Ennis!" she cried. "I wouldn't--wouldn't +marry him if he was the last man on earth. I--I just despise him!" + +"And that's real lucky for ye," snickered the man. "I heard him +say--lemme see--yes, 'bout three-four days ago, as he wasn't nowise +partial ter carrots. It's a wegetable as he couldn't never bear the +sight of." + +The girl's hand went up to her fine head of auburn hair and a deep red +rose from her cheeks to its roots. Her narrow lips became a mere slit +in her face and her steely eyes flashed. + +"And--and he's the kind as thinks himself a gentleman!" she hissed +out. "Get out o' here, all of ye! There ain't a man in Carcajou as I'd +wipe my boots on. Clear out o' here, I tell ye!" + +The three men left, Pete silently and disapprovingly, the other two +guffawing. + +"I don't believe as how that lad Ennis ever said anything o' the +kind," declared the foreman. "He's a fine bye, he is, and it ain't +like him." + +"Of course he didn't," the village joker assured him. "But 'twas too +much of a chance ter get a rise out er Sophy for me to lose it. Ain't +she the hot-tempered thing? Just the same she wuz dead sot on gettin' +him, we all know that, an' she's mad clear through." + +"Well, I don't see as yer got any call ter rile the gal, just the +same," ventured Pete. "Like enough she can't help herself, she can't, +and just because she got a temper like a sorrel mare ain't no good +reason ter be hurtin' her feelin's." + +But the other two chuckled again and started towards the big +boarding-house, whose ceilings and walls were beautifully covered with +stamped metal plates guaranteed to last for ever and sell for old iron +afterwards. Its corrugated iron roof, to most of Carcajou's +population, represented the very last word in architectural glory. + +Within the store Miss Sophy was biting her nails, excitedly, and felt +all the fury of the woman scorned. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +What Happened to a Telegram + + +Customers were rare on such terribly cold nights. For a long time +Sophy McGurn held her chin in the palm of her hand, staring about her +from time to time, without seeing anything but the visions her anger +evolved. Presently, however, she took up the small bag of mail and +sorted out a few letters and papers, placing them in the individual +boxes. But while she worked the heightened color of her face remained +and her teeth often closed upon her lower lip. There was a postal card +addressed to Hugo Ennis. She turned it over, curiously, but it proved +to be an advertisement of some sort of machinery and she threw it from +her, impatiently. + +"Supper's ready, Sophy," cried a shrill voice. "Train's in and +father'll be here in a minute. Get the table fixed." + +"I'm coming," she answered. + +For a minute she busied herself putting down plates and knives and +forks. She heard her father coming in. He had been away on some +business at the next station. She heard him kicking off his heavy felt +shoes and he came into the room in his stocking-feet. + +"Hello, Ma! Hello, Sophy! Guess ye've been settin' too close to the +hot stove, ain't ye? Yer face is red as a beet." + +"My face is all right!" she exclaimed, angrily. "Them as don't like it +can look the other way!" + +Her mother, a quiet old soul, looked at her in silence and dished out +the broiled ham and potatoes. The old gentleman snickered but forebore +to add more fuel to the fire. He was a prudent man with a keen +appreciation of peace. They sat down. Under a chair the old cat was +playing with her lone kitten, sole remnant of a large litter. An +aggressive clock with a boldly painted frame was beating loudly. +Beneath the floor the oft-repeated gnawing of a mouse or rat went on, +distractingly. From the other side of the road, in spite of +double-windows and closed doors, came the wail of an ill-treated +violin. + +"One of these days I'm goin' over to Carreau's an' smash that fiddle," +suddenly asserted Sophy, truculently. "It's gettin' on my nerves. Talk +o' cats screechin'!" + +"I wouldn't do that, Sophy," advised her mother, patiently. "Not but +what it's mighty tryin', sometimes, for Cyrille he don't ever get +further'n them two first bars of 'The Campbells are comin'.'" + +Sophy sniffed and poured herself out strong tea. She drank two cups of +it but her appetite was evidently poor, for she hardly touched her +food. Her father was engaged in a long explanation of the misdeeds of +a man who had sold him inferior pork, as she folded her napkin, +slipped it into her ring, and went back into the store. Here she sat +on her stool again, tapping the counter with closed knuckles. Her eyes +chanced to fall upon the paper she had thrown down on the floor, and +she picked it up and began to read. Pete Coogan, when he had brought +it into the store, unknowingly had set big things in motion. He would +have been amazed at the consequences of his act. + +Presently Sophy became deeply interested. The pages she turned +revealed marvelous things. Even to one of her limited attainments in +the way of education and knowledge of the world the artificiality of +many of the advertisements was apparent. Others made her wonder. It +was marvelous that there were so many gentlemen of good breeding and +fine prospects looking hungrily for soul-mates, and such a host of +women, young or, in a few instances, confessing to the early thirties, +seeking for the man of their dreams, for the companion who would +understand them, for the being who would bring poetry into their +lives. Some, it is true, hinted at far more substantial requirements. +But these, in the brief space of a few lines, were but hazily +revealed. Among the men were lawyers needing but slight help to allow +them to reach wondrous heights of forensic prosperity. There were +merchants utterly bound to princely achievement. Also there was a +sprinkling of foreign gentlemen suggesting that they might exchange +titles of high nobility for some little superfluity of wealth. Good +looks were not so essential as a kindly, liberal disposition, they +asserted, and also hinted that youth in their brides was less +important than the quality of bank accounts. The ladies, as described +by themselves, were tall and handsome, or small and vivacious. Some +esteemed themselves willowy while others acknowledged Junoesque forms. +But all of them, of either sex, high or short, thin or stout, appeared +to think only of bestowing undying love and affection for the pure +glory of giving, for the highest of altruistic motives. Other and more +trivial things were spoken of, as a rule, in a second short paragraph +which, to the initiated, would have seemed rather more important than +the longer announcements. At any rate, that which they asked in +exchange for the gifts they were prepared to lavish always appeared to +be quite trivial, at first sight. + +Sophy McGurn, as she kept on reading, was not a little impressed. Yet, +gradually, a certain native shrewdness in her nature began to assert +itself. She had helped her father in the store for several years and +knew that gaudy labels might cover inferior goods. She by no means +believed all the things she read. At times she even detected +exaggeration, lack of candor, motives less allowable than the ones so +readily advanced. + +"Guess most of them are fakes," she finally decided, not unwisely. +"But there's some of them must get terribly fooled. I--I wonder...." + +Her cogitations were interrupted by a small boy who entered and asked +for a stamped envelope. A few people, later on, came in to find out if +there was any mail for them. But during the intervals she kept on +poring over those pages. One by one the lights of Carcajou were going +out. Carreau's fiddle had stopped whining long before. The cat lay +asleep in the wood-box, near the stove, with the kitten nestled +against her. Old McGurn called down to her that it was time for bed, +but the girl made no answer. + +Yes, it was a marvelous idea that had come to her. She saw a dim +prospect of revenge. It was as if the frosted windows had gradually +cleared and let in the light of the stars. Hugo Ennis had made a +laughing-stock of her. He didn't like carrots, forsooth! She was only +too conscious of the failure of her efforts to attract him. But he had +noticed them and commented on them to others, evidently. It was enough +to make one wild! + +The oil in the swinging lamp had grown very low and the light dim by +the time she finished a letter, in which she enclosed some money. Then +she stamped it and placed it in the bag that would be taken up in the +morning, for the eastbound express. Finally she placed the heavy iron +bar against the front door and went up the creaking stairs to her room +as the loud-ticking clock boomed out eleven strokes, an unearthly hour +for Carcajou. + +A couple of weeks later a copy of the _Matrimonial Journal_ was +forwarded to A.B.C., P.O. Box 17, Carcajou, Ontario, Canada. Miss +Sophy McGurn retired with it to her room, looked nervously out of the +window, lest any one might have observed her, and searched the pages +feverishly. Yes! There it was! Her own words appeared in print! + + A wealthy young man owning a silver mine in Canada would like to + correspond with a young lady who would appreciate a fine home + beside a beautiful river. In exchange for all that he can bestow + upon her he only seeks in the woman he will marry an affectionate + and kindly disposition suited to his own. Write A.B.C., P.O. Box + 17, Carcajou, Ontario, Can. + +During the next few days it was with unwonted eagerness that Sophy +opened the mail bags. Finally there came a letter, followed by five, +all in different handwritings and in the same mail. For another week +or ten days others dribbled in. They were all from different women, +cautiously worded, asking all manner of questions, venturing upon +descriptions of themselves. Unanimously they proclaimed themselves +bubbling over with affection and kindliness. The girl was impressed +with the wretched spelling of most of them, with the evident tone of +artificiality, with the patent fact that the writers were looking for +a bargain. All these letters, even the most poorly written, gave Sophy +the impression that the correspondents were dangerous people, she knew +not why, and might perhaps hoist her with her own petard. She studied +them over and over again, with a feeling of disappointment, and +reluctantly decided that the game was an unsafe one. + +Two days had gone by without a letter to A.B.C. when at last one +turned up. At once it seemed utterly different, giving an impression +of bashfulness and timidity that contrasted with the boldness or the +caution of the others. That night, with a hand disguised as best +she could, the girl answered it. She knew that several days must +elapse before she could obtain a reply and awaited it impatiently. +It was this, in all probabilities, that made her speak snappishly to +people who came to trade in the store or avail themselves of the +post-office. + +"I'm a fool," she told herself a score of times. "They all want the +money to come here and it must be enough for the return journey. This +last one ain't thought of it, but she'll ask also, in her next letter, +I bet. And I haven't got it to send; and if I had it I wouldn't do so. +They might pocket it and never turn up. And anyway I might be getting +in trouble with the postal authorities. Guess I better not answer when +it comes. I'll have to find some other way of getting square with +him." + +By this time she regretted the dollars spent from her scant hoard for +the advertisement, but the reply came and the game became a +passionately interesting one. She answered the letter again, using a +wealth of imagination. + +"She'll sure answer this one, but then I'll say I've changed my mind +and have decided that I ain't going to marry. Takes me really for a +man, she does. Must be a fool, she must. And she ain't asked for +money, ain't that funny? If she writes back she'll abuse me like a +pickpocket, anyway. Won't he be mad when he gets the letter!" + +Sophy's general knowledge of postal matters and of some of the more +familiar rules of law warned her that she was skating on thin ice. Yet +her last letter had ventured rather far. In her first letter she had +merely signed with the initials, but this time she had boldly used +Hugo Ennis's name. She thought she would escape all danger of having +committed a forgery by simply printing the letters. + +"And besides, there ain't any one can tell I ever wrote those +letters," she reassured herself, perhaps mistakenly. "If there's ever +any enquiry I'll stick to it that some one just dropped them in the +mail-box and I forwarded them as usual. When it comes to her answers +they'll all be in Box 17, unopened, and I can say I held them till +called for, according to rules. I never referred to them in what I +wrote. Just told her to come along and promised her all sorts of +things." + +Again she waited impatiently for an answer, which never came. Instead +of it there was a telegram addressed to Hugo Ennis, which was of +course received by Follansbee, the station agent, who read it with +eyes rather widely opened. He transcribed the message and entrusted it +to big Stefan, the Swede, who now carried mail to a few outlying +camps. + +"It's a queer thing, Stefan," commented Joe. "Looks like there's some +woman comin' all the way from New York to see yer friend Hugo." + +"Vell, dat's yoost his own pusiness, I tank," answered the Swede, +placidly. + +"Sure enough, but it's queer, anyways. Did he ever speak of havin' +some gal back east?" + +"If he had it vould still be his own pusiness," asserted Stefan, +biting off a chew from a black plug and stowing away the telegram in a +coat pocket. Hugo Ennis was his friend. Anything that Hugo did was all +right. Folks who had anything to criticize in his conduct were likely +to incur Stefan's displeasure. + +The big fellow's dog-team was ready. At his word they broke the +runners out of the snow, barking excitedly, but for the time being +they were only driven across the way to the post-office for the +mail-bag. + +Sophy handed the pouch to him, her face none too agreeable. + +"Dat all vhat dere is for Toumichouan?" asked the man. + +"Yes, that's all," answered the girl, snappily. "There's a parcel here +for Papineau and a letter for Tom Carew's wife. If you see any one +going by way of Roaring River tell him to stop there and let 'em +know." + +"You can gif 'em to me, too," said Big Stefan. "I'm goin' dat vay. I +got one of dem telegraft tings for Hugo Ennis." + +Sophy rushed out from behind the counter. + +"Let me see it!" she said. + +"No, ma'am," said Stefan, calmly. "It is shut anyvays, de paper is. +Follansbee he youst gif it to me. I tank nobotty open dat telegraft +now till Hugo he get it." + +He tucked the mail-bag and the parcel under one arm and went out, +placing the former in a box that was lashed to the toboggan. Then he +clicked at his dogs, who began to trot off easily towards the rise of +ground at the side of the big lake. It was a sheet of streaky white, +smooth or hummocky according to varying effects of wind and falling +levels. Far out on its surface he saw two black dots that were a pair +of ravens, walking in dignified fashion and pecking at some +indistinguishable treasure trove. At the summit of the rise he clicked +again and the dogs went on faster, the man running behind with the +tireless, flat-footed gait of the trained traveler of the wilderness. + +In the meanwhile old McGurn was busy in the store and Sophy put on her +woollen _tuque_ and her mitts. + +"I'm going over to the depot and see about that box of Dutch socks," +she announced. + +"'T ain't due yet," observed her father. + +"I'm going to see, anyway," she answered. + +In the station she found Joe Follansbee in his little office. The +telegraphic sounder was clicking away, with queer sudden interruptions, +in the manner that is so mysterious to the uninitiated. + +"Are you busy, Joe?" she asked him, graciously. + +"Sure thing!" answered the young fellow, grinning pleasantly. "There's +the usual stuff. The 4.19 is two hours late, and I've had one whole +private message. Gettin' to be a busy place, Carcajou is." + +"Who's getting messages? Old man Symonds at the mill?" + +"Ye'll have to guess again. It's a wire all the way from New York." + +"What was it about, Joe?" she asked, in her very sweetest manner. + +Indeed, the inflection of her voice held something in it that was +nearly caressing. Kid Follansbee had long admired her, but of late he +had been quite hopeless. He had observed the favor in which Ennis had +seemed to stand before the girl, and had perhaps been rather jealous. +It was pleasant to be spoken to so agreeably now. + +"We ain't supposed to tell," he informed her, apologetically. "It's +against the rules. Private messages ain't supposed to be told to +anyone." + +"But you'll tell me, Joe, won't you?" she asked again, smiling at +him. + +It was a chance to get even with the man he deemed his rival and he +couldn't very well throw it away. + +"Well, I will if ye'll promise not to repeat it," he said, after a +moment's hesitation. "It's some woman by the name of Madge who's wired +to Ennis she's coming." + +"But when's she due, Joe?" + +"It just says 'Leaving New York this evening. Please have some one to +meet me. Madge Nelson.'" + +"For--for the land's sakes!" + +She turned, having suddenly become quite oblivious of Joe, who was +staring at her, and walked back slowly over the hard-packed snow that +crackled under her feet in the intense cold. + +"I--I don't care," she told herself, doggedly. "I--I guess she'll just +tear his eyes out when she finds out she's been fooled. She'll be +tellin' everybody and--and they'll believe her, of course, and--and +like enough they'll laugh at him, now, instead of me." + +During this time Stefan rode his light toboggan when the snow was not +too hummocky, or when the grade favored his bushy-tailed and +long-nosed team. At other times he broke trail for them or, when the +old tote-road allowed, ran alongside. With all his fast traveling it +took him nearly three hours to reach the shack that stood on the bank, +just a little way below the great falls of Roaring River. Here he +abandoned the old road that was so seldom traveled since lumbering +operations had been stopped in that district, owing to the removal of +available pine and spruce. At a word from him the dogs sat down in +their traces, their wiry coats giving out a thin vapor, and he went +down the path to the log building. The door was closed and he had +already noted that no film of smoke came from the stove-pipe. While it +was evident that Ennis was not at home Stefan knocked before pushing +his way in. The place was deserted, as he had conjectured. Drawing off +his mitt he ascertained that the ashes in the stove were still warm. +There was a rough table of axe-hewn boards and he placed the envelope +on it, after which he kindled a bit of fire and made himself a cup of +hot tea that comforted him greatly. After this it took but a minute to +bind on his heavy snowshoes again and he rejoined his waiting dogs, +starting off once more in the hard frost, his breath steaming and once +more gathering icicles upon his short and stubby yellow moustache. + +It was only in the dusk of the short winter's day that Hugo Ennis +returned to his home, carrying his gun, with Maigan scampering before +him. It was quite dark within the shack and he placed the bag that had +been on his shoulders upon the table of rough planks. After this he +drew off his mitts and unfastened his snowshoes after striking a light +and kindling the oil lamp. Then he pulled a couple of partridges and a +cold-stiffened hare out of the bag, which he then threw carelessly in +a corner. Whether owing to the dampness of melting snow or the +stickiness of fir-balsam on the bottom of the bag, the envelope Stefan +had left for him stuck to it and he never saw the telegram that had +been sent from the far-away city. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Out of a Wilderness + + +A couple of days before Sophy's advertisement appeared in the +_Matrimonial Journal_ a girl rose from her bed in one of the female +wards of the great hospital on the banks of the East River, in New +York. On the day before the visiting physician had stated that she +might be discharged. She was not very strong yet but the hospital +needed every bed badly. Pneumonia and other diseases were rife that +winter. + +A kindly nurse carried her little bag for her down the aisle of the +ward and along the wide corridor till they reached the elevator. Madge +Nelson was not yet very steady on her feet; once or twice she stopped +for a moment, leaning against the walls owing to slight attacks of +dizziness. The car shot down to their floor and the girl entered it. + +"Good-by and good luck, my dear," said the kindly nurse. "Take good +care of yourself!" + +Then she hurried back to the ward, where another suffering woman was +being laid on the bed just vacated. + +Madge found herself on the street, carrying the little bag which, in +spite of its light weight, was a heavy burden for her. The air was +cold and a slight drizzle had followed the snow. The chilly dampness +made her teeth chatter. Twice she had to hold on to the iron rails +outside the gates of the hospital, for a moment's rest. After this she +made a brave effort and, hurrying as best she could, reached Third +Avenue and waited for a car. There was room in it, fortunately, and +she did not have to stand up. Further down town she got out, walked +half a block west, and stopped before a tenement-house, opening the +door. The three flights up proved a long journey. She collapsed on a +kitchen chair as soon as she entered. A woman who had been in the +front room hastened to her. + +"So you're all right again," she exclaimed. "Last week the doctor said +'t was nip and tuck with you. You didn't know me when I stood before +ye. My! But you don't look very chipper yet! I'll make ye a cup of hot +tea." + +Madge accepted the refreshment gratefully. It was rather bitter and +black but at least it was hot and comforting. Then she went and sought +the little bed in the dim hall-room, whose frosted panes let in a +yellow and scanty light. For this she had been paying a dollar and a +half a week, and owed for the three she had spent in the hospital. +Fortunately, she still had eleven dollars between herself and +starvation. After paying out four-fifty the remainder might suffice +until she found more work. + +She was weary beyond endurance and yet sleep would not come to her, as +happens often to the overtired. Before her closed eyes a vague +panorama of past events unrolled itself, a dismal vision indeed. + +There was the coming to the great city, after the widowed mother's +death, from a village up the state. The small hoard of money she +brought with her melted away rather fast, in spite of the most +economical living. But at last she had obtained work in a factory +where they made paper boxes and paid a salary nearly, but not quite, +adequate to keep body and soul together. From this she had drifted to +a place where they made shirts. Here some hundreds of motor-driven +sewing-machines were running and as many girls bent over the work, +feverishly seeking to exceed the day's stint and make a few cents +extra. A strike in this place sent her to another, with different +work, which kept her busy till the hands were laid off for part of the +summer. + +And always, in every place, she toiled doggedly, determinedly, and her +pretty face would attract the attention of foremen or even of bosses. +Chances came for improvement in her situation, but the propositions +were nearly always accompanied by smirks and smiles, by hints never so +well covered but that they caused her heart to beat in indignation and +resentment. Sometimes, of course, they merely aroused vague +suspicions. Two or three times she accepted such offers. The result +always followed that she left the place, hurriedly, and sought +elsewhere, trudging through long streets of mercantile establishments +and factories, looking at signs displayed on bits of swinging +cardboard or pasted to dingy panes. + +Throughout this experience, however, she managed to escape absolute +want. She discovered the many mysteries which, once revealed, permit +of continued existence of a sort. The washing in a small room, that +had to be done on a Sunday; the making of small and unnutritious +dishes on a tiny alcohol stove; the reliance on suspicious eggs and +milk turned blue; the purchase of things from push-carts. She envied +the girls who knew stenography and typewriting, and those who were +dressmakers and fitters and milliners, all of which trades necessitate +long apprenticeship. The quiet life at home had not prepared her to +earn her own living. It was only after the mother's death that an +expired annuity and a mortgage that could not be satisfied had sent +her away from her home, to become lost among the toilers of a big +city. + +For a year she had worked, and her clothing was mended to the verge of +impending ruin, and her boots leaked, and she had grown thin, but life +still held out hope of a sort, a vague promise of better things, some +day, at some dim period that would be reached later, ever so much +later, perhaps. For she had still her youth, her courage, her +indomitable tendency towards the things that were decent and honest +and fair. + +At last she got a better position as saleswoman in one of the big +stores, whereupon her sky became bluer and the world took on rosier +tints. She was actually able to save a little money, cent by cent and +dime by dime, and her cheerfulness and courage increased apace. + +It was at this time that typhoid struck her down and the big hospital +saw her for the first time. For seven long weeks she remained there, +and when finally she was able to return to the great emporium she +found that help was being laid off, owing to small trade after the +holidays. She sought further but the same conditions prevailed and she +was thankful to find harder and more scantily paid work in another +factory, in which she packed unending cases with canned goods that +came in a steady flow, over long leather belts. + +So she became thinner again, and wearier, but held on, knowing that +the big stores would soon seek additional help. The winter had come +again, and with it a bad cough which, perforce, she neglected. One day +she could not rise from her bed and the woman who rented a room to her +called in the nearest doctor who, after a look at the patient and a +swift, understanding gaze at the surroundings, ordered immediate +removal to the hospital. + +So now she was out of the precincts of suffering again, but the world +had become a very hard place, an evil thing that grasped bodies and +souls and churned them into a struggling, crying, weeping mass for +which nothing but despair loomed ahead. She would try again, however. +She would finish wearing out the soles of her poor little boots in a +further hunt for work. At last sleep came to her, and the next morning +she awoke feeling hungry, and perhaps a bit stronger. Some sort of +sunlight was making its way through the murky air. She breakfasted on +a half-bottle of milk and a couple of rolls and went out again, +hollow-eyed, weary looking, to look for more work. + +For the best part of three days she staggered about the streets of the +big city, answering advertisements found in a penny paper, looking up +the signs calling for help, that were liberally enough displayed in +the manufacturing district. + +Then, one afternoon, she sank down upon a bench in one of the smaller +parks, utterly weary and exhausted. Beside her, on the seat, lay a +paper which she picked up, hoping to find more calls for willing +workers. But despair was clutching at her heart. In most of the places +they had looked at her and shaken their heads. No! They had just found +the help they wanted. The reason of her disappointments, she realized, +lay in the fact that she looked so ill and weary. They did not deem +her capable of doing the needed work, in spite of her assurances. + +So she held up the paper and turned over one or two pages, seeking the +title. It was the _Matrimonial Journal_! It seemed like a scurrilous +joke on the part of fate. What had she to do with matrimony; with +hopes for a happy, contented home and surcease of the never-ending +search for the pittance that might keep her alive? She hardly knew why +she folded it and ran the end into the poor little worn plush muff she +carried. When she reached her room again she lighted the lamp and +looked it over. It was merely something with which to pass a few +minutes of the long hours. She read some of those advertisements and +the keen instinct that had become hers in little less than two years +of hard city life made her feel the lack of genuineness and honesty +pervading those proposals and requests. When she chanced to look at +that far demand from Canada, however, she put the paper down and began +to dream. + +Her earlier and blessed years had been spent in a small place. Her +memory went back to wide pastures and lowing cattle, to gorgeously +blossoming orchards whose trees bent under their loads of savory +fruit, long after the petals had fallen. She felt as if she could +again breathe unpolluted air, drink from clear springs and sit by the +edges of fields and watch the waves of grain bending with flashes of +gold before the breezes. Time and again she had longed for these +things; the mere thought of them brought a hunger to her for the open +country, for the glory of distant sunsets, for the sounds of farm and +byre, for the silently flowing little river, bordered with woodlands +that became of gold and crimson in the autumn. She could again see the +nesting swallows, the robins hopping over grasslands, the wild doves +pairing in the poplars, the chirping chickadees whose tiny heads shone +like black diamonds, as they flitted in the bushes. The memory of it +all brought tears to her eyes. + +What a wonderful outlook this thing presented, as she read it again. A +home by a beautiful river! A prosperous youth who needed but +kindliness and affection to make him happy! Why had he not found a +suitable mate in that country? She remembered hearing, or reading +somewhere, that women are comparatively few in the lands to which men +rush to settle in wildernesses. And perhaps the women he had met were +not of the education or training he had been accustomed to. + +The idea of love, as it had been presented by the men she had been +thrown with, in factory and office, was repugnant to her. But, if this +was true, the outlook was a different one. Not for a moment did she +imagine that it was a place wherein a woman might live in idleness and +comparative luxury. No! Such a man would require a helpmeet, one who +would do the work of his house, one who would take care of the home +while he toiled outside. What a happy life! What a wondrous change +from all that she had experienced! There were happy women in the +world, glorying in maternity, watching eagerly for the home-coming of +their mates, blessed with the love of a good man and happy to return +it in full measure. It seemed too good to be true. She stared with +moistened eyes. If this was really so the man had doubtless already +received answers and chosen. There must be so many others looking like +herself for a haven of safety, for deliverance from lives that were +unendurable. Who was she that she should aspire to this thing? To such +a man she could bring but health impaired, but the remnants of her +former strength. In a bit of looking-glass she saw her dark-rimmed +eyes and deemed that she had lost all such looks as she had once +possessed. + +Yet something kept urging her. It was some sort of a fraud, doubtless. +The man was probably not in earnest. A letter from her would obtain no +attention from him. A minute later she was seated at the table, in +spite of all these misgivings, and writing to this man she had never +seen or heard of. She stated candidly that life had been too hard for +her and that she would do her best to be a faithful and willing helper +to a man who would treat her kindly. It was a poor little despairing +letter whose words sounded like a call for rescue from the deep. After +she had finished it she threw it aside, deciding that it was useless +to send it. An hour later she rushed out of the house, procured a +stamp at the nearest drug-store, and threw the letter in a box at the +street-corner. As soon as it was beyond her reach she would have given +anything to recall it. Her pale face had become flushed with shame. A +postman came up just then, who took out a key fastened to a brass +chain. She asked him to give her back her letter. But he swept up all +the missives and locked the box again, shaking his head. + +"Nothing doing, miss," he told her, gruffly. + +Before her look of disappointment he halted a few seconds to explain +some measure, full of red-tape, by which she might perhaps obtain the +letter again from the post-office. To Madge it seemed quite beyond the +powers of man to accomplish such a thing. And, moreover, the die was +cast. The thing might as well go. She would never hear from it again. + +The next day she found work in a crowded loft, poorly ventilated and +heated, and came home to throw herself upon her bed, exhausted. Her +landlady's children were making a terrible noise in the next room, and +the racket shot pains through her head. On the morrow she was at work +again, and kept it up to the end of the week. When she returned on +Saturday, late in the afternoon, with her meagre pay-envelope in her +ragged muff, she had forgotten all about her effort to obtain +freedom. + +"There's a letter for ye here, from foreign parts," announced Mrs. +MacRae. "Leastwise 't ain't an American stamp." + +Madge took it from her, wondering. A queer tremor came over her. The +man had written! + +Once in her room she tore the envelope open. The handwriting was queer +and irregular. But a man may write badly and still be honest and true. +And the words she read were wonderful. This individual, who merely +signed A. B. C., was eager to have her come to him. She would be +treated with the greatest respect. If the man and the place were not +suited to her she would naturally be at liberty to return immediately. +It was unfortunate that his occupations absolutely prevented his +coming over at once to New York to meet her. If she would only come he +felt certain that she would be pleased. The hosts of friends he had +would welcome her. + +Thus it ran for three pages and Madge stared at the light, a +tremendous longing tearing at her soul, a great fear causing her heart +to throb. + +She forgot the meagre supper she had brought with her and finally sat +down to write again. Like the first letter it was a sort of +confession. She acknowledged again that life no longer offered any +prospect of happiness to her. After she looked again in the little +glass she wrote that she was not very good-looking. To her own eyes +she now appeared ugly. But she said she knew a good deal about +housekeeping, which was true, and was willing to work and toil for a +bit of kindness and consideration. Her face was again red as she +wrote. There was something in all this that shocked her modesty, her +inborn sense of propriety and decency. But, after all, she reflected +that men and women met somehow, and became acquainted. And the +acquaintance, in some cases, became love. And the love eventuated in +the only really happy life a man or a woman could lead. + +Nearly another week went by before the second answer arrived. It again +urged her to come. It spoke of the wonderful place Carcajou was, of +the marvel that was Roaring Falls, of the greatness of the woodlands +of Ontario. Indeed, for one of her limited attainments, Sophy's letter +was a remarkable effort. This time the missive was signed in printed +letters: HUGO ENNIS. This seemed queer. But some men signed in very +puzzling fashion and this one had used this method, in all likelihood, +in order that she might be sure to get the name right. And it was a +pleasant-sounding name, rather manly and attractive. + +The letter did not seem to require another answer. Madge stuffed it +under her pillow and spent a restless night. On the next day her head +was in a whirl of uncertainty. She went as far as the Grand Central +Station and inquired about the price of a ticket to Carcajou. The man +had to look for some time before he could give her the information. It +was very expensive. The few dollars in her pocket were utterly +inadequate to such a journey, and she returned home in despair. + +On the Monday morning, at the usual hour, she started for the factory. +She was about to take the car when she turned back and made her way to +her room again. Her mind was made up. She would go! + +She opened a tiny trunk she had brought with her from her country home +and searched it, swiftly, hurriedly. She was going. It would not do to +hesitate. It was a chance. She must take it! + +She pulled out a little pocketbook and opened it swiftly. Within it +was a diamond ring. It had been given to her mother by her father, in +times of prosperity, as an engagement ring. And she had kept it +through all her hardships, vaguely feeling that a day might come when +it might save her life. She had gone very hungry, many a time, with +that gaud in her possession. She had felt that she could not part with +it, that it was something that had been a part of her own dear mother, +a keepsake that must be treasured to the very last. And now the moment +had come. She placed the little purse in her muff, clenched her hand +tightly upon it, and went out again into the street. + +She looked out upon the thoroughfare in a new, impersonal way. She +felt as if now she were only passing through the slushy streets on her +way to new lands. From the tracks of the Elevated Road dripped great +drops of turbid water. The sky was leaden and an easterly wind, in +spite of the thaw, brought the chill humidity that is more penetrating +than colder dry frost. + +She hastened along the sidewalk flooded with the icy grime of the last +snowfall. It went through the thin soles of her worn boots. Once she +shivered in a way that was suggestive of threatened illness and +further resort to the great hospital. Before crossing the avenue she +was compelled to halt, as the great circular brooms of a monstrous +sweeper shot forth streams of brown water and melting snow. Then she +went on, casting glances at the windows of small stores, and finally +stopped before a little shop, dark and uninviting, whose soiled glass +front revealed odds and ends of old jewelry, watches, optical goods +and bric-a-brac that had a sordid aspect. She had long ago noticed the +ancient sign disposed behind the panes. It bore the words: + +"We buy Old Gold and Jewelry" + +For a moment only she hesitated. Her breath came and went faster as if +a sudden pain had shot through her breast. But at once she entered the +place. From the back of the store a grubby, bearded, unclean old man +wearing a black skullcap looked at her keenly over the edge of his +spectacles. + +"I--I want to sell a diamond," she told him, uneasily. + +He stared at her again, studying her poor garb, noticing the gloveless +hands, appraising the worn garments she wore. He was rubbing thin +long-fingered hands together and shaking his head, in slow assent. + +"We have to be very careful," his voice quavered. "We have to know the +people." + +"Then I'll go, of course," she answered swiftly, "because you don't +know me." + +The atmosphere of the place was inexpressibly distasteful to her and +the old man's manner was sneaking and suspicious. She felt that he +suspected her of being a thief. Her shaking hand was already on the +doorknob when he called her back, hurrying towards her. + +"What's your hurry? Come back!" he called to her. "Of course I can't +take risks. There's cases when the goods ain't come by honest. But you +look all right. Anyway 't ain't no trouble to look over the stuff. Let +me see what you've got. There ain't another place in New York where +they pay such good prices." + +She returned, hesitatingly, and handed to him a small worn case that +had once been covered with red morocco. He opened it, taking out the +ring and moving nearer the window, where he examined it carefully. + +"Yes. It's a diamond all right," he admitted, paternally, as if he +thus conferred a great favor upon her. "But of course it's very old +and the mounting was done years and years ago, and it's worn awful +thin. Maybe a couple of dollars worth of gold, that's all." + +"But the stone?" she asked, anxiously. + +"One moment, just a moment, I'm looking at it," he replied, screwing a +magnifying glass in the socket of one of his eyes. "Diamonds are awful +hard to sell, nowadays--very hard, but let me look some more." + +He was turning the thing around, estimating the depth of the gem and +studying the method of its cutting. + +"Very old," he told her again. "They don't cut diamonds that way +now." + +"It belonged to my mother," she said. + +"Of course, of course," he quavered, repellently, so that her cheeks +began to feel hot again. She was deeply hurt by his tone of suspicion. +The sacrifice was bad enough--the implication was unbearable. + +"I don't think you want it," she said, coldly. "Give it back to me. I +can perhaps do better at a regular pawnshop." + +But he detained her again, becoming smooth and oily. He first offered +her fifty dollars. She truthfully asserted that her father had paid a +couple of hundred for it. After long bargaining and haggling he +finally agreed to give her eighty-five dollars and, worn out, the girl +accepted. She was going out of the shop, with the money, when she +stopped again. + +"It seems to me that I used to see pistols, or were they revolvers, in +your show window," she said. + +He lifted up his hands in alarm. + +"Pistols! revolvers! Don't you know there's the Sullivan law now? We +ain't allowed to sell 'em--and you ain't allowed to buy 'em without a +license--a license from the police." + +"Oh! That's a pity," said Madge. "I'm going away from New York and I +thought it might be a good idea to have one with me." + +The old man looked keenly at her again, scratching one ear with +unkempt nails. Finally he drew her back of a counter, placing a finger +to his lips. + +"I'm taking chances," he whispered. "I'm doing it to oblige. If ye +tell any one you got it here I'll say you never did. My word's as good +as yours." + +"I tell you I'm going away," she repeated. "I--I'm never coming to +this city again--never as long as I live. But I want to take it with +me." + +When she finally went out she carried a cheap little weapon worth +perhaps four dollars, and a box of cartridges, for which she paid him +ten of the dollars he had handed out to her. It was with a sense of +inexpressible relief that she found herself again on the avenue, in +spite of the drizzle that was coming down. The air seemed purer after +her stay in the uninviting place. Its atmosphere as well as the old +man's ways had made her feel as if she had been engaged in a very +illicit transaction. She met a policeman who was swinging his club, +and the man gave her an instant of carking fear. But he paid not the +slightest heed to her and she went on, breathing more freely. It was +as if the great dark pall of clouds hanging over the city was being +torn asunder. At any rate the world seemed to be a little brighter. + +She went home and deposited her purchase, going out again at once. She +stopped at a telegraph office where the clerk had to consult a large +book before he discovered that messages could be accepted for Carcajou +in the Province of Ontario, and wrote out the few words announcing her +coming. After this she went into other shops, carefully consulting a +small list she had made out. Among other things she bought a pair of +stout boots and a heavy sweater. With these and a very few articles of +underwear, since she could spare so little, she returned to the Grand +Central and purchased the needed ticket, a long thing with many +sections to be gradually torn off on the journey. Berths on sleepers, +she decided, were beyond her means. Cars were warm, as a rule, and as +long as she wasn't frozen and starving she could endure anything. Not +far from the house she lived in there was an express office where a +man agreed to come for her trunk, in a couple of hours. + +Then she climbed up to Mrs. MacRae's. + +"I'm going to leave you," announced the girl. "I--I have found +something out of town. Of course I'll pay for the whole week." + +The woman expressed her regret, which was genuine. Her lodger had +never been troublesome and the small rent she paid helped out a very +poor income mostly derived from washing and scrubbing. + +"I hope it's a good job ye've found, child," she said. "D'ye know for +sure what kind o' place ye're goin' to? Are you certain it's all +right?" + +"Oh! If it isn't I'll make it so," answered Madge, cryptically, as she +went over to her room. Here, from beneath the poor little iron bed, +she dragged out a small trunk and began her packing. For obvious +reasons this did not take very long. It was a scanty trousseau the +bride was taking with her to the other wilderness. After her clothes +and few other possessions had been locked in, the room looked very +bare and dismal. She sat on the bed, holding a throbbing head that +seemed very hot with hands that were quite cold. After a time the +expressman came and removed the trunk. There was a lot of time to +spare yet and Madge remained seated. Thoughts by the thousand crowded +into her brain--the gist of them was that the world was a terribly +harsh and perilous place. + +"I--I can't stay here any longer!" she suddenly decided, "or I'll get +too scared to go. I--I must start now! I'll wait in the station." + +So she bade Mrs. MacRae good-by, after handing her a dollar and a +half, and received a tearful blessing. Then, carrying out a small +handbag, she found herself once more on the sidewalk and began to +breathe more freely. The die was cast now. She was leaving all this +mud and grime and was gambling on a faint chance of rest and comfort, +with her dead mother's engagement ring, the very last thing of any +value that she had hitherto managed to keep. It was scarcely happiness +that she expected to find. If only this man might be good to her, if +only he placed her beyond danger of immediate want, if only he treated +her with a little consideration, life would become bearable again! + +As she walked along the avenue the pangs of hunger came to her, +keenly. For once she would have a sufficient meal! She entered a +restaurant and ordered lavishly. Hot soup, hot coffee, hot rolls, a +dish of steaming stew with mashed potatoes, and finally a portion of +hot pudding, furnished her with a meal such as she had not tasted for +months and months. A sense of comfort came to her, and she placed five +cents on the table as a tip to the girl who had waited on her. She was +feeling ever so much better as she went out again. She had spent fifty +cents for one meal, like a woman rolling in wealth. At a delicatessen +shop she purchased a loaf of bread and a box of crackers, with a +little cold meat. She knew that meals on trains were very expensive. + +As she reached the station she felt that she had burned her bridges +behind her. She could never come back, since the few dollars that were +left would never pay for her return. + +"But I'm not coming back," she told herself grimly. "I'm my own master +now." + +She felt the bottom of her little bag. Yes, the pistol was there, a +protector from insult or a means towards that end she no longer +dreaded. + +"No! I'll never come back!" she repeated to herself. "I'll never see +this city again. It--it's been too hard, too cruelly hard!" + +The girl was glad to sit down at last on one of the big benches in the +waiting-room. It was nice and warm, at any rate, and the seat was +comfortable enough. Her arm had begun to ache from carrying the bag, +and she had done so much running about that her legs felt weary and +shaky. A woman sitting opposite looked at her for an instant and +turned away. There was nothing to interest any one in the garments +just escaping shabbiness, or in the pale face with its big dark-rimmed +eyes. People are very unconscious, as a rule, of the tragedy, the +drama or the comedy being enacted before their eyes. + +Gradually Madge began to feel a sense of peace stealing over her. She +was actually beginning to feel contented. It was a chance worth +taking, since things could never be worse. And then there was that +thing in her bag. Presently a woman came to sit quite close to her +with a squalling infant in her arms and another standing at her knee. +She was a picture of anxiety and helplessness. But after a time a man +came, bearing an old cheap suit-case tied up with clothes-line, who +spoke in a foreign tongue as the woman sighed with relief and a smile +came over her face. + +Yes! That was it! The coming of the man had solved all fears and +doubts! There was security in his care and protection. With a catch in +her breathing the girl's thoughts flew over vast unknown expanses and +went to that other man who was awaiting her. Her vivid imagination +presented him like some strange being appearing before her under forms +that kept changing. The sound of his voice was a mystery to her and +she had not the slightest idea of his appearance. That advertisement +stated that he was young and the first letter had hinted that he +possessed fair looks. Yet moments came in which the mere idea of him +was terrifying, and this, in swiftly changing moods, changed to forms +that seemed to bring her peace, a surcease of hunger and cold, of +unavailing toil, of carking fear of the morrow. + +At times she would look about her, and the surroundings would become +blurred, as if she had been weeping. The hastening people moved as if +through a heavy mist and the announcer's voice, at intervals, boomed +out loudly and called names that suggested nothing to her. Again her +vision might clear and she would notice little trivial things, a +bewildered woman dragging a pup that was most unwilling, a child +hauling a bag too heavy for him, a big negro with thumbs in the +armholes of his vest, yawning ponderously. For the hundredth time she +looked at the big clock and found that she still had over an hour to +wait for her train. Again she lost sight of the ever-changing throngs, +of the massive structure in which she seemed to be lost, and the roar +of the traffic faded away in the long backward turning of her brain, +delving into the past. There was the first timid yet hopeful coming to +the big city and the discovery that a fair high-school education, with +some knowledge of sewing and fancywork, was but poor merchandise to +exchange for a living. Her abundance of good looks, at that time, had +proved nothing but a hindrance and a danger. Then had come the bitter +toil for a pittance, and sickness, and the hospital, and the long +period of convalescence during which everything but the ring had been +swept away. She had met the sharp tongues of slatternly, disappointed +landladies, while she looked far and wide for work. At first she had +been compelled to ask girls on the street for the meaning of cards +pasted on windows or hanging in doorways. Words such as "Bushel girls +on pants" or "Stockroom assistants" had signified nothing to her. +Month by month she had worked in shops and factories where the work +she exacted from her ill-nourished body sapped her strength and +thinned her blood. Nor could she compete with many of the girls, +brought up to such labor, smart, pushing, inured to an existence +carried on with the minimum of food and respirable air. + +The red came to her cheeks again as she remembered insults that had +been proffered to her. It deepened further as she thought of that +paper picked up on a bench of a little city square. The fear of having +made a terrible mistake returned to her, more strongly than ever. Her +efforts towards peace now seemed immodest, bold, unwomanly. But that +first vision had been so keen of a quiet-voiced man extending a strong +hand to welcome and protect as he smiled at her in pleasant greeting! +Her vague notions of a far country in which was no wilderness of brick +and mortar but only the beauty of smiling fields or of scented forests +had filled her heart with a passionate longing. And the last thing the +doctor had told her, in the hospital, was that she ought to live far +away from the city, in the pure air of God's country. It was with a +hot face and a throbbing heart that she now remembered the poor little +letters she had written. Even the sending of that telegram now filled +her with shame. And yet.... + +With clamorous voice the man was announcing her train. After a +heart-rending moment's hesitation she hastened to where a few people +were waiting. The gates opened and she was pushed along. It was as if +her own will could no longer lead her, as if she were being carried by +a strong tide, with other jetsam, towards shores unknown. + +At last she was seated in an ordinary coach, than which man has never +devised sorrier accommodation for a long journey. Finally the train +started and she sought to look out of the window but obtained only a +blurred impression of columns and pillars lighted at intervals by +flickering bulbs. They made her eyes ache. But presently she made out, +to her left, the dark surface of a big river. A few more lights were +glinting upon it, appearing and disappearing. Vaguely she made out the +outlines of a few vessels that were battling against the drifting ice, +for she could see myriad sparks flying from what must have been the +smokestacks of tugs or river steamers. + +Her fellow passengers were mostly laborers or emigrants going north or +west. The air was tainted with the scent of garlic. Children began to +cry and later grew silent or merely fretful. Finally the languor of +infinite weariness came over the girl and she lay back, uncomfortably, +and tried to sleep. At frequent intervals she awoke and sat up again, +with terror expressed in her face and deep blue eyes. Once she fell +into a dream and was so startled that she had to restrain herself from +rushing down the aisle and seeking to escape from some unknown danger +that seemed to be threatening her. + +Again she passed a finger over the blurred glass and sought to look +out. The train seemed to be plunging into strange and grisly horrors. +Overwrought as she was a flood of tears came to her eyes and seemed to +bring her greater calm, so that at last she fell into a deeper sleep, +heavy, visionless, no longer attended with sudden terrors. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +To Roaring River + + +At last the morning came and Madge awoke. At first she could not +realize where she was. Her limbs ached from their cramped position and +a pain was gnawing at her, which meant hunger. In spite of the heaters +in the car a persistent chilliness had come over her, and all at once +she was seized by an immense discouragement. She felt that she was now +being borne away to some terrible place. Those people called it +Roaring River. Now that she thought of it the very name represented +something that was gruesome and panicky. But then she lay back and +reflected that its flood would be cleaner and its bed a better place +to leap into, if her fears were realized, than the turbid waters of +the Hudson. She knew that she was playing her last stake. It must +result in a life that could be tolerated or else in an end she had +battled against, to the limit of endurance. + +She quietly made a meal of the provisions she had brought. Her weary +brain no longer reacted to disturbing thoughts and vague fears and she +felt that she was drifting, peacefully, to some end that was by this +time nearly indifferent to her. The day wore on, with a long interval +in Ottawa, where she dully waited in the station, the restaurant +permitting her to indulge in a comforting cup of coffee. All that she +saw of the town was from the train. There was a bridge above the +tracks, near the station, and on the outskirts there were winding and +frozen waterways on which some people skated. As she went on the land +seemed to take an even chillier aspect. The snow was very deep. Farms +and small villages were half buried in it. The automobiles and wheeled +conveyances of New York had disappeared. Here and there she could see +a sleigh, slowly progressing along roads, the driver heavily muffled +and the horse traveling in a cloud of vapor. When night came they were +already in a vast region of rock and evergreen trees, of swift running +rivers churning huge cakes of ice, and the dwellings seemed to be very +few and far between. The train passed through a few fairly large +towns, at first, and she noted that the people were unfamiliarly clad, +wearing much fur, and the inflections of their voices were strange to +her. By this time the train was running more slowly, puffing up long +grades and sliding down again with a harsh grinding of brakes that +seemed to complain. When the moon rose it shone over endless snow, +broken only by dim, solid-looking masses of conifers. Here and there +she could also vaguely discern rocky ledges upon which gaunt twisted +limbs were reminders of devastating forest fires. There were also +great smooth places that must have been lakes or the beds of wide +rivers shackled in ice overlaid with heavy snow. Whenever the door of +the car was opened a blast of cold would enter, bitingly, and she +shivered. + +Came another morning which found her haggard with want of sleep and +broken with weariness. But she knew that she was getting very near the +place and all at once she began to dread the arrival, to wish vainly +that she might never reach her destination, and this feeling continued +to grow keener and keener. + +Finally the conductor came over to her and told her that the train was +nearing her station. Obligingly he carried her bag close to the door +and she stood up beside him, swaying a little, perhaps only from the +motion of the car. The man looked at her and his face expressed some +concern but he remained silent until the train stopped. + +Madge had put on her thin cloak. The frosted windows of the car spoke +of intense cold and the rays of the rising sun had not yet passed over +the serrated edges of the forest. + +"I'm afraid you'll find it mighty cold, ma'am," ventured the +conductor. "Hope you ain't got to go far in them clothes. Maybe your +friends 'll be bringing warmer things for you. Run right into the +station; there's a fire there. Joe 'll bring your baggage inside. Good +morning, ma'am." + +She noticed that he was looking at her with some curiosity, and her +courage forsook her once more. It was as if, for the first time in her +life, she had undertaken to walk into a lion's cage, with the animal +growling and roaring. She felt upon her cheeks the bite of the hard +frost, but there was no wind and she was not so very cold, at first. +She looked about her as the train started. Scattered within a few +hundred yards there were perhaps two score of small frame houses. At +the edge of what might have been a pasture, all dotted with stumps, +stood a large deserted sawmill, the great wire-guyed sheet-iron pipe +leaning over a little, dismally. A couple of very dark men she +recognized as Indians looked at her without evincing the slightest +show of interest. From a store across the street a young woman with a +thick head of red hair peeped out for an instant, staring at her. Then +the door closed again. After this a monstrously big man with long, +tow-colored wisps of straggling hair showing at the edges of his heavy +muskrat cap, and a ragged beard of the same color, came to her as she +stood upon the platform, undecided, again a prey to her fears. The man +smiled at her, pleasantly, and touched his cap. + +"Ay tank you're de gal is going ofer to Hugo Ennis," he said, in a +deep, pleasant voice. + +She opened her mouth to answer but the words refused to come. Her +mouth felt unaccountably dry--she could not swallow. But she nodded +her head in assent. + +"I took de telegraft ofer to his shack," the Swede further informed +her, "but Hugo he ain't here yet. I tank he come soon. Come inside de +vaiting-room or you freeze qvick. Ain't you got skins to put on?" + +She shook her head and he grasped her bag with one hand and one of her +elbows with the other and hurried her into the little station. Joe +Follansbee had a redhot fire going in the stove, whose top was +glowing. The man pointed at a bench upon which she could sit and stood +at her side, shaving tobacco from a big black plug. She decided that +his was a reassuring figure and that his face was a good and friendly +one. + +"Do you think that--that Mr. Ennis will come soon?" she finally found +voice to ask. + +"Of course, ma'am. You yoost sit qviet. If Hugo he expect a leddy he +turn up all right, sure. It's tvelve mile ofer to his place, ma'am, +and he ain't got but one dog." + +She could not quite understand what the latter fact signified. What +mattered it how many dogs he had? She was going to ask for further +explanation when the door opened and the young woman who had peeped at +her came in. She was heavily garbed in wool and fur. As she cast a +glance at Madge she bit her lips. For the briefest instant she +hesitated. No, she would not speak, for fear of betraying herself, and +she went to the window of the little ticket-office. + +"Anything for us, Joe?" she asked. + +"No. There's no express stuff been left," he answered. "Your stuff'll +be along by freight, I reckon. Wait a moment and I'll give you the +mail-bag." + +"You can bring it over. It--it doesn't matter about the goods." + +She turned about, hastily, and nodded to big Stefan. Then she peered +at Madge again, with a sidelong look, and left the waiting-room. + +As so often happens she had imagined this woman who was coming as +something entirely different from the reality. She had evolved vague +ideas of some sort of adventuress, such as she had read of in a few +cheap novels that had found their way to Carcajou. In spite of the +mild and timid tone of the letters she had prepared to see some sort +of termagant, or at least a woman enterprising, perhaps bold, one who +would make it terribly hot for the man she would believe had deceived +her and brought her on a fool's errand. This little thin-faced girl +who looked with big, frightened eyes was something utterly unexpected, +she knew not why. + +"And--and she ain't at all bad-looking," she acknowledged to herself, +uneasily. "She don't look like she'd say 'Boo' to a goose, either. But +then maybe she's deceiving in her looks. A woman who'd come like that +to marry a man she don't know can't amount to much. Like enough she's +a little hypocrite, with her appearance that butter wouldn't melt in +her mouth. And my! The clothes she's got on! I wonder if she didn't +look at me kinder suspicious. Seemed as if she was taking me in, from +head to foot." + +In this Miss Sophy was probably mistaken. Madge had looked at her +because the garb of brightly-edged blanketing, the fur cap and mitts, +the heavy long moccasins, all made a picture that was unfamiliar. +There was perhaps some envy in the look, or at least the desire that +she also might be as well fended against the bitter cold. She had the +miserable feeling that comes over both man and woman when feeling that +one's garments are out of place and ill-suited to the occasion. Once +Madge had seen a moving-picture representing some lurid drama of the +North, and some of the women in it had worn that sort of clothing. + +Big Stefan had lighted his pipe and sought a seat that creaked under +his ponderous weight. He opened the door of the stove and threw two or +three large pieces of yellow birch in it. + +"Guess it ain't nefer cold vhere you comes from," he ventured. "You'll +haf to put on varm tings if you goin' all de vay to Roaring Rifer +Falls." + +"I'm afraid I have nothing warmer than this," the girl faltered. "I--I +didn't know it was so very cold here. And--and I'm nicely warmed up +now, and perhaps I won't feel it so very much." + +"You stay right here an' vait for me," he told her, and went out of +the waiting-room, hurriedly. But he opened the door again. + +"If Hugo he come vhile I am avay, you tell him I pring youst two three +tings from my voman for you. I'm back right avay. So long, ma'am!" + +She was left alone for at least a quarter of an hour, and it reminded +her of a long wait she had undergone in the reception-room of the +hospital. Then, as now, she had feared the unknown, had shivered at +the thought that presently she would be in the hands of strange people +who might or not be friendly, and be lost among a mass of suffering +humanity. Twice she heard the runners of sleighs creaking on the +ground, and her heart began to beat, but the sounds faded away. Joe, +the station agent, came in and asked her civilly whether she was warm +enough, telling her that outside it was forty below. Wood was cheap, +he told her, and he put more sticks in the devouring stove. After she +had thanked him and given him the check for her little trunk he +vanished again, and she listened to the telegraph sounder. + +Stefan, returning, was hailed at the door of the store by Sophy +McGurn. + +"Who's the strange lady, Stefan?" she asked, most innocently. + +"It's a leddy vhat is expectin' Hugo Ennis," he answered. + +"How queer!" said the girl, airily. + +"Ay dunno," answered the Swede. "Vhen Hugo he do a thing it ain't +nefer qveer, Ay tank." + +She turned away and Stefan stepped over to the depot and opened the +door. Madge looked up, startled and again afraid. It was a relief to +her to see Stefan's friendly face. She had feared.... She didn't know +what she dreaded so much--perhaps a face repellent--a man who would +look at her and in whose eyes she might discern insult or contempt. + +The big Swede held an armful of heavy clothing. + +"Ye can't stay here, leddy," he said. "You come ofer to my house since +Ennis he no coming. Dese clothes is from my ole vomans. Mebbe ye look +like--like de dooce in dem, but dat's better as to freeze to death. An +you vants a big breakfass so you goes vid me along. Hey dere! Joe! If +Ennis he come you tell him come ofer to me, ye hear?" + +A few minutes later Madge was trudging over the beaten snow by the +side of her huge companion. Her head was ensconced within the folds +of a knitted shawl and over her thin cloak she wore an immense +mackinaw of flaming hues whose skirts fell 'way below her knees. +Over her boots, protestingly, she had drawn on an amazing pair of +things made of heavy felt and ending in thick rubber feet, that +were huge and unwieldy. Her hands were lost in great scarlet mitts. It +is possible that at this time there was little feminine vanity left in +her, yet she looked furtively to one side or the other, expecting +scoffing glances. She felt sure that she looked like one of the +fantastically-clad ragamuffins she had seen in the streets of New +York, at Christmas and Thanksgiving. But the pair met but one or two +Indian women who wore a garb that was none too æsthetic and who paid +not the slightest attention to them, and a few men who may possibly +have wondered but, with the instinctive civility of the North, never +revealed their feelings. + +As a matter of fact she had hardly believed in this cold, at first. +The station agent's announcement had possessed little meaning for her. +There was no wind; the sun was shining brightly now; during the minute +she had remained on the station platform she had felt nothing unusual. +As a matter of fact she had enjoyed the keen brisk air after the tepid +stuffiness of the cars. But presently she began to realize a certain +tingling and sharp quality of the air. The little of her face that was +exposed began to feel stiff and queer. Even through the heavy clothing +she now wore she seemed to have been plunged in a strange atmosphere. +For an instant, after she finally reached Stefan's house, the contrast +between the cold outside and the warm living-room, that was also the +kitchen, appeared to suffocate her. + +A tall stout woman waddled towards her, smiling all over and bidding +her a good-day. She helped remove the now superfluous things. + +"De yoong leddy she come all de vay from Nev York, vhat is a real hot +country, I expect," explained Stefan, placidly and inaccurately. "Sit +down, leddy, an haf sometings to eat. You needs plenty grub, good an' +hot, in dem cold days. Ve sit down now. Here, Yoe, and you, Yulia, +come ofer an' talk to de leddy! Dem's our children, ma'am, and de baby +in de grib." + +Madge was glad to greet the rosy, round-cheeked children, who advanced +timidly towards her and stared at her out of big blue eyes. + +Hesitatingly she took the seat Stefan had indicated with a big thumb, +and suddenly a ravenous hunger came upon her. The great pan full of +sizzling bacon and fat pork; the steaming and strongly scented coffee; +the great pile of thick floury rolls taken out of the oven, appeared +to constitute a repast fit for the gods. Stefan and his family joined +hands while the mother asked a short blessing, during which the +children were hard put to it to stop from staring again at the +stranger. + +"And so," ventured the good wife, amiably, "you iss likely de sister +from Hugo Ennis, ma'am?" + +Madge's fork clattered down upon her enamel-ware plate. + +"No," she said. "I--of course I'm not his sister." + +"Excoose me. He don't nefer tell nobody as he vas marrit, Hugo didn't. +Ve vas alvays tinking he vos a bachelor mans, yoost like most of dem +young mans as come to dese countries." + +"But--but I'm not his wife, either!" cried Madge, nervously. + +"I--I don't yoost understand, den," said the good woman, placidly. +"Oh! mebbe you help grub-stake him vhile he vork at de rocks for dat +silfer and you come see how he gettin' along. Ve tank he do very +vell." + +"Yes, Hugo he got some ore as is lookin' very fine, all uncofered +alretty," Stefan informed her. "Und it's such a bretty place he haf at +de Falls." + +The man doubtless referred to the scenery but Madge was under the +impression that he was speaking of the house in which this Ennis +lived. It was strange that he had said nothing to these people, who +evidently knew him well, in regard to the reason of her coming. It was +probably a well-meant discretion that had guided his conduct, she +thought, but it had caused her some little embarrassment. + +"In his letter Mr. Ennis said that I was to come straight to this +place, to Carcajou. He told me that I would be taken to his house at +Roaring River Falls, that I might see it. I--I suppose there is a +village up there or--or some houses, where I may stay." + +Stefan stared at her, scratching his touzled yellow head, and turned +to his wife, who was looking at him as she poised a forkful of fat +bacon in the air, forgetfully. + +"Maybe de leddy means Papineau's," he said. "But if Hugo Ennis he say +for her to come then it is all right, sure. Hugo vould do only vhat is +right. He is my friend. He safe my life. So if he don't turn up by de +time ve finish breakfast I hitch up dem togs an' take you dere real +qvick. Mebbe he can't come for you, some vay. Mebbe Maigan hurt or +sick so he can't pull toboggan. You vant to go, no?" + +"I--I suppose so," faltered the girl. "I--I must see him, as soon as +possible, and--and...." + +"Dat's all right," interrupted Stefan. "So long you vants to go I take +you up dere. No trouble for to do anyting for Hugo and his friends. De +dogs is strong an' fresh. Ve go up there mighty qvick, I bet you, +ma'am." + +Mrs. Olsen was not used to question her husband's decisions. There +seemed to be something rather mysterious about all this, but she was a +placid soul who could wait in peace for the explanation that would +doubtless be forthcoming. Anyway there was Papineau's house about a +mile away from the Falls, and the girl could find shelter there. She +smiled at her guest pleasantly and urged her to eat more. For some +minutes Madge's appetite had forsaken her. But the temptation of good +food in abundance overcame her alarm. She felt the comfort of a quiet, +God-fearing, civil-spoken household. They were rough people, in their +way, but they seemed so genuine, so friendly, so full of the desire to +help her and put her at her ease, that she was again reassured. Her +hunger assailed her and she ate what she considered a huge breakfast, +though Stefan Olsen's family seemed to wonder at her scanty ability to +dispose of the things they piled upon her plate. When large brown +griddle-cakes were finally placed before her she could eat but a +single one. + +"Mebbe," said the good woman, "in Nev York you ain't used to tings +like ve country people have." + +Used to them, forsooth! Indeed she had not been used to such things. +She remembered the small bottles of bluish milk, the butter doled out +in yellow lumps of strong taste, the couple of rolls that would make a +meal, the cup of tea or coffee of pale hue, the bits of meat she could +afford but once in several days. No, indeed she had not been used to +such things, in the last two years. + +"Vhen you stays in dis coontry for a vhiles den you can eat like a +goot feller and not like a little bird," Stefan assured her, +comfortingly. "Den you get nice and fat, and red on de cheeks, and +strong." + +Mrs. Olsen was still smiling at her, as she sat with plump hands +folded on an ample stomach. The two children had become used to her +and came near. A seat was given to her near the stove. Lack of sleep +during the two hard nights spent on the train caused her head to nod, +once or twice. + +"Mebbe you vants to rest a bit before ve goes," suggested Stefan. +"Dere's plenty time if you like." + +But this roused her to alert attention. She must go, at once, for all +this suspense and uncertainty must be ended. For some happy moments +she had thought no more of the man who was expecting her. The comfort +she had enjoyed had temporarily banished him from her thoughts. + +"No--oh, no!" she cried. "I--I'll be glad to leave as soon as you are +ready to take me!" + +At this moment she became keenly puzzled. She still had a very few +dollars in her purse and wondered whether she ought to offer payment +for her meal. Instinct wisely prompted her to keep the little +pocketbook in her bag. They would undoubtedly have been surprised and +perhaps offended. + +Stefan drew on his great Dutch stockings and pulled his fur cap over +his ears. An instant after he had left the room Madge heard loud +barking. As she looked out of the window, scratching off a little of +the frost that covered the panes, she saw the big Swede surrounded by +five large dogs which he was hitching to a toboggan. Then he got on +the thing and the animals galloped away. A few minutes later he +returned, with her small trunk lashed to the back part of the sled. He +entered the house and took a straw-filled pillow and a huge bearskin +and bore them out. + +In the meanwhile Mrs. Olsen was helping Madge to resume her outlandish +garb. + +"Mebbe Mr. Ennis he not know you vhen you come so all wrapped up. +Mebbe he tink it is a bear. Yes, put dis on too, you vants it all," +she declared. "It's all of twelve mile out dere. If you not need de +tings no longer, by and by you send 'em back. It's all right. I no +need 'em. Yoost keep 'em so long vhat you like. Didn't Hugo Ennis tell +you bring varm clothes vid you?" + +"No," said Madge. "I--I don't think he spoke of them." + +"Mens is awful foolish some times," asserted the good woman. "Dey pay +no attention to tings everybotty knows all about. I tank Stefan he +alretty now, so I say good-by and come again, ma'am. Alvays happy ter +see you again vhen you comes, sure." + +The little girl came to Madge and rose upon her toes, for a kiss. More +timidly the boy only proffered a hand. Mrs. Olsen kissed her pale +cheek with a resounding smack. + +"Mens is fonny sometimes," she said. "If tings isn't all right like +you expect mebbe at Papineau's you come back here soon as you finish +vhat you haf to do at Roaring Rifer. I haf anodder bed I can fix up in +de back room real easy. Good py, ma'am, and look out careful for your +nose!" + +With this incomprehensible bit of advice Mrs. Olsen opened the door, +swiftly, and closed it just as fast. Madge saw her smiling at her +through the window-pane. Stefan made her sit down on the pillow, over +which he had laid the bearskin, which he then wrapped over her +shoulders and body and limbs. + +"Now ve starts right off," he told her. "Look out careful for your +nose, leddy," he also advised before calling to his dogs, who strained +away at the long traces and trotted away, pulling heartily. + +Wearing a pair of huge snowshoes Stefan followed or kept at the side +of the toboggan. They left the road and struck a sort of path that led +them up a hill. To her right hand she could see a vast expanse of +frozen lake stretching away to the north. In some places the snow +appeared to be quite level while in others it was deeply wrinkled in +ridges caused by the winds. Presently the trees grew more abundant +along the way. They were silvery birches and the yellow ones, and +poplars with slender branches ending in tiny bare twigs. The conifers +still wore thick coats of dark green, excepting the tamaracks, that +only carried a few long golden needles. These big trees were dotted +over with great lumps of snow and ice which occasionally clattered +down through the branches. + +Madge looked up and the world seemed to assume a wondrous new beauty +such as she had never known. The blue above was wonderfully clear and +bright. Over the snow the sunlight was beating strongly, though it +appeared to give little or no heat. Yet in the great patches of shadow +through which they passed at times it felt colder still. + +"Yoost keep on feelin' yer nose," Stefan told her, as the dogs rested +for a moment at the top of a small hill. "You mustn't let it get +frost-bited, ma'am. It ain't such a awful big nose you got, leddy, but +you sure vouldn't look so bretty if it drop off. Ha, ha!" + +He laughed out loudly, apparently enjoying his ponderous joke greatly, +but she felt that she must heed his advice and frequently carried the +big mitt Mrs. Olsen had lent her to her face. They came to a great +expanse of deep forest where, in places, the ground was nearly bare of +snow. The pulling was hard here and the dogs toiled along more slowly +and panted as their cloudy breaths rose in steamy puffs. Madge admired +them. They seemed such strong, willing animals. When they rested for a +moment they would lie down and bite off the little balls of ice that +formed beneath their toes, but at a word they would leap up again and +throw themselves against their breast-bands, eagerly. In one difficult +place Madge protested. + +"The poor things are working so hard," she said. "Couldn't I get out +and walk for a while? I don't feel tired at all now, but your poor +dogs do, I'm sure." + +"No, ma'am," replied Stefan. "They ain't tired. They yoost look so +because they work hard. In dis country togs and men has to work hard +or go hoongry. In a moment you sees how dey run again, vhen dey get +good going. Dem togs can go dis vay all day and be fresh again +to-morrow. Eferybody here knows vhat my team o' togs can do, ma'am." + +It was evident that he was proud of them, and Madge decided that it +was with good reason. They had started again and reached an expanse of +burnt land, upon which the snow was crusted and the road was on a down +grade. The team that had panted so hard, with lolling tongues, threw +itself into the collars and trotted off again, briskly, while Stefan +followed with the short-stepped and effortless flat-footed run that +covers so much ground in the north. The girl had to balance herself +rather carefully at times, for the surface was by no means a level +one. The toboggan swayed and bumped over hidden things that may have +been stumps or rocks, or great buried ruts of the previous fall. + +It was all so new and wonderful! A sense of enjoyment actually stole +over her. But for the feeling of stiffness in her face she felt +comfortably warm. Without ever meeting a soul, through a country that +seemed utterly deserted of man, they went on for several miles. Once +Stefan stopped the toboggan in order to show her tracks of a bear. It +was wonderful to think that such animals roamed about her. The Swede +told her that they were utterly harmless, that they always fled as +soon as their keen eyes or sharp ears revealed the neighborhood of +their enemies, the men who coveted their thick and long-haired hides +worth a good many dollars. But she saw few living things; once there +was a great snowy owl that rose heavily and then flew swiftly and in +silence from a stump in a _brulé_, disappearing among the trees like +an animated shadow, yes, a shadow of sudden death to hares and +partridges cowering beneath the fronds of wide-spreading conifers or +in the great tangles of frost-killed long grasses. + +It was altogether another world, strange and of rugged beauty. She +felt as if she had been transported from the seething city into the +vast peace of some landscape of moon or stars. Every bit of the old +harsh world was now left behind and there was no longer any hint of +cruelty in the snowy plains and hills and forest; nothing reminded her +of despairing hunger, of the disbelief that had stolen upon her in the +possibility of eking out much longer a life that was too hard to +sustain. What if her errand seemed fantastic, unreal, since this new +world also was like some illusion of a dream? The great stillness +appeared to be friendly--the bent tops of snow-laden trees surely +bowed a welcome to her--the shining sun and the pure air, in spite of +bitter cold, drove the blood more rapidly through her veins and she no +longer deemed life to be a mere form of suffering, such as she had +undergone during the last year of her losing contest in the cruel, +pitiless town. + +Suddenly, as Stefan trudged behind in a narrow part of the old +tote-road, a big white hare crossed the path ahead of the dogs, +perhaps seeking to escape the pursuit of some marten or weasel. At +once the team broke into a headlong gallop, a helter-skelter pursuit, +while their master roared at them unavailingly. Down a small declivity +they flew. A moment later one side of the toboggan rose suddenly and +the passenger felt herself being shot off into the snow. As the sled +upset the little trunk lashed to its back caught into something and +firmly anchored the whole contrivance, a few yards further on, and +perforce the animals stopped with hanging tongues and steaming +breaths. + +An instant later Stefan was helping Madge arise. He looked at her in +deep concern. + +"Dem tamn togs!" he roared. "I hope you ain't hurted none, leddy?" + +With his assistance she rose quickly from the snow. It is possible +that she had scarcely had time enough to become afraid. At any rate +this new life that had come to her asserted itself, irresistibly, for +there was something in its essence that would not be denied. In the +heart that had been overburdened something broke, like a flood +bursting its bonds. She threw up her head and uplifted her hands as +laughter, pealing and rippling unrestrained, shook her slender frame +from head to foot until tears ran down the now reddened cheeks and +turned to tiny globes of ice. She was making up for weeks and months +of sombre thoughts, of despair, of shrewd suffering. + +"Tank gootness!" roared Stefan. "First I tink dem togs yoost kill you +dead. If so I take de pelts off 'em all alife, de scoundrels!" + +"Oh! Please don't punish them," she cried. "It--it was so funny! Oh, +dear! I--I must stop laughing! It--it hurts my sides!" + +She ran off among the dogs and threw herself down on the crusted snow, +passing one arm over a shaggy back. The animal looked at her, +uncertainly, but suddenly he passed a big moist tongue over her face. +Could he have realized that her saving grace might avert condign +punishment? The girl petted him as Stefan turned the toboggan and its +load right side up. + +"You ain't feared of dem togs," he called to her. "And you vasn't +afraid vhen dey dump you out. You's a blucky gal all right, leddy!" + +A moment later she was again wrapped up in the bearskin and the dogs, +loudly threatened but unpunished, owing to her intercession, resumed +their journey. They had gone but a few hundred yards further when +Madge smelled wood-smoke. A few minutes later they came in sight of a +low-built shack of heavy planks evidently turned out in a sawpit and +resting on walls of peeled spruce logs. The dogs trotted toward it and +a woman came out as Stefan stopped his team. + +"I got a letter for you, Mis' Carew," he announced. "I got it dis +morning at de post-office and bring it as I come along dis vay." + +He searched a pocket of his coat while the woman looked at Madge +curiously. + +"Won't you come in and warm yourself a while?" she asked, civilly. "I +can make you a hot cup of tea in a minute." + +"Thank you! Thank you ever so much," answered Madge. "I--I think we'd +better hurry on." + +Stefan had found the letter and handed it to Mrs. Carew. + +"Wait a moment, Stefan, won't you?" asked the woman. "There might +possibly be some message you could take for me." + +The man lit his pipe while the woman went indoors. A moment later she +came out, excitedly. + +"Oh! Stefan," she cried. "I'm so glad you came. My man's away with the +dogs, gone after a load of moose-meat, and won't be back till +to-morrow. And my daughter Mary's very sick at Missanaibie and wants +me to come right over. Could you take me over to the depot in time for +the afternoon train west? Are you going back to-day?" + +Stefan pulled out a big silver watch and studied it. + +"Yes, ma'am," he answered. "I'm yoost goin' over to Hugo's wid dis +leddy. If I go real smart I can get back in time, but I got to hurry a +bit. So long! I come right soon back. Leave a vord for Tom und be +ready de moment I come. I make it, sure!" + +With this assurance he started off again, while the woman was still +crying out her thanks. There was a long bit of good going now, which +they covered at a good pace. Madge was thinking how helpful all these +people were, how naturally they gave, how readily they asked for the +help that was always welcome, as far as she could see. Yes, it was all +so very different. + +"Won't the dogs be dreadfully tired," she asked, "if you go back so +soon?" + +"No, leddy," he asserted. "Twenty-four miles ain't much of a trip. Dey +make tvice dat if need come. And me too, sure t'ing!" + +As she looked at him she knew that he spoke the simple truth. Even the +people of this country seemed to be built differently. All of them +looked sturdy, self-reliant, strong to endure, and, more than +anything, ready to share everything either with stranger or with +friend. In spite of the weariness she felt after her long journey and +of the ache in her bones that was coming from the unusual manner of +her travelling, she felt that this was a blessed country, a haven of +rest that held promise of wonderful peace. All at once they came in +sight of a river, snow-shackled like all the others, except for black +patches where the under-running flood so hurried in rapid places that +the surface could not freeze. From such air-holes, as they are called, +steam arose that was like the smoke of fires. + +"What is that river?" she called. + +"Dat's de Roaring Rifer, leddy," Stefan informed her. "Ve's only a +little vays to go now. Maybe five minute." + +At this moment, as in a flash, all of her vague and carking fears +returned to the girl, and her hand went to her breast. It was only a +little way now! And it was no dream--no figment of her imagination! +The beginning of the real adventure was at hand! Truth flashed upon +her. In a few moments she would see for the first time the man she was +to marry. She blushed fiery red. Instinctively she looked about her, +like some wild thing vainly seeking for a way to escape impending +peril. What would he be like? What would he think of her? Oh! She now +knew that it had all been a frightful mistake! Her limbs shook with a +sudden bitter coldness that had fallen upon her like one of the masses +that became displaced from the great trees, and she could not keep her +teeth from chattering. Then, in her ears, began to boom a strong +continuous sound that was ominous, threatening. + +[Illustration: Truth flashed upon her! In a few moments she would see for +the first time the man she was to marry] + +"What's that?" she stammered, trembling. + +"Dat's de noise of dem big Falls of Roaring River," answered Stefan. + +An instant later, Madge never knew why, the dogs were snarling in a +fight. In a moment Stefan was among them, wielding his short-handled +and long-lashed whip. A trace was broken. By the time the damage was +repaired and the dogs pacified some ten minutes or more had been +wasted. The man looked at his watch. + +"I ain't got so much time left," he said. "I got to hurry back for +Mis' Carew. Lucky ve're most dere now." + +A few seconds after they had started again they came to an opening, +towards which Stefan pointed, and the girl's heart sank within her. + +She saw nothing of the distant falls surrounded by a growth in which +every twig scintillated with the frost lavished by the river's vapor. +She never noticed the great circular pool with its deep banks, or the +wonderful view, far across country, of mountains washed in pale blues +and lavenders, of the sun-flooded bright expanse of open ground, +partly fenced in with axe-hewn rails. She could only stare at a little +shack, the smallest she had seen in that country, and at the thread of +smoke coming from the length of stove-pipe protruding from the +ice-covered roof, and to her it looked like the home of misery. + +A few yards farther on the team stopped. From here the hut could only +be faintly distinguished through a growth of birches and firs. + +"You can get off de toboggan now, leddy," Stefan told her. "I puts off +your trunk too. Hugo he come and get it. I call to him." + +She rose to her feet, speechless, amazed, with fear causing a terrible +throbbing in her throat. She would have protested but could not find +her voice. As soon as Stefan had unlashed the trunk and put it down on +the frozen ground he turned his team around. + +"Oh! Hugo!" he bellowed. "Oh! Hugo! Here's de leddy." + +For an instant there was no reply, but while Stefan yelled again she +saw, through a small opening in the interlaced branches, that the door +opened. A huge dog came out and rolled in the snow, barking. The man +waved a hand. + +"I can't vait a moment. Good-by, leddy, I must go. You tell Hugo why I +hurry so." + +The man had jumped on the toboggan and he was already being borne +away, swiftly, by his team of wild shaggy brutes that seemed never to +have known a weary moment in their lives. And she stood there, at the +foot of a great blasted pine, terror-stricken, wondering what further +torture of mind and body the world had in store for her. + +But for that hut the place was a frozen desert, with no other sign of +man. And she was alone--alone with him--and the fierce-looking dog was +now running towards her. She leaned back against the tree, feeling +that without some support she must collapse at its foot. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +When Gunpowder Speaks + + +Hugo Ennis, a man well under thirty, tall and spare of form, with the +lithe and active limbs that are capable of hard and prolonged action, +had stood for a time by the tough door of his little shack. It was a +single-roomed affair, quite large enough for a lone man, which he had +carefully built of peeled logs. Within it there was a bunk fixed +against the wall, upon which his heavy blankets had been folded in a +neat pile, for he was a man of some order. Near the other end there +was a stove, a good one that could keep the place warm and amply +sufficed for his simple cookery. The table was of axe-hewn cedar +planks and the two chairs had been rustically designed of the same +material. Between the logs forming the walls the spaces had been +chinked with moss, covered with blue clay taken from the river-bank, +above the falls. Strong pegs had been driven into the heavy wood and +from them hung traps and a couple of guns, with spare snowshoes and +odd pieces of apparel. In a corner of the room there were steel +hand-drills, heavy hammers, a pick and a shovel. Against the walls he +had built strong shelves that held perhaps a score of books and a +varied assortment of groceries. More of these latter articles had been +placed on a swinging board hung from the roof, out of reach of +thieving rodents. + +He had been looking down, over the great rocky ledge at one side of +his shack, into the big pool of the Roaring River, which at this time +was but a wild jam of huge slabs of ice insecurely soldered together +by snow and the spray from the falls. Beneath that jumbled mass he +knew that the water was straining and groaning and swirling until it +found under the thick ice the outlet that would lead it towards the +big lake to the eastward. Although the middle of March was at hand +there was not the slightest sign of any breaking up. He knew that it +would take a long time yet before the snows began to melt, the ice to +become thinner on the lakes and the waters to rise, brown and turbid +with the earth torn from the banks and the sand ever ground up in the +rough play of turbulent waters with rolling boulders. + +Yet the coming of spring was not so very far off now and the days were +growing longer. It would take but a few weeks before the first great +wedges of flying geese would pass high above him in their journey to +the shallows of the Hudson's Bay, where they nested in myriads. And +then other birds would follow until the smallest arrived, chirping +with the joy of the slumbering earth's awakening. + +It was a glorious country, he truly believed. The winter had been long +but the hunting and trapping had kept him busy enough. The days had +seemed too short to become dreary and he had slept long during the +nights, seldom awakening at the rumblings of the maddened pent-up +waters or the sharp explosions of great trees cracking in the fierce +cold. But he was glad of the prospect of renewed hard work upon his +claim, of promising toil to expose further the great silver-bearing +veins of calcite that wound their way through the harder rock. He knew +that his find was of the sort that had flooded the Nipissing and the +Gowganda countries with eager searchers and delvers, and created +villages and even towns in a wilderness where formerly the moose +wandered in the great hardwood swamps and the deer were often chased +by ravening packs of baying wolves. + +His attention had reverted to the great sharp-muzzled dog that had +been crouching at his feet, and he bent down and began to pull out +small porcupine quills that had become fastened in the animal's nose +and lips. + +"Maybe some day you'll learn enough to let those varmints alone, +Maigan, old boy," he said, having become accustomed to long +conversations with his companion. "I expect you're pretty nearly as +silly as a man. Experience teaches you mighty little. Dogs and men +have been stung since the beginning of the world, I expect, and keep +on making the same old mistakes. Hold hard, old fellow! I know it +hurts like the deuce but these things have just got to come out." + +Maigan is the name of the wolf, in some of the Indian dialects, and +Hugo's friend seemed but little removed from a wolfish ancestry. He +evidently did his best to bear the punishment bravely, for he never +whimpered. At times, however, he sought hard to pull his muzzle away. +Finally, to his great relief, the last serrated quill was pulled out +and he jumped up, placing his paws on the man's shoulders, perhaps to +show he held no grudge. After his master had petted him, an excitable +red squirrel required his immediate attention and, as usual, led him +to a fruitless chase. He returned soon, scratching at the boards, and +his master let him in and closed the door. A moment later the animal's +sharp ears pricked up; the wiry hair on his back rose and he uttered a +low growl. + +"Keep still, Maigan!" ordered his master. "Wonder who's coming? Maybe +one of Papineau's young ones." + +The fire was getting low and he put a couple of sticks of yellow birch +in the stove. A few seconds later he heard a shout that came from +behind the saplings which, in some places, concealed the old tote-road +from his view. No one but Big Stefan could bellow out so powerfully, +to be sure. He opened the door and Maigan leaped out. In more +leisurely fashion he followed and stopped, in astonishment, as he +caught sight of the dog-team flying back towards Carcajou. + +"That's a queer start!" he commented. "First time I ever knew him not +to stop for a cup of tea and a talk." + +He thought he saw something like a black box through the branches and +went up. It must be something Stefan had left for him. He walked up +the path in leisurely fashion. There was evidently no hurry. He was +feeling a little disappointment, for he had become fond of Stefan +during his long prospecting trip and would have been glad of a chat to +the invariable accompaniment of the hospitable tea-kettle. He had just +made some pretty good biscuits, too. It was a pity the Swede wouldn't +share them with him. He reached the black box which, to his surprise, +turned out to be a small corded trunk lying on the hard dry snow, with +a cheap leather bag on top of it. He looked about him in wonder and +stopped, suddenly, staring in astonishment at the form of a woman, +shapeless in great ill-fitting garments too big for her. She was +leaning back against the great bare trunk of the old blasted pine and +the dog was skulking around her, curiously. Then he hurried towards +her, calling out a word of warning to Maigan, who seemed to realize +that this was no enemy. And as he came the woman, deathly pale, seemed +to look upon him as if he had been some terrifying ghost. She put out +her hands, just a little, as if seeking to protect herself from him. + +"Are--are you Hugo Ennis?" she faltered. + +"That's my name," he said. "Every one knows me around here. What--what +can I do for you?" + +"My--my name is Madge Nelson," she Stammered. "I--I'm Madge Nelson +from--from New York." + +"How do you do, Miss Nelson?" he said, quietly, touching his fur cap. +"You--I'm afraid you've had a mighty cold ride. What's happened to +Stefan to make him go back? Lost something on the road, has he?" + +"I--I'm afraid I'm the only lost thing around here," she said, seeking +to hold back the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes. +"Oh! I think--I think I'm becoming mad!" she suddenly cried out, +bitterly. "Is--is that your--your house, the--the residence you spoke +of?" + +"The--the residence!" he repeated. "And I spoke of it, did I? Well, I +suppose that anything with a roof on it is a residence, if you come to +that. Yes, that's it, the little shack among the birches, and you'd +better come in till Stefan gets back, for it's mighty cold here +and--and if you're from New York you're not used to this sort of +thing. It's the best I can offer you, but I really never thought it +worth talking about. It's the slight improvement on a dog-kennel that +we folks have to be contented with, in these parts. Come right in; you +look half frozen." + +"And--and that is the sort of place you've brought me to?" she cried, +her eyes now flashing at him in anger. + +"Well, it seems to me that it's Stefan that brought you," he replied, +rather abashed. + +"That--that's only a mean quibble," she retorted, hotly. "And--and +where's the town--or the village--and the other people, the friends +who were to greet me?" + +The young man was beginning to feel rather provoked at her questions. + +"The nearest settlers are a short mile away,--the Papineaus, very +decent French Canadians. Tom Carew's shack you must have passed on +your way here. The only village, of course, is Carcajou, and that's +twelve long miles away. But Mrs. Papineau is a real good old soul, if +that's where you expect to stop. A dozen kids about the place but +they're jolly little beggars. Her husband's trapping now, I believe, +but of course I'll take you up there." + +At this she seemed to feel somewhat relieved. It was evident that she +was in no great peril. Yet she looked again at his shack, with her +lower lip in the bite of her teeth. + +"You--you didn't really believe I'd come," she said, her mouth +quivering. "You--you were just making fun of me, I see, with--with +that residence and--and the ladies who were ready to welcome me. Where +are they?" + +Ennis was scratching his head, or the cap over it, as he stared again +at her. He realized that some amazing, terrible mistake must have been +made, as he thought--or that this girl must be the victim of some +dreadful misunderstanding, if not of a foul plot. He began to pity +her. She looked so weak, so helpless, in spite of the anger she had +shown. + +"There--there are no ladies," he said, lamely, "except Mrs. Papineau +and Mrs. Carew. They're first-rate women, both of 'em. And of course +Mrs. Papineau is your only resource till to-morrow, unless Stefan is +coming back for you." + +"He isn't," she declared. "I said nothing about going back." + +"That's awkward," he admitted. "You'll tell me all about this thing +later on, won't you, because I might be able to help you out. But +you'll be all right for a while, anyway. I'll take you there." + +"Please start at once," she cried, desperately. "I--I can't stay here +for another instant." + +"I can be ready in a very few minutes," he told her, quietly. "But +won't you please come over to the shack. I'm sure you're beginning to +feel the cold. You--you're shivering and--and I'm afraid you look +rather ill." + +She had insisted on Stefan's taking back some of the things she had +borrowed from his wife, and had been standing there in rather +inadequate clothing. Ennis pulled off his heavy mackinaw jacket. + +"You must put this on at once," he told her, gently enough, "and come +right over there with me." + +Madge shrank from him, as if she feared to be touched by him, and yet +there was something in the frank way in which he addressed her, +perhaps also in the clear and unembarrassed look of his eyes, that was +gradually allaying her fears and the fierce repulsion of the first few +moments. Finally, chilled as she was to the very marrow of her bones, +she consented to accept his offer and submitted to his helping her on +with the coat. + +"There's a good fire in the shack just now," he told her. "It's +absolutely necessary for you to get thoroughly warmed up before you +start off again. A cup of hot tea would do you a lot of good, too, +after that long ride on Stefan's toboggan. It's no joke of an +undertaking for a--a young lady who isn't used to such things." + +Madge was still hesitating. The suffering look that had come into her +eyes moved the young man to greater pity for her. + +"I--I give you my word you have absolutely nothing to fear," he +assured her, whereupon she followed him meekly, feeling very faint +now. She half feared that she might have to clutch at his sleeve, if +her footsteps failed her, for she felt that at any moment she might +stagger and fall. She gasped again as she looked at the shack they +were nearing, but, as she beheld the scenery of the great pool, +something in it that was very grand and beautiful appealed to her for +an instant. Yet she felt crushed by it, as if she had been some +infinitesimal insect beside that stupendous crashing of waters, before +the great ledges whose tops were hirsute with gnarled firs and twisted +jack-pines. She stopped for a moment, perhaps owing to her weakness, +or possibly because of awe at the majesty of the scene. + +"I just love it," said the man. "It grows more utterly splendid every +time one looks at it. See that mass of rubbish on the top of that +great hemlock. It is the nest of a pair of ospreys. They come every +year, I've been told. Last summer I saw them circling high up in the +heavens, at times, and they would utter shrill cries as if they had +been the guardians of the falls and warned me off. But we had better +hurry in, Miss--Miss Nelson." + +For an instant she had listened, wondering. This man did not speak +like a common toiler of city or country. His manner, somewhat distant, +in no way reminded her of the coarse familiarity she had often been +subjected to in shop and factory. But a moment later such thoughts +passed off and she followed him, resentfully, feeling that she was to +some extent forced to submit to his will. As Ennis pulled the door +open and held it for her to walk in, he looked at her keenly. He had +suddenly remembered hearing that exposure to intense cold had +sometimes actually disturbed the brains of people; that it had brought +on some form of insanity. He wondered whether, perhaps, this had been +the case with her? It was with greater concern and sympathy that he +felt he must treat her. The vagaries of her language, the reproaches +she seemed to think he deserved, were doubtless things she was not +responsible for. And then she looked so weary, so overcome, so ready +to collapse with faintness! + +Madge entered the shack. It had been swept, neatly enough, and +everything was arranged in orderly fashion, except some loose things +piled up in one corner, out of the way. The little stove was glowing, +and the draft was purring softly. The girl pulled off her mitts and +held her reddened hands to it while Hugo brought her one of his rough +chairs. Then, without a word, he placed a kettle on the fire, after +which he brought out a white enameled cup and a small pan containing +some of his biscuits. After cogitating for a moment he also placed on +the table a tin of sardines. + +Madge had dropped upon the chair, and began to feel more unutterably +weary than ever. The heat, close to the stove, became too great for +her and she moved her chair to the table, a couple of feet away, and +placed her arms upon it. Her head fell forward on them, and when, a +few moments later, Hugo spoke to her and she lifted up her face he was +dismayed as he saw the tears that were running down her cheeks. The +man could only bite his lips. What consolation or comfort could he +proffer? It was perhaps better to appear to take no notice of her +distress. But the weeping of genuine suffering and unhappiness is a +hard thing for a youth to see. The impulse had come to him to cry out +for information, to beg her to explain, to question her, to get at the +bottom of all this mystery. He was held from this by the renewed +thought that her mind was probably affected. He might further irritate +her or cause her still deeper chagrin. Even if he erred in this idea +the moment was probably ill-chosen. It would be better for her to tell +her tale before others also. He would wait until after he had taken +her over to Papineau's. She looked so harmless and weak that the idea +that she might prove dangerous never entered his head. + +The kettle began to sing and a moment later the water was boiling +hard. + +"I can't offer you much of a meal, Miss Nelson," he said, seeking to +make his voice as pleasant as possible. "You've probably never tried +sour-dough biscuits. Mrs. Papineau's are better, but you may be able +to manage one or two of these. That good woman's a mighty good cook, +as cooking goes in these parts. Here's a can of condensed milk; won't +you help yourself? You must really try to eat something. Do you think +you could try a little cold corned beef? I have some canned stuff +that's not half bad. Or it would take but a moment to broil you a +partridge I got yesterday. But I'll open these sardines first." + +He went to work with a large jack-knife, but she thanked him, briefly, +in a low voice, and refused to accept anything but the tea and a bit +of the biscuit. She wondered why he didn't also sit down to eat. It +bothered her to see him hovering over her like some sort of waiter. He +was probably staring at her, when her head was turned, and enjoying +his dastardly jest. When she thought of those letters she had received +and of all they contained of lies, of unimaginable falsehoods, the man +began again to repel her like some venomous reptile. She could have +shrieked out as he came near. What an actor he was! What control he +held over voice and face as he pretended to know nothing about her. +His effort had been evident, from the very first instant they had met, +to disclaim the slightest knowledge of her or of the reasons for her +coming! She felt utterly bewildered. He answered to that name of Hugo +Ennis and had admitted that this was Roaring River, as Stefan had also +told her. Moreover, the big Swede knew perfectly well that she was +coming and expected. In word, in action, in every move of his, this +man was lying, stupidly, coarsely, with features indifferent or +pretending concern. It was unbearable. + +She turned and looked at him again, swiftly but haggardly. She would +never have conceived the possibility of a man dissembling so, in +letters first and lying again in every move and every tone of his +voice. How could he keep it so tranquil and unmoved? Yet when he came +near her again, insisting on filling her cup once more, she seemed for +an instant to forget the rough clothes, the mean little shack, the +strange conspiracy of which she was the victim and which had aroused +her passionate protests. Over the first mouthfuls of hot tea she had +nearly choked, but she had found the warm brew welcome and its odor +grateful and pleasant. It mingled in some way with the scent of the +balsam boughs with which the bunk was covered and over which the +blankets reposed. She had experienced something like this feeling in +the hospital, the first time she had been an inmate of it. It was as +if again she had been very ill and awakened in an unfamiliar and +bewildering place. The great weakness she experienced was something +like that which she had felt in the great ward, where the rows of beds +stretched before her and at either side. Some were screened, she +remembered, and held the poor creatures for whom there was no longer +any hope. It was as if now a turn of her head could have revealed a +white-capped nurse moving silently, deftly bringing comfort. Her hands +had become quite warm again; she passed one of them over her brow as +if this motion might have dispelled some strange vision. + +The big dog, Maigan, came to her and laid his sharp head and pointed +cold muzzle on her lap, and she stroked it, mechanically. This, at any +rate, was something genuine and friendly that had come to her. Again +and again she passed her hand over the rough neck and head. At this, +however, something within her broke again and her head fell once more +on her arms as she sobbed,--sobbed as if her heart would break. + +"I--I'm afraid you must have gone through a good deal of--of +unhappiness," faltered the man, anxiously. "It--it's really too bad +and I'd give anything if I could...." + +But the girl lifted up her hand, as if to check his words. What right +had a man who was guilty of such conduct to begin proffering a +repentance that was unavailing, nay, contemptible? Did he think that a +few halting words could atone for his cruelty, could dispel the evil +he had wrought? + +At this he kept silent again, during long minutes, appalled as men +always are at the first sight of a woman's tears. He felt utterly +helpless to console or advise, and was becoming more and more +bewildered at this interruption of his lonely and quiet life. Since +she didn't want him to speak he would hold his tongue. If she hadn't +looked so dreadfully unhappy he would have deemed her an infernal +nuisance and hurried her departure. But in this case how could a +fellow be brutal to a poor thing that wailed like a child, that seemed +weaker than one and more in need of gentle care? + +Soon she rose from the table, determinedly, with some of her energy +renewed by the food and hot drink. + +"If you please, let us go now," she told him, firmly. + +"I'm entirely at your service," he answered. "I think you had better +let me lend you a cap. That thing you have on your head can hardly +keep your ears from freezing. I have a new one that's never been worn. +Wait a moment." + +His search was soon rewarded. She had kept on but her inefficient +little New York hat with its faded buds and wrinkled leaves and now +tried to remove it. Her hands trembled, however, and the strain of +travel had been hard. All at once, as she pulled away, her coiled hair +escaped all restraint of pins and fell down upon her shoulders, in a +great waving chestnut mass. At this Hugo opened the door and ran out, +returning a couple of minutes later with the bag that had been left on +the trunk. + +"I--I expect you need some of your things," he ventured. + +She looked at him with some gratitude. Most men wouldn't have thought +of it. Nodding her thanks she opened the thing and was compelled to +pull out various articles before she could get at her comb and brush. +Her movements were still very nervous. It was embarrassing to be there +before that man with one's hair all undone and awry. Something fell +from her hand, striking the edge of the table and toppling to the +floor. There was a deafening explosion and the shack was full of the +dense smoke of black powder. When Madge recovered from her terror the +young man, looking very pale, had bent down and picked up the fallen +weapon. For a moment she thought there was a strange look in his +eyes. + +"I--I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. + +"If--if you were to hit a man with that thing he'd get real mad," he +said, repeating an age-worn joke. "At any rate I'm glad you were not +hurt. Rather unexpected, wasn't it? I really think you'd better let me +take the other shells out. It's a nasty little cheap weapon and, I +should judge, quite an unsafe bit of hardware for a lady to handle. +Whoever gave you that thing ought to be spanked. But--but, then, of +course you didn't know it was loaded." + +"I--I did know it was loaded!" cried Madge. "I--I had the man load it +for me! I--I thought it might protect me from insult, perhaps, +or--or let me take matters in my own hands, if need be. I--I didn't +know what sort of place I would be coming to or--or what sort of man +would--would receive me! I--I felt safer with it!" + +Maigan was still ferreting out corners of the room, having leaped up +at the shot as if the idea had come to him that some rat or chipmunk +must lie dead somewhere. There nearly always was something to pick up +when his master fired. + +"Keep still, boy!" ordered the latter. "I think we'd better count that +as a miss. I'll wait outside until you've fixed yourself up, Miss +Nelson, and are ready to go. I'll have to hitch up Maigan first. As +soon as you come out I'll wrap you in my blankets; you'll be quite +comfortable. We haven't very far to go, anyway." + +"Thank you--it--it won't take me a minute," she answered, without +looking at him. + +She had discovered in a corner of the shack a bit of looking-glass he +used to shave by, and stood before it, never noticing that he made a +rather long job of drawing on his heavy fur coat. He went out with his +dog and got the sled ready, with a wry look upon his face. Then, as +there was nothing more to do, he sat down upon the rough bench that +stood near the door. He winced and made a grimace as his hand went up +to his shoulder. + +"The little fool," he told himself. "She seems to have been loaded for +bear. Glad it was a thirty-two instead of a forty-five Colt. I didn't +think it was anything, just a bad scratch, after the first sting of +it, but it feels like fire and brimstone now. It's an infernal +nuisance. Good Lord! Suppose she'd plugged herself instead of me. That +would have been a fix for fair!" + +This idea evidently horrified him. He had a vision of blood and tears +and screams, of having to rush off to Carcajou to telegraph for the +nearest doctor. Perhaps people would even have suspected him. He saw +Madge with her big dark-rimmed eyes and that perfectly wonderful hair, +lying dead or dying on the floor of his shack. It was utterly +gruesome, unspeakable, and a strong shiver passed over him. + +"But I wonder who the deuce she was going to shoot with that thing?" +he finally asked himself. "Oh, she must be crazy, the poor little +thing! It's really too bad!" + +[Illustration: "I'm glad you were not hurt. Rather unexpected, wasn't it"] + +He then thought of what a fool he had been to give her back that +gimcrack pistol. She probably had more shells. He must contrive to get +them away from her. There was no saying what an insane person might +do. + +"I wish Stefan would turn up soon," he cogitated. "I'd give a lot to +find out what he knows about her. It was mighty funny his never +stopping here for a minute." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Deeper in the Wilderness + + +Within the shack Madge was now ready to start. Hugo's big woolen cap +was pulled down well over her ears and she again wore a coat much too +large for her, a thing which, in other days long gone, might have made +her laugh. + +As she moved to the door she hesitated. Where was she going to? What +object was there in moving there or anywhere else? The wild dream that +had come upon her in the big city was dispelled and nothing on earth +remained but the end that must come in some way or other. Of course +she had no desire to remain in this shack, but neither had she any +desire for anything else. What was the use of anything she might do? +By this time she was stranded high and dry among breakers innumerable, +with never the slightest outlook towards safety. The few dollars in +her pockets offered no possibility of return. This man might give her +enough to get back, if she asked him. It was the least he could do. +But she would rather have torn out her tongue than ask him for money. +And it would only be going back to that dreadful city in which she had +suffered so much. No, it was unthinkable! Better by far for her to lie +down somewhere in that great forest and die. And now she was about to +see more strangers and remain over night in new surroundings. Where +would she drift to after that? + +She made a gesture of despair. Her down-hanging arms straightened +rigidly at her side, with the fists clenched as when one seeks to be +brave in the face of impending agony. Her head was thrown back and her +eyes nearly closed. In that position she remained for a moment, her +brain whirling, her head on fire with a burning pain. Then the tension +relaxed a little and she cast another look about her, without seeing +anything, after which she pushed the door open and stepped out upon +the crunching snow. + +Hugo rose at once, albeit somewhat stiffly, and spoke to the dog who +stood up, with head turned to watch the proceedings. + +"I don't think I'd better take the trunk on this trip," he explained. +"It would make a rather heavy load for just one dog. We'll take your +bag, of course, and I can bring the trunk over to-morrow morning. It +will be perfectly safe there by the road. We haven't any thieves in +this country, that I know of. Now will you please sit down there, in +the middle. Maigan will pull you all right. I'll get the blankets." + +"But--couldn't I walk? You said it was only a mile. I--I think I could +manage that," ventured Madge, dully. + +"I don't think you could," he answered. "I'm sure you're quite played +out. In some places the snow is bound to be soft. I could give you a +pair of snowshoes but you wouldn't know how to use them and they'd +tire you to death. You've already had a pretty hard day, I know. +Maigan won't mind it in the least. He'd take the trunk, too, readily +enough, but that would make slow going." + +She obeyed. What did she care? What difference could it make? He +wrapped the blankets over her, after she had sat down on an old +wolfskin he had covered the sled with. After this he took a long line +attached to the toboggan and passed it over his right shoulder, +pulling at the side of the dog, who toiled on briskly. When they +reached the tote-road it seemed rougher than ever and the country +wilder. To her right Madge could see the river that was nothing but a +winding jumble of snow-capped rocks and grinding ice, with here and +there patches of inky-looking water, where the ice-crust had split +asunder. Also she dully noted places where the water seemed to froth +up over the surface, boiling in great suds from which rose, straight +up in the still air, a cloud of heavy gray vapor. The cold felt even +more intense than earlier in the day. It impressed the girl as if some +tremendous force were bearing down mightily upon the world and holding +it in thrall. With the lowering of the sun the shadows had grown +longer. After a time the slight sound of the man's snowshoes over the +crackling snow, of the scraping toboggan, of the panting dog, began to +seem to Madge like some sort of desecration of a stillness in which +man was nothing and only an eternal and vengeful power reigned +supreme. In spite of the patches of sunlight filtering down through +branches or glaring upon the river there was now something dismal in +all this, and she began to feel the cold again, penetrating, +relentless, evil in its might. + +They had gone about half way when, on the top of a slight rise, both +dog and man stopped for a moment's rest. The latter looked quite +exhausted. His face was set hard, in an expression she could not +fathom. + +"Really, I think I could walk," said the girl again. "There--there's +no reason you should work so hard for me. And--and you look terribly +tired." + +"Oh, no!" he disclaimed, hastily. "I--I could pull you all by myself +if--well, it's only a short distance away now, and Maigan is doing +nearly all the work, anyway. I--I don't think anything I can do for +you can quite make up for all that you seem to have gone through." + +He looked at her, very gravely, as he sat down upon a fallen log, +close at hand, after clearing off some snow with a sweep of his mitt. +There was something very sad, she thought, an expression of pain upon +his face which she noted and which led her into a very natural error. +She was compelled to consider these things as evidences of regret, of +a conscience that was beginning to irk him badly. Her head bent down +till she was staring into her lap; she felt that tears were once more +dangerously near. + +No thought came to her of appealing to this man, of suing for pity and +charity, but she began to speak, the words coming from a full heart +that gave her pain were spoken in low tones, nearly as if she had been +talking to herself. + +"I--I'm thinking of the boys who were stoning the frog," she began, +haltingly. "You remember. It was fun for them but death to the frog. +I--I think a good many things work that way in the world, don't--don't +you, Mr. Ennis? You--you don't really look like--like a very bad man. +If--if you had a sister or mother you'd--you'd probably be kind to +them. What--what do you think of it yourself, honestly? A--a girl, +who's a fool, of course, but after all just a girl, is dying of +loneliness and misery in a big city. She--she can't stand it any more, +not--not for another day. And then she finds that paper and like--like +an utter fool she answers that advertisement. It--it looked like a +bare chance of--of being able to keep body and soul together, and--and +remain honest and decent, which--which is a hard enough thing for a +girl to do, in--in some places. And then the man answers back. She--I +never expected he would, but he did, and he offered all sorts of +wonderful things that--that looked like heaven itself to--to a hungry +failure of a girl to whom life had become too heavy a burden to bear. +And--and so she answers that letter and--and tries to tell the truth +about herself, and says that--that she is prepared to carry out her +part of the bargain if--if the man has spoken truly of himself--if--if +he can respect her--treat her like a woman who--who is ready to do her +best to--to deserve a little kindness and consideration. And he tells +her again to come--to come as soon as possible, and--and there was +nothing to detain her for a moment. The city had been too cruel--too +utterly cruel. And then she comes here and finds that--that it was all +lies--wicked lies--I'm sorry, it's the only word I can use." + +Hugo was staring at her, open-mouthed, but before he could utter a +word she began again: + +"The man had never meant it, of course--he wasn't awaiting her at all, +as he had promised--and when she finally comes to him he speaks +coldly, cynically, denying his words, pretending he knows nothing. +It--it's a rather clumsy way of getting out of it, seems to me. Anyway +he saw that his joke had been carried too far. It--it hasn't proved +such a very good one, has it? It--it has turned out to be pretty poor +fun. I--I dare say I deserve it all. It--it was awful folly on my +part, I see it now, and--and I'm ashamed, dreadfully ashamed--I feel +the redness mounting to--to the very roots of my hair--and it +overwhelms me. Don't--don't you feel something of--of the same sort, +or--or do you still think the joke was a good one?" + +She had grown rather excited and it was quite true that a deep blush +was now mantling her face. In her halting speech--in the words that +had come slowly at first, and then had flowed more rapidly, there had +been wounded pride beside the deep resentment and the pain. + +"Do--do you really believe such a thing?" answered the man, wincing +again. "You speak of something that is an abomination, that would +stink in a decent man's nostrils. And--and you speak of shame! Do you +think such a word could express all that a man would be overwhelmed +with if he had done such a thing? Great Heavens! Miss Nelson, a man +having once committed such a crime would be humiliated for the rest of +his life, it seems to me. It would be an unpardonable sin for which +there could be no forgiveness, none surely on the part of the woman, +and none that the man could ever grant himself. It--it surely isn't +possible that any such thing has occurred, that any man could so lower +himself beneath all the dirt that his feet have ever trodden." + +He spoke strongly, his face now also high in color, his voice +tremulous and indignant, his hard right fist clenched till the arm +vibrated with the strain. + +Madge looked at him again. For a moment his tone had been convincing +and she had nearly believed that he spoke the truth. But the evidence +against him was too strong. + +"That--that big Stefan, your friend, the man who says that you saved +his life, knew that I was coming," she faltered, her voice shaking +while her body felt limp with the infinite discouragement that had +returned to her in full. "He brought you my message, at least he told +me so. What--what is the use of my saying anything more? I--I think we +might as well be going on, if--if you and your dog are rested. He--he +looks like a decent fellow, Maigan does. There are things a dog +wouldn't do, I'm sure." + +"Miss Nelson, as God is my judge, I'm guiltless in this matter," the +man's voice rang out. + +"Go on, Maigan, mush on!" he called, and leaned forward on the rope, +passed over one shoulder. Her last words had brought a moment of anger +and indignation. Save for the few words he had uttered he felt it +useless to protest his innocence, and the notion of her insanity +returned to him, strongly. But those were strange things she had said +about Stefan and that message. As soon as possible he would go over to +Carcajou and interview his friend the Swede. The girl's disordered +mind must have distorted something that he said. He began to wonder +whether there was any truth at all about her story, whether she really +came from New York, whether she was not some poor creature escaped +from some place for the care of the insane. But then how had she got +hold of his name and how had she ever heard of Roaring River? The more +he puzzled over these problems the more tangled they appeared to be. + +"I dare say I'll find out about it soon enough," he told himself, +impatiently, for the pain he suffered began to grow worse with every +step, and an unaccountable weariness had come over him. That thing on +his shoulder must be a mere scratch, he tried to persuade himself, in +spite of the sharp pangs it gave him. Manlike he grew more obstinate +as his strength began to fail, and pulled harder, with the sweat now +running down his clammy forehead and freezing on his face. + +Maigan, also, was bending hard to his task, and they went along +steadily and rapidly. The toboggan was crackling and slithering +over the snow upon which the dark indigo shadows were throwing +uncanny designs. The track was smooth and level now and the dog could +manage very well alone, so that Hugo pulled no longer. Once, as he +chanced to stumble, the girl thought she heard a groan from him. She +began to wish that she had been able to believe him, but it was +utterly impossible, although she suddenly found it in her heart to +pity him, to extenuate the abomination of his conduct. Why that +last sacrilegious lie he had uttered? The man was suffering; it +looked as if the iron were entering his soul. Oh! the pity of it! +If he had only acknowledged his offence and begged her pardon she +might perhaps have forgiven. A moment later, however, the grim +outlook before her presented itself again. There were two things +for her to choose from; one was that fitly named Roaring River +along whose bank the road wound its snaky trail and the other +consisted in the cheap little pistol in her bag. Well, there might +be comfort after all in this wild land, upon the scented fallen +needles of the pines or under that pure white ice. Her features, +which for a moment had become stony and hard, now softened again. +It was best to endeavor to harbor no more thoughts of contempt and +hatred when one's own soul might soon be suing for forgiveness. + +They topped another rise of ground beyond which there was a hollow, a +tiny valley nestled among great firs and poplars and birches. In the +middle of it Madge saw another and much larger shack. It might really +have been called a house, but for its being made of logs. A film of +smoke was rising straight up in the still air, from a chimney built of +rough stones, and some dogs began to bark loudly. A woman came out, +with a child hanging to her skirts, and shaded her eyes with her hand +while she scolded the animals, who slunk away slowly. + +"_Bonjour_," she called out, cheerfully. "Ah! It is Monsieur Hugo! How +you do, sare? Glad for see you! Come along quick. It ees cole again, +terrible cole." + +For a second she stared at the young woman on the toboggan, but her +civility came at once uppermost and she smiled pleasantly, and rushed +up to help Madge arise, brushing off some of the snow that had fallen +on her from the trees. + +"Come inside quick. I have it good hot in de house. You all perished +wid dat cole, Mees. Now you get varm again and I make tea _tout de +suite_." + +She had seized Madge's hands in her own big and capable ones, with the +never-failing hospitality and friendliness of the wilderness, and led +her indoors at once. Hugo let Maigan loose, with a word of warning, +for the other dogs had begun to circle about him jealously, and +growled a little, probably for the sake of form, for they took good +care to keep out of reach of his long fangs. They had tried him once +before and knew that he was their master. Hugo, thankful that the +journey was ended, took up the girl's bag and followed her into the +house, after he had taken off his snowshoes, a job he accomplished +with some difficulty. + +"Mrs. Papineau," he began, "this young lady came over to my place, a +couple of hours ago, and--and there's been some--some mistake. She +thought there was a village here, I believe. She only expects to +remain with you till to-morrow, I think, and till then I will be ever +so grateful if you will make her as comfortable as possible. I'm +afraid she's dreadfully tired and cold. I expect to return in the +morning to take her back to Carcajou, unless--unless she would prefer +to rest a day or two here." + +"Ver 'appy to see de lady," declared Mrs. Papineau, heartily. "Tak' +off you coat, Monsieur Hugo, an' sit here by de fire. Hey! Baptiste, +you bring more big piece of birch. Colette, put kettle on for bile +water qvick. Tak' dis seat, lady. I pull off dem blanket. You no need +dem more. Turriple cole now. Las' night we 'ear de wolfs 'untin' along +dem 'ardwood ridges, back of de river; it ees always sign of big cole. +And de river she crack awful, and de trees dey split like guns shoot. +Glad you come an' get varm, Mees." + +Madge looked about her, after she had smiled at the woman in thanks. +For the second time that day she had entered a home of kindly and +well-disposed people that seemed to be built of an altogether +different clay from that which composed the folk of the big city. In +Stefan's home the atmosphere had been gentle, one of earnest, quiet +toil, with the simple accompaniment of a kindly religious belief +according to the Lutheran persuasion. In the dwelling she had now +entered, of fervent French Canadians, she noted the vivid chromo of a +departed pope facing the still gaudier representation of the British +Royal family, if the printed legend could be believed. They were shown +in all the colors of the rainbow, as were also some saints whose +glaring portraits hung on either side of the door, surmounted by dried +palms reminiscent of Easter festivals. There seemed to be any number +of children, from an infant lying in a homemade cradle of boards, one +of which displayed an advertisement of soap, to a bashful youth who +looked at Hugo as if he worshipped him and a freckled, gawky and +friendly-faced girl of fifteen who stood around, evidently delighted +to see people and anxious to be civil to them. + +And this welcome she had received seemed to be characteristic of all +these folks living in the back of beyond. Everywhere she had met +friendliness; people had seemed actually eager to help; they smiled as +if life had been a thing of joy in which the good things must be +distributed far and near and enjoyed by all. They seemed ready to +share their possessions with strangers that chanced within their +gates. It was a spirit intensely restful, consoling, bringing peace to +one's heart. It gave the girl a brief vision of something that was +heavenly. She felt that she could so easily have made her home in this +amazing region that opened its arms and actually welcomed new faces. +But the thought came to her that she had only been vouchsafed a +fleeting glance at it and to gaze, as Moses did of old, upon a +Promised Land she could never really enter. + +"It is no need for to h'ask, Monsieur Hugo," Madge heard the woman +saying. "Ve do h'all ve can, sure! It ees a gladness to see de yong +lady an' heem pretty face, all red vid de cole. Come by de fire, mees. +Celestine 'ere she pull aff your beeg Dutch stockin'. Dey no belong +you, sure. Colette, push heem chair near for de lady. Hippolyte, put +couple steeks now on ze fire. Mees, I 'ope you mak' yourself to home +now. Monsieur Hugo, you stop for to h'eat a bite vid us. Ve haf' in de +shed still one big quarter from de _orignal_, de beeg mose vat my man +he shoot two veeks ago. Und dere pleanty _patates_, pleanty pork, all +you vant." + +"No, thank you ever so much, I--I think I'd better be going. It will +be dark pretty soon. I know perfectly well that you will take +excellent care of Miss Nelson and so I think I'll say good-by now." + +Some of the children trooped around him, disappointed, and Mrs. +Papineau came nearer, eying him curiously. Suddenly her keen eyes +caught something and she pointed with a finger. + +"Vat de mattaire vid you h'arm?" she asked, excitedly. "'Ow you get +'urted?" + +"Oh! That! That's nothing," he answered, drawing back. "'Tisn't worth +bothering about. Good-night!" + +"You no be one beeg fool, Monsieur Hugo!" she ordered him, masterfully. +"Now you sit down an' let me look heem arm right avay quick. Ven de +cole strike heem he get bad sure, dat h'arm." + +In spite of his objections she laid violent hands on him, insisting on +pulling off his coat, whereupon a dark patch had spread. She also drew +off the heavy sweater he wore underneath it, which was stained even +more deeply. When she sought to roll up the sleeve of his flannel +shirt it would not go up high enough, but the remedy was close at +hand, in the form of a pair of scissors, and she swiftly ripped up a +seam. On the outer part of the shoulder she revealed a rather large +and jagged wound that was all smeared with blood, which still oozed +from it slowly. + +"Who go an' shoot you?" she asked angrily. "I see de 'ole in de coat +an' de sweater. I know some one shoot. Vat for he shoot?" + +"Well, it was just a silly little accident with a pistol," he +acknowledged with much embarrassment. "It--it won't be anything after +it's washed off. It feels all right enough and I wish you wouldn't +bother about it. I'll attend to it after I get home. It--it's stopped +hurting now." + +But he was compelled to submit to the washing of his injury and to the +application of some sort of a dressing which Mrs. Papineau appeared to +put on rather skilfully. Wounds of all sorts are but too common in the +wilderness, unfortunately, and doctors few and far between. The +children had crowded around him, looking in awe, and their mother kept +ordering them away. Madge had risen from her seat and looked at the +injury, horrified and trembling. The man had never said a word when +that bullet had found its billet in his shoulder, and yet it must have +hurt him dreadfully. He--he might have been killed, owing to her +clumsiness, she reflected in consternation. And now he said nothing to +explain how it had happened--he actually seemed to be trying to shield +her. + +"I--I'm dreadfully sorry," said the girl, impulsively. "It--it was all +my fault, because I let the revolver fall and it went off. But I +didn't know he was hurt. He never told me, and he insisted on pulling +at that sled, with his dog." + +"Yes, it was just a little accident," admitted Hugo, "and we're making +altogether too much fuss about it. It really doesn't amount to +anything, Miss Nelson, and it feels splendidly now. I'm ever so much +obliged to you, Mrs. Papineau. And so I'll say good-night. I hope +you'll rest well, Miss Nelson. I'll be here in good time to-morrow, +never fear." + +He shook hands with the housewife, who took care to wipe her own upon +her apron in preparation for the ceremony. To the children he bade a +comprehensive farewell, after which he turned again to Madge, advanced +a step and then hesitated. He had doubtless meant to shake hands with +her also but, at the last moment, probably feared a rebuff. At any +rate he nodded, bringing a smile to his features, and opened the door +into the bitter cold. After he had put on his snowshoes again and +hitched up Maigan to the toboggan he disappeared into the darkness. +For an instant Madge listened, but she heard no sound. Everything was +still outside, but for the rare crackings of ice and timber. Seeking +her chair again she leaned forward now with her elbows resting on her +knees and her face held in the hollow of her hands. At this time a +little child came to her and touched her arm. She looked at it. The +little girl had long straight black hair, great beady eyes and the +prettiest mouth imaginable. The cheeks were like red apples. She +lifted the little thing to her knees and the child nestled against her +bosom. Madge now looked at the woman, busily engaged with her few pots +and pans, and a feeling of envy came to her, a longing for the sweet +and kindly motherhood that was becoming a fierce craving for that +beautiful peace which appeared to have become so firmly established in +these little houses of the frozen wilds. She had elsewhere seen love +of children, little ones petted and made much of, husbands coming home +to a cheery welcome, but it had not seemed the same. The women so +often seemed weary, pale, and worked beyond their strength. Most of +them became querulous at times, apt to speak loudly of intolerable +wrongs or of ill-doings of neighbors across the dark hallways. Here it +looked as if quiet order, cheerful obedience, willingness on the part +of all, were ingrained in the people. Indeed, it was ever so +different. + +By this time the rough table was set and Mrs. Papineau deplored the +fact that Hugo had not consented to remain. + +"Heem is 'urted more as vat he tink," she confided to the girl. +"To-morrow somebody go to de leetle shack an' fin' 'ow he is. One dog +heem not much nurse, eh?" + +These words made Madge feel uncomfortable. Once or twice the idea had +come to her that such a man ought to be punished, that he should be +made to suffer, that he deserved anything that could make him realize +how heinous his conduct had been. But now she had a vague impression +that she was sorry for him, that it was on her account that he had +refused to stay and had gone out at once in the gathering darkness +that had come so swiftly. But in spite of these thoughts and of all +the emotions she had undergone Madge felt again the besetting pangs of +fierce hunger. The slices of moose-meat sizzling in the pan filled the +place with appetizing odor. The mother placed her brood at the long +table but helped her guest first, and plentifully. How these people +ate and expected others to eat! Never could they have heard of the +scanty meals of working girls, of the cups of blue milk, of bitter +tea, or of the little rolls and bits of meat purchased at so-called +delicatessen stores. The girl ate hungrily and the meal was soon over, +but as soon as it was finished the terrible weariness came upon her +again and she was thankful to lie down upon a hard mattress of ticking +filled with the aromatic twigs of balsam fir, beneath heavy blankets +and a wonderful robe of hareskins. + +Before she could fall asleep, however, the experiences of her crowded +day passed weirdly before her eyes; yet her despair seemed to be +contending with a strange feeling that was certainly not hope. It was +perhaps merely a weak acquiescence to conditions that her immense +fatigue and wearied brain made her accept, dully, stupidly, since she +had lost all power of resistance. It was something like the enforced +peace of a wounded thing that has just been able to crawl back into +its burrow and has found the rest its body craves for. + +In the midst of so large a family one could not aspire to the lone +possession of a bed. The little girl she had held in her lap had been +placed beside her, not without many apologies from Mrs. Papineau. In +the darkness she could feel the little warm body nestling against her, +and hear the soft and regular breathing. It was comforting since it +brought a feeling that the little one protected her, in some strange +way, and was leading her in paths of darkness with a little warm hand +and a heart that was unafraid and confident of the morrow's shining +sun. Very soon there came a restless sleep which at first was filled +with uncanny visions, from which she awakened once or twice in fear. +But at last came entire surcease from suffering as the brain that had +been overwrought ceased to toil. + +In the meanwhile Hugo had slowly made his way back to his shack. If +his arm hurt he had now little consciousness of it. The thing that +disturbed him most was that girl's unshakable belief in his villainy. +Was she really insane? He had had no opportunity to communicate that +thought to Mrs. Papineau. But then, after her arrival, she had seemed +so absolutely rational in all that she had said and done that the idea +had, for the time being, passed away from his mind. And what if, at +least in part, she had spoken the truth? What if some amazing +distortion of reality had truly and honestly given her these beliefs, +through evidence that must be all against him? The words she had +spoken before starting for the Papineaus', and the further ones +uttered on the tote-road, while he rested, held a drama so poignant +that it struck a chill to his heart. She might, after all, have been +speaking the truth as she had been misled into believing it! But then +there must be some amazing conspiracy at work, some foul doings whose +objects utterly escaped him and which left him staring at the little +lamp now burning on his table, as if it might perhaps have revealed +some key to the amazing problem. + +Was it possible that a weak and slender woman could actually be +compelled to carry on a fight against hunger and illness, with never a +friend on earth, until she was finally so beaten down to the ground +that her soul cried in agony for relief? According to her she had +seized upon the only resource open to her, in which there was but a +dim outlook towards safety. Then she had found herself the victim of a +hellish jest, apparently, or of a conspiracy so base that one sickened +at the mere thought of it. There was no doubt that those big eyes of +the suffering woman haunted the man, while the accents of her despair +still rang in his ears and distressed him. The expression of the +crucified had been on that pale face of hers, which had reddened so +deeply when a sense of shame had overwhelmed her. It was as if he had +beheld a drowning woman and been utterly prevented from extending a +saving hand to her. More strongly he began to feel that some one had +surely sinned against that woman, and feelings of vengefulness, none +the less bitter for all their vagueness, began to obsess him. + +Once, on his way back from Papineau's, Maigan had pressed close to +him, as if for safety. From the great hardwood ridges of his right he +had heard a long and familiar sound. It was the one the Frenchwoman +had mentioned, the fitful baying of wolves on the track of a deer. +Picturing to himself the overtaking and pulling down of the victim, he +shivered, hardened though he was to the unending tragedies of the +wilderness, and hurried along faster, although he knew he stood in no +danger. + +When he had reached his shack by the Roaring River he had entered it +and lighted the small lamp. It chanced to be the last match in his +pocket that he used for the purpose. There was no need to open the big +package that stood on a shelf, since he remembered having left two or +three small boxes in his hunting bag. He went over to the corner where +he had left it and bent over, somewhat painfully. As he lifted it from +the floor he saw an envelope and picked it up. It was addressed to +him. Tearing it open he stared at the words "Starting this evening. +Please have some one meet me. Madge Nelson." + +With clenched fist he struck the table a blow that startled Maigan, +who barked, leaping up to his feet. + +"It's all right, boy," said his master. "Men are pretty big fools, +excepting when they're nothing but infernal cowards. I tell you, boy, +some one will have to pay heavily for this. Good Lord! Who would have +thought of such a thing? I--I think I must be getting crazy! But +no--she's over there at Papineau's, and some one wrote to her, and +everything she said was the plain truth, as she understood it. Great +Heavens! It's no wonder she looked at me as if I'd been the dirt under +her feet. That thing's got to be straightened out, somehow, but first +I must see Stefan, of course." + +For a moment a wild idea came to him of going over to Carcajou in the +darkness. Such an undertaking was by no means particularly difficult +for a strong man, who knew the way, but suddenly he realized that he +was played out and would never reach his destination that night. This +irked his soul, unbearably, until he had recourse to his old briar +pipe. In spite of the fact that his arm was beginning to hurt him +badly he sat near the stove, where he had kindled a fire again, +thinking hard. He was racking his brain to seek some motive that could +have impelled any one he knew to play such a frightful joke. One after +another he named every man he had ever known or even merely met in +Carcajou and the surrounding, sparsely settled country. But they were +nearly all friends of his, he knew, or at least had no reason to bear +him ill-will. There was one chap he had had quite a scrap with one +day, over a dog-fight in which the man had urged his animal first and +then kicked Maigan when he saw his brute having by far the worst of +it. But soon afterwards they had shaken hands and the matter had been +forgotten. Besides, the fellow was now working in Sudbury, far east +down the line. No, that wasn't a trail worth following. The more he +thought the matter over the more utterly mysterious it seemed to +become. But of one thing he was determined. He was going to move +heaven and earth to get at the bottom of all this, and when he found +out who was responsible the fur would fly. + +It was perhaps fortunate for her that the idea of the red-headed girl +in old McGurn's store never entered his head for a moment. She had +always been friendly, perhaps even a little forward in her attentions +to him, though he had always paid her rather scant notice. He had +never been more than decently civil to her. + +When he sought his bunk, an hour or two later, a long time elapsed +before he could fall asleep. It seemed to him that his head throbbed a +good deal, and that shoulder was growing mightily uncomfortable. He +hoped it would be better in the morning. Finally he fell asleep, +restlessly. Upon the floor, stretched out upon an old deerskin close +to the stove, Maigan was sleeping more profoundly, though now and then +he whined and sighed in his slumber, perhaps dreaming of hares and +porcupines. A cricket ensconced beneath the flat stones under the +stove began to chirp, shrilly. Outside a big-horned owl was hooting, +dismally, while the big falls continued to roar out their eternal +song. And thus the long night wore out till a flaming crimson and +copper dawn came up, with flashing rays that stabbed the great rolling +clouds while the trees kept on cracking in the intense frost and the +ice in the big pool churned and groaned under the torment of waters +seeking to burst their shackles. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Carcajou Is Shocked + + +After Stefan had started away with Madge, Miss Sophy McGurn, who had +been on the watch, was delighted to see Mrs. Olsen coming to the +store. She greeted her customer more pleasantly than ever and served +her with a bag of beans, two spools of black thread and a pound of the +best oleo-butter. The older woman was nothing loath to talk, and +confirmed the girl's suspicion that Stefan had taken that young woman +to Hugo's. Mrs. Olsen insisted on the fact that her visitor was a real +pretty girl, though awfully thin and looking as if a breath would blow +her over. She also commented on the lack of suitable clothing for such +dreadful weather, and on the utter ignorance Madge seemed to display +of anything connected with Carcajou or, in fact, any part of Ontario. +When questioned, cautiously, she admitted that she knew no reason +whatever for the girl's coming, but she hastened to assert that Stefan +had said it was all right, which settled the question, and, with her +rather waddling gait, started off for her house again. + +As soon as Stefan returned Sophy saw that he still had a woman on his +toboggan. She hurried to meet him and was grievously disappointed when +she found out it was Mrs. Carew. But she boldly went up to Stefan. + +"Hello! Stefan!" she said. "Where did you leave your passenger of this +morning?" + +"Hello! Sophy!" he answered, placidly. "I leaf de yong leddy vhere she +ban going, I tank." + +"She isn't coming back to-night?" + +"Mebbe yes, mebbe no," he answered, grabbing Mrs. Carew's bag and +hurrying with her into the station, for the engine's whistle announced +that he had made the journey with little or no time to spare. + +Sophy made her way back to the store, meeting Mrs. Kilrea on her way. +To this lady she confided that a young woman had gone up to Hugo +Ennis' shack and had not returned. Wasn't it queer? And Mrs. Olsen had +said that she wasn't Hugo's wife or sister. Wasn't it funny? But of +course she supposed it was all right. + +Mrs. Kilrea called on old Mrs. Follansbee, who told Mrs. McIntosh. +This lady was a Cree Indian that had become more or less civilized. +The white women would speak to her on account of her husband Aleck, +who was really a very nice man. At any rate all the ladies of Carcajou +were soon aware of the unusual happening, scenting strange news and +perhaps even a bit of scandal. + +Big Stefan, having urged his team to their utmost, now fed them +carefully and locked them up in his shed, a local habit providing +against bloody fights that were objected to not so much on moral +principle as because these contests often resulted in the disabling of +valuable animals. It also prevented incursions among the few sheep of +the neighborhood or long hunts in which dogs indulged by themselves, +returning with sore feet and utterly unable to move for a day or two. +The animals, before falling asleep, were biting off the crackling +icicles that had formed in the hair growing between their padded toes. +The journey had not exhausted them in the slightest and on the morrow +they would be perfectly fit for further travel, if need be. + +Neither was Stefan weary. After supper he quietly strolled over to the +store where some of Carcajou's choicest spirits were gathered, since +the village boasted no saloon. Here the news was discussed, as spread +out by the few who got a daily or weekly paper from Ottawa or Sudbury, +or gathered in the immediate neighborhood by the local gossips. + +"Hello, Stefan!" exclaimed Miles Parker, who was supposed to watch +over the sawmill and see that the machinery didn't suffer too much +during the long period of disuse. "How did ye find the travelin' +to-day? See ye didn't manage ter freeze them whiskers off'n yer face, +did ye?" + +"Dey're yoost vhere dey belongs, I tank," answered Stefan, quietly. +"Miss Sophy, if you haf time I take two plugs Lumberman's Joy +terbacker." + +"Stefan he's so all-fired big he got to keep a chew on each side of +his face," explained Pat Kilrea, a first-rate mechanic who was then +busy with the construction of a little steamer that was to help tow +down to the mill some big booms of logs, as soon as the lake opened. +"He ain't able to get no satisfaction except from double action." + +At this specimen of local wit and humor the others grinned but Stefan +remained quite unmoved. Miss Sophy waited on him, scanning his face, +eager to ask more questions, while she feared to say a word. It may +have been her conscience which made her uneasy. Of course she believed +that the precautions she had taken rendered it impossible for any one +to accuse her, or at any rate to prove anything. Still, a certain +anxiety remained, which she was unable to restrain. She would have +given a good deal to know what had taken place. Never had she doubted +that the scene would occur right there at the station in Carcajou. +That telegram had badly upset her plans, apparently. And then it was +queer that Hugo had not come down after receiving it, if only to try +to find out what it meant. Finally, one of the men, having none of her +reasons for keeping still, came forth with a direct question. + +"I reckon you got out to Roarin' Falls all safe with that there pooty +gal, didn't ye?" he asked. + +It was Joe Follansbee who had sought this information, being only too +eager to hint at something wrong on the part of a man he had long +deemed a rival. At his words, however, Sophy sniffed and turned up her +nose. + +"I didn't see anything very pretty about her," she said. + +"Well, I didn't see as how she was so real awful pretty," Joe hastened +to observe. "She ain't the style I admire, by no manner of means." + +This strategic withdrawal was destined to meet with entire failure, +however. Sophy turned to the boxes of plug that were stored on the +shelves and pretended to busy herself with their order and symmetry. +But she was again listening, eagerly. + +"What d'ye say, Stefan?" joined Pat Kilrea. "How'd she stand the trip? +Did ye see if her nose was still on her face when ye got there?" + +"I tank so," opened Stefan, gravely, "but it wouldn't matter so much +vith de leddy. Maybe she ain't so much use for it like you haf for +yours, to stick into oder people's pusinesses." + +Stefan continued to shave off curly bits from his plug, while the +laughter turned against the engineer. Carcajou, like a good many other +places, commonly favored the top-dog when it came to betting. The +answering grin in Pat's face was a rather sour one. If any other man +had spoken to him thus there might have been a lively fight, but no +one in Carcajou, and a good many miles around it, cared to engage in +fisticuffs with the Swede. A story was current of how he had once +manhandled four drunken lumberjacks, in spite of peavies and sticks of +cordwood. + +"Well, you're getting to be a good deal of a lady's man, Stefan," said +Aleck McIntosh, a fellow who was supposed to be a scion of Scottish +nobility receiving remittances from his country. The most evident part +of his income, however, appeared to be contributed by his Cree wife, +who took in the little washing Carcajou indulged in and made the +finest moccasins in Ontario. "Going off with one and coming back with +another. I dare say you prefer carrying females to lugging the mails +around." + +"Mebbe I likes it better but it's more hard on dem togs," asserted +Stefan, judicially. + +"And--and ye left her at Hugo's shack, did ye?" ventured Pat again, +whereat Stefan nodded in assent and lighted his pipe. + +"Did she say she was anyways related to him? His sister or something +like that?" persisted the engineer. + +"Well, I tank she say somethin' about bein' his grandmother," retorted +Stefan, "but I can tell you something, Pat. If you vant so much know +all about it vhy you not put on your snowshoes an' tak' a run down +there. It ban a real nice little valk." + +As Pat Kilrea suffered from the handicap of having been born with a +club-foot, which didn't prevent him from being an excellent man with +machinery but made walking rather burdensome for him, the others +guffawed again while the Swede opened the door and walked off, the +crusted snow crackling under his big feet. + +"In course it's none of my business, like enough," said Pat, +virtuously, as he scratched a match on his trousers' leg, "but such +goings on don't seem right, nohow. 'Tain't right an' proper, because +it gives a bad example. I've knowed folks rid on a rail or even tarred +and feathered for the like of that." + +Carcajou's sterling sense of propriety, as represented by half a dozen +male gossips, immediately agreed with him. The matter, they decided, +should be looked into. + +"And--and what d'ye think about it, Miss Sophy?" asked Joe, desirous +of opening conversation again with the young woman and redeeming +himself. + +"Things like that is beneath me to talk about," she asserted, coldly. +"And what's more, I don't care to hear about 'em. It--it's time ye got +back to the depot, Joe Follansbee and I'm goin' to close up anyways +and give ye all a chance to burn your own oil." + +At this delicate invitation to vacate the premises the men rose and +trooped out. Once outside, however, they felt compelled in spite of +the bitter cold to comment a little further on the situation. + +Sophy McGurn put up the large iron bar that was used to secure the +front door, when the store was closed. Then she put some papers away +in the safe under the counter and went up to the family sitting room, +where her mother was knitting and her father, with an open paper on +his lap and his spectacles pushed up over his forehead, was fast +asleep in a big and highly varnished oaken rocker trimmed with scarlet +plush. + +"I'm goin' to bed," she announced; "good-night." + +The old gentleman awoke with a start and the mother, looking over her +glasses, bade her good-night and sweet dreams, according to a +long-established formula. + +"Don't know what's the matter with Sophy, she's that restless an' +nervous," said her mother. + +"She always was, fur's I know," answered McGurn. "If she's gettin' the +complaint worse she must be sickenin' for something." + +The subject of these remarks, once in her room, was in no hurry to woo +the slumber she had expressed a desire for. In her mind anxiety was +battling with anger and disappointment. Whether or not she really +loved Ennis, or had turned to him merely because his general ways and +appearance showed him to be a man of some breeding, with education +superior to the usual standard of Carcajou, such as she would have +been glad to marry, at any rate her brow narrowed, her lips closed +into a thin straight line and her hands were clenched tight. What she +had done would probably utterly prevent any renewal of the friendship +she had tried to establish, since Hugo would perhaps be run out of the +place. Moreover, that girl was really very pretty, in spite of what +she had said downstairs, and this stranger was now over there. Sophy +had expected to see her return with Stefan, perhaps also with Hugo, +and the girl's face would have shown marks of tears, and Hugo would +have been in a towering rage, and gradually the people of Carcajou +would have been made aware, somehow, of what had happened, and the +settler of Roaring Falls would be the butt of laughter, if not of +scurrilous remarks. But now the dark night had come and Carcajou was +very still under the starlight. + +The old cat scratching at her door startled her. The profound silence +that followed appeared to irk her badly. After a long time there was +the shriek of the night-freight's whistle and the great rumbling of +the arriving train, the grinding of brakes, shouts that sounded +harshly, various loud thumps as cars were shunted off to the siding. +And then the train started again, groaning and clattering and heaving +up the grade through the cut, after which the intense stillness +returned and she lay awake, her eyes peering through darkness, her +senses all alert and her nerves a-quiver, until nearly the coming of +dawn. + +But the men who had gone out, before scattering to their homes, had +reached a unanimous conclusion. It was true that excitement was rare +in Carcajou, but this was a matter of upholding the fair reputation of +the mill and four or five dozen shacks and frame houses that +constituted the village. It was decided that a committee must go over +to the Falls and investigate. + +"I won't say but what Hugo Ennis he's been mostly all right, fur's we +know," acknowledged Phil Prouty of the section gang. "But then he +warn't brought up in these here parts an' he can't be allowed to flout +the morals o' this community in any sich way. If it's like we fears, +the gal'll have ter pack off an' him promise ter behave or leave the +country. Them's my sentiments. We better go to-morrow." + +At this, however, there were some objections. It might be that on the +next day the young woman would return. Then their trip would be +useless. And then two days later would be Sunday, on which there would +be less interference with their occupations, especially as it was the +off day in church, where the services were held but twice a month. It +was voted to start then at an early hour. There was a strong team of +horses used to lumbering that could be trusted to manage the old +tote-road, drawing Sam Kerrigan's big sleigh. + +"Hosses used ter do it," asserted the latter, "and they kin do it +again." + +"Maybe Stefan'd take you up with them dogs of his, Kilrea," suggested +one of the men, grinning. + +"No! And by the way, byes. Ye don't want ter let that there Swede know +nothin' of this. He's too thick with Hugo, he is, and we don't want +him around raisin' any ruction if there happens to be a bit o' loud +talk. He'd be liable to raise a rumpus, he would." + +This appeared to be excellent strategy and it met with unanimous +approval. The men dispersed to their respective shacks and houses, to +discuss the matter further with their wives, in case any of them were +still awake. One or two of the sturdier ladies at once volunteered to +lend further dignity to the proceedings with their presence and could +not be dissuaded from joining the Carcajou Vigilantes. + +In the meanwhile the unconscious objects of all these plans were +happily unaware of the fate in store for them. Madge, with a little +child that had snuggled into her arms, had found a forgetfulness that +was a blessing. In spite of her weariness and of the emotions she had +undergone, the good food and pure air had produced some effect upon +her. She slumbered perhaps more deeply and restfully than she had for +many long months. And Hugo Ennis, in pain, tossed in his bunk, his +mind racked with uneasy thoughts and his wounded shoulder throbbing, +till he slept also. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Doubts + + +It was with a violent start that Hugo awoke, feeling chilled to the +bone in spite of his heavy blankets. His injured shoulder was so stiff +that for some minutes he was scarcely able to move it. He got out of +his bunk, his whole frame shaking with the cold, and managed to kindle +a fire in the stove. But presently he felt warm again, rather +unaccountably warm, in fact, and his face grew quite red. Curiously +enough, for a man with the vast appetite of hard workers in cold +regions, he did not at all feel inclined to eat. Yet he prepared some +food, according to custom, and sat before a tin pint dipper of strong +hot tea. This he managed to swallow, with some approach to comfort, +but when he tried to eat the first few mouthfuls satiated him and he +pushed the remainder away. + +He had opened the door to let Maigan go out, and when the dog returned +after a good roll in the snow Hugo swept his breakfast of rolled oats +and bread into a pan and fed it to his companion. + +"You're certainly not going hungry because my own grub doesn't taste +right, old boy," he commented. + +Men of the wilderness learn to speak to their dogs, or even to think +out aloud, when no living thing chances to be near. It answers to the +inherited need of speech, to an instinct so long inbred in man that he +must needs, at times, hear the sound of a voice, even if it be but his +own, or go crazy. + +Maigan wagged his tail and gobbled up the food. When he saw his master +fastening on his snowshoes he barked loudly. Hugo allowed him to romp +about for a few minutes before hitching him up to the toboggan. + +A few minutes later they were on their way to Papineau's. An attempt +to smoke his pipe was immediately abandoned by the young man. For some +reason it tasted wretchedly. While the start was made at a good pace +little more than a couple of hundred yards had been covered before +Hugo realized that he was going ever so slowly. Maigan was stopping +all the time and waiting for him. What on earth was the matter? He +judged that the poor night's sleep had had some ill effect upon him. +It couldn't be his shoulder. Certainly not! The pain in it was no more +than any chap could bear, even if he had to make a wry face over it at +times. He wondered whether anything he had eaten on the previous day +could have disagreed with him. He decided that it probably was some +canned meat he had bought at McGurn's. That explained the thing quite +satisfactorily to him. Anyway, it was bound to wear off soon. Such +things always did. With this cheering thought he sought to lengthen +his stride again, but a moment later he was dragging himself along, +dully, wondering what was the matter with him. + +He was anxious to see Madge again. He must tell her of the finding of +her message. Surely he would be able to talk to her, calmly and +quietly, and to obtain from her all that she knew of this strange +jumble of mysteries. He hoped that she had been able to rest, that he +would find her less weary and overwrought. This girl had been badly +treated, sinned against most grievously. If there was anything he +could do he would offer his services eagerly. + +"I expect she'll want to turn right back to Carcajou," he told +himself. "I wish I were feeling more fit for the journey. If Papineau +is home from his trapping he will help me out. But I'll feel all right +soon. This is bound to pass off. If I get too tired when I reach +Carcajou, Stefan will put me up for the night. It--it seems a pity +that girl will have to go." + +He trudged along behind the toboggan. He could have ridden on it, most +of the way, but wanted to keep Maigan fresh for the trip to Carcajou, +for the trunk would have to go also. The light sled was nothing for +the dog to pull, of course, and sometimes he dashed ahead so that his +pace became too great for his master. Then he would stop and sit down +in his traces, to wait until he was overtaken. The road was +unaccountably long, that morning, but at last they came in sight of +the Papineau homestead and the cleared land upon which some crops of +oats and potatoes had already been raised, amid the short stumps of +the half-cleared land. In summer the river ran very slowly at this +place, and big trout were ever making rings on the surface which they +broke in their dashes after all sorts of flies and beetles. On the +land opposite, where there had once been a forest fire, the red weeds +that follow conflagrations grew strong and rank in the summer time and +little saplings sprouted up among the charred and wrecked trunks of +the _brulé_. But at this time it all looked very bleak and desolate. + +"She couldn't ever have lived in such a country," he told himself, +with perhaps a tinge of regret. "Poor little thing, I wonder what's to +become of her? The whole thing's a shame--a ghastly shame. Wait till +Stefan and I find out all about it. Somebody's got to get hurt, that's +all!" + +Maigan had already hauled the toboggan to the door of the big shack, +and the other animals had come near to renew assurances of armed +neutrality. The good woman of the house appeared just as Hugo came up. +She must have been rather staggered by his appearance, for she drew +back, staring at him and shaking her head in decided disapproval. + +"'Ow many mile you call heem to de depot at Carcajou," she asked him, +with hands on her hips and a severe look on her face. + +"Why, it's twelve miles to my shack and one more to this place," he +answered, dully. "You know that just as well as I. Don't you remember +the county surveyors told us so last year?" + +"An' you tink you goin' pull dat toboggan all way back wid you h'arm +all bad an' you seek, lookin' lak' one ghosts! Excuse me, Monsieur +Hugo, but you one beeg fool. My man Papineau 'e come back from de +traps to-morrow an' heem pull de young lady 'ome wid de dogs. You no +fit to go. I tink you go to bed right now, bes' place for you, sure." + +She pulled him inside, holding on to his uninjured arm as if he had +been under arrest. She was a masterful woman, to be sure. Madge had +arisen from a chair and Mrs. Papineau addressed her. A glance at the +man's countenance had left the girl appalled. His features were drawn, +the brown tint of his face had changed to a characterless gray, his +eyes looked sunken and brighter, as if some fever brought a flame into +them. + +"Sure you no in h'awful beeg 'urry for to go 'ome, Mees?" asked the +hostess. "Dis man heem real seek. Heem no fit for valk all vay back to +Carcajou now. To-morrow my man take you. Papineau he no forgif me if I +let Monsieur Hugo go aff an' heem so seek." + +"Why, of course! I'm not in any special hurry. To-morrow will do just +as well. He--he mustn't think of going to-day and--and it doesn't +matter in the least. It--it makes no difference at all." + +"Do you really think that you can manage to stay here for another +day?" the young man asked her, as he dropped rather heavily on a bench +by the table. "I don't think there 's really much the matter with me, +really, and I'm sure I could manage it if you're anxious to get away. +But perhaps to-morrow...." + +"Mrs. Papineau has been ever so kind to me," answered the girl, +slowly. "That sort of thing is such a comfort, especially when--when +one isn't used to it. Nobody ever took such care of me over there in +New York. I've had plenty to eat and a nice warm place to sleep in. I +haven't been used to much luxury where--where I came from. And--and +you mustn't mind me. It will always be time enough to go, but--but I +won't know how to thank this--this kindly woman." + +Hugo didn't know whether these words held a reproach to him, but they +sounded very hopeless and sad. The girl had sat down again, on a low +stool near the fire. A chimney had been built in a corner, to +supplement the stove, and she was looking intently at the bright +flames leaping up and the fat curling smoke that rose in little +patches, as bits of white bark twisted and crackled. Mrs. Papineau had +gone back to the stove at the other end of the room, where she and her +eldest girl had been washing dishes. In the rising sparks of the logs +on fire Madge saw queer designs, strange moving forms her eyes +followed mechanically. She felt that she was merely waiting--waiting +for the worst that was yet to come, but the heat was grateful. + +"If that's the case we might as well postpone the trip for a day," +Hugo acknowledged, somewhat shamefacedly. "I don't often get played +out but for some reason I'm not quite up to the mark to-day." + +"You keep still an' rest yourself a bit," Mrs. Papineau ordered, +coming back to him and feeling his pulse gravely, whereat she made a +wry face. She informed him that he undoubtedly had a fever and must +remain absolutely quiet while she brewed him a decoction of potent +herbs she had herself picked and stored away. + +Madge looked at Hugo again, anxiously, feeling that her careless +handling of that little pistol was undoubtedly responsible for his +illness. Their eyes met and he managed to smile. + +"A mere man can do nothing but obey when a woman commands, Miss +Nelson," he declared, with a weak attempt at jocularity. "I'm sure +it's dreadful stuff she's going to make me swallow. Still, I'm glad of +a short rest." + +He drew his chair a little nearer, and, speaking in a lower voice, +went on: + +"I'll tell you, Miss Nelson. We--we perhaps owe one another some +explanations. It happens that I've found something. It's the queerest +thing ever happened. I'd like to explain...." + +"What is the use, Mr. Ennis?" she replied, her voice revealing an +intense discouragement. "And besides, you are ill now. It--it doesn't +really matter what has happened, I suppose. I couldn't expect anything +else, I dare say. I was a fool to come, to--to believe what I did. +And--and I'm ashamed, it--it seems as if the least little pride that +was left me has gone--gone for ever. Please--please don't say anything +more. It distresses me and can't possibly do any good." + +She turned away from him to stare into the fire again and watch the +little tongues of flame following threads of dry moss, till her face, +which had colored for a moment, became pale again and her lips +quivered at the thoughts that had returned to her. Uppermost was that +feeling of shame of which she had spoken. She had realized that she +had come to this man she had never met, ready to say: "Here I am, +Madge Nelson, to whom you wrote in New York. If you really want me for +your wife I am willing. In exchange for food, for rest, for a little +peace of mind I am ready to try to learn to love you, to respect and +obey you, and I will be glad to work for you, to keep your home, to do +my duty like a diligent and faithful wife." But the man had looked at +her with eyes genuinely surprised, because he had not really expected +her. And of course she had found no favor in his sight. She was an +inconvenient stranger whom he did not know how to get rid of, and on +the spur of the moment he had found recourse in clumsy lies. By this +time he had probably thought out some fables with which he expected to +soothe her. At any rate he must despise her, in spite of the fact that +he seemed to try to be civil and even kind. The important thing was +that the end had come. In her little purse six or seven dollars were +left, not enough to take her even half the distance to New York, to +the great city she had learned to hate and fear. For nothing on earth +would she have accepted money from Hugo. At least that shred of pride +remained. It was therefore evident that but one way, however dark, was +open before her, since the end must come. + +But that unutterable weariness was still upon her. She was not pressed +for time, thank goodness. She had been given food in abundance and +unwonted warmth and, for some hours, the wonderful sharp tingling air +of the forest had driven the blood more swiftly through her veins. +Moments had come during which it had seemed a blessing merely to +breathe and a marvelous gift to be free from pain. But she was not so +very strong yet. In another day, or perhaps two, she might feel better +able to take that last leap. It would be that river--the Roaring +River. That--that little gun made horrid jagged wounds. On her way to +Papineau's she had noticed any number of great air-holes in the ice. +In such places she had even heard the rumbling of the water on its +rushing journey towards the sea. It seemed an easy, restful, desirable +end to all her troubles. She would slip away by herself and these dear +kindly people would never know, she hoped. Like so many others, she +had gambled and lost, and perhaps she deserved to lose. Who could say? +If she had sinned in coming to this place she would bear the +punishment bravely. It would surely be very swift; there would be but +a gasp or two from the stunning chill of the icy water, after which +must come swift oblivion. The world was indeed a very harsh and +dangerous place. She would be glad to leave it; there could be nothing +to regret. + +She raised her eyes once more and looked about her. The heat from the +birchen logs and the sizzling jack-pine penetrated her. Somewhere she +had read or heard that, to those condemned, a few last comforts were +usually proffered. It would be easier to find the end after a few more +hours of this blessed peace. It would have been more gruesome to meet +it while suffering from hunger with the very marrow of one's bones +freezing and one's teeth chattering. She was glad enough to sit still +on that rough stool. She did not want to be taken back, even to that +little village of Carcajou. The little children had made such good +friends with her, and would have climbed all over her had their mother +not reproved them; the very dogs had come up and rubbed against her, +and put their muzzles in her lap. Two of them were but half-grown +pups. And best of all the big-hearted and full-bosomed mother of the +family always spoke in words that were so friendly, even affectionate. +It had been a wonderful vision of a better world from which she did +not want to awaken too soon. + +In the meanwhile Hugo had been compelled, not without a wry face, to +swallow the bitter potion Mrs. Papineau had prepared for him. + +"I think I'll be going," he remarked. + +"You rest one leetle time yet," ordered the housewife. "You haf noding +for to do. Feel better soon when you rest after de medicine. You no +'urry." + +Perhaps nothing loath he had sat down again, with his chair tilted +back a little till the back rested on the table. Madge was sitting +nearly in front of him, with her back slightly turned, and he could +see the tightly pinned mass of the hair he had seen flooding her +shoulders in his shack, and the comely curve of her neck as she leaned +forward, staring into the fire. For a time this drove away the pain +that was in his wounded arm and the hot, throbbing feeling of +discomfort that it gave him. What irked him was the realization of the +tragedy brought to this girl somehow and the understanding of all that +she must have suffered. + +Hugo had not always lived in the wilderness. He also had been of the +town during a period of his life, until the longing had come for the +greater freedom of the open spaces, of the regions which in their +greatness bring forth the sturdier qualities of manhood. + +He was thinking of the scorn that had been in her voice when she had +told him of the fierce impulse that had bidden her escape from the +bondage of carking poverty and care. It had only resulted in bringing +disappointment and the shame, the outraged womanhood that had burned +upon her cheeks. And this appealed to him with an irresistible force +since that effort on her part showed that she at least possessed +courage and the readiness to go far afield in search of an avenue of +escape. Weaker souls would long ago have given up the fight. + +He had just tried to begin an explanation and find the truth out from +her, but she had shaken her head and said it was useless. She did not +understand; how could she? Yet he had been sorely disappointed. It had +scarcely been a rebuff on her part for she had spoken gently enough, +in that low despairing voice of hers. He must wait another and better +occasion and hope that he would be able to clear himself of +wrongdoing. + +At this time a man's practical nature suggested to him the thought +that she must be very poor--that she had perhaps expended her last +resources in coming to Carcajou. If this was the case, what would it +avail for him to take her back to the railway? What would happen to +her then? He could not allow her to depart without finding out how +such matters stood, and he wondered in what manner he could make her +accept some money and how he could make amends to her for the injury +she had sustained at some unknown individual's hands. But the more he +puzzled his brain the less he could discover any efficient way of +coming to her assistance. She had said that every bit of pride had +been torn from her, but he knew that this was not altogether true. The +flashing of her eyes and the indignation of her voice had contradicted +her words efficiently. She would probably resent his offer, refuse to +accept anything from him. Yet, if he managed to persuade her that he +was guiltless, it was possible.... + +But here his thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Papineau, who insisted +on inspecting his wound again and made a wry face when she looked at +it. + +"I beg you pardon for to tell de truth, Monsieur Hugo," she said, "but +I tink you one beeg fool man for come here to-day. I tink maybe you +get bad seek wid dat h'arm. You stay 'ere to-day an' for de night. I +make you a bed in dis room on de floor, by Jacques an' Baptiste an' +Pierre. My man Philippe 'e come to-morrow, maybe to-night, an' I send +heem to Carcajou so he telegraph to de _docteur_ for see you, eh?" + +"You're awfully good, Mrs. Papineau," answered the young man, with the +obstinacy of his kind. "I'm perfectly sure I'll be all right +to-morrow, or the next day at the most. And I'll come back and see how +Miss Nelson is getting on. I think I'll move now so I'll say good-by. +I'm a lot better now. I suppose it's on account of that stuff you made +me drink; it was bad enough to be fine medicine. I hope the rest will +do you some good also, Miss Nelson. You're looking a lot better than +yesterday." + +Mrs. Papineau first thought of preventing his exit by main force but +felt compelled to let him have his way. She lacked the courage of her +convictions and allowed him to depart, with his dog running ahead with +the toboggan. She peered at him through one of the small panes and saw +that he was walking fairly easily. + +"Maybe heem be all right soon," she confided hopefully to Madge, while +she mixed dough in a pan. "But heem one beeg fool man all de same." + +"I--I can hardly believe that," objected the girl. "Why do you think +so?" + +"All mans is beeg fools ven dey is 'urted or seek, my dear. Dey don't +know nodings 'ow to tak' care for heemselves. Dey don't never haf +sense dat vay. Alvays tink dey so strong noding happen, ever. But just +same Hugo Ennis one mighty fine man, I say dat sure. I rather de ole +cow die as anyting 'appen to heem." + +Without interrupting her work, and later as she toiled, at her +washtub, the good woman launched forth in lengthy praise of Hugo. From +her conversation it appeared that he had helped one or two fellows +with small sums of money and good advice. In the autumn he had fished +out an Indian who had upset his boat while netting whitefish in rough +weather, on the lake, and every one knew that Stefan's life had been +saved by him. At any rate the Swede said so, for Hugo never liked much +to speak of such things. And then he was a steady fellow, a hard +worker, good at the traps and not afraid of work of any kind. And then +he was friendly to everybody. Had Madge noticed how gentle he was with +the little children? That was always a sign of a good man. + +"Yes, mees," she concluded. "Some time I tink heem de bes' man as ever +lif. Heem Hugo not even 'urt one dog, or anyting." + +So he wouldn't hurt even a dog! Madge repeated these words to herself. +Then why had he played such a sorry joke on a woman who had never +injured him? She wondered whether he would be sorry, afterwards, +if--if he ever chanced to learn what had become of her--after +everything was all over. It might be that he had just been a big fool, +as the Canadian woman had called him, and never reflected on the +possible consequences of his action. But then he should have had the +manhood to acknowledge his fault and beg her pardon, instead of +resorting at once to clumsy lies and pretending utter ignorance. In +many ways such conduct seemed inconsistent with the man, now that she +had had further opportunity of seeing him. And then there was no doubt +that he looked very ill. She was really very sorry for her share in +that accident, and yet--and yet men had been shot dead for smaller +offenses than he had meted out to her. He might have been killed, of +course, and her quickened imagination caused her to see him stretched +stark upon the floor of that little cabin, on those rough boards that +smelled of resiny things. And then people would have come and she +would have been accused of his murder, of course. It would have been +her weapon that had done it, and they would have found motive enough +for the deed in the story she would have been compelled to relate. +They wouldn't have believed in any accident. And then, instead of +being able to end everything in some air hole of Roaring River, she +would have been dragged to some jail to eke out her days in a prison, +if she had not been hanged. + +The next day she awaited his coming somewhat anxiously. She felt that +she must know how he was before--before taking that last step. After +all he had tried to be considerate, except in the matter of those +amazing lies. During the afternoon Mrs. Papineau, growing anxious, +sent little Baptiste over to enquire after him. The small boy +returned, saying that he had seen two squirrels and a rabbit on the +tote-road, and the track of a fox, and that he had found Hugo sitting +by the fire. And Hugo had declared that he was all right and--and +perhaps he wasn't pleased, because he spoke very shortly and had told +him to hurry home. So Baptiste had left, and on his way he had seen +partridges sitting on a fir sapling, and if he'd had a gun, or even +some rocks.... + +But this circumstantial narrative was interrupted by the barking of +the dogs. The sun was about setting. Madge looked out of the window, +while Mrs. Papineau rushed to the door. It was a man arriving with a +toboggan and two big dogs. + +"Dat my man Philippe coming," announced the woman, happily. + +She held the door open, letting in a blast of cold air, and the man +entered, tired with long tramping. From the toboggan he removed a load +of pelts, dead hares that would serve chiefly for bait, his blankets +and the indispensable axe. Mrs. Papineau volubly explained the guest's +presence and he greeted her kindly. + +"You frien' of Hugo Ennis," he said. "Den you is velcome an' me glad +for see you, _mademoiselle_." + +He was a pleasant-faced, stocky and broad-limbed man of rather short +stature, and his manner was altogether kindly and pleasant. The +simplicity and cordiality of his manner was entirely in keeping with +the ways of his family. It was curious that all the people she had met +so far seemed to have come to an agreement in speaking well of Ennis. + +The man sat down, after the smallest of the children had swarmed all +over him, and took off his Dutch stockings, waiting for the plenteous +meal and the hot tea his wife was preparing. Meanwhile, to lose no +time, he began to skin a pine marten. + +"Plent' much good luck dis time," he said, turning to Madge. "Five +_vison_, vat you call mink, and a pair martens. Also one fox, jus' +leetle young fox but pelt ver' nice. You want for see?" + +She inspected the pelts and looked at the animals that were yet +unskinned, realizing for the first time how men went off in the wilds +for days and weeks and months at a time, in bitterest weather, to +provide furs for fine ladies. + +The darkness had come and the big oil lamp was lighted. The children +played about her for a time and gradually sought their couches in +bunks and truckle-beds. The man was relating incidents of the trapping +to his wife, who nodded understandingly. Beaver were getting plentiful +along the upper reaches of the Roaring; it was a pity that the law +prevented their killing for such a long time. He had seen tracks of +caribou, that are scarce in that region; but they were very old +tracks, not worth following, since these animals are such great +travelers. + +During this conversation Madge would listen, at times, and turn +towards the door. She had a vague idea that Ennis might come, since +the boy's account had been somewhat reassuring. When she finally went +to bed behind an improvised screen in a corner of the big living-room, +she was long unable to sleep, owing to obsessing thoughts that +wouldn't be banished. Over and over again she reminded herself of all +that had happened. It stood to reason that the man had written those +letters; how could it be otherwise? The proofs in her hands were too +conclusive to permit her to pay any heed to his denials. The amazing +thing was that when one looked at him it became harder and harder to +believe him capable of such wrongdoing. + +As she tossed in her bed she began to be assailed with doubts. These +worried her exceedingly. He had firmly asserted his innocence. +Supposing that he was telling the truth, what then? In such a case, +impossible as it seemed, she had accused him unjustly, and her conduct +towards him had been unpardonable. And then she had refused to listen +to him, when he had sought to begin some sort of explanation. Why +shouldn't one believe a man with such frank and honest eyes, one who +wouldn't harm even a dog and was loved and trusted by little children? +Of course, it was quite unintentionally that she had wounded his body, +but if he chanced to be innocent she had also wounded his feelings, +deeply, in spite of which he had seemed sorry for her, and had been +very kind. He had promised to come again to give her further help. If +he was guilty it was but a sorry attempt to make slight amends. If he +was not at fault, it showed that he was a mighty fine man. Madge felt +that she would rather believe in his innocence, in spite of the fact +that if he could prove it she would be covered with confusion. + +"It seems to me that I ought to have given him that opportunity he was +seeking," she told herself, rather miserably. + +Before she fell asleep she decided that on the morrow she would walk +over to his shack if he did not turn up in the forenoon. He might be +in want of care, in spite of what the small boy had said. If he was +all right she would sit down and question him. The letters she had +received were in her bag; she would show them to him. Now that she +thought of it, the curious, ill-formed, hesitating character of the +writing seemed utterly out of keeping with the man's apparent nature. +He ought to have written strongly and boldly, it seemed to her. +Gradually she was becoming certain that his word of honor that he had +never penned them, or caused some one else to do it for him, would +suffice to change the belief she had held. Yes--she would go there, +even before noon. If she met him on the road they could as well speak +out in the open air. And if she could be sure that she had been +mistaken in regard to him, she would beg his pardon, because he had +tried to be good to her, with little encouragement on her part. +She--she didn't want him to think afterwards--when everything would be +ended, that she had been ungrateful and unjust. Of course, the great +effort had failed; nearly everything was ended now and there were no +steps that could be retraced. Someone had been very wicked and cruel, +that was certain. But she didn't care who it was; it could make no +difference. She really hoped it was not Hugo Ennis. + +In the darkness her tense features relaxed and her body felt greater +ease. Finally her eyes closed and she slept. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +For the Good Name of Carcajou + + +The morning came clear and somewhat warmer. Beyond the serrated edges +of the woodlands covering far-away hills were masses of sunlit rolling +clouds that seemed as if they were utterly immovable and piled up as a +background to the purpling beauty of the mountains. + +Madge awoke early. Outside the house the dogs were stirring, the two +young ones chasing one another over the snow and rolling over it while +the others nosed about more sedately. She heard a ponderous yawn from +Papineau, on the other side of the slender partition, and a general +scurrying of small feet and the moving of washbasins. When she came +out Mrs. Papineau had already kindled the wood in the fireplace and +was stirring the hot embers in the stove. From without she heard +sounds of lusty chopping. + +She wrapped a borrowed knitted scarf about her neck and put on Hugo's +woolen _tuque_, after which she stepped out. There was a wondrous +brilliancy over the world. On trees hung icicles that took on the +appearance of gems. The cold air made her breathe so deeply that she +felt amazingly strong and well. The oldest boy's smiting with his axe +came in thumps that awakened a little echo, coming from over there +where the river narrowed down between high banks. It was very +wonderful; it gave one a desire to live; it seemed a pity that one +must so soon say good-by to all this. It--it was perhaps better not to +think of that just now. + +She went indoors again. There were potatoes to be peeled and the girl, +in spite of protests, took up a knife and went to work. It was such a +pleasure to do something to help. Indeed she had been idle too long, +allowing these people to do everything for her while she crouched +disconsolately in warm corners. At present all the weariness and +weakness seemed to have left her. It was just like a fresh beginning +instead of the ending of a life. It would have made her happy to think +that, somewhere in the world, providing it were away from the city, +she might have found honest work to do in exchange for some of this +wonderful peace. If she could only have remained among these gentle +and placid people and let her existence flow on, easily, without pain +and the constant worry for the morrow. It was like some marvelous +dream from which she was compelled to awaken at once, for she realized +that there was no place for her in this household. The older children +were already of the greatest assistance to their parents, and there +was no room for her in the crowded shack. She had caused these people +some inconvenience, which they had accepted cheerfully, it was true, +but which she could not keep on inflicting on them. But for some +hours--some blessed hours, she could play at being happy and pretend +that life was sweet. She could smile now, when these people spoke to +her, and she hugged some of the little ones without apparent reason. + +"You stay 'ere some more day," Mrs. Papineau told her, "an' den you +look lak' oder gal sure. Get fat an' lose de black roun' you h'eyes. +You now a tousan' time better as ven you come, you bet. Dis a fine +coontree, Canada, for peoples get strong an' hoongree an' work 'ard +an' sleep good." + +"It's a perfectly beautiful and wonderful country," cried the girl, +enthusiastically. "I--I wish I could always live here." + +"You one so prettee gal," commented the good woman. "Some day you fin' +one good 'usban' an' marry an' h'always lif in dis coontree. Den you +is happy and strong. Plenty mans in dis coontree want wife to 'elp an' +mak' good 'ome. It one h'awful big lan'." + +Yes, there was any amount of room in this great country. And the woman +wanted her to go and find a good husband! Well, she had come far to +seek one. It--it had not been a pleasant experience. She saw herself +wandering about this wilderness looking for another man who would take +her to wife. Oh, the shame of it--the hot flashing of her cheeks when +she thought of it! No, she was now looking on all this as a pauper +looks into the shop-front displaying the warm clothing that would keep +the bitter cold from him, or as starvelings of big cities, through the +windows of great restaurants and hostelries, stare upon the well-fed +people sating themselves with an abundance of good cheer. She must +remain outside and now the end of it all was near. + +They had their breakfast, during which Mrs. Papineau said that she was +becoming anxious about Hugo. Presently she would send one of the +children again. Papineau wouldn't do because he knew nothing about +sick people. She would go over there herself soon. If he was sick she +would bring him a loaf of bread. It would soon be ready to bake; the +dough was still rising behind the stove. There might be other things +to be attended to. Not more than an hour would elapse before she was +ready to go. She remarked that men were a very helpless lot whenever +they were ill, and became grumpy and took feminine tact to manage. + +The feeling of anxiety that had gradually come over the girl became +deeper. If the man was ill, it was her fault. What had possessed her +to spend some of her scant store of money in that dirty little shop +for a pistol? Of course, she realized that a vague feeling of danger +had guided her--that the thing could be a means of defense or offer a +way to end her troubles. And it had only served to injure a man who, +if he had sinned against her, manifested at any rate some desire to +treat her kindly. + +But the thought that he might not be guilty returned to her, +insistently. It was on her part a change of thought that was not due +to carefully reasoned considerations, to any deep study of conditions, +for when she tried to argue the matter out she became involved in a +thousand contradictions and her head would begin to ache in dizzy +fashion. Rather it was some sort of instinct, one of the conclusions +so often and quickly reached by the feminine mind and apt, in spite of +everything, to prove accurate and reliable. + +"Mrs. Papineau," she said, suddenly, "I think I will go over there +now. I--I have rested long enough and the fresh air will be good for +me. I will come back very soon, I suppose, but if--if Mr. Ennis should +be ill you will find me there." + +Her proposal was assented to without the slightest objection. The good +woman insisted on furnishing her with footwear better suited to the +tote-road than the boots she wore. On the trail the snow would be +fairly well beaten down and there would be little need of snowshoes if +she picked her way carefully. She could not lose her way. Still, it +might be as well for one of the children to go with her. People who +were not used to the woods sometimes strayed off a trail and got in +trouble. + +Under escort of the second oldest girl Madge started, briskly. She had +covered but a short distance before she wondered that she felt so +strong and well. The plain substantial food she had eaten and the +bright, stimulating air were filling her with a new life. She walked +along quite fast, for she was now anxious to see this man again. If +she had been wrong she wanted to make amends. But what if he were very +ill? She thought of the lonely little shack and the lack of any +comfort and care within it. He might be lying there helplessly, with +only a dog for a companion. At every turn of the little road she +looked ahead, keenly, thinking that perhaps she might meet him on his +way to the Papineau's. As she hurried on she felt that the house had +perhaps been too warm and it was splendid to be walking beneath the +snow-laden trees, to see the little clouds of her breath going out +into the frosty air and to hear the crackling of the clean snow under +her feet. + +The child was walking sturdily at her side and told her of some +Christmas presents Hugo had brought. It was evident that to the +children of that family he was a very wonderful being, a sort of Santa +Claus who had done his full duty and one to be forever after welcomed +with joyous shrieks. And father said he was a very good shot, and +Stefan Olsen, the big man, thought there was no one like him. And he +could sing songs and tell stories, wonderful stories. Madge, as she +listened to the girl, suddenly wondered whether it was not possible +that the loneliness of such a life might not in some way have +disturbed the man's mind, at least temporarily. Wasn't it possible for +one, in such a case, to do queer things and never remember anything +about them afterwards? No one better than she knew what a terrible and +maddening thing loneliness was. She recollected distracting hours +spent in little hall-bedrooms while she tried to mend, after an +exhausting day's work, the poor clothing that wore out so terribly +soon, and how at times she had felt that she must be becoming crazy. + +"But no! He couldn't have done it. He--he's a very quiet sensible man, +I should think, and--and he wouldn't hurt even a dog," she repeated to +herself. + +They were journeying quite fast over the trail that snaked along +through the woods, bending here and there in order to avoid boulders +and stumps and fallen trees but always coming in sight of the frozen +river again. At times Madge trudged through rather deep snow. Also she +stubbed her toes upon rocks and stumbled over branches broken off by +the great gales of winter. But it really wasn't very hard. And the +child kept on chattering about Monsieur Hugo and asking eager +questions about the big city. Was it true that as far as one could see +there were houses standing right up against one another for miles and +miles, and that people swarmed in them as do the wild bees in hollow +trees? It was natural for bees to do such things, and for ants, and +for the minnows in shoals down in the river, but why did people have +to crowd in such a way? How could they breathe? + +Finally they came in sight of the shack and the child gave a swift +glance. + +"No smoke, mees," she said. "Heem go away, or mebbe heem seek." + +Madge hurried along faster for an instant, and then stopped short. +What if neither of the child's conclusions was correct? If she went +over there and knocked at the door he might come out, looking rather +surprised. She had told him that she had come to Carcajou, looking for +an unknown husband, for a man she was willing to accept under certain +conditions, just because her life had become intolerable. He might +lift his brow and perhaps ask her quite civilly to come in. But what +would he think? Would he imagine that she was running after him and +trying to compel him to marry her? It was not alone the frost that +brought color to her cheeks now. No, it would never do. + +"I think I will wait here," she told the little girl. "Will you please +go and find out if Mr. Ennis is there, and whether he is all right +again? I'll sit down on this log and wait till you come back." + +The child looked rather puzzled but she ran down the path that led to +the cabin. Madge saw her stopping in front of the door, at which she +knocked. She heard her call out and then wait, as if listening. At +once came Maigan's voice. He was barking but the sound was not an +angry one. Rather it sounded plaintively. Finally the girl pulled the +door open, after fumbling at the latch, and the dog ran out, barking +again and rolling in the snow. Then he sniffed the air and discovered +Madge, at once running towards her and pushing his muzzle in her hand. +She stroked his head and he ran back, going but a few steps and +turning around to see if she followed. She rose slowly, a sense of +fear coming over her, and hesitatingly went down the path also. At +this moment the child came out, looking frightened, and hastened over +to her. + +"Heem seek--very seek," she cried, and Madge found herself running +now, with her heart beating and her breath coming fast. The terrifying +idea came to her that perhaps he was dead. But as she entered the +place the man rose painfully on his bunk. His face was amazingly pale +and his features drawn--hardly recognizable. + +"Sorry, must beg your pardon--I intended to come over," he told her, +hoarsely. "It--it's some silly sort of a fever. I--I'll be better +pretty soon. It's that blessed arm of mine, I think, and--and I'm +frightfully thirsty. If--if you'll ask the kid...." + +Madge peered about her, but there was no water in sight. Even if there +had been any she knew it would have frozen solid in the fireless shack +whose interior had struck a chill through her. She seized a pail. + +"Where does one get it?" she asked. "Or do you have to melt ice?" + +"There's a spring. It's halfway down to the pool. Never quite freezes +over. Let that girl go for it, Miss Nelson. Or--or I may go myself in +a minute. Only waiting till--till my teeth stop chattering. Then I can +light--light the fire and--and make hot tea. It--it's such a stupid +nuisance and--and I'm giving you a lot of bother." + +But Madge ran out of the shack and down to that spring, where the +clear water seemed to be boiling out of the ground, since a little +cloud of steam rose from it. But it was just pure icy water and she +filled the pail and hurried back with it. When she returned the child +was efficiently engaged in making a fire in the little stove. The man +had sunk down on his bunk again and she went up to him. His teeth were +no longer chattering, but his cheekbones now bore patches of deep red. +When she ventured to touch his hand, she found that it was burning +hot. At this an awful, distressing, unreasoning fear came upon her. +She--she had killed this man, for--for he certainly was going to die, +she thought. Even in the big hospital she had never seen a face more +strongly stamped with the marks of impending death. It was frightful! + +She gave him water which he drank greedily, calling for more. She had +to hold the cup, since his hand shook too badly. Dully, feeling +stricken with a great desolation, she prepared some tea and gave it to +him. She had found some biscuits in a box but he refused to eat +anything. Presently he was lying flat again on his bunk, with his eyes +closed, and when she spoke he made no answer. But he was breathing, +she noted. Perhaps he had fallen asleep. It might do him a great deal +of good, she thought. + +The child had thrown herself down on the floor, next to Maigan, who +was stretched out at length, enjoying the welcome heat of the stove. +From time to time the animal lifted his head and looked towards his +master anxiously. He knew that something was all wrong, but now that +these other people had come everything would doubtless be made all +right. + +For some time Madge kept still, sitting down on a stool she had drawn +to the side of the bunk. She had the resigned patience innate in so +many women, but presently she could stand it no longer. Something must +be done at once. Valuable time was passing and no help was being +obtained. Things simply couldn't go on this way! + +Rising again she called the child. + +"We must go and get a doctor at once," she whispered, breathlessly. +"I--I'm horribly afraid. Come outside with me." + +She caught the little girl's arm in her impatience, and took her out. + +"Your--your friend, Monsieur Hugo, is dreadfully ill, do you +understand, child? I heard your mother say that one could telegraph +from Carcajou for a doctor. We've got to do it! How long would it take +me to get there?" + +The girl was evidently scared, but she looked at Madge with some of +the practical sense of one versed with the difficulties of life in the +wilds. + +"If you 'lone you never get dere. If Maigan work for you maybe +three-four hour," answered the child. "Heem go a leetle way den turn +back for de shack. No leave master." + +There came upon Madge a dreadful feeling of helplessness. The man +looked terribly ill; she felt that he was probably going to die. This +great wilderness suddenly grew as wicked in her eyes as that of the +city. Nay, it was even worse. She remembered how ill she had become +and how she had struggled to fight off the sickness, in a little lone +room of a top floor. But as soon as people had come she had been +bundled away to the hospital. A wagon had come, with a doctor in a +white coat, and they had clattered off. The people in the hospital had +seemed interested, indifferent, friendly, according to their several +dispositions, but she had been taken care of, and fed, and washed, and +some of the nurses had sweet faces, after all, and after a time she +had recovered. All this had seemed rather terrible at the time, but +what was it compared to this lying desperately ill in a freezing hut, +too feeble to procure even the cup of water craved by a dry tongue and +lips that were parched? + +"I can surely walk that distance," she cried, but the child shook her +head again. + +"You no good for walk far," she asserted. "You jus' fall down dead. +Twelve mile and snow deep some place. Moch cole as freeze you quick +when tired." + +"Then what's to be done?" asked Madge, entering the house again, +followed by the child. "I think I ought to try to get to Carcajou." + +"Please don't," said the man, hoarsely, looking as if he had awakened +suddenly, and lifting himself up on one elbow painfully. "I'll--I'll +be all right to-morrow, sure--surest thing you know, and--and I'll +take you down myself, with old--old Maigan." + +"Please hurry back to your house and tell your mother to come over as +soon as she can," Madge told the child. "Perhaps your father could go. +I didn't think of it at first." + +"Now you spik' lak' you know someting," said the girl, with refreshing +frankness. "I 'urry all right. Get modder quick." + +She started, her little legs flying over the snow, and Madge closed +the door again. + +She put a little more wood in the stove and sat down by the bunk. The +man's eyes were closed again. It was strange that he had heard her so +distinctly, and that he had gathered the impression that she wanted to +get to Carcajou on her own account. And--and he had said he would take +her himself. Again his first thought had been to do something for her, +to be of service to her. + +One of his hands was lying outside the blankets, and instinctively +Madge placed her own upon it. She was frightened to feel how hot it +was. The pulse her fingers sought was beating wildly. She felt glad +that she was there. The man didn't care for her and she--well, she +supposed that she disliked him, but she wasn't going to let him die +there alone in a corner, like a wounded animal in some obscure den +among the rocks. For the moment her own troubles were pretty nearly +forgotten, for there was something for her to do. She had been but a +useless by-product of humanity in the great melting pot of the world +and had proved incapable of rising above the dross and making even a +poor place for herself. But this man was young and strong and able, +bearing all the marks of one destined to be of use. He had looked +splendid in his efficient and sturdy manhood and therefore there was +something wrong, utterly wrong and against the course of nature in his +being about to be snuffed out before her very eyes, just because she +had dropped that abominable pistol. It--it just couldn't be! + +She leaned forward again and looked upon his face, that was ashen +under the coating of tan. Once he opened his eyes and looked at her, +but the lids closed down again and once more she became obsessed by +the idea that she might have been very unjust to him, that she had +perhaps insulted and wronged him. All at once the face she was looking +at became blurred, but it was because she saw it through a mist of +gathering tears. It had been easy, when she had bought that pistol, to +think of killing a man; now it seemed frightful, abominable, and the +resentment she had felt against the man was turning against herself in +spite of the fact that it had been an accident, just a miserable +accident. + +Long minutes, forty or fifty of them, went by as she waited and +listened. But presently Maigan, that had laid his head in her lap and +was looking at her pitifully, as if he had been begging her to help +the man he loved, rose suddenly and dashed to the door, barking. It +proved to be Papineau and his wife, who was very breathless. + +The man came in, looked at Hugo and rushed out again. He took the time +to exchange his toboggan for Hugo's, which was lighter and to which he +hitched his three powerful dogs. Madge went to him. + +"You'll hurry, won't you?" she cried. "I--I'm afraid, I'm horribly +afraid. Don't--don't come back without a doctor will you?" + +"You bet de life, mees, I make dem dog 'urry plenty moch. Yes, ma'am, +you bet!" he repeated, calmly, but looking at her with the strong +steely eyes that seemed peculiar to these men of the great North. + +He ran with his team up the path. When he reached the tote-road the +girl saw that he had jumped on the sled, which was tearing away to the +southward. + +Within the shack Mrs. Papineau busied herself in many ways, placing +things in order and fussing about the stove, upon which she had placed +a pot containing more herbs she had brought with her. Every few +minutes she interrupted her work in order to take another look at +Hugo. Once or twice Madge saw a big tear roll down her fat cheeks, +which she swiftly wiped off with her sleeve. A little later she +managed to make the man swallow some of her concoction. He appeared to +obey unconsciously, but when she spoke to him he just babbled +something which neither of the women understood. Finally the +Frenchwoman sat down at the side of Madge, snuffling a little, and +began to whisper. + +"Big strong man one day," she commented, "an' dis day seek an' weak +lak one leetle child. Eet is de way so strange of de Providence. It +look lak de good Lord make one fine man, fines' Heem can make--a man +as should get de love of vomans an' leetle children--an' den Heem mak +up his min' for to tak heem avay. An' Heem good Lord know why, but I +tink I better pray. Maybe de good Lord Heem 'ear an' tink let heem lif +a whiles yet, eh?" + +And so the woman knelt down and repeated prayers, for the longest +time, speaking hurriedly the invocations she had all her life, known +by heart, and ending each one with the devout crossing of her breast. +Then Madge, for the first time in a very long while, remembered words +she had so often heard in the little village church at home, which +promised that whenever two or three were gathered together in the name +of the Lord, He would be among them. Yes, she had heard that assurance +often in the place of worship she could now see so vividly, in which +the open windows, on summer days, let in the droning of the bees and +the scent of honeysuckle outside. So she knelt beside the other woman +and began to pray also, haltingly, in words that came well-nigh +unbidden because they were the call of a heart in sore travail which +had long forgotten how to pray for itself. And it seemed as if the +great Power above must surely be listening. + +Finally Mrs. Papineau rose. She was compelled to go back home and see +that the children were fed. She promised she would return in a short +time. The doctor would certainly not come before night, perhaps not +even until early morning, for he would be compelled to make a journey +on the train. Papineau would wait for him, of course. As soon as he +had sent the message he would give the dogs a good feed and they would +be ready for the return. Then when the doctor turned up, Papineau +would rush him to Roaring River, and--and if the Lord was willing he +might be able to do something, providing.... + +But she had to interrupt herself to wipe away another big tear. She +placed a hand upon the girl's shoulder, seeking to encourage her a +little, and started off, her heavy footsteps crackling over the snow. +Then silence came again, but for the hurried breathing of the sick man +and the occasional sighs of Maigan, who refused food offered to him. + +Madge forced herself to eat a little, dimly realizing that for a time +there might be need of all her strength. After this she sat down +again, feeling crushed with the sense of her helplessness and with the +thought of the terribly long hours that must elapse before the doctor +could arrive. + +Once Hugo seemed to awaken, as if from a sleep. The hand that had lain +so still seemed to grope, searchingly, and she placed her own upon +it. + +"Take you over--all right--to-morrow," he said. "It--it's a pity, +because--because you're so--so good and kind, now," he muttered. +"She--she thinks I--I'm the dirt under her feet. Ain't--ain't you +there, Stefan?" + +His eyes searched the room for a moment. Then, with a look of +disappointment, his head sagged down on the pillow again and he lay +quiet for a long time, till he began to mutter words that were +disconnected and meaningless to her. + +The noon hour came and went, with a glowing sun that shone brightly +over the snow and tinted the mist from the great falls with the colors +of the rainbow. But Madge did not see it, for within the little shack +the panes were dimmed by the frost. The stove crackled and spat, with +the sudden little explosions of wood fires. Close to it one felt very +warm but the heat did not extend far, since the cold seemed to be +seeking ever to penetrate the room, making its way beneath the door +and through some of the chinked spaces between the logs. It affected +Madge now as a sort of enemy, this cold that seemed to be on the watch +for victims. It was one of the things that were always rising up in +order to crush struggling men and women. + +Another hour elapsed, that had been cruelly long, when Maigan suddenly +leaped up and stood before the door, with hair bristling all over him +and standing like a ridge along his back. He scratched furiously and +looked back, as if demanding to be let out, and kept up a long, +ominous growl that was very different from his usual bark. + +Madge went to the door, feeling very uneasy. She opened it, after +slipping her hand under Maigan's collar. Upon the tote-road she saw a +large sled that had been drawn by a pair of strong, shaggy horses, +which a man was blanketing. From where she stood she heard confused +voices of men and women, all of whom were strangers to her. They +seemed to be consulting together. Finally they came down the path +towards the shack, nine or ten of them, walking slowly and looking +grim and unfriendly. Maigan was now barking fiercely and Madge had to +struggle with him to prevent his dashing out towards them. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Stefan Runs + + +Philippe Papineau rode nearly all the way on the toboggan, sparing the +dogs only in the hardest places on rising ground. The animals had been +well-fed on the previous night and the trip around the trapping line +had not been a hard one. It represented but a mere fifty miles or so, +over which they had only hauled one man's food in three days, with his +blankets and a small shelter-tent he used when forced to stop away +from one of the small huts he had built on the line. In fact, there +had been little need of three dogs, but Papineau had taken them +because it kept up their training. In the pink of condition, +therefore, the team bade fair to equal Stefan's best performances. + +The Frenchman was within sight of the smokestack rising from +Carcajou's sawmill when he opened his eyes, widely. A pair of horses +was coming along the old road, drawing a big sled. As the old lumber +trail was used only by dog-teams, as a rule, this surprised him. A +moment later he clucked at his dogs, which drew to one side, and the +horses, from whose shaggy bodies a cloud of steam was rising, came +abreast of him. The sled stopped. + +"Hello there, Papineau!" called one of the men. "Going in for +provisions? Thought you hauled in a barrel of flour last week." + +"Uh huh," assented Philippe, non-committally. + +"Is that fellow Ennis over to his shack?" asked McIntosh, the +squaw-man. + +"Uh huh," repeated the settler. + +"D'ye happen to know whether there's a--a young 'ooman there too?" + +"Vat you vant wid dat gal?" asked Papineau this time. + +"We're just goin' visitin', like," Pat Kilrea informed him. "It's sure +a fine day for a ride in the country. And so that there young 'ooman's +been up there a matter o' three-four days, ain't she?" + +"I tink so," assented Philippe. + +"D'ye know who she is?" asked Mrs. Kilrea, a severe looking and +angular woman. + +"Sure, heem gal is friend o' Hugo," answered the Frenchman, simply. +"Mebbe you better no go to-day. Hugo heem seek. I got to 'urry, so +good-by." + +He lashed his dogs on again, while Pat cracked his whip and the party +went on. Mrs. Kilrea was looking rather horrified, thought Sophy +McGurn. Her turn was coming at last. There would be a scene that would +repay her for her trouble, she gleefully decided. + +As they went on at a steady pace, over a road which none but horses +inured to lumbering could have followed without breaking a leg or +getting hopelessly stalled in deep snow, Philippe hurried over to the +station and got Joe Follansbee to send a telegram. The young man would +have given a good deal to have made one of the party but his official +duties detained him. + +"Who wants a doctor?" he asked, curiously. + +"Hugo," answered Papineau, impatiently. "You don't h'ask so moch +question, you fellar. Jus' telegraph quick now an' h'ask for answer +ven dat _docteur_ he come, you 'ear me?" + +Joe looked at the Frenchman, intending to resent his sharp orders, but +thought better of it. The small, square-built, wide-shouldered man was +not one to be trifled with. He was known as a calm, cool sort of a +chap with little sense of humor, and the youth reflected that, in this +neck of the woods, it was best not to trifle with men who were apt to +end a quarrel by fighting over an acre of ground and mauling one +another until one or both parties were utterly unrecognizable, even to +their best friends. + +"Come back in about an hour and I expect I'll have an answer," he told +the Frenchman, quite meekly. + +The latter went into McGurn's store and purchased some tobacco and a +few needed groceries. Suddenly he bethought himself of Stefan. + +"_Mon Dieu!_" he exclaimed. "Heem ought know right avay, sure." + +He drove his team around to Stefan's smithy but failed to find him. At +the house Mrs. Olsen told him that her husband had gone out a half an +hour ago. He would probably be at Olaf Jonson's, at the other end of +the village. Thither drove Philippe and found his man. + +"'Ello, Stefan, want for see you right avay," said the trapper. "Come +'long!" + +The Swede hastened to him. + +"Vat it iss, Philippe?" he asked, eyeing the dogs expertly. "Py de +looks off tem togs I tink you ban in some hurry, no?" + +"Uh huh! I come to telegraph for de _docteur_. Hugo heem 'urted +h'awful bad. Look lak' heem die, mebbe." + +Stefan bellowed out an oath and began running towards his house at a +tremendous gait. Papineau jumped on his toboggan and followed, only +catching up after they had gone a couple of hundred yards. When they +reached Olsen's, the latter went in, shouted out the news and came out +again. With the help of Papineau he hitched up his own great team of +five. + +"Tank you for lettin' me know, Papineau," he said. "I get ofer dere so +tam qvick you don't belief, I tank. So long!" + +"'Old 'ard! 'Old 'ard!" shouted the Frenchman. "Vat for you tink Pat +Kilrea an' McIntosh, an' Prouty an' Kerrigan and more, an' also vomans +is goin' up dere to de Falls? Dey say go visitin'. Dey don't nevaire +go make visits before dat vay. An' dey h'ask me all 'bout de +_demoiselle_, de gal vat is up dere, an' I see Mis' Kilrea an' +Kerrigan's voman look one de oder in de face. Look mean lak' de devil, +dem vomans! I dunno, but I tink dey up to no good, dem crowd. If I no +have to stay for _docteur_ I go right back qvick. D'ye tink dey vant +ter bodder Hugo, or de lady, Stefan?" + +The latter swore again. + +"If dey bodder 'em I tvists all dere necks like chickens, I tank," he +cried, excitedly. "How long ago did they leave?" + +"Vell, most a h'our, now, I tink, and dem's Kerrigan's horses, as is +five year olds an' stronk lak' de devil. Dey run good on de five-mile +flat, dey do, sure, an' odder places vhere snow is pack nice." + +This time Stefan didn't answer. He shouted at his team, that started +on the run, but Zeb Foraker's St. Bernard, who could lick any dog in +Carcajou singly, chanced to leap over the garden fence and come at +them. In a moment a half dozen dogs were piled up in a fight. Stefan +stepped into the snarl. A moment later he had the biggest animal, that +was supposed to weigh close to two hundred, by the tail. With a +wonderful heave he lifted it up and swung it over his master's fence +into a leafless copper beach that graced the plot, whence the animal +fell to the ground, looking dazed. It took several minutes to +straighten out the tangled traces and the leader was hopelessly lame. +He had to be taken out and left at home. All the time Stefan's +language brought scared faces to the windows of neighboring shacks. It +was a good thing, probably, that few people in Carcajou understood +Swedish. Still, from the sound of it they judged that it must be +something pretty bad. Finally he was off again, lacking the smartest +animal in his team. The others, however, probably considered that this +was no occasion for further bad behavior and old Jennie, mother of +three of the bunch, led it without making any serious mistakes. + +For the life of him Stefan couldn't conceive why anyone should +want to bother Hugo or the pretty lady. It was the very strangeness +and mystery of the thing that aroused him. He never entertained the +idea that Papineau was mistaken. The Frenchman was a fine smart +fellow, one who loved Hugo, and a man not given to idle notions or to +exaggeration. If he thought there was something wrong this must be +the case. + +On a long upgrade he ran at the side of his dogs, his great chest +heaving at the tremendous effort. On the level he rode, urging the +animals on and keeping his eyes on the tracks of the horses and +sleigh, while his strong stern face seemed immovably frozen into an +expression of grim determination. Anyone who touched his friend Hugo +would have to reckon with him, indeed. The man was one of the few +beings he cared for, like his wife or the young ones. Such a +friendship was a possession, something he owned, a treasure he would +not be robbed of and was prepared to defend, as he would have defended +his little hoard of money, the home he had built, with the berserker +fury of his ancestors. He was conscious of his might, conscious that +there were few men on earth who could stand up against him in the +rough and tumble fighting current in the far wilderness. He knew that +he could go through such a crowd as was threatening his friend like a +devastating cyclone through a cornfield. + +"If dey's qviet un' reasonable I don't 'urt nobotty but yoost tell 'em +git out of here, tarn qvick," he projected. "But if dem mens is up to +anything rough I hope dey says dere prayers alretty, because I yoost +bust 'em all up, you bet." + +The team was pulling hard, the breaths coming out in swift little +puffs from their nostrils. Sometimes they walked, with tongues hanging +out, while again they trotted easily, or, down the hills, galloped +with the long easy lope of their wolfish ancestors. And Stefan +calculated the speed the horses could have made here, and again over +there. By the tracks he saw where they had trotted along good ground, +or toiled more slowly over rough places. The man grinned when he came +to spots where they must have proceeded very slowly with the heavy +sleigh, and his brows corrugated when he saw that they had speeded up +again. + +"Dey drive tern horses fast," he reflected. "Dey don't vant trafel dis +road back in dark, sure ting, to break dere necks. Dey vant make qvick +vork. But I ban goin' some, too, you bet." + +He was taking man's eternal pleasure in swift motion, yet the anxiety +remained with him that he might not catch up with them before they +arrived. He knew that nothing could take place if he were there a +minute before them. But if he was a minute late, what then? When this +idea recurred, his face would take on its grim expression, the look +wherewith Vikings once struck terror among their enemies. He hoped for +the sake of that crowd that he might not be late, as well as for the +good of his friend, for he would crush them, the men at any rate, and +send the women trudging home, wishing they had never been born. + +In him the two individualities that make up nearly every human being +swung and seesawed. The kind-hearted, helpful, considerate man kept on +surging upward, in the trust that his arrival would avert all trouble. +Then this phase of his being would pass off and the great primal +creature would take its place and come uppermost, with lustful ideas +of vengeance, visions in which everything was tinged with red, and +then his great voice would ring out in the still woods and the dogs +would pull desperately, with never a pause, and the toboggan would +slither and slide and groan, and the crunching snow seemed to +complain, and the masses of snow suspended to great hemlocks and firs +dropped down suddenly, with thuds that were like the echoes of great +smiting clubs. + +When again he ran beside the dogs, in a long pull uphill, the sense of +personal effort comforted him. He was doing something. Once the toe of +one of his snowshoes caught in the snaky root of a big spruce and he +fell ponderously, without a word, and picked himself up again. Dimly +he was conscious that it had injured him a little, but he scarcely +felt it. It was like some hurt received in the heat and passion of +battle, that a man never really feels till the excitement has passed. +His team had kept on, galloping fast, but he never called to them, +knowing that harder ground would presently slow them. And he ran on, +his great limbs appearing to possess the strength of machinery wrought +of steel and iron, while his enormous chest hoarsely drew in and cast +forth great clouds. But he was not working beyond his power, merely +getting the best he knew out of the thews that made him more efficient +than most men, when it came to the toil of the wilds. He knew better +than to play himself out so that he would arrive exhausted and unable +to contend with the whole of his might. He was conscious as he ran +that he would arrive nearly unbreathed and ready for any fray. And +after he had swept off the intruders he would look upon the face of +his friend, the man who for months had shared food with him, and the +scented bedding of the woods, and the toil, and the downpours, and the +clouds of black flies and mosquitoes, and who had always smiled +through fair days and foul, and who, at the risk of his life, had +saved him. + +And that friendship was so strong that it must help the sick man. How +could one be ill with a friend near by who had so much strength to +give away, such determination to make all things well, such fierce +power to contend with all inimical things? He would take him in his +arms and bid him be of good cheer and courage, and the man would +respond, would smile, would feel that strength being added to his own, +so that he would soon be well again. + +All this might be deepest folly, and was not formulated as we have +been compelled to put it down in these pages. Rather it was but a +simple trust, a faith based on love and hope, a belief originating in +the mind of one of a nature so trusting and inclined to goodness that +until the last moment he would never believe in the victory of powers +of evil. + +So Stefan caught up with his dogs again and stepped on the toboggan, +without stopping them, and the great trunks of forest giants seemed to +slip by him swiftly, while here and there, by dint of some formation +of hillside or gorge, his ears grew conscious of the far-away roar of +the great falls. From a little summit he saw the cloud of rising +vapor, all of a mile away. At every turn he peered ahead, keenly +disappointed on each occasion, for the party was not in sight. So he +urged the dogs faster. The big sleigh must surely be just ahead, +beyond the next turn. + +"Oh, if dey touch one hair of de head of Hugo, den God pity dem!" he +cried out. + +And the dogs ran on, more swiftly than ever, breathing easily still in +spite of the nearly three hundred pounds of manhood they drew, and the +roar of the falls became more distinct, while to the right, away down +below, the river swirled under the groaning ice and sped past wildly, +towards the east and the south, as if seeking to save itself from the +embrace of the North. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A Visit Cut Short + + +Like the great majority of the denizens of the wilderness, Maigan +could be a steadfast friend or a bitter enemy. He would readily have +given his life for the one and torn the other asunder. Not being very +far removed from a wolfish ancestry he was necessarily suspicious, +intolerant at first of strangers and prepared to use his clean and +cutting fangs at the shortest notice. But he was also more cautious +than the dog of civilization and less apt to blurt his feelings right +out. After his first outburst he appeared to quiet down, growling but +a very little, very low, and stood at the girl's side, watchful and +ready for immediate action. + +Madge stood on the wooden step that had been cleared of snow, in front +of the little door of rough planks. She watched the people coming in +Indian file down the path that had been beaten down in the deep snow. +For a moment she had thought that they might be bringing help, that +miraculously a doctor had been found at once, that these people were +friends eager to help, to remove the sick man to Carcajou and thence +to some hospital further down the railway line. But such people would +have cried out inquiries. They would have come with some shout of +greeting. But these newcomers came along without a word until their +leader was but a few yards away, when he stopped and looked at the +girl during a moment's silence. + +"Where's Hugo Ennis?" he finally asked, gruffly. + +"He is in the shack," replied the girl, timidly. "He is dreadfully ill +and lying on his bunk." + +"What's the matter with him?" + +"He was shot--shot by accident, and now I'm afraid that he is going to +die." + +"Well, I'll go in and see. We'll all go in. We're mighty cold after +that long ride. Stand aside!" + +"I think you might go in," the girl told him, still blocking the way, +"but the others must not. I--I won't allow him to be disturbed. +Don't--don't you understand me? I'm telling you that he's dying. I--I +won't have him disturbed. And--and who are you? You don't look like a +friend of his. What's your purpose in coming here?" + +The first feeling of timidity that had seized her seemed to have left +her utterly. There remained to her but an instinct--a will to defend +the man, to protect him from unwarranted intrusion, and she spoke with +authority. But another of the visitors addressed her. + +"We're folks belongin' to these townships," he said. "What we want to +know is who you are, and what right ye've got to order us about and +say who's goin' in and who's to keep out?" + +Something in his words caused her cheeks to burn, but strangely enough +she felt quite calm and strong in her innocence of any evil, and she +answered quietly enough. + +"My name is Madge Nelson, if you want to know, and I am here at this +moment because I am taking care of Mr. Ennis. I feel responsible for +his welfare and will continue until he is better and able to speak for +himself, or--or until he is dead. I repeat that one of you may come +in--but no more." + +It appeared that her manner impressed the men to some extent, if not +the three women who crowded behind. One of the visitors was scratching +the back of his neck. + +"Look a-here, Aleck, I reckon that gal is talking sense, if Hugo's +real bad like she says. We ain't got no call to butt in an' make him +worse. I know when Mirandy was sick the Doc he told me ter take a club +if I had to, to keep folks out. Let Pat Kilrea go in if he wants to +an' we'll stay outside an' wait." + +"Sure, that's right enough," said old man Prouty. + +Pat advanced, but Maigan began to growl. + +"Say, young 'ooman, I'll bash that dog's head in if you don't keep him +still," he said, truculently. "Keep a holt of him." + +Madge pulled the dog back and quieted him. + +"Be good, Maigan," she said. "It's all right, old fellow." + +She entered the shack behind Pat Kilrea and closed the door. In doing +this she meant no offense to the others, who didn't mind, knowing that +with a cold of some twenty below people don't care for an excess of +ventilation. They stood, the men silently, the women putting their +heads together and whispering. + +"Ain't she the brazen sassy thing?" remarked Mrs. Kilrea. + +"Guess she ain't no better'n she should be," opined Sophy, acidly, as +she watched the door keenly. + +Pat Kilrea went to the bunk and for an instant considered the sick +man's face. Then he scratched his head again. + +"Hello, Hugo!" he finally called out. "What's the matter with ye? +Ain't--ain't tryin' to hide behind a gal's skirts, are ye?" + +His arm was seized from behind. The girl's eyes flashed at him. + +"I--I don't know who you are!" she exclaimed. "But if--if you say such +things I'll turn that dog on you, so help me God!" + +"I--I don't reckon as I meant it," stammered Pat. "He--he does look +turriple sick, now me eyes is gettin' used to the light. Why, why +don't you speak, man?" + +But the sufferer on the bunk made no answer save in some low fast +words that were disconnected and meaningless. Slowly, nearly tenderly, +Pat touched a hand that felt burning hot and a forehead that was moist +and clammy. Then he turned to the girl again. + +"Well, I must say I'm sorry," he acknowledged. "Looks to me like he +was done for. What are ye goin' to do for him? We--we didn't reckon to +find nothin' like this when we come, though Papineau told us he were +sick." + +"Mr. Papineau's errand was to telegraph for the doctor," she replied, +with a hand pressed to her bosom. "At--at first, when I heard you +coming, I thought he had perhaps arrived and--and that you were +intending to take him away. Do--do you really think he's going to +die?" + +"Well, I'm scared it looks a good deal that way. Of course we might be +able to take him in the sleigh, but--but he don't look much as if he +could stand the trip--does he?--an'--an' I don't reckon we can do much +good stayin' round here either." + +He stepped over to the door and opened it. + +"That gal's right," he said. "Hugo looks desperate sick." + +"Sure it ain't nothin' that's ketchin', are ye?" asked his wife, +drawing back a little. + +"I didn't never hear that pistol bullets was contagious," he +answered. + +"But who did it?" cried McIntosh. "And--and how d'ye know 'twas just +an accident. Seems to me we'd ought to find out something more about +it. It--it don't sound just natural." + +"I tell you he was shot by accident. I did it, God forgive me," +faltered Madge. + +Sophy McGurn, at this, pushed her way forward until she stood in front +of Madge, and pointed an accusing finger at her. Her eyes were +flashing. To Maigan her move seemed a threatening one and she recoiled +as the animal crouched a little, with fangs bare and lips slavering. + +"Hold him, miss, hold him quick!" cried Aleck Mclntosh. "Git back +there, Sophy, what's the matter with ye? D'ye want to be torn to +pieces? What's that ye was goin' to say?" + +"She--she never shot him by accident! She--she did it on purpose, for +revenge, that's what she did, the she-devil!" + +She was still standing before Madge and her voice was shaking with +excitement, while her arms and hands trembled with her passion. + +"What's all that?" cried Pat Kilrea. "Ye wasn't here to see, was ye? +How d'ye know she done it a-purpose, for revenge? Ye must have some +reason for sayin' such things. Out with 'em!" + +But now Sophy was shrinking back, afraid of her own outburst, fearing +that she might have revealed something. Her voice shook again as she +replied. + +"I--I ain't got any reason," she stammered. "I--I was just thinking +so. It--it came to me all of a sudden. Maybe I'm mistaken." + +"Mistaken, was it?" asked Pat Kilrea. "Folks ain't got any right to be +mistaken when it comes to accusin' others of murder. If you hadn't had +some reason to speak that way ye'd have kept yer mouth shut, I'm +thinking. Why don't ye come right out with it?" + +"I--I didn't really mean anything by it," stammered Sophy again. + +"What revenge was that you was referring to?" he persisted. + +"Nothing--nothing at all. How should I know what she would do?" + +"Then you ought to have kept still an' held yer tongue," said Pat. + +"But it seems to me as if we'd ought to investigate this thing a +little," ventured Prouty. "We ain't got anythin' here but this 'ere +young 'ooman's word for what's happened. She can tell us how it came +about, anyways, seems to me, and we can judge if it sounds sensible +and correct like." + +"That's right," put in Kilrea. "That's fair and proper." + +"I am perfectly willing to tell you all I know about it," asserted +Madge, quietly. "I--I came here to see Mr. Ennis on a matter +that--that concerns us only. And I had occasion to open my bag. Among +the things in it there was a revolver. It fell out of my hands and +exploded, and--and the bullet struck him. I--I never knew that he had +been shot. He never even told me, and then he hitched the dog to the +sleigh and took me over to Mrs. Papineau's, where I have been staying. +And it was she who discovered that he had been injured. She'll tell +you so herself if you go to her. And--and he told her it was an +accident, as he would tell you now if--if he wasn't dying." + +"You'd fixed it up to spend the night at Papineau's?" asked Mrs. +Kilrea, who had hitherto kept somewhat in the background. + +"That was the arrangement we had made," answered the girl. "There was +no other place where I could stay. But I'd have gone up there alone if +I'd known how badly he was hurt. I've stayed with them ever since, of +course, for there was no one to take me back. Mr. Papineau hadn't +returned. He was trapping." + +"I don't see but what she must be tellin' the truth," opined Mrs. +Kilrea. "There ain't anything wrong or improper in all this, savin' a +girl handlin' a revolver, which ain't wise. We can go over to +Papineau's and make sure it's just as she says." + +"But there's one thing ain't clear," said Pat Kilrea. "What business +did she come on, anyways?" + +Madge drew herself up and looked at him calmly. + +"I've already told you that this concerns Mr. Ennis and myself," she +told him, "and I deny that you have any right...." + +Just then there was a roar from the tote-road as big Stefan, lashing +his dogs, bumped down the path at a wild gallop and, a minute later, +threw himself off the sled and was among them. + +"How do, peoples?" he shouted, advancing truculently towards Pat and +Mclntosh. "Papineau telt me as how Hugo he get hurted bad and sick. +And he say you peoples ask him whole lot qvestions about him. I vant +to know vhat all you is doin' here, und--und if I ain't satisfied I +take some of you and--and vipe up de ground vid you, hear me!" + +His manner was ominously calm, but his words sent a shiver through the +crowd. He was and looked a tremendous figure. He had moved to the side +of the girl, as if to defend her, and his clear blue eyes went +searchingly from one man to the next. + +"Papineau he tells me in Carcajou it look like you come ofer here to +make drouble for Hugo an' mebbe for dis young leddy. So I come here +fast like my togs can take me, sure ting. Und I vant to know vhen you +vants to start droubles. Der leddies can move leetle vay to one side +if dey like, to make room. Ve need plenty, I tank. Who vant to start +de row now, who begin? I tak' you vun at a time or altogedder, how you +like!" + +He took a step forward and the men all moved back hurriedly. The +ladies had swiftly accepted his advice and were retreating fast, now +and then looking back in terror. + +"But look here, Stefan, what are you butting in for?" Kilrea took +courage to ask while he kept discreetly out of reach. "We came to see +if everything was all right and proper here. We're satisfied now and +are going back. Got to hurry away, sun's getting low." + +The Swede sniffed at him contemptuously, and drew off a big mitt of +muskrat hide. With some difficulty he drew from his clothing a huge +silver watch and looked at it. + +"Glad you vas in a hurry. I tank I 'elp you a bit make tings lifely. I +gif you all yoost tree minutes ter get started. Den if any man he +ain't aboard dat sleigh I yoost vipes up de ground vit him a bit. If +you knows vhat is good for ye, den make tracks, qvick. I ban gettin' +hurry mineself, eh!" + +"But what right have you to be ordering us about?" shouted Aleck +Mclntosh, imprudently. + +"My frient, you's knowed as de laziest man in Carcajou and some say in +Ontario. I helps you along, sure." + +He had dashed towards him with devastating speed. The fellow turned to +run, but a second later the slack of some of his garments was in +Stefan's huge hand. Struggling and backing he found himself half +lifted, half propelled on the ground, all the way to the sled. There +he was lifted high and dumped in, like a bag of feed. + +"Any oders as need help?" roared Stefan. + +But they were hastening for all they were worth. Kilrea took the +reins. The three women were already seated. The others jumped in and +the horses started home again, even before the Carcajou Vigilantes had +finished spreading robes over their shaky knees. Striking a bit of +flat bare rock, the runners spat out fire and squealed, after which +the heavy sled slithered and slipped over the crackling snow, so that +presently the outfit disappeared around the first bend in the +tote-road. + +Miss Sophy McGurn looked particularly down-hearted. None of the +interesting events she expected had taken place. She had merely +succeeded in nearly giving herself away and arousing suspicions. + +And the girl was still there, with Hugo! She had believed that Hugo +would be found sheepish and embarrassed, or in a regular fury, while +the stranger would weep and wring her hands and seek to explain. And +the invading crowd was to have manifested its indignation at this +breach of all decency and proper custom, and sent the woman away, +while they would have told the man what they thought of him, in spite +of his rage, and warned him that he must mend his ways or quit the +country. + +And now they had all been driven away, and that girl had stood and +spoken as if she had some right to be there, and had been indignant at +any inquiry into her motives for coming to Roaring River. Worse than +all Pat Kilrea and his wife seemed to have turned against her, after +absolving the two of blame. + +She shrank back, drawing her fur cap further down over her eyes and +ears. Now the cold seemed more bitter than she had ever felt it +before, in spite of the thermometer's rise, and the road was so long +and dreary that it seemed as if it never would end. + +And Hugo Ennis was dying--and in her heart Sophy McGurn felt certain +that the girl had shot to kill, and was waiting there until he should +die. Perhaps she had rummaged about the place and found money or other +valuables, for Ennis always seemed to have some funds, though he spent +prudently and carefully, and never seemed to have dollars to throw +away. And the end of it would be that the girl would leave and the man +would be dead and all the dreams of marriage first and of a revenge +following had turned into this thing, which was a nightmare. + +She reached her home half frozen, in spite of the robes, and could not +eat her food. Her mother had a few mild words to say about long +excursions out in the back country, in this sort of weather. Then the +girl left the table suddenly, and slammed the door of her room shut, +in a towering rage. A little later, after she had lain down, came +tears, for it seemed to her at this time that she had never truly +loved Ennis until she heard that he was dying, and now he was lost to +her forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Help Comes + + +Stefan had watched the departure of those people grimly, until he felt +sure that they would not return. Madge had stood near him. In her +desolation it was splendid to have him there with her, to be no longer +obliged to stare at the sick man's face in lonely terror, to feel that +if there was any help needed he would be at hand, with all his immense +strength and courage. + +"I tank dey don't mean much badness," the man explained to her. "Mebbe +ye knows peoples in dis countree ain't much to do in dis vintertime +and dey gets fonny iteas about foolin' araount. Dey goes home all +qviet now, you bet, and don't talk to nobotty vhat tam fools dey bin, +eh!" + +They both entered the shack again and the big fellow went up to the +bunk upon which lay his friend. For a very long time he looked at him, +finally touching a hand with infinite care and gentleness. After this +he turned to Madge a face expressive of deepest pain. + +"Leetle leddy," he said, gently, "vos it true as you shot him? +Papineau he telt me so. A accident, he said it vos." + +The girl looked at him imploringly, with elbows bent but hands +stretched towards him, as if she were suing for forgiveness. The man +was seated on a stool, waiting for her answer. + +"Yes, it was an accident--a terrible accident," sobbed Madge, whose +strength and courage seemed to leave her suddenly. "You--you believe +me, don't you?" + +It is hard to say whether it was weakness or the excess of her emotion +that forced her down to her knees. She grasped one of the huge hands +the man had extended towards her. He laid the other upon her bent +back, very softly. + +"In course I do, you poor leetle leddy. Yes, I sure beliefe you. Dere +vosn't anybotty vould hurt Hugo, unless dey vos grazy, you bet. He ban +a goot friend to me--ay, he ban a goot friend to all peoples." + +He helped her up, very tenderly, and made her sit on a stool close to +the one he occupied. There was a very long interval of silence, during +which his great face and beard were hidden in the hollow of his hands. +Then he spoke again, in a very low voice, as if he had been addressing +the smallest of his own babes. + +"You poor leetle leddy," he repeated, "I feels most turriple sorry for +Hugo, for it most tear my heart out yoost to look at him. But vhen I +looks at you I feels turriple sorry for you too. I knows vhat it must +be, sure ting, for a leetle leddy like you to be sittin' here, in dis +leetle shack, a-lookin' at de man she lofe an see de life goin' out of +him. Last fall Hugo ban gone a vhiles back East again, and vhen you +comes I tank mebbe you some nice gal he promise to marry. Even vhen de +telegraft come I make sure it is so. I pring de bit paper here myself +an' vaits a vhiles, but he no come and I haf to go on. I vanted to see +de happy face on him. I say to myself, 'Hah! You rascal Hugo, you +nefer tell nodding to your ole friend Stefan, but he know all de +same.' But vhen I got to go I couldn't say nodding. I leaf de paper on +de table here an' I tank how happy he is vhen he come home an' find +it. You poor leetle leddy!" + +The man was mistaken, most honestly so, for no idea of love had ever +entered Hugo's head, and none had come to Madge. Yet the big fellow's +words seemed to stab the girl to the heart and she moaned. She felt +that she could not allow Hugo's friend to remain undeceived. There had +been already too many mysteries, too many lies--she would have no +share in them if she could help it. + +"I--I wasn't in love with him when I came, Stefan," she faltered. +"He--he was a stranger to me. I had never seen him--never in all my +life. I came here because--because there has been some terrible +mistake--in some letters, queer letters that bade me come here +and--and meet a man who wanted a wife. And I--I was a poor miserable +sick girl in New York and--and I just couldn't keep body and soul +together anymore--and--and be a good decent girl. And those letters +seemed so beautiful that I felt I must come and see the man who wrote +them, and--and I was ready to marry him if he would be kind to me +and--and treat me decently and--and keep me from starvation and +suffering. And when I came here he didn't know anything about it, +and--and I thought he lied. But--but I never thought to do him any +harm. I took the little pistol out of the bag, because I was looking +for something else, and it went off! Oh!" + +She hid her face in her hands, as if the whole scene had been again +enacted before her, and the man heard her sobbing. + +"Hugo he nefer tell no lie," said Stefan, softly. "I don't know vhat +all dis mean, you bet. But I am glad you ban come like a stranger. I +am glad he no lofe you, and den I am sorry, too, for you so nice gal, +vid voice so soft and such prettee eyes, I tank if he lofe you den you +sure lofe him too. Den you two so happy in dis place, ma'am." + +He interrupted himself, striking his fist upon his chest, as if to +still a pain in it, and went on again. + +"You haf no idea how prettee place dis is, leetle leddy, in de +summertime. A vonderful place to be happy in. De big falls dey make +music all day and at night dey sings you to sleep, like de modder she +sings leetle babies. Und de big birches dey lean ofer, so beautiful, +and de birds dey comes all rount, nesting in all de bushes. Oh, such a +vonderful place for a man and a voman to love, dem falls of dat +Roaring Rifer! Hugo he cleared such a goot piece, oder side of dat +leetle hill, vhere de oats vould grow fine. And down by de Rifer, on +de north side, he find silver, plenty silver in big veins, like dey +got east of us, in Nipissing countree. So I tank one day he ban a rich +man and haf a prettee little voman and plenty nice kiddies, leetle +children like one lofes to see, and dey all lif here so happy." + +His voice grew suddenly hoarse. It was with an effort that he spoke +again. + +"An' now he don' know me--or you or Maigan, and--and my goot dear +frient Hugo he look like he ban dyin'!" + +Stefan stopped abruptly again, apparently overcome. His face, tanned +by frost and sun to a hue of dull brick, also lay in the hollow of his +hands. The vastness of his grief seemed to be commensurate with his +size. But when he looked up Madge saw that his eyes were dry, for he +was suffering according to the way of strong men with the agony that +clutches at the breast and twists a cord about the temples. In his +helplessness before the peril he was pitiful to see, since all his +confidence had gone, his pride in his power, his faith in his ability +to surmount all things by the mere force of his will. And the present +weakness of the man augmented the girl's own sorrow, even though his +being there was relief of a sort. + +The Swede looked about him vaguely, and then his eyes became fixed on +a point of the log wall, as if through it he had been able to discern +things that lay beyond. + +"Hugo an' me," he began again, very slowly and softly, "ve vent off +north from here, a year an' a half it is now, after de ice she vent +off de lakes. And ve trafel long vays, most far as vhere de Albany she +come down in James Bay. Ve vos lookin' for silfer an' copper an' tings +like dat. An' dere come one day vhen ve gets awful rough water on a +lake and ve get upset. Him Hugo he svim like a otter, he do, but me I +svim like a stone. De shore he ban couple hundret yard off, mebbe +leetle more. I hold on to de bow and Hugo he grab de stern. So he +begin push for shore, svimmin' vid his feet, but dat turriple slow +going, vid de canoe all under vater, yoost holdin' us up a bit, and it +vos cold, awful turriple cold in dat vater. He calls to me ve can't +make it dat vay, ve don't make three-four yards a minute. Den I calls +for him to let go, for I ban tanking he safe his life anyvay, svimmin' +ashore vhere ve had our camp close by. Und vhat you tank he do, ma'am? +He yell to me not be tam fool, dat vhat he do! He say, 'How I look at +your voman an' de kids in de face, vhen I gets back vidout you?' So he +lets go and my end sink deep so I let go an' vos fighting to keep up +but he grab me and say to take holt of his shoulter. He swear he trown +vid me if I don't. So I done it, ma'am, and he svim, svim turriple +hard, draggin' me ashore. I yoost finds my feet on de bottom vhen he +keels ofer, like dead, vid de cold and de playin' out. So I takes him +in my arms and runs in. I had matches in my screw-box but my fingers +vos dat froze I couldn't get 'em out first. But I manages make a fire, +by an' by, and I rubs de life back into him again. And--and you know +vhat is first ting he say vhen he vake up?" + +Madge shook her head. + +"Him Hugo yoost say, 'Now I kin look Mis' Olsen in de face, vhen ve +gets back, eh, old pard?'" + +The man kept still again, looking anxiously at the sufferer and +watching the hurried breathing. The feeling of his uselessness was +evidently a torture to him, but his heart was too full for him to +remain silent very long. + +"An' now I am here an' can do nodings. I ban no more use dan--dan de +tog dere. My God, leddy, tell me vhat I can do! He most trown himself +an' freeze to death to safe me dat time an' I got sit still like a big +tam fool an' him goin' under vidout a hand to pull him out. All de +blood in my body, every drop, I gif to safe him. Don't you beliefe? I +remember vhen de vaves and de vind pring dot canoe ashore. Ve lose not +a ting because eferyting is lashed tight. Py dat time he vos vhistling +and singin' alretty, like nodings efer happen. Ve had de big fire +roarin', I tell you, and vhen I say again he safe my life he yoost +laugh like it is a fine yoke an' say: 'Oh, shut up, Stefan, ve're a +pair big fools to get upset, anyvays. And some tay you do yoost same +ting for me, I bet.' And now--now I can do nodings--nodings at all." + +He seemed to be in an agony of despair. Madge had hardly realized that +the suffering of men could reach such an intensity. She rose and +placed her little hand on the giant's shoulder. The huge frame was +shaking convulsively, in great sobs that brought no tears with them. +Then, all at once, he rose and faced her, shamefacedly. + +"Poor leetle leddy," he faltered, "I ban makin' you unhappy vid dem +story. I ban sorry be such a big tam fool, but I can no help it. +It--it is stronger as me." + +For a time he paced up and down the little shack, struggling hard to +keep himself in hand. Once he seized his shaggy head in his great paws +and seemed to be trying to squeeze out of it the unendurable pain that +was in it. + +"De sun he begin go town," he said, stopping suddenly. "Vhy don't dat +Papineau get back? It get dark soon. I tank I take de togs an' go down +de road. Mebbe his team break down. His leader ban a young tog." + +For an instant Madge felt like begging him to remain. Ay, she could +have shrieked out her terror at the idea of being left alone with the +man that was dying, as she thought, but she also succeeded in +controlling herself, realizing that if the man was not allowed to do +something, anything that would require the strength of his thews and +divert the turmoil of his brain, he might go mad. + +"As--as you think best," she assented, with her head bent low. + +Stefan took his cap and fitted it over his great shock of hair, but at +this moment Maigan rose and went to the door, whining. + +"Some one ban comin', but it ain't Papineau," said Stefan. + +It proved to be Mrs. Papineau, hurrying down the path and carrying a +basket. She explained that the cow had had a calf, hence her delay. +Puffing and breathless she scolded them for not lighting the lamp and +bustled about the place, declaring that the two watchers should have +made tea and that it took an experienced mother of many to know how to +handle things. + +"I have made strong soup vid moose-meat," she told them. "Heem do +Monsieur Hugo moch good. I put on de stove now an' get hot." + +She spoke confidently, just as usual, as if nothing out of the +ordinary were going on in the shack, but it was a transparent effort +to encourage the others, and she was not able to keep it up long. She +happened to look at Hugo again, and suddenly her face fell and her +hands went up, while she buried her face in her blue apron and sobbed +right out. + +"De good Lord Heem bring an' de good Lord Heem take away," was what +she said, and it sounded like a knell in the ears of the others. + +Since the light was beginning to fail Madge lit the little lamp. Mrs. +Papineau took some of the soup out of the pot and stirred it with a +spoon to cool it, and then she lifted the sick man's head. Her voice +became soft and caressing, as if she had spoken to a child. + +"My leetle Hugo," she said, "dere's a good fellar. Try an' drink, jus' +one bit. H'open mouth, dat way. Now you swallow, dere's good boy. An' +now you try heem again, jus' one more spoon. H'it is awful good, from +de big moose what Philippe he get. Jus' one more spoon an' I not +bodder you no more." + +Whether Hugo understood or not no one could have told. At any rate, +with infinite patience, she was able to feed him a little, until he +finally pushed her hand away from him. + +Stefan, whose back had been resting on the door and whose arms had +been hanging dejectedly at his side, took a step towards the girl. + +"Ay go down de road a bit an' meet Papineau if he come back," he +proposed. "If de togs is tired I take de doctor on my toboggan. Get +back qvicker dat vay. So long! I comes back soon anyvays, sure." + +He started away at a swift pace, his strong dogs, amply rested, +barking and throwing themselves hard upon the breastpieces of their +harness. After he was out of hearing the two women sat very close +together, for mutual comfort and consolation, and the older one began +to speak in a low whisper. + +"You very lucky, mademoiselle. It ees lucky it ain't you h'own man as +lie dere an' you haf to see heem like dat. It is turriple ting to see. +One time Papineau heem get h'awful seek, an' I watch him five--no, six +day and de nights. An' it vos back in de Grand Nord, no doctor nor +noding at all. An' me wid my little Justine jus' two month ole in my +h'arms. An' den come de day ven de good Lord Heem 'ear 'ow I pray all +de time an' Papineau heem begin to get vell again. But de time vos +like having big knife planted in my 'eart, jus' like dat." + +She made a gesture as if she had stabbed herself, and went on: + +"You not know 'ow 'appy you must be you no love a man as goin' for die +soon. You--you go crazy times like dat!" + +But Madge made no answer and could only continue to stare at the form +that seemed to grow dimmer as the small oil lamp cast flickering +shadows in the room. In her ears the continued, eternal sound of the +great falls had taken on an ominous character. It was like some solemn +dirge that rose and fell, unaccountably, like the breathing of a vast +force that could reck nothing of the piteous tragedy being enacted. It +appeared to be growing ever so much colder again. A few feet away from +the stove it was freezing. She sought to look out of the little window +but great massing clouds had hidden the crimson of sunset. A strong +wind was arising and caused the great firs and spruces to groan +dismally. The minutes were again becoming cruel things that tortured +one with their maddening slowness. The girl became conscious of the +beats of her heart, unaccountably slow, as she thought. + +And then, for a moment, that heart stopped utterly. A shout had come +from the little lumber road and Maigan was barking at the door +excitedly, in spite of the older woman's scolding. The toboggan +slithered over the snow and there was a patter of dogs' feet. + +Madge threw the door open and let in a man in a great coonskin coat, +who was carrying a bag. In spite of the heaviest fur mitts his hands +were chilled and for a moment he held them to the glow of the stove, +before turning calmly to his patient, after a curt nod to each of the +women. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A Widening Horizon + + +"I'm Dr. Starr," the man introduced himself. "It's turning mighty cold +again. We only hit the high places after I got on Stefan's toboggan, I +can tell you. How the man kept up with his team I can't tell you, but +he ran all the way." + +He threw off his heavy coat and turned to the bunk. + +"Now let's see what we've got here," he said. + +The two women were scanning his face, holding their breaths, but Mrs. +Papineau had the lamp and held it so as to cast some light on Hugo. +The doctor's expression, however, was quite inscrutable. + +"Your husband?" he asked the girl, who shook her head. "Well, perhaps +it's a good thing he's not. Put a lot of water to boil on the stove, +please. Can't you find another lamp here--this one doesn't give much +light?" + +There was no lamp but they found a package of candles which were soon +flickering on the table, stuck in the necks of bottles. The doctor was +pulling a lot of things out of his bag, coolly. To Madge it seemed +queer that he could be so unaffected by what he saw. Presently he went +to work, after baring the injured shoulder. + +After it was all over it seemed to the girl like some dreadful +nightmare. After just one keen glance the doctor had probably decided +that her young hands would afford him the better help. And so she had +been obliged to remain at his side and look upon the sinewy shoulder +and the arm that had been laid bare, and at the angry and inflamed +wound which had been flooded with iodine. And then had come the +picking up of shining instruments just taken out of one of the boiling +vessels. Her teeth left imprints on her lips and she felt that she was +surely going to stagger and fall as the man made long slashing +incisions. From them he took out a piece of cloth and a bullet that +had been flattened against the bone. After this there was a lot more +disinfecting and the placing of red tubes of rubber deep down in the +wound, which was finally covered with a large dressing. But it was +only after this was all finished that Madge dropped on a stool, +feeling sick and shaken. + +"Oh, you're not such a very bad soldier, after all," commented the +doctor, quietly, as he gathered up his instruments to clean and boil +them again. "I can't say that I'm optimistic about this case--but +perhaps you don't quite understand such big words. I mean that I +haven't any great hopes for this lad, but at least he has some little +chance now. There was none whatever before. Of course it depends a lot +on the nursing he gets. If I thought for a moment that he could stand +the trip I'd take him away with me, but that's out of the question." + +Then he turned to Stefan. + +"I'll have to catch the first freight back in the morning, my man. +Will you take me to Carcajou in good time? I can't afford to miss it. +Too many needing me just now east of here!" + +"Ay, I take you--if Hugo he no worse. But if tings is goin' wrong, +I'll let Papineau do it. I--I can't leaf no more. Vhen I starts from +here I tank I can't stand it a moment--but vhen I get off on de road, +I gets grazy to come back. I--I don't know vhat I vants!" + +The doctor looked at him curiously, appreciating the depth of the +man's emotion and gauging the strength of the superb creature he was. + +"I won't let you take me if it isn't safe," he told him, and turned to +his patient again. + +"Do you expect to stay up all night?" he suddenly asked the girl. + +"I--I am anxious to, if I can be of the slightest help." + +"One can never tell," he replied. "I might be glad to have you with +me. You don't lose your head--and you're efficient." + +Presently Papineau arrived with his dogs and took his wife home. The +good lady had looked upon the doctor's cutting with profound disfavor. +A suggestion of hers about herbs had been treated with scant respect. +Before leaving she spoke to Madge. + +"I stay h'all night too--but it ain't no good, because if he lif +to-morrow night den you go sleep an' I stay 'ere. Before I go to bed I +prays moch. I--I 'opes he lif through de night--heem no more bad as +heem was, anyvays, an' dat someting." + +So they went away sorrowfully, to the little new-born calf and the +babies and the children who needed them, and Stefan sat on the floor +with his back to the wall, while Maigan snuggled up against him. + +Dr. Starr remained all night, sometimes dozing a little on his chair, +with the ability of the man often called at night to take little +snatches of sleep here and there, but Madge was at all times wide +awake. Some time after midnight Hugo appeared to be sleeping quietly. +The valuable candles had been extinguished, of course, but the little +lamp was burning, shaded on one side by a piece of birch bark. Stefan +had gradually curled up on the floor, under the table, where he was +out of the way, and was snoring lustily. In the morning, doubtless, he +would most honestly insist that he had not slept an instant. Out of +doors the Swede's dogs had dug holes in the snow and, with sensitive +noses covered by their bushy tails, were awaiting in slumber the next +call from their master. The great falls kept up their moan and the +trees swayed and cracked. A wind-borne branch, falling on the roof, +made a sudden racket that was startling. + +At frequent intervals Madge rose and gave Hugo some water, for which +he always seemed grateful, or adjusted the pillow beneath his head. +Once, when she sat down again, she saw the doctor's eyes fixed upon +her, gravely. + +"You have the necessary instinct," he told her, "and the patience and +perseverance. I don't know what your plans may be for the future, but +you would make a good nurse." + +Madge shrugged her shoulders, the tiniest bit. She didn't know. It +didn't matter what she was fit for. The world so far had been a +failure. The only important thing before her now was to do her best to +help pull the sick man out of the jaws of death, if it could possibly +be done. She sat down again, and after a time that seemed like an age +the utter blackness without began to turn to gray and, in spite of the +constantly replenished stove, the chill of the early morning struck +deep into her. As the doctor looked at his watch she rose and began to +make tea, which comforted them. + +"Do you expect to keep on looking after this man?" the doctor asked +her, abruptly, between two mouthfuls. + +"Yes, of course, if I may," she answered. + +"I should say that you will simply have to, if his life is to be +saved, or at least if he's to have a fair chance. I shall be compelled +to go pretty soon. As it is I won't get back home before noon and +there are several bad cases I must see to-day. I'll return the day +after to-morrow; it's the best I can do, for it is absolutely +impossible for me to remain here. Now just listen to me very carefully +while I give you the necessary directions. I think I'd better write +some of them out so that you will be sure not to forget them. See if +you can find me a bit of paper somewhere." + +On one of the shelves there was a small homemade desk in which she +rummaged. She found a number of loose bits of paper, some of them +scribbled over in pencil and others with ink. They were apparently +accounts, notes concerning various supplies and a few letters from +various places. Finding a clean sheet she brought it to the doctor who +rapidly wrote at length upon it. At this moment Stefan awoke, with a +portentous yawn, but a second later he had leaped to his feet and was +scanning their faces anxiously. + +"I tank mebbe I doze for a moment," he informed them. "How is Hugo +gettin' long?" + +"For the present he looks to me somewhat better," answered the doctor. +"There doesn't seem to be any immediate danger, and I'll have to start +back in a few minutes. We've had a cup of tea, but you'd better make +some breakfast ready." + +Stefan bestirred himself and presently a potful of rolled oats was +being stirred carefully for fear of burning, and bacon was sputtering +in the pan. The kettle was singing again and Madge was cutting slices +from a loaf left by Mrs. Papineau. The three sat down to the table and +ate hungrily, abundantly, as people have to who make stern demands +upon their vitality. + +The doctor made a few more remarks about the treatment of his patient. +He had carefully laid on the table the little tablets of medicine, the +bottle containing an antiseptic, the cotton and gauze that must be +used to renew the dressing. Then he went out, breathing deeply of the +sharp and aromatic air, and a moment later he and Stefan were gone, +the latter promising to return at once, with a few needed supplies +from the store. Madge was alone now with Hugo, who was again sleeping +quietly. She read over the doctor's directions carefully while she +stood by the little window, as the lamp had been extinguished. + +A few minutes later she decided to place the paper in the little desk +again, for safe-keeping. Without the slightest curiosity her eyes fell +again upon some of the writing on loose sheets. But presently she was +staring at it hard as a strong conviction made its way into her brain. +After this she went to the other shelf where some books had been +placed and opened one of them, and then another. On the flyleaf was +written, in bold characters, "Hugo Ennis." The writing was exactly the +same as that which appeared on the scattered leaves, for she compared +them carefully. + +"There can be no doubt--he never wrote those letters," she decided. +"But--but I knew very well he couldn't have written them. It--it isn't +like him." + +The idea came again that he could have obtained some one to write for +him, but it was immediately cast aside. The man would not engage in +dirty work himself--far less would he get others to do it for him. +She--she had abused and insulted him--called him a liar, as far as she +could remember, and again her face felt hot and burning. + +Once more she sat down by the bunk, after she had given Maigan a big +feed of oats, with a small remnant of the bacon grease. She felt +humbled now, as if her accusations constituted some unforgivable, +despicable sin. This man had never intended to do her the slightest +harm. He really never knew that she was coming. And through her stupid +clumsiness his life was now ebbing. The doctor's long words sounded +dreadfully in her ears: general sepsis, blood poisoning, a system +overwhelmed by the toxines of virulent microbes; they reverberated in +her ears like so many sentences of death. Was there any hope that this +outflowing life would ever turn in its course and return like an +incoming tide? Would she again see him able to lift up his head, to +speak in words no longer dictated by the vagaries of delirium? She +would give anything to be able to ask his pardon humbly after his mind +cleared again. Oh, it was unthinkable that he should die, that the end +might be coming soon, and that she must go forth with that unspeakable +load of misery in her heart. + +Maigan restlessly kept on coming to her and placing his head in her +lap, as if seeking comfort. Once she bent over and put her cheek +against his jaw and furry ear. He was a companion in misery. + +When she lifted up her head again to stare once more at the sufferer, +with eyes heavily ringed with black, he slowly opened his own and +looked at her vaguely, for at first there was not the slightest sign +of recognition in them. Presently, however, the girl saw something +that looked like a faint smile. + +"How--how long have I been asleep?" he asked, weakly. "And have--have +you been here all the time?" + +She nodded, conscious that her heart was now beating with excitement, +and his eyes closed again. But his hand had sought the one she had +laid on the blanket and rested on it, for a few moments. It was the +ever-recurring call of the man for the comfort of a woman's touch, for +the protection his strength gathers from her weakness. + +"You--you're ever so good and kind," he said again, in a low hoarse +voice, after which he kept still again, for the longest time. + +In spite of the gray pall of clouds over the sky and the complaining +of the gale-swept tops of the great trees, in spite of the vast dull +roar of the great falls, that had seemed a dirge, a ray of cheer had +entered the little shack. It had seemed to her like such a paltry and +mean excuse for a dwelling, when she had first seen it, and had been +so thoroughly in keeping with the sordid nature she had at once +attributed to this man whom she believed to have brought her there +with amazing lies. But now, in some way, it had become a link, and the +only one, that still attached her a little to the world. It appeared +to her like the one place where she had been able to obtain a little +rest from her miserable thoughts. Indeed, it had now become infinitely +desirable. If the man could have stood up again and greeted her it +would have become a haven of unspeakable comfort, since she would +realize that for once her efforts had not been in vain, and that she +had helped bring him back to life. But of course she knew that she +must leave it soon, that whether he died or recovered, the only trail +she could follow would be one that would lead to the banks of the +Roaring River, where the big air holes were. And yet, so strongly is +hope implanted in the human heart, this termination of her adventure +seemed to have receded into a dimmer future, like the knowledge which +we have that some day all must die but which we consider pertains only +to some vague and distant period that we shall not reach for a long +time. + +Hugo was sleeping quietly now and the girl's hand upon his pulse +detected a feeble and swift flowing of the blood-current which, in +spite of its weakness, was an improvement. But the great thing was +that another day had come and he was still living, and his breathing +came quietly. If--if she had loved the man, she never would have been +able to go through all this without a breaking down of her little +strength. As Stefan had said, and as Mrs. Papineau had also intimated, +it was fortunate for her that she did not love him. Indeed, it was +ever so much better. She was glad indeed that he had recognized and +praised her, and then his voice had never expressed the slightest sign +of reproach. She was happy that he had found comfort in her presence +beside his couch and--and had been able to smile at her. + +Madge opened the door to let Maigan out. The air was full of feathery +masses of snow blown from treetops. Sheltered as she was from the +wind, the cold was no longer so penetrating. In the east the gray was +tinted through the agency of long rifts in which dull shades of red +broke through and were reflected even upon the white at her feet. It +was not a cheery world just then, since the sun did not shine and the +great fronds of evergreens loomed very dark, but the vastness of the +wooded valley sloping down beneath her and stretching beyond the +limits of her vision impressed her with a sense of greatness and of +power. It was a tremendously big, strong and inexorable world, in +which was being fought the unending and apparently unjust battle of +the mighty against the weak, of the wolves and lynxes against the deer +and hares, of a myriad furred and sharp-fanged things against the +feebler and defenseless things of the forest. But also it was a world +capable of bringing forth majestic things; able and willing to reward +toil; in which, despite all of nature's unceasing cruelty, there could +reign happiness and the accomplishment of a heart's desire. + +All this was not clearly shaped in Madge's mind. She was merely +undergoing a vague and potent influence that penetrated her very soul. +She closed the door again very softly, and when she sat again it was +with a strange feeling of contentment, or at any rate a surcease of +bitter thoughts, which affected her gently, like the heat of the +little stove. + +Maigan soon scratched at the door again, and through the frosted glass +Madge saw Mrs. Papineau approaching. She was looking rather tired and +dismal. It was evident, from her panting, that she had hurried, but +now she was coming very slowly, as if afraid to hear bad news. But +when she finally came in and looked at Hugo, her fat face took on some +of its wonted cheerfulness. + +"Heem no look so bad now," she asserted. "Who know? Mebbe get all +right again, eh? What Docteur Starr heem say before he go?" + +Madge was compelled to give her a long account of how the night had +passed and to describe every move and relate every word of the +doctor. + +"Dat's good," approved Mrs. Papineau. "Now you go to our 'ouse an' get +to bed an' 'ave sleep. If de children make noise tell 'em I slap 'em +plenty ven I get back, sure. You need bad for to sleep--h'eyes look +tired an' red." + +She explained that Papineau had been obliged to go off after some +traps that were not very far away, and would return by midday. She +insisted upon the need of Madge to impress the children with the +virtues of silence. They had already been informed that if they did +not keep still when the lady returned they would be given to the +_loup-garou_ and other mythical and traditional terrors of _habitant_ +childhood. + +"Me stay 'ere all day. Den you come back an' stay de night, if you +lak'. You tell me vat I do." + +The good lady found her endeavors useless, however. Hadn't the doctor +said that incessant care might perhaps, with luck, bring about a +recovery? And Hugo had been better--he had spoken--he might speak +again and want something she might get him. Moreover, the dressing was +to be changed very soon and the drainage tubes were to be flushed out +once in so often with the solution the doctor had left. To have gone +away then would have been desertion; she never entertained the thought +for an instant. + +Hence she attended to these things, in the presence of Mrs. Papineau, +who looked quite awed at the proceedings. Generally the man seemed +quite unconscious of what she did, and there was little complaint from +him; just a few moans and perhaps a slight drawing away when she hurt +him slightly in spite of her gentle handling. Finally Madge consented +to rest a little, providing she was not forced to leave the shack. In +the absence of other accommodation Mrs. Papineau had spread a heavy +blanket on the floor, with odds and ends of spare clothing. It was +only after the good woman had solemnly promised to awaken her in case +there was the slightest need that the girl at last lay down, feeling +dead tired but without the slightest desire to sleep, as she thought. +But it did not take a very long time before her eyes closed and she +was deep in slumber that was heavy and dreamless. Maigan came and +curled up beside her. He thoroughly approved of her. + +It was only after midday that she awoke, startled, as if conscious of +having been remiss in her duty, and raised herself quickly to a +sitting posture. + +"Is--is everything all right?" she asked, anxiously. + +Upon being reassured she tried to lie down again, at Mrs. Papineau's +urging, but sleep refused to come. Indeed, she felt greatly rested. +And then she began to feel very hungry and had a meal of bread and +tea, with a few dried prunes. It was not a very fine repast, but Madge +was amazed to see what a lot she could eat. When she rose from the +table she felt conscious that in some way she had gained strength, in +spite of her weariness. After this she renewed the dressings again, +taking the greatest pains with them. It was getting dark when Mrs. +Papineau left her, utterly indifferent to the howling of wolves on the +distant ridges. She had offered to remain but Madge knew that her +presence was needed at home, owing to the little ones. Moreover, the +girl was getting accustomed to her weird surroundings. + +In the faithful Maigan there was a protector. Besides, she still +counted among the living; she was engaged in work that called for +and brought out all her womanhood. In spite of her fears for the +man the longing for his recovery was becoming mingled with a vague +confidence, with the idea of a possibility that something might +happen that would gradually develop in some sort of promise for a +future that would not be all sorrow and toil. It was perhaps simply +a temporary forgetfulness of self when confronted with what was a +greater and stronger interest. The girl Madge had become less +important when compared to the dying man. She was merely an instrument +wherewith destiny helped to shape certain indefinite ends. Her own +turn had not yet come, and her personality was submerged in a simple +acquiescence in plans and decrees she could not understand. + +It appeared that the dreariness of the long hours had lessened. The +imminent threat of the day before was no longer so vivid and racking, +for the man kept on breathing with fair ease, and his pulse was +perhaps a little stronger. She was wondering why Stefan had not +returned as he had promised, when the now familiar sound of dogs and +sled fell again on her ears. To her joy and surprise she found that it +was the doctor, returning with the Swede. + +"Managed to get away after all," explained the former. "It's the +devil's own thing to think there's a chap somewhere that a fellow +might perhaps help, and then be obliged to let him go because others +are calling for you. Women are desperately fond of asking their +husbands if they would save them or their mothers first, in case of +need. It's the deuce and all of a question to answer. But we fellows +who practice on the edge of the wilderness are all the time confronted +by beastly questions of that sort. How is he?" + +"I really think he's better," she hastened to inform him, and +described how the sick man had spoken and been quite lucid for some +moments. Dr. Starr went in and stopped at the side of the bunk, +looking down with his chin resting on his hand. + +To Madge he had seemed to be a man of few words, rather stern in his +manner and apt, as she thought, to view humanity from a very +materialistic point of view. His recent speech was the longest she had +heard from him. In a somewhat cynical vein he had referred to some +hard problems the lone practitioner has to solve at times. + +"At any rate, he seems to be holding his own," he finally admitted. "I +can't see that he is a bit worse. It seems to me that you're a pretty +capable nurse. Some brains and lots of good strong will." + +He looked away from her as he talked and began to rub his hands +together. + +"Tell you what," he said, turning again to her. "This night might be +the decisive one, and I think I'll stick it out here again. I'll catch +the freight back in the morning, as I did to-day. We'll have a look at +the wound now, and see how those drains are working. Did you follow my +orders? But I think I needn't ask. Put more water on the stove, +Stefan." + +Madge had been holding the lamp for him, and when the doctor passed +his hand over Hugo's forehead the eyes opened and the man blinked. +Also there seemed to be a relaxing of the tense, hollow-cheeked face. + +"She--she's saving my life," he whispered, hoarsely. "She's tireless +and--and kindness itself. Don't--don't let her get played out." + +He put out a brown hand that had rapidly become very thin and touched +the girl's arm, after which he lay back, exhausted by his slight +effort. The doctor went to work again, baring the wound, injecting +fluids, adjusting the drains, and as he busied himself he always found +the girl at his side, with all that he needed ready at his hand. + +"That'll do for a while," he finally said. "The drainage is good. He +isn't absorbing much poison now, that's sure. If we can keep up his +strength he's going to pull through, I hope. Get us a bite of supper, +Stefan, I'm as hungry as a bear." + +[Illustration: He put out a brown hand and touched the girl's arm] + +During the night the doctor dozed off again, at times, like a man well +versed in conserving his energy. But whenever he awoke he found Madge +wide awake, intently observing the patient or busy with something for +his comfort. The sky had cleared again and the great trunks were again +cracking in the frost of the bright and starlit night. Dr. Starr had +been staring for some moments at the girl. He shivered a little and +drew his stool nearer the stove. Stefan was again snoring on the +floor. + +"Come over here," he told Madge in a low voice, "bring your seat with +you. I want to get something off my mind." + +"You needn't answer if you don't wish to," he told her, "but--but +there's something rather tragic about that little face of yours. I +don't think it's idle curiosity, but I'd like to know. I might as well +confess that I've been questioning that fellow Stefan about you, but +the sum of his knowledge is best represented by zero. I can assure you +that I don't want to intrude and that I won't be a bit offended if you +tell me it's none of my business." + +"What do you want to know?" asked Madge, rather frightened, although +she did not know why. + +"You are aware, of course, that we doctors are used to seeing pain and +usually try to get at the cause, so that we may better know how to +relieve it. I should judge that you have known a lot of suffering; +that sort of thing leaves marks. Fortunately, they can often be +effaced in the young. I have been thinking that you were in need of a +friend. No! Don't draw back! I'll say right now that my wife 's the +best woman on earth and I've got four kids. You ought to see the +little rascals. Now I might as well tell you that I'm grateful to you +for taking such good care of my patient. I'd also be glad of a chance +to help you a little, or give advice if you happen to need any." + +Madge stared at him for a moment during which her eyes became somewhat +blurred. The doctor's offer seemed like the first really disinterested +and friendly one that had been proffered to her for some years. In +that vast New York she had become unused to that sort of thing. The +other people in this place had been ever so kind, of course, but it +was on account of their friend Hugo. At first she hesitated. + +"You look like a man that can be trusted," she said, very low. + +"I feel that I am," he answered, simply. + +Then, gradually, moved by that desire to confess and trust in a friend +that is one of the best qualities of human nature, she told of her +coming, in halting, interrupted words. The doctor kept silent, nodding +now and then so that she became impressed with a certainty that he +understood. At times that deep red color suffused her cheeks, but they +would soon become pale again, all the more so for her dark-ringed +eyes. Little by little her story became easier to tell. She had +sketched it out in a few broad lines, but the man to whom she spoke +happened to know the world. Her speaking relieved her burdened heart +and gave her greater strength. + +"And--and I think that's all," she faltered at last. "Do--do you +really understand? Do you think I've been a shameless creature to +venture into this? Can you realize what it is to be at the very end of +one's tether?" + +The doctor looked at her, the tiny wrinkles in the corners of his eyes +becoming more pronounced. He put out his long-fingered, capable hand +to her, and she stretched out her own, timidly, in response. + +"You and I, from this time on, are a pair of friends," he told her. +"Indeed, I'm acquainted with that huge beehive you came from, with its +drones and its workers, its squanderers and its makers. I studied +there for a couple of years, and I know why some of the women have a +choice between the river and even fouler waters. But let me tell you +what I think of this matter. The desperate effort you made to save +yourself may not have been very good judgment. Ninety-nine times out +of a hundred such an endeavor would be worse than jumping from the +frying-pan into the fire. But at least it argues something strong and +genuine in you. You came because you felt that you could not give up +the fight without one last supreme trial. Such a thing would take a +lot of pluck." + +He stopped for a moment, looking into the whites of her eyes. + +"And now you've made up your mind that all your struggle has been in +vain and that the end is in sight. Now I can't tell where that end +lies, Miss Nelson, but it looks to me as if it had retired into the +far distance. You are going to keep on taking care of this man, of +course. He needs you badly, in the first place, and the toil and +stress of it will be good for your soul. And then saving a life is +tremendously interesting. There's nothing like it. But your new life +is only to begin when this job is finished." + +"I--I don't understand," said the girl, watching him eagerly. + +"When you're through with this case, Stefan will bring you back to +Carcajou. There he'll put you on the train and send you to me. I can +assure you that my wife will welcome you. She's that sort, strong and +friendly and helpful. My poor little chaps don't see very much of +their daddy, but they've got a mother who's a wonder, to make up for +it. Now our village can't yet afford a trained nurse, though some day +I'm going to have a little hospital and two or three of them. The +railroad will help. But in the meanwhile you're going to work for me, +at little more than a servant's wages. You're quick and intelligent +and have a pair of gentle and capable hands. There are scores and +scores of little houses and shacks where your presence would be simply +invaluable. My wife tries it, but she can't do it all, with the kids +and the husband to look after. I shall work you like a horse, when you +get strong enough, but every bit of the work will help some poor +devil. My wife can give you a bed, a seat at our table and plenty of +good wise friendship. In all this you're going to give away a lot more +than you will receive. How does it strike you?" + +But Madge was weeping silently, with her face held in her hands. The +doctor had certainly not tried to make his proposition very +attractive, and yet she felt as if she were emerging from deep waters +in which she had been suffocating. Now there was pure air to breathe +and there would always be God's sunlight to cheer one and bring +blessed warmth. From the slough of despond she was being drawn into +the glory of hope. + +"I shall try," she promised. "Oh, how hard I'm going to try! It--it +seems just like some wonderful dream. But--but can I really earn all +this--are you sure that it isn't--" + +"Charity on my part?" interrupted the doctor. "Not a bit, Miss Nelson. +We're scantily provided with women in these new countries. And there +are enough poor fellows who get hurt in the mines, or on the railroad, +to give you plenty of employment without counting the regular +settlers. A good woman's face at their side may make the end easier +for some of them and help others get well quicker." + +"If--if you are very sure--" + +"I know what I'm talking about. You see, Miss Nelson, there is really +no need of any one despairing in one of those big cities, so long as +there is enough strength and courage left to get out of them. In this +great expanse of wilderness toilers are needed, but we can't use +mollycoddles. The men have to hew and dig and plow, and need women to +work at their sides, to look after the injured, to teach the little +ones, to keep the rough crowd civilized and human. More than all they +are needed to become the mothers of a strong breed engaged in the +conquest of a new world, one that is being made first with the axe and +the hoe and in which the victory represents germinating seed and happy +usefulness. Countries such as this are not suited to the dross of +humanity. We cannot find employment for the weak, the lazy, or the +shiftless. The first of these are to be pitied, of course, but we +cannot help them. To the red-blooded and the clean of heart it offers +all that sturdy manhood and womanhood can desire. Surely you can see +how wide our horizons are, how full of promise is this new world that +stretches out its welcoming arms to you!" + +"I see--I see it all," answered the girl. "Oh, what a glorious vision +it is! How can I ever thank you?" + +"You don't have to," replied the man, sharply. "If you decide to +accept my offer I will be the one to feel grateful." + +He looked at her keenly, and was doubtless satisfied with what he saw. +Then he tilted back the legs of his stool, rested his head on the log +wall behind him, and took another good sound nap. + +He went away again just before sunrise, and Madge was left once more +alone with the sick man. Soon she noticed that his eyes opened +frequently, and followed her when she happened to move about the room. +She could see that her presence strengthened him. In Hugo's mind, +however, there was the dim impression that he was returning from a +long blindfolded journey that had left no impressions of anything but +vague pain and deep weariness. And it was utterly wonderful to be +greeted by a gentle voice and given care such as had not been his +since childhood. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The Hoisting + + +On the few rests the dogs were compelled to take on their way back to +Carcajou, Dr. Starr again questioned Stefan, carefully. The story +Madge had told him was interesting, it sounded a little like some of +those tales of detectives and plots marvelously unraveled, but the +trouble was that no sleuth was at work and the mystery was as deep as +ever. He inquired carefully in regard to the enemies Hugo might have +made, but struck an absolute blank. Yes, there was one fellow Hugo had +licked, but a couple of weeks later the young man had obliged him with +a small loan, which had been cheerfully repaid, and the individual in +question had moved a couple of hundred miles east. Oh, that was way +back last summer! + +Having thus easily eliminated the masculine element of Carcajou, it +took no great effort on the doctor's part to turn to the women. Were +there any who had reason to dislike him; had he made love to any of +them? + +"Hugo make lofe to any gals in Carcajou!" exclaimed Stefan, holding a +burning match in his fingers and letting it go out. "Hugo don't nefer +make lofe to nobotty. Dere's McGurn's gal over to the store as looked +like she vanted bad to make lofe to him; alvays runnin' after Hugo, +she vos. Vhen he go in de post-office she alvays smile awful sveet at +Hugo, and dere's dem as say she vere pretty mad because he don't never +pay no attention. Vhat he care for de red-headed t'ing?" + +"She looks after all the mail, doesn't she?" asked the doctor. + +"Yes, McGurn he too busy vid oder t'ings. De gal tends to all de +letters an' papers." + +This seemed an indication worth following. When they reached the depot +at Carcajou, Joe Follansbee informed them that the freight would be +about an hour late. Madge had, during the course of her story, told +the doctor all about the visit of the Carcajou Vigilantes, and from +Stefan he had obtained the names of the people who had made up the +party. Most of them were known to him, since he was frequently called +to Carcajou, especially when the mill was running. From the girl he +had obtained the letters she received from Hugo, as she had formerly +believed. The matter could not be allowed to rest. He must investigate +things further. Meeting old man Prouty, whom he had once cured of +rheumatism, he drew him aside. The old man quite willingly told of his +share in the event. + +"We only wanted to see that everything was straight and aboveboard," +he told the doctor. "And there wouldn't have been no fuss there at all +if Sophy McGurn hadn't come out kinder crazy; the way them excitable +women-folks does, sometimes." + +"What did she do?" asked Dr. Starr. + +"Oh, she went an' accused that young 'ooman over there of havin' tried +to murder Hugo. Said somethin' about the gal wantin' to get square on +him for--for somethin' or other as ain't very clear. But soon as Pat +Kilrea he begins to pin her down to facts she takes it all back an' +says she don't really know nothin'." + +"Thanks, Mr. Prouty, I'm very much obliged to you. I'll stroll over +there." + +He walked over to the general store and post-office where he was +greeted by old McGurn, who at his request produced a box of cigars. + +"Yes, Doc, I can recommend them," he said. "There was a drummer +stopped here last week who said they smelled just like real Havanas. I +bought two barrels of crockery off him." + +The doctor nodded, admiring the drummer's diplomacy, and walked over +to the other counter behind which Miss Sophy was standing. + +"How do you do, Miss McGurn?" he said, amiably. + +"How d'ye do? How's Hugo--Hugo Ennis?" she asked, eagerly. + +"He may perhaps pull through, though he's still hanging on to a pretty +thin chance. I suppose you know that you're soon going to be called as +a witness?" + +"Me?" she exclaimed. "What for?" + +"Well, that story about an accident looks rather fishy to me, you +know. I have an idea that it wouldn't be a bad thing to have the +sheriff come over here and investigate things a little. We're +beginning to get too civilized on this line to stand for gun-play. +I've talked over the matter with some of the people who went with you +to Roaring River, and I gather that you are the only one who can +enlighten us a little." + +"I--I don't know anything!" she stammered. + +"You're probably too modest, Miss McGurn, or you may perhaps be trying +to shield some one. That shows your kind heart, of course, but it +won't quite do for the law. At any rate you will tell us what aroused +your suspicions. It's very important, you know, for the slightest clue +may be of service. And then, of course, there is the matter of the +letters." + +"What letters?" cried the girl, biting her lips. + +"Oh, just some letters that passed through this office. Let me see, +where did I put them? Always indispensable to secure all documents. +Miss Nelson gave them to me." + +Very slowly he pulled the letters out of his pocket, while his keen +eyes searched Sophy's face, gravely. She was distinctly ill at ease, +he observed. + +"There has been a queer mix-up. These documents can hardly be called +forgery, since there is no attempt to imitate the real handwriting of +the person who is supposed to have written them. It's simply a clumsy +attempt to deceive, as far as I can see. But the strange thing is that +several letters came from New York, apparently, and have never been +received. It seems that they must have come through this office and +the post-office authorities will be asked to trace them. They are +always glad to hear of any irregularities, of course, and will send an +expert here, naturally, if mere inquiry does not suffice. Those chaps +are wonderfully clever, you know. They seem to be able to find out +anything they want to know. The letters I am showing you came through +Carcajou, there's your stamp on the envelopes. The detective will +compare this handwriting with that of every man, woman and child in +Carcajou and the neighborhood, and while it is certainly disguised, +there's so much of it that they will certainly find out who sent them. +It--it's going to prove devilish tough for somebody, you may be sure. +Of course I'm no lawyer and can't tell what the charge will be, +perhaps conspiracy of some sort, or making use of the mails for some +fraudulent or--or some prohibited purpose. But that's evidently no +concern of ours and I know you'll help the authorities to the best of +your ability. You will naturally do all you can because no postmaster +likes to have any irregularity in his office. That sort of thing +generally means taking it away from the holder and putting it in other +hands. Your father would be pretty angry if anything like that +happened, because while you attend to the mails, he's really the +responsible party." + +Miss Sophy may not have realized how keenly the doctor was looking at +her. He was now feeling quite certain that his suspicions had fallen +on the guilty party. Here was a jealous woman who evidently knew a +good deal. Putting two and two together is the very essence of +scientific thought and Dr. Starr was no beginner. Sophy's foot was +beating a rapid tattoo on the floor. On her face the color kept going +and coming. + +"Somebody has done a very foolish thing," continued the doctor. +"Perhaps it was not realized that it was also a very wicked one. At +any rate there is a lot of trouble coming. I will bid you good-day." + +He turned on his heels, lighting the cigar he had bought and looking +quite unconcerned. Sophy hastened around the counter and intercepted +him at the door, following him out. She touched his arm. + +"Do--do they suspect any one?" she asked. + +"I think I may have spoken too much, Miss McGurn," answered the +doctor, with a face that had suddenly become exceedingly stern. +"It is not for me to answer your question. Of course, it's in my +power to tell the sheriff that there is no longer any suspicion that +the shooting was otherwise than accidental, and I could perhaps +also persuade Miss Nelson not to follow this matter of the letters +any further. I think that she would follow my advice in the +matter. But I have no intention of interfering until--until I know +everything--down--to--the--last--word!" + +He accentuated this by striking with his fist into an open hand, +slowly, as if driving in a rebellious spike. They were alone on the +little veranda of the store. Within her breast the girl's heart was +throbbing with fear--with the terror of exposure and unknown +punishments. She felt that this man knew the exact truth and she had +the sensation of some animal cornered and seeing but a single avenue +of escape. + +"But I have found out everything I wanted to know, Miss McGurn," Dr. +Starr told her, suddenly. "Unless I have a written confession in my hands +I shall let matters take their course. It--is--for--you--to--choose." + +He looked at his watch. + +"My train should be here in fifteen minutes," he told her. "After that +it will be too late!" + +Then the girl broke down. Wild thoughts had come and gone. If a weapon +had been at hand she might, in obedience to the behest of a wild and +fiery nature, have stabbed the man who so calmly faced her. But she +felt utterly helpless and her fear and despair became supreme. + +"I--I'll write whatever you want me to, if--if you promise not to +tell!" she cried. + +"I'm not quite prepared to accept conditions," he answered. "I intend +to show the paper to Ennis and to Miss Nelson. They have a right to +know the truth. But I can promise that they will carry the matter no +farther, and that I shall see that neither the sheriff nor the +post-office authorities will interfere. There are but a few minutes +left now." + +She rushed into the store again and went to the desk. Her father was +no longer in the room. With feverish speed she wrote while the doctor +bent over her, suggesting a word now and then. Finally she signed the +paper and handed it to him. + +"I think you had better give me those answers now," he suggested. +"Those directed to A. B. C." + +From Box 17 she took the letters and handed them over without a word, +and the doctor carefully placed them in his pocket with the others. + +"I think you've been very wise in taking my advice, Miss McGurn," he +told her. "It was the only way out of trouble. Isn't that the +freight's whistle? I'll hurry off. Good-day to you." + +He stepped quickly across the space that separated him from the +station. On the platform Joe Follansbee greeted him pleasantly. + +"A fine clear day, doctor," said the station agent. + +"Yes, everything is beautifully clear now," answered Dr. Starr +amiably. "Shouldn't wonder if this were about the last of the cold +weather." + +Then he got on the caboose, where the crew welcomed him. As one of the +company doctors he had the right to ride on anything that came along, +and the men were always glad to see him. They made him comfortable in +a corner and offered him hot tea and large soggy buns. But he thanked +them, smilingly, and sat down in a corner. From his bag he took out a +medical journal and was soon immersed in an exceedingly interesting +article on hysteria. + +Strangely enough, at that very moment Miss Sophy had run up to her +room and thrown herself on the bed, face downwards and buried in a +pillow. She was weeping and uttering incoherent cries. When her mother +came in, alarmed, the old lady was indignantly ordered out again while +the girl's feet beat against the mattress hurriedly, and she bit the +knuckles of her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The Peace of Roaring River + + +It is particularly in the great north countries that the season +changes from the lion into the lamb, with a swiftness that is +perfectly bewildering. The sick man was getting well. Over a week +since, Dr. Starr had declared that all danger had passed. And as the +days went by the cold that had shackled the land disappeared so that +the frosted limbs by the great falls wept off their coating of gems, +and the earth, in great patches, began to show new verdure. Then had +come twenty-four hours of a pelting, crashing rain, that had melted +away more snow and ice. After the rain was over and the sky had +cleared again, Madge had gone out and stood by the brink of the great +falls, where she watched the thundering turbid flood as it madly +rushed into the great pit below. Incessantly great cakes of ice poised +on the brown-white edge above for an instant, and hurled themselves +furiously into the chasm as if bent on everlasting devastation. The +river itself was rising swiftly and from time to time the great logs +that had remained stranded in the upper reaches of the river also +plunged into the vortex, where they twisted and sank and rose, +endlessly. + +There was something fascinating in this vast turmoil of mighty forces, +in this leaping forth of a great river now liberated and escaping +towards the great lakes and thence to the ocean. Hitherto Madge had +gazed upon them timidly, with sudden shivers, as if all this had +represented part of the great peril of life and actually threatened +her. But now it seemed to have become a part of the immensity of this +world, a fragment of the wondrous heritage of nations still to be +born. And just as the flood still had a long journey to travel ere it +found rest in the Atlantic's bosom, so now Madge felt that her own +course represented but the beginning of a new and greater life. + +In spite of many nights spent at that bedside, she looked far better +and more robust than when she had first reached Roaring River. Courage +had returned to her and with it the will to endure, to live, to seize +upon her share of the wondrous glory of this new world that was so +fresh and beautiful. And yet her thoughts were very sober; she did not +feel that she had reached utter happiness. Her life would now be one +of usefulness, according to the doctor's promise. She felt that faces +might become cheerier at her coming and that little children--the +children of other people--would welcome her and crow out their little +joy. + +Several long nights of quiet rest had built her up into a woman that +was no longer the factory drudge or the recent inmate of hospitals. +One of the Papineau children had come over to remain with Hugo, lest +he should need anything. Madge attended him during the day, concocting +things on the stove, dressing the fast closing wound and administering +the drugs left by the doctor, with the greatest punctuality, and the +man's eyes followed her every motion, generally in silence. She also +spoke little. It was as if, upon both of them, a timidity had come +that made it hard for them to exchange thoughts. The first time he had +wanted to speak of the problem of her coming she failed to encourage +him. + +"I know all that happened now," she told him, "and I have long known +that you were not at fault, in any way. Indeed, I feel grateful for +your forbearance when I first came. But, if you don't mind, we won't +speak of it again. It--it distresses me." + +He saw plainly that she had blushed, in spite of the fact that she +turned her head swiftly away, and remained silent until she came again +with a teaspoonful of something he must swallow. + +So she sat down again and her mind reverted to the future, which was +certainly immeasurably splendid and promising, as compared to the +outlook of a fortnight before. In her pockets were the letters she had +written to this man. Dr. Starr had brought them to her one day, when +Hugo was already able to listen and understand. + +"I think they were intended for me," said the latter, gently. + +"No!" exclaimed Madge, reddening and leaping from her stool. "Please +give them to me, Dr. Starr. They were sent to an utterly unknown man. +They were replies to letters you never sent and therefore they're not +yours. Please--I--I'd rather you didn't see them!" + +The young man had nodded, quietly. + +"Of course they're yours," he acknowledged. "We--we won't mention them +again, if it's your wish." + +"Indeed--indeed it is. They were just a cry for help--for a chance to +live--perhaps for a little happiness. Dr. Starr has now offered me all +these things and I have accepted--ever so gratefully. I--I had taken a +step that was utter folly, yes, absolute madness. But now the most +wonderful good fortune has brought me the fulfilment of these desires +and I want to forget all the rest--the burning shame I have felt as +well as the terror with which I approached whatever was in store for +me. That part of it will pass away like some bad dream, I hope. +It's--it's kind of you not to insist on seeing these letters." + +"That's all right, Miss Nelson," said the doctor, soothingly. "Hugo, +my lad, you owe a good deal to your nurse and I'm glad that you're +properly grateful and not unduly curious." + +But Hugo called Maigan to him, without answering, and patted the +animal's head, after which he remarked that the days were getting much +longer. + +Came another day when the patient was able to get up, with the aid of +Stefan and his nurse, and manifested the usual surprise of the strong +man after illness. It was astonishing that his legs were so weak, and +he couldn't understand the dizzy sensations in his head. + +After a time he became able to use his arm a little, very cautiously, +and his joy was great when it served him to handle a fork, for the +first time since he had been ill. + +And so now she was standing beside these great falls, thinking very +deeply. She was disappointed at herself because she did not feel +properly happy and grateful; indeed, she was dropping in her own +estimation. If any one, a month before, had placed before her the +prospect of honest toil among friendly faces, of usefulness that would +benefit her while gaining gratitude from others, she would have deemed +herself the happiest woman in the world. Yes, the world should have +been a very beautiful and kindly place, now that hunger and pain were +eliminated, now that the coming of spring would cause sap to surge up +the trees so that the branches would soon clothe themselves in the +tender glory of new leafage. Her own existence was on the verge of a +fresh new growth that might lead to greater things, and yet she +reproached herself because she could not become conscious of a real +happiness, of a glorious achievement that had been like an unexpected +manna coming to starvelings in a desert. She felt nothing but a quiet +acquiescence in the new conditions and accepted her new destiny with a +sigh. + +She did not realize yet that in her soul a new longing had come, that +would not be denied. + +She returned slowly to the shack where Hugo sat in an armchair brought +all the way from Carcajou on Stefan's sled. His arm was still in a +sling. It was fortunate that it was the left one, for he was very +busily engaged in writing. + +The girl waited for some time, leaning against the doorpost and +watching some chipping sparrows that had recently arrived and were +thinking hard about nest-building in the neighboring bushes. + +The weeds and grasses and wild flowers were beginning to peep out of +the ground, with the haste that is peculiar to northern lands where +life is strenuous during the few months of warm fair weather. The +tender hues of the burgeoning birches and poplars, streaked with the +gleaming silver of their trunks, were casting soft notes upon the +strong greens of the conifers and the indigo of their shadows. In the +spray of the falls, to her left, a tiny rainbow seemed to dance, and +the loud song of the rushing waters was like the call of some great +loving voice. She reflected that she would have to go again to a place +in which many people lived. It would not be like a city. The same +trees and the same waters and the same flowers would be there, very +close at hand. Not a single house abutted against another. In the +gardens there would be old-fashioned flowers such as she had been +familiar with at home, before she had sought the town. Dr. Starr had +described it all. Ten minutes' walk would take one beyond the +habitations of men, into woodlands and fields and by a lake that +extended into a far wilderness, upon which one could drive a canoe and +feel as if one owned a great and beautiful world, for men were seldom +on it and above the surface it was peopled chiefly by great diving +birds and broods of ducklings. It all sounded, and doubtless was, +perfectly ideal. + +But presently Hugo had finished his writing and was leaning back in +his chair. + +"Do you think you would like some of those nice fresh eggs Mrs. +Papineau's little girl brought this morning?" she asked him. "And +would you like me to close the door now?" + +"Thanks, Miss Nelson," he said, "I'm sure I should enjoy them ever so +much. They're a rather scarce commodity with us. Too many weasels and +skunks and other chicken-eaters to make it a healthy country for hens. +As to the door I'll be glad to have you close it if you feel cold. But +it's delightful for me to be sitting here all wrapped up in blankets +and taking in big lungfuls of our forest air. It--it makes a fellow +feel like a two-year-old." + +She was about to break the eggs into a pan when she noticed the letter +lying on the table. + +"Would you like me to get you an envelope, for it?" she asked. + +"If you'll be so kind," he assented, gravely. + +She would have offered to put the paper in the envelope for him also, +but he managed it easily enough and closed the flap. + +"That's done," he said. "I wonder what will come of it?" + +To this she could not reply, so she prepared the eggs and brought them +to him, with his tea and toast. + +"They're going to be ever so good," he said, taking up a fork, after +which he stared out of the still-opened door. + +"If you don't eat them now, they'll be cold in a minute," she warned +him. + +"Oh, I'd forgotten! I must beg your pardon since you took so much +trouble about them." + +He ate them slowly, as if performing some hard and solemn task. When +he had finished his meal, Madge cleared the table. + +"Is there anything else you would like?" she asked. "One of your +books?" + +"No, I--I don't think I want to read, just now. I--I am feeling +rather--rather disturbed for the moment." + +"What's the matter?" she inquired, solicitously. + +"It's this--this habit I've gotten into," he said, "of having a--a +nurse at my side. It seems very strange that she will soon be gone. +I've learnt to depend so much on.... And Stefan is coming to take you +away to Carcajou--and then over there to Dr. Starr's. Then I believe +I'm to go and stay with the Papineaus, till I can handle a frying-pan +and an axe. The--the prospect is a dismal one." + +She took a little step towards him but he had bent over the letter and +was directing it. When this was done he stared at it for a moment and, +unsteadily, handed it to the girl, with the writing down. + +"I--I would like you to deliver this for me," he told her. "It is ever +so important and--and our post-office isn't very reliable, I'm afraid. +But I know I can trust you." + +She looked at him in surprise and then she looked at the envelope. To +her intense amazement she read: + + Miss Madge Nelson, + + Roaring River. + +"What does this mean?" she asked, bewildered. + +"I--I'm afraid you will have to read it to find out," he answered. + +She opened the door and rushed out. One fear was in her heart. She +dreaded to find money in it. How dared he offer to pay for what she +had done? She would lay the envelope on the table, with its contents, +and quietly say--well, what could she say? + +With the thing in her hand she walked down the path to the edge of the +falls, where she sat down on an old big trunk of birch fallen many +years ago and partly covered with moss. For one or two long minutes +she held it in her lap, gazing at the rushing waters without seeing +them. A strange fluttering was at her heart, a curious trepidation +that was akin to intense fear caused her neck to throb, but her face +was very pale. Finally, with a swift gesture, she tore the envelope +open and read: + + MY GOOD LITTLE NURSE: + + Those other letters were not from me but this one is: you saw me + write it. It carries a thousand thanks for your kindness and + devotion to your helpless patient. During those dreadfully long + hours your presence was a blessing; it could soothe away the pain + and bring hope and comfort. In a couple of weeks more I shall be + as strong as ever, but I know that without you Roaring River will + never be the same. You came here bravely, ready to marry a decent + man who would help you bear the burdens of this world, which had + proved too heavy for you. Of course the man must be honest and + worthy of your trust. After all that you underwent from the first + moment of your being left alone on the tote-road I cannot wonder + at your desire to go away. But I feel that without you I could + never have pulled through and that by this time the prospect of a + life spent without you is unbearable. + + I am not begging you humbly for your love. I don't want to owe it + to your pity for the man who was so ill, to the deep charity and + the kindness of a sweet and unselfish nature. That is why I + couldn't speak out my longing for you and the love that fills my + heart, lest I might surprise you into a hasty consent. I could not + have restrained my emotion and I know I would have begged and + implored--and that might have made it very hard and painful for + you to refuse. + + Please return to me after you have read and thought this over. If + we are to remain but friends you will extend one hand to me and I + shall know what it means. I daresay I shall survive that hurt as I + survived the other. Have no fear for me. + + But if you feel in your heart that you can give me all I long for, + that you are willing to become my wife, then stretch both of those + little hands to me, since it will take the two to carry such a + precious gift. + + Your hopeful and grateful patient, + HUGO. + +After she had finished she tried to read the paper again, but it was +too hard to see. For a moment she stared at the Roaring Falls through +the misty veil of their spray. Thrusting the letter into her bosom she +found her feet, suddenly, and ran to the little shack. Hugo had risen +and was standing in the doorway, his heart beating fast and his face +very pale. As Madge came near she uplifted both hands, but she could +hardly see him. Once more her eyes were suffused with tears, but it +was as if the glory of a wondrous sunlit world had been too strong for +them. She was smiling happily, however, when he took both little hands +into his right. + +"I--I hurried back," she panted. "Neither--neither did I feel +that--that I could live without you--without this wonderful peace of +beautiful Roaring River, and--and the love that it has brought to +me!" + +A few moments later they heard Big Stefan's familiar shout from the +tote-road. The toboggan could no longer be used and he had driven over +a shaggy old horse that had pulled a reliable buckboard. + +"Dot's yoost great!" he roared, as he saw Hugo standing outside the +shack. "I tank I'm more pleased as if I find a dozen goldmines, you +bet! De leetle leddy she safe you all right--all right. But now I take +her avay to Meester Doctor Starr, like he telt me to. De doctor he gif +me a bit letter for you, ma'am. I find it soon." + +Two letters on a single day was heavy mail for Roaring River. Madge +tore the last one open and read: + + My Dear Miss Nelson: + + Stefan has promised to bring you to us to-morrow. I want you to + come, for my wife and the kiddies are awaiting you. From my latest + study of conditions at Roaring River I have gathered that you may + not stay with us as long as I had first hoped, but at any rate it + will be long enough to do a little fixing and arranging of + feminine garments. My instinct tells me that your visit to us will + be short since our patient, if you tarry too long, may come and + steal you away. He will have to come anyway for, just as I'm the + nearest doctor to you, so my friend Jamieson is the nearest + parson. + + With every best wish, + Very sincerely yours, + DAVID STARR. + +Madge handed the letter over to Hugo who quickly looked it over. + +"Wonderful fellow is Starr," he declared. + +Stefan took his friend Hugo up in his arms, in spite of protests on +the latter's part that he wanted to try to walk. The young man was a +light load, indeed, at this time. He was placed on the seat of the +buckboard and, with Stefan carefully leading the horse and Madge +walking alongside, was taken up to Papineau's. + +The woodlands were very different now, thought the girl. When she had +arrived the great land was plunged in slumber under its mantle of +snow. The few birds there were at the time were voiceless, like the +partridges that only find a peep when fluffy broods follow them, or +some of the larger fowl which only hoot or shriek. The sound-calls of +the wilderness had been those of struggling waters, of cracking trees, +of snow-masses violently displaced. But now birds were in full song +everywhere, carrying trifles of stick and floss and grass wherewith to +build their nests. Formerly there had been the uneasy groans and sighs +of a gigantic restless sleeper. Now there was the chant of a +heart-free nature engaged again in vigorous toil, in wresting the +recurrent glory of surging life and hope from the powers of darkness +and bitter, benumbing cold. It was a resurrection! + +The mile separating the shack from the Papineau homestead had been a +long and fatiguing one on the first occasion of Madge's going to see +the wounded man. Now the distance was trivial; a few sturdy steps, a +few fillings of one's lungs with the scent of conifers; and there was +the little chimney smoking and the cow with her little calf, and the +dogs, and the few hens that had survived the attacks of weasels. Best +of all there were her friends, children and babies and the quiet +Frenchman and the kind-hearted, red-cheeked, cheery mother whose +influence had been paramount in creating a little paradise in the +wilds. + +She helped Hugo off the buckboard, jealously, deeming herself the only +one who could properly handle an invalid, and enthroned him in the +best chair, near the open fire. + +"You--you are h'all so velcome as I can't say," she declared. + +"Miss Nelson is going away with Stefan in a few minutes," said Hugo, +cheerfully. + +At this Mrs. Papineau's face fell. She looked positively unhappy. + +"Some'ow," she said, sniffing, "I always 'ope she stay 'ere h'all de +time now. I--I never tink she go avay for good. De--de dogs and de +calf and--an--de baby and chil'ren dey all love 'er. I h'awful +sorry." + +"But--but I'm coming back, Mrs. Papineau," cried Madge. "I--I can't +live away from--from Roaring River now!" + +"Dey two iss ter be marrit!" roared Stefan. "Hey! What you tank? I +tank so all de time, you bet!" + +At this they all crowded around Madge, and such hand-shakings, and +such kisses from the good woman and the children, and such joy +depicted on all the faces! She thought that never a bride had received +such heartfelt congratulations and good wishes. + +But in a couple of hours the old horse was quite rested and had +finished the small bag of oats Stefan had brought and eaten plenty of +the sweet-scented hay furnished by Papineau, and it was time to go. +Strangely enough, at the last moment, the usually crowded house was +deserted excepting by two, who found themselves in one another's +arms. + +"God bless you, Madge," said the man. "I will come soon." + +"I shall be waiting," answered the girl, simply. + +And so she rode away again, in the old buckboard that rolled and +pitched and heaved and bucked so that very often she got off and +walked at the side of Stefan. + +Late that night she found herself in the doctor's home, after a +wonderful welcome from his wife and himself. The kiddies had been put +to bed. + +"I--I feel that--that I am deserting you, that you trusted me to help +you with a splendid work," she said, with head bent down. + +"That is not so," the man answered gravely. "Remember what I told you +when I was trying to enlist you. I say that more than for any other +purposes, we wanted women, good women, to come and become the mothers +of the strong, fine breed that can alone master our wilderness. Hugo +is one of those fellows of brawn and brain who are working towards the +common happiness in establishing his own. He needs a helper he can +love and trust and cherish, one who will in herself be the biggest +reward he can ever gain, and make him feel that the bigger part of the +purpose of his life has been secured with your promise to marry him. +To me the sick and the halt are paramount--but they will have to wait +a little. In some way or other they will be looked after, I promise +you, for no man in a responsible position can be anything but a +problem-solver, in these places, and I'll find someone, never fear." + +"Yours will be the more important occupation now, my dear," said the +doctor's wife; "you'll be in the front ranks of the fighters." + +So the doctor went away and the two women made the sewing-machine hum, +and cut and basted and threaded needles. Together they managed to put +together all that was indispensable and to discard the frivolous, as +became the wives of pioneers. + +Two or three weeks went by very fast and one day Sophy McGurn, from +behind the shop-window, saw Hugo Ennis standing on the platform of the +little station at Carcajou. With him was big Stefan, clad in his best, +and the entire Papineau family. Most of the children were about to +take the very first railway journey of their lives and the excitement +was intense and prolonged. Finally the train came puffing along and +went away again, panting on the upgrade, while Miss Sophy bit her +nails hard. + +There is no doubt that Stefan had kept still, since he had been +requested to. No one else in Carcajou knew anything as to the +inwardness of the girl's coming, of Sophy's share in it, or of the +discovery by the doctor of the latter's duplicity. And yet there was +an element in Carcajou that frowned upon the young lady. Her +accusation had been reported far and wide. To the settlers of the +place her suspicions had seemed uncalled-for and bespeaking a mean and +vicious disposition. Hugo, after all, had been everybody's friend. He +was now about to marry this young woman from far-away New York. This +utterly disproved Sophy's statements, wherefore she became more +unpopular than ever. A couple of hundred men had come over to work at +the sawmill, that was purring and grinding and shrieking again, all +day and night. In the course of events they were learning all about +the matter, and some of the more ribald asked her jocular questions. +It was annoying, to say the least, to have a big logger come in and +ask what were the news of the day, and if there was any more murdering +going on. She projected to leave Carcajou as soon as she could, and +made her parents wish she would, as soon as possible. + +The party reached their station and walked over to the church, that +stood in what looked like a pasture, with great stumps of trees still +dotting the ground. About it was the very small beginning of a +graveyard. With the years it would grow but always it would be swept +by the winds blowing aromatic scents from the forests beyond the lake. +And about the church itself grew simple flowers, some of which were +beginning to twine themselves upon the walls. Madge came up the aisle, +attended by Stefan and the doctor. Hugo met them, the emotion of the +moment having caused some of the pallor to return to his cheeks. + +It was soon all over. At the doctor's house there was a little repast, +followed by some simple words that sounded hopeful and strong. An hour +later the couple left, but not for a honeymoon in the towns. It was in +a place reached after many hours of paddling, where the red trout +abounded and the swallows darted over the waters. Here in their tent +they could do their own cooking, beginning the life that was to be one +of mutual help, of cheerful toil, of achievement and of happiness. + +When they came back to Carcajou again, Stefan was waiting for them +with a strong team of horses able easily to negotiate the tote-road. +This highway, in many places, had been repaired. Fallen trees were cut +across and pulled to one side, swampy bits were corduroyed, big holes +had been filled in. Indeed, the traffic had become important, all of a +sudden, towards the Roaring Falls. Lumber had been hauled there, and +many tools, and kegs of nails, and a gang of men had walked over. + +Finally they came in sight of the river again, in which were no more +black-looking, threatening air-holes. Mostly it was placid now, with +rapids that could easily be passed over by ably-managed canoes or +bateaux, succeeding the deep still waters now and then and frothing +and fuming only as if in play. Here a big blue heron rose from it, and +there a couple of kingfishers jabbered and scolded and shrieked. +Partridges crossed the road in front of the horses, and the inevitable +rabbit scampered away in leisurely fashion. + +But they reached the little path that led to the shack without seeing +anything of the tiny home or of the falls beyond, for the bushes and +shrubs were in full foliage and seemed to be concealing their Eden +from passers-by. Madge leaped from the wagon. Her kingdom was over +there, just a few rods away, and she was eager to see it again. + +Yes! The shack was still there, looking tinier than ever. But very +close to it a foundation had been dug from which rose rough walls of +broken stone. Upon these strong scantlings had been fastened and men +were clapboarding them over into a bigger and finer home. + +Above the trees some smoke was showing. It marked a place where a +half-score shacks and little barracks were going up, to shelter the +men who were to follow deeper those promising veins in the great +rocks. There would soon be blasting and more drilling and the breaking +up of ore, which would be carried down the river to the railroad. But +from the edge of the great falls nothing of all this could be seen. +Except for the new house everything seemed to be unchanged. It was +with a sentiment of a little awe, of gratefulness, of a surprise which +the passing of the weeks had not yet been able to dispel, that Madge +realized that this was now her own, the place of her future toil, the +spot where she was to found a home and fill it with happiness. + +It was marvelous! It was a thousand times more splendid than anything +she could have conceived when first she was journeying to this +country. And the greatness of it lay in the fact that she understood, +that she realized, that she knew that the whole world lay before her +and her husband, to make or mar, to convert into a part of the great +effort that is always a joy, the upbuilding of a home, or to allow to +revert into the wilderness again if strength were lacking. + +At first she could not step farther than the little spot from which +her dwelling-place first stood revealed. + +"What do you think of it, Madge?" asked her husband. + +"I think that if I had prayed all my life for a wonderful home, before +coming here, I would never have been able to pray for anything so +splendid. Think of it--you and I--for years and years that will pass +ever so swiftly, together in this glorious place and enjoying perfect +peace--the great peace of Roaring River!" + +And the man stood by, his heart very full, his thoughts following her +own, and a wave of happiness surged into his being, for all that was +best in his former dreams was at his hand, since nothing but the woman +at his side really counted. + + + + +ZANE GREY'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + +THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS + +A New York society girl buys a ranch which becomes the center of +frontier warfare. Her loyal superintendent rescues her when she is +captured by bandits. A surprising climax brings the story to a +delightful close. + +THE RAINBOW TRAIL + +The story of a young clergyman who becomes a wanderer in the great +western uplands--until at last love and faith awake. + +DESERT GOLD + +The story describes the recent uprising along the border, and ends +with the finding of the gold which two prospectors had willed to the +girl who is the story's heroine. + +RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE + +A picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago when Mormon +authority ruled. The prosecution of Jane Withersteen is the theme of +the story. + +THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN + +This is the record of a trip which the author took with Buffalo Jones, +known as the preserver of the American bison, across the Arizona +desert and of a hunt in "that wonderful country of deep canons and +giant pines." + +THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT + +A lovely girl, who has been reared among Mormons, learns to love a +young New Englander. The Mormon religion, however, demands that the +girl shall become the second wife of one of the Mormons--Well, that's +the problem of this great story. + +THE SHORT STOP + +The young hero, tiring of his factory grind, starts out to win fame +and fortune as a professional ball player. His hard knocks at the +start are followed by such success as clean sportsmanship, courage and +honesty ought to win. + +BETTY ZANE + +This story tells of the bravery and heroism of Betty, the beautiful +young sister of old Colonel Zane, one of the bravest pioneers. + +THE LONE STAR RANGER + +After killing a man in self defense, Buck Duane becomes an outlaw +along the Texas border. In a camp on the Mexican side of the river, he +finds a young girl held prisoner, and in attempting to rescue her, +brings down upon himself the wrath of her captors and henceforth is +hunted on one side by honest men, on the other by outlaws. + +THE BORDER LEGION + +Joan Randle, in a spirit of anger, sent Jim Cleve out to a lawless +Western mining camp, to prove his mettle. Then realizing that she +loved him--she followed him out. On her way, she is captured by a +bandit band, and trouble begins when she shoots Kells, the leader--and +nurses him to health again. Here enters another romance--when Joan, +disguised as an outlaw, observes Jim, in the throes of dissipation. A +gold strike, a thrilling robbery--gambling and gun play carry you +along breathlessly. + +THE LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS, + +By Helen Cody Wetmore and Zane Grey + +The life story of Colonel William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill," as told by +his sister and Zane Grey. It begins with his boyhood in Iowa and his +first encounter with an Indian. We see "Bill" as a pony express rider, +then near Fort Sumter as Chief of the Scouts, and later engaged in the +most dangerous Indian campaigns. There is also a very interesting +account of the travels of "The Wild West Show." No character in public +life makes a stronger appeal to the imagination of America than +"Buffalo Bill," whose daring and bravery made him famous. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +MICHAEL O'HALLORAN. Illustrated by Frances Rogers. + +Michael is a quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern +Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also assumes +the responsibility of leading the entire rural community upward and +onward. + +LADDIE. Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer. + +This is a bright, cheery tale with the scenes laid in Indiana. The +story is told by Little Sister, the youngest member of a large family, +but it is concerned not so much with childish doings as with the love +affairs of older members of the family. Chief among them is that of +Laddie and the Princess, an English girl who has come to live in the +neighborhood and about whose family there hangs a mystery. + +THE HARVESTER. Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs. + +"The Harvester," is a man of the woods and fields, and if the book had +nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would be notable. +But when the Girl comes to his "Medicine Woods," there begins a +romance of the rarest idyllic quality. + +FRECKLES. Illustrated. + +Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which +he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the great +Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succumbs +to the charm of his engaging personality; and his love story with "The +Angel" are full of real sentiment. + +A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. Illustrated. + +The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable type of +the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and kindness +towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the sheer beauty +of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from barren and +unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage. + +AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. Illustrations in colors. + +The scene of this charming love story is laid in Central Indiana. The +story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self-sacrificing love. +The novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, +and its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all. + +THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL. Profusely illustrated. + +A love ideal of the Cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy and +humor. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +This book has a fairy-story touch, counterbalanced by the sturdy +reality of struggle, sacrifice, and resulting peace and power of a +mother's experiences. + +SATURDAY'S CHILD. + +Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes. + +Out on the Pacific coast a normal girl, obscure and lovely, makes a +quest for happiness. She passes through three stages--poverty, wealth +and service--and works out a creditable salvation. + +THE RICH MRS. BURGOYNE. + +Illustrated by Lucius H. Hitchcock. + +The story of a sensible woman who keeps within her means, refuses to +be swamped by social engagements, lives a normal human life of varied +interests, and has her own romance. + +THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. + +Frontispiece by Allan Gilbert. + +How Julia Page, reared in rather unpromising surroundings, lifted +herself through sheer determination to a higher plane of life. + +THE HEART OF RACHAEL. + +Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers. + +Rachael is called upon to solve many problems, and in working out +these, there is shown the beauty and strength of soul of one of +fiction's most appealing characters. + +Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +MYRTLE REED'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's +list. + +LAVENDER AND OLD LACE. + +A charming story of a quaint corner of New England, where bygone +romance finds a modern parallel. The story centers round the coming of +love to the young people on the staff of a newspaper--and it is one of +the prettiest, sweetest and quaintest of old-fashioned love stories. + +MASTER OF THE VINEYARD. + +A pathetic love story of a young girl, Rosemary. The teacher of the +country school, who is also master of the vineyard, comes to know her +through her desire for books. She is happy in his love till another +woman comes into his life. But happiness and emancipation from her +many trials come to Rosemary at last. The book has a touch of humor +and pathos that will appeal to every reader. + +OLD ROSE AND SILVER. + +A love story,--sentimental and humorous,--with the plot subordinate to +the character delineation of its quaint people and to the exquisite +descriptions of picturesque spots and of lovely, old, rare treasures. + +A WEAVER OF DREAMS. + +This story tells of the love-affairs of three young people, with an +old-fashioned romance in the background. A tiny dog plays an important +role in serving as a foil for the heroine's talking ingeniousness. +There is poetry, as well as tenderness and charm, in this tale of a +weaver of dreams. + +A SPINNER IN THE SUN. + +An old-fashioned love story, of a veiled lady who lives in solitude +and whose features her neighbors have never seen. There is a mystery +at the heart of the book that throws over it the glamour of romance. + +THE MASTER'S VIOLIN. + +A love story in a musical atmosphere. A picturesque, old German +virtuoso consents to take for his pupil a handsome youth who proves to +have an aptitude for technique, but not the soul of an artist. The +youth cannot express the love, the passion and the tragedies of life +as can the master. But a girl comes into his life, and through his +passionate love for her, he learns the lessons that life has to +give--and his soul awakes. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +THE NOVELS OF CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +JEWEL: A Chapter in Her Life. + +Illustrated by Maude and Genevieve Cowles. + +A story breathing the doctrine of love and patience as exemplified in +the life of a child. Jewel will never grow old because of the +immortality of her love. + +JEWEL'S STORY BOOK. Illustrated by Albert Schmitt. + +A sequel to "Jewel," in which the same characteristics of love and +cheerfulness touch and uplift the reader. + +THE INNER FLAME. Frontispiece in color. + +A young mining engineer, whose chief ambition is to become an artist, +but who has no friends with whom to realize his hopes, has a way +opened to him to try his powers, and, of course, he is successful. + +THE RIGHT PRINCESS. + +At a fashionable Long Island resort, a stately English woman employs a +forcible New England housekeeper to serve in her interesting home. +Many humorous situations result. A delightful love affair runs through +it all. + +THE OPENED SHUTTERS. + +Illustrated with Scenes from the Photo Play. + +A beautiful woman, at discord with life, is brought to realize, by her +new friends, that she may open the shutters of her soul to the blessed +sunlight of joy by casting aside self love. + +THE RIGHT TRACK. + +Frontispiece in color by Greene Blumenschien. + +A story of a young girl who marries for money so that she can enjoy +things intellectual. Neglect of her husband and of her two step +children makes an unhappy home till a friend brings a new philosophy +of happiness into the household. + +CLEVER BETSY. Illustrated by Rose O'Neill. + +The "Clever Betsy" was a boat--named for the unyielding spinster whom +the captain hoped to marry. Through the two Betsy's a delightful group +of people are introduced. + +Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +BOOTH TARKINGTON'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +SEVENTEEN. Illustrated by Arthur William Brown. + +No one but the creator of Penrod could have portrayed the immortal +young people of this story. Its humor is irresistible and reminiscent +of the time when the reader was Seventeen. + +PENROD. Illustrated by Gordon Grant. + +This is a picture of a boy's heart, full of the lovable, humorous, +tragic things which are locked secrets to most older folks. It is a +finished, exquisite work. + +PENROD AND SAM. Illustrated by Worth Brehm. + +Like "Penrod" and "Seventeen," this book contains some remarkable +phases of real boyhood and some of the best stories of juvenile +prankishness that have ever been written. + +THE TURMOIL. Illustrated by C. E. Chambers. + +Bibbs Sheridan is a dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts against his +father's plans for him to be a servitor of big business. The love of a +fine girl turns Bibb's life from failure to success. + +THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA. Frontispiece. + +A story of love and politics,--more especially a picture of a country +editor's life in Indiana, but the charm of the book lies in the love +interest. + +THE FLIRT. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood. + +The "Flirt," the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl's engagement, +drives one man to suicide, causes the murder of another, leads another +to lose his fortune, and in the end marries a stupid and unpromising +suitor, leaving the really worthy one to marry her sister. + +Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +JACK LONDON'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + +JOHN BARLEYCORN. Illustrated by H. T. Dunn. + +This remarkable book is a record of the author's own amazing +experiences. This big, brawny world rover, who has been acquainted +with alcohol from boyhood, comes out boldly against John Barleycorn. +It is a string of exciting adventures, yet it forcefully conveys an +unforgettable idea and makes a typical Jack London book. + +THE VALLEY OF THE MOON. Frontispiece by George Harper. + +The story opens in the city slums where Billy Roberts, teamster and +ex-prize fighter, and Saxon Brown, laundry worker, meet and love and +marry. They tramp from one end of California to the other, and in the +Valley of the Moon find the farm paradise that is to be their +salvation. + +BURNING DAYLIGHT. Four illustrations. + +The story of an adventurer who went to Alaska and laid the foundations +of his fortune before the gold hunters arrived. Bringing his fortunes +to the States he is cheated out of it by a crowd of money kings, and +recovers it only at the muzzle of his gun. He then starts out as a +merciless exploiter on his own account. Finally he takes to drinking +and becomes a picture of degeneration. About this time he falls in +love with his stenographer and wins her heart but not her hand and +then--but read the story! + +A SON OF THE SUN. Illustrated by A. O. Fischer and C. W. Ashley. + +David Grief was once a light-haired, blue-eyed youth who came from +England to the South Seas in search of adventure. Tanned like a native +and as lithe as a tiger, he became a real son of the sun. The life +appealed to him and he remained and became very wealthy. + +THE CALL OF THE WILD. Illustrations by Philip R. Goodwin and Charles +Livingston Bull. Decorations by Charles E. Hooper. + +A book of dog adventures as exciting as any man's exploits could be. +Here is excitement to stir the blood and here is picturesque color to +transport the reader to primitive scenes. + +THE SEA WOLF. Illustrated by W. J. Aylward. + +Told by a man whom Fate suddenly swings from his fastidious life into +the power of the brutal captain of a sealing schooner. A novel of +adventure warmed by a beautiful love episode that every reader will +hail with delight. + +WHITE FANG. Illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull. + +"White Fang" is part dog, part wolf and all brute, living in the frozen +north; he gradually comes under the spell of man's companionship, and +surrenders all at the last in a fight with a bull dog. Thereafter he is +man's loving slave. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +B. M. BOWER'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's +list. + +CHIP OF THE FLYING U. Wherein the love affairs of Chip and Della +Whitman are charmingly and humorously told. + +THE HAPPY FAMILY. A lively and amusing story, dealing with the +adventures of eighteen jovial, big-hearted Montana cowboys. + +HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT. Describing a gay party of Easterners who exchange +a cottage at Newport for a Montana ranch-house. + +THE RANGE DWELLERS. Spirited action, a range feud between two +families, and a Romeo and Juliet courtship make this a bright, jolly +story. + +THE LURE OF THE DIM TRAILS. A vivid portrayal of the experience of an +Eastern author among the cowboys. + +THE LONESOME TRAIL. A little branch of sage brush and the recollection +of a pair of large brown eyes upset "Weary" Davidson's plans. + +THE LONG SHADOW. A vigorous Western story, sparkling with the free +outdoor life of a mountain ranch. It is a fine love story. + +GOOD INDIAN. A stirring romance of life on an Idaho ranch. + +FLYING U RANCH. Another delightful story about Chip and his pals. + +THE FLYING U'S LAST STAND. An amusing account of Chip and the other +boys opposing a party of school teachers. + +THE UPHILL CLIMB. A story of a mountain ranch and of a man's hard +fight on the uphill road to manliness. + +THE PHANTOM HERD. The title of a moving-picture staged in New Mexico +by the "Flying U" boys. + +THE HERITAGE OF THE SIOUX. The "Flying U" boys stage a fake bank +robbery for film purposes which precedes a real one for lust of gold. + +THE GRINGOS. A story of love and adventure on a ranch in California. + +STARR OF THE DESERT. A New Mexico ranch story of mystery and +adventure. + +THE LOOKOUT MAN. A Northern California story full of action, +excitement and love. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Peace of Roaring River, by George van Schaick + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30349 *** |