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diff --git a/6223.txt b/6223.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64fec71 --- /dev/null +++ b/6223.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1744 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The March Of The White Guard, by Gilbert Parker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The March Of The White Guard + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Last Updated: March 13, 2009 +Release Date: October 18, 2006 [EBook #6223] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARCH OF THE WHITE GUARD *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE MARCH OF THE WHITE GUARD + +By Gilbert Parker + + + + +I + +"Ask Mr. Hume to come here for a moment, Gosse," said Field, the chief +factor, as he turned from the frosty window of his office at Fort +Providence, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts. The servant, +or more properly, Orderly-Sergeant Gosse, late of the Scots Guards, +departed on his errand, glancing curiously at his master's face as he +did so. The chief factor, as he turned round, unclasped his hands from +behind him, took a few steps forward, then standing still in the centre +of the room, read carefully through a letter which he had held in the +fingers of his right hand for the last ten minutes as he scanned the +wastes of snow stretching away beyond Great Slave Lake to the arctic +circle. He meditated a moment, went back to the window, looked out +again, shook his head negatively, and with a sigh, walked over to the +huge fireplace. He stood thoughtfully considering the floor until the +door opened and sub-factor Jaspar Hume entered. + +The factor looked up and said: "Hume, I've something here that's been +worrying me a bit. This letter came in the monthly batch this morning. +It is from a woman. The company sends another commending the cause of +the woman and urging us to do all that is possible to meet her wishes. +It seems that her husband is a civil engineer of considerable fame. He +had a commission to explore the Coppermine region and a portion of the +Barren Grounds. He was to be gone six months. He has been gone a +year. He left Fort Good Hope, skirted Great Bear Lake, and reached the +Coppermine River. Then he sent back all of the Indians who accompanied +him but two, they bearing the message that he would make the Great Fish +River and come down by Great Slave Lake to Fort Providence. That was +nine months ago. He has not come here, nor to any other of the forts, +so far as is known, nor has any word been received from him. His wife, +backed by the H.B.C., urges that a relief party be sent to look for him. +They and she forget that this is the arctic region, and that the task is +a well-nigh hopeless one. He ought to have been here six months ago. Now +how can we do anything? Our fort is small, and there is always danger of +trouble with the Indians. We can't force men to join a relief party like +this, and who will volunteer? Who would lead such a party and who will +make up the party to be led?" + +The brown face of Jaspar Hume was not mobile. It changed in expression +but seldom; it preserved a steady and satisfying character of +intelligence and force. The eyes, however, were of an inquiring, +debating kind, that moved from one thing to another as if to get a +sense of balance before opinion or judgment was expressed. The face +had remained impassive, but the eyes had kindled a little as the factor +talked. To the factor's despairing question there was not an immediate +reply. The eyes were debating. But they suddenly steadied and Jaspar +Hume said sententiously: "A relief party should go." + +"Yes, yes, but who is to lead them?" + +Again the eyes debated. + +"Read her letter," said the factor, handing it over. Jaspar Hume took it +and mechanically scanned it. The factor had moved towards the table +for his pipe or he would have seen the other start, and his nostrils +slightly quiver, as his eyes grew conscious of what they were seeing. +Turning quickly, Hume walked towards the window as though for more +light, and with his back to the factor he read the letter. Then he +turned and said: "I think this thing should be done." + +The factor shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Well, as to that, I think +so too, but thinking and doing are two different things, Hume." + +"Will you leave the matter in my hands until the morning?" + +"Yes, of course, and glad to do so. You are the only man who can arrange +the affair, if it is to be done at all. But I tell you, as you know, +that everything will depend upon a leader, even if you secure the +men.... So you had better keep the letter for to-night. It may help you +to get the men together. A woman's handwriting will do more than a man's +word any time." + +Jaspar Hume's eyes had been looking at the factor, but they were +studying something else. His face seemed not quite so fresh as it was a +few minutes before. + +"I will see you at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, Mr. Field," he said +quietly. "Will you let Gosse come to me in an hour?" + +"Certainly. Good-night." + +Jaspar Hume let himself out. He walked across a small square to a log +house and opened a door which creaked and shrieked with the frost. A dog +sprang upon him as he did so, and rubbed its head against his breast. He +touched the head as if it had been that of a child, and said: "Lie down, +Bouche." + +It did so, but it watched him as he doffed his dogskin cap and buffalo +coat. He looked round the room slowly once as though he wished to fix +it clearly and deeply in his mind. Then he sat down and held near the +firelight the letter the factor had given him. His features grew stern +and set as he read it. Once he paused in the reading and looked into the +fire, drawing his breath sharply between his teeth. Then he read it to +the end without a sign. A pause, and he said aloud: "So this is how the +lines meet again, Varre Lepage!" He read the last sentence of the letter +aloud: + + In the hope that you may soon give me good news of my husband, + I am, with all respect, + + Faithfully yours, + + ROSE LEPAGE. + +Again he repeated: "With all respect, faithfully yours, Rose Lepage." + +The dog Bouche looked up. Perhaps it detected something unusual in +the voice. It rose, came over, and laid its head on its master's knee. +Hume's hand fell gently on the head, and he said to the fire: "Ah, Rose +Lepage, you can write to Factor Field what you dare not write to your +husband if you knew. You might say to him then, 'With all love,' but not +'With all respect.'" + +He folded the letter and put it in his pocket. Then he took the dog's +head between his hands and said: "Listen, Bouche, and I will tell you a +story." The dog blinked, and pushed its nose against his arm. + +"Ten years ago two young men who had studied and graduated together at +the same college were struggling together in their profession as civil +engineers. One was Clive Lepage and the other was Jaspar Hume. The one +was brilliant and persuasive, the other, persistent and studious. Lepage +could have succeeded in any profession; Hume had only heart and mind for +one. + +"Only for one, Bouche, you understand. He lived in it, he loved it, he +saw great things to be achieved in it. He had got an idea. He worked at +it night and day, he thought it out, he developed it, he perfected it, +he was ready to give it to the world. But he was seized with illness, +became blind, and was ordered to a warm climate for a year. He left his +idea, his invention, behind him--his complete idea. While he was gone +his bosom friend stole his perfected idea--yes, stole it, and sold it +for twenty thousand dollars. He was called a genius, a great inventor. +And then he married her. You don't know her, Bouche. You never saw +beautiful Rose Varcoe, who, liking two men, chose the one who was +handsome and brilliant, and whom the world called a genius. Why didn't +Jaspar Hume expose him, Bouche? Proof is not always easy, and then he +had to think of her. One has to think of a woman in such a case, Bouche. +Even a dog can see that." + +He was silent for a moment, and then he said: "Come, Bouche. You will +keep secret what I show you." + +He went to a large box in the corner, unlocked it, and took out a model +made of brass and copper and smooth but unpolished wood. + +"After ten years of banishment, Bouche, Hume has worked out another +idea, you see. It should be worth ten times the other, and the world +called the other the work of a genius, dog." + +Then he became silent, the animal watching him the while. It had seen +him working at this model for many a day, but had never heard him talk +so much at a time as he had done this last ten minutes. He was generally +a silent man--decisive even to severity, careless carriers and shirking +under-officers thought. Yet none could complain that he was unjust. He +was simply straight-forward, and he had no sympathy with those who had +not the same quality. He had carried a drunken Indian on his back for +miles, and from a certain death by frost. He had, for want of a more +convenient punishment, promptly knocked down Jeff Hyde, the sometime +bully of the fort, for appropriating a bundle of furs belonging to a +French half-breed, Gaspe Toujours. But he nursed Jeff Hyde through an +attack of pneumonia, insisting at the same time that Gaspe Toujours +should help him. The result of it all was that Jeff Hyde and Gaspe +Toujours became constant allies. They both formulated their oaths by +Jaspar Hume. The Indian, Cloud-in-the-Sky, though by word never thanking +his rescuer, could not be induced to leave the fort, except on some +mission with which Jaspar Hume was connected. He preferred living an +undignified, un-Indian life, and earning food and shelter by coarsely +labouring with his hands. He came at least twice a week to Hume's +log house, and, sitting down silent and cross-legged before the fire, +watched the sub-factor working at his drawings and calculations. Sitting +so for perhaps an hour or more, and smoking all the time, he would rise, +and with a grunt, which was answered by a kindly nod, would pass out as +silently as he came. + +And now as Jaspar Hume stood looking at his "Idea," Cloud-in-the-Sky +entered, let his blanket fall by the hearthstone and sat down upon it. +If Hume saw him or heard him, he at least gave no sign at first. But he +said at last in a low tone to the dog: "It is finished, Bouche; it is +ready for the world." + +Then he put it back, locked the box, and turned towards Cloud-in-the-Sky +and the fireplace. The Indian grunted; the other nodded with the +debating look again dominant in his eyes. The Indian met the look with +satisfaction. There was something in Jaspar Hume's habitual reticence +and decisiveness in action which appealed more to Cloud-in-the-Sky than +any freedom of speech could possibly have done. + +Hume sat down, handed the Indian a pipe and tobacco, and, with arms +folded, watched the fire. For half an hour they sat so, white man, +Indian, and dog. Then Hume rose, went to a cupboard, took out some +sealing wax and matches, and in a moment melted wax was dropping upon +the lock of the box containing his Idea. He had just finished this as +Sergeant Gosse knocked at the door, and immediately afterwards entered +the room. + +"Gosse," said the sub-factor, "find Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and Late +Carscallen, and bring them here." Sergeant Gosse immediately +departed upon this errand. Hume then turned to the Indian, and said +"Cloud-in-the-Sky, I want you to go a long journey hereaway to the +Barren Grounds. Have twelve dogs ready by nine to-morrow morning." + +Cloud-in-the-Sky shook his head thoughtfully, and then after a pause +said: "Strong-back go too?" Strongback was his name for the sub-factor. +But the other either did not or would not hear. The Indian, however, +appeared satisfied, for he smoked harder afterwards, and grunted to +himself many times. A few moments passed, and then Sergeant Gosse +entered, followed by Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and Late Carscallen. +Late Carscallen had got his name "Late" from having been called "The +Late Mr. Carscallen" by the chief factor because of his slowness. Slow +as he was, however, the stout Scotsman had more than once proved himself +a man of rare merit according to Hume's ideas. He was, of course, the +last to enter. + +The men grouped themselves about the fire, Late Carscallen getting the +coldest corner. Each man drew his tobacco from his pocket, and, cutting +it, waited for Hume to speak. His eyes were debating as they rested on +the four. Then he took out Mrs. Lepage's letter, and, with the group +looking at him, he read it aloud. When it was finished, Cloud-in-the-Sky +gave a guttural assent, and Gaspe Toujours, looking at Jeff Hyde, said: +"It is cold in the Barren Grounds. We shall need much tabac." These men +could read without difficulty Hume's reason for summoning them. To Gaspe +Toujours' remark Jeff Hyde nodded affirmatively, and then all looked +at Late Carscallen. He opened his heavy jaws once or twice with an +animal-like sound, and then he said, in a general kind of way: + +"To the Barren Grounds. But who leads?" + +Hume was writing on a slip of paper, and he did not reply. The faces of +three of them showed just a shade of anxiety. They guessed who it would +be, but they were not sure. Cloud-in-the-Sky, however, grunted at them, +and raised the bowl of his pipe towards the subfactor. The anxiety then +seemed to disappear. + +For ten minutes more they sat so, all silent. Then Hume rose, handed +the slip of paper to Sergeant Gosse, and said: "Attend to that at once, +Gosse. Examine the food and blankets closely." + +The five were left alone. + +Then Hume spoke: "Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, Late Carscallen, and +Cloud-in-the-Sky, this man, alive or dead, is between here and the +Barren Grounds. He must be found--for his wife's sake." + +He handed Jeff Hyde her letter. Jeff rubbed his fingers before he +touched the delicate and perfumed missive. Its delicacy seemed to +bewilder him. He said: in a rough but kindly way: "Hope to die if +I don't," and passed it on to Gaspe Toujours, who did not find it +necessary to speak. His comrade had answered for him. Late Carscallen +held it inquisitively for a moment, and then his jaws opened and shut as +if he were about to speak. But before he did so Hume said: "It is a long +journey and a hard one. Those who go may never come back. But this man +was working for his country, and he has got a wife--a good wife." He +held up the letter. "Late Carscallen wants to know who will lead you. +Can't you trust me? I will give you a leader that you will follow to the +Barren Grounds. To-morrow you will know who he is. Are you satisfied? +Will you do it?" + +The four rose, and Cloud-in-the-Sky nodded approvingly many times. Hume +held out his hand. Each man shook it, Jeff Hyde first. Then he said: +"Close up ranks for the H.B.C.!" (H.B.C. meaning, of course, Hudson's +Bay Company.) + +With a good man to lead them, these four would have stormed, alone, the +Heights of Balaklava. + +Once more Hume spoke. "Go to Gosse and get your outfits at nine +to-morrow morning. Cloud-in-the-Sky, have your sleds at the store at +eight o'clock, to be loaded. Then all meet me at 10.15 at the office of +the chief factor. Good night." + +As they passed out into the semi-arctic night, Late Carscallen with +an unreal obstinacy said: "Slow march to the Barren Grounds--but who +leads?" + +Left alone Hume sat down to the pine table at one end of the room and +after a short hesitation began to write. For hours he sat there, rising +only to put wood on the fire. The result was three letters: the largest +addressed to a famous society in London, one to a solicitor in Montreal, +and one to Mr. Field, the chief factor. They were all sealed carefully. +Then he rose, took out his knife, and went over to the box as if to +break the red seal. He paused, however, sighed, and put the knife back +again. As he did so he felt something touch his leg. It was the dog. + +Hume drew in a sharp breath and said: "It was all ready, Bouche; and in +another six months I should have been in London with it. But it will go +whether I go or not--whether I go or not, Bouche." + +The dog sprang up and put his head against his master's breast. + +"Good dog, good dog, it's all right, Bouche; however it goes, it's all +right," said Hume. + +Then the dog lay down and watched his master until he drew the blankets +to his chin, and sleep drew oblivion over a fighting soul. + + + + +II + +At ten o'clock next morning Jaspar Hume presented himself at the chief +factor's office. He bore with him the letters he had written the night +before. + +The factor said: "Well, Hume, I am glad to see you. That woman's letter +was on my mind all night. Have you anything to propose? I suppose not," +he added despairingly, as he looked closely into the face of the other. +"Yes, Mr. Field, I propose that the expedition start at noon to-day." + +"Start-at noon-to-day?" + +"In two hours." + +"Who are the party?" + +"Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, Late Carscallen, and Cloud-in-the-Sky." + +"Who leads them, Hume? Who leads?" + +"With your permission, I do." + +"You? But, man, consider the danger and--your invention!" + +"I have considered all. Here are three letters. If we do not come back +in three months, you will please send this one, with the box in my room, +to the address on the envelope. This is for a solicitor in Montreal, +which you will also forward as soon as possible; and this last one +is for yourself; but you will not open it until the three months have +passed. Have I your permission to lead these men? They would not go +without me." + +"I know that, I know that, Hume. I can't say no. Go, and good luck go +with you." + +Here the manly old factor turned away his head. He knew that Hume had +done right. He knew the possible sacrifice this man was making of all +his hopes, of his very life; and his sound Scotch heart appreciated the +act to the full. But he did not know all. He did not know that Jaspar +Hume was starting to search for the man who had robbed him of youth and +hope and genius and home. + +"Here is a letter that the wife has written to her husband on the chance +of his getting it. You will take it with you, Hume. And the other she +wrote to me--shall I keep it?" He held out his hand. + +"No, sir, I will keep it, if you will allow me. It is my commission, you +know." The shadow of a smile hovered about Hume's lips. + +The factor smiled kindly as he replied: "Ah, yes, your +commission--Captain Jaspar Hume of--of what?" Just then the door opened +and there entered the four men who had sat before the sub-factor's fire +the night before. They were dressed in white blanket costumes from head +to foot, white woollen capotes covering the grey fur caps they wore. +Jaspar Hume ran his eye over them and then answered the factor's +question: "Of the White Guard, sir." + +"Good," was the reply. "Men, you are going on a relief expedition. There +will be danger. You need a good leader. You have one in Captain Hume." + +Jeff Hyde shook his head at the others with a pleased I-told-you-so +expression; Cloud-in-the-Sky grunted his deep approval; and Late +Carscallen smacked his lips in a satisfied manner and rubbed his leg +with a schoolboy sense of enjoyment. The factor continued: "In the name +of the Hudson's Bay Company I will say that if you come back, having +done your duty faithfully, you shall be well rewarded. And I believe you +will come back, if it is in human power to do so." + +Here Jeff Hyde said: "It isn't for reward we're doin' it, Mr. Field, but +because Mr. Hume wished it, because we believed he'd lead us; and for +the lost fellow's wife. We wouldn't have said we'd do it, if it wasn't +for him that's just called us the White Guard." + +Under the bronze of the sub-factor's face there spread a glow more +red than brown, and he said simply: "Thank you, men"--for they had all +nodded assent to Jeff Hyde's words--"come with me to the store. We will +start at noon." + +At noon the White Guard stood in front of the store on which the British +flag was hoisted with another beneath it bearing the magic letters, +H.B.C.: magic, because they opened to the world regions that seemed +destined never to know the touch of civilisation. The few inhabitants of +the fort were gathered at the store; the dogs and loaded sleds were at +the door. It wanted but two minutes to twelve when Hume came from his +house, dressed also in the white blanket costume, and followed by his +dog, Bouche. In a moment more he had placed Bouche at the head of the +first team of dogs. They were to have their leader too. Punctually at +noon, Hume shook hands with the factor, said a quick good-bye to the +rest, called out a friendly "How!" to the Indians standing near, and +to the sound of a hearty cheer, heartier perhaps because none had a +confident hope that the five would come back, the march of the White +Guard began. + + + + +III + +It was eighteen days after. In the shadow of a little island of pines, +that lies in a shivering waste of ice and snow, the White Guard were +camped. They were able to do this night what they had not done for +days--dig a great grave of snow, and building a fire of pine wood +at each end of this strange house, get protection and something like +comfort. They sat silent close to the fires. Jaspar Hume was writing +with numbed fingers. The extract that follows is taken from his diary. +It tells that day's life, and so gives an idea of harder, sterner days +that they had spent and must yet spend, on this weary journey. + + December 25th.--This is Christmas Day and Camp twenty-seven. We + have marched only five miles to-day. We are eighty miles from Great + Fish River, and the worst yet to do. We have discovered no signs. + Jeff Hyde has had a bad two days with his frozen foot. Gaspe + Toujours helps him nobly. One of the dogs died this morning. + Bouche is a great leader. This night's shelter is a god-send. + Cloud-in-the-Sky has a plan whereby some of us will sleep well. We + are in latitude 63deg 47' and longitude 112deg 32' 14". Have worked + out lunar observations. Have marked a tree JH/27 and raised cairn + No. 3. + + We are able to celebrate Christmas Day with a good basin of tea and + our stand-by of beans cooked in fat. I was right about them: they + have great sustaining power. To-morrow we will start at ten + o'clock. + +The writing done, Jaspar Hume put his book away and turned towards the +rest. Cloud-in-the-Sky and Late Carscallen were smoking. Little could be +seen of their faces; they were snuffled to the eyes. Gaspe Toujours was +drinking a basin of tea, and Jeff Hyde was fitfully dozing by the fire. +The dogs were above in the tent--all but Bouche, who was permitted to be +near his master. Presently the sub-factor rose, took from a knapsack a +small tin pail, and put it near the fire. Then he took five little cups +that fitted snugly into each other, separated them, and put them also +near the fire. None of the party spoke. A change seemed to pass over the +faces of all except Cloud-in-the-Sky. He smoked on unmoved. At length +Hume spoke cheerily: "Now, men, before we turn in we'll do something in +honour of the day. Liquor we none of us have touched since we started; +but back there in the fort, and maybe in other places too, they will +be thinking of us; so we'll drink a health to them, though it's but a +spoonful, and to the day when we see them again!" + +The cups were passed round. The sub-factor measured out a very small +portion to each. They were not men of uncommon sentiment; their lives +were rigid and isolated and severe. Fireside comforts under fortunate +conditions they saw but seldom, and they were not given to +expressing their feelings demonstratively. But each man then, save +Cloud-in-the-Sky, had some memory worth a resurrection. + +Jaspar Hume raised his cup; the rest followed his example. "To absent +friends and the day when we see them again!" he said; and they all +drank. Gaspe Toujours drank solemnly, and, as though no one was near, +made the sign of the cross; for his memory was with a dark-eyed, +soft-cheeked habitant girl of the parish of Saint Gabrielle, whom he had +left behind seven years before, and had never seen since. Word had come +from the parish priest that she was dying, and though he wrote back in +his homely patois of his grief, and begged that the good father would +write again, no word had ever come. He thought of her now as one for +whom the candles had been lighted and masses had been said. + +But Jeff Hyde's eyes were bright, and suffering as he was, the heart in +him was brave and hopeful. He was thinking of a glorious Christmas Day +upon the Madawaska River three years agone; of Adam Henry, the blind +fiddler; of bright, warm-hearted Pattie Chown, the belle of the ball, +and the long drive home in the frosty night. + +Late Carscallen was thinking of a brother whom he had heard preach his +first sermon in Edinburgh twenty years before. And Late Carscallen, slow +of speech and thought, had been full of pride and love of that brilliant +brother. In the natural course of things, they had drifted apart, the +slow and uncouth one to make his home at last in the Far North, and to +be this night on his way to the Barren Grounds. But as he stood with the +cup to his lips he recalled the words of a newspaper paragraph of a +few months before. It stated that "the Reverend James Carscallen, +D.D., preached before Her Majesty on Whitsunday, and had the honour of +lunching with Her Majesty afterwards." Remembering that, Late Carscallen +rubbed his left hand joyfully against his blanketed leg and drank. + +Cloud-in-the-Sky's thoughts were with the present, and his "Ugh!" of +approval was one of the senses purely. Instead of drinking to absent +friends he looked at the sub-factor and said: "How!" He drank to the +subfactor. + +Jaspar Hume had a memory of childhood; of a house beside a swift-flowing +river, where a gentle widowed mother braced her heart against misfortune +and denied herself and slaved that her son might be educated. He had +said to her that some day he would be a great man, and she would be paid +back a hundredfold. And he had worked hard at school, very hard. But one +cold day of spring a message came to the school, and he sped homewards +to the house beside the dark river down which the ice was floating,--he +would remember that floating ice to his last day, and entered a quiet +room where a white-faced woman was breathing away her life. And he fell +at her side and kissed her hand and called to her; and she waked for a +moment only and smiled on him, and said: "Be good, my boy, and God +will make you great." Then she said she was cold, and some one felt +her feet--a kind old soul who shook her head sadly at him; and a voice, +rising out of a strange smiling languor, murmured: "I'll away, I'll away +to the Promised Land--to the Promised Land.... It is cold--so cold--God +keep my boy!" Then the voice ceased, and the kind old soul who had +looked at him, pityingly folded her arms about him, and drawing his +brown head to her breast, kissed him with flowing eyes and whispered: +"Come away, laddie, come away." + +But he came back in the night and sat beside her, and remained there +till the sun grew bright, and then through another day and night, +until they bore her out of the little house by the river to the frozen +hill-side. + +Sitting here in this winter desolation Jaspar Hume once more beheld +these scenes of twenty years before and followed himself, a poor +dispensing clerk in a doctor's office, working for that dream of +achievement in which his mother believed; for which she hoped. And +following further the boy that was himself, he saw a friendless +first-year man at college, soon, however, to make a friend of Clive +Lepage, and to see always the best of that friend, being himself so +true. At last the day came when they both graduated together in science, +a bright and happy day, succeeded by one still brighter, when they both +entered a great firm as junior partners. Afterwards befell the meeting +with Rose Varcoe; and he thought of how he praised his friend Lepage +to her, and brought him to be introduced to her. He recalled all those +visions that came to him when, his professional triumphs achieved, he +should have a happy home, and happy faces by his fireside. And the face +was to be that of Rose Varcoe, and the others, faces of those who should +be like her and like himself. He saw, or rather felt, that face clouded +and anxious when he went away ill and blind for health's sake. He did +not write to her. The doctors forbade him that. He did not ask her to +write, for his was so steadfast a nature that he did not need letters +to keep him true; and he thought she must be the same. He did not +understand a woman's heart, how it needs remembrances, and needs to give +remembrances. + +Hume's face in the light of this fire seemed calm and cold, yet behind +it was an agony of memory--the memory of the day when he discovered that +Lepage was married to Rose, and that the trusted friend had grown famous +and well-to-do on the offspring of his brain. His first thought had been +one of fierce determination to expose this man who had falsified all +trust. But then came the thought of the girl, and, most of all, there +came the words of his dying mother, "Be good, my boy, and God will make +you great"; and for his mother's sake he had compassion on the girl, and +sought no restitution from her husband. And now, ten years later, he +did not regret that he had stayed his hand. The world had ceased to call +Lepage a genius. He had not fulfilled the hope once held of him. Hume +knew this from occasional references in scientific journals. + +And now he was making this journey to save, if he could, Lepage's life. +Though just on the verge of a new era in his career--to give to the +world the fruit of ten years' thought and labour, he had set all behind +him, that he might be true to the friendship of his youth, that he might +be clear of the strokes of conscience to the last hour of his life. + +Looking round him now, the debating look came again into his eyes. He +placed his hand in his breast, and let it rest there for a moment. The +look became certain and steady, the hand was drawn out, and in it was a +Book of Common Prayer. Upon the fly-leaf was written: "Jane Hume, to her +dear son Jaspar, on his twelfth birthday." + +These men of the White Guard were not used to religious practices, +whatever their past had been in that regard, and at any other time they +might have been surprised at this action of their leader. Under some +circumstances it might have lessened their opinion of him; but his +influence over them now was complete. They knew they were getting nearer +to him than they had ever done; even Cloud-in-the-Sky appreciated that. +Hume spoke no word to them, but looked at them and stood up. They all +did the same, Jeff Hyde leaning on the shoulders of Gaspe Toujours. He +read first, four verses of the Thirty-first Psalm, then followed the +prayer of St. Chrysostom, and the beautiful collect which appeals to the +Almighty to mercifully look upon the infirmities of men, and to stretch +forth His hand to keep and defend them in all dangers and necessities. +Late Carscallen, after a long pause, said "Amen," and Jeff said in a +whisper to Gaspe Toujours: "That's to the point. Infirmities and dangers +and necessities is what troubles us." + +Immediately after, at a sign from the sub-factor, Cloud-in-the-Sky began +to transfer the burning wood from one fire to the other until only hot +ashes were left where a great blaze had been. Over these ashes pine +twigs and branches were spread, and over them again blankets. The word +was then given to turn in, and Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and Late +Carscallen lay down in this comfortable bed. Each wished to give way to +their captain, but he would not consent. He and Cloud-in-the-Sky wrapped +themselves in their blankets like mummies, covering the head completely, +and under the arctic sky they slept alone in an austere and tenantless +world. They never know how loftily sardonic Nature can be who have not +seen that land where the mercury freezes in the tubes, and there is +light but no warmth in the smile of the sun. Not Sturt in the heart +of Australia with the mercury bursting the fevered tubes, with the +finger-nails breaking like brittle glass, with the ink drying instantly +on the pen, with the hair fading and falling off, would, if he could, +have exchanged his lot for that of the White Guard. They were in a +frozen endlessness that stretched away to a world where never voice of +man or clip of wing or tread of animal is heard. It is the threshold to +the undiscovered country, to that untouched north whose fields of white +are only furrowed by the giant forces of the elements; on whose frigid +hearthstone no fire is ever lit; where the electric phantoms of a +nightless land pass and repass, and are never still; where the magic +needle points not towards the north but darkly downward; where the sun +never stretches warm hands to him who dares confront the terrors of +eternal snow. + +The White Guard slept. + + + + +IV + +"No, Captain; leave me here and push on to Manitou Mountain. You ought +to make it in two days. I'm just as safe here as on the sleds, and less +trouble. A blind man's no good. I'll have a good rest while you're gone, +and then perhaps my eyes will come out right. My foot's nearly well +now." + +Jeff Hyde was snow-blind. The giant of the party had suffered most. + +But Hume said in reply: "I won't leave you alone. The dogs can carry you +as they've done for the last ten days." + +But Jeff replied: "I'm as safe here as marching, and safer. When the +dogs are not carrying me, nor any one leading me, you can get on faster; +and that means everything to us, now don't it?" + +Hume met the eyes of Gaspe Toujours. He read them. Then he said to Jeff: +"It shall be as you wish. Late Carscallen, Cloud-in-the-Sky, and myself +will push on to Manitou Mountain. You and Gaspe Toujours will remain +here." + +Jeff Hyde's blind eyes turned towards Gaspe Toujours, who said: "Yes. We +have plenty tabac." + +A tent was set up, provisions were put in it, a spirit-lamp and matches +were added, and the simple menage was complete. Not quite. Jaspar Hume +looked round. There was not a tree in sight. He stooped and cut away a +pole that was used for strengthening the runners of the sleds, fastened +it firmly in the ground, and tied to it a red woollen scarf, used for +tightening his white blankets round him. Then he said: "Be sure and keep +that flying." + +Jeff's face was turned towards the north. The blindman's instinct +was coming to him. Far off white eddying drifts were rising over long +hillocks of snow. When he turned round again his face was troubled. It +grew more troubled, then it brightened up again, and he said to Hume: +"Captain, would you leave that book with me till you come back--that +about infirmities, dangers, and necessities? I knew a river-boss who +used to carry an old spelling-book round with him for luck. It seems to +me as if that book of yours, Captain, would bring luck to this part of +the White Guard, that bein' out at heels like has to stay behind." + +Hume had borne the sufferings of his life with courage; he had led this +terrible tramp with no tremor at his heart for himself; he was seeking +to perform a perilous act without any inward shrinking; but Jeff's +request was the greatest trial of this critical period in his life. + +Jeff felt, if he could not see, the hesitation of his chief. His rough +but kind instincts told him something was wrong, and he hastened to add: +"Beg your pardon, Mr. Hume, it ain't no matter. I oughtn't have asked +you for it. But it's just like me. I've been a chain on the leg of the +White Guard this whole tramp." + +The moment of hesitation had passed before Jeff had said half-a-dozen +words, and Hume put the book in his hands with the words: "No, Jeff, +take it. It will bring luck to the White Guard. Keep it safe until I +come back." + +Jeff took the book, but hearing a guttural "Ugh" behind him, he turned +round defiantly. Cloud-in-the-Sky touched his arm and said: "Good! +Strong-back book--good!" Jeff was satisfied. + +At this point they parted, Jeff and Gaspe Toujours remaining, and Hume +and his two followers going on towards Manitou Mountain. There seemed +little probability that Clive Lepage would be found. In their progress +eastward and northward they had covered wide areas of country, dividing +and meeting again after stated hours of travel, but not a sign had been +seen; neither cairn nor staff nor any mark of human presence. + +Hume had noticed Jeff Hyde's face when it was turned to the eddying +drifts of the north, and he understood what was in the experienced +huntsman's mind. He knew that severe weather was before them, and that +the greatest danger of the journey was to be encountered. + +That night they saw Manitou Mountain, cold, colossal, harshly calm; and +jointly with that sight there arose a shrieking, biting, fearful +north wind. It blew upon them in cruel menace of conquest, in piercing +inclemency. It struck a freezing terror to their hearts, and grew in +violent attack until, as if repenting that it had foregone its power to +save, the sun suddenly grew red and angry, and spread out a shield of +blood along the bastions of the west. The wind shrank back and grew less +murderous, and ere the last red arrow shot up behind the lonely western +wall of white, the three knew that the worst of the storm had passed and +that death had drawn back for a time. What Hume thought may be gathered +from his diary; for ere he crawled in among the dogs and stretched +himself out beside Bouche, he wrote these words with aching fingers: + + January 10th: Camp 39.--A bitter day. We are facing three fears + now: the fate of those we left behind; Lepage's fate; and the going + back. We are twenty miles from Manitou Mountain. If he is found, + I should not fear the return journey; success gives hope. But we + trust in God. + +Another day passed and at night, after a hard march, they camped five +miles from Manitou Mountain. And not a sign! But Hume felt there was a +faint chance of Lepage being found at this mountain. His iron frame had +borne the hardships of this journey well; his strong heart better. But +this night an unaccountable weakness possessed him. Mind and body were +on the verge of helplessness. Bouche seemed to understand this, and when +he was unhitched from the team of dogs, now dwindled to seven, he leaped +upon his master's breast. It was as if some instinct of sympathy, of +prescience, was passing between the man and the dog. Hume bent his head +down to Bouche for an instant and rubbed his side kindly; then he said, +with a tired accent: "It's all right, old dog, it's all right." + +Hume did not sleep well at first, but at length oblivion came. He waked +to feel Bouche tugging at his blankets. It was noon. Late Carscallen and +Cloud-in-the-Sky were still sleeping--inanimate bundles among the dogs. +In an hour they were on their way again, and towards sunset they had +reached the foot of Manitou Mountain. Abruptly from the plain rose this +mighty mound, blue and white upon a black base. A few straggling pines +grew near its foot, defying latitude, as the mountain itself defied +the calculations of geographers and geologists. A halt was called. +Late Carscallen and Cloud-in-the-Sky looked at the chief. His eyes were +scanning the mountain closely. Suddenly he motioned. A hundred feet up +there was a great round hole in the solid rock, and from this hole there +came a feeble cloud of smoke! The other two saw also. Cloud-in-the-Sky +gave a wild whoop, and from the mountain there came, a moment after, a +faint replica of the sound. It was not an echo, for there appeared at +the mouth of the cave an Indian, who made feeble signs for them to +come. In a little while they were at the cave. As Jaspar Hume entered, +Cloud-in-the-Sky and the stalwart but emaciated Indian who had beckoned +to them spoke to each other in the Chinook language, the jargon common +to all Indians of the West. + +Jaspar Hume saw a form reclining on a great bundle of pine branches, +and he knew what Rose Lepage had prayed for was come to pass. By the +flickering light of a handful of fire he saw Lepage--rather what was +left of him--a shadow of energy, a heap of nerveless bones. His eyes +were shut, but as Hume, with a quiver of memory and sympathy at his +heart, stood for an instant, and looked at the man whom he had cherished +as a friend and found an enemy, Lepage's lips moved and a weak voice +said: "Who is there?" + +"A friend." + +"Come-near-me,--friend." + +Hume made a motion to Late Carscallen, who was heating some liquor at +the fire, and then he stooped and lifted up the sick man's head, and +took his hand. "You have come--to save me!" whispered the weak voice +again. + +"Yes; I've come to save you." This voice was strong and clear and true. + +"I seem--to have--heard--your voice before--somewhere before--I seem +to--have--" + +But he had fainted. + +Hume poured a little liquor down the sick man's throat, and Late +Carscallen chafed the delicate hand--delicate in health, it was like +that of a little child now. When breath came again Hume whispered to his +helper "Take Cloud-in-the-Sky and get wood; bring fresh branches. Then +clear one of the sleds, and we will start back with him in the early +morning." + +Late Carscallen, looking at the skeleton-like figure, said: "He will +never get there." + +"Yes, he will get there," was Hume's reply. + +"But he is dying." + +"He goes with me to Fort Providence." + +"Ay, to Providence he goes, but not with you," said Late Carscallen, +doggedly. + +Anger flashed in Hume's eye, but he said quietly "Get the wood, +Carscallen." + +Hume was left alone with the starving Indian, who sat beside the +fire eating voraciously, and with the sufferer, who now was taking +mechanically a little biscuit sopped in brandy. For a few moments thus, +then his sunken eyes opened, and he looked dazedly at the man +bending above him. Suddenly there came into them a look of terror. +"You--you--are Jaspar Hume," his voice said in an awed whisper. + +"Yes." The hands of the sub-factor chafed those of the other. + +"But you said you were a friend, and come to save me." + +"I have come to save you." + +There was a shiver of the sufferer's body. This discovery would either +make him stronger or kill him. Hume knew this, and said: "Lepage, the +past is past and dead to me; let it be so to you." + +There was a pause. + +"How--did you know--about me?" + +"I was at Fort Providence. There came letters from the Hudson's Bay +Company, and from your wife, saying that you were making this journey, +and were six months behind--" + +"My wife--Rose!" + +"I have a letter for you from her. She is on her way to Canada. We are +to take you to her." + +"To take me--to her." Lepage shook his head sadly, but he pressed to his +lips the letter that Hume had given him. + +"To take you to her, Lepage." + +"No, I shall never see her again." + +"I tell you, you shall. You can live if you will. You owe that to +her--to me--to God." + +"To her--to you--to God. I have been true to none. I have been punished. +I shall die here." + +"You shall go to Fort Providence. Do that in payment of your debt to me, +Lepage. I demand that." In this transgressor there was a latent spark +of honour, a sense of justice that might have been developed to great +causes, if some strong nature, seeing his weaknesses, had not condoned +them, but had appealed to the natural chivalry of an impressionable, +vain, and weak character. He struggled to meet Hume's eyes, and doing +so, he gained confidence and said: "I will try to live. I will do you +justice--yet." + +"Your first duty is to eat and drink. We start for Fort Providence +to-morrow." + +The sick man stretched out his hand. "Food! Food!" he said. + +In tiny portions food and drink were given to him, and his strength +sensibly increased. The cave was soon aglow with the fire kindled by +Late Carscallen and Cloud-in-the-Sky. There was little speaking, for +the sick man soon fell asleep. Lepage's Indian told Cloud-in-the-Sky +the tale of their march--how the other Indian and the dogs died; how +his master became ill as they were starting towards Fort Providence from +Manitou Mountain in the summer weather; how they turned back and took +refuge in this cave; how month by month they had lived on what would +hardly keep a rabbit alive; and how, at last, his master urged him to +press on with his papers; but he would not, and stayed until this day, +when the last bit of food had been eaten, and they were found. + + + + +V + +The next morning Lepage was placed upon a sled, and they started back, +Bouche barking joyfully as he led off, with Cloud-in-the-Sky beside him. +There was light in the faces of all, though the light could not be seen +by reason of their being muffled so. All day they travelled, scarcely +halting, Lepage's Indian marching well. Often the corpse-like bundle on +the sled was disturbed, and biscuits wet in brandy and bits of preserved +venison were given. + +That night Hume said to Late Carscallen: "I am going to start at the +first light of the morning to get to Gaspe Toujours and Jeff Hyde as +soon as possible. Follow as fast as you can. He will be safe, if you +give him food and drink often. I shall get to the place where we left +them about noon; you should reach there at night or early the next +morning." + +"Hadn't you better take Bouche with you?" said Late Carscallen. + +The sub-factor thought a moment, and then said: "No, he is needed most +where he is." + +At noon the next day Jaspar Hume looked round upon a billowy plain of +sun and ice, but saw no staff, no signal, no tent, no sign of human +life: of Gaspe Toujours or of Jeff Hyde. His strong heart quailed. Had +he lost his way? He looked at the sun. He was not sure. He consulted his +compass, but it quivered hesitatingly. For awhile that wild bewilderment +which seizes upon the minds of the strongest, when lost, mastered +him, in spite of his struggles against it. He moved in a maze of +half-blindness, half-delirium. He was lost in it, swayed by it. He began +to wander about; and there grew upon his senses strange delights and +reeling agonies. He heard church bells, he caught at butterflies, he +tumbled in new-mown hay, he wandered in a tropic garden. But in the hay +a wasp stung him, and the butterfly changed to a curling black snake +that struck at him and glided to a dark-flowing river full of floating +ice, and up from the river a white hand was thrust, and it beckoned +him--beckoned him. He shut his eyes and moved towards it, but a voice +stopped him, and it said, "Come away, come away," and two arms folded +him round, and as he went back from the shore he stumbled and fell, +and... What is this? A yielding mass at his feet--a mass that stirs! He +clutches at it, he tears away the snow, he calls aloud--and his voice +has a faraway unnatural sound--"Gaspe Toujours! Gaspe Toujours!" Then +the figure of a man shakes itself in the snow, and a voice says: "Ay, +ay, sir!" Yes, it is Gaspe Toujours! And beside him lies Jeff Hyde, and +alive. "Ay, ay, sir, alive!" + +Jaspar Hume's mind was itself again. It had but suffered for a moment +the agony of delirium. + +Gaspe Toujours and Jeff Hyde had lain down in the tent the night of +the great wind, and had gone to sleep at once. The staff had been blown +down, the tent had fallen over them, the drift had covered them, and for +three days they had slept beneath the snow, never waking. + +Jeff Hyde's sight was come again to him. "You've come back for the +book," he said. "You couldn't go on without it. You ought to have taken +it yesterday." + +He drew it from his pocket. He was dazed. + +"No, Jeff, I've not come back for that, and I did not leave you +yesterday: it is three days and more since we parted. The book has +brought us luck, and the best. We have found our man; and they'll be +here to-night with him. I came on ahead to see how you fared." + +In that frost-bitten world Jeff Hyde uncovered his head for a moment. +"Gaspe Toujours is a papist," he said, "but he read me some of that book +the day you left, and one thing we went to sleep on: it was that about +'Lightenin' the darkness, and defendin' us from all the perils and +dangers of this night.'" Here Gaspe Toujours made the sign of the cross. +Jeff Hyde continued half apologetically for his comrade: "That comes +natural to Gaspe Toujours--I guess it always does to papists. But I +never had any trainin' that way, and I had to turn the thing over and +over, and I fell asleep on it. And when I wake up three days after, +here's my eyes as fresh as daisies, and you back, sir, and the thing +done that we come to do." + +He put the Book into Hume's hands and at that moment Gaspe Toujours +said: "See!" Far off, against the eastern horizon, appeared a group of +moving figures. + +That night the broken segments of the White Guard were reunited, and +Clive Lepage slept by the side of Jaspar Hume. + + + + +VI + +Napoleon might have marched back from Moscow with undecimated legions +safely enough, if the heart of those legions had not been crushed. The +White Guard, with their faces turned homeward, and the man they had +sought for in their care, seemed to have acquired new strength. Through +days of dreadful cold, through nights of appalling fierceness, through +storm upon the plains that made for them paralysing coverlets, they +marched. And if Lepage did not grow stronger, life at least was kept in +him. + +There was little speech among them, but once in a while Gaspe Toujours +sang snatches of the songs of the voyageurs of the great rivers; and +the hearts of all were strong. Between Bouche and his master there was +occasional demonstration. On the twentieth day homeward, Hume said with +his hand on the dog's head "It had to be done, Bouche; even a dog could +see that." + +And so it was "all right" for the White Guard. One day when the sun was +warmer than usual over Fort Providence, and just sixty-five days since +that cheer had gone up from apprehensive hearts for brave men going out +into the Barren Grounds, Sergeant Gosse, who, every day, and of late +many times a day, had swept the north-east with a field-glass, rushed +into the chief-factor's office, and with a broken voice cried: "They've +all come! They've come!" Then he leaned his arm and head against the +wall and sobbed. And the old factor rose from his chair tremblingly, and +said his thank-god, and went hurriedly into the square. He did not go +steadily, however, the joyous news had shaken him, sturdy old pioneer +as he was. A fringe of white had grown about his temples in the last +two months. The people of the fort had said they had never seen him so +irascible, yet so gentle; so uneasy, yet so reserved; so stern about the +mouth, yet so kind about the eyes as he had been since Hume had gone on +this desperate errand. + +Already the handful of people at the fort had gathered. Indians left +the store, and joined the rest; the factor and Sergeant Gosse set out +to meet the little army of relief. To the factor's "In the name of the +Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. Hume," when they met there came "By the help +of God, sir," and he pointed to the sled whereon Lepage lay. A feeble +hand was clasped in the burly hand of the factor, and then they all fell +into line again, Cloud-in-the-Sky running ahead of the dogs. Snow had +fallen on them, and as they entered the stockade, men and dogs were +white from head to foot. + +The White Guard had come back. Jaspar Hume as simply acknowledged his +strident welcome as he had done the God-speed two months and more ago. +With the factor he bore the sick man in, and laid him on his own bed. +Then he came outside again, and when they cheered him once more, he +said: "We have come safe through, and I'm thankful. But remember that my +comrades in this march deserve your cheers more than I. Without them I +couldn't have done anything." + +"In our infirmities and in all our dangers and necessities," added Jeff +Hyde. "The luck of the world was in that book!" + +In another half-hour the White Guard was at ease, and four of them were +gathered about the great stove in the store, Cloud-in-the-Sky smoking +placidly, and full of guttural emphasis; Late Carscallen moving his +animal-like jaws with a sense of satisfaction; Gaspe Toujours talking +in Chinook to the Indians, in patois to the French clerk, and in broken +English to them all; and Jeff Hyde exclaiming on the wonders of the +march, the finding of Lepage at Manitou Mountain, and of himself and +Gaspe Toujours buried in the snow. + + + + +VII + +In Hume's house at midnight Lepage lay asleep with his wife's +letters--received through the factor--in his hand. The firelight played +upon a dark, disappointed face--a doomed, prematurely old face, as it +seemed to the factor. + +"You knew him, then," the factor said, after a long silence, with a +gesture towards the bed. + +"Yes, well, years ago," replied Hume. + +Just then the sick man stirred in his sleep, and he said disjointedly: +"I'll make it all right to you, Hume." Then came a pause, and a quicker +utterance: "Forgive--forgive me, Rose." The factor got up, and turned to +go, and Hume, with a sorrowful gesture, went over to the bed. + +Again the voice said: "Ten years--I have repented ten years--I dare not +speak--" + +The factor touched Hume's arm. "He has fever. You and I must nurse him, +Hume. You can trust me--you understand." + +"Yes, I can trust you," was the reply. "But I can tell you nothing." + +"I do not want to know anything. If you can watch till two o'clock I +will relieve you. I'll send the medicine chest over. You know how to +treat him." + +The factor passed out, and the other was left alone with the man who had +wronged him. The feeling most active in his mind was pity, and, as he +prepared a draught from his own stock of medicines, he thought the past +and the present all over. He knew that however much he had suffered, +this man had suffered more. In this silent night there was broken +down any barrier that may have stood between Lepage and his complete +compassion. Having effaced himself from the calculation, justice became +forgiveness. + +He moistened the sick man's lips, and bathed his forehead, and roused +him once to take a quieting powder. Then he sat down and wrote to +Rose Lepage. But he tore the letter up again and said to the dog: "No, +Bouche, I can't; the factor must do it. She needn't know yet that it was +I who saved him. It doesn't make any burden of gratitude, if my name is +kept out of it. The factor mustn't mention me, Bouche--not yet. When he +is well we will go to London with It, Bouche, and we needn't meet her. +It will be all right, Bouche, all right!" + +The dog seemed to understand; for he went over to the box that held +It; and looked at his master. Then Jaspar Hume rose, broke the seal, +unlocked the box and opened it; but he heard the sick man moan, and he +closed it again and went over to the bed. The feeble voice said: "I must +speak--I cannot die so--not so." Hume moistened the lips once, put a +cold cloth on the fevered head, and then sat down by the fire again. + +Lepage slept at last. The restless hands grew quiet, the breath became +more regular, the tortured mind found a short peace. With the old +debating look in his eyes, Hume sat there watching until the factor +relieved him. + + + + +VIII + +February and March and April were past, and May was come. Lepage had +had a hard struggle for life, but he had survived. For weeks every night +there was a repetition of that first night after the return: delirious +self-condemnation, entreaty, appeal to his wife, and Hume's name +mentioned in shuddering remorse. With the help of the Indian who had +shared the sick man's sufferings in the Barren Grounds, the factor and +Hume nursed him back to life. After the first night no word had passed +between the two watchers regarding the substance of Lepage's delirium. +But one evening the factor was watching alone, and the repentant man +from his feverish sleep cried out: "Hush, hush! don't let them know--I +stole them both, and Rose did not know. Rose did not know!" + +The factor rose and walked away. The dog was watching him. He said to +Bouche: "You have a good master, Bouche." + + + + +IX + +In an arm-chair made of hickory and birch-bark by Cloud-in-the-Sky, +Lepage sat reading a letter from his wife. She was at Winnipeg, and was +coming west as far as Regina to meet him on his way down. He looked a +wreck; but a handsome wreck. His refined features, his soft black beard +and blue eyes, his graceful hand and gentle manners, seemed not to +belong to an evil-hearted man. He sat in the sunlight at the door, +wrapped about in moose and beaver skins. The world of plain and wood +was glad. Not so Lepage. He sat and thought of what was to come. He had +hoped at times that he would die, but twice Hume had said: "I demand +your life. You owe it to your wife--to me." He had pulled his heart up +to this demand and had lived. But what lay before him? He saw a stony +track, and he shuddered. + +As he sat there facing the future, Hume came to him and said: "If you +feel up to it, Lepage, we will start for Edmonton on Monday. I think it +will be quite safe, and your wife is anxious. I shall accompany you as +far as Edmonton; you can then proceed by easy stages, in this pleasant +weather. Are you ready to go?" + +"Quite ready," was the reply. + + + + +X + +On a beautiful May evening Lepage, Hume, and the White Guard were +welcomed at Fort Edmonton by the officer in command of the Mounted +Police. They were to enjoy the hospitality of the fort for a couple of +days. Hume was to go back with Cloud-in-the-Sky and Late Carscallen, +and a number of Indian carriers; for this was a journey of business too. +Gaspe Toujours and Jeff Hyde were to press on with Lepage, who was now +much stronger and better. One day passed, and on the following morning +Hume gave instructions to Gaspe Toujours and Jeff Hyde, and made +preparations for his going back. He was standing in the Barracks Square, +when a horseman rode in and made inquiry of a sergeant standing near, +if Lepage had arrived at the fort. A few words brought out the fact that +Rose Lepage was nearing the fort from the south. The trooper had been +sent on ahead the day before, but his horse having met with a slight +accident, he had been delayed. He had seen the party, however, a long +distance back in the early morning. He must now ride away and meet +Mrs. Lepage, he said. He was furnished with a fresh horse, and he left, +bearing a message from Lepage. + +Hume decided to leave Fort Edmonton at once, and to take all the White +Guard back with him; and gave orders to that effect. Entering the +room where Lepage sat alone, he said: "Lepage, the time has come for +good-bye. I am starting for Fort Providence." + +But the other replied: "You will wait until my wife comes. You must." +There was trouble in his voice. "I must not." + +Lepage braced himself for a heavy task and said: "Hume, if the time has +come to say good-bye, it has also come when we should speak together for +once openly: to settle, in so far as can be done, a long account. You +have not let my wife know who saved me. That appears from her letters. +She asks the name of my rescuer. I have not yet told her. But she will +know that to-day when I tell her all." + +"When you tell her all?" + +"When I tell her all." + +"But you shall not do that." + +"I will. It will be the beginning of the confession which I shall +afterwards make to the world." + +"By Heaven you shall not do it. Do you want to wreck her life?" + +Jaspar Hume's face was wrathful, and remained so till the other sank +back in the chair with his forehead in his hands; but it softened as he +saw this remorse and shame. He began to see that Lepage had not clearly +grasped the whole situation. He said in quieter but still firm tones: +"No, Lepage, that matter is between us two, and us alone. She must never +know--the world therefore must never know. You did an unmanly thing; +you are suffering a manly remorse. Now let it end here--but I swear it +shall," he said in sharp tones, as the other shook his head negatively: +"I would have let you die at Manitou Mountain, if I had thought you +would dare to take away your wife's peace--your children's respect." + +"I have no children; our baby died." + +Hume softened again. "Can you not see, Lepage? The thing cannot be +mended. I bury it all, and so must you. You will begin the world again, +and so shall I. Keep your wife's love. Henceforth you will deserve it." + +Lepage raised moist eyes to the other and said: "But you will take back +the money I got for that?" + +There was a pause, then Hume replied: "Yes, upon such terms, times, +and conditions as I shall hereafter fix. You have no child, Lepage?" he +gently added. + +"We have no child; it died with my fame." + +Hume looked steadily into the eyes of the man who had wronged him. +"Remember, Lepage, you begin the world again. I am going now. By the +memory of old days, good-bye." He held out his hand. Lepage took it, +rose tremblingly to his feet, and said, "You are a good man, Hume. +Good-bye." + +The sub-factor turned at the door. "If it will please you, tell +your wife that I saved you. Some one will tell her; perhaps I would +rather--at least it would be more natural, if you did it." + +He passed out into the sunshine that streamed into the room and fell +across the figure of Lepage, who murmured dreamily: "And begin the world +again." + +Time passed. A shadow fell across the sunlight that streamed upon +Lepage. He looked up. There was a startled cry of joy, an answering +exclamation of love, and Rose was clasped in her husband's arms. + +A few moments afterwards the sweet-faced woman said: "Who was that man +who rode away to the north as I came up, Clive? He reminded me of some +one." + +"That was the leader of the White Guard, the man who saved me, Rose." He +paused a moment and then solemnly said: "It was Jaspar Hume." + +The wife came to her feet with a spring. "He saved you--Jaspar Hume! Oh, +Clive!" + +"He saved me, Rose." + +Her eyes were wet: "And he would not stay and let me thank him! Poor +fellow, poor Jaspar Hume! Has he been up here all these years?" + +Her face was flushed, and pain was struggling with the joy she felt in +seeing her husband again. + +"Yes, he has been here all the time." + +"Then he has not succeeded in life, Clive!" Her thoughts went back to +the days when, blind and ill, Hume went away for health's sake, and she +remembered how sorry then she felt for him, and how grieved she was +that when he came back strong and well, he did not come near her or +her husband, and offered no congratulations. She had not deliberately +wronged him. She knew he cared for her: but so did Lepage. A promise +had been given to neither when Jaspar Hume went away; and after that +she grew to love the successful, kind-mannered genius who became her +husband. No real pledge had been broken. Even in this happiness of +hers, sitting once again at her husband's feet, she thought with tender +kindness of the man who had cared for her eleven years ago; and who had +but now saved her husband. + +"He has not succeeded in life," she repeated softly. Looking down at +her, his brow burning with a white heat, Lepage said: "He is a great +man, Rose." + +"I am sure he is a good man," she added. + +Perhaps Lepage had borrowed some strength not all his own, for he said +almost sternly: "He is a great man." + +His wife looked up half-startled and said: "Very well, dear; he is a +good man--and a great man." + +The sunlight still came in through the open door. The Saskatchewan +flowed swiftly between its verdant banks, an eagle went floating away to +the west, robins made vocal a solitary tree a few yards away, troopers +moved backwards and forwards across the square, and a hen and her +chickens came fluttering to the threshold. The wife looked at the yellow +brood drawing close to their mother, and her eyes grew wistful. She +thought of their one baby asleep in an English grave. But thinking of +the words of the captain of the White Guard, Lepage said firmly: "We +will begin the world again." + +She smiled, and rose to kiss him as the hen and chickens hastened away +from the door, and a clear bugle call sounded in the square. + + + + +XI + +Eleven years have gone since that scene was enacted at Edmonton. + +A great gathering is dispersing from a hall in Piccadilly. It has been +drawn together to do honour to a man who has achieved a triumph in +engineering science. As he steps from the platform to go, he is greeted +by a fusilade of cheers. He bows calmly and kindly. He is a man of +vigorous yet reserved aspect; he has a rare individuality. He receives +with a quiet cordiality the personal congratulations of his friends. He +remains for some time in conversation with a royal duke, who takes his +arm, and with him passes into the street. The duke is a member of this +great man's club, and offers him a seat in his brougham. Amid the cheers +of the people they drive away together. Inside the club there are fresh +congratulations, and it is proposed to arrange an impromptu dinner, +at which the duke will preside. But with modesty and honest thanks +the great man declines. He pleads an engagement. He had pleaded this +engagement the day before to a well-known society. After his health is +proposed, he makes his adieux, and leaving the club, walks away towards +a West-end square. In one of its streets he pauses, and enters +a building called "Providence Chambers." His servant hands him a +cablegram. He passes to his library, and, standing before the fire, +opens it. It reads: "My wife and I send congratulations to the great +man." + +Jaspar Hume stands for a moment looking at the fire, and then says +simply: "I wish poor old Bouche were here." He then sits down and writes +this letter: + + My dear Friends,--Your cablegram has made me glad. The day is over. + My latest idea was more successful than I even dared to hope; and + the world has been kind. I went down to see your boy, Jaspar, at + Clifton last week. It was his birthday, you know--nine years old, + and a clever, strong-minded little fellow. He is quite contented. + As he is my god-child, I again claimed the right of putting a + thousand dollars to his credit in the bank,--I have to speak of + dollars to you people living in Canada--which I have done on his + every birthday. When he is twenty-one he will have twenty-one + thousand dollars--quite enough for a start in life. We get along + well together, and I think he will develop a fine faculty for + science. In the summer, as I said, I will bring him over to you. + There is nothing more to say to-night except that I am as always, + + Your faithful and loving friend, + JASPAR HUME. + +A moment after the letter was finished, the servant entered and +announced "Mr. Late Carscallen." With a smile and hearty greeting the +great man and this member of the White Guard met. It was to entertain +his old arctic comrade that Jaspar Hume had declined to be entertained +by society or club. A little while after, seated at the table, the +ex-sub-factor said: "You found your brother well, Carscallen?" + +The jaws moved slowly as of old. "Ay, that, and a grand meenister, sir." + +"He wanted you to stay in Scotland, I suppose?" + +"Ay, that, but there's no place for me like Fort Providence." + +"Try this pheasant. And you are sub-factor now, Carscallen?" + +"There's two of us sub-factors--Jeff Hyde and myself. Mr. Field is old, +and can't do much work, and trade's heavy now." + +"I know. I hear from the factor now and then. And Gaspe Toujours, what +of him?" + +"He went away three years ago, and he said he'd come back. He never +did though. Jeff Hyde believes he will. He says to me a hundred times, +'Carscallen, he made the sign of the cross that he'd come back from +Saint Gabrielle; and that's next to the Book with a papist. If he's +alive he'll come.'" + +"Perhaps he will, Carscallen. And Cloud-in-the-Sky?" + +"He's still there, and comes in and smokes with Jeff Hyde and me, as +he used to do with you; but he doesn't obey our orders as he did +yours, sir. He said to me when I left: 'You see Strong-back, tell him +Cloud-in-the-Sky good Injun--he never forget. How!'" + +Jaspar Hume raised his glass with smiling and thoughtful eyes: "To +Cloud-in-the-Sky and all who never forget!" he said. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The March Of The White Guard, by Gilbert Parker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARCH OF THE WHITE GUARD *** + +***** This file should be named 6223.txt or 6223.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/2/6223/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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