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diff --git a/16174-8.txt b/16174-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7581ef8..0000000 --- a/16174-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9611 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gun-Brand, by James B. Hendryx - -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 Gun-Brand - -Author: James B. Hendryx - -Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16174] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GUN-BRAND *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - - - -[Frontispiece: "The next instant his arms were pinioned -to his sides."] - - - - - - -The Gun-Brand - - -By JAMES B. HENDRYX - - - - - -AUTHOR OF - -"The Promise" Etc. - - - - -With Frontispiece in Colors - -By CLYDE FORSYTHE - - - - -A. L. BURT COMPANY - -Publishers New York - - -published by arrangement with G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - - - - -COPYRIGHT, 1917 - -By - -JAMES B. HENDRYX - - - -Second Impression - - - - - - -The Knickerbocker Press, New York - - - - -CONTENTS - -CHAPTER - - I THE CALL OF THE RAW - II VERMILION SHOWS HIS HAND - III PIERRE LAPIERRE - IV CHLOE SECURES AN ALLY - V PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS - VI BRUTE MACNAIR - VII THE MASTER MIND - VIII A SHOT IN THE NIGHT - IX ON SNARE LAKE - X AN INTERVIEW - XI BACK ON THE YELLOW KNIFE - XII A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT - XIII LAPIERRE RETURNS FROM THE SOUTH - XIV THE WHISKEY RUNNERS - XV "ARREST THAT MAN!" - XVI MACNAIR GOES TO JAIL - XVII A FRAME-UP - XVIII WHAT HAPPENED AT BROWN'S - XIX THE LOUCHOUX GIRL - XX ON THE TRAIL OF PIERRE LAPIERRE - XXI LAPIERRE PAYS A VISIT - XXII CHLOE WRITES A LETTER - XXIII THE WOLF-CRY! - XXIV THE BATTLE - XXV THE GUN-BRAND - - - - -THE GUN-BRAND - - -CHAPTER I - -THE CALL OF THE RAW - -Seated upon a thick, burlap-covered bale of freight--a "piece," in the -parlance of the North--Chloe Elliston idly watched the loading of the -scows. The operation was not new to her; a dozen times within the -month since the outfit had swung out from Athabasca Landing she had -watched from the muddy bank while the half-breeds and Indians unloaded -the big scows, ran them light through whirling rock-ribbed rapids, -carried the innumerable pieces of freight upon their shoulders across -portages made all but impassable by scrub timber, oozy muskeg, and low -sand-mountains, loaded the scows again at the foot of the rapid and -steered them through devious and dangerous miles of swift-moving -white-water, to the head of the next rapid. - -They are patient men--these water freighters of the far North. For -more than two centuries and a quarter they have sweated the wilderness -freight across these same portages. And they are sober men--when -civilization is behind them--far behind. - -Close beside Chloe Elliston, upon the same piece, Harriet Penny, of -vague age, and vaguer purpose, also watched the loading of the scows. -Harriet Penny was Chloe Elliston's one concession to convention--excess -baggage, beyond the outposts, being a creature of fear. Upon another -piece, Big Lena, the gigantic Swedish Amazon who, in the capacity of -general factotum, had accompanied Chloe Elliston over half the world, -stared stolidly at the river. - -Having arrived at Athabasca Landing four days after the departure of -the Hudson Bay Company's annual brigade, Chloe had engaged -transportation into the North in the scows of an independent. And, -when he heard of this, the old factor at the post shook his head -dubiously, but when the girl pressed him for the reason, he shrugged -and remained silent. Only when the outfit was loaded did the old man -whisper one sentence: - -"Beware o' Pierre Lapierre." - -Again Chloe questioned him, and again he remained silent. So, as the -days passed upon the river trail, the name of Pierre Lapierre was all -but forgotten in the menace of rapids and the monotony of portages. -And now the last of the great rapids had been run--the rapid of the -Slave--and the scows were almost loaded. - -Vermilion, the boss scowman, stood upon the running-board of the -leading scow and directed the stowing of the freight. He was a -picturesque figure--Vermilion. A squat, thick half-breed, with eyes -set wide apart beneath a low forehead bound tightly around with a -handkerchief of flaming silk. - -A heavy-eyed Indian, moving ponderously up the rough plank with a piece -balanced upon his shoulders, missed his footing and fell with a loud -splash into the water. The Indian scrambled clumsily ashore, and the -piece was rescued, but not before a perfect torrent of -French-English-Indian profanity had poured from the lips of the -ever-versatile Vermilion. Harriet Penny shrank against the younger -woman and shuddered. - -"Oh!" she gasped, "he's swearing!" - -"No!" exclaimed Chloe, in feigned surprise. "Why, I believe he is!" - -Miss Penny flushed. "But, it is terrible! Just listen!" - -"For Heaven's sake, Hat! If you don't like it, why do you listen?" - -"But he ought to be stopped. I am sure the poor Indian did not _try_ -to fall in the river." - -Chloe made a gesture of impatience. "Very well, Hat; just look up the -ordinance against swearing on Slave River, and report him to Ottawa." - -"But I'm afraid! He--the Hudson Bay Company's man--told us not to -come." - -Chloe straightened up with a jerk. "See here, Hat Penny! Stop your -snivelling! What do you expect from rivermen? Haven't the seven -hundred miles of water trail taught you _anything_? And, as for being -afraid--I don't care _who_ told us not to come! I'm an Elliston, and -I'll go whereever I want to go! This isn't a pleasure trip. I came up -here for a purpose. Do you think I'm going to be scared out by the -first old man that wags his head and shrugs his shoulders? Or by any -other man! Or by any swearing that I can't understand, or any that I -can, either, for that matter! Come on, they're waiting for this bale." - -Chloe Elliston's presence in the far outlands was the culmination of an -ideal, spurred by dissuasion and antagonism into a determination, and -developed by longing into an obsession. Since infancy the girl had -been left much to her own devices. Environment, and the prescribed -course at an expensive school, should have made her pretty much what -other girls are, and an able satellite to her mother, who managed to -remain one of the busiest women of the Western metropolis--doing -absolutely nothing--but, doing it with _éclat_. - -The girl's father, Blair Elliston, from his desk in a luxurious office -suite, presided over the destiny of the Elliston fleet of yellow-stack -tramps that poked their noses into queer ports and put to sea with -queer cargoes--cargoes that smelled sweet and spicy, with the spice of -the far South Seas. Office sailor though he was, Blair Elliston -commanded the respect of even the roughest of his polyglot crews--a -respect not wholly uncommingled with fear. - -For this man was the son of old "Tiger" Elliston, founder of the fleet. -The man who, shoulder to shoulder with Brooke, the elder, put the fear -of God in the hearts of the pirates, and swept wide trade-lanes among -the islands of terror-infested Malaysia. And through Chloe Elliston's -veins coursed the blood of her world-roving ancestor. Her most -treasured possession was a blackened and scarred oil portrait of the -old sea-trader and adventurer, which always lay swathed in many -wrappings in the bottom of her favourite trunk. - -In her heart she loved and admired this grandfather, with a love and -admiration that bordered upon idolatry. She loved the lean, hard -features, and the cold, rapier-blade eyes. She loved the name men -called him; Tiger Elliston, an earned name--that. The name of a man -who, by his might and the strength and mastery of him, had won his -place in the world of the men who dare. - -Since babyhood she had listened with awe to tales of him; and the -red-letter days of her childhood's calendar were the days upon which -her father would take her down to the docks, past great windowless -warehouses of concrete and sheet-iron, where big glossy horses stood -harnessed to high-piled trucks--past great tiers of bales and boxes -between which trotted hurrying, sweating men--past the clang and clash -of iron truck wheels, the rattle of chains, the shriek of pulleys, and -the loud-bawled orders in strange tongues. Until, at last, they would -come to the great dingy hulk of the ship and walk up the gangway and -onto the deck, where funny yellow and brown men, with their hair -braided into curious pigtails, worked with ropes and tackles and called -to other funny men with bright-coloured ribbons braided into their -beards. - -Almost as she learned to walk she learned to pick out the yellow stacks -of "papa's boats," learned their names, and the names of their -captains, the bronzed, bearded men who would take her in their laps, -holding her very awkwardly and very, very carefully, as if she were -something that would break, and tell her stories in deep, rumbly -voices. And nearly always they were stories of the Tiger--"yer -gran'pap, leetle missey," they would say. And then, by palms, and -pearls, and the fires of blazing mountains, they would swear "He wor a -man!" - -To the helpless horror of her mother, the genuine wonder of her many -friends, and the ill-veiled amusement and approval of her father, a -month after the doors of her _alma mater_ closed behind her, she took -passage on the _Cora Blair_, the oldest and most disreputable-looking -yellow stack of them all, and hied her for a year's sojourn among the -spicy lotus-ports of the dreamy Southern Ocean--there to hear at first -hand from the men who knew him, further deeds of Tiger Elliston. - -To her, on board the battered tramp, came gladly the men of power--the -men whose spoken word in their polyglot domains was more feared and -heeded than decrees of emperors or edicts of kings. And there, in the -time-blackened cabin that had once been _his_ cabin, these men talked -and the girl listened while her eyes glowed with pride as they -recounted the exploits of Tiger Elliston. And, as they talked, the -hearts of these men warmed, and the years rolled backward, and they -swore weird oaths, and hammered the thick planks of the chart-table -with bangs of approving fists, and invoked the blessings of strange -gods upon the soul of the Tiger--and their curses upon the souls of his -enemies. - -Nor were these men slow to return hospitality, and Chloe Elliston was -entertained royally in halls of lavish splendour, and plied with costly -gifts and rare. And honoured by the men, and the sons and daughters of -men who had fought side by side with the Tiger in the days when the -yellow sands ran red, and tall masts and white sails rose like clouds -from the blue fog of the cannon-crashing powder-smoke. - -So, from the lips of governors and potentates, native princes and -rajahs, the girl learned of the deeds of her grandsire, and in their -eyes she read approval, and respect, and reverence even greater than -her own--for these were the men who knew him. But, not alone from the -mighty did she learn. For, over rice-cakes and _poi_, in the thatched -hovels of Malays, Kayans, and savage Dyaks, she heard the tale from the -lips of the vanquished men--men who still hated, yet always respected, -the reddened sword of the Tiger. - -The year Chloe Elliston spent among the copra-ports of the South Seas -was the shaping year of her destiny. Never again were the standards of -her compeers to be her standards--never again the measure of the world -of convention to be her measure. For, in her heart the awakened spirit -of Tiger Elliston burned and seared like a living flame, calling for -other wilds to conquer, other savages to subdue--to crush down, if need -be, that it might build up into the very civilization of which the -unconquerable spirit is the forerunner, yet which, in realization, -palls and deadens it to extinction. - -For social triumphs the girl cared nothing. The heart of her felt the -irresistible call of the raw. She returned to the land of her birth -and deliberately, determinedly, in the face of opposition, ridicule, -advice, and command--as Tiger Elliston, himself, would have done--she -cast about until she found the raw, upon the rim of the Arctic. And, -with the avowed purpose of carrying education and civilization to the -Indians of the far North, turned her back upon the world-fashionable, -and without fanfare or trumpetry, headed into the land of primal things. - -When the three women had taken their places in the head scow, Vermilion -gave the order to shove off, and with the swarthy crew straining at the -rude sweeps, the heavy scows threaded their way into the North. - -Once through the swift water at the tail of Slave Rapids, the four -scows drifted lazily down the river. The scowmen distributed -themselves among the pieces in more or less comfortable attitudes and -slept. In the head scow only the boss and the three women remained -awake. - -"Who is Pierre Lapierre?" Chloe asked suddenly. - -The man darted her a searching glance and shrugged. "Pierre Lapierre, -she free-trader," he answered. "Dees scow, she Pierre Lapierre scow." - -If Chloe was surprised at this bit of information, she succeeded -admirably in disguising her feelings. Not so Harriet Penny, who sank -back among the freight pieces to stare fearfully into the face of the -younger woman. - -"Then you are Pierre Lapierre's man? You work for him?" - -The man nodded. "On de reevaire I'm run de scow--me--Vermilion! I'm -tak' de reesk. Lapierre, she tak' de money." The man's eyes glinted -wickedly. - -"Risk? What risk?" asked the girl. - -Again the man eyed her shrewdly and laughed. "Das plent' reesk--on de -reevaire. De scow--me'be so, she heet de rock in de rapids--bre'k all -to hell--_Voilà_!" Somehow the words did not ring true. - -"You hate Lapierre!" The words flashed swift, taking the man by -surprise. - -"_Non_! _Non_!" he cried, and Chloe noticed that his glance flashed -swiftly over the sprawling forms of the five sleeping scowmen. - -"And you are afraid of him," the girl added before he could frame a -reply. - -A sudden gleam of anger leaped into the eyes of the half-breed. He -seemed on the point of speaking, but with an unintelligible muttered -imprecation he relapsed into sullen silence. Chloe had purposely -baited the man, hoping in his anger he would blurt out some bit of -information concerning the mysterious Pierre Lapierre. Instead, the -man crouched silent, scowling, with his gaze fixed upon the forms of -the scowmen. - -Had the girl been more familiar with the French half-breeds of the -outlands she would have been suspicious of the man's sudden taciturnity -under stress of anger--suspicious, also, of the gradual shifting that -had been going on for days among the crews of the scows. A shifting -that indicated Vermilion was selecting the crew of his own scow with an -eye to a purpose--a purpose that had not altogether to do with the -scow's safe conduct through white-water. But Chloe had taken no note -of the personnel of the scowmen, nor of the fact that the freight of -the head scow consisted only of pieces that obviously contained -provisions, together with her own tent and sleeping outfit, and several -burlapped pieces marked with the name "MacNair." Idly she wondered who -MacNair was, but refrained from asking. - -The long-gathering twilight deepened as the scows floated northward. -Vermilion's face lost its scowl, and he smoked in silence--a sinister -figure, thought the girl, as he crouched in the bow, his dark features -set off to advantage by his flaming head-band. - -Into the stillness crept a sound--the far-off roar of a rapid. Sullen, -and dull, it scarce broke the monotony of the silence--low, yet ever -increasing in volume. - -"Another portage?" wearily asked the girl. - -Vermilion shook his head. "_Non_, eet ees de Chute. Ten miles of de -wild, fast wataire, but safe--eef you know de way. Me--Vermilion--I'm -tak' de scow t'rough a hondre tam--_bien_!" - -"But, you can't make it in the dark!" - -Vermilion laughed. "We mak' de camp to-night. To-mor', we run de -Chute." He reached for the light pole with which he indicated the -channel to the steersman, and beat sharply upon the running-board that -formed the gunwale of the scow. Sleepily the five sprawling forms -stirred, and awoke to consciousness. Vermilion spoke a guttural jargon -of words and the men fumbled the rude sweeps against the tholes. The -other three scows drifted lazily in the rear and, standing upon the -running-board, Vermilion roared his orders. Figures in the scows -stirred, and sweeps thudded against thole-pins. The roar of the Chute -was loud, now--hoarse, and portentous of evil. - -The high banks on either side of the river drew closer together, the -speed of the drifting scows increased, and upon the dark surface of the -water tiny whirlpools appeared. Vermilion raised the pole above his -head and pointed toward a narrow strip of beach that showed dimly at -the foot of the high bank, at a point only a few hundred yards above -the dark gap where the river plunged between the upstanding rocks of -the Chute. - -Looking backward, Chloe watched the three scows with their swarthy -crews straining at the great sweeps. Here was action--life! Primitive -man battling against the unbending forces of an iron wilderness. The -red blood leaped through the girl's veins as she realized that this -life was to be her life--this wilderness to be her wilderness. Hers to -bring under the book, and its primitive children, hers--to govern by a -rule of thumb! - -Suddenly she noticed that the following scows were much nearer shore -than her own, and also, that they were being rapidly out-distanced. -She glanced quickly toward shore. The scow was opposite the strip of -beach toward which the others were slowly but surely drawing. The scow -seemed motionless, as upon the surface of a mill-pond, but the beach, -and the high bank beyond, raced past to disappear in the deepening -gloom. The figures in the following scows--the scows -themselves--blurred into the shore-line. The beach was gone. Rocks -appeared, jagged, and high--close upon either hand. - -In a sudden panic, Chloe glanced wildly toward Vermilion, who crouched -in the bow, pole in hand, and with set face, stared into the gloom -ahead. Swiftly her glance travelled over the crew--their faces, also, -were set, and they stood at the sweeps, motionless, but with their eyes -fixed upon the pole of the pilot. Beyond Vermilion, in the forefront, -appeared wave after wave of wildly tossing water. For just an instant -the scow hesitated, trembled through its length, and with the leaping -waves battering against its bottom and sides, plunged straight into the -maw of the Chute! - - - - -CHAPTER II - -VERMILION SHOWS HIS HAND - -Down, down through the Chute raced the heavily loaded scow, seeming -fairly to leap from wave to wave in a series of tremendous shocks, as -the flat bottom rose high in the fore and crashed onto the crest of the -next wave, sending a spume of stinging spray high into the air. -White-water curled over the gunwale and sloshed about in the bottom. -The air was chill, and wet--like the dead air of a rock-cavern. - -Chloe Elliston knew one moment of swift fear. And then, the mighty -roar of the waters; the mad plunging of the scow between the towering -walls of rock; the set, tense face of Vermilion as he stared into the -gloom; the laboured breathing of the scowmen as they strained at the -sweeps, veering the scow to the right, or to the left, as the rod of -the pilot indicated; the splendid battle of it; the wild exhilaration -of fighting death on death's own stamping ground flung all thought of -fear aside, and in the girl's heart surged the wild, fierce joy of -living, with life itself at stake. - -For just an instant Chloe's glance rested upon her companions; Big Lena -sat scowling murderously at Vermilion's broad back. Harriet Penny had -fainted and lay with the back of her head awash in the shallow bilge -water. A strange _alter ego_--elemental--primordial--had taken -possession of Chloe. Her eyes glowed, and her heart thrilled at the -sight of the tense, vigilant figure of Vermilion, and the sweating, -straining scowmen. For the helpless form of Harriet Penny she felt -only contempt--the savage, intolerant contempt of the strong for the -weak among firstlings. - -The intoxication of a new existence was upon her, or, better, a -world-old existence--an existence that was new when the world was new. -In that moment, she was a throw-back of a million years, and through -her veins fumed the ferine blood of her paleolithic forebears. What is -life but proof of the fitness to live? Death, but defeat. - -On rushed the scow, leaping, crashing from wave to wave, into the -Northern night. And, as it rushed and leaped and crashed, it bore two -women, their garments touching, but between whom interposed a whole -world of creeds and fabrics. - -Suddenly, Chloe sensed a change. The scow no longer leaped and -crashed, and the roar of the rapids grew faint. No longer the form of -Vermilion appeared couchant, tense; and, among the scowmen, one -laughed. Chloe drew a deep breath, and a slight shudder shook her -frame. She glanced about her in bewilderment, and, reaching swiftly -down, raised the inert form of Harriet Penny and rested it gently -against her knees. - -The darkness of night had settled upon the river. Stars twinkled -overhead. The high, scrub-timbered shore loomed formless and black, -and the flat bottom of the scow rasped harshly on gravel. Vermilion -leaped ashore, followed by the scowmen, and Chloe assisted Big Lena -with the still unconscious form of Harriet Penny. As if by magic, -fires flared out upon the shingle, and in an incredibly short time the -girl found herself seated upon her bed-roll inside her mosquito-barred -tent of balloon silk. The older woman had revived and lay, a dejected -heap, upon her blankets, and out in front Big Lena was stooping over a -fire. Beyond, upon the gravel, the fires of the scowmen flamed red, -and threw wavering reflections upon the black water of the river. - -Chloe was seized with a strange unrest. The sight of Harriet Penny -irritated her. She stepped from the tent and filled her lungs with -great drafts of the spruce-laden night-breeze that wafted gently out of -the mysterious dark, and rippled the surface of the river until little -waves slapped softly against the shore in tiny whisperings of the -unknown--whisperings that called, and were understood by the new -awakened self within her. - -She glanced toward the fires of the rivermen where the dark-skinned, -long-haired sons of the wild squatted close about the flames over which -pots boiled, grease fried, and chunks of red meat browned upon the ends -of long toasting-sticks. The girl's heart leaped with the wild freedom -of it. A sense of might and of power surged through her veins. These -men were her men--hers to command. Savages and half-savages whose work -it was to do her bidding--and who performed their work well. The night -was calling her--the vague, portentous night of the land beyond -outposts. Slowly she passed the fires, and on along the margin of the -river whose waters, black and forbidding, reached into the North. - -"The unconquered North," she breathed, as she stood upon a water-lapped -boulder and gazed into the impenetrable dark. And, as she gazed, -before her mind's eye rose a vision. The scattered teepees of the -Northland, smoke-blackened, filthy, stinking with the reek of -ill-tanned skins, resolved themselves into a village beside a broad, -smooth-flowing river. - -The teepees faded, and in their place appeared rows of substantial log -cabins, each with its door-yard of neatly trimmed grass, and its beds -of gay flowers. Broad streets separated the rows. The white spire of -a church loomed proudly at the end of a street. From the doorways -dark, full-bodied women smiled happily--their faces clean, and their -long, black hair caught back with artistic bands of quill embroidery, -as they called to the clean brown children who played light-heartedly -in the grassed dooryards. Tall, lean-shouldered men, whose swarthy -faces glowed with the love of their labour, toiled gladly in fields of -yellow grain, or sang and called to one another in the forest where the -ring of their axes was drowned in the crash of falling trees. - -Her vision of the North--the conquered North--her North! - -As Sir James Brooke and Tiger Elliston overthrew barbarism and -established in its place an island empire of civilization, so would she -supersede savagery with culture. But, her empire of the North should -be an empire founded not upon blood, but upon humanity and brotherly -love. - -The girl started nervously. Her brain-picture resolved into the -formless dark. From the black waters, almost at her feet, sounded, -raucous and loud, the voice of the great loon. Frenzied, maniacal, -hideous, rang the night-shattering laughter. The uncouth mockery of -the raw--the defiance of the unconquerable North! - -With a shudder, Chloe turned and fled toward the red-flaring fires. In -that moment a feeling of defeat surged over her--of heart-sickening -hopelessness. The figures at the fires were unkempt, dirty, revolting, -as they gouged and tore at the half-cooked meat into which their yellow -fangs drove deep, as the red blood squirted and trickled from the -corners of their mouths to drip unheeded upon the sweat-stiffened -cotton of their shirts. Savages! And she, Chloe Elliston, at the very -gateway of her empire, fled incontinently to the protection of their -fires! - -Wide awake upon her blankets, in the smudge-pungent tent where her two -companions slept heavily, Chloe sat late into the night staring through -the mosquito-barred entrance toward the narrow strip of beach where the -dying fires of the scowmen glowed sullenly in the darkness, pierced now -and again by the fitful flare of a wind-whipped brand. Two still forms -wrapped in ragged blankets, lay like logs where sleep had overcome them. - -A short distance removed from the others, the fire of Vermilion burned -brightly. Between this fire and a heavily smoking smudge, four men -played cards upon a blanket spread upon the ground. Silently, save for -an occasional grunt or mumbled word, they played--dealing, tossing into -the centre the amount of their bets, leaning forward to rake in a pot, -or throwing down their cards in disgust, to await the next deal. - -The scene was intrinsically savage. At the end of the day's work, -primitive man followed primitive instinct. Gorged to repletion, they -slept, or wasted their substance with the improvidence of -jungle-beasts. And these were the men Chloe Elliston had pictured -labouring joyously in the upbuilding of homes! Once more the feeling -of hopelessness came over her--seemed smothering, stifling her. And a -great wave of longing carried her back to the land of her own -people--the land of convention and sophistry. - -Could it be that they were right? They who had scoffed, and ridiculed, -and forbade her? What could _she_ do in the refashioning of a -world-old wild--one woman against the established creeds of an iron -wilderness? Where, now, were her dreams of empire, her ideals, and her -castles in Spain? Was she to return, broken on the wheel? Crushed -between the adamantine millstones of things as they ought not to be? - -The resolute lips drooped, a hot salt tear blurred Vermilion's -camp-fire and distorted the figures of the gambling scowmen. She -closed her eyes tightly. The writhing green shadow-shapes lost form, -dimmed, and resolved themselves into an image--a lean, lined face with -rapier-blade eyes gazed upon her from the blackness--the face of Tiger -Elliston! - -Instantly, the full force and determination of her surged through the -girl's veins anew. The drooping lips stiffened. Her heart sang with -the joy of conquest. The tight-pressed lids flew open, and for a long -time she watched the shadow-dance of the flames on her tent wall. Dim, -and elusive, and far away faded the dancing shadow-shapes--and she -slept. - -Not so Vermilion, who, when his companions tired of their game and -sought their blankets, sat and stared into the embers of his dying -fire. The half-breed was troubled. As boss of Pierre Lapierre's -scowmen, a tool of a master mind, a unit of a system, he had prospered. -But, no longer was he a unit of a system. From the moment Chloe -Elliston had bargained with him for the transportation of her outfit -into the wilderness, the man's brain had been active in formulating a -plan. - -This woman was rich. One who is not rich cannot afford to transport -thirty-odd tons of outfit into the heart of the wilderness, at the -tariff of fifteen cents the pound. So, throughout the days of the -journey, the man gazed with avarice upon the piles of burlapped pieces, -while his brain devised the scheme. Thereafter, in the dead of night -occurred many whispered consultations, as Vermilion won over his men. -He chose shrewdly, for these men knew Pierre Lapierre, and well they -knew what portion would be theirs should the scheme of Vermilion -miscarry. - -At last, the selection had been made, and five of the most desperate -and daring of all the rivermen had, by the lure of much gold, consented -to cast loose from the system and "go it alone." The first daring move -in the undertaking had succeeded--a move that, in itself, bespoke the -desperate character of its perpetrators, for it was no accident that -sent the head scow plunging down through the Chute in the darkness. - -But, in the breast of Vermilion, as he sat alone beside his camp-fire, -was no sense of elation--and in the heart of him was a great fear. -For, despite the utmost secrecy among the conspirators, the half-breed -knew that even at that moment, somewhere to the northward, Pierre -Lapierre had learned of his plot. - -Eight days had elapsed since the mysterious disappearance of -Chenoine--and Chenoine, it was whispered, was half-brother to Pierre -Lapierre. Therefore, Vermilion crouched beside his camp-fire and -cursed the slowness of the coming of the day. For well he knew that -when a man double-crossed Pierre Lapierre, he must get away with it--or -die. Many had died. The black eyes flashed dangerously. -He--Vermilion--would get away with it! He glanced toward the sleeping -forms of the five scowmen and shuddered. He, Vermilion, knew that he -was afraid to sleep! - -For an instant he thought of abandoning the plan. It was not too late. -The other scows could be run through in the morning, and, if Pierre -Lapierre came, would it not be plain that Chenoine had lied? But, even -with the thought, the avaricious gleam leaped into the man's eyes, and -with a muttered imprecation, he greeted the first faint light of dawn. - -Chloe Elliston opened her eyes sleepily in answer to a gruff call from -without her tent. A few minutes later she stepped out into the grey of -the morning, followed by her two companions. Vermilion was waiting for -her as he watched the scowmen breaking open the freight pieces and -making up hurried trail-packs of provisions. - -"Tam to mush!" sad the man tersely. - -"But where are the other scows?" asked Chloe, glancing toward the bank -where the scow was being rapidly unloaded. "And what is the meaning of -this? Here, you!" she cried, as a half-breed ripped the burlap from a -bale. "Stop that! That's mine!" By her side, Vermilion laughed, a -short, harsh laugh, and the girl turned. - -"De scow, she not com'. We leave de rivaire. We tak' 'long de grub, -eh?" The man's tone was truculent--insulting. - -Chloe flushed with anger. "I am not going to leave the river! Why -should I leave the river?" - -Again the man laughed; there was no need for concealment now. "Me, -Vermilion, I'm know de good plac' back in de hills. We go for stay -dere till you pay de money." - -"Money? What money?" - -"Un hondre t'ousan' dollaire--cash! You pay, Vermilion--he tak' you -back. You no pay--" The man shrugged significantly. - -The girl stared, dumbfounded. "What do you mean? One hundred thousand -dollars! Are you crazy?" - -The man stepped close, his eyes gleaming wickedly. "You reech. You -pay un hondre t'ousan' dollaire, or, ba gar, you nevaire com' out de -bush!" - -Chloe laughed in derision. "Oh! I am kidnapped! Is that it? How -romantic!" The man scowled. "Don't be a fool, Vermilion! Do you -suppose I came into this country with a hundred thousand dollars in -cash--or even a tenth of that amount?" - -The man shrugged indifferently. "_Non_, but you mak' de write on de -papaire, an' Menard, he tak' heem to de bank--Edmonton--Preence Albert. -He git de money. By-m-by, two mont', me'be, he com' back. Den, -Vermilion, he tak' you close to de H.B. post--_bien_! You kin go hom', -an' Vermilion, he go ver' far away." - -Chloe suddenly realized that the man was in earnest. Her eyes flashed -over the swarthy, villainous faces of the scowmen, and the seriousness -of the situation dawned upon her. She knew, now, that the separating -of the scows was the first move in a deep-laid scheme. Her brain -worked rapidly. It was evident that the men on the other scows were -not party to the plot, or Vermilion would not have risked running the -Chute in the darkness. She glanced up the river. Would the other -scows come on? It was her one hope. She must play for time. Harriet -Penny sobbed aloud, and Big Lena glowered. Again Chloe laughed into -the scowling face of the half-breed. "What about the Mounted? When -they find I am missing there will be an investigation." - -For answer, Vermilion pointed toward the river-bank, where the men were -working with long poles in the overturning of the scow. "We shove heem -out in de rivaire. Wen dey fin', dey t'ink she mak' for teep ovaire in -de Chute. _Voilà_! Dey say: 'Een de dark she run on de -rock'--_pouf_!" he signified eloquently the instantaneous snuffing out -of lives. Even as he spoke the scow overturned with a splash, and the -scowmen pushed it out into the river, where it floated bottom upward, -turning lazily in the grip of an eddy. The girl's heart sank as her -eyes rested upon the overturned scow. Vermilion had plotted cunningly. -He drew closer now--leering horribly. - -"You mak' write on de papaire--_non_?" - -A swift anger surged in the girl's heart. "No!" she cried. "I will -not write! I have no such amount in any bank this side of San -Francisco! But if I had a million dollars, you would not get a cent! -You can't bluff me!" - -Vermilion sprang toward her with a snarl; but before he could lay hands -upon her Big Lena, with a roar of rage, leaped past the girl and drove -a heavy stick of firewood straight at the half-breed's head. The man -ducked swiftly, and the billet thudded against his shoulder, staggering -him. Instantly two of the scowmen threw themselves upon the woman and -bore her to the ground, where she fought, tooth and nail, while they -pinioned her arms. Vermilion, his face livid, seized Chloe roughly. -The girl shrank in terror from the grip of the thick, grimy fingers and -the glare of the envenomed eyes that blazed from the distorted, brutish -features. - -"Stand back!" - -The command came sharp and quick in a low, hard voice--the voice of -authority. Vermilion whirled with a snarl. Uttering a loud cry of -fear, one of the scowmen dashed into the bush, closely followed by two -of his companions. Two men advanced swiftly and noiselessly from the -cover of the scrub. Like a flash, the half-breed jerked a revolver -from his belt and fired. Chenoine fell dead. Before Vermilion could -fire again the other man, with the slightest perceptible movement of -his right hand, fired from the hip. The revolver dropped from the -half-breed's hand. He swayed unsteadily for a few seconds, his eyes -widening into a foolish, surprised stare. He half-turned and opened -his lips to speak. Pink foam reddened the corners of his mouth and -spattered in tiny drops upon his chin. He gasped for breath with a -spasmodic heave of the shoulders. A wheezing, gurgling sound issued -from his throat, and a torrent of blood burst from his lips and -splashed upon the ground. With eyes wildly rolling, he clutched -frantically at the breast of his cotton shirt and pitched heavily into -the smouldering ashes of the fire at the feet of the stranger. - -But few seconds had elapsed since Chloe felt the hand of Vermilion -close about her wrist--tense, frenzied seconds, to the mind of the -girl, who gazed in bewilderment upon the bodies of the two dead men -which lay almost touching each other. - -The man who had ordered Vermilion to release her, and who had fired the -shot that had killed him, stood calmly watching four lithe-bodied -canoemen securely bind the arms of the two scowmen who had attacked Big -Lena. - -So sudden had been the transition from terror to relief in her heart -that the scene held nothing of repugnance to the girl, who was -conscious only of a feeling of peace and security. She even smiled -into the eyes of her deliverer, who had turned his attention from his -canoemen and stood before her, his soft-brimmed Stetson in his hand. - -"Oh! I--I thank you!" exclaimed the girl, at a loss for words. - -The man bowed low. "It is nothing. I am glad to have been of some -slight service." Something in the tone of the well-modulated voice, -the correct speech, the courtly manner, thrilled the girl strangely. -It was all so unexpected--so out of place, here in the wild. She felt -the warm colour mount to her face. - -"Who are you?" she asked abruptly. - -"I am Pierre Lapierre," answered the man in the same low voice. - -In spite of herself, Chloe started slightly, and instantly she knew -that the man had noticed. He smiled, with just an appreciable -tightening at the corners of the mouth, and his eyes narrowed almost -imperceptibly. He continued: - -"And now, Miss Elliston, if you will retire to your tent for a few -moments, I will have these removed." He indicated the bodies. "You -see, I know your name. The good Chenoine told me. He it was who -warned me of Vermilion's plot in time for me to frustrate it. Of -course, I should have rescued you later. I hold myself responsible for -the safe conduct of all who travel in my scows. But it would have been -at the expense of much time and labour, and, very possibly, of human -life as well--an incident regrettable always, but not always avoidable." - -Chloe nodded, and, with her thoughts in a whirl of confusion, turned -and entered her tent, where Harriet Penny lay sobbing hysterically, -with her blankets drawn over her head. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -PIERRE LAPIERRE - -A half-hour later, when Chloe again ventured from the tent, all -evidence of the struggle had disappeared. The bodies of the two dead -men had been removed, and the canoemen were busily engaged in gathering -together and restoring the freight pieces that had been ripped open by -the scowmen. - -Lapierre advanced to meet her, his carefully creased Stetson in hand. - -"I have sent word for the other scows to come on at once, and in the -meantime, while my men attend to the freight, may we not talk?" - -Chloe assented, and the two seated themselves upon a log. It was then, -for the first time that the girl noticed that one side of Lapierre's -face--the side he had managed to keep turned from her--was battered and -disfigured by some recent misadventure. Noticed, too, the really fine -features of him--the dark, deep-set eyes that seemed to smoulder in -their depths, the thin, aquiline nose, the shapely lips, the clean-cut -lines of cheek and jaw. - -"You have been hurt!" she cried. "You have met with an accident!" - -The man smiled, a smile in which cynicism blended with amusement. - -"Hardly an accident, I think, Miss Elliston, and, in any event, of -small consequence." He shrugged a dismissal of the subject, and his -voice assumed a light gaiety of tone. - -"May we not become better acquainted, we two, who meet in this far -place, where travellers are few and worth the knowing?" There was no -cynicism in his smile now, and without waiting for a reply he -continued: "My name you already know. I have only to add that I am an -adventurer in the wilds--explorer of _hinterlands_, free-trader, -freighter, sometime prospector--casual cavalier." He rose, swept the -Stetson from his head, and bowed with mock solemnity. - -"And now, fair lady, may I presume to inquire your mission in this land -of magnificent wastes?" Chloe's laughter was genuine as it was -spontaneous. - -Lapierre's light banter acted as a tonic to the girl's nerves, harassed -as they were by a month's travel through the fly-bitten wilderness. -More--he interested her. He was different. As different from the -half-breeds and Indian canoemen with whom she had been thrown as his -speech was from the throaty guttural by means of which they exchanged -their primitive ideas. - -"Pray pause, Sir Cavalier," she smiled, falling easily into the gaiety -of the man's mood. "I have ventured into your wilderness upon a most -unpoetic mission. Merely the establishment of a school for the -education and betterment of the Indians of the North." - -A moment of silence followed the girl's words--a moment in which she -was sure a hard, hostile gleam leaped into the man's eyes. A trick of -fancy doubtless, she thought, for the next instant it had vanished. -When he spoke, his air of light raillery was gone, but his lips -smiled--a smile that seemed to the girl a trifle forced. - -"Ah, yes, Miss Elliston. May I ask at whose instigation this school is -to be established--and where?" He was not looking at her now, his eyes -sought the river, and his face showed only a rather finely moulded -chin, smooth-shaven--and the lips, with their smile that almost sneered. - -Instantly Chloe felt that a barrier had sprung up between herself and -this mysterious stranger who had appeared so opportunely out of the -Northern bush. Who was he? What was the meaning of the old factor's -whispered warning? And why should the mention of her school awake -disapproval, or arouse his antagonism? Vaguely she realized that the -sudden change in this man's attitude hurt. The displeasure, and -opposition, and ridicule of her own people, and the surly indifference -of the rivermen, she had overridden or ignored. This man she could not -ignore. Like herself, he was an adventurer of untrodden ways. A man -of fancy, of education and light-hearted raillery, and yet, a strong -man, withal--a man of moment, evidently. - -She remembered the sharp, quick words of authority--the words that -caused the villainous Vermilion to whirl with a snarl of fear. -Remembered also, the swift sure shot that had ended Vermilion's career, -his absolute mastery of the situation, his lack of excitement or -braggadocio, and the expressed regret over the necessity for killing -the man. Remembered the abject terror in the eyes of those who fled -into the bush at his appearance, and the servility of the canoemen. - -As she glanced into the half-turned face of the man, Chloe saw that the -sneering smile had faded from the thin lips as he waited her answer. - -"At _my own_ instigation." There was an underlying hardness of -defiance in her words, and the firm, sun-reddened chin unconsciously -thrust forward beneath the encircling mosquito net. She paused, but -the man, expressionless, continued to gaze out over the surface of the -river. - -"I do not know exactly _where_," she continued, "but it will be -_somewhere_. Wherever it will do the most good. Upon the bank of some -river, or lake, perhaps, where the people of the wilderness may come -and receive that which is theirs of right----" - -"Theirs of right?" The man looked into her face, and Chloe saw that the -thin lips again smiled--this time with a quizzical smile that hinted at -tolerant amusement. The smile stung. - -"Yes, theirs of right!" she flashed. "The education that was freely -offered to me, and to you--and of which we availed ourselves." - -For a long time the man continued to gaze in silence, and, when at -length he spoke, it was to ask an entirely irrelevant question. - -"Miss Elliston, you have heard my name before?" - -The question came as a surprise, and for a moment Chloe hesitated. -Then frankly, and looking straight into his eyes she answered: - -"Yes, I have." - -The man nodded, "I knew you had." He turned his injured eye quickly -from the dazzle of the sunlight that flashed from the surface of the -river, and Chloe saw that it was discoloured and bloodshot. She arose, -and stepping to his side laid her hand upon his arm. - -"You _are_ hurt," she said earnestly, "your eye gives you pain." - -Beneath her fingers the girl felt the play of strong muscles as the arm -pressed against her hand. Their eyes met, and her heart quickened with -a strange new thrill. Hastily she averted her glance and then---- The -man's arm suddenly was withdrawn and Chloe saw that his fist had -clinched. With a rush the words brought back to him the scene in the -trading-room of the post at Fort Rae. The low, log-room, piled high -with the goods of barter. The great cannon stove. The two groups of -dark-visaged Indians--his own Chippewayans, and MacNair's Yellow -Knives, who stared in stolid indifference. The trembling, excited -clerk. The grim chief trader, and the stern-faced factor who watched -with approving eyes while two men fought in the wide cleared space -between the rough counter and the high-piled bales of woollens and -strouds. - -Chloe Elliston drew back aghast. The thin lips of the man had twisted -into a snarl of rage, and a living, bestial hate seemed fairly to blaze -from the smouldering eyes, as Lapierre's thoughts dwelt upon the -closing moments of that fight, when he felt himself giving ground -before the hammering, smashing blows of Bob MacNair's big fists. Felt -the tightening of the huge arms like steel bands about his body when he -rushed to a clinch--bands that crushed and burned so that each sobbing -breath seemed a blade, white-hot from the furnace, stabbing and searing -into his tortured lungs. Felt the vital force and strength of him ebb -and weaken so that the lean, slender fingers that groped for MacNair's -throat closed feebly and dropped limp to dangle impotently from his -nerveless arms. Felt the sudden release of the torturing bands of -steel, the life-giving inrush of cool air, the dull pain as his dizzy -body rocked to the shock of a crashing blow upon the jaw, the blazing -flash of the blow that closed his eye, and, then--more soul-searing, -and of deeper hurt than the blows that battered and marred--the feel of -thick fingers twisted into the collar of his soft shirt. Felt himself -shaken with an incredible ferocity that whipped his ankles against -floor and counter edge. And, the crowning indignity of all--felt -himself dragged like a flayed carcass the full length of the room, out -of the door, and jerked to his feet upon the verge of the steep descent -to the lake. Felt the propelling impact of the heavy boot that sent -him crashing headlong into the underbrush through which he rolled and -tumbled like a mealbag, to bring up suddenly in the cold water. - -The whole scene passed through his brain as dreams flash--almost within -the batting of an eye. Half-consciously, he saw the girl's sudden -start, and the look of alarm upon her face as she drew back from the -glare of his hate-flashing eyes and the bestial snarl of his lips. -With an effort he composed himself: - -"Pardon, Miss Elliston, I have frightened you with an uncouth show of -savagery. It is a rough, hard country--this land of the wolf and the -caribou. Primal instincts and brutish passions here are -unrestrained--a fact responsible for my present battered appearance. -For, as I said, it was no accident that marred me thus, unless, -perchance, the prowling of the brute across my path may be attributed -to accident--rather, I believe it was timed." - -"The brute! Who, or what is the brute? And why should he harm you?" - -"MacNair is his name--Bob MacNair." There was a certain tense hardness -in the man's tone, and Chloe was conscious that the smouldering eyes -were regarding her searchingly. - -"MacNair," said the girl, "why, that is the name on those bales!" - -"What bales?" - -"The bales in the scow--they are on the river-bank now." - -"My scows carrying MacNair's freight!" cried the man, and motioning her -to accompany him he walked rapidly to the bank where lay the four or -five pieces, upon which Chloe had read the name. Lapierre dropped to -his knees and regarded the pieces intently, suddenly he leaped to his -feet with a laugh and called in the Indian tongue to one of his -canoemen. The man brought him an ax, and raising it high, Lapierre -brought it crashing upon the innocent-looking freight piece. There was -a sound of smashing staves, a gurgle of liquid, and the strong odour of -whiskey assailed their nostrils. - -The piece was a keg, cunningly disguised as to shape, and covered with -burlap. One by one the man attacked the other pieces marked with the -name of MacNair, and as each cask was smashed, the whiskey gurgled and -splashed and seeped into the ground. Chloe watched breathlessly until -Lapierre finished, and with a smile of grim satisfaction, tossed the ax -upon the ground. - -"There is one consignment of firewater that will never be delivered," -he said. - -"What does it mean?" asked Chloe, and Lapierre noticed that her eyes -were alight with interest. "Who is this MacNair, and----" - -For answer Lapierre took her gently by the arm and led her back to the -log. - -"MacNair," he began, "is the most atrocious tyrant that ever breathed. -Like myself, he is a free-trader--that is, he is not in the employ of -the Hudson Bay Company. He is rich, and owns a permanent post of his -own, to the northward, on Snare Lake, while I vend my wares under God's -own canopy, here and there upon the banks of lakes and rivers." - -"But why should he attack you?" - -The man shrugged. "Why? Because he hates me. He hates any one who -deals fairly with the Indians. His own Indians, a band of the Yellow -Knives, together with an onscouring of Tantsawhoots, Beavers, Dog-ribs, -Strongbows, Hares, Brushwoods, Sheep, and Huskies, he holds in abject -peonage. Year in and year out he forces them to dig in his mines for -their bare existence. Over on the Athabasca they call him Brute -MacNair, and among the Loucheaux and Huskies he is known as -The-Bad-Man-of-the-North. - -"He pays no cash for labour, nor for fur, and he sees to it that his -Indians are always hopelessly in his debt. He trades them whiskey. -They are his. His to work, and to cheat, and to debauch, and to vent -his rage upon--for his passions are the wild, unbridled passions of the -fighting wolf. He kills! He maims! Or he allows to live! The -Indians are his, body and soul. Their wives and their children are -his. He owns them. _He_ is the law! - -"He warned me out of the North. I ignored that warning. The land is -broad and free. There is room for all, therefore I brought in my goods -and traded. And, because I refused to grind the poor savages under the -iron heel of oppression, because I offer a meagre trifle over and above -what is necessary for their bare existence, the brute hates me. He -came upon me at Fort Rae, and there, in the presence of the factor, his -clerk, and his chief trader, he fell upon me and beat me so that for -three days I lay unable to travel." - -"But the others!" interrupted the girl, "the factor and his men! Why -did they allow it?" - -Again the gleam of hate flashed in the man's eyes. "They allowed it -because they are in league with him. They fear him. They fear his -hold upon the Indians. So long as he maintains a permanent post a -hundred and seventy-five miles to the northward--more than two hundred -and fifty by the water trail--they know that he will not seriously -injure the trade at Fort Rae. With me it is different. I trade here, -and there, wherever the children of the wilderness are to be found. -Therefore I am hated by the men of the Hudson Bay Company who would -have been only too glad had MacNair killed me." - -Chloe, who had listened eagerly to every word, leaped to her feet and -looked at Lapierre with shining eyes. "Oh! I think it is splendid! -You are brave, and you stand for the right of things! For the welfare -of the Indians! I see now why the factor warned me against you! He -wanted to discredit you." - -Lapierre smiled. "The factor? What factor? And what did he tell you?" - -"The factor at the Landing. 'Beware of Pierre Lapierre,' he said; and -when I asked him who Pierre Lapierre was, and why I should beware of -him, he shrugged his shoulders and would say nothing." - -Lapierre nodded. "Ah yes--the company men--the factors and traders -have no love for the free-trader. We cannot blame them. It is -tradition. For nearly two and one-half centuries the company has stood -for power and authority in the outlands--and has reaped the profits of -the wild places. Let us be generous. It is an old and respectable -institution. It deals fairly enough with the Indians--by its own -measure of fairness, it is true--but fairly enough. With the company I -have no quarrel. - -"But with MacNair--" he stopped abruptly and shrugged. The gleam of -hate that flashed in his eyes always at the mention of the name faded. -"But why speak of him--surely there are more pleasant subjects," he -smiled, "for instance your school--it interests me greatly." - -"Interests you! I thought it displeased you! Surely a look of -annoyance or suspicion leaped from your eyes when I mentioned my -mission." - -The man laughed lightly. "Yes? And can you blame me--when I thought -you were in league with Brute MacNair? For, since his post was -established, no independent save myself has dared to encroach upon even -the borders of his empire." - -Chloe Elliston flushed deeply. "And you thought I would league myself -with a man like _that_?" - -"Only for a moment. Stop and think. All my life I have lived in the -North, and, except for a few scattered priests and missionaries, no one -has pushed beyond the outposts for any purpose other than for gain. -And the trader's gain is the Indian's loss--for, few deal fairly. -Therefore, when I came upon your big outfit upon the very threshold of -MacNair's domain, I thought, of course, this was some new machination -of the brute. Even now I do not understand--the expense, and all. The -Indians cannot afford to pay for education." - -It was the girl's turn to laugh. A rippling, light-hearted laugh--the -laughter of courage and youth. The barrier that had suddenly loomed -between herself and this man of the North vanished in a breath. He had -shown her her work, had pointed out to her a foeman worthy of her -steel. She darted a swift glance toward Lapierre who sat staring into -the fire. Would not this man prove an invaluable ally in her war of -deliverance? - -"Do not trouble yourself about the expense," she smiled. "I have -money--'oodles of it,' as we used to say in school--millions, if I need -them! And I'm going to fight this Brute MacNair until I drive him out -of the North! And you? Will you help me to rid the country of this -scourge and free the people from his tyranny? Together we could work -wonders. For your heart is with the Indians, as mine is." - -Again the girl glanced into the man's face and saw that the deep-set -black eyes fairly glittered with enthusiasm and eagerness--an eagerness -and enthusiasm that a keener observer than Chloe Elliston might have -noticed, sprang into being suspiciously coincident with her mention of -the millions. Lapierre did not answer at once, but deftly rolled a -cigarette. The end of the cigarette glowed brightly as he filled his -lungs and blew a plume of grey smoke into the air. - -"Allow me a little time to think. For this is a move of importance, -and to be undertaken not lightly. It is no easy task you have set -yourself. It is possible you will not win--highly probable, in fact, -for----" - -"But I _shall_ win! I am _right_--and upon my winning depends the -future of a people! Think it over until tomorrow, if you will, but--" -She paused abruptly, and her soft, hazel eyes peered searchingly into -the depths of the restless black ones. "Your sympathies _are_ with the -Indians, aren't they?" - -Lapierre tossed the half-smoked cigarette onto the ground. "Can you -doubt it?" The man's eyes were not gleaming now, and into their depths -had crept a look of ineffable sadness. - -"They are my people," he said softly. "Miss Elliston, _I am an -Indian_!" - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -CHLOE SECURES AN ALLY - -A shout from the bank heralded the appearance of the first scow, which -was closely followed by the two others. When they had landed, Lapierre -issued a few terse orders, and the scowmen leaped to his bidding. The -overturned scow was righted and loaded, and the remains of the -demolished whiskey-kegs burned. Lapierre himself assisted the three -women to their places, and as Chloe seated herself near the bow, he -smiled into her eyes. - -"Vermilion was a good riverman, but so am I. Do you think you can -trust your new pilot?" - -Somehow, the words seemed to imply more than the mere steering of a -scow. Chloe flushed slightly, hesitated a moment, and then returned -the man's smile frankly. - -"Yes," she answered gravely, "I know I can." - -Their eyes met in a long look. Lapierre gave the command to shove off, -and when the scows were well in the grip of the current, he turned -again to the girl at his side. Their hands touched, and again Chloe -was conscious of the strange, new thrill that quickened her -heart-beats. She did not withdraw her hand, and the fingers of -Lapierre closed about her palm. He leaned toward her. "Only quarter -Indian," he said softly. "My grandmother was the daughter of a great -chief." - -The girl felt the hot blood mount to her face and gently withdrew her -hand. Somehow, she could not tell why, the words seemed good to hear. -She smiled, and Lapierre, who was watching her intently, smiled in -return. - -"We are approaching quick water; we will cover many miles today, and -tonight beside the camp-fire we will talk further." - -Chloe's eyes searched the scows. "Where are the two who attacked Lena? -Your men captured them." - -Lapierre's smile hardened. "Those who deserted me for Vermilion? Oh, -I--dismissed them from my service." - -Hour after hour, as the scows rushed northward, Chloe watched the -shores glide past; watched the swirling, boiling water of the river; -watched the solemn-faced scowmen, and the silent, vigilant pilot; but -most of all she watched the pilot, whose quick eye picked out the -devious channel, and whose clear, alert brain directed, with a movement -of the lancelike pole, the labours of the men at the sweeps. - -She contrasted his manner--quiet, graceful, sure--with that of -Vermilion, the very swing of whose pole proclaimed the vaunting, -arrogant braggart. And she noted the difference in the attitude of the -scowmen toward these two leaders. Their obedience to Vermilion's -orders had been a surly, protesting obedience; while their obedience to -Lapierre's slightest motion was the quiet, alert obedience that -proclaimed him master of men, as his own silent vigilance proclaimed -him master of the roaring waters. - -When the sun finally dipped behind the barren scrub-topped hills, the -scows were beached at the mouth of a deep ravine, from whose depths -sounded the trickle of a tiny cascade. Lapierre assisted the women -from the scow, issued a few short commands, and, as if by magic, a -dozen fires flashed upon the beach, and in an incredibly short space of -time Chloe found herself seated upon her blankets inside her -mosquito-barred tent. - -Supper over, Harriet Penny immediately sought her bed, and Lapierre led -Chloe to a brightly burning camp-fire. - -Nearby other fires burned, surrounded by dark, savage figures that -showed indistinct in the half-light. The girl's eyes rested for a -moment upon Lapierre, whose thin, handsome features, richly tanned by -long exposure to the Northern winds and sun, presented a pleasing -contrast to the swart flat faces of the rivermen, who sat in groups -about their fires, or lay wrapped in their blankets upon the gravel. - -"You have decided?" abruptly asked Chloe, in a voice of ill-concealed -eagerness. Lapierre's face became at once grave, and he gazed sombrely -into the fire. - -"I have pondered deeply. Through the long hours, while the scow rushed -into the North, there came to me a vision of my people. In the rocks, -in the bush, and the ragged hills I saw it; and in the swirl of the -mighty river. And the vision was good!" - -The voice of the man's Indian grandmother spoke from his lips, and the -soul of her glowed in his deep-set eyes. - -"Even now _Sakhalee Tyee_ speaks from the stars of the night sky. My -people shall learn the wisdom of the white man. The power of the -oppressor shall be broken, and the children of the far places shall -come into their own." - -The man's voice had dropped into the rhythmic intonation of the Indian -orator, and his eyes were fixed upon the names that curled, lean and -red, among the dry sticks of the camp-fire. Chloe gazed in fascination -into the rapt face of this man of many moods. The soul of the girl -caught the enthusiasm of his words, and she, too, saw the vision--saw -it as she had seen it upon the wave-lapped rock of the river-bank. - -"You will help me?" she cried; "will join forces with me in a war -against the ruthless exploitation of a people who should be as free and -unfettered as the air they breathe?" - -Lapierre bent his gaze upon her face slowly, like one emerging from a -trance. - -"Yes," he answered deliberately; "it is of that I wish to speak. Let -us consider the obstacles in our path--the matter of official -interference. The government will soon learn of your activities, and -the government is prone to look askance at any tampering with the -Indians by an institution not connected with the Church or the State." - -"I have my permit," Chloe answered, "and many commendatory letters from -Ottawa. The men who rule were inclined to think I would accomplish -nothing; but they were willing to let me try." - -"That, then, disposes of our most serious difficulty. Will you tell me -now where you intended to locate?" - -"There is too much traffic upon the river," answered the girl. "The -scow brigades pass and repass; and, at least until my little colony is -fairly established, it must be located in some place uncontaminated by -the presence of so rough, lawless, and drunken an element. As I told -you before, I do not know where my ideal site is to be found. I had -intended to talk the matter over with the factor at Fort Rae." - -"What! That devil of a Haldane? The man who is hand-in-glove with -Brute MacNair!" - -"You forget," smiled the girl, "that until this day I never even heard -of Brute MacNair." - -The man smiled. "Very true. I had forgotten. But it is fortunate -indeed that chance threw us together. I tremble to think what would -have been your fate should you have acted upon the advice of Colin -Haldane." - -"But surely you know the country. You will advise me." - -"Yes, I will advise you. I am with you in this venture; with you to -the last gasp; with you heart and soul, until that devil MacNair is -dead or driven out of the North, and his Indians scattered to the four -winds." - -"Scattered! Why scattered? Why not held together for their education -and betterment? And you say you will be with me until MacNair is -either dead or driven out of the North. What then--will you desert me -then? This MacNair is only an obstacle in our path--an obstacle to be -brushed aside that the real work may begin. Yet you spoke as though he -were the main issue." - -Lapierre interrupted her, speaking rapidly: "Yes, of course. Bear with -me, I pray you. I spoke hastily, and without thinking. My feelings -for the moment carried me away. As you see, the marks of the Brute's -hands are still too fresh upon me to regard him impersonally--an -obstacle, as it were. To me he is a brute! A fiend! A demon! I -_hate_ him!" - -Lapierre shook a clenched fist toward the North, and the words fairly -snarled between his lips. With an effort he controlled himself. "I -have in mind the very place for your school, a spot accessible from all -directions--the mouth of the Yellow Knife River, upon the north arm of -Great Slave Lake. There you will be unmolested by the debauching -rivermen, and yet within easy reach of any who may desire to take -advantage of your school. The very place above all places! In the -whole North you could not have chosen a better! And I shall accompany -you, and direct the building of your houses and stockade. - -"MacNair will learn shortly of your fort--everything is a 'fort' up -here--and he will descend upon you like a ramping lion. When he finds -you are a woman, he will do you no violence. He will scent at once a -rival trading-post and will hurt your cause in every way possible; will -use every means to discredit you among the Indians, and to discourage -you. But even he will do a woman no physical harm. - -"And right here let me caution you--do not temporize with him. He -stands in the North for oppression; gain at any cost; for -debauchery--everything that you do not. Between you and Brute MacNair -there can be no truce. He is powerful. Do not for a moment underrate -either his strength or his sagacity. He is a man of wealth, and his -hold upon the Indians is absolute. I cannot remain with you, but -through my Indians I shall keep in touch with you, work with you; and -together we will accomplish the downfall of this brute of the North." - -For a long time the two figures sat by the fire while the camp slept, -and talked of many things. And when, well toward midnight, Chloe -Elliston retired to her tent, she felt that she had known this man -always. For it is the way of life that stress of events, and not -duration of time, marks the measure of acquaintance and intimacy. -Pierre Lapierre, Chloe Elliston had known but one day, and yet she -believed that among all her acquaintances this man she knew best. - -By the fire Lapierre's eyes followed the girl until she disappeared -within the tent, and as he looked a huge figure arose from the deep -shadows of the scrub, and with a hand grasping the flap of the tent, -turned and stared, silent and grim and forbidding, straight into -Lapierre's eyes. - -The man turned away with a frown. The figure was Big Lena. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS - -At the mouth of the Slave River the outfit was transferred to twelve -large freight canoes, each carrying three tons, and manned by six -lean-shouldered canoemen, in charge of one Louis LeFroy, Lapierre's boss -canoeman. Straight across the vast expanse of Great Slave Lake they -headed, and skirting the shore of the north arm, upon the evening of the -second day, entered the Yellow Knife River. - -The site selected by Pierre Lapierre for Chloe Elliston's school was, in -point of location, as the quarter-breed had said, an excellent one. Upon -a level plateau at the top of the high bank that slants steeply to the -water of the Yellow Knife River, a short distance above its mouth, -Lapierre set the canoemen to cutting the timber and brush from a wide -area. The girl had come into the North fully prepared for a long -sojourn, and in her thirty-odd tons of outfit were found all tools -necessary for the clearing of land and the erection of buildings. -Brushwood and trees fell before the axes of the half-breeds and Indians, -who worked in a sort of frenzy under the lashing drive of Lapierre's -tongue; and the night skies glowed red in the flare of the flames where -the brush and tree-tops burned in the clearing. - -Two days later a rectangular clearing, three hundred by five hundred -feet, was completed, and early in the morning of the third day Chloe -stood beside Lapierre and looked over the cleared oblong with its piles -of smoking grey ashes, and its groups of logs that lay ready to be rolled -into place to form the walls of her buildings. - -Lapierre seemed ill at ease. Immediately upon the arrival of the outfit -he had dispatched two of his own Indians northward to spy upon the -movements of MacNair, for the man made no secret of his desire to be well -upon his way before the trader should learn of the building of the fort -on the river. - -It had been Chloe's idea to lay out her "village," as she called it, upon -a rather elaborate scheme, the plans for which had been drawn by an -architect whose clients' tastes ran to million-dollar "summer cottages" -at Seashore-by-the-Sea. - -First, there was to be the school itself, an ornate building of crossed -rafters and overhanging eaves. Then the dormitories, two long, parallel -buildings with halls, individual rooms, and baths--one for the women and -one for men--the two to be connected by a common dining-hall in such a -manner as to form three sides of a hollow square. Connected to the -dining-hall was to be a commodious kitchen, and back of that a fully -equipped carpenter-shop and a laundry. - -There were also to be a trading-post, where the Indians could purchase -supplies at cost; a six-room cottage for the accommodation of Big Lena, -Miss Penny, and Chloe; and numerous three-room cabins for the housing of -whole families of Indians, which the girl fondly pictured as flocking in -from the wilderness to have the errors of their heathenish religion -pointed out to them upon a brand-new blackboard, and the discomforts of -their nomadic lives assuaged by an introduction to collapsible bath-tubs -and the multiplication table. For hers was to be a mission as well as a -school. Truly the souls north of sixty were destined to owe her much. -For they borrow cheerfully, and repay--never. - -So much for Chloe Elliston's plan. Lapierre, however, had his own -eminently more practical, if less Utopian, ideas concerning the erection -of a trading-post; for in the quarter-breed's mind the planting of an -independent trading-post upon the very threshold of MacNair's wilderness -empire was of far greater importance than the establishment of a school, -or mission, or any other institution--especially when the post was one -which he himself had set about to control. The man's eyes gleamed and -the thin lips smiled as his glance rested momentarily upon the figure of -the girl--the unwitting, and therefore the more powerful, weapon that -chance had placed in his hands in his battle against MacNair. - -His idea of a post was simplicity itself: One long, log trading-room -with an ell for a storehouse, and a room--two at the most--in the rear -for the accommodation of the three women. The whole to be erected in the -centre of the clearing, and surrounded by a fifteen-foot log stockade. - -Boldly he broached his plan. - -"But this is _not_ a trading-post!" objected the girl. "The store is a -side issue and is to be conducted merely to permit those who take -advantage of my school to obtain the necessities of life at a fair and -reasonable price." - -"Your words were well chosen, Miss Elliston. For if you begin to -undersell the H.B.C., and more especially the independents, every Indian -in the North will proceed to 'take advantage' of your school and of you -also." - -"But they are being robbed!" - -Lapierre smiled. "They do not know it; they are used to it. Let me warn -you that to tamper with existing trade schedules, except by one -experienced in the commerce of the North, is to invite disaster. You -will lose money!" - -"But you told me that you yourself gave the Indians better bargains than -either the Hudson Bay Company or MacNair." - -"I know the North! And you may be assured the concessions are more -nominal than real." - -"Very well, then," flashed the girl. "My concessions will be more real -than nominal, and of that you may be assured. If my store pays expenses, -well and good!" And by the tone of the girl's voice, and the slight, -unconscious out-thrust of her chin, Pierre Lapierre knew that the time -was unpropitious for a further discussion of trade principles. - -Chloe was speaking again: "But to return to the buildings----" - -Lapierre interrupted her, speaking earnestly: "My dear Miss Elliston, -consider the circumstances, the limitations." He tapped lightly the roll -of blue-prints the girl held in her hand. "Those plans were made by a -man who had not the slightest knowledge of conditions as they exist here." - -"The buildings are to be very simple." - -"Undoubtedly. But simplicity is relative. A building that would be -considered simplicity itself in the States, might well be intricate -beyond the possibility of construction here in the wilderness. Do you -realize that among our men is not one who can read a blue-print, or has -ever seen one? Do you realize that to erect buildings in accordance with -these plans would require a force of skilled mechanics under the -supervision of a master builder? And do you realize that time is a most -important factor in our present undertaking? Who can tell at what moment -Brute MacNair may swoop down, upon us like Attila of old, and strike a -fatal blow to our little outpost of civilization? And if he finds _me_ -here--" His voice trailed into silence and his eyes swept gloomily the -northern reach of the river. - -Chloe appeared unimpressed. "I hardly think he will resort to violence. -There is the law--even here in the wilderness. Slow to act, perhaps, -because of the inaccessibility of the wild country; but once its -machinery is in motion, as unbending and as indomitable as justice -itself. You see, I have read of your Mounted Police." - -"The Mounted!" Lapierre laughed. "Yes--I see you have _read_ of them! -Had you derived your information in a more direct manner--had you lived -among them--if you _knew_ them--your childlike trust in them would seem -as absurd, perhaps, as it does to me!" - -"What do you mean?" cried the girl, regarding the quarter-breed with a -searching glance. "That the men of the Mounted are--that they may -be--influenced?" - -Again Lapierre laughed--harshly. "Just that, Miss Elliston! They -are--crooked. They may be influenced!" - -"I cannot believe that!" - -"You will--later." - -"You mean that MacNair has----" - -The man interrupted with a wave of his hand. "What I have told you of -MacNair is the truth. I shall prove this to your own satisfaction, at -the proper time. Until then, I ask you to believe me. Admitting, then, -that I have spoken the truth, do you suppose for an instant that these -facts are not known to the Mounted? If not, then the officers are -inefficient fools. If they are known, why don't the Mounted remedy -matters? Because MacNair is rich! Because he buys them, body and soul! -Because he owns them, like he owns the Indians! That's why! - -"Just stop and consider what is ahead of a dollar-a-day policeman. When -his five-year term of enlistment has expired, he has his choice of -enlisting for another term, or making his living some other way. At the -end of the five years he has learned to hate the service with a hatred -that is soul-searing. It is the hardest, strictest, most exacting, and -most ill-paid service in the world; and the five years of the man's -enlistment have practically rendered him unfit for earning a living. - -"He has lived in the wild country. He knows the wild country. And -civilization, with its rapid advance, has left him five years behind the -times. Our ex-man of the Mounted is fit for only the commonest labour. -And, because there are almost no employers in the North, he cannot turn -his knowledge of the wilds to profitable account, unless he turns -smuggler, whiskey-runner, or fur-poisoner. The men know this. -Therefore, when an officer whose patrol takes him into the far 'back -blocks' is approached by a man like MacNair, with his pockets bulging -with gold, what report goes down to Regina, and on to Ottawa? - -"Yes, Miss Elliston, in the Northland there is law. But the law is a -fundamental law--the primitive law of savage might. The strong devour -the weak. Only the fit survive--survive to be ruled, to be trampled, to -be _owned_ by the strongest. And the law is the measure of might! -Primal instincts--pristine passions--primordial brutishness permeate the -whole North--rule it. - -"The wolf and savage _carcajo_ drag down the hunger-weakened caribou and -the deer, and rip the warm, red flesh from their bones before their eyes -have glazed. And, in turn, the wolf and the _carcajo_, the unoffending -beaver and musquash, the mink, the fisher, the fox, and the otter are -trapped by savage man and the pelts ripped from their twitching bodies -while life and sensibility remain. They are harder to skin when cold. -And with the thermometer at forty or sixty below zero, the little bodies -chill almost instantly if mercifully killed--therefore, they are not -killed, but flayed alive and their bleeding bodies tossed upon the snow. -They die quickly--then. But--they have lived through the skinning! And -that is the North!" - -Chloe Elliston shuddered and drew away in horror. "Is--is this -possible?" she faltered. "Do they----" - -"They do. The fur business is not a pretty business, Miss Elliston. But -neither is the North pretty--nor are its inhabitants. But the traffic in -fur is inherently the business of the North--and its history is written -in blood--the blood and the suffering of thousands of men and millions of -animals. But the profits are great. Fashion has decreed that My Lady -shall be swathed in fur--therefore, men go mad and die in the barrens, -and the quivering red bodies of small animals bleed, and curl up, and -stiffen upon the hard crust of the snow! No, the North is not gentle, -Miss Elliston----" - -"Don't! Don't!" faltered the girl. "It is all too--too horrible--too -sickeningly brutal--too--too unbelievable!" She covered her eyes with -her hand. - -Lapierre answered, dryly. "Yes. The North is that way. It has always -been so--and it always will----" - -Chloe's hand dropped from her eyes and, she faced him in a sudden burst -of passion. Her sensitive lips quivered and her eyes narrowed to the -rapier-blade eyes that were the eyes of Tiger Elliston. She tore the -roll of blue-prints to bits and ground them into the mould with the heel -of her boot. - -"_It will not!_" Her voice cut sharply, and hard. "What do you know of -what the North _will_ be? You know it only as it has been--as it is, -perhaps. But, of its future you know nothing. I tell you the North will -change! It is a hard land--cruel--elemental--raw! But it is _big_! -And, when it awakens, its very bigness, the virile force and strength of -it, will turn against its savagery, its cruelty, its brutishness; and -above all other lands it will stand for the protection of the weak and -for the right of things to live!" - -The quarter-breed gazed into her face with a look of undisguised -admiration. "Ah, Miss Elliston, you are beautiful, now--beautiful -always--but, at this moment--radiant--divine--" Chloe seemed not to hear -him. - -"And that is to be _my_ work--to awaken the North! To bring to its -people the comforts--the advantages of civilization!" - -"The North is too big for you, Miss Elliston. It is too big for _men_. -Pardon, but it is not a woman's land." - -The girl's eyes flashed. "Suppose we leave sex out of it, Mr. Lapierre. -They said of my grandfather that 'the harder they fought him, the better -he liked 'em,' and that 'he never knew when he was licked.' Maybe that -is the reason he never was licked, but lived to carry civilization into a -land that was a thousand years deeper in savagery than this land is. And -today civilization--education--Christianity exist where seventy-five -years ago the chance visitor was tortured first and eaten afterward." - -Lapierre shrugged. "It is useless to argue. I am in sympathy with your -undertaking. I admire your courage, and the high ideals of your mission. -But, permit me to remind you that your grandfather, whoever he was, was -_not_ a woman. Also, that here, in the North, Christianity and education -have failed to civilize--the educated ones and the converts are worse -than the others." - -The girl's eyes darkened and the man noticed the peculiar out-thrust of -the chin. He hastened to change the subject. - -"I am glad you have abandoned those plans. They were useless. May I now -proceed with the building?" - -Chloe smiled. "Yes," she answered, "by all means. But, as this is to be -_my_ undertaking, I think I shall have it _my_ way. Build the store -first, if you please----" - -"And the stockade?" - -"There will be no stockade." - -"No stockade! Are you crazy? If MacNair----" - -"I will attend to MacNair, Mr. Lapierre." - -"Do you imagine MacNair will stand quietly by and allow you to build a -trading-post here on the Yellow Knife? Do you think he will listen to -our explanation that this is a school and that the store is merely a -plaything? I tell you he will countenance neither the school nor the -post. Education for the natives is the last thing MacNair will stand -for." - -"As I told you, I will attend to MacNair. My people will not be armed. -The stockade would be silly." - -Lapierre smiled; drew closer, and dropped his voice to a confidential -whisper. "I can put one hundred rifles and ten thousand cartridges in -the hands of your people in ten days' time." - -"Thank you, Mr. Lapierre. I don't need your guns." - -The man made a gesture of impatience. "If you choose to ignore MacNair, -you must, at least, be prepared to handle the Indians who will crowd your -counter like wolves when they hear you are underselling the H.B.C. When -you explain that only those who are members of your school may trade at -your post, you will be swamped with enrolments. You cannot teach the -whole North. - -"Those that you will be forced to turn away--what will they do? They -will not understand. Instead of returning to their teepees, their nets, -and their traplines, they will hang about your post, growing gaunter and -hungrier with the passing of the days. And the hunger that gnaws at -their bellies will arouse the latent lawlessness of their hearts, and -then--if MacNair has not already struck, he will strike then. For -MacNair knows Indians and the workings of the Indian mind. He knows how -the sullen hatred of their souls may be fanned into a mighty flame. His -Indians will circulate among the hungry horde, and the banks of the -Yellow Knife will be swept bare. MacNair will have struck. And with -such consummate skill will his hand be disguised, that not the faintest -breath of suspicion will point toward himself." - -"I shall sell to all alike, while my goods last, whether they are members -of my school or not----" - -"That will be even worse than----" - -"It seems you always think of the worst thing that could possibly -happen," smiled the girl. - -"'To fear the worst, oft cures the worst,'" quoted Lapierre. - -"'Don't cross a bridge 'til you get to it' is not so classic, perhaps, -but it saves a lot of needless worry." - -"'Foresight is better than hindsight' is equally unclassic, and -infinitely better generalship. Bridges crossed at the last moment are -generally crossed from the wrong end, I have noticed." The man leaned -toward her and looked straight into her eyes. "Oh, Miss Elliston--can't -you see--I am thinking of your welfare--of your safety; I have known you -but a short time, as acquaintance is reckoned, but already you have -become more to me than----" - -Chloe interrupted him with a gesture. - -"Don't--please--I----" - -Lapierre ignored the protest, and, seizing her hand in both his own, -spoke rapidly. "I will say it! I have known it from the moment of our -first meeting. I love you! And I shall win you--and together we -will----" - -"Oh, don't--don't--not--now--please!" - -The man bowed and released the hand. "I can wait," he said gravely. -"But please--for your own good--take my advice. I know the North. I was -born in the North, and am of the North. I have sought only to help you. -Why do you refuse to profit by my experience? Must you endure what I -have endured to learn what I offer freely to tell you? I shudder to -think of It. The knowledge gleaned by experience may be the most -lasting, but it is dearly purchased, and at a great loss--always." The -man's voice was very earnest, and Chloe detected a note of mild reproach. -She hastened to reply. - -"I _have_ profited by your advice--have learned much from what you have -told me. I am under obligation to you. I appreciate your interest -in--in my work, and am indeed grateful for what you have done to further -it. But there are some things, I suppose, one _must_ learn by -experience. I may be silly and headstrong. I may be wrong. But I stand -ready to pay the price. The loss will be mine. See!" she cried -excitedly, "they are rolling up the logs for the store." - -"Yes," answered the man gravely, "I bow to your wishes in the matter of -your buildings. If you refuse to build a stockade we may erect a few -more buildings--but as few as you can possibly manage with, Miss -Elliston. I must hasten southward." - -Chloe studied for some moments. "The store"--she checked them off upon -her fingers--"the schoolhouse, two bunkhouses, we can leave off the -bathrooms, the river and the lake will serve until winter." - -Lapierre nodded, and the girl continued. "We can do without the laundry -and the carpenter-shop, and the individual cabins. The Indians can set -up their teepees in the clearing, and build the cabins and the other -buildings later. But I _would_ like a little cottage for myself, and -Miss Penny, and Lena. We _could_ make three rooms do. Can we have three -rooms?" - -Lapierre bowed low. "It shall be as you say," he replied. "And now, if -you will excuse me, I shall see to it that these _canaille_ work. LeFroy -they do not fear." - -He turned to go, and at that moment Chloe Elliston saw a look of terror -flash into his eyes. Saw his fingers clutch and grope uncertainly at the -gay scarf at his throat. Saw the muscles of his face work painfully. -Saw his colour fade from rich tan to sickly yellow. An inarticulate, -gurgling sound escaped his lips, and his eyes stared in horror toward a -point beyond and behind her. - -She turned swiftly and gazed into the face of a man who had approached -unnoticed from the direction of the river, and stood a few paces distant -with his eyes fixed upon her. As their glances met the man's gaze -continued unflinching, and the soft-brimmed Stetson remained on his head. -Her slender fingers clenched into her palms and, unconsciously, her chin -thrust forward--for she knew intuitively that the man was "Brute" MacNair. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -BRUTE MACNAIR - -Estimates are formed, in a far greater measure than most of us care to -admit, upon first impressions. Manifestly shallow and embryonic though -we admit them to be, our first impressions crystallize, in nine cases -out of ten, into our fixed or permanent opinions. And, after all, the -reason for this absurdity is simple--egotism. - -Our opinions, based upon first impressions--and we rarely pause to -analyse first impressions--have become _our opinions_, the result, as -we fondly imagine, of our judgment. Our judgment must be -right--because it is our judgment. Therefore, unconsciously or -consciously, every subsequent impression is bent to bolster up and -sustain that judgment. We hate to be wrong. We hate to admit, even to -ourselves, that we are wrong. - -Strange, isn't it? How often we are right (permit the smile) in our -estimate of people? - -When Chloe Elliston turned to face MacNair among the stumps of the -sunlit clearing, her opinion of the man had already been formed. He -was Brute MacNair, one to be hated, despised. To be fought, conquered, -and driven out of the North--for the good of the North. His influence -was a malignant ulcer--a cancerous plague-spot, whose evil tentacles, -reaching hidden and unseen, would slowly but surely fasten themselves -upon the civilization of the North--sap its vitality--poison its blood. - -In the flash of her first glance the girl's eyes took in every -particular and detail of him. She noted the huge frame, broad, yet -lean with the gaunt leanness of health, and endurance, and physical -strength. The sinew-corded, bronzed hands that clenched slowly as his -glance rested for a moment upon the face of Lapierre. The -weather-tanned neck that rose, columnlike, from the open shirt-throat. -The well-poised head. The prominent, high-bridged nose. The lantern -jaw, whose rugged outline was but half-concealed by the roughly trimmed -beard of inky blackness. And, the most dominant feature of all, the -compelling magnetism of the steel-grey eyes of him--eyes, deep-set -beneath heavy black brows that curved and met--eyes that stabbed, and -bored, and probed, as if to penetrate to the ultimate motive. Hard -eyes they were, whose directness of gaze spoke at once fearlessness and -intolerance of opposition; spoke, also, of combat, rather than -diplomacy; of the honest smashing of foes, rather than dissimulation. - -Ail this the girl saw in the first moments of their meeting. She saw, -too, that the eyes held a hostile gleam, and that she need expect from -their owner no sympathy--no deference of sex. If war were to be -between them, it would be a man's war, waged upon man's terms, in a -man's country. No quarter would be given--Chloe's lips pressed -tight--nor would any be asked. - -The moments lengthened into an appreciable space of time and the man -remained motionless, regarding her with that probing, searching stare. -Lapierre he ignored after the first swift glance. Instinctively the -girl knew that the man had no intention of being deliberately or -studiously rude in standing thus in her presence with head covered, and -eyeing her with those steel-grey, steel-hard eyes. Nevertheless, his -attitude angered her, the more because she knew he did not intend to. -And in this she was right--MacNair stared because he was silently -taking her measure, and his hat remained upon his head because he knew -of no reason why it should not remain upon his head. - -Chloe was the first to speak, and in her voice was more than a trace of -annoyance. - -"Well, Mr. Mind-Reader, have you figured me out--why I am here, and----" - -"No." The word boomed deeply from the man's throat, smashing the -question that was intended to carry the sting of sarcasm. "Except that -it is for no good--though you doubtless think it is for great good." - -"Indeed!" The girl laughed a trifle sharply. "And who, then, is the -judge?" - -"I am." The calm assurance of the man fanned her rising anger, and, -when she answered, her voice was low and steady, with the tonelessness -of forced control. - -"And your name, you Oligarch of the Far Outland? May I presume to ask -your name?" - -"Why ask? My name you already know. And upon the word of yon scum, -you have judged. By the glint o' hate, as you looked into my eyes, I -know--for one does not so welcome a stranger beyond the outposts. But, -since you have asked, I will tell you; my name is MacNair--Robert -MacNair, by my christening--Bob MacNair, in the speech of the -country----" - -"And, _Brute_ MacNair, upon the Athabasca?" - -"Yes. Brute MacNair--upon the Athabasca--and the Slave, and -Mackenzie--and in the haunts of the whiskey-runners, and 'Fool' -MacNair--in Winnipeg." - -"And among the oppressed and the down-trodden? Among those whose -heritage of freedom you have torn from them? What do they call -you--those whom you have forced into serfdom?" For a fleeting instant -the girl caught the faintest flicker, a tiny twinkle of amusement, in -the steely eyes. But, when the man answered, his eyes were steady. - -"_They_ call me friend." - -"Is their ignorance so abysmal?" - -"They have scant time to learn from books--my Indians. They work." - -"But, a year from now, when they have begun to learn, what will they -call you then--_your_ Indians?" - -"A year from now--two years---ten years--my Indians will call -me--friend." - -Chloe was about to speak, but MacNair interrupted her. "I have scant -time for parley. I was starting for Mackay Lake, but when Old Elk -reported two of yon scum's satellites hanging about, I dropped down the -river. By your words it's a school you will be building. If it were a -post I would have to take you more seriously----" - -"There will be a--" Chloe felt the warning touch of Lapierre's finger -at her back and ceased abruptly. MacNair continued, as if unmindful of -the interruption. - -"Build your school, by all means. 'Tis a spot well chosen by yon -devil's spawn, and for his own ends. By your eyes you are honest in -purpose--a fool's purpose--and a hare-brained carrying out of it. You -are being used as a tool by Lapierre. You will not believe this--not -yet. Later--perhaps, when it is too late--but, that is your -affair--not mine. At the proper time I will crush Lapierre, and if you -go down in the crash you will have yourself to thank. I have warned -you. Yon snake has poisoned your mind against me. In your eyes I am -foredamned--and well damned--which causes me no concern, and you, no -doubt, much satisfaction. - -"Build your school, but heed well my words. You'll not tamper, one way -or another, with my Indians. One hundred and seventy miles north of -here, upon Snare Lake, is my post. My Indians pass up and down the -Yellow Knife. They are to pass unquestioned, unmolested, unproselyted. -Confine your foolishness to the southward and I shall not -interfere--carry it northward, and you shall hear from me. - -"Should you find yourself in danger from your enemies--or, your -_friends_"--he shot a swift glance toward Lapierre, who had remained a -pace behind the girl--"send for me. Good day." - -Chloe Elliston was furious. She had listened in a sort of dumb rage as -the man's words stung, and stung again. MacNair's uncouth manner, his -blunt brutality of speech, his scornful, even contemptuous reference to -her work, and, most of all, his utter disregard of her, struck her to -the very depths. As MacNair turned to go, she stayed him with a voice -trembling with fury. - -"Do you imagine, for an instant, I would stoop to seek _your_ -protection? I would die first! You have had things your own way too -long, Mr. Brute MacNair! You think yourself secure, in your smug -egotism. But the end is in sight. Your petty despotism is doomed. -You have hoodwinked the authorities, bribed the police, connived with -the Hudson Bay Company, bullied and browbeaten the Indians, cheated -them out of their birthright of land and liberty, and have forced them -into a peonage that has filled your pockets with gold." - -She paused in her vehement outburst and glared defiantly at MacNair, as -if to challenge a denial. But the man remained silent, and Chloe felt -her face flush as the shadow of a twinkle played for a fleeting instant -in the depths of the hard eyes. She fancied, even, that the lips -behind the black beard smiled--ever so slightly, - -"Oh, you needn't laugh! You think because I'm a woman you will be able -to do as you please with me----" - -"I did not laugh," answered the man gravely. "Why should I laugh? You -take yourself seriously. You believe, even, that the things you have -just spoken are true. They _must_ be true. Has not Pierre Lapierre -_told_ you they are true? And, why should the fact that you are a -woman cause me to believe I could influence you? If an issue is at -stake, as you believe, what has sex to do with it? I have known no -women, except the squaws and the _kloochmen_ of the natives. - -"You said, 'you think, because I am a woman, you will be able to do as -you please with me.' Are women, then, less honest than men? I do not -believe that. In my life I have known no women, but I have read of -them in books. I have not been to any school, but was taught by my -father, who, I think, was a very wise man. I learned from him, and -from the books, of which he left a great number. I have always -believed women to be uncommonly like men--very good, or very bad, or -very commonplace because they were afraid to be either. But, I have -not read that they are less honest than men." - -"Thank you! Being a woman, I suppose I should consider myself -flattered. A year from this time you will know more about women---at -least, about _me_. You will have learned that I will not be -hoodwinked. I cannot be bribed. Nor can my silence, or acquiescence -in your villainy be bought. I will not connive with you. And you -cannot browbeat, nor bully, nor cheat me." - -"Yes?" - -"Yes. And of one thing I am glad. I shall expect no consideration at -your hands because I am a woman. You will fight me as you would fight -a man." - -"Fight you? Why should I fight you? I have no quarrel with you. If -you choose to build a school here, or even a trading-post, I have no -disposition--no right to gainsay you. You will soon tire of your -experiment, and no harm will be done--the North will be unchanged. You -are nothing to me. I care nothing for your opinion of me--considering -its source, I am surprised it is not even worse." - -"Impossible! And do not think that I have not had corroborative -evidence. Ocular evidence of your brutal treatment of Mr. -Lapierre--and did I not see with my own eyes the destruction of your -whiskey?" - -"What nonsense are you speaking now? My whiskey! Woman--never yet -have I owned any whiskey." - -Chloe sneered--"And the Indians--do they not hate you?" - -"Yes, those Indians do--and well they may. Most of them have crossed -my path at some time or other. And most of them will cross it -again--at Lapierre's instigation. Some of them I shall have to kill." - -"You speak lightly of murder." - -"Murder?" - -"Yes, murder! The murder of poor, ignorant savages. It is an ugly -word, isn't it? But why dissimulate? At least, we can call a spade a -spade. These men are human beings. Their right to life and happiness -is as good as yours or mine, and their souls are as----" - -"Black as hell! Woman, from LeFroy down, you have collected about you -as pretty a gang of cut-throats and outlaws as could have been found in -all the North. Lapierre has seen to that. I do not envy you your -school. But as long as you can be turned to their profit your personal -safety will be assured. They are too cunning, by far, to kill the -goose that lays the golden egg." - -"What a pretty speech! Your polish--your _savoir vivre_, does you -credit, I am sure." - -"I do not understand what you are saying, but----" - -"There are many things you do not understand now that perhaps you will -later. For instance, in the matter of the Indians--_your_ Indians, I -believe you call them--you have warned, or commanded, possibly, would -be the better word----" - -"Yes," interrupted the man, "that is the better word----" - -"Have commanded me not to--what was it you said--molest, question, or -proselyte them." - -MacNair nodded. "I said that." - -"And I say _this_!" flashed the girl. "I shall use every means in my -power to induce your Indians to attend my school. I shall teach them -that they are free. That they owe allegiance and servitude to no man. -That the land they inhabit is their land. That they are their own -masters. I shall offer them education, that they may be able to -compete on equal terms with the white men when this land ceases to lie -beyond the outposts. I shall show them that they are being robbed and -cheated and forced into ignominious serfdom. And mark you this: if I -can't reach them upon the river, I shall go to your village, or post, -or fort, or whatever you call your Snare Lake rendezvous, and I shall -point out to them their wrongs. I shall appeal to their better -natures--to their manhood, and womanhood. That's what I think of your -command! I do not fear you! I _despise_ you!" - -MacNair nodded, gravely. - -"I have already learned that women are as honest as men--more so, even, -than most men. You are honest, and you are earnest. You believe in -yourself, too. But you are more of a fool than I thought--more of a -fool than I thought any one could be. Lapierre is a great fool--but he -is neither honest nor earnest. He is just a fool--a wise fool, with -the cunning and vices of the wolf, but with none of the wolf's lean -virtues. You are an honest fool. You are like a young moose-calf, -who, because he happens to be born into the world, thinks the world was -made for him to be born into. - -"Let us say the moose-calf was born upon a great mountain--a mountain -whose sides are crossed and recrossed by moose-trails--paths that wind -in and out among the trees, stamped by the hoofs of older and wiser -moose. Upon these paths the moose-calf tries his wobbly legs, and one -day finds himself gazing out upon a plain where grass is. He has no -use for grass--does not even know what grass is for. Only he sees no -paths out there. The grass covers a quagmire, but of quagmires the -moose-calf knows nothing, having been born upon a mountain. - -"Being a fool, the moose-calf soon tires of the beaten paths. He -ventures downward toward the plain. A wolf, skulking through the scrub -at the foot of the mountain, encounters, by chance, the moose-calf. -The calf is fat. But, the wolf is cunning. He dares not harm the -moose-calf hard by the trails of the mountain. He becomes friendly, -and the fool moose-calf tells the wolf where he is bound. The wolf -offers to accompany him, and the moose-calf is glad--here is a -friend--one who is wiser than the moose-kind, for he fears not to -venture into the country of no trails. - -"Between the mountain and the plain stands a tree. This tree the wolf -hates. Many squirrels work about its roots, and these squirrels are -fatter than the squirrels of the scrub, for the tree feeds them. But, -when the wolf would pounce upon them, they seek safety in the tree. -The moose-calf--the poor fool moose-calf--comes to this tree, and, -finding no paths curving around its base, becomes enraged because the -tree does not step aside and yield the right of way. He will charge -the tree! He does not know that the tree has been growing for many -years, and has become deeply rooted--immovable. The wolf looks on and -smiles. If the moose-calf butts the tree down, the wolf will get the -squirrels--and the calf. If the calf does not, the wolf will get the -calf." - -MacNair ceased speaking and turned abruptly toward the river. - -"My!" Chloe Elliston exclaimed. "Really, you are delightful, Mr. Brute -MacNair. During the half-hour or more of our acquaintance you have -called me, among other things, a fool, a goose, and a moose-calf. I -repeat that you are delightful, and honest, shall I say? No; -candid--for I know that you are not honest. But do tell me the rest of -the story. Don't leave it like The Lady or the Tiger. How will it -end? Are you a prophet, or merely an allegorist?" - -MacNair, who was again facing her, answered without a smile. "I do not -know about the lady or the tiger, nor of what happened to either. If -they were pitted against each other, my bet would be laid on the tiger, -though my sympathy might be with the lady. I am not a prophet. I -cannot tell you the end of the story. Maybe the fool moose-calf will -butt its brains out against the trunk of the tree. That would be no -fault of the tree. The tree was there first, and was minding its own -business. Maybe the calf will butt and get hurt, and scamper for home. -Maybe it will succeed in eluding the fangs of the wolf, and reach its -mountain in safety. In such case it will have learned something. - -"Maybe it will butt and butt against the tree until it dislodges a limb -from high among the branches, and the limb will fall to the ground and -crush, shall we say--the waiting wolf? And, maybe the calf will butt, -learn that the tree is immovable, swallow its hurt, and pass on, giving -the tree a wide berth--pass on into the quagmire, with the wolf licking -his chops, as grinning, he points out the way." - -Chloe, in spite of herself, was intensely interested. - -"But," she asked, "you are quite sure the tree is immovable?" - -"Quite sure." - -"Suppose, however, that this particular tree is rotten--rotten to the -heart? That the very roots that hold it in place are rotten? And that -the moose-calf butts 'til he butts it down--what then?" - -There was a gleam of admiration in MacNair's eyes as he answered: - -"If the tree is rotten it will fall. But it will fall to the mighty -push o' the winds o' God--and not to the puny butt of a moose-calf!" -Chloe Elliston was silent. The man was speaking again. "Good day to -you, madam, or miss, or whatever one respectfully calls a woman. As I -told you, I have known no women. I have lived always in the North. -Death robbed me of my mother before I was old enough to remember her. -The North, you see, is hard and relentless, even with those who know -her--and love her." - -The girl felt a sudden surge of sympathy for this strange, outspoken -man of the Northland. She knew that the man had spoken, with no -thought of arousing sympathy, of the dead mother he had never known. -And in his voice was a note, not merely of deep regret, but of sadness. - -"I am sorry," she managed to murmur. - -"What?" - -"About your mother, I mean." - -The man nodded. "Yes. She was a good woman. My father told me of her -often. He loved her." - -The simplicity of the man puzzled Chloe. She was at a loss to reply. - -"I think--I believe--a moment ago, you asked my name." - -"No." - -"Oh!" The lines about the girl's mouth tightened. "Then I'll tell -you. I am Chloe Elliston--_Miss_ Chloe Elliston. The name means -nothing to you--now. A year hence it will mean much." - -"Aye, maybe. I'll not say it won't. More like, though, it will be -forgot in half the time. The North has scant use for the passing whims -o' women!" - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE MASTER MIND - -After the visit of MacNair, Chloe noticed a marked diminution in the -anxiety of Lapierre to resume his interrupted journey. True, he drove -the Indians mercilessly from daylight till dark in the erection of the -buildings, but his air of tense expectancy was gone, and he ceased to -dart short, quick glances into the North, and to scan the upper reach -of the river. - -The Indians, too, had changed. They toiled more stolidly now with -apathetic ears for Lapierre's urging, where before they had worked in -feverish haste, with their eyes upon the edges of the clearing. It was -obviously patent that the canoemen shared Lapierre's fear and hatred of -MacNair. - -In the late afternoon of the twelfth day after the rolling of the first -log into place, Chloe accompanied Lapierre upon a tour of inspection of -the completed buildings. The man had done his work well. The -school-house and the barracks with the dining-room and kitchen were -comfortably and solidly built; entirely sufficient for present needs -and requirements. But the girl wondered at the trading-post and its -appendant store-house they were fully twice the size she would have -considered necessary, and constructed as to withstand a siege. -Lapierre had built a fort. - -"Excellent buildings; and solid as the Rock of Gibraltar, Miss -Elliston," smiled the quarter-breed, as with a wave of his hand he -indicated the interior of the trading-room. - -"But, they are so big!" exclaimed the girl, as her glance swept the -spacious fur lofts, and the ample areas for the storing of supplies. -She was concerned only with the size of the buildings. But her wonder -would have increased could she have seen the rows of loopholes that -pierced the thick walls--loopholes crammed with moss against the cold, -and with their openings concealed by cleverly fitted pieces of bark. -Lapierre's smile deepened. - -"Remember, you told me you intend to sell to all alike, while your -goods last. I know what that will mean. It will mean that you will -find yourself called upon to furnish the supplies for the inhabitants -of several thousand square miles of territory. Indians will travel far -to obtain a bargain. They look only at the price--never at the quality -of the goods. That fact enables us free-traders to live. We sell -cheaper than the H.B.C.; but, frankly, our goods are cheaper. The -bargains are much more apparent than real. But, if I understand your -position, you intend to sell goods that are up to H.B.C. standard at -actual cost?" - -Chloe nodded: "Certainly." - -"Very well, then you will find that these buildings which look so large -and commodious to you now, must be crowded to the ceiling with your -goods, while the walls of your fur lofts will fairly bulge with their -weight of riches. Fur is the 'cash' of the North, and the trader must -make ample provision for its storage. There are no banks in the -wilderness; and the fur lofts are the vaults of the traders." - -"But, I don't want to deal in fur!" objected the girl. "I--since you -have told me of the terrible cruelty of the trappers, I _hate fur_! I -want nothing to do with it. In fact, I shall do everything in my power -to discountenance and discourage the trapping." Lapierre cleared his -throat sharply--coughed--cleared it again. Discourage trapping--north -of sixty! Had he heard aright? He swallowed hard, mumbled an apology -anent the inhalation of a gnat, and answered in all seriousness. - -"A worthy object, Miss Elliston--a very worthy object; but one that -will require time to consummate. At present the taking of fur is the -business of the North. I may say, the only business of thousands of -savages whose very existence depends upon their skill with the traps. -Fur is their one source of livelihood. Therefore, you must accept the -condition as it exists. Think, if you refused to accept fur in -exchange for your goods, what it would mean--the certain and absolute -failure of your school from the moment of its inception. The Indians -could not grasp your point of view. You would be shunned for one -demented. Your goods would rot upon your shelves; for the simple -reason that the natives would have no means of buying them. No, Miss -Elliston, you must take their fur until such time as you succeed in -devising some other means by which these people may earn their living." - -"You are right," agreed Chloe. "Of course, I must deal in fur--for the -present. Reform is the result of years of labour. I must be patient. -I was thinking only of the cruelty of it." - -"They have never been taught," said Lapierre with a touch of sadness in -his tone. "And, while we are on the subject, allow me to advise you to -retain LeFroy as your chief trader. He is an excellent man, is Louis -LeFroy, and has had no little experience." - -"Do you think he will stay?" eagerly asked the girl. "I should like to -retain, not only LeFroy but a half-dozen others." - -"It shall be as you wish. I shall speak to LeFroy and select also the -pick of the crew. They will be glad of a steady job. The others I -shall take with me. I must gather my fur from its various _caches_ and -freight it to the railway." - -"You are going to the railway! To civilization?" - -"Yes, but it will take me three weeks to make ready my outfit. And in -this connection I may be of further service to you. I must depart from -here tonight. Instruct LeFroy to make out his list of supplies for the -winter. Give him a free hand and tell him to fill the store-rooms. -The goods you have brought with you are by no means sufficient. Three -weeks from today, if I do not visit you in the meantime, have him meet -me at Fort Resolution, and I shall be glad to make your purchases for -you, at Athabasca Landing and Edmonton." - -"You have been very good to me. How can I ever thank you?" cried the -girl, impulsively extending her hand. Lapierre took the hand, bowed -over it, and--was it fancy, or did his lips brush her finger-tips? -Chloe withdrew the hand, laughing in slight confusion. To her surprise -she realized she was not in the least annoyed. "How can I thank you," -she repeated, "for--for throwing aside your own work to attend to mine?" - -"Do not speak of thanking me." Once more the man's eyes seemed to burn -into her soul, "I love you! And one day my work will be your work and -your work will be mine. It is I who am indebted to you for bringing a -touch of heaven into this drab hell of Northern brutishness. For -bringing to me a breath of the bright world I have not known since -Montreal--and the student days, long past. And--ah--more than -that--something I have never known--love. And, it is you who are -bringing a ray of pure light to lighten the darkness of my people." - -Chloe was deeply touched. "But I--I thought," she faltered, "when we -were discussing the buildings that day, you spoke as if you did not -really care for the Indians. And--and you made them work so hard----" - -"To learn to work would be their salvation!" exclaimed the man. "And I -beg you to forget what I said then. I feared for your safety. When -you refused to allow me to build the stockade, I could think only of -your being at the mercy of Brute MacNair. I tried to frighten you into -allowing me to build it. Even now, if you say the word----" - -Chloe interrupted him with a laugh. "No, I am not afraid of -MacNair--really I am not. And you have already neglected your own -affairs too long." - -The man assented. "If I am to get my furs to the railway, do my own -trading, and yours, and return before the lake freezes, I must, indeed, -be on my way." - -"You will wait while I write some letters? And you will post them for -me?" - -Lapierre bowed. "As many as you wish," he said, and together they -walked to the girl's cabin whose quaint, rustic veranda overlooked the -river. The veranda was an addition of Lapierre's, and the cabin had -five rooms, instead of three. - -The quarter-breed waited, whistling softly a light French air, while -Chloe wrote her letters. He breathed deeply of the warm spruce-laden -breeze, slapped lazily at mosquitoes, and gazed at the setting sun -between half-closed lids. Pierre Lapierre was happy. - -"Things are coming my way," he muttered. "With a year's stock in that -warehouse--and LeFroy to handle it--I guess the Indians won't pick up -many bargains--my people!--damn them! How I hate them. And as for -MacNair--lucky Vermilion thought of painting _his_ name on that -booze--I hated to smash it--but it paid. It was the one thing needed -to make me solid with _her_. And I've got time to run in another batch -if I hurry--got to get those rifles into the loft, too. When MacNair -hits, he hits hard." - -Chloe appeared at the door with her letters. Lapierre took them, and -again bowed low over her hand. This time the girl was sure his lips -touched her finger-tips. He released the hand and stepped to the -ground. - -"Good-bye," he said, "I shall try my utmost to pay you a visit before I -depart for the southward, but if I fail, remember to send LeFroy to me -at Fort Resolution." - -"I will remember. Good-bye--_bon voyage_----" - -"_Et prompt retour?_" The man's lips smiled, and his eyes flashed the -question. - -"_Et prompt retour--certainement!_" answered the girl as, with a wide -sweep of his hat, the quarter-breed turned and made his way toward the -camp of the Indians, which was located in a spruce thicket a short -distance above the clearing. As he disappeared in the timber, Chloe -felt a sudden sinking of the heart; a strange sense of desertion, of -loneliness possessed her as she gazed into the deepening shadows of the -wall of the clearing. She fumed impatiently. - -"Why should I care?" she muttered, "I never laid eyes on him until two -weeks ago, and besides, he's--he's an _Indian_! And yet--he's a -gentleman. He has been very kind to me--very considerate. He is only -a quarter-Indian. Many of the very best families have Indian blood in -their veins--even boast of it. I--I'm a _fool_!" she exclaimed, and -passed quickly into the house. - - -Pierre Lapierre was a man, able, shrewd, unscrupulous. The son of a -French factor of the Hudson Bay Company and his half-breed wife, he was -sent early to school, where he remained to complete his college course; -for it was the desire of his father that the son should engage in some -profession for which his education fitted him. - -But the blood of the North was in his veins. The call of the North -lured him into the North, and he returned to the trading-post of his -father, where he was given a position as clerk and later appointed -trader and assigned to a post of his own far to the northward. - -While the wilderness captivated and entranced him, the humdrum life of -a trader wearied him. He longed for excitement--action. - -During the several years of his service with the great fur company he -assiduously studied conditions, storing up in his mind a fund of -information that later was to stand him in good stead. He studied the -trade, the Indians, the country. He studied the men of the Mounted, -and smugglers, and whiskey-runners, and free-traders. And it was in a -brush with these latter that he overstepped the bounds which, under the -changed conditions, even the agents of the great Company might not go. - -Chafing under the loss of trade by reason of an independent post that -had been built upon the shore of his lake some ten miles to the -southward, his wild Metis blood called for action and, hastily -summoning a small band of Indians, he attacked the independents. -Incidentally, the free-traders' post was burned, one of the traders -killed, and the other captured and sent upon the _longue traverse_. In -some unaccountable manner, after suffering untold hardships, the man -won through to civilization and promptly had Pierre Lapierre brought to -book. - -The Company stood loyally between its trader and the prison bars; but -the old order had changed in the Northland. Young Lapierre's action -was condemned and he was dismissed from the Company's service with a -payment of three years' unearned salary whereupon, he promptly turned -free-trader, and his knowledge of the methods of the H.B.C., the -Indians, and the country, made largely for success. - -The life of the free-trader satisfied his longing for travel and -adventure, which his life as a post-trader had not. But it did not -satisfy his innate craving for excitement. Therefore, he cast about to -enlarge his field of activity. He became a whiskey-runner. His -profits increased enormously, and he gradually included smuggling in -his _répertoire_, and even timber thieving, and cattle-rustling upon -the ranges along the international boundary. - -At the time of his meeting with Chloe Elliston he was at the head of an -organized band of criminals whose range of endeavour extended over -hundreds of thousands of square miles, and the diversity of whose -crimes was limited only by the index of the penal code. - -Pierre Lapierre was a Napoleon of organization--a born leader of men. -He chose his liegemen shrewdly--outlaws, renegades, Indians, breeds, -trappers, canoemen, scowmen, packers, claim-jumpers, gamblers, -smugglers, cattle-rustlers, timber thieves--and these he dominated and -ruled absolutely. - -Without exception, these men feared him--his authority over them was -unquestioned. Because they had confidence in his judgment and cunning, -and because under his direction they made more money, and made it -easier, and at infinitely less risk, than they ever made by playing a -lone hand, they accepted his domination cheerfully. And such was his -disposition of the men who were the component parts of his system of -criminal efficiency, that few, if any, were there among them who could, -even if he so desired, have furnished evidence that would have -seriously incriminated the leader. - -The men who ran whiskey across the line, _cached_ it. Other men, -unknown to them, disguised it as innocent freight and delivered it to -the scowmen. The scowmen turned it over to others who, for all they -knew, were bona fide settlers or free-traders; and from their _cache_, -the canoemen carried it far into the wilderness and either stored it in -some inaccessible rendezvous or _cached_ it where still others would -come and distribute it among the Indians. - -Each division undoubtedly suspected the others, but none but the leader -_knew_. And, as it was with the whiskey-running, so was it with each -of his various undertakings. Religiously, Pierre Lapierre followed the -scriptural injunction; "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand -doeth." He confided in no man. And few, indeed, were the defections -among his retainers. A few had rebelled, as Vermilion had -rebelled--and with like result. The man dismissed from Lapierre's -service entered no other. - -Moreover, he invariably contrived to implicate one whom he intended to -use, in some crime of a graver nature than he would be called upon to -commit in the general run of his duties. This crime he would stage in -some fastness where its detection by an officer of the Mounted was -exceedingly unlikely; and most commonly consisted in the murder of an -Indian, whose weighted body would be lowered to the bottom of a -convenient lake or river. Lapierre witnesses would appear and the man -was irrevocably within the toil. Had he chosen, Pierre Lapierre could -have lowered a grappling hook unerringly upon a dozen weighted -skeletons. - -Over the head of the recruit now hung an easily proven charge of -murder. If during his future activities as whiskey-runner, smuggler, -or in whatever particular field of endeavour he was assigned, plans -should miscarry--an arrest be made--this man would take his prison -sentence in silence rather than seek to implicate Lapierre, who with a -word could summon the witnesses that would swear the hemp about his -neck. - -The system worked. Now and again plans did miscarry--arrests were made -by the Mounted, men were caught "with the goods," or arrested upon -evidence that even Lapierre's intricate alibi scheme could not refute. -But, upon conviction, the unlucky prisoner always accepted his -sentence--for at his shoulder stalked a spectre, and in his heart was -the fear lest the thin lips of Pierre Lapierre would speak. - -With such consummate skill and finesse _did_ Lapierre plot, however, -and with such Machiavelian cunning and _éclat_ were his plans carried -out, that few failed. And those that did were credited by the -authorities to individual or sporadic acts, rather than to the work of -an intricate organization presided over by a master mind. - -The gang numbered, all told, upward of two hundred of the hardest -characters upon the frontier. Only Lapierre knew its exact strength, -but each member knew that if he did not "run straight"--if he, by word -or act or deed, sought to implicate an accomplice--his life would be -worth just exactly the price of "the powder to blow him to hell." - -A few there were outside the organization who suspected Pierre -Lapierre--but only a few: an officer or two of the Mounted and a few -factors of the H.B.C. But these could prove nothing. They bided their -time. One man _knew_ him for what he was. One, in all the North, as -powerful in his way as Lapierre was in his. The one man who had spies -in Lapierre's employ, and who did not fear him. The one man Pierre -Lapierre feared--Bob MacNair. And he, too, bided his time. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -A SHOT IN THE NIGHT - -As Lapierre made his way to the camp of the Indians he pondered deeply. -For Lapierre was troubled. The fact that MacNair had twice come upon -him unexpectedly within the space of a month caused him grave concern. -He did not know that it was entirely by chance that MacNair had found -him, an unwelcome sojourner at Fort Rae. Accusations and -recriminations had passed between them, with the result that MacNair, -rough, bluff, and ready to fight at any time, had pounded the -quarter-breed to within an inch of his life, and then, to the -undisguised delight of the men of the H.B.C., had dragged him out and -pitched him ignominiously into the lake. - -Either could have killed the other then and there. But each knew that -to have done so, as the result of a personal quarrel, would have been -the worst move he could possibly have made. And the forebearance with -which MacNair fought and Lapierre suffered was each man's measure of -greatness. MacNair went about his business, and to Lapierre came -Chenoine with his story of the girl and the plot of Vermilion, and -Lapierre, forgetting MacNair for the moment, made a dash for the Slave -River. - -For years Lapierre and MacNair had been at loggerheads. Each -recognized in the other a foe of no mean ability. Each had sworn to -drive the other out of the North. And each stood at the head of a -powerful organization which could be depended upon to fight to the last -gasp when the time came to "lock horns" in the final issue. Both -leaders realized that the show-down could not be long delayed--a year, -perhaps--two years--it would make no difference. The clash was -inevitable. Neither sought to dodge the crisis, nor did either seek to -hasten it. But each knew that events were shaping themselves, the -stage was set, and the drama of the wilds was wearing to its final -scene. - -From the moment of his meeting with Chloe Elliston, Lapierre had -realized the value of an alliance with her against MacNair. And being -a man whose creed it was to turn every possible circumstance to his own -account, he set about to win her co-operation. When, during the course -of their first conversation, she casually mentioned that she could -command millions if she wanted them, his immediate interest in MacNair -cooled appreciably--not that MacNair was to be forgotten--merely that -his undoing was to be deferred for a season, while he, the Pierre -Lapierre once more of student days, played an old game--a game long -forgot in the press of sterner life, but one at which he once excelled. - -"A game of hearts," the man had smiled to himself--"a game in which the -risk is nothing and the stakes---- With millions one may accomplish -much in the wilderness, or retire into smug respectability--who knows? -Or, losing, if worse comes to worst, a lady who can command millions, -held prisoner, should be worth dickering for. Ah, yes, dear lady! By -all means, you shall be helped to Christianize the North! To educate -the Indians--how did she say it? 'So that they may come and receive -that which is theirs of right'--fah! These women!" - -While the scows rushed northward his plans had been laid--plans that -included a masterstroke against MacNair and the placing of the girl -absolutely within his power in one move. And so Pierre Lapierre had -accompanied Chloe to the mouth of the Yellow Knife, selected the site -for her school, and generously remained upon the ground to direct the -erection of her buildings. - -Up to that point his plans had carried with but two minor frustrations: -he was disappointed in not having been allowed to build a stockade, and -he had been forced prematurely to show his hand to MacNair. The first -was the mere accident of a woman's whim, and had been offset to a great -extent in the construction of the trading-post and store-house. - -The second, however, was of graver importance and deeper significance. -While the girl's faith in him had, apparently, remained unshaken by her -interview with MacNair, MacNair himself would be on his guard. -Lapierre ground his teeth with rage at the Scotchman's accurate -comprehension of the situation, and he feared that the man's words -might raise a suspicion in Chloe's mind; a fear that was in a great -measure allayed by her eager acceptance of his offer of assistance in -the matter of supplies, and--had he not already sown the seeds of a -deeper regard? Once she had become his wife! The black eyes glittered -as the man threaded the trail toward the camp, where his own tent -showed white amid the smoke-blackened teepees of the Indians. - -The thing, however, that caused him the greatest uneasiness was the -suspicion that there was a leak in his system. How had MacNair known -that he would be at Fort Rae? Why had he come down the Yellow Knife? -And why had the two Indian scouts failed to report the man's coming? -Only one of the Indians had returned at all, and his report that the -other had been killed by one of MacNair's retainers had seemed -unconvincing. However, Lapierre had accepted the story, but all -through the days of the building he had secretly watched him. The man -was one of his trusted Indians--so was the one he reported killed. - -Upon the outskirts of the camp Lapierre halted--thinking. LeFroy had -also watched--he must see LeFroy. Picking his way among the teepees, -he advanced to his own tent. Groups of Indians and half-breeds, -hunched about their fires, were eating supper. They eyed him -respectfully as he passed, and in response to a signal, LeFroy arose -and followed him to the tent. - -Once inside, Lapierre fixed his eyes upon the boss canoeman. - -"Well--you have watched Apaw--what have you found out?" - -"Apaw--I'm t'ink she spik de trut'." - -"Speak the truth--_hell_! Why didn't he get down here ahead of -MacNair, then? What have I got spies for--to drag in after MacNair's -gone and tell me he's been here?" - -LeFroy shrugged. "MacNair Injuns--dey com' pret' near catch Apaw--dey -keel Stamix. Apaw, she got 'way by com' roun' by de Black Fox." - -Lapierre nodded, scowling. He trusted LeFroy; and having recognized in -him one as unscrupulous and nearly as resourceful and penetrating as -himself, had placed him in charge of the canoemen, the men who, in the -words of the leader, "kept cases on the North," and to whose lot fell -the final distribution of the whiskey to the Indians. But so, also, -had he trusted the boasting, flaunting Vermilion. - -"All right; but keep your eye on him," he said, smiling sardonically, -"and you may learn a lesson. Now you listen to me. You are to stay -here. Miss Elliston wants you for her chief trader. Make out your -list of supplies--fill that storehouse up with stuff. She wants you to -undersell the H.B.C.--and you do it. Get the trade in here--see? Keep -your prices down to just below Company prices, and then skin 'em on the -fur--and--well, I don't need to tell you how. Give 'em plenty of debt -and we'll fix the books. Pick put a half-dozen of your best men and -keep 'em here. Tell 'em to obey Miss Elliston's orders; and whatever -you do, keep cases on MacNair. But don't start anything. Pass the -word out and fill up her school. Give her plenty to do, and keep 'em -orderly. I'll handle the canoemen and pick up the fur, and then I've -got to drop down the river and run in the supplies. I'll run in some -rifles, and some of the _stuff_, too." - -LeFroy looked at his chief in surprise. - -"Vermilion--she got ten keg on de scow--" he began. - -Lapierre laughed. - -"Vermilion, eh? Do you know where Vermilion is?" - -LeFroy shook his head. - -"He's in hell--that's where _he_ is--I dismissed him from my service. -He didn't run straight. Some others went along with him--and there are -more to follow. Vermilion thought he could double-cross me and get -away with it." And again he laughed. - -LeFroy shuddered and made no comment. Lapierre continued: - -"Make out your list of supplies, and if I don't show up in the mean -time, meet me at the mouth of the Slave three weeks from today. I've -got to count days if I get back before the freeze-up. And remember -this--you are working for Miss Elliston; we've got a big thing if we -work it right; we've got MacNair where we want him at last. She thinks -he's running in whiskey and raising hell with the Indians north of -here. Keep her thinking so; and later, when it comes to a -show-down--well, she is not only rich, but she's in good at -Ottawa--see?" - -LeFroy nodded. He was a man of few words, was LeFroy; dour and -taciturn, but a man of brains and one who stood in wholesome fear of -his master. - -"And now," continued Lapierre, "break camp and load the canoes. I must -pull out tonight. Pick out your men and move 'em at once into the -barracks. You understand everything now?" - -"_Oui_," answered LeFroy, and stepping from the tent, passed swiftly -from fire to fire, issuing commands in low guttural. Lapierre rolled a -cigarette, and taking a guitar from its case, seated himself upon his -blankets and played with the hand of a master as he sang a love-song of -old France. All about him sounded the clatter of lodge-poles, the thud -of packs, and the splashing of water as the big canoes were pushed into -the river and loaded. - -Presently LeFroy's head thrust in at the entrance. He spoke no word; -Lapierre sang on, and the head was withdrawn. When the song was -finished the sounds from the outside had ceased. Lapierre carefully -replaced his guitar in its case, drew a heavy revolver from its -holster, threw it open, and twirled the cylinder with his thumb, -examining carefully its chambers. His brows drew together and his lips -twisted into a diabolical smile. - -Lapierre was a man who took no chances. What was one Indian, more or -less, beside the absolute integrity of his organization? He stepped -outside, and instantly the guy-ropes of the tent were loosened; the -canvas slouched to the ground and was folded into a neat pack. The -blankets were made into a compact roll, with the precious guitar in the -centre and deposited in the head canoe. Lapierre glanced swiftly about -him; nothing but the dying fires and the abandoned lodge-poles -indicated the existence of the camp. On the shore the canoemen, -leaning on their paddles, awaited the word of command. - -He stepped to the water's edge, where, Apaw the Indian, stood with the -others. For just a moment the baleful eyes of Lapierre fixed the -silent figure; then his words cut sharply upon the silence. - -"Apaw--_Chahco yahkwa_!" The Indian advanced, evidently proud of -having been singled out by the chief, and stood before him, paddle in -hand. Lapierre spoke no word; seconds passed, the silence grew -intense. The hand that gripped the paddle shook suddenly; and then, -looking straight into the man's eyes, Lapierre drew his revolver and -fired. There was a quick spurt of red flame--the sound of the shot -rang sharp, and rang again as the opposite bank of the river hurled -back the sound. The Indian pitched heavily forward and fell across his -paddle, snapping it in two. - -Lapierre glanced over the impassive faces of the canoemen. - -"This man was a traitor," he said in their own language. "I have -dismissed him from my service. Weight him and shove off!" - -The quarter-breed stepped into his canoe. The canoemen bound heavy -stones to the legs of the dead Indian, laid the body upon the camp -equipage amidship, and silently took their places. - - -During the evening meal, Chloe was unusually silent, answering Miss -Penny's observations and queries in short, detached monosyllables. -Later she stole out alone to a high, rocky headland that commanded a -sweeping view of the river, and sat with her back against the broad -trunk of a twisted banskian. - -The long Northern twilight hung about her like a pall--seemed -enveloping, smothering her. No faintest breath of air stirred the piny -needles above her, nor ruffled the surface of the river, whose black -waters, far below, flowed broad and deep and silent--smoothly--like a -river of oil. Ominously hushed, secretive, it slipped out of the -motionless dark. Silently portentous, it faded again into the dark, -the mysterious half-dark, where the gradually deepening twilight -blended the distance into the enshrouding pall of gloom. Involuntarily -the girl shuddered and started nervously at the splash of an otter. A -billion mosquitoes droned their unceasing monotone. The low sound was -everywhere--among the branches of the gnarled banskian, above the -surface of the river, and on and on and on, to whine thinly between the -little stars. - -It was not at all the woman who would conquer a wilderness, that -huddled in a dejected little heap at the foot of the banskian; but a -very miserable and depressed girl, who swallowed hard to keep down the -growing lump in her throat, and bit her lip, and stared with wide eyes -toward the southward. Hot tears--tears of bitter, heart-sickening -loneliness--filled her eyes and trickled unheeded down her cheeks -beneath the tightly drawn mosquito-net. - -Darkness deepened, imperceptibly, surely, fore-shortening the horizon, -and by just so much increasing the distance that separated her from her -people. - -"Poor fool moose-calf," she murmured, "you weren't satisfied to follow -the beaten trails. You had to find a land of your own--a land that----" - -The whispered words trailed into silence, and to her mind's eye -appeared the face of the man who had spoken those words--the face of -Brute MacNair. She saw him as he stood that day and faced her among -the freshly chopped stumps of the clearing. - -"He is rough and bearlike--boorish," she thought, as she remembered -that the man had not removed his hat in her presence. "He called me -names. He is uncouth, cynical, egotistical. He thinks he can scare me -into leaving his Indians alone." Her lips trembled and tightened. "I -am a woman, and I'll show him what a woman can do. He has lived among -the Indians until he thinks he owns them. He is hard, and domineering, -and uncompromising, and skeptical. And yet--" What gave her pause was -so intangible, so chaotic, in her own mind as to form itself into no -definite idea. - -"He is brutish and brutal and bad!" she muttered aloud at the memory of -Lapierre's battered face, and immediately fell to comparing the two men. - -Each seemed exactly what the other was not. Lapierre was handsome, -debonair, easy of speech, and graceful of movement; deferential, -earnest, at times even pensive, and the possessor of ideals; generous -and accommodating to a fault, if a trifle cynical; maligned, hated, -discredited by the men who ruled the North, yet brave and infinitely -capable--she remembered the swift fate of Vermilion. - -His was nothing of the rugged candour of MacNair--the bluff -straightforwardness that overrides opposition; ignores criticism. -MacNair fitted the North--the big, brutal, insatiate North--the North -of storms, of cold and fighting things; of foaming, roaring white-water -and seething, blinding blizzards. - -Chloe's glance strayed out over the river, where the farther bank -showed only the serried sky-line of a wall of jet. - -Lapierre was also of the North--the North as it is tonight; soft air, -balmy with the incense of growing things; illusive dark, half -concealing, half revealing, blurring distant outlines. A placid North, -whose black waters flowed silent, smooth, deep. A benign and harmless -North, upon its surface; and yet, withal, portentous of things unknown. - -The girl shuddered and arose to her feet, and, as she did so, from up -the river--from the direction of the Indian camp--came the sharp, quick -sound of a shot. Then silence--a silence that seemed unending to the -girl who waited breathlessly, one hand grasping the rough bark of the -gnarled tree, and the other shading her eyes as thought to aid them in -their effort to pierce the gloom. - -A long time she stood thus, peering into the dark, and then, an -indistinct form clove the black water of the river, and a long body -slipped noiselessly toward her, followed by another, and another. - -"The canoes!" she cried, as she watched the sparkling starlight play -upon the long Y-shaped ripples that rolled back from their bows. - -Once more the sense of loneliness almost overcame her. Pierre Lapierre -was going out of the North. - -She could see the figures of the paddlers, now--blurred, and -indistinct, and unrecognizable--distinguishable more by the spaces that -showed between them, than by their own outlines. - -They were almost beneath her. Should she call out? One last _bon -voyage_? The sound of a voice floated upward; a hard, rasping voice, -unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar. In the leading canoe the Indians -ceased paddling. The canoe lost momentum and drifted broadside to the -current. The men were lifting something; something long and dark. -There was a muffled splash, and the dark object disappeared. The -canoemen picked up their paddles, and the canoe swung into its course -and disappeared around a point. The other canoes followed; and the -river rolled on as before--black--oily--sinister. - -A broad cloud, pall-like, threatening, which had mounted unnoticed by -the girl, blotted out the light of the stars, as if to hide from alien -eyes some unlovely secret of the wilds. - -The darkness was real, now; and Chloe, in a sudden panic of terror, -dashed wildly for the clearing--stumbling--crashing through the bush as -she ran; her way lighted at intervals by flashes of distant lightning. -She paused upon the verge of the bank at the point where it entered the -clearing; at the point where the wilderness crowded menacingly her -little outpost of civilization. Panting, she stood and stared out over -the smooth flowing, immutable river. - -A lightning flash, nearer and more vivid than any preceding, lighted -for an instant the whole landscape. Then, the mighty crash of thunder, -and the long, hoarse moan of wind, and in the midst of it, that other -sound--the horrible sound that once before had sent her dashing -breathless from the night--the demoniacal, mocking laugh of the great -loon. - -With a low, choking sob, the girl fled toward the little square of -light that glowed from the window of her cabin. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ON SNARE LAKE - -When Bob MacNair left Chloe Elliston's camp, he swung around by the way -of Mackay Lake, a detour that required two weeks' time and added -immeasurably to the discomfort of the journey. Day by day, upon lake, -river, and portage, Old Elk and Wee Johnnie Tamarack wondered much at -his silence and the unwonted hardness of his features. - -These two Indians knew MacNair. For ten years, day and night, they had -stood at his beck and call; had followed him through all the vast -wilderness that lies between the railways and the frozen sea. They had -slept with him, had feasted and starved with him, at his shoulder faced -death in a hundred guises, and they loved him as men love their God. -They had followed him during the lean years when, contrary to the -wishes of his father, the stern-eyed factor at Fort Norman, he had -refused the offers of the company and devoted his time, winter and -summer, to the exploration of rivers and lakes, rock ridges and -mountains, and the tundra that lay between, in search of the lost -copper mines of the Indians; the mines that lured Hearne into the North -in 1771, and which Hearne forgot in the discovery of a fur empire so -vast as to stagger belief. - -But, as the canoe forged northward, Old Elk and Wee Johnnie Tamarack -held their peace, and when they arrived at the fort, MacNair growled an -order, and sought his cabin beside the wall of the stockade. - -A half hour later, when the Indians had gathered in response to the -hurried word of Old Elk and Wee Johnnie Tamarack, MacNair stepped from -his cabin and addressed them in their own language, or rather in the -jargon--the compromise language of the North--by means of which the -minds of white men and Indians meet on common ground. He warned them -against Pierre Lapierre, the _kultus_ breed of whom most of them -already knew, and he told them of the girl and her school at the mouth -of the Yellow Knife. And then, in no uncertain terms, he commanded -them to have nothing whatever to do with the school, nor with Lapierre. -Whereupon, Sotenah, a leader among the young men, arose, and after a -long and flowery harangue in which he lauded and extolled the wisdom of -MacNair and the benefits and advantages that accrued to the Indians by -reason of his patronage, vociferously counselled a summary descent upon -the fort of the _Mesahchee Kloochman_. - -The proclamation was received with loud acclaim, and it was with no -little difficulty that MacNair succeeded in quieting the turbulence and -restoring order. After which he rebuked Sotenah severely and laid -threat upon the Indians that if so much as a hair of the white -_kloochman_ was harmed he would kill, with his own hand, the man who -wrought the harm. - -As for Pierre Lapierre and his band, they must be crushed and driven -out of the land of the lakes and the rivers, but the time was not yet. -He, MacNair, would tell them when to strike, and only if Lapierre's -Indians were found prowling about the vicinity of Snare Lake were they -to be molested. - -The Indians dispersed and, slinging a rifle over his shoulder, MacNair -swung off alone into the bush. - -Bob MacNair knew the North; knew its lakes and its rivers, its forests -and its treeless barrens. He knew its hardships, dangers and -limitations, and he knew its gentler moods, its compensations, and its -possibilities. Also, he knew its people, its savage primitive children -who call it home, and its invaders--good and bad, and worse than bad. -The men who infest the last frontier, pushing always northward for -barter, or for the saving of souls. - -He understood Pierre Lapierre, his motives and his methods. But the -girl he did not understand, and her presence on the Yellow Knife -disturbed him not a little. Had chance thrown her into the clutches of -Lapierre? And had the man set about deliberately to use her school as -an excuse for the establishment of a trading-post within easy reach of -his Indians? MacNair was inclined to believe so--and the matter caused -him grave concern. He foresaw trouble ahead, and a trouble that might -easily involve the girl who, he felt, was entirely innocent of -wrongdoing. - -His jaw clamped hard as he swung on and on through the scrub. He had -no particular objective, a problem faced him and, where other men would -have sat down to work its solution, he walked. - -In many things was Bob MacNair different from other men. Just and -stern beyond his years, with a sternness that was firmness rather than -severity; slow to anger, but once his anger was fairly aroused terrible -in meting out his vengeance. Yet, withal, possessed of an -understanding and a depth of sympathy, entirely unsuspected by himself, -but which enshrined him in the hearts of his Indians, who, in all the -world were the men and women who knew him. - -Even his own father had not understood this son, who devoured books as -ravenously as his dogs devoured salmon. Again and again he -remonstrated with him for wasting his time when he might be working for -the company. Always the younger man listened respectfully, and -continued to read his books and to search for the lost mines with a -determination and singleness of purpose that aroused the secret -approbation of the old Scotchman, and the covert sneers and scoffings -of others. - -And then, after four years of fruitless search, at the base of a ridge -that skirted the shore of an unmapped lake, he uncovered the mouth of -an ancient tunnel with rough-hewn sides and a floor that sloped from -the entrance. Imbedded in the slime on the bottom of a pool of -stinking water, he found curious implements, rudely chipped from flint -and slate, and a few of bone and walrus ivory. Odd-shaped, -half-finished tools of hammered copper were strewn about the floor, and -the walls were thickly coated with verdigris. Instead of the sharp -ring of steel on stone, a dull thud followed the stroke of his pick, -and its scars glowed with a red lustre in the flare of the smoking -torches. - -Old Elk and Wee Johnnie Tamarack looked on in stolid silence, while the -young man, with wildly beating heart, crammed a pack-sack with samples. -He had found the ancient mine--the lost mine of the Indians, which men -said existed only in the fancy of Bob MacNair's brain! Carefully -sealing the tunnel, the young man headed for Fort Norman; and never did -Old Elk and Wee Johnnie Tamarack face such a trail. Down the raging -torrent of the Coppermine, across the long portage to the Dismal Lakes, -and then by portage and river to Dease Bay, across the two hundred -miles of Great Bear Lake, and down the Bear River to their destination. - -Seven hundred long miles they covered, at a man-killing pace that -brought them into the fort, hollow-eyed and gaunt, and with their -bodies swollen and raw from the sting of black flies and mosquitoes -that swarmed through the holes in their tattered garments. - -The men wolfed down the food that was set before them by an Indian -woman, and then, while Old Elk and Wee Johnnie Tamarack slept, the -chief trader led Bob MacNair to the grave of his father. - -"'Twas his heart, lad, or somethin' busted inside him," explained the -old man. "After supper it was, two weeks agone. He was sittin' i' his -chair wi' his book an' his pipe, an' me in anither beside him. He gi' -a deep sigh, like, an' his book fell to the ground and his pipe. When -I got to him his head was leant back ag'in his chair--and he was dead." - -Bob MacNair nodded, and the chief trader returned to the store, leaving -the young man standing silent beside the fresh-turned mound with its -rudely fashioned wooden cross, that stood among the other grass-grown -mounds whose wooden crosses, with their burned inscriptions, were -weather-grey and old. For a long time he stood beside the little -crosses that lent a solemn dignity to the rugged heights of Fort Norman. - -It cannot be said that Bob MacNair had loved his father, in the -generally accepted sense of the word. But he had admired and respected -him above all other men, and his first thought upon the discovery of -the lost mine was to vindicate his course in the eyes of this stern, -just man who had so strongly advised against it. - -For the opinion of others he cared not the snap of his fingers. But, -to read approval in the deep-set eyes of his father, and to hear the -deep, rich voice of him raised, at last, in approbation, rather than -reproach, he had defied death and pushed himself and his Indians to the -limit of human endurance. And he had arrived too late. The bitterness -of the young man's soul found expression only in a hardening of the jaw -and a clenching of the mighty fists. For, in the heart of him, he knew -that in the future, no matter what the measure of the world might be, -always, deep within him would rankle the bitter disappointment--the -realization that this old man had gone to his grave believing that his -son was a fool and a wastrel. - -Slowly he turned from the spot and, with heavy steps, entered the -post-store. He raised the pack that contained the samples from the -floor, and, walking to the verge of the high cliff that overlooked the -river, hurled it far out over the water, where it fell with a dull -splash that was drowned in the roar of the rapids. - -"Ye'll tak' charge here the noo, laddie?" asked McTurk, the grizzled -chief trader, the following day when MacNair had concluded the -inspection of his father's papers. "'Twad be what _he'd_ ha' -counselled!" - -"No," answered the young man shortly, and, without a word as to the -finding of the lost mine, hurried Old Elk and Wee Johnnie Tamarack into -a canoe and headed southward. - -A month later the officers of the Hudson Bay Company in Winnipeg gasped -in surprise at the offer of young MacNair to trade the broad acres to -which his father had acquired title in the wheat belt of Saskatchewan -and Alberta for a vast tract of barren ground in the subarctic. They -traded gladly, and when the young man heard that his dicker had earned -for him the name of Fool MacNair in the conclave of the mighty, he -smiled--and bought more barrens. - -All of which had happened eight years before Chloe Elliston defied him -among the stumps of her clearing, and in the interim much had -transpired. In the heart of his barrens he built a post and collected -about him a band of Indians who soon learned that those who worked in -the mines had a far greater number of brass tokens of "made beaver" to -their credit than those who trapped fur. - -Those were hard years for Bob MacNair; years in which he worked day and -night with his Indians, and paid them, for the most part, in promises. -But always he fed them and clothed them and their women and children, -although to do so stretched his credit to the limit--raised the -limit--and raised it again. - -He uncovered vast deposits of copper, only to realize that, until he -could devise a cheaper method of transportation, the metal might as -well have remained where the forgotten miners had left it. And it was -while he was at work upon his transportation problem that the shovels -of his Indians began to throw out golden grains from the bed of a -buried creek. - -When the news of gold reached the river, there was a stampede. But -MacNair owned the land and his Indians were armed. There was a short, -sharp battle, and the stampeders returned to the rivers to nurse their -grievance and curse Brute MacNair. - -He paid his debt to the Company and settled with his Indians, who -suddenly found themselves rich. And then Bob MacNair learned a lesson -which he never forgot--his Indians could not stand prosperity. Most of -those who had stood by him all through the lean years when he had -provided them only a bare existence, took their newly acquired wealth -and departed for the white man's country. Some returned--broken husks -of the men who departed. Many would never return, and for their -undoing MacNair reproached himself unsparingly, the while he devised an -economic system of his own, and mined his gold and worked out his -transportation problem upon a more elaborate scale. The harm had been -done, however; his Indians were known to be rich, and MacNair found his -colony had become the cynosure of the eyes of the whiskey-runners, the -chiefest among whom was Pierre Lapierre. It was among these men that -the name of Brute, first used by the beaten stampeders, came into -general use--a fitting name, from their viewpoint--for when one of them -chanced to fall into his hands, his moments became at once fraught with -tribulation. - -And so MacNair had become a power in the Northland, respected by the -officers of the Hudson Bay Company, a friend of the Indians, and a -terror to those who looked upon the red man as their natural prey. - -Step by step, the events that had been the milestones of this man's -life recurred to his mind as he tramped tirelessly through the scrub -growth of the barrens toward a spot upon the shore of the lake--the -only grass plot within a radius of five hundred miles. Throwing -himself down beside a low, sodded mound in the centre of the plot, he -idly watched the great flocks of water fowls disport themselves upon -the surface of the lake. - -How long he lay there, he had no means of knowing, when suddenly his -ears detected the soft swish of paddles. He leaped to his feet and, -peering toward the water, saw, close to the shore, a canoe manned by -four stalwart paddlers. He looked closer, scarcely able to credit his -eyes. And at the same moment, in response to a low-voiced order, the -canoe swung abruptly shoreward and grated upon the shingle of the -beach. Two figures stepped out, and Chloe Elliston, followed by Big -Lena, advanced boldly toward him. MacNair's jaw closed with a snap as -the girl approached smiling. For in the smile was no hint of -friendliness--only defiance, not unmingled with contempt. - -"You see, Mr. Brute MacNair," she said, "I have kept my word. I told -you I would invade your kingdom--and here I am." - -MacNair did not reply, but stood leaning upon his rifle. His attitude -angered her. - -"Well," she said, "what are you going to do about it?" Still the man -did not answer, and, stooping, plucked a tiny weed from among the -blades of grass. The girl's eyes followed his movements. She started -and looked searchingly into his face. For the first time she noticed -that the mound was a grave. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -AN INTERVIEW - -"Oh, forgive me!" Chloe cried, "I--I did not know that I was intruding -upon--sacred ground!" There was real concern in her voice, and the -lines of Bob MacNair's face softened. - -"It is no matter," he said. "She who sleeps here will not be -disturbed." - -The unlooked for gentleness of the man's tone, the simple dignity of -his words, went straight to Chloe Elliston's heart. She felt suddenly -ashamed of her air of flippant defiance, felt mean, and small, and -self-conscious. She forgot for the moment that this big, quiet man who -stood before her was rough, even boorish in his manner, and that he was -the oppressor and debaucher of Indians. - -"A--a woman's grave?" faltered the girl. - -"My mother's." - -"Did _she_ live here, on Snare Lake?" Chloe asked in surprise, as her -glance swept the barren cliffs of its shore. - -MacNair answered with the same softness of tone that somehow dispelled -all thought of his uncouthness. "No. She lived at Fort Norman, over -on the Mackenzie--that is, she died there. Her home, I think, was in -the Southland. My father used to tell me how she feared the -North---its snows and bitter cold, its roaring, foaming rivers, its -wild, fierce storms, and its wind-lashed lakes. She hated its rugged -cliffs and hills, its treeless barrens and its mean, scrubby timber. -She loved the warm, long summers, and the cities and people, and--" he -paused, knitting his brows--"and whatever there is to love in your land -of civilization. But she loved my father more than these--more than -she feared the North. My father was the factor at Fort Norman, so she -stayed in the North--and the North killed her. To live in the North, -one must love the North. She died calling for the green grass of her -Southland." - -He ceased speaking and unconsciously stooped and plucked a few spears -of grass which he held in his palm and examined intently. - -"Why should one die calling for the sight of grass?" he asked abruptly, -gazing into Chloe's eyes with a puzzled look. - -The girl gazed directly, searchingly into MacNair's eyes. The naive -frankness of him--his utter simplicity--astounded her. - -"Oh!" she cried, impulsively stepping forward. "It wasn't the -_grass_--it was--oh! _can't_ you _see_?" The man regarded her -wonderingly and shook his head. - -"No," he answered gravely. "I can not see." - -"It was--everything! Life--friends--home! The grass was only the -symbol--the tangible emblem that stood for life!" MacNair nodded, but, -by the look in his eye, Chloe knew that he did not understand and that -pride and a certain natural reserve sealed his lips from further -questioning. - -"It is far to the Mackenzie," ventured the girl. - -"Aye, far. After my father died I brought her here." - -"You! Brought her here!" she exclaimed, staring in surprise into the -strong emotionless face. - -The man nodded slowly. "In the winter it was--and I came -alone--dragging her body upon a sled----" - -"But why----" - -"Because I think she would have wished it so. If one hated the wild, -rugged cliffs and the rock-tossed rapids, would one wish to lie upon a -cliff with the rapids roaring, for ever and ever? I do not think that, -so I brought her here--away from the grey hills and the ceaseless roar -of the rapids." - -"But the grass?" - -"I brought that from the Southland. I failed many times before I found -a kind that would grow. It is little I can do for her, and she does -not know, but, somehow, it has made me feel--easier--I cannot tell you -exactly. I come here often." - -"I think she _does_ know," said Chloe softly, and brushed hot tears -from her eyes. Could _this_ be the man whose crimes against the poor, -ignorant savages were the common knowledge of the North? Could this be -he whom men called Brute--this simple-spoken, straightforward, boyish -man who had endured hardships and spared no effort, that the mother he -had never known might lie in her eternal rest beneath the green sod of -her native land, far from the sights, and sounds that, in life, had -become a torture to her soul, and worn her, at last, to the grave? - -"Mr.--MacNair." The hard note--the note of uncompromising -antagonism--had gone from her voice, and the man looked at her in -surprise. It was the first time she had addressed him without -prefixing the name Brute and emphasizing the prefix. He stood, -regarding her calmly, waiting for her to proceed. Somehow, Chloe found -that it had become very difficult for her to speak; to say the things -to this man that she had intended to say. "I cannot understand -you--your viewpoint." - -"Why should you try? I ask no one to understand me. I care not what -people think." - -"About the Indians, I mean----" - -"The Indians? What do you know of my viewpoint in regard to the -Indians?" The man's face had hardened at her mention of the Indians. - -"I know this!" exclaimed the girl. "That you are trading them whiskey! -With my own eyes I saw Mr. Lapierre smash your kegs--the kegs that were -cunningly disguised as bales of freight and marked with your name, and -I saw the whiskey spilled out upon the ground." - -She paused, expecting a denial, but MacNair remained silent and again -she saw the peculiar twinkle in his eye as he waited for her to -proceed. "And I--you, yourself told me that you would kill some of Mr. -Lapierre's Indians! Do you call that justice--to kill men because they -happen to be in the employ of a rival trader--one who has as much right -to trade in the Northland as you have?" - -Again she paused, but the man ignored her question. - -"Go on," he said shortly. - -"And you told me your Indians had to work so hard they had no time for -book-learning, and that the souls of the Indians were black as--as -hell." - -"And I told you, also, that I have never owned any whiskey. Why do you -believe me in some things and not in others? It would seem more -consistent, Miss Chloe Elliston, for you either to believe or to -disbelieve me." - -"But, I _saw_ the whiskey. And as for what you, yourself, told me--a -man will scarcely make himself out worse than he is." - -"At least, I can scarcely make myself out worse than you believe me to -be." The twinkle was gone from MacNair's eyes now, and he spoke more -gruffly. "Of what use is all this talk? You are firmly convinced of -my character. Your opinion of me concerns me not at all. Even if I -were to attempt to make my position clear to you, you would not believe -anything I should tell you." - -"What defence can there be to conduct such as yours?" - -"Defence! Do you imagine I would stoop to defend my conduct to -_you_--to one who is, either wittingly or unwittingly, hand in glove -with Pierre Lapierre?" - -The unconcealed scorn of the man's words stung Chloe to the quick. - -"Pierre Lapierre is a man!" she cried with flashing eyes. "He is -neither afraid nor ashamed to declare his principles. He is the friend -of the Indians--and God knows they need a friend--living as they do by -sufferance of such men as you, and the men of the Hudson Bay Company!" - -"You believe that, I think," MacNair said quietly. "I wonder if you -are really such a fool, or do you know Lapierre for what he is?" - -"Yes!" exclaimed the girl, her face flushed. "I _do_ know him for what -he is! He is a _man_! He knows the North. I am learning the North, -and together we will drive you and your kind out of the North." - -"You cannot do that," he said. "Lapierre, I will crush as I would -crush a snake. I bear you no ill will. As you say, you will learn the -North--for you will remain in the North. I told you once that you -would soon tire of your experiment, but I was wrong. Your eyes are the -eyes of a fighting man." - -"Thank you, Mr.--MacNair----" - -"Why not Brute MacNair?" - -Chloe shook her head. "No," she said. "Not that--not after--I think I -shall call you Bob MacNair." - -The man looked perplexed. "Women are not like men," he said, simply. -"I do not understand you at times. Tell me--why did you come into the -North?" - -"I thought I had made that plain. I came to bring education to the -Indians. To do what I can to lighten their burden and to make it -possible for them to compete with the white man on the white man's -terms when this country shall bow before the inevitable advance of -civilization; when it has ceased to be the land beyond the outposts." - -"We are working together then," answered, MacNair. "When you have -learned the North we shall be--friends." - -"Never! I----" - -"Because you will have learned," he continued, ignoring her protest, -"that education is the last thing the Indians need. If you can make -better trappers and hunters of them; teach them to work in mines, -timber, on the rivers, you will come nearer to solving their problem -than by giving them all the education in the world. No, Miss Chloe -Elliston, they can't play the white man's game--with the white man's -chips." - -"But they can! In the States we----" - -"Why didn't you stay in the States?" - -"Because the government looks after the education of the -Indians--provides schools and universities, and----" - -"And what do they turn out?" - -"They turn out lawyers and doctors and engineers and ministers of the -gospel, and educated men in all walks of life. We have Indians in -Congress!" - -"How many? And how many are lawyers and doctors and engineers and -ministers of the gospel? And how many can truthfully be said to be -'educated men in all walks of life'? A mere handful! Where one -succeeds, a hundred fail! And the others return to their reservation, -dissolute, dissatisfied, to live on the bounty of your government; you, -yourself, will admit that when an Indian does rise into a profession -for which his education has fitted him, he is an object of wonder--a -man to be written about in your newspapers and talked about in your -homes. And then your sentimentalists--your fools--hold him up as a -type! Not your educated Indians are reaping the benefit of your -government's belated attention, but those who are following the calling -for which nature has fitted them--stock-raising and small farming on -their allotted reservations. The educated ones know that the -government will feed and clothe them--why should they exert themselves? - -"Here in the North, because the Indians have been dealt with sanely, -and not herded onto restricted reservations, and subjected to the -experiments of departmental fools well-intentioned--and otherwise--they -are infinitely better off. They are free to roam the woods, to hunt -and to trap and to fish, and they are contented. They remain at the -posts only long enough to do their trading, and return again to the -wilds. For the most part they are truthful and sober and honest. They -can obtain sufficient clothing and enough to eat. The lakes and the -rivers teem with fish, and the woods and the barrens abound with game, - -"Contrast these with the Indians who have come more intimately into -contact with the whites. You can see them hanging about the depots and -the grogeries and rum shops of the railway towns, degenerate, diseased, -reduced to beggary and petty thievery. And you do not have to go to -the railway towns to see the effect of your civilization upon them. -Follow the great trade rivers! From source to mouth, their banks are -lined with the Indians who have come into contact with your -civilization! - -"Go to any mission centre! Do you find that the Indian has taken -kindly to the doctrines it teaches? Do you find them happy, -God-fearing Indians who embraced Christianity and are living in accord -with its precepts? You do not! Except in a very few isolated cases, -like your lawyers and doctors of the states, you will find at the very -gates of the missions, be their denomination what they may, debauchery -and rascality in its most vicious forms. Read your answer there in the -vice-marked, ragged, emaciated hangers-on of the missions. - -"I do not say that this harm is wrought wilfully--on the contrary, I -know it is not. They are noble and well-meaning men and women who -carry the gospel into the North. Many of them I know and respect and -admire--Father Desplaines, Father Crossett, the good Father O'Reiley, -and Duncan Fitzgilbert, of my mother's faith. These men are good men; -noble men, and the true friends of the Indians; in health and in -sickness, in plague, famine, and adversity these men shoulder the red -man's burden, feed, clothe, and doctor him, and nurse him back to -health--or bury him. With these I have no quarrel, nor with the -religion they teach--in its theory. It is not bad. It is good. These -men are my friends. They visit me, and are welcome whenever they come. - -"Each of these has begged me to allow him to establish a mission among -my Indians. And my answer is always the same--'_No!_' And I point to -the mission centres already established. It is then they tell me that -the deplorable condition exists, not because of the mission, but -_despite_ it." He paused with a gesture of impatience. "_Because_! -_Despite_! A quibble of words! If the _fact_ remains, what difference -does it make whether it is _because_ or _despite_? It must be a great -comfort to the unfortunate one who is degraded, diseased, damned, to -know that his degradation, disease, and damnation, were wrought not -_because_, but _despite_. I think God laughs--even as he pities. But, -in spite of all they can do, the _fact_ remains. I do not ask you to -believe me. Go and see it with your own eyes, and then if you _dare_, -come back and establish another plague spot in God's own wilderness. -The Indian rapidly acquires all the white man's vices--and but few of -his virtues. - -"Stop and think what it means to experiment with the future of a -people. To overthrow their traditions: to confute their beliefs and -superstitions, and to subvert their gods! And what do you offer them -in return? Other traditions; other beliefs; another God--and -education! Do you dare to assume the responsibility? Do you dare to -implant in the minds of these people an education--a culture--that will -render them for ever dissatisfied with their lot, and send many of them -to the land of the white man to engage in a feeble and hopeless -struggle after that which is, for them, unattainable?" - -"But it is _not_ unattainable! They----" - -"I know your sophisms; your fabrication of theory!" MacNair -interrupted her almost fiercely. "The _facts_! I have seen the -rum-sodden wrecks, the debauched and soul-warped men and women who hang -about your frontier towns, diseased in body and mind, and whose -greatest misfortune is that they live. These, Miss Chloe Elliston, are -the real monuments to your education. Do you dare to drive one hundred -to certain degradation that is worse than fiery hell, that you may -point with pride to one who shall attain to the white man's standard of -success?" - -"That is not the truth! I do not believe it! I _will_ not believe it!" - -The steel-grey eyes of the man bored deep into the shining eyes of -brown. "I know that you do not believe it. But you are wrong when you -say that you _will_ not believe it. You are honest and unafraid, and, -therefore, you will learn, and now, one thing further. - -"We will say that you succeed in keeping your school, or post, or -mission, from this condition of debauchery--which you will not. What -then? Suppose you educate your Indians? There are no employers in the -North. None who buy education. The men who pay out money in the waste -places pay it for bone and brawn, not for brains; they have brains--or -something that answers the purpose--therefore, your educated Indian -must do one of two things--he must go where he can use his education or -he must remain where he is. In either event he will be the loser. If -he seeks the land of the white man, he must compete with the white man -on the white man's terms. He cannot do it. If he stays here in the -North he must continue to hunt, or trap, or work on the river, or in -the mines, or the timber, and he is ever afterward dissatisfied with -his lot. More, he has wasted the time he spent in filling his brain -with useless knowledge." - -MacNair spoke rapidly and earnestly, and Chloe realized that he spoke -from his heart and also that he spoke from a certain knowledge of his -subject. She was at a loss for a reply. She could not dispute him, -for he had told her not to believe him; to go see for herself. She did -not believe MacNair, but in spite of herself she was impressed. - -"The missionaries _are_ doing good! Their reports show----" - -"Their reports show! Of course their reports show! Why shouldn't -they? Where do their reports go? To the people who pay them their -salaries! Do not understand me to say that in all cases these reports -are falsely made. They are not--that is, they are literally true. A -mission reports so many converts to Christianity during a certain -period of time. Well and good; the converts are there--they can -produce them. The Indians are not fools. If the white men want them -to profess Christianity, why they will profess Christianity--or -Hinduism or Mohammedanism. They will worship any god the white man -suggests--for a fancy waistcoat or a piece of salt pork. The white man -gives many gifts of clothing, and sometimes of food--to his converts. -Therefore, he shall not want for converts--while the clothing holds -out!" - -"And _your_ Indians? Have they not suffered from their contact with -you?" - -"No. They have not suffered. I know them, their needs and -requirements, and their virtues and failings. And they know me." - -"Where is your fort?" - -"Some distance above here on the shore of this lake." - -"Will you take me there? Show me these Indians, that I may see for -myself that you have spoken the truth?" - -"No. I told you you were to have nothing to do with my Indians. I -also warned my Indians against you--and your partner Lapierre. I -cannot warn them against you and then take you among them." - -"Very well. I shall go myself, then. I came up here to see your fort -and the condition of your Indians. You knew I would come." - -"No. I did not know that. I had not seen the fighting spirit in your -eyes then. Now I know that you will come--but not while I am here. -And when you do come you will be taken back to your own school. You -will not be harmed, for you are honest in your purpose. But you will, -nevertheless, be prevented from coming into contact with my Indians. I -will have none of Lapierre's spies hanging about, to the injury of my -people." - -"Lapierre's spies! Do you think I am a spy? Lapierre's?" - -"Not consciously, perhaps--but a spy, nevertheless. Lapierre may even -now be lurking near for the furtherance of some evil design." - -Chloe suddenly realized that MacNair's boring, steel-grey eyes were -fixed upon her with a new intentness--as if to probe into the very -thoughts of her brain. - -"Mr. Lapierre is far to the Southward," she said--and then, upon the -edge of the tiny clearing, a twig snapped. The man whirled, his rifle -jerked into position, there was a loud report, and Bob MacNair sank -slowly down upon the grass mound that was his mother's grave. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -BACK ON THE YELLOW KNIFE - -The whole affair had been so sudden that Chloe scarcely realized what -had happened before a man stepped quickly into the clearing, at the -same time slipping a revolver into its holster. The girl gazed at him -in amazement. It was Pierre Lapierre. He stepped forward, hat in -hand. Chloe glanced swiftly from the dark, handsome features to the -face of the man on the ground. The grey eyes opened for a second, and -then closed; but in that brief, fleeting glance the girl read distrust, -contempt, and silent reproach. The man's lips moved, but no sound -came--and with a laboured, fluttering sigh, he sank into -unconsciousness. - -"Once more, it seems, my dear Miss Elliston, I have arrived just in -time." - -A sudden repulsion for this cruel, suave killer of men flashed into the -girl's brain. "Get some water," she cried, and dropping to her knees -began to unbutton MacNair's flannel shirt. - -"But--" objected Lapierre. - -"Will you get some water? This is no time to argue! You can explain -later!" Lapierre turned and without a word, walked to the lake and, -taking a pail from the canoe, filled it with water. When he returned, -Chloe was tearing white bandages from a garment essentially feminine, -while Big Lena endeavoured to stanch the flow of blood from a small -wound high on the man's left breast, and another, more ragged wound -where the bullet had torn through the thick muscles of his back. - -The two women worked swiftly and capably, while Lapierre waited, -frowning. - -"Better hurry, Miss Elliston," he said, when the last of the bandages -was in place. "This is no place for us to be found if some of -MacNair's Indians happen along. Your canoe is ready. Mine is farther -down the lake." - -"But, this man--surely----" - -"Leave him there. You have done all you can do for him. His Indians -will find him." - -"What!" cried Chloe. "Leave a wounded man to die in the bush!" - -Lapierre stepped closer. "What would you do ?" he asked. "Surely you -cannot remain here. His Indians would kill you as they would kill a -_carcajo_." The man's face softened. "It is the way of the North," he -said sadly. "I would gladly have spared him--even though he is my -enemy. But when he whirled with his rifle upon my heart, his finger -upon the trigger, and murder in his eye, I had no alternative. It was -his life or mine. I am glad I did not kill him." The words and the -tone reassured Chloe, and when she answered, it was to speak calmly. - -"We will take him with us," she said. "The Indians could not care for -him properly even if they found him. At home I have everything -necessary for the handling of just such cases." - -"But, my dear Miss Elliston--think of the portages and the added -burden. His Indians----" - -The girl interrupted him--"I am not asking you to help. I have a canoe -here. If you are afraid of MacNair's Indians you need not remain." - -The note of scorn in the girl's voice was not lost upon Lapierre. He -flushed and answered with the quiet dignity that well became him: "I -came here, Miss Elliston, with only three canoemen. I returned -unexpectedly to your school, and when I learned that you had gone to -Snare Lake, I followed--to save you, if possible, from the hand of the -Brute." - -Chloe interrupted him. "You came here for that?" - -The man bowed low. "Knowing what you do of Brute MacNair, and of his -hatred of me, you surely do not believe I came here for business--or -pleasure." He drew closer, his black eyes glowing with suppressed -passion. "There is one thing a man values more than life--the life and -the safety of the woman he loves!" - -Chloe's eyes dropped. "Forgive me!" she faltered. "I--I did not -know--I--Oh! don't you see? It was all so sudden. I have had no time -to think! I know you are not afraid. But, we can't leave him -here--like this." - -"As you please," answered Lapierre, gently. - -"It is not the way of the North; but----" - -"It is the way of humanity." - -"It is _your_ way--and, therefore, it is my way, also. But, let us not -waste time!" He spoke sharply to Chloe's canoemen, who sprang to the -unconscious form, and raising it from the ground, carried it to the -water's edge and deposited it in the canoe. - -"Make all possible speed," he said, as Chloe preceded Big Lena into the -canoe; "I shall follow to cover your retreat." - -The girl was about to protest, but at that moment the canoe shot -swiftly out into the lake, and Lapierre disappeared into the bush. - -There was small need for the quarter-breed's parting injunction. The -four Indian canoemen evidently keenly alive to the desirability of -placing distance between themselves and MacNair's retainers, bent to -their paddles with a unanimity of purpose that fairly lifted the big -canoe through the water and sent the white foam curling from its bow in -tiny ripples of protest. - -Hour after hour, as the craft drove southward, Chloe sat with the -wounded man's head supported in her lap and pondered deeply the things -he had told her. Now and again she gazed into the bearded face, calm, -masklike in its repose of unconsciousness, as if to penetrate behind -the mask and read the real nature of him. She realized with a feeling -almost of fear, that here was no weakling--no plastic irresolute--whose -will could be dominated by the will of a stronger; but a man, virile, -indomitable; a man of iron will who, though he scorned to stoop to -defend his position, was unashamed to vindicate it. A man whose words -carried conviction, and whose eyes compelled attention, even respect, -though the uncouth boorishness of him repelled. - -Yet she knew that somewhere deep behind that rough exterior lay a finer -sensitiveness, a gentleness of feeling, and a sympathy that had -impelled him to a deed of unconscious chivalry of which no man need be -ashamed. And in her heart Chloe knew that had she not witnessed with -her own eyes the destruction of his whiskey, she would have been -convinced of his sincerity, if not of his postulates. "He is bad, but -not _all_ bad," she murmured to herself. "A man who will fight hard, -but fairly. At all events, my journey to Snare Lake has not been -entirely in vain. He knows, now, that I have come into the North to -stay; that I am not afraid of him, and will fight him. He knows that I -am honest----" - -Suddenly the very last words she had spoken to him flashed into her -mind--"Mr. Lapierre is far to the Southward"--and then Chloe closed her -eyes as if to shut out that look of mingled contempt and reproach with -which the wounded man had sunk into unconsciousness. "He thinks I lied -to him--that the whole thing was planned," she muttered, and was -conscious of a swift anger against Lapierre. Her eyes swept backward -to the brown spot in the distance which was Lapierre's canoe. - -"He came up here because he thought I was in danger," she mused. "And -MacNair would have killed him. Oh, it is terrible," she moaned. "This -wild, hard wilderness, where human life is cheap; where men hate, and -kill, and maim, and break all the laws of God and man; it is all -_wrong_! Brutal, and savage, and wrong!" - -The shadows lengthened, the canoe slipped into the river that leads to -Reindeer Lake, and still the tireless canoemen bent unceasingly to -their paddles. Reindeer Lake was crossed by moonlight, and a late camp -was made a mile to the westward of the portage. The camp was fireless, -and the men talked in whispers. Later Lapierre joined them, and at the -first grey hint of dawn the outfit was again astir. By noon the -five-mile portage had been negotiated, and the canoes headed down Carp -Lake, which is the northmost reach of the Yellow Knife. - -The following two days showed no diminution in the efforts of the -canoemen. The wounded man's condition remained unchanged. Lapierre's -canoe followed at a distance of a mile or two, and a hundred times a -day Chloe found herself listening with strained expectancy for the -sound of the shots that would proclaim that MacNair's Indians had -overtaken them. But no shots were fired, and it was with a feeling of -intense relief that the girl welcomed the sight of her own buildings as -they loomed in the clearing on the evening of the third day. - -That night Lapierre visited Chloe in the cottage, where he found her -seated beside MacNair's bed, putting the finishing touches to a -swathing of fresh bandages. - -"How is he doing?" he asked, with a nod toward the injured man. - -"There is no change," answered the girl, as she indicated a chair close -beside a table, upon which were a tin basin, various bottles, and -porcelain cups containing medicine, and a small pile of antiseptic -tablets. For just an instant the man's glance rested upon the tablets, -and then swiftly swept the room. It was untenanted except for the girl -and the unconscious man on the bed. - -"LeFroy, it seems, has improved his time," ventured Lapierre as he -accepted the proffered chair and drew from his pocket a thick packet of -papers. "His complete list of supplies," he smiled. "With these in -your storehouse you may well expect to seriously menace the trade of -both MacNair and the Hudson Bay Company's post at Fort Rae." - -Chloe glanced at the list indifferently. "It seems, Mr. Lapierre, that -your mind is always upon trade--when it is not upon the killing of men." - -The quarter-breed was quick to note the disapproval of her tone, and -hastened to reply. "Surely, Miss Elliston, you cannot believe that I -regard the killing of men as a pleasure; it is a matter of deep regret -to me that twice during the short period of our acquaintance I have -been called upon to shoot a fellow man." - -"Only twice! How about the shot in the night--in the camp of the -Indians, before you left for the Southward?" The sarcasm of the last -four words was not lost upon the man. "Who fired that shot? And what -was the thing that was lifted from your canoe and dropped into the -river?" - -Lapierre's eyes searched hers. Did she know the truth? The chance was -against it. - -"A most deplorable affair--a fight between Indians. One was killed and -we buried him in the river. I had hoped to keep this from your ears. -Such incidents are all too common in the Northland----" - -"And the murderer----" - -"Has escaped. But to return to the others. Both shots, as you well -know, were fired on the instant, and in neither case did I draw first." - -Chloe, who had been regarding him intently, was forced to admit the -justice of his words. She noted the serious sadness of the handsome -features, the deep regret in his voice, and suddenly realized that in -both instances Lapierre's shots had been fired primarily in defence of -her. - -A sudden sense of shame--of helplessness--came over her. Could it be -that she did not fit the North? Surely, Lapierre was entitled to her -gratitude, rather than her condemnation. Judged by his own standard, -he had done well. With a shudder she wondered if she would ever reach -the point where she could calmly regard the killing of men as a mere -incident in the day's work? She thought not. And yet--what had men -told her of Tiger Elliston? Without exception, almost, the deeds they -recounted had been deeds of violence and bloodshed. When she replied, -her voice had lost its note of disapproval. - -"Forgive me," she said softly, "it has all been so different--so -strange and new, and big. I have been unable to grasp it. All my life -I have been taught to hold human life sacred. It is not you who are to -blame! Nor, is it the others. It is the kill or be killed creed--the -savage wolf creed--of the North." - -The girl spoke rapidly, with her eyes upon the face of MacNair. So -absorbed was she that she did not see the slim fingers of Lapierre -steal softly across the table-top and extract two tablets from the -little pile--failed also to see the swift motion with which those -fingers dropped the tablets into a porcelain cup, across the rim of -which rested a silver spoon. - -The man arose at the conclusion of her words, and crossing to her side -rested a slim hand upon the back of her chair. "No. Miss Elliston," -he said gently, "I am not to blame nor, in a measure, are the others. -It is, as you say, the North--the crushing, terrible, alluring -North--in whose primitive creed a good man does not mean a moral one, -but one who accomplishes his purpose, even though that purpose be bad. -End, and not means, is the ethics of the lean, lone land, where human -life sinks into insignificance, beneath the immutable law of savage -might." - -His eyes burned as he gazed down into the upturned face of the girl. -His hands stole lightly from the chair back and rested upon her -shoulder. For one long, intense moment, their eyes held, and then, -with a movement as swift and lithe as the spring of a panther, the man -was upon his knees beside her chair, his arms were about her, and with -no thought of resistance, Chloe felt herself drawn close against his -breast, felt the wild beating of his heart, and then--his lips were -upon hers, and she felt herself struggling feebly against the embrace -of the sinewy arms. - -Only for a moment did Lapierre hold her. With a movement as sudden and -impulsive as the movement that embraced her, the arms were withdrawn, -and the man leaped swiftly to his feet. Too dazed to speak, Chloe sat -motionless, her brain in a chaotic whirl of emotion, while in her -breast outraged dignity and hot, fierce anger strove for the mastery -over a thrill, so strange to her, so new, so intense that it stirred -her to the innermost depths of her being. - -Swiftly, unconsciously, her glance rested for a moment upon the lean, -bearded face of MacNair; and beside her chair, Lapierre noted the -glance, and the thin lips twisted into a smile--a cynical, sardonic -smile, that faded on the instant, as his eyes flashed toward the -doorway. For there, silent and grim as he had seen her once before, -stood Big Lena, whose china-blue eyes were fixed upon him, in that same -disconcerting, fishlike stare. - -The hot blood mounted to his cheeks and suddenly receded, so that his -face showed pallid and pasty in the gloom of the darkened room. He -drew his hand uncertainly across his brow and found it damp with a -cold, moist sweat. Was it fancy, or did the china-blue, fishlike eyes -rest for just an instant upon the porcelain cup on the table? With an -effort the man composed himself, and stooping, whispered a few hurried -words into the ears of the girl who sat with her face buried in her -hands. - -"Forgive me, Miss Elliston; for the moment I forgot that I had no -right. I love you! Love you more than life itself! More than my own -life--or the lives of others. It was but the impulse of an unguarded -moment that caused me to forget that I had not the right--forget that I -am a gentleman. We love as we kill in the North. And now, good-by, I -am going Southward. I will return, if it is within the power of man to -return, before the ice skims the lakes and the rivers." - -He paused, but the girl remained as though she had not heard him. He -leaned closer, his lips almost upon her ear. "Please, Miss Elliston, -can you not forgive me--wish me one last bon voyage?" - -Slowly, as one in a dream, Chloe offered him her hand. "Good-by!" she -said simply, in a dull, toneless voice. The man seized the hand, -pressed it lightly, and turning abruptly, crossed to the table. As he -drew his Stetson toward him, its brim came into violent contact with -the porcelain medicine cup. The cup crashed to the floor, its contents -splashing widely over the whip-sawed boards. - -With a hurried word of apology he passed out of the door--passed close -beside the form of Big Lena onto whose cold, fishlike eyes the black -eyes stared insolently, even as the thin lips twisted into a -smile--cynical, sardonic, mocking. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT - -The days immediately following Lapierre's departure were busy days for -Chloe Elliston. The word had passed along the lakes and the rivers, -and stolid, sullen-faced Indians stole in from the scrub to gaze -apathetically at the buildings on the banks of the Yellow Knife. Chloe -with pain-staking repetition, through LeFroy as interpreter, explained -to each the object of her school; with the result that a goodly number -remained and lost no time in installing themselves in the commodious -barracks. - -On the evening of the second day the girl tiptoed into the sick-room -and, bending over MacNair, was startled to encounter the steady gaze of -the steel-grey eyes. "I thought you never would come to," she smiled. -"You see, I don't know much about surgery, and I was afraid perhaps--" - -"Perhaps Lapierre had done his work well?" - -Chloe started at the weak, almost gentle tones of the gruff voice she -had learned to associate with this man of the North. She flushed as -she met the steady, disconcerting stare of the grey eyes. "He shot on -the spur of the moment. He thought you were going to shoot him." - -"And he shot from--far to the Southward?" - -"Oh! You do not think--you do not believe that I deliberately _lied_ -to you! That I _knew_ Lapierre was on Snare Lake!" The words fell -from her lips with an intense eagerness that carried the ring of -sincerity. The hard look faded from the man's eyes, and the bearded -lips suggested just the shadow of a smile. - -"No," he answered weakly; "I do not think that. But tell me, how long -have I been this way? And what has happened? For I remember -nothing--after the world turned black. I am surprised that Lapierre -missed me. He has the reputation for killing--at his own range." - -"But he didn't miss you!" cried the girl in surprise. "It was his -bullet that--that made the world turn black." - -"Aye; but it was a miss, just the same, and a miss, I am thinking, that -will cost him dear. He should have killed me." - -"Please do not talk," said the girl in sudden alarm, and taking the -medicine from the table, held the spoon to the man's lips. He -swallowed its contents, and was about to speak when Chloe interrupted -him. "Please do not talk," she begged, "and I'll tell you what -happened. There is not much to tell: after we bound up your wounds we -brought you here, where I could give you proper care. It took three -days to do this, and two days have passed since we arrived." - -"I knew I was in your----" - -Chloe flushed deeply. "Yes, in my room," she hastened to interrupt -him; "but you must not talk. It was the only place I knew where you -could be quiet and--and safe." - -"But, Lapierre--why did he allow it?" - -Chloe flushed. "Allow it! I do not take orders from Mr. Lapierre, nor -from you, nor from anybody else. This is my school; this cottage is -mine; I'll do as I please with it, and I'll bring who I please into it -without asking permission from any one." - -While she was speaking, the man's glance strayed from her flashing eyes -to the face of a tarnished, smoke-blackened portrait that showed -indistinct in the dull lamplight of the little room. Chloe's glance -followed MacNair's, and as the little clock ticked sharply, both stared -in silence into the lean, lined features of Tiger Elliston. - -"Your eyes," murmured the man--"sometimes they are like that." -Suddenly his voice strengthened. He continued to gaze at the face in -the dull gold frame. With an effort he withdrew an arm from beneath -the cover and pointed with a finger that trembled weakly. "I should -like to have known him," he said. "By God, yon is the face of a _man_!" - -"My grandfather," muttered the girl. - -"You'll love the North--when you know it," said MacNair. "Tell me, did -Lapierre advise you to bring me here?" - -"No," answered Chloe, "he did not. He--he said to leave you; that your -Indians would care for you." - -"And my Indians--did they not follow you?" Chloe shook her head. Once -more MacNair bent a searching glance upon the girl's face. "Where is -Lapierre?" he asked. - -"He is gone," Chloe answered. "Two days ago he left for the----" She -hesitated as there flashed through her brain the moment on Snare Lake -when, once before, she had answered MacNair's question in almost the -same words. "_He said_ he was going to the southward," she corrected. - -MacNair smiled. "I think, this time, he has gone. But why he left -without killing me I cannot understand. Lapierre has made a mistake." - -"You do him an injustice! Mr. Lapierre does not want to kill you. He -is sorry he was forced to shoot; but, as he said, it was your life or -his. And now please do be quiet, or I must leave you to yourself." - -MacNair closed his eyes, and, seating herself by the table, Chloe -stared silently into the face of the portrait until the man's deep, -regular breathing told her that he slept. - -Slowly the moments passed, and the girl's gaze roved from the face of -the portrait along the walls of the little room. Suddenly her eyes -dilated in horror; for there, tight pressed against an upper pane of -the window, whose lower sash was daintily curtained with chintz, -appeared a dark, scowling face--the face of an Indian, which she -instantly recognized as one of the two who had accompanied MacNair upon -his first visit to her clearing. - -Even as she looked the face vanished, leaving the girl staring -wide-eyed at the black square of the window. Curbing her impulse to -awake MacNair, she stole softly from the room and, unlocking the outer -door, sped swiftly through the darkness toward the little square of -light that glowed from the window of the store. - -The distance was not great from the door of the cottage to the soft -square of radiance that showed distinctly in the darkness. But even as -Chloe ran, the light was suddenly extinguished, and the outlines of the -big storehouse loomed vague and huge and indistinct against the black -background of the encircling scrub. The girl stopped abruptly and -stared uncertainly into the darkness. Her heart beat wildly. A -strange sense of terror came over her as she stood alone, surrounded by -the blackness of the clearing. Why had LeFroy extinguished his light? -And why was the night so still? - -She strained to catch the familiar sounds of the wilderness--the little -night sounds to which she had grown accustomed: the bellowing of frogs -in the sedges, the chirp of tree-toads, and the harsh squawk of -startled night-fowls. Even the air seemed unnaturally still, and the -ceaseless drone of the mosquitoes served but to intensify the unnatural -silence. The mosquitoes broke the spell of the nameless terror, and -she slapped viciously at her face and neck. - -"I'm a fool," she muttered; "a perfect fool! LeFroy puts out his light -every night and--and what if there are no sounds? I'm just listening -for something to be afraid of." - -She glanced backward toward her own cottage where the light still -glowed from the window. It was reassuring, that little square of -yellow lamp-light that shone softly from the window of her room. She -was not afraid now. She would return to the cottage and lock the door. -She shuddered at the thought. Before her rose the vision of that dark, -shadowy face, tight-pressed against the glass. Instinctively she knew -that Indian was not alone. There were others, and--once more her eyes -swept the blackness. - -Suddenly the question flashed through her brain: Why should these -Indians seek to avenge MacNair--the man who held the power of life and -death over them--who had practically forced them into servitude? Then, -swift as the question, flashed the answer: It was not to avenge MacNair -they came, but, knowing he was helpless, to strike the blow that would -free themselves from the yoke. Had Lapierre known this? Had he left, -knowing that the man's own Indians would finish the work his bullet had -only half completed? No! Lapierre would not have done that. Did he -not say: "I am glad I did not kill him"? He was thinking only of my -safety. - -"We'll be safe enough till morning," she muttered. "Surely I have read -somewhere that Indians never attack in the night. Tomorrow we must -hide MacNair where they cannot find him. They will murder him, now -that he is wounded. How they must hate him! Must hate the man who has -oppressed and debauched and cheated them!" - -The girl had nearly reached the door of the cottage when once more she -halted, rooted in her tracks. Out of the unnatural silence of the -night, close upon the edge of the clearing, boomed the cry of the great -horned owl. It was a sound she had often heard here in the northern -night--this hooting of an owl; but, somehow, this sound was different. -Once more her heart thumped wildly against her ribs. Her fists -clenched, and she peered tensely toward the wall of the scrub timber -that showed silent and black and impenetrable in the little light of -the stars. Again the portentous silence and then--was it fancy, or -were there shapes, stealthy, elusive, shadowy, moving along the wall of -the intense blackness? - -A light suddenly flashed from the window of the storehouse. It -disappeared. The great door banged sharply, and out of the blackness -sounded a rush of moccasined feet, padding the earth as they ran. - -From the edge of the timber--from the direction of the shadowy -shapes--came a long, thin spurt of flame, and the silence was broken by -the roar of a smooth-bore rifle. The next instant the roar was -increased tenfold, and from the loopholes high on the walls of the -storehouse flashed other thin red spurts of flame. - -Terror-stricken, Chloe dashed for the cottage. Along the entire length -of the timber-line, spikes of flame belched forth, and the crash and -roar of rifles drowned the rush of the moccasin feet. A form dashed -past her in the darkness, and then another, forcing Chloe from the -path. The terrified girl realized that these forms were speeding -straight for the door of the cottage. Her first thought was for -MacNair. He would be murdered as he slept. - -She redoubled her efforts, feeling blindly in the darkness for the path -that led toward the square of light. In her ears sounded the sharp -jangle of smashing glass. Her foot caught in a vine, and she crashed -heavily forward almost at the door. All about her guns roared; from -the edge of the scrub, from the river-bank, and from the corners of the -long log dormitories. Bullets whined above her like angry mosquitoes, -and thudded dully against the logs of the cottage. - -Again sounded the sharp jangle of glass. She struggled to her knees, -and was hurled backward as the huge form of an Indian tripped over her -and sprawled, cursing, at her side. The door of the cottage burst -suddenly open, and in the long quadrangle of light the forms of the two -Indians who had passed her stood out distinctly. The girl gave a -quick, short sob of relief. They were LeFroy's Indians! At the sound -the man on the ground thrust his face close to hers and with a quick -grunt of surprise scrambled to his feet. Chloe felt her arm seized, -and realized that she was being dragged toward the door of the cottage -through which the other two Indians had disappeared. She was jerked -roughly across the threshold, and lay huddled up on the floor. The -Indian released his hold on her arm and, stepping across her body, -reached for the door. - -Outside, the roar of the guns was incessant. Suddenly, close at hand, -Chloe heard a quick, wicked spat, and the Indian reeled from the -doorway, whirled as on a pivot, and crashed, face downward, across the -table. There was a loud rattle of porcelain dishes, a rifle rang -sharply upon the floor boards, and Chloe gazed in horrid fascination as -the limp form of the Indian slipped slowly from the table. Its -momentum increased, and the back of the man's head struck the floor -with a sickening thump. The face turned toward her--a face wet and -dripping with the rich red blood that oozed thickly from the irregular -hole in the forehead where the soft, round ball from a smooth bore had -torn into the brain. The wide eyes stared stonily into her own. The -jaws sagged open, and the nearly severed tongue protruded from between -the fang-like yellow teeth. - -Someone blew out the lamp. The door slammed shut. Chloe felt strong -hands beneath her shoulders; the voice of Big Lena sounded in her ears, -and she was being guided through the pitch blackness to the door of her -own room. The lamp by the bedside had also been extinguished, and the -girl glanced toward the window, which showed in the feeble starlight a -pattern of jagged panes. One of the Indians who had preceded her into -the cottage thrust the barrel of a rifle through the aperture and fired -rapidly at the flashes of flame in the clearing. - -In the other room someone was shrieking, and Chloe recognized the voice -of Harriet Penny. Big Lena left her side, and a moment later the -shrieking ceased, or, rather, quieted to a series of terrified, choking -grunts and muffled cries, as though something soft and thick had been -forcibly applied as a gag. Chloe groped her way blindly toward the -bed, where she had left the wounded man. Her feet stumbled awkwardly -through the confusion of debris that was the wreck of the over-turned -medicine table. - -"Are you hurt?" she gasped as she sank trembling upon the edge of the -bed. Close beside her sounded the sharp snap of metal as the Indian -jammed fresh cartridges into his magazine. - -"No!" said a voice in her ear. "I'm not hurt. Are you?" Chloe shook -her head, forgetting that in the intense blackness she had returned no -answer. There was a movement upon the bed; a huge hand closed roughly -about her arm. The Indian was firing again. - -"Tell me, are you hurt?" rasped a voice in her ear. And her arm was -shaken almost fiercely. - -"No!" she managed to gasp, struggling to free herself. "But oh, it's -all too, too horrible, too awful! There is a dead man in the other -room. He is one of LeFroy's Indians. One of _my_ Indians, and they -shot him!" - -"I'm damned glad of it!" growled MacNair thickly, and Chloe leaped from -the bed. The coarse brutality of the man was inconceivable. In her -mingled emotion of rage and loathing, she hated this man with a fierce, -savage hatred that could kill. She knew now why men called him Brute -MacNair. The name fitted! These Indians had rushed from the security -of the fortlike storehouse upon the first intimation of danger to -protect the defenseless quartet in the cottage--the three women and the -wounded, helpless man. In the very doorway of the cottage one had been -killed--killed facing the enemy--the savage blood-thirsty horde who, -having learned of the plight of their oppressor, had taken the warpath -to venge their wrongs. Surely MacNair must know that this man had died -as much in the defense of him as of the women. And yet, when he -learned of the death of this man, he had said: "I am damned glad of it!" - -How long Chloe stood there speechless, trembling, with her heart fairly -bursting with rage, she did not know. Time ceased to be. Suddenly she -realized that the room was no longer in intense darkness. Objects -appeared dim and indistinct: the bed with the wounded man, the contents -of the table strewn in confusion upon the floor, and the Indian -shooting from the window. Then the flare of flames met her eyes. The -walls of the storehouse stood out distinctly from its black background -of timber. Savage forms appeared in the clearing, gliding stealthily -from stump to stump. - -The light grew brighter. She could hear now, mingled with the sharp -crack of the rifles, the dull roar of flames. The dormitories were -burning! This added to her consuming rage. Her eyes seemed fairly to -glow as she fixed them upon the pale face of MacNair, who had struggled -to a sitting posture. She took a step toward the bed. A dull red spot -showed on either cheek. A bullet ripped through the window and -splintered the dull gold frame of Tiger Elliston's portrait, but the -girl had lost all sense of fear. She shook her clenched fist in the -bearded face of the man, and her voice quavered high and thin. - -"You--you--_damn you_!" she cried. "I wish I'd left you back there to -the mercy of your savages! You're a brute--a fiend! It would serve -you right if I should give you up to them! He--the man who was -killed--was trying to save you from the righteous wrath of those you -have ground down and oppressed!" - -MacNair ignored her words, and as his eyes met hers squarely, they -betrayed not the slightest emotion. The pallid features showed tense -and drawn in the growing firelight. His gaze projected past her to the -lean face of Tiger Elliston. - -"You are a fighter at heart," he said slowly addressing the girl. "You -are his flesh and blood and he was a fighter. He won to victory over -the bodies of his enemies. In his eyes I can see it." - -"He was no coward!" flashed the girl. "He never won to victory over -the bodies of his friends!" With an effort the man reached for his -clothing, which hung from a peg near the head of the bed. - -"Where are you going?" cried the girl sharply. - -"I am going," MacNair answered gravely, looking straight into her eyes, -"to take my Indians back to Snare Lake." - -"They will kill you!" she cried impulsively. - -"They will not!" MacNair smiled; "but if they do, you will be glad. -Did you not say----" - -The girl faced swiftly away, and at the same moment the Indian at the -window staggered backward, dropping his rifle and cursing horribly in -the only English he knew, as he clutched frantically at his shoulder. -Chloe turned. MacNair was lacing his boots. He raised himself weakly -to his feet, swaying uncertainly, with his hand pressed against his -chest, and laughed harshly into the pain-twisted features of the Indian. - -"When the last of yon dogs gets his bullet, I can leave this place in -safety." - -"What do you mean?" cried the girl, her eyes blazing. - -"I mean," rasped the man, "that you are a fool! You have listened to -Lapierre and you have easily become his dupe. There is no Indian in -his employ who would not kill me. They have had their orders. Have -you stopped to reflect that the brave Lapierre did not himself remain -to stem this attack? To protect me from my Indians?" - -The sneer in MacNair's voice was not lost upon the girl, who drew -herself up haughtily. - -"Mr. Lapierre," she answered, "could hardly be charged with -anticipating this attack, nor could he be blamed for not altering his -plans to fight _your_ battles." - -MacNair laughed. "The idea of Lapierre fighting _my_ battles is, -indeed, unique. And you may be sure that Lapierre will not fight his -own battles--as long as he can find others to fight them for him. Miss -Elliston, this attack _was_ anticipated. Lapierre knew to a certainty -that when my Indians read the signs, and learned what had happened -there on the shore of Snare Lake, their vengeance would not be -delayed." He looked straight into the eyes of the girl. "Did you arm -your Indians?" - -"I did not!" answered Chloe. "I brought no guns." - -"Then where did your Indians get their rifles?" - -"Well, really, Mr. MacNair, I cannot tell you. Possibly at the same -place your Indians got theirs. The Indians, who have come to me here -are hunters and trappers. Is it so extraordinary that men who are -hunters should own guns?" - -"Your ignorance would be amusing, if it were not tragic!" retorted -MacNair. And picking up the gun which the wounded Indian had dropped, -held it before the eyes of the girl. "The hunters of the North, Miss -Elliston, do not equip themselves with Mausers." - -"With Mausers!" cried the girl. "You mean----" - -"I mean just this," broke in MacNair, "that your Indians were armed to -kill men, not animals. With, or without, your knowledge or sanction, -your Indians have been supplied with the best rifles obtainable. Your -school is Lapierre's fort!" Thrusting the rifle into the hands of the -girl, he brushed past her and with difficulty made his way through the -intervening room to the outer door, which he threw open. - -Chloe followed. Outside the firing continued with undiminished -intensity, but the girl was conscious of no sense of fear. Her eyes -swept the room, flooded now by the glare of the flaring flames. Beside -the stove stood Big Lena, an ax gripped tightly in her strong hands. -The remaining Indian lay upon the floor, firing slowly through a -loophole punched in the chinking. At the doorway MacNair turned, and -in the strong light Chloe noticed that his face was haggard and drawn -with pain. - -"I thank you." he said, touching his bandaged chest, "for your nursing. -It has probably saved my life." - -"Come back! They will kill you!" MacNair ignored her warning. "You -have one redeeming feature," cried the girl. "At least, you are as -brutal toward yourself as toward others." - -MacNair laughed harshly. "I thank you," he said and staggered out into -the fire-lit clearing. Dully, Chloe noticed that the Indian who had -been firing from the floor slipped stealthily through the doorway and, -dropping to his knee, raised his rifle. The next instant the girl's -eyes widened in horror. The gun was pointed squarely at MacNair's -back. She tried to cry out, but no sound came. It seemed minutes that -the Indian sighted as he knelt there in the clearing. And then--he -pulled the trigger. There was a sharp, metallic click, followed by a -muttered imprecation. The man jerked down the rifle and reaching into -his pocket, produced long yellow cartridges, which he jammed into the -magazine. - -The horror of it! The diabolical deliberation of the man spurred the -girl to a fury she had never known. In that moment her one thought was -to kill--to kill with her hands--to rend--to tear--and to maim! For -the first time she realized that the thing in her hand was a gun. - -Again the Indian was raising his rifle. The girl twisted and jerked at -the bolt of her own gun. It was locked. The next instant, with a -loud, animal-like cry, she leaped for the doorway, trampling, as she -passed, with a wild, fierce joy upon the upturned staring face of the -dead Indian. - -Out in the clearing the flames roared and crackled. Rifles spat. And -before her the Indian was again lining his sights. Grasping the heavy -rifle by the barrel, Chloe whirled it high above her and brought it -down with a crash upon the head of the kneeling savage. The man -crumpled as dead men crumple--in an ugly, twisted heap. Fierce, swift -exultation shot through the girl's brain as she stood beside the -formless thing on the ground. She looked up--squarely into the eyes of -MacNair, who had turned at the sound of her outcry. - -"I said you would fight!" called the man. "I have seen it in your -eyes. They are the eyes of the man on the wall." - -Then, abruptly, he turned and disappeared in the direction of the river. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -LAPIERRE RETURNS FROM THE SOUTH - -When Pierre Lapierre left Chloe Elliston's school after the completion -of the buildings, he proceeded at once to his own rendezvous on Lac du -Mort. - -This shrewdly chosen stronghold was situated on a high, jutting point -that rose abruptly from the waters of the inland lake, which surrounded -it upon three sides. The land side was protected by an enormous black -spruce swamp. This headland terminated in a small, rock-rimmed -plateau, perhaps three acres in extent, and was so situated as to be -practically impregnable against the attack of an ordinary force; the -rim-rocks forming a natural barricade which reduced the necessity for -artificial fortification to a minimum. Across the neck of the tiny -peninsula, Lapierre had thrown a strong stockade of logs, and from the -lake access was had only by means of a narrow, one-man trail that -slanted and twisted among the rocks of the precipitous cliff side. - -The plateau itself was sparsely covered with a growth of stunted spruce -and banskian, which served as a screen both for the stockade and the -long, low, fort-like building of logs, which was Lapierre's main cache -for the storing of fur, goods of barter, and contraband whiskey. The -fort was provisioned to withstand a siege, and it was there that the -crafty quarter-breed had succeeded in storing two hundred Mauser rifles -and many cases of ammunition. Among Lapierre's followers it was known -as the "Bastile du Mort." A safe haven of refuge for the hard-pressed, -and, in event of necessity, the one place in all the North where they -might hope indefinitely to defy their enemies. - -The secret of this fort had been well guarded, and outside of -Lapierre's organized band, but one man knew its location--and few even -guessed its existence. There were vague rumours about the Hudson Bay -posts, and in the barracks of the Mounted, that Lapierre maintained -such a fort, but its location was accredited to one of the numerous -islands of the extreme western arm of Great Slave Lake. - -Bob MacNair knew of the fort, and the rifles, and the whiskey. He -knew, also, that Lapierre did not know that he knew, and therein, at -the proper time, would lie his advantage. The Hudson Bay Company had -no vital interest in verifying the rumour, nor had the men of the -Mounted, for as yet Lapierre had succeeded in avoiding suspicion except -in the minds of a very few. And these few, realizing that if Lapierre -was an outlaw, he was by far the shrewdest and most dangerous outlaw -with whom they had ever been called upon to deal, were very careful to -keep their suspicions to themselves, until such time as they could -catch him with the goods--after that would come the business of -tracking him to his lair. And they knew to a certainty that the men -would not be wanting who could do this--no matter how shrewdly that -lair was concealed. - -Upon arriving at Lac du Mort, Lapierre ordered the canoe-men to load -the fur, proceed at once to the mouth of Slave River, transfer it to -the scows, and immediately start upon the track-line journey to -Athabasca Landing. His own canoe he loaded with rifles and ammunition, -and returned to the Yellow Knife. It was then he learned that Chloe -had gone to Snare Lake, and while he little relished an incursion into -MacNair's domain, he secreted the rifles in the store-house and set out -forthwith to overtake her. Despite the fact that he knew the girl to -be strongly prejudiced against MacNair, Lapierre had no wish for her to -see his colony in its normal condition of peace and prosperity. And -so, pushing his canoemen to the limit of their endurance, he overtook -her as she talked with MacNair by the side of his mother's grave. - -Creeping noiselessly through the scrub to the very edge of the tiny -clearing, Lapierre satisfied himself that MacNair was unattended by his -Indians. The man's back was turned toward him, and the quarter-breed -noticed that, as he talked, he leaned upon his rifle. It was a chance -in a thousand. Never before had he caught MacNair unprepared--and the -man's blood would be upon his own head. Drawing the revolver from its -holster, he timed his movements to the fraction of a second; and -deliberately snapped a twig, MacNair whirled like a flash, and Lapierre -fired. His bullet went an inch too high, and when Chloe insisted upon -carrying the wounded man to the school, Lapierre could but feebly -protest. - -The journey down the Yellow Knife was a nightmare for the -quarter-breed, who momentarily expected an attack from MacNair's -Indians. Upon their safe arrival, however, his black eyes glittered -wickedly--at last MacNair was _his_. Fate had played directly into his -hands. He knew the attack was inevitable, and during the -excitement--well, LeFroy could be trusted to attend to MacNair. With -the rifles in the storehouse, MacNair's Indians would be beaten back, -and in the event of an investigation by the Mounted, the responsibility -would be laid at MacNair's door. But of that MacNair would never know, -for MacNair would have passed beyond. - -Knowing that the vengeance of MacNair's Indians would not be long -delayed, Lapierre determined to be well away from the Yellow Knife when -the attack came. However, he had no wish to leave without first -assuring himself that the shooting of MacNair stood justified in the -eyes of the girl, and to that end he had called upon her in her cottage. - -Then it was that chance seemed to offer a safe and certain means of -putting MacNair away, and he dropped the poisonous antiseptic tablets -into the medicine, only to have his plan frustrated by the unexpected -presence of Big Lena. He was not sure that the woman had seen his -action. But he took no chances, and with an apparent awkward movement -of his hat, destroyed the evidence, sought out LeFroy, who had already -been warned of the impending attack, and ordered him to place three or -four of his most dependable Indians in the cottage, with instructions -not only to protect Chloe, but to kill MacNair. - -Then he hastened southward to overtake his scowmen, who were toiling at -the track-lines somewhere among the turbulent rapids of the Slave. And -indeed there was need of haste. The summer was well advanced. Six -hundred miles of track-line and portage lay between Great Slave Lake -and Athabasca Landing. And if he was to return with the many -scow-loads of supplies for Chloe Elliston's store before the water-way -became ice-locked, he had not a day nor an hour to lose. - -At Point Brule he overtook the fur-laden scows, and at Smith Landing an -Indian runner reported the result of the fight, and the escape of -MacNair. Lapierre smothered his rage, and with twenty men at the -track-line of each scow, bored his way southward. - -A month later the gaunt, hard-bitten outfit tied up at the Landing. -Lapierre disposed of his fur, purchased the supplies, and within a week -the outfit was again upon the river. - -At the mouth of La Biche a half-dozen burlapped pieces were removed -from a _cache_ in a thicket of balsam and added to the outfit. And at -Fort Chippewayan the scows with their contents were examined by two -officers of the Mounted, and allowed to proceed on their way. - -On the Yellow Knife, Chloe Elliston anxiously awaited Lapierre's -return. Under LeFroy's supervision the dormitories had been rebuilt, -and a few sorry-looking, one-room cabins erected, in which families of -Indians had taken up their abode. - -Through the long days of the late summer and early fall, Indians had -passed and repassed upon the river, and always, in answer to the girl's -questioning, they spoke of the brutality of MacNair. Of how men were -made to work from daylight to dark in his mines. And of the fact that -no matter how hard they worked, they were always in his debt. They -told how he plied them with whiskey, and the hunger and misery of the -women and children. All this the girl learned through her interpreter, -LeFroy; and not a few of these Indians remained to take up their abode -in dormitories or cabins, until the little settlement boasted some -thirty or forty colonists. - -It was hard, discouraging work, this striving to implant the rudiments -of education in the minds of the sullen, apathetic savages, whose chief -ambition was to gorge themselves into stupidity with food from the -storehouse. With the adults the case seemed hopeless. And, indeed, -the girl attempted little beyond instruction in the simplest principles -of personal and domestic cleanliness and order. Even this met with no -response, until she established a daily inspection, and it became known -that the filthy should also go hungry. - -With the children, Chloe made some slight headway, but only at the -expense of unceasing, monotonous repetition, and even she was forced to -admit that the results were far from encouraging. The little savages -had no slightest conception of any pride or interest in their daily -tasks, but followed unvaryingly the line of least resistance as -delineated by a simple system of rewards and punishments. - -The men had shown no aptitude for work of any kind, and now when the -ice skimmed thinly the edges of the lake and rivers, they collected -their traps and disappeared into the timber, cheerfully leaving the -women and children to be fed and cared for at the school. As the days -shortened and the nights grew longer, the girl realized, with -bitterness in her heart, that almost the only thing she had -accomplished along educational lines was the imperfect smattering of -the Indian tongue that she herself had acquired. - -But her chiefest anxiety was a more material one, and Lapierre's -appearance with the supplies became a matter of the gravest importance, -for upon their departure the trappers had drawn heavily upon the -slender remaining stores, with a result that the little colony on the -Yellow Knife was already reduced to half rations, and was entirely -dependent upon the scows for the winter's supply of provisions. - -Not since the night of the battle had Chloe heard directly from -MacNair. He had not visited the school, nor had he expressed a word of -regret or apology for the outrage. He ignored her existence -completely, and the girl guessed that many of the Indians who refused -her invitation to camp in the clearing, as they passed and repassed -upon the river, did so in obedience to MacNair's command. - -In spite of her abhorrence for the man, she resented his total -disregard of her existence. Indeed, she would have welcomed a visit -from him, if for no other reason than because he was a white man. She -spent many hours in framing bitter denunciations to be used in event of -his appearance. But he did not appear, and resentment added to the -anger in her heart, until in her mind he became the embodiment of all -that was despicable, and brutish, and evil. - -More than once she was upon the point of attempting another visit to -Snare Lake, and in all probability would have done so had not Big Lena -flatly refused to accompany her under any circumstances whatever. And -this attitude the huge Swedish woman stubbornly maintained, preserving -a haughty indifference alike to Chloe's taunts of cowardice, promise of -reward, and threats of dismissal. Whereupon Chloe broached the subject -to Harriet Penny, and that valiant soul promptly flew into hysteria, so -that for three days Chloe did double duty in the school. After that -she nursed her wrath in silence and brooded upon the wrongs of -MacNair's Indians. - -This continued brooding was not without its effect upon the girl, and -slowly but surely destroyed her sense of proportion. No longer was the -education and civilization of the Indians the uppermost thought in her -mind. With Lapierre, she came to regard the crushing of MacNair's -power as the most important and altogether desirable undertaking that -could possibly be consummated. - -While in this frame of mind, just at sunset of a keen October day, the -cry of "_la brigade! la brigade!_" reached her ears as she sat alone -in her room in the cottage, and rushing to the river bank she joined -the Indians who swarmed to the water's edge to welcome the huge freight -canoe that had rounded the point below the clearing. Chloe clapped her -hands in sheer joy and relief, for there, proud and erect, in the bow -of the canoe stood Lapierre, and behind him from bank to bank the -Yellow Knife fairly swarmed with other full-freighted canoes. The -supplies had arrived! - -Even as the bow of his canoe scraped the bank, Lapierre was at her -side. Chloe felt her hand pressed between his--felt the grip of his -strong fingers, and flushed deeply as she realized that not alone -because of the supplies was she glad that he had come. And then, his -voice was in her ears, and she was listening as he told her how good it -was to stand once more at her side, and look into the face whose image -had spurred him to almost super-human effort, throughout the days and -the nights of the long river trail. - -Lightly she answered him, and Lapierre's heart bounded at the warmth of -her welcome. He turned with a word to his canoemen, and Chloe noted -with admiration, how one and all they sprang to do his bidding. She -marvelled at his authority. Why did these men leap to obey his -slightest command, when LeFroy, to obtain even the half-hearted -obedience she required of her Indians, was forced to brow-beat and -bully them? Her heart warmed to the man as she thought of the slovenly -progress of her school. Here was one who could help her. One who -could point with the finger of a master of men to the weak spots in her -system. - -Suddenly her brow clouded. For, as she looked upon Lapierre, the words -of MacNair flashed through her mind, as he stood weak from his wounds, -in the dimness of her fire-lit room. Her eyes hardened, and -unconsciously her chin thrust outward, as she realized that before she -could ask this man's aid, there were things he must explain. - -Darkness settled, and at a word from Lapierre, fires flared out on the -beach and in the clearing, and by their light the long line of canoemen -conveyed the pieces upon their heads into the wide door of the -storehouse. It was a weird, fantastic scene. The long line of -pack-laden men, toiling up the bank between the rows of flaring fires, -to disappear in the storehouse; and the long line returning -empty-handed to toil again, to the storehouse. After a time Lapierre -called LeFroy to his side and uttered a few terse commands. The man -nodded, and took Lapierre's place at the head of the steep slope to the -river. The quarter-breed turned to the girl. - -"Come," he said, smiling, "LeFroy can handle them now. May we not go -to your cottage? I would hear of your progress--the progress of your -school. And also," he bowed, "is it not possible that the great, what -do you call her, Lena, has prepared supper? I've eaten nothing since -morning." - -"Forgive me!" cried the girl. "I had completely forgotten supper. -But, the men? Have they not eaten since morning?" - -Lapierre smiled. "They will eat," he answered, "when their work is -done." - -Supper over, the two seated themselves upon the little veranda. Along -the beach the fires still flared, and still the men, like a huge, -slow-moving endless chain, carried the supplies to the store-house. -Lapierre waved his hand toward the scene. - -"You see now," he smiled, "why I built the storehouse so large?" - -Chloe nodded, and regarded him intently. "Yes, I see that," she -answered gravely, "but there are things I do not see. Of course you -have heard of the attack by MacNair's Indians?" - -Lapierre assented. "At Smith Landing I heard it," he answered, and -waited for her to proceed. - -"Had you expected this attack?" - -Lapierre glanced at her in well-feigned surprise. - -"Had I expected it, Miss Elliston, do you think I would have gone to -the Southward? Would I have left you to the mercy of those brutes? -When I thought you were in danger on Snare Lake, did I----" - -The girl interrupted him with a gesture. "No! No! I do not think you -anticipated the attack, but----" - -Lapierre finished her sentence. "But, MacNair told you I did, and that -I had timed accurately my trip to the Southward? What else did he tell -you?" - -"He told me," answered Chloe, "that had you not anticipated the attack -you would not have armed my Indians with Mausers. He said that my -Indians were armed to kill men, not animals." She paused and looked -directly into his eyes. "Mr. Lapierre, where did those rifles come -from?" - -Lapierre answered without a moment's hesitation. "From my--_cache_ to -the westward." He leaned closer. "I told you once before," he said, -"that I could place a hundred guns in the hands of your Indians, and -you forbade me. While I could remain in the North, I bowed to your -wishes. I know the North and its people, and I knew you would be safer -with the rifles than without them. In event of an emergency, the fact -that your Indians were armed with guns that would shoot farther, and -harder, and faster, than the guns of your enemies, would offset, in a -great measure, their advantage in numbers. It seems that my judgment -was vindicated. I disobeyed you flatly. But, surely, you will not -blame me! Oh! If you knew----" - -Chloe interrupted him. - -"Don't!" she cried sharply. "Please--not that! I--I think I -understand. But there are still things I do not understand. Why did -one of my own Indians attempt to murder MacNair? And how did MacNair -know that he would attempt to murder him? He said you had ordered it -so. And the man was one of your Indians--one of those you left with -LeFroy." - -Lapierre nodded. "Do you not see, Miss Elliston, that MacNair is -trying by every means in his power to discredit me in your eyes? -Apatawa, the Indian you--" Chloe shuddered as he paused, and he -hastened on--"The Indian who attempted to shoot MacNair, was originally -one of MacNair's own Indians--one of the few who dared to desert him. -And, for the wrongs he had suffered, he had sworn to kill MacNair." - -"But, knowing that, why did LeFroy send him to the cottage?" - -"That," answered Lapierre gravely, "is something I do not know. I must -first question LeFroy, and if I find that he thus treacherously -endangered the life of a wounded man, even though that man was MacNair, -who is his enemy, and likewise my enemy, I will teach him a lesson he -will not soon forget." - -Chloe heaved a sigh of relief. "I am glad," she breathed softly, "that -you feel that way." - -"Could you doubt it?" asked the man. - -Chloe hesitated. "Yes," she answered, "I _did_ doubt it. How could I -help but doubt, when he warned me what would happen, and it all came -about as he said? I--I could not help but believe him. And now, one -thing more. Can you tell me why MacNair's Indians are willing to fight -to the death to save him from harm? If the things you tell me are -true, and I know that they are true, because during the summer I have -questioned many of MacNair's Indians, and they all tell the same story; -why do they fight for him?" - -Lapierre considered. "That is one of those things," he answered, "that -men cannot explain. It is because of his hold upon them. Great -generals have had it--this power to sway men--to command them to -certain death, even though those men cursed the very ground their -commanders stood upon. MacNair is a powerful personality. In all the -North there is not his equal. I cannot explain it. It is a -psychological problem none can explain. For, although his Indians hate -him, they make no attempt to free themselves from his yoke, and they -will fight to the death in defense of him." - -"It is hard to believe," answered Chloe, "hard to understand. And yet, -I think I do understand. He said of my grandfather, as he looked into -the eyes of his portrait on the wall: 'He was a fighter. He won to -victory over the bodies of his enemies.' That is MacNair's idea of -greatness." - -Lapierre nodded, and when he looked into the face of the girl he noted -that her eyes flashed with purpose. - -"Tell me," she continued almost sharply, "you are not afraid of -MacNair?" - -For just an instant Lapierre hesitated. "No!" he answered. "I am not -afraid." - -Chloe leaned toward him eagerly and placed a hand upon his arm, while -her eyes seemed to search his very thoughts. "Then you will go with me -to Snare Lake--to carry our war into the heart of the enemy's country?" - -"To Snare Lake!" gasped the man. - -"Yes, to Snare Lake. I shall never rest now until MacNair's power over -these poor savages is broken forever. Until they are free from the -yoke of oppression." - -"But it would be suicide!" objected Lapierre. "No possible good can -come of it! To kill a lion, one does not thrust his head into the -lion's mouth in an effort to choke him to death. There are other ways." - -Chloe laughed. "He will not harm us," she answered. "I am not going -to kill him as one would kill a lion. There has been blood enough -spilled already. As you say, there are other ways. We are going to -Snare Lake for the purpose of procuring evidence that will convict this -man in the courts." - -"The courts!" cried Lapierre. "Where are the courts north of sixty?" - -"North of sixty, or south of sixty, what matters it? There are courts, -and there are prisons awaiting such as he. Will you go with me, or -must I go alone?" - -Lapierre glanced toward the flaring fires, where the endless line of -canoemen still toiled from the river to the storehouse. Slowly he -arose from his chair and extended his hand. - -"I will go with you," he answered simply, "and now I will say good -night." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE WHISKEY RUNNERS - -When Lapierre left Chloe Elliston's cottage after promising to -accompany her to Snare Lake, he immediately sought out LeFroy, who was -superintending the distribution of the last of the supplies in the -storehouse. - -The two proceeded to LeFroy's room, and at the end of an hour sought -the camp of the canoemen. Ten minutes later, two lean-bodied scouts -took the trail for the Northward, with orders to report immediately the -whereabouts of MacNair. If luck favoured him, Lapierre knew that -MacNair accompanied by the pick of his hunters, would be far from Snare -Lake, upon his semi annual pilgrimage to intercept the fall migration -of the caribou herd, along the northernmost reaches of the barren -grounds. - -If MacNair had not yet started upon the fall hunt, the journey to Snare -Lake must be delayed. For the crafty Lapierre had no intention -whatever of risking a meeting with MacNair in the heart of his own -domain. Neither had he any intention of journeying to Snare Lake for -the purpose of securing evidence against MacNair to be used in a court -of law. His plans for crushing MacNair's power included no aid from -constituted authority. - -He noted with keen satisfaction that the girl's hatred for MacNair had -been greatly intensified, not so much by the attack upon her school, as -by the stories she heard from the lips of Indians who passed back and -forth upon the river. The posting of those Indians had been a happy -bit of forethought on the part of Lapierre; and their stories had lost -nothing in LeFroy's interpretation. - -Lapierre contrived to make the succeeding days busy ones. By -arrangement with Chloe, a system of credits had been established, and -from daylight to dark he was busy about the storehouse, paying off and -outfitting his canoemen, who were to fare North upon the trap-lines -until the breaking up of the ice in the spring would call them once -more to the lakes and the rivers, to move Lapierre's freight, handle -his furs, and deliver his contraband whiskey. - -Each evening Lapierre repaired to the cottage, and LeFroy at his post -in the storehouse nodded sagely to himself as the notes of the girl's -rich contralto floated loud and clear above the twang of the -accompanying guitar. - -Always the quarter-breed spoke eagerly to Chloe of the proposed trip to -Snare Lake, and bitterly he regretted the enforced delay incident to -outfitting the trappers. And always, with the skill and finesse of the -born intriguer, by a smile, a suggestion, or an adroitly worded -question, he managed to foster and to intensify her hatred for Brute -MacNair. - -On the sixth day after their departure, the scouts returned from the -Northward and reported that MacNair had travelled for many days across -the barrens, in search of the caribou herds. Followed, then, another -conference with LeFroy. The remaining canoemen were outfitted with -surprising celerity. And at midnight a big freight canoe, loaded to -the gunwale with an assortment of cheap knives and hatchets, bolts of -gay-coloured cloth, and cheaper whiskey broke through the ever -thickening skim of shore ice, and headed Northward under the personal -direction of that master of all whiskey runners, Louis LeFroy. - -The next day Lapierre, with a great show of eagerness, informed Chloe -that he was ready to undertake the journey to Snare Lake. -Enthusiastically the girl set about her preparation, and the following -morning, accompanied by Big Lena and Lapierre, took her place in a -canoe manned by four lean-shouldered paddlers. - - -Just below "the narrows," on the northeastern shore of Snare Lake, and -almost upon the site of Old Fort Enterprise, erected and occupied by -Lieutenant, later Sir John Franklin during the second winter of his -first Arctic expedition, Bob MacNair had built his fort. The fort -itself differed in no important particular from many of the log trading -forts of the Hudson Bay Company. Grouped about the long, low building, -within the enclosure of the log stockade, were the cabins of Indians -who had forsaken the vicissitudes of the lean, barren grounds and -attached themselves permanently to MacNair's colony. - -Under his tutelage, they learned to convert the work of their hands -into something more nearly approaching the comforts of existence than -anything they had ever known. Where, as trappers of fur, they had -succeeded, by dint of untold hardship and privation and suffering, in -obtaining the barest necessities of life from the great fur company, -they now found themselves housed in warm, comfortable cabins, eating -good food, and clothing their bodies, and the bodies of their wives and -children, in thick, warm clothing that defied the rigours of the Arctic -winters. - -While to the credit of each man, upon MacNair's books, stood an amount -in tokens of "made beaver," which to any trapper in all the Northland -would have spelled wealth beyond wildest dreams. And so they came to -respect this stern, rugged man who dealt with them fairly--to love him, -and also to fear him. And upon Snare Lake his word became the law, -from which there was no appeal. Tender as a woman in sickness, -counting no cost or hardship too dear in the rendering of assistance to -the needy, he was at the same time hard and unbending toward wilful -offenders, and a very real terror to the enemies of his people. - -He had killed men for selling whiskey to his Indians. And those of his -own people who drank the whiskey, he had flogged with -dog-whips--floggings that had been administered in no half-hearted or -uncertain manner, and that had ceased only upon the tiring of his arm. -And many there were among his Indians who could testify that the arm -was slow to tire. - -To this little colony, upon the fourth day after his departure from -Chloe Elliston's school on the Yellow Knife, came LeFroy with his -freighted canoe. And because it was not his first trip among them, all -knew his mission. - -It so happened that at the time MacNair left for the barren grounds, -Sotenah, the leader of the young men, the orator who had lauded MacNair -to the skies and counselled a summary wiping out of Chloe Elliston's -school, chanced to be laid up with an injury to his foot. And, as he -could not accompany the hunters, MacNair placed him in charge of the -fort during his absence. Upon his back Sotenah carried scars of many -floggings. And the memory of these remained with him long after the -deadly effects of the cheap whiskey that begot them had passed away. -And now, as he stood upon the shore of the lake surrounded by the old -men, and the boys who were not yet permitted to take the caribou trail, -his face was sullen and black as he greeted LeFroy. For the feel of -the bite of the gut-lash was strong upon him. - -"_B'jo'_! _B'jo'_! _Nitchi_!" greeted LeFroy, smiling into the -scowling face. - -"_B'jo'_!" grunted the younger man with evident lack of enthusiasm. - -"_Kah_ MacNair?" - -The Indian returned a noncommittal shrug. - -LeFroy repeated his question, at the same time taking from his pocket a -cheap clasp-knife which he extended toward the Indian. The other -regarded the knife in silence; then, reaching out his hand, took it -from LeFroy and examined it gravely. - -"How much?" he asked. LeFroy laughed. - -"You ke'p," he said, and stepping to the canoe, threw back the blanket, -exposing to the covetous eyes of the assembled Indians the huge pile of -similar knives, and the hatchets, and the bolts of gay-coloured goods. - -A few moments of adroit questioning sufficed to acquaint LeFroy with -MacNair's prices for similar goods; and the barter began. - -Where MacNair and the Hudson Bay Company charged ten "skins," or "made -beaver," for an article, LeFroy charged five, or four, or even three, -until the crowding Indians became half-crazed with the excitement of -barter. And while this excitement was at its height, with scarcely -half of his goods disposed of, LeFroy suddenly declared he would sell -no more, and stepping into the canoe pushed out from the bank. - -He turned a deaf ear to the frantic clamourings of those who had been -unable to secure the wonderful bargains, and ordering his canoemen to -paddle down the lake some two or three hundred yards, deliberately -prepared to camp. Hardly had his canoe touched the shore before he was -again surrounded by the clamouring mob. Whereupon he faced them and, -striking an attitude, harangued them in their own tongue. - -He had come, he said, hoping to find MacNair and to plead with him to -deal fairly with his people. It is true that MacNair pays more for the -labour of their hands than the company does for their furs, and in -doing so he has proved himself a friend of the Indians. But he can -well afford to pay more. Is not the _pil chickimin_--the gold--worth -more even than the finest of skins? - -He reached beneath the blankets and, drawing forth one of the cheap -knives, held it aloft. For years, he told them, the great fur company -has been robbing the Indians. Has been charging them two, three, four, -and even ten times the real value of the goods they offer in barter. -But the Indians have not known this. Even he, LeFroy, did not know it -until the _kloshe kloochman_--the good white woman--came into the North -and built a school at the mouth of the Yellow Knife. She is the real -friend of the Indians. For she brought goods, even more goods than are -found in the largest of the Hudson Bay posts, and she sells them at -prices unheard of--at their real value in the land of the white man. - -"See now!" he cried, holding the knife aloft, "in the store of MacNair, -for this knife you will pay eight skins. Who will buy it for two?" - -A dozen Indians crowded forward, and the knife passed into the hands of -an old squaw. Other knives and hatchets changed hands, and yards of -bolt goods were sold at prices that caused the black eyes of the -purchasers to glitter with greed. - -"Why do you stay here?" cried LeFroy suddenly. "Oh! my people, why do -you remain to toil all your lives in the mines--to be robbed of the -work of your hands? Come to the Yellow Knife and join those who are -already enjoying the fruits of their labours! Where all have plenty, -and none are asked to toil and dig in the dirt of the mines. Where all -that is required is to sit in the school and learn from books, and -become wise in the ways of the white man." - -The half-breed paused, swaying his body to and fro as he gazed intently -into the eyes of the greed-crazed horde. Suddenly his voice arose -almost to a shriek. "You are free men--dwellers in a free land! Who -is MacNair, that he should hold you in servitude? Why should you toil -to enrich him? Why should you bow down beneath his tyranny? Who is -_he_ to make laws that you shall obey?" He shifted his gaze to the -upturned face of Sotenah. "Who is he to say: 'You shall drink no -firewater'? And who is he to flog you when you break that law? I tell -you in the great storehouse on the Yellow Knife is firewater for all! -The white man's drink! The drink that makes men strong--and happy--and -wise as gods!" - -He called loudly. Two of his canoemen rolled a cask to his feet, and, -upending it, broached in the head. Seizing a tin cup, LeFroy plunged -it into the cask and drank with a great smacking of lips. Then, -refilling the cup, he passed it to Sotenah. - -"See!" he cried, "it is a present from the _kloshe kloochman_ to the -people of MacNair! The people who are down-trodden and oppressed!" -Under the spell of the man's words, all fear of the wrath of MacNair -vanished, and Sotenah greedily seized the cup and drank, while about -him crowded the others rendering the night hideous with their frenzied -cries of exultation. - -The cask was quickly emptied, and another broached. Old men, women, -and children, all drank--and fighting, and leaping, and dancing, and -yelling, returned to drink again. For, never within the memory of the -oldest, had any Indian drunk the white man's whiskey for which he had -not paid. - -Darkness fell. Fires were lighted upon the beach, and the wild orgy -continued. Other casks were opened, and the drink-crazed Indians -yelled and fought and sang in a perfect frenzy of delirium. -Fire-brands were hurled high into the air, to fall whirling among the -cabins. And it was these whirling brands that riveted the attention of -the occupants of the big canoe that approached swiftly along the shore -from the direction of the Yellow Knife. LeFroy had timed his work -well. In the bow, Lapierre, with a grim smile upon his thin lips, -watched the arcs of the whirling brands, while from their position -amidship, Chloe and Big Lena stared fascinated upon the scene. - -"What are they doing?" cried the girl in amazement. Lapierre turned -and smiled into her eyes. - -"We have come," he answered, "at a most opportune time. You are about -to see MacNair's Indians at their worst. For they seem to be even more -drunk than usual. It is MacNair's way--to make them drunk while he -looks on and laughs." - -"Do you mean," cried the girl in horror, "that they are drunk?" - -Lapierre smiled. "Very drunk," he answered dryly. "It is the only way -MacNair can hold them--by allowing them free license at frequent -intervals. For well the Indians know that nowhere else in all the -North would this thing be permitted. Therefore, they remain with -MacNair." - -The canoe had drawn close now, and the figures of the Indians were -plainly discernible. Many were lying sprawled upon the ground, while -others leaped and danced in the red flare of the flames. At frequent -intervals, above the sound of the frenzied shouts and weird chants, -arose the sharp rattle of shots, as the Indians fired recklessly into -the air. - -At a signal from Lapierre the canoemen ceased paddling. Chloe's eyes -flashed an inquiry, and Lapierre shook his head. - -"We can venture no closer," he explained. "At such times their -deviltry knows no bounds. They would make short shrift of anyone who -would venture among them this night." - -Chloe nodded. "I have no wish to go farther!" she cried. "I have seen -enough, and more than enough! When this night's work shall become -known in Ottawa, its echo shall ring from Labrador to the Yukon until -throughout all Canada the name of MacNair shall be hated and despised!" - -At the words, Lapierre glanced into her flushed face, and, removing his -hat, bowed reverently. "God grant that your prophecy may be fulfilled. -And I speak, not because of any hatred for MacNair, but from a heart -overflowing with love and compassion for my people. For their welfare, -it is my earnest prayer that this man's just punishment shall not long -be delayed." - -While he was yet speaking, from the midst of the turmoil red flames -shot high into the air. The yelling increased tenfold, and the -frenzied horde surged toward the walls of the stockade. The cabins of -the Indians were burning! Wider and higher flared the fire, and louder -and fiercer swelled the sounds of yelling and the firing of rifles. -The walls of the stockade ignited. The fire was eating its way toward -the long, log storehouse. Instantly through the girl's mind flashed -the memory of that other night when the sky glowed red, and the crash -of rifles mingled with the hoarse roar of flames. She gazed in -fascination as the fire licked and curled above the roof of the -storehouse. Upon the shore, even the canoes were burning. - -Suddenly a wild shriek was borne to her ears. The firing of guns -ceased abruptly, and around the corner of the burning storehouse dashed -a figure of terror, hatless and coatless, with long hair streaming -wildly in the firelight. Tall, broad, and gaunt it appeared in the -light of the flaring flames, and instantly Chloe recognized the form of -Bob MacNair. Lapierre also recognized it, and gasped audibly. For at -that moment he knew MacNair should have been far across the barrens on -the trail of the caribou herd. - -"Look! Look!" cried the girl. "What is he doing?" And watched in -horror as the big man charged among the Indians, smashing, driving and -kicking his way through the howling, rum-crazed horde. At every -lashing blow of his fist, every kick of his high-laced boot, men went -down. Others reeled drunkenly from his path screaming aloud in their -fright; while across the open space in the foreground four or five men -could be seen dashing frantically for the protection of the timber. -MacNair ripped the gun from the hand of a reeling Indian and, throwing -it to his shoulder, fired. Of those who ran, one dropped, rose to his -knees, and sank backward. MacNair fired again, and another crashed -forward, and rolled over and over upon the ground. - -Lapierre watched with breathless interest while the others gained the -shelter of the timber. He wondered whether one of the two men who fell -was LeFroy. - -"Oh!" cried Chloe in horror. "He's killing them!" - -Lapierre made a swift sign to his paddlers, and the canoe shot behind a -low sand-point where, in response to a tense command, the canoemen -turned its bow southward; and, for the second time, Chloe Elliston -found herself being driven by willing hands southward upon Snare Lake. - -"He pounded--and kicked--and beat them!" sobbed the girl hysterically. -"And two of them he killed!" - -Lapierre nodded. "Yes," he answered sadly, "and he will kill more of -them. It seems that this time they got beyond even his control. For -the destruction of his buildings and his goods, he will take his toll -in lives and in the sufferings of his Indians." - -While the canoe shot southward through the darkness, Chloe sat huddled -upon her blankets. And as she watched the dull-red glow fade from the -sky above MacNair's burning fort, her heart cried out for vengeance -against this brute of the North. - -One hour, two hours, the canoe plowed the black waters of the lake, and -then, because men must rest, Lapierre reluctantly gave the order to -camp, and the tired canoemen turned the bow shoreward. - -Hardly had they taken a dozen strokes when the canoe ground sharply -against the thin, shore ice. There was the sound of ripping bark, -where the knifelike edge of the ice tore through the side of the frail -craft. Water gushed in, and Lapierre, stifling a curse that rose to -his lips, seized a paddle, and leaning over the bow began to chop -frantically at the ice. Two of the canoemen with their paddles held -her head on, while the other two, with the help of Chloe and Big Lena -endeavoured to stay the inrush of water with blankets and fragments of -clothing. - -Progress was slow. The ice thickened as they neared the shore, and -Lapierre's paddle-blade, battered upon its point and edges to a soft, -fibrous pulp, thudded softly upon the ice without breaking it. He -threw the paddle overboard and seized another. A few more yards were -won, but the shore loomed black and forbidding, and many yards away. -Despite the utmost efforts of the women and the two canoemen, the water -gained rapidly. Lapierre redoubled his exertion, chopping and stabbing -at the ever thickening shore-ice. And then suddenly his paddle crashed -through, and with a short cry of relief he rose to his feet, and leaped -into the black water, where he sank only to his middle. The canoemen -followed. And the canoe, relieved of the bulk of its burden, floated -more easily. - -Slowly they pushed shoreward through the shallow water, the men -breaking the ice before them. And a few minutes later, wet and chilled -to the bone, they stepped onto the gravel. - -Within the shelter of a small thicket a fire was built, and while the -men returned to examine the damaged canoe, the two women wrung out -their dripping garments and, returning them wet, huddled close to the -tiny blaze. The men returned to the fire, where a meal was prepared -and eaten in silence. As he ate, Chloe noticed that Lapierre seemed -ill at ease. - -"Did you repair the canoe?" she asked. The man shook his head. - -"No. It is damaged beyond any thought of repair. We removed the food -and such of its contents as are necessary, and, loading it with rocks, -sank it in the lake." - -"Sank it in the lake!" cried the girl in amazement. - -"Yes," answered Lapierre. "For even if it were not damaged, it would -be of no further use to us. Tonight the lake will freeze." - -"What are we going to do?" cried the girl. - -"There is only one thing to do," answered Lapierre quickly. "Walk to -the school. It is not such a long trail--a hundred miles or so. And -you can take it easy. You have plenty of provisions." - -"I!" cried the girl. "And what will you do?" - -"It is necessary," answered the man, "that I should make a forced -march." - -"You are going to leave me?" - -Lapierre smiled at the evident note of alarm in her voice. "I am going -to take two of the canoemen and return in all haste to your school. Do -you realize that MacNair, now that he has lost his winter provisions, -will stop at nothing to obtain more?" - -"He would not dare!" cried the girl, her eyes flashing. - -Lapierre laughed. "You do not know MacNair. You, personally, he would -not venture to molest. He will doubtless try to buy supplies from you -or from the Hudson Bay Company. But, in the meantime, while he is upon -this errand, his Indians, with no one to hold them in check, and -knowing that the supplies are in your storehouse, will swoop down upon -it, and your own Indians, without a leader, will fall an easy prey to -the hungry horde." - -"But surely," cried the girl, "LeFroy is capable----" - -"Possibly, if he were at the school," interrupted Lapierre. "But -unfortunately the day before we ourselves departed, I sent LeFroy upon -an important mission to the eastward. I think you will agree with me -upon the importance of the mission when I tell you that, as I swung out -of the mouth of Slave River at the head of the canoe brigade, I saw a -fast canoe slipping stealthily along the shore to the eastward. In -that canoe, with the aid of my binoculars, I made out two men whom I -have long suspected of being engaged in the nefarious and hellish -business of peddling whiskey among the Indians. I knew it was useless -to try to overtake them with my heavily loaded canoe, and so upon my -arrival at the school, as soon as we had concluded the outfitting of -the trappers, I dispatched LeFroy to hunt these men down, to destroy -any liquor found in their possession, and to deal with them as he saw -fit." - -He paused and gazed steadily into the girl's face. "This may seem to -you a lawless and high-handed proceeding, Miss Elliston," he went on; -"but you have just witnessed one exhibition of the tragedy that whiskey -can work among my people. In my opinion, the end justifies the means." - -The girl regarded him with shining eyes. "Indeed it does!" she cried. -"Oh, there is nothing--no punishment--too severe for such brutes, such -devils, as these! I--I hope LeFroy will catch them. I -hope--almost--he will kill them." - -Lapierre nodded. "Yes, Miss Elliston," he answered gravely, "one could -sometimes almost wish so, but I have forbidden it. The taking of a -human life is a serious matter; and in the North the exigencies of the -moment all too frequently make this imperative. As a last resort only -should we kill." - -"You are right," echoed the girl. "Only after the scene we have just -witnessed, it seemed that I myself could kill deliberately, and be glad -I killed. Truly the North breeds savagery. For I, too, have killed on -the spur of the moment!" The words fell rapidly from her lips, and she -cried out as in physical pain. "And to think that I killed in defence -of _him_! Oh, if I had let the Indian shoot that night, all this"--she -waved her hand to the northward--"would never have happened." - -"Very true, Miss Elliston," answered Lapierre softly. "But do not -blame yourself. Under the circumstances, you could not have done -otherwise." - -As he talked, two of the canoemen made up light packs from the outfit -of the wrecked canoe. Seeing that they had concluded, Lapierre arose, -and taking Chloe's hand in both of his, looked straight into her eyes. - -"Good-by," he said simply. "These Indians will conduct you in safety -to your school." And, without waiting for a reply, turned and followed -the two canoemen into the brush. - -Chloe sat for a long time staring into the flames of the tiny fire -before creeping between her damp blankets. Despite the utter -body-weariness of her long canoe-trip, the girl slept but fitfully in -her cold bed. - -In the early grey of the morning she started up nervously. Surely a -sound had awakened her. She heard it distinctly now, the sound of -approaching footsteps. She strained to locate the sound, and instantly -realized it was not the tread of moccasined feet. She threw off the -frost-stiffened blankets and leaped to her feet, shivering in the keen -air of the biting dawn. - -The sounds of the footsteps grew louder, plainer, as though someone had -turned suddenly from the shore and approached the thicket with long, -heavy strides. With muscles tense and heart bounding wildly the girl -waited. Then, scarce ten feet from her side, the thick scrub parted -with a vicious swish, and a man, hatless, glaring, and white-faced, -stood before her. The man was MacNair. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -"ARREST THAT MAN!" - -Seconds passed--tense, portentous seconds--as the two stood facing each -other over the dead ashes of the little fire. Seconds in which the -white drawn features of the man engraved themselves indelibly upon -Chloe Elliston's brain. She noted the knotted muscles of the clenched -hands and the glare of the sunken eyes. Noted, also, the cringing -fear-stricken forms of the two Indians, who had awakened and lay -cowering upon their blankets. And Big Lena, whose pale-blue, fishlike -eyes stared first at one and then the other from out a face absolutely -devoid of expression. - -Suddenly a fierce, consuming anger welled into the girl's heart, and -words fell from her lips in a veritable hiss of scorn: "Have you come -to kill me, too?" - -"By God, it would be a good thing for the North if I should kill you!" - -"A good thing for MacNair, you mean!" taunted the girl. "Yes, I think -it would. Well, there is nothing to hinder you. Of course, you would -have to kill these, also." She indicated Big Lena and the Indians. -"But what are mere lives to you?" - -"They are nothing to me when the fate of my people is at stake! And at -this very moment their fate--their whole future--the future of their -children and their children's children--is at stake, as it has never -been at stake before. Many times in my life have I faced crises: but -never such a crisis as this. And always I have won, regardless of -cost--but the cost only _I_ have ever known." - -His eyes glared, and he seemed a madman in his berserk rage. He drove -a huge fist into his upturned palm and fairly shouted his words: "I am -MacNair! And if there is a God in heaven, I will win! From this -moment, it is my life or Lapierre's! Since last night's outrage there -can be no truce--no quibbling--no parleying--no half-way measures! My -friends are my friends, and his friends are my enemies! The war is -on--and it will be a fight to the finish. A fight that may well -disrupt the North!" He shook his clenched fist before the face of the -girl. "I have taken the man-trail! I am MacNair! And at the end of -that trail will lie a dead man--myself or Pierre Lapierre!" - -"And at the beginning of the trail lie _two_ dead men," sneered Chloe. -"Those who started for the timber----" - -"And, by God, if necessary, the trail will be _paved with dead men_! -For Lapierre, the day of reckoning is at hand." - -Chloe took a step forward, and with blazing eyes stood trembling with -anger before the man. "And how about _your own_ day of reckoning? You -have told me that I am a fool; but it is you who are the fool! You -killer of helpless men! You debaucher of women and children! You -trader in souls! As you say, the day of reckoning is at hand--not for -Lapierre, but for _you_! Until this day you have not taken me -seriously. I _have_ been a fool--a blind, trusting fool. You have -succeeded, in spite of what I have heard--in spite of my better -judgment--in spite even of what I have seen, in making me believe that, -possibly you had been misunderstood; had been painted blacker than you -really are. At times I almost _believed_ in you; but I have since -learned enough from the mouths of your own Indians to convince me of my -folly. And after what I saw last night--" She paused in very horror -of the thought, and MacNair glared into her outraged eyes. - -"You saw that? You stood by and witnessed the ruination of my Indians? -Deliberately watched them changed from sober, industrious, -simple-hearted children of the wild into a howling, drink-crazed horde -of beasts that thirsted for blood--tore at each other's throats--and, -in the frenzy of their madness, burned their own homes, and their -winter's supplies and provisions? You stood by and saw them glutted -with the whiskey from your storehouse--by your own paid creatures----" - -"Whiskey from my storehouse!" The girl's voice rose to a scream, and -MacNair interrupted her savagely: - -"Aye, whiskey from your storehouse! Brought in by Lapierre, and by -Lapierre cunningly and freely given out to my Indians." - -"You are crazy! You are mad! You do not know what you are saying? -But if you _do_ know, you are the most consummate liar on the face of -the earth! Of all things absurd! Is it possible that you hope by any -such preposterous and flimsy fabrication to escape the punishment which -will surely and swiftly be meted out to you? Will, you tell that to -the Mounted? And will you tell it to the judge and the jury? What -will they say when I have told my story, and have had it corroborated -by your own Indians--those Indians who have fled to my school to seek a -haven of refuge from your tyranny? I have my manifest. My goods were -inspected and passed by the Mounted----" - -"Inspected and passed! And why? Because they were _your_ goods, and -the men of the Mounted have yet to suspect you. The inspection was -perfunctorily made. And as for the manifest--I did not say it was your -whiskey. I said, 'whiskey from your storehouse.' It was Lapierre's -whiskey. And he succeeded in running it in by the boldest, and at the -same time the cleverest and safest method--disguised as your freight. -Tell me this: Did you check your pieces upon their arrival at your -storehouse?" - -"No; Lapierre did that, or LeFroy." - -"And Lapierre, having first ascertained that I was far on the caribou -trail, succeeded in slipping the whiskey to my Indians, but he----" - -"Mr. Lapierre was with me! Accuse him and you accuse me, also. He -brought me here because I wished to see for myself the condition of -your Indians--the condition of which I had so often heard." - -"Was LeFroy, also, with you?" - -"LeFroy was away upon a mission, and that mission was to capture two -others of your ilk--two whiskey-runners!" - -MacNair laughed harshly. "Good LeFroy!" he exclaimed in derision. -"Great God, you are a fool! You yourself saw LeFroy and his satellites -rushing wildly for the shelter of the timber, when I unexpectedly -appeared among them." The light of exultation leaped into his eyes. -"I killed two of them, but LeFroy escaped. Lapierre timed his work -well. And had it not been that one of my Indians, who was a spy in -Lapierre's camp, learned of his plan and followed me across the -barrens, Lapierre would have had ample time, after the destruction of -my fort, to have scattered my Indians to the four winds. When I -learned of his plot, I forced the trail as I never had forced a trail, -in the hope of arriving in time to prevent the catastrophe. I reached -the fort too late to save my Indians from your human wolf-pack, their -homes from the flames, and my buildings and my property from -destruction. But, thank God, it is not too late to wreck my vengeance -upon the enemies of my people! For the trail is hot, and I will follow -it, if need be, to the end of the earth." - -"Your love for your Indians is, indeed, touching. I witnessed a -demonstration of that love last night, when you battered and kicked and -hurled them about in their drunken and helpless condition. But, tell -me, what will become of them while you are following your trail of -blood--the trail you so fondly imagine will terminate in the death of -Lapierre, but which will, as surely and inevitably as justice itself, -lead you to a prison cell, if not the gallows?" - -MacNair regarded the girl almost fiercely. "I must leave my Indians," -he answered, "for the present, to their own devices. For the simple -reason that I cannot be in two places at the same time." - -"But their supplies were burned! They will starve!" cried the girl. -"It would seem that one who really loved his Indians would have his -first thought for their welfare. But no; you prefer to take the trail -and kill men; men who may at some future time tell their story upon the -witness-stand; a story that will not sound pretty in the telling, and -that will mark the crash of your reign of tyranny. 'Safety first' is -your slogan, and your Indians may starve while you murder men." The -girl paused and suddenly became conscious that MacNair was regarding -her with a strange look in his eyes. And at his next words she could -scarcely believe her ears. - -"Will you care for my Indians?" - -The question staggered her. "What!" she managed to gasp. - -"Just what I said," answered MacNair gruffly. "Will you care for my -Indians until such time as I shall return to them--until I have ridded -the North of Lapierre?" - -"Do you mean," cried the astonished girl, "will I care for your -Indians--the same Indians who attacked my school--who only last night -fought like fiends among themselves, and burned their own homes?" - -"Just that!" answered MacNair. "The Indian who warned me of Lapierre's -plot told me, also, of the arrival of your supplies--sufficient, he -said, to feed the whole North. You will not lose by it. Name your own -price, and I shall pay whatever you ask." - -"Price!" flashed the girl. "Do you think I would take your gold--the -gold that has been wrung from the hearts' blood of your Indians?" - -"On your own terms, then," answered MacNair. "Will you take them? -Surely this arrangement should be to your liking. Did you not tell me -yourself, upon the occasion of our first meeting, that you intended to -use every means in your power to induce my Indians to attend your -school? That you would teach them that they are free? That they owe -allegiance and servitude to no man? That you would educate and show -them they were being robbed and cheated and forced into serfdom? That -you intended to appeal to their better natures, to their manhood and -womanhood? I think those were your words. Did you not say that? And -did you mean it? Or was it the idle boast of an angry woman?" - -Chloe interrupted him. "Yes, I said that, and I meant it! And I mean -it now!" - -"You have your chance," growled MacNair, "I impose no restrictions. I -shall command them to obey you; even to attend your school, if you -wish! You will hardly have time to do them much harm. As I told you, -the North is not ready for your education. But I know that you are -honest. You are a fool, and the time is not far distant when you -yourself will realize this; when you will learn that you have become -the unwitting dupe of one of the shrewdest and most diabolical -scoundrels that ever drew breath. Again I tell you that some day you -and I shall be friends! At this moment you hate me. But I know it is -through ignorance you hate. I have small patience with your ignorance; -but, also, at this moment you are the only person in all the North with -whom I would trust my Indians. Lapierre, from now on, will be past -charming them. I shall see to it that he is kept so busy in the matter -of saving his own hide that he will have scant time for deviltry." - -Still Chloe appeared to hesitate. And through MacNair's mind flashed -the memory of the rapier-blade eyes that stared from out the dull gold -frame of the portrait that hung upon the wall of the little -cottage---eyes that were the eyes of the girl before him. - -"Well," he asked with evident impatience, "are you _afraid_ of these -Indians?" - -The flashing eyes of the girl told him that the shot had struck home. -"No!" she cried. "I am not afraid! Send your Indians to me, if you -will; and when you send them, bid good-by to them forever." - -MacNair nodded. "I will send them," he answered, and, turning abruptly -upon his heel, disappeared into the scrub. - - -The journey down the Yellow Knife consumed six days, and it was a -journey fraught with many hardships for Chloe Elliston, unaccustomed as -she was to trail travel. The little-used trail, following closely the -bank of the stream, climbed low, rock-ribbed ridges, traversed black -spruce swamps, and threaded endlessly in and out of the scrub timber. -Nevertheless, the girl held doggedly to the slow pace set by the -canoemen. - -When at last, foot-sore and weary, with nerves a-jangle, and with every -muscle in her body protesting with its own devilishly ingenious ache -against the overstrain of the long, rough miles and the chill misery of -damp blankets, she arrived at the school, Lapierre was nowhere to be -found. For the wily quarter-breed, knowing that MacNair would -instantly suspect the source of the whiskey, had, upon his arrival, -removed the remaining casks from the storehouse, and conveyed them with -all haste to his stronghold on Lac du Mort. - -Upon her table in the cottage, Chloe found a brief note to the effect -that Lapierre had been, forced to hasten to the eastward to aid LeFroy -in dealing with the whiskey-runners. The girl had scant time to think -of Lapierre, however, for upon the morning after her arrival, MacNair -appeared, accompanied by a hundred or more dejected and woe-begone -Indians. Despite the fact that Chloe had known them only as fierce -roisterers she was forced to admit that they looked harmless and -peaceful enough, under the chastening effect of a week of starvation. - -MacNair wasted no time, but striding up to the girl, who stood upon the -veranda of her cottage, plunged unceremoniously into the business at -hand. - -"Do not misunderstand me," he began gruffly. "I did not bring my -Indians here to receive the benefits of your education, nor as a sop to -your anger, nor for any other reason than to procure for them food and -shelter until such time as I myself can provide for them. If they were -trappers this would be unnecessary. But they have long since abandoned -the trap-lines, and in the whole village there could not be found -enough traps to supply one tenth of their number with the actual -necessities of life. I have sent runners to the young men upon the -barren grounds, with orders to continue the caribou kill and bring the -meat to you here. I have given my Indians their instructions. They -will cause you no trouble, and will be subject absolutely to your -commands. And now, I must be on my way. I must pick up the trail of -Lapierre. And when I return, I shall confront you with evidence that -will prove to you beyond a doubt that the words I have spoken are true!" - -"And I will confront you," retorted the girl, "with evidence that will -place you behind prison bars for the rest of your life!" Again Chloe -saw in the grey eyes the twinkle that held more than the suspicion of a -smile. - -"I think I would make but a poor prisoner," the man answered. "But if -I am to be a prisoner I warn you that I will run the prison. I am -MacNair!" Something in the man's look--he was gazing straight into her -eyes with a peculiar intense gaze--caused the girl to start, while a -sudden indescribable feeling of fear, of helplessness before this man, -flashed over her. The feeling passed in an instant and she sneered -boldly into MacNair's face. - -"My, how you hate yourself!" she cried. "And how long is it, Mr. Brute -MacNair--" was it fancy, or did the man wince at the emphasis of the -name? She repeated, with added emphasis, "Mr. Brute MacNair, since you -have deemed it worth your while to furnish me with evidence? You told -me once, I believe, that you cared nothing for my opinion. Is it -possible that you hope at this late day to flatter me with my own -importance?" - -MacNair, in no wise perturbed, regarded her gravely. "No," he answered -"It is not that, it is--" He paused as if at a loss for words. "I do -not know why," he continued, "unless, perhaps, it is because--because -you have no fear of me. That you do not fear to take your life into -your hands in defence of what you think is right. It may be that I -have learned a certain respect for you. Certainly I do not pity you. -At times you have made me very angry with your foolish blundering, -until I remember it is honest blundering, and that some day you will -know the North, and will know that north of sixty, men are not measured -by your little rule of thumb. Always I have gone my way, caring no -more for the approval of others than I have for their hatred or -scoffing. I know the North! Why should I care for the opinion of -others? If they do not know, so much the worse for them. The -reputation of being a fool injures no one. Had I not been thought a -fool by the men of the Hudson Bay Company they would not have sold me -the barren grounds whose sands are loaded with gold." - -"And yet you said _I_ was a fool," interrupted Chloe. "According to -your theory, that fact should redound to my credit." - -MacNair answered without a smile. "I did not say that _being_ a fool -injured no one. You _are_ a fool. Of your reputation I know nothing, -nor care." He turned abruptly on his heel and walked to the -storehouse, leaving the girl, speechless with anger, standing upon the -veranda of the cottage, as she watched his swinging shoulders disappear -from sight around the corner of the log building. - -With flushed face, Chloe turned toward the river, and instantly her -attention centred upon the figure of a man, who swung out of the timber -and approached across the clearing in long, easy strides. She regarded -the man closely. Certainly he was no one she had ever seen before. He -was very near now, and at the distance of a few feet, paused and bowed, -as he swept the Stetson from his head. The girl's heart gave a wild -bound of joy. The man wore the uniform of the Mounted! - -"Miss Elliston?" he asked. - -"Yes," answered Chloe, as her glance noted the clear-cut, almost boyish -lines of the weather-bronzed face. - -"I am Corporal Ripley, ma'am, at your service. I happened on a Fort -Rae Injun--a Dog Rib, a few days since, and he told me some kind of a -yarn about a band of Yellow Knives that had attacked your post some -time during the summer. I couldn't get much out of him because he -could speak only a few words of English, and I can't speak any Dog Rib. -Besides, you can't go much on what an Indian tells you. When you come -to sift down their dope, it generally turns out to be nine parts lies -and the other part divided between truth, superstition, and guess-work. -Constable Darling, at Fort Resolution, said he'd received no complaint, -so I didn't hurry through." - -With a swift glance toward the storehouse, into which MacNair had -disappeared, Chloe motioned the man into the cottage. "The--the attack -was nothing," she hastened to assure him. "But there is something--a -complaint that I wish to make against a man who is, and has been for -years, doing all in his power to debauch and brutalize the Indians of -the North." The girl paced nervously up and down as she spoke, and she -noted that the youthful officer leaned forward expectantly, his wide -boyish eyes narrowed to slits. - -"Yes," he urged eagerly, "who is this man? And have you got the -evidence to back your charge? For I take it from your words you intend -to make a charge." - -"Yes," answered Chloe. "I do intend to make a charge, and I have my -evidence. The man is MacNair. Brute MacNair he is called----" - -"What! MacNair of Snare Lake--Bob MacNair of the barren grounds?" - -"Yes, Bob MacNair of the barren grounds." A moment of silence followed -her words. A silence during which the officer's face assumed a -troubled expression. - -"You are sure there is no mistake?" he asked at length. - -"There is no mistake!" flashed the girl. "With my own eyes I have seen -enough to convict a dozen men!" - -Even as she spoke, a form passed the window, and a heavy tread sounded -on the veranda. Stepping quickly to the door, Chloe flung it open, and -pointing toward MacNair, who stood, rifle in hand, cried; "Officer, -arrest that man!" - -Corporal Ripley, who had risen to his feet, stood gazing from one to -the other; while MacNair, speechless, stared straight into the eyes of -the girl. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -MACNAIR GOES TO JAIL - -The silence in the little room became almost painful. MacNair uttered -no word as his glance strayed from the flushed, excited face of the -girl to the figure of Corporal Ripley, who stood hat in hand, gazing -from one to the other with eyes plainly troubled by doubt and -perplexity. - -"Well, why don't you do something?" cried the girl, at length. "It -seems to me if I were a man I could think of something to do besides -stand and gape!" - -Corporal Ripley cleared his throat. "Do I understand," he began -stiffly, "that you intend to prefer certain charges against -MacNair--that you demand his arrest?" - -"I should _think_ you would understand it!" retorted the girl. "I have -told you three or four times." - -The officer flushed slightly and shifted the hat from his right to his -left hand. - -"Just step inside, MacNair," he said, and then to the girl: "I'll -listen to you now, if you please. You must make specific charges, you -know--not just hearsay. Arresting a man in this country is a serious -matter, Miss Elliston. We are seven hundred miles from a jail, and the -law expects us to use discretion in making an arrest. It don't do us -any good at headquarters to bring in a man unless we can back up our -charge with strong evidence, because the item of transportation of -witnesses and prisoner may easily run up into big money. On the other -hand it's just as bad if we fail or delay in bringing a guilty man to -book. What we want is specific evidence. I don't tell you this to -discourage any just complaint, but only to show you that we've got to -have direct and specific evidence. Now, Miss Elliston, I'll hear what -you've got to say." - -Chloe sank into a chair and motioned the others to be seated. "We may -as well sit down while we talk. I will try to tell you only the facts -as I myself have seen them--only such as I could swear to on a witness -stand." The officer bowed, and Chloe plunged directly into the subject. - -"In the first place," she began, "when I brought my outfit in I noticed -in the scows, certain pieces with the name of MacNair painted on the -burlap. The rest of the outfit, I think, consisted wholly of my own -freight. I wondered at the time who MacNair was, but didn't make any -inquiries until I happened to mention the matter to Mr. Lapierre. That -was on Slave River. Mr. Lapierre seemed very much surprised that any -of MacNair's goods should be in his scows. He examined the pieces and -then with an ax smashed them in. They contained whiskey." - -"And he destroyed it? Can you swear it was whiskey?" asked the officer. - -"Certainly, I can swear it was whiskey! I saw it and _smelled_ it." - -"Can you explain why Lapierre did not know of these pieces, until you -called his attention to them?" - -Chloe hesitated a moment and tapped nervously on the table with her -fingers. "Yes," she answered, "I can. Mr. Lapierre took charge of the -outfit only that morning." - -"Who was the boss scowman? Who took the scows down the Athabasca?" - -"A man named Vermilion. He was a half-breed, I think. Anyway, he was -a horrible creature." - -"Where is Vermilion now?" - -Again Chloe hesitated. "He is dead," she answered. "Mr. Lapierre shot -him. He shot him in self-defence, after Vermilion had shot another -man." - -The officer nodded, and Chloe called upon Big Lena to corroborate the -statement that Lapierre had destroyed certain whiskey upon the bank of -Slave Lake. "Is that all?" asked the officer. - -"No, indeed!" answered Chloe. "That isn't all! Only last week, I went -to visit MacNair's fort on Snare Lake in company with Mr. Lapierre and -Lena, and four canoemen. We got there shortly after dark. Fires had -been built on the beach--many of them almost against the walls of the -stockade. As we drew near, we heard loud yells and howlings that -sounded like the cries of animals, rather than of human beings. We -approached very close to the shore where the figures of the Indians -were distinctly visible by the light of the leaping names. It was then -we realized that a wild orgy of indescribable debauchery was in -progress. The Indians were raving drunk. Some lay upon the ground in -a stupor--others danced and howled and threw fire-brands about in -reckless abandon. - -"We dared not land, but held the canoe off shore and watched the -horrible scene. We had not long to wait before the inevitable -happened. The whirling fire-brands falling among the cabins and -against the walls of the stockade started a conflagration, which soon -spread to the storehouse. And then MacNair appeared on the scene, -rushing madly among the Indians, striking, kicking, and hurling them -about. A few sought to save themselves by escaping to the timber. -And, jerking a rifle from the hand of an Indian, MacNair fired twice at -the fleeing men. Two of them fell and the others escaped into the -timber." - -"You did not see any whiskey in the possession of these Indians?" asked -Corporal Ripley. "You merely surmised they were drunk by their -actions?" - -Chloe nodded. "Yes," she admitted, "but certainly there can be no -doubt that they were drunk. Men who are not drunk do not----" - -MacNair interrupted her. "They were drunk," he said quietly, "very -drunk." - -"You admit that?" asked the officer in surprise. "I must warn you, -MacNair, that anything you say may be used against you." MacNair -nodded. - -"And, as to the killing of the men," continued Chloe, "I charge MacNair -with their murder." - -"Murder is a very serious charge, Miss Elliston. Let's go over the -facts again. You say you were in a canoe near the shore--you saw a man -you say was MacNair grab a rifle from an Indian and kill two men. Stop -and think, now--it was night and you saw all this by firelight--are you -sure the man who fired the shots was MacNair?" - -"Absolutely!" cried the girl, with a trace of irritation. - -"It was I who shot," interrupted MacNair. - -The officer regarded him curiously and again addressed the girl. "Once -more, Miss Elliston, do you know that the men you saw fall are dead? -Mere shooting won't sustain a charge of murder." - -Chloe hesitated. "No," she admitted reluctantly. "I did not examine -their dead bodies, if that is what you mean. But MacNair afterward -told me that he killed them, and I can swear to having seen them fall." - -"The men are dead," said MacNair. - -The officer stared in astonishment. Chloe also was puzzled by the -frank admission of the man, and she gazed into his face as though -striving to pierce its mask and discover an ulterior motive. MacNair -returned her gaze unflinchingly and again the girl felt an -indescribable sense of smallness--of helplessness before this man of -the North, whose very presence breathed strength and indomitable -man-power. - -"Was it possible," she wondered, "that he would dare to flaunt this -strength in the very face of the law?" She turned to Corporal Ripley, -who was making notes with a pencil in a little note-book. "Well," she -asked, "is my evidence _specific_ enough to warrant this man's arrest?" - -The officer nodded slowly. "Yes," he answered gravely. "The evidence -warrants an arrest. Very probably several arrests." - -"You mean," asked the girl, "that you think he may have--an accomplice?" - -"No, Miss Elliston, I don't mean that. In spite of your evidence and -his own words, I don't think MacNair is guilty. There is something -queer here. I guess there is no doubt that whiskey has been run into -the territory, and that it has been supplied to the Indians. You -charge MacNair with these crimes, and I've got to arrest him." - -Chloe was about to retort, when the officer interrupted her with a -gesture. - -"Just a moment, please," he said quietly; "I'm not sure I can make -myself plain to you, but you see in the North we know something of -MacNair's work. Of what he has done in spite of the odds. We know the -North needs men like MacNair. You claim to be a friend of the Indians. -Do you realize that up on Snare Lake, right now, are a bunch of Indians -who depend on MacNair for their existence? MacNair's absence will -cause suffering among them and even death. If his storehouse has been -burned, what are they going to eat? On your statements I've got to -enter charges against MacNair. First and foremost the charge of -murder. He will also be charged with importing liquor, having liquor -in prohibited territory, smuggling whiskey, and supplying liquor to the -Indians. - -"Now, Miss Elliston, for the good of those Indians on Snare Lake I want -you to withdraw the charge of murder. The other offences are bailable -ones, and in my judgment he should be allowed to return to his Indians. -Then, when his trial comes up at the spring assizes, the charge of -murder can be placed against him. I'll bet a year's pay, MacNair isn't -to blame. In the meantime we will get busy and comb the barrens for -the real criminals. I've got a hunch. And you can take my word that -justice shall be done, no matter where the blow falls." - -Suddenly, through Chloe's mind flashed the memory of what Lapierre had -told her of the Mounted. She arose to her feet and, drawing herself up -haughtily, glared into the face of the officer. When she spoke, her -voice rang hard with scorn. - -"It is very evident that you don't want to arrest MacNair. I have -heard that he is a law unto himself--that he would defy arrest--that he -has the Mounted subsidized. I did not believe it at the time. I -regarded it merely as the exaggerated statement of a man who justly -hates him. But it seems this man was right. You need not trouble -yourself about MacNair's Indians. I will stand sponsor for their -welfare. They are my Indians now. I warn you that the day of MacNair -is past. I refuse to withdraw a single word of my charges against him, -and you will either arrest him, or I shall go straight to Ottawa. And -I shall never rest until I have blazoned before the world the whole -truth about your rotten system! What will Canada say, when she learns -that the Mounted--the men who have been held up before all the world as -models of bravery, efficiency, and honour--are as crooked and grafting -as--as the police of New York?" - -Corporal Ripley's face showed red through the tan, and he started to -his feet with an exclamation of anger. "Hold on, Corporal." The voice -of MacNair was the quiet voice with which one sooths a petulant child. -He remained seated and pushed the Stetson toward the back of his head. -"She really believes it. Don't hold it against her. It is not her -fault. When the smoke has cleared away and she gets her bearings, -we're all going to like her. In fact, I'm thinking that the time is -coming when the only one who will hate her will be herself. I like her -now; though she is not what you'd call my friend. I mean--not yet." - -Corporal Ripley gazed in astonishment at MacNair and then very frigidly -he turned to Chloe. "Then the charge of murder stands?" - -"Yes, it does," answered the girl. "If he were allowed to go free now -there would be three murders instead of two by the time of the spring -assizes or whatever you call them, for he is even now upon the trail of -a man he has threatened to kill. I can give you his exact words. He -said: 'I have taken the man-trail . . . and at the end of that trail -will lie a dead man--myself or Pierre Lapierre!'" - -"Lapierre!" exclaimed the officer. "What has he got to do with it?" -He turned to MacNair as if expecting an answer. But MacNair remained -silent. "Why don't you charge Lapierre with the crimes you told me he -was guilty of?" taunted the girl. Again she saw that baffling twinkle -in the grey eyes of the man. Then the eyes hardened. - -"The last thing I desire is the arrest of Lapierre," he answered. -"Lapierre must answer to me." The words, pronounced slowly and -distinctly, rasped hard. In spite of herself, Chloe shuddered. - -Corporal Ripley shifted uneasily. "We'd better be going, MacNair," he -said. "There's something queer about this whole business--something I -don't quite understand. It's up to me to take you up the river; but, -believe me, I'm coming back! I'll get at the bottom of this thing if -it takes me five years. Are you ready?" - -MacNair nodded. - -"I can let you have some Indians," suggested the girl. - -"What for?" - -"Why, for a guard, of course; to help you with your prisoner." - -Ripley drew himself up and answered abruptly: "The Mounted is quite -capable of managing its own affairs, Miss Elliston. I don't need your -Indians, thank you." - -Chloe glanced wrathfully into the boyish face of the officer. "Suit -yourself," she answered sweetly. "But if I were you, I'd want a whole -regiment of Indians. Because if MacNair wants to, he'll eat you up." - -"He won't want to," snapped Ripley. "I don't taste good." - -As they passed out of the door, MacNair turned. "Good-by, Miss -Elliston," he said gravely. "Beware of Pierre Lapierre." Chloe made -no reply and as MacNair turned to go, he chanced to glance into the -wide, expressionless face of Big Lena, who had stood throughout the -interview leaning heavily against the jamb of the kitchen door. -Something inscrutable in the stare of the fishlike, china-blue eyes -clung in his memory, and try as he would in the days that followed, -MacNair could not fathom the meaning of that stare, if indeed it had -any meaning. MacNair did not know why, but in some inexplainable -manner the memory of that look eased many a weary mile. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -A FRAME-UP - -News, of a kind, travels on the wings of the wind across wastes of the -farther land. Principalities may fall, nations crash, and kingdoms -sink into oblivion, and the North will neither know nor care. For the -North has its own problems--vital problems, human problems--and -therefore big. Elemental, portentous problems, having to do with life -and the eating of meat. - -In the crash and shift of man-made governments; in the redistribution -of man-constituted authority, and man-gathered surplus of increment, -the North has no part. On the cold side of sixty there is no surplus, -and men think in terms of meat, and their possessions are meat-getting -possessions. Guns, nets, and traps, even of the best, insure but a -bare existence. And in the lean years, which are the seventh -years--the years of the rabbit plague--starvation stalks in the -teepees, and gaunt, sunken-eyed forms, dry-lipped, and with the skin -drawn tightly over protruding ribs, stiffen between shoddy blankets. -For even the philosophers of the land of God and the H.B.C. must eat to -live--if not this week, at least once next week. - -The H.B.C., taking wise cognizance of the seventh year, extends it -credit--"debt" it is called in the outlands--but it puts no more wool -in its blankets, and for lack of food the body-fires burn low. But the -cold remains inexorable. And with the thermometer at seventy degrees -below zero, even in the years of plenty, when the philosophers eat -almost daily, there is little of comfort. With the thermometer at -seventy in the lean years, the suffering is diminished by the passing -of many philosophers. - -The arrest of Bob MacNair was a matter of sovereign import to the -dwellers of the frozen places, and word of it swept like wildfire -through the land of the lakes and rivers. Yet in all the North those -upon whom it made the least impression were those most vitally -concerned--MacNair's own Indians. So quietly had the incident passed -that not one of them realized its importance. - -With them MacNair was _God_. He was the _law_. He had taught them to -work, so that even in the lean years they and their wives and their -babies ate twice each day. He had said that they should continue to -eat twice each day, and therefore his departure was a matter of no -moment. They knew only that he had gone southward with the man of the -soldier-police. This was doubtless as he had commanded. They could -conceive of MacNair only as commanding. Therefore the -soldier-policeman had obeyed and accompanied him to the southward. - -With no such complacency, however, was the arrest of MacNair regarded -by the henchmen of Lapierre. To them MacNair was not God, nor was he -the law. For these men knew well the long arm of the Mounted and what -lay at the end of the trail. Lean forms sped through the woods, and -the word passed from lip to lip in far places. It was whispered upon -the Slave, the Mackenzie, and the Athabasca, and it was told in the -provinces before MacNair and Ripley reached Fort Chippewayan. Along -the river, men talked excitedly, and impatiently awaited word from -Lapierre, while their eyes snapped with greed and their thoughts flew -to the gold in the sands of the barren grounds. - -In the Bastile du Mort, a hundred miles to the eastward, Lapierre heard -the news from the lips of a breathless runner, but a scant ten hours -after Corporal Ripley and MacNair stepped from the door of the cottage. -And within the hour the quarter-breed was upon the trail, travelling -light, in company with LeFroy, who, fearing swift vengeance, had also -sought safety in the stronghold of the outlaws. - - -Chloe Elliston stood in the doorway and watched the broad form of Bob -MacNair swing across the clearing in company with Corporal Ripley. As -the men disappeared in the timber, a fierce joy of victory surged -through her veins. She had bared the mailed fist! Had wrested a -people from the hand of their oppressor! The Snare Lake Indians were -henceforth to be _her_ Indians! She had ridded the North of MacNair! -Every fibre of her sang with the exultation of it as she turned into -the room and encountered the fishlike stare of Big Lena. - -The woman leaned, ponderous and silent, against the jamb of the door -giving into the kitchen. Her huge arms were folded tightly across her -breast, and, for some inexplicable reason, Chloe found the stare -disconcerting. The enthusiasm of her victory damped perceptibly. For -if the fish-eyed stare held nothing of reproach, it certainly held -nothing of approbation. Almost the girl read a condescending pity in -the stare of the china-blue eyes. The thought stung, and she faced the -other wrathfully. - -"Well, for Heaven's sake say something! Don't stand there and stare -like a--a billikin! Can't you talk?" - -"Yah, Ay tank Ay kin; but Ay von't--not yat." - -"What do you mean?" cried the exasperated girl, as she flung herself -into a chair. But without deigning to answer, Big Lena turned heavily -into the kitchen, and closed the door with a bang that impoverished -invective--for volumes may be spoken--in the banging of a door. The -moment was inauspicious for the entrance of Harriet Penny. At best, -Chloe merely endured the little spinster, with her whining, hysterical -outbursts, and abject, unreasoning fear of God, man, the devil, and -everything else. "Oh, my dear, I am so glad!" piped the little woman, -rushing to the girl's side: "we need never fear him again, need we?" - -"Nobody ever did fear him but you," retorted Chloe. - -"But, Mr. Lapierre said----" - -The girl arose with a gesture of impatience, and Miss Penny returned to -MacNair. "He is so big, and coarse, and horrible! I am sure even his -looks are enough to frighten a person to death." - -Chloe sniffed. "I think he is handsome, and he is big and strong. I -like big people." - -"But, my dear!" cried the horrified Miss Penny. "He--he kills Indians!" - -"So do I!" snapped the girl, and stamped angrily into her own room, -where she threw herself upon the bed and gave way to bitter -reflections. She hated everyone. She hated MacNair, and Big Lena, and -Harriet Penny, and the officer of the Mounted. She hated Lapierre and -the Indians, too. And then, realizing the folly of her blind hatred, -she hated herself for hating. With an effort she regained her poise. - -"MacNair is out of the way; and that's the main thing," she murmured. -She remembered his last words: "Beware of Pierre Lapierre," and her -eyes sought the man's hastily scribbled note that lay upon the table -where he had left it. She reread the note, and crumpling it in her -hand threw it to the floor. "He always manages to be some place else -when anything happens!" she exclaimed. "Oh, why couldn't it have been -the other way around? Why couldn't MacNair have been the one to have -the interest of the Indians at heart? And why couldn't Lapierre have -been the one to browbeat and bully them?" - -She paced angrily up and down the room, and kicked viciously at the -little ball of paper that was Lapierre's note. "He couldn't browbeat -anything!" she exclaimed. "He's--he's--sometimes, I think, he's almost -_sneaking_, with his bland, courtly manners, and his suave tongue. Oh, -how I could hate that man! And how I--" she stopped suddenly, and with -clenched fists fixed her gaze upon the portrait of Tiger Elliston, and -as she looked the thin features that returned her stare seemed to -resolve into the rugged outlines of the face of Bob MacNair. - -"He's big and strong, and he's not afraid," she murmured, and started -nervously at the knock with which Big Lena announced supper. - -When Chloe appeared at the table five minutes later she was quite her -usual self. She even laughed at Harriet Penny's horrified narrative of -the fact that she had discovered several Indians in the act of affixing -runners to the collapsible bathtubs in anticipation of the coming snow. - -Chloe spent an almost sleepless night, and it was with a feeling of -distinct relief that she arose to find Lapierre upon the veranda. She -noted a certain intense eagerness in the quarter-breed's voice as he -greeted her. - -"Ah, Miss Elliston!" he cried, seizing both her hands. "It seems that -during my brief absence you have accomplished wonders! May I ask how -you managed to bring about the downfall of the brute of the North, and -at the same time win his Indians to your school?" - -Under the enthusiasm of his words the girl's heart once more quickened -with the sense of victory. She withdrew her hands from his clasp and -gave a brief account of all that had happened since their parting on -Snare Lake. - -"Wonderful," breathed Lapierre at the conclusion of the recital. "And -you are sure he was duly charged with the murder of the two Indians?" - -Chloe nodded. "Yes, indeed I am sure!" she exclaimed. "The officer, -Corporal Ripley, tried to get me to put off this charge until his other -trial came up at the spring assizes. He said MacNair could give bail -and secure his liberty on the liquor charges, and thus return to the -North--and to his Indians." - -Lapierre nodded eagerly. "Ah, did I not tell you, Miss Elliston, that -the men of the Mounted are with him heart and soul? He owns them! You -have done well not to withdraw the charge of murder." - -"I offered to furnish him with an escort of Indians, but he refused -them. I don't see how in the world he can expect to take MacNair to -jail. He's a mere boy." - -Lapierre laughed. "He'll take him to jail all right, you may rest -assured as to that. He will not dare to allow him to escape, nor will -MacNair try to escape. We have nothing to fear now until the trial. -It is extremely doubtful if we can make the murder charge stick, but it -will serve to hold him during the winter, and I have no doubt when his -case comes up in the spring we will be able to produce evidence that -will insure conviction on the whiskey charges, which will mean at least -a year or two in jail and the exaction of a heavy fine. - -"In the meantime you will have succeeded in educating the Indians to a -realization of the fact that they owe allegiance to no man. MacNair's -power is broken. He will be discredited by the authorities, and hated -by his own Indians--a veritable pariah of the wilderness. And now, -Miss Elliston, I must hasten at once to the rivers. My interests there -have long been neglected. I shall return as soon as possible, but my -absence will necessarily be prolonged, for beside my own trading -affairs and the getting out of the timber for new scows, I hope to -procure such additional evidence as will insure the conviction of -MacNair. LeFroy will remain with you here." - -"Did you catch the whiskey runners?" Chloe asked. - -Lapierre shook his head. "No," he answered, "they succeeded in eluding -us among the islands at the eastern end of the lake. We were about to -push our search to a conclusion when news reached us of MacNair's -arrest, and we returned with all speed to the Yellow Knife." - -Somehow, the man's words sounded unconvincing--the glib reply was too -ready--too like the studied answer to an anticipated question. She -regarded him searchingly, but the simple directness of his gaze caused -her own eyes to falter, and she turned into the house with a deep -breath that was very like a sigh. - -The sense of elation and self-confidence inspired by Lapierre's first -words ebbed as it had ebbed before the unspoken rebuke of Big Lena, -leaving her strangely depressed. With the joy of accomplishment dead -within her, she drove herself to her work without enthusiasm. In all -the world, nothing seemed worth while. She was unsure--unsure of -Lapierre; unsure of herself; unsure of Big Lena--and, worst of all, -unbelievable and preposterous as it seemed in the light of what she had -witnessed with her own eyes, unsure of MacNair--of his villainy! - -Before noon the first snow of the season started in a fall of light, -feathery flakes, which gradually resolved themselves into fine, hard -particles that were hurled and buffeted about by the blasts of a fitful -wind. - -For three days the blizzard raged--days in which Lapierre contrived to -spend much time in Chloe's company, and during which the girl set about -deliberately to study the quarter-breed, in the hope of placing -definitely the defect in his make-up, the tangible reason for the -growing sense of distrust with which she was coming to regard him. -But, try as she would, she could find no cause, no justification, for -the uncomfortable and indefinable _something_ that was gradually -developing into an actual doubt of his sincerity. She knew that the -man had himself well in hand, for never by word or look did he express -any open avowal of love, although a dozen times a day he managed subtly -to show that his love had in no wise abated. - -On the morning of the fourth day, with forest and lake and river buried -beneath three feet of snow, Lapierre took the trail for the southward. -Before leaving, he sought out LeFroy in the storehouse. - -"We have things our own way, but we must lie low for a while, at least. -MacNair is not licked yet--by a damn' sight! He knows we furnished the -booze to his Indians, and he will yell his head off to the Mounted, and -we will have them dropping in on us all the winter. In the meantime -leave the liquor where it is. Don't bring a gallon of it into this -clearing. It will keep, and we can't take chances with the Mounted. -There will be enough in it for us, with what we can knock down here, -and what the boys can take out of MacNair's diggings. They know the -gold is there; most of them were in on the stampede when MacNair drove -them back a few years ago. And when they find out that MacNair is in -jail, there will be another stampede. And we will clean up big all -around." - -LeFroy, a man of few words, nodded sombrely, and Lapierre, who was -impatient to be off to the rivers, failed to note that the nod was far -more sombre than usual--failed, also, to note the pair of china-blue, -fishlike eyes that stared impassively at him from behind the goods -piled high upon the huge counter. - -Once upon the trail, Lapierre lost no time. As passed the word upon -the Mackenzie, where the men who had heard of the arrest of MacNair -waited in a frenzy of impatience for the signal that would send them -flying over the snow to Snare Lake. Day and night the man travelled; -from the Mackenzie southward the length of Slave and up the Athabasca. -And in his wake men, whose eyes fairly bulged with the greed of gold, -jammed their outfits into packs and headed into the North. - -At Athabasca Landing he sent a crew into the timber, and hastened on to -Edmonton where he purchased a railway ticket for a point that had -nothing whatever to do with his destination. That same night he -boarded an east-bound train, and in an early hour of the morning, when -the engine paused for water beside a tank that was the most conspicuous -building of a little flat town in the heart of a peaceful farming -community, he stepped unnoticed from the day coach and proceeded at -once to the low, wooden hotel, where he was cautiously admitted through -a rear door by the landlord himself, who was, incidentally, Lapierre's -shrewdest and most effective whiskey runner. - -It was this Tostoff: Russian by birth, and crook by nature, whose -business it was to disguise the contraband whiskey into -innocent-looking freight pieces. And, it was Tostoff who selected the -men and stood responsible for the contraband's safe conduct over the -first stage of its journey to the North. - -Tostoff objected strenuously to the running of a consignment in winter, -but Lapierre persisted, covering the ground step by step while the -other listened with a scowl. - -"It's this way, Tostoff: For years MacNair has been our chief -stumbling-block. God knows we have trouble enough running the stuff -past the Dominion police and the Mounted. But the danger from the -authorities is small in comparison with the danger from MacNair." -Tostoff growled an assent. "And now," continued Lapierre, "for the -first time we have him where we want him." - -The Russian looked sceptical. "We got MacNair where we want him if -he's dead," he grunted. "Who killed him?" - -Lapierre made a gesture of impatience. "He is not dead. He's locked -up in the Fort Saskatchewan jail." - -For the first time Tostoff showed real interest. "What's against him?" -he asked eagerly. - -"Murder, for one thing," answered Lapierre. "That will hold him -without bail until the spring assizes. He will probably get out of -that, though. But they are holding him also on four or five liquor -charges." - -"Liquor charges!" cried Tostoff, with an angry snort. "O-ho! so that's -his game? That's why he's been bucking us--because he's got a line of -his own!" - -Lapierre laughed. "Not so fast, Tostoff, not so fast. It is a -frame-up. That is, the charges are not, but the evidence is. I -attended to that myself. I think we have enough on him to keep him out -of the cold for a couple of winters to come. But you can't tell. And -while we have him we will put the screws to him for all there is in it. -It is the chance of a lifetime. What we want now is evidence--and more -evidence. - -"Here is the scheme: You fix up a consignment, five or ten gallons, the -usual way, and instead of shooting it in by the Athabasca, cut into the -old trail on the Beaver and take it across the Methye portage to a -_cache_ on the Clearwater. Brown's old cabin will about fill the bill. -We ought to be able to _cache_ the stuff by Christmas. - -"In the meantime, I will slip up the river and tip it off to the -Mounted at Fort McMurray that I got it straight from down below that -MacNair is going to run in a batch over the Methye trail, and that it -is to be _cached_ on the bank of the Clearwater on New Year's Day. -That will give your packers a week to make their getaway. And on New -Year's Day the Mounted will find the stuff in the _cache_. There will -be nobody to arrest, but they will have the evidence that will clinch -the case against MacNair. And with MacNair behind the bars we will -have things our own way north of sixty." - -Tostoff shook his head dubiously. - -"Bad business, Lapierre," he warned. "Winter trailing is bad business. -The snow tells tales. We haven't been caught yet. Why? Not because -we've been lucky, but because we've been careful. Water leaves no -trail. We've always run our stuff in in the summer. You say you've -got the goods on MacNair. I say, let well enough alone. The Mounted -ain't fools--they can read the sign in the snow." - -Lapierre arose with a curse. "You white-livered clod!" he cried. "Who -is running this scheme? You or I? Who delivers the whiskey to the -Indians? And who pays you your money? I do the thinking for this -outfit. I didn't come down here to _ask_ you to run this consignment. -I came here to _tell_ you to do it. This thing of playing safe is all -right. I never told you to run a batch in the winter before, but this -time you have got to take the chance." - -Lapierre leaned closer and fixed the heavy-faced Russian with his -gleaming black eyes. He spoke slowly so that the words fell distinctly -from his lips. "You _cache_ that liquor on the Clearwater on Christmas -Day. If you fail--well, you will join the others that have been -dismissed from my service--see?" - -Tostoff's only reply was a ponderous but expressive shrug, and without -a word Lapierre turned and stepped out into the night. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -WHAT HAPPENED AT BROWN'S - -It was the middle of December. Storm after storm had left the North -cold and silent beneath its white covering of snow. A dog-team swung -across the surface of the ice-locked Athabasca, and took the steep -slope at Fort McMurray on a long slant. - -Leaving the dogs in care of the musher, Pierre Lapierre loosened the -thongs of his rackets, and, pushing open the door, stamped noisily into -the detachment quarters of the Mounted and advanced to the stove where -two men were mending dog-harness. The men looked up. - -"Speaking of the devil," grinned Constable Craig, with a glance toward -Corporal Ripley, who greeted the newcomer with a curt nod. "Well, -Lapierre, where'd you come from?" - -Lapierre jerked his thumb toward the southward. "Up river," he -answered. "Getting out timber for my scows." Removing his cap and -mittens, the quarter-breed loosened his heavy moose-hide _parka_, beat -the clinging snow from the coarse hair, and drew a chair to the stove. - -"Come through from the Landing on the river?" asked Ripley, as he -filled a short black pipe with the tobacco he shaved from a plug. -"How's the trail?" - -"Good and hard, except for the slush at the Boiler and another stretch -just below the Cascade." Lapierre rolled a cigarette. "Hear you -caught MacNair with the goods at last," he ventured. - -Ripley nodded. - -"Looks like it," he admitted. "But what do you mean, 'at last'?" - -The quarter-breed laughed lightly and blew a cloud of cigarette-smoke -ceilingward. "I mean he has had things pretty much his own way the -last six or eight years." - -"Meanin' he's been runnin' whiskey all that time?" asked Craig. - -Lapierre nodded. "He has run booze enough into the North to float a -canoe from here to Port Chippewayan." - -It was Ripley's turn to laugh. "If you are so all-fired wise, why -haven't you made a complaint?" he asked. "Seems like I never heard you -and MacNair were such good friends," - -Lapierre shrugged. "I know a whole lot of men who have got their full -growth because they minded their own business," he answered. "I am not -in the Mounted. That's what you are paid for." - -Ripley flushed. "We'll earn our pay on this job all right. We've got -the goods on him this time. And, by the way, Lapierre, if you've got -anything in the way of evidence, we'll be wanting it at the trial. -Better show up in May, and save somebody goin' after you. If you run -onto any Indians that know anything, bring them along." - -"I will be there," smiled the other. "And since we are on the subject, -I can put you wise to a little deal that will net you some first-hand -evidence." The officers looked interested, and Lapierre continued: -"You know where Brown's old cabin is, just this side of the Methye -portage?" Ripley nodded. "Well, if you should happen to be at Brown's -on New Year's Day, just pull up the puncheons under the bunk and see -what you find." - -"What will we find?" asked Craig. - -Lapierre shrugged. "If I were you fellows I wouldn't overlook any -bets," he answered meaningly. - -"Why New Year's Day any more than Christmas, or any other day?" - -"Because," answered Lapierre, "on Christmas Day, or any other day -before New Year's Day, you won't find a damned thing but an empty -hole--that is why. Well, I must be going." He fastened the throat of -his _parka_ and drew on his cap and mittens. "So long! See you in the -spring. Shouldn't wonder if I will run onto some Indians, this winter, -who will tell what they know, now that MacNair is out of the way. I -know plenty of them that can talk, if they will." - -"So long!" answered Ripley as Lapierre left the room. "Much obliged -for the tip. Hope your hunch is good." - -"Play it and see," smiled Lapierre, and banged the door behind him. - - -Moving slowly northward upon a course that paralleled but studiously -avoided the old Methye trail, two men and a dog-team plodded heavily -through the snow at the close of a shortening day. Ostensibly, these -men were trappers; and, save for a single freight piece bound securely -upon the sled, their outfit varied in no particular from the outfits of -others who each winter fare into the North to engage in the taking of -fur. A close observer might have noted that the eyes of these men were -hard, and the frequent glances they cast over the back-trail were tense -with concern. - -The larger and stronger of the two, one Xavier, a sullen riverman of -evil countenance, paused at the top of a ridge and pointed across a -snow-swept beaver meadow. "T'night we camp on dees side. T'mor' we -cross to de mout' of de leetle creek, and two pipe beyon' we com' on de -cabin of Baptiste Chambre." - -The smaller man frowned. He, too, was a riverman, tough and wiry and -small. A man whose pinched, wizened body was a fitting cloister for -the warped soul that flashed malignantly from the beady, snakelike eyes. - -"_Non, non_!" he cried, and the venomous glance of the beady eyes was -not unmingled with fear. "We ke'p straight on pas' de beeg swamp. -Me--I'm no lak' dees wintaire trail." He pointed meaningly toward the -marks of the sled in the snow. - -The other laughed derisively. "_Sacré_! you leetle man, you Du Mont, -you 'fraid!" - -The other shrugged. "I'm 'fraid, _Oui_, I'm lak' I ke'p out de jail. -Tostoff, she say, you com' on de cabin of Brown de Chrees'mas Day. -_Bien_! Tostoff, she sma't mans. Lapierre, too. Tostoff, she 'fraid -for de wintaire trail, but she 'fraid for Lapierre mor'." - -Xavier interrupted him. "_Tra la_, Chrees'mas Day! Ain't we got de -easy trail? Two days befor' Chrees'mas we com' on de cabin of Brown. -Baptiste Chambre, she got de beeg jug rum. We mak' de grand dronk--one -day--one night. Den we hit de trail an com' on de Clearwater -Chrees'mas Day sam' lak' now. Tostoff, de Russ, she nevair know, -Lapierre, she nevair know. _Voilà_!" - -Still the other objected. "Mebe so com' de storm. What den? We was'e -de time wit' Baptiste Chambre. We no mak' de Clearwater de Chrees'mas -Day--eh?" - -Xavier growled. "De Chrees'mas Day, damn! We no mak' de Chrees'mas -Day, we mak' som' odder day. Lapierre's damn' Injuns com' for de -wheeskey on Chrees'mas Day, she haf to wait. Me--I'm goin' to Baptiste -Chambre. I'm goin' for mak' de beeg dronk. If de snow com' and de dog -can't pull, I'm tak' dees leetle piece on ma back to the Clearwater." - -He reached down contemptuously and swung the piece containing ten -gallons of whiskey to his shoulder with one hand, then lowered it again -to the sled. - -"You know w'at I'm hear on de revair?" he asked, stepping closer to Du -Mont's side and lowering his voice. "I'm hearin' MacNair ees een de -jail. I'm hearin' Lapierre she pass de word to hit for Snare Lake, for -deeg de gol'." - -"Did Lapierre tell you to deeg de gol', or me? _Non_. He say, you go -to Tostoff." The snakelike eyes of the smaller man glittered at the -mention of gold. He clutched at the other's arm and cried out sharply: - -"MacNair arres'! _Sacré_! Com', we tak' de wheeskey to de Clearwater -an' go on to Snare Lake." - -This time it was Xavier's eyes that flashed a hint of fear. "_Non_!" -he answered quickly. "Lapierre, she----" - -The other silenced him, speaking rapidly. "Lapierre, she t'ink she -mak' us w'at you call, de double cross!" Xavier noted that the -malignant eyes flashed dangerously--"Lapierre, she sma't but me--I'm -sma't too. Dere's plent' men 'long de revair lak' to see de las' of -Pierre Lapierre. And plent' Injun in de Nort' dey lak' dat too. But -dey 'fraid to keel him. We do de work--Lapierre she tak' de money. -_Sacré_! Me--I'm 'fraid, too." He paused and shrugged significantly. -"But som' day I'm git de chance an' den leetle Du Mont she dismees -Lapierre from de serveece. Den me--I'm de bos'. _Bien_!" - -The other glanced at him in admiration. - -"Me, I'm goin' 'long to Snare Lake," he said, "but firs' we stop on -Baptiste Chambre an' mak' de beeg dronk, eh!" The smaller man nodded, -and the two sought their blankets and were soon sleeping silently -beside the blazing fire. - -A week later the two rivermen paused at the edge of a thicket that -commanded the approach to Brown's abandoned cabin on the Clearwater. -The threatened storm had broken while they were still at Baptiste -Chambre's cabin, and the two days' debauch had lengthened into five. - -Chambre's jug had been emptied and several times refilled from the -contents of Tostoff's concealed cask, which had been skilfully tapped -and as skilfully replenished as to weight by the addition of snow water. - -The effect of their protracted orgy was plainly visible in the -bloodshot eyes and heavy movements of both men. And it was more from -force of long habit than from any sense of alertness or premonition of -danger that they crouched in the thicket and watched the smoke curl -from the little iron stovepipe that protruded above the roof of the -cabin. - -"Dem Injun she wait," growled Xavier. "Com' on, me--I'm lak' for ketch -som' sleep." The two swung boldly into the open and, pausing only long -enough to remove their rackets, pushed open the door of the cabin. - -An instant later Du Mont, who was in the lead, leaped swiftly backward -and, crashing into the heavier and clumsier Xavier bowled him over into -the snow, where both wallowed helplessly, held down by Xavier's heavy -pack. - -It was but the work of a moment for the wiry Du Mont to free himself, -and when he leaped to his feet, cursing like a fiend, it was to look -squarely into the muzzle of Corporal Ripley's service revolver, while -Constable Craig loosened the pack straps and allowed Xavier to arise. - -"Caught with the goods, eh?" grinned Ripley, when the two prisoners -were seated side by side upon the pole bunk. - -The sullen-faced Xavier glowered in surly silence, but the malignant, -beady eyes of Du Mont regarded the officer keenly. "You patrol de -Clearwater now, eh?" - -Ripley laughed. "When there's anything doin' we do." - -"How you fin' dat out? Dem Injun she squeal? I'm lak' to know 'bout -dat." - -"Well, it wasn't exactly an Indian this time," answered Ripley; "that -is, it wasn't a regular Indian. Pierre Lapierre put us on to this -little deal." - -"_Pierre_--LAPIERRE!" - -The little wizened man fairly shrieked the name and, leaping to his -feet, bounded about the room like an animated rubber ball, while from -his lips poured a steady stream of vile epithets, mingled with every -curse and gem of profanity known to two languages. - -"That's goin' some," enthused Constable Craig, when the other finally -paused for breath. "An' come to think about it, I believe you're -right. I like to hear a man speak his mind, an' from your remarks it -seems like you're oncommon peeved with this here little deal. It ain't -nothin' to get so worked up over. You'll serve your time an' in a -couple of years or so they'll turn you loose again." - -At the mention of the prison term the burly Xavier moved uneasily upon -the bunk. He seemed about to speak, but was forestalled by the quicker -witted Du Mont. - -"Two years, eh!" asked the outraged Metis, addressing Ripley. "Mebe so -you mak' w'at you call de deal. Mebe so I'm tell you who's de boss. -Mebe so I'm name de man dat run de wheeskey into de Nort'. De man dat -plans de cattle raids on de bordair. De man dat keels mor' Injun dan -mos' men keels deer, eh! Wat den? Mebe so den you turn us loose, eh?" - -Ripley laughed. "You think I'm goin' to pay you to tell me the name of -the man we've already got locked up?" - -"You got MacNair lock up," Du Mont leered knowingly. "_Bien_! You -t'ink MacNair run de wheeskey. But MacNair, she ain't run no wheeskey. -You mak' de deal wit' me. Ba Gos'! I'm not jus' tell you de name, I'm -tell you so you fin' w'at you call de proof! I no fin' de proof--you -no turn me loose. _Voilà_!" - -Corporal Ripley was a keen judge of men, and he knew that the -vindictive and outraged Metis was in just the right mood to tell all he -knew. Also Ripley believed that the man knew much. Therefore, he made -the deal. And it is a tribute to the Mounted that the crafty and -suspicious Metis accepted, without question, the word of the corporal -when he promised to do all in his power to secure their liberty in -return for the evidence that would convict "the man higher up." - -Corporal Ripley was a man of quick decision; with him to decide was to -act. Within an hour from the time Du Mont concluded his story the two -officers with their prisoners were headed for Fort Saskatchewan. Both -Du Mont and Xavier realized that their only hope for clemency lay in -their ability to aid the authorities in building up a clear case -against Lapierre, and during the ten days of snow-trail that ended at -Athabasca Landing each tried to outdo the other in explaining what he -knew of the workings of Lapierre's intricate system. - -At the Landing, Ripley reported to the superintendent commanding N -Division, who immediately sent for the prisoners and submitted them to -a cross-examination that lasted far into the night, and the following -morning the corporal escorted them to Fort Saskatchewan, where they -were to remain in jail to await the verification of their story. - -Division commanders are a law unto themselves, and much to his -surprise, two days later, Bob MacNair was released upon his own -recognizance. Whereupon, without a moment's delay, he bought the best -dog-team obtainable and headed into the North accompanied by Corporal -Ripley, who was armed with a warrant for the arrest of Pierre Lapierre. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE LOUCHOUX GIRL - -Winter laid a heavy hand upon the country of the Great Slave. Blizzard -after howling blizzard came out of the North until the buildings of -Chloe Elliston's school lay drifted to the eaves in the centre of the -snow-swept clearing. - -With the drifting snows and the bitter, intense cold that isolated the -little colony from the great world to the southward, came a sense of -peace and quietude that contrasted sharply with the turbulent, -surcharged atmosphere with which the girl had been surrounded from the -moment she had unwittingly become a factor in the machinations of the -warring masters of wolf-land. - -With MacNair safely behind the bars of a jail far to the southward, and -Lapierre somewhere upon the distant rivers, the Indians for the first -time relaxed from the strain of tense expectancy. Of her own original -Indians, those who had remained at the school by command of the crafty -Lapierre, there remained only LeFroy and a few of the older men who -were unfit to go on the trap-lines, together with the women and -children. - -MacNair's Indians, who had long since laid down their traps to pick up -the white man's tools, stayed at the school. And much to the girl's -surprise, under the direction of the refractory Sotenah, and Old Elk, -and Wee Johnnie Tamarack, not only performed with a will the necessary -work of the camp--the chopping and storing of firewood, the shovelling -of paths through the huge drifts, and the drawing of water from the -river--but took upon themselves numerous other labours of their own -initiative. - -An ice-house was built and filled upon the bank of the river. Trees -were felled, and the logs ranked upon miniature rollways, where all -through the short days the Indians busied themselves in the rude -whip-sawing of lumber. - -Their women and children daily attended the school and worked -faithfully under the untiring tutelage of Chloe and Harriet Penny, who -entered into the work with new enthusiasm engendered by the interest -and the aptness of the Snare Lake Indians--absent qualities among the -wives and children of Lapierre's trappers. - -LeFroy was kept busy in the storehouse, and with the passing of the -days Chloe noticed that he managed to spend more and more time in -company with Big Lena. At first she gave the matter no thought. But -when night after night she heard the voices of the two as they sat -about the kitchen-stove long after she had retired, she began to -consider the matter seriously. - -At first she dismissed it with a laugh. Of all people in the world, -she thought, these two, the heavy, unimaginative Swedish woman, and the -leathern-skinned, taciturn wood-rover, would be the last to listen to -the call of romance. - -Chloe was really fond of the huge, silent woman who had followed her -without question into the unknown wilderness of the Northland, even as -she had accompanied her without protest through the maze of the far -South Seas. With all her averseness to speech and her vacuous, fishy -stare, the girl had long since learned that Big Lena was both loyal and -efficient and shrewd. But, Big Lena as a wife! Chloe smiled broadly -at the thought. - -"Poor LeFroy," she pitied. "But it would be the best thing in the -world for him. 'The perpetuity of the red race will be attained only -through its amalgamation with the white,'" she quoted; the trite -banality of one of the numerous theorists she had studied before -starting into the North. - -Of LeFroy she knew little. He seemed a half-breed of more than average -intelligence, and as for the rest--she would leave that to Lena. On -the whole, she rather approved of the arrangement, not alone upon the -amalgamation theory, but because she entertained not the slightest -doubt as to who would rule the prospective family. She could depend -upon Big Lena's loyalty, and her marriage to one of their number would -therefore become a very important factor in the attitude of the Indians -towards the school. - -Gradually, the women of the Slave Lake Indians taking the cue from -their northern sisters, began to show an appreciation of the girl's -efforts in their behalf. An appreciation that manifested itself in -little tokens of friendship, exquisitely beaded moccasins, shyly -presented, and a pair of quill-embroidered leggings laid upon her desk -by a squaw who slipped hurriedly away. Thus the way was paved for a -closer intimacy which quickly grew into an eager willingness among the -Indians to help her in the mastering of their own language. - -As this intimacy grew, the barrier which is the chief stumbling-block -of missionaries and teachers who seek to carry enlightenment into the -lean lone land, gradually dissolved. The women with whom Chloe came in -contact ceased to be Indians _en masse_; they became -_people_--personalities--each with her own capability and propensity -for the working of good or harm. With this realization vanished the -last vestige of aloofness and reserve. And, thereafter, many of the -women broke bread by invitation at Chloe's own table. - -The one thing that remained incomprehensible to the girl was the -idolatrous regard in which MacNair was held by his own Indians. To -them he was a superman--the one great man among all white men. His -word was accepted without question. Upon leaving for the southward -MacNair had told the men to work, therefore they worked unceasingly. -Also he had told the women and the children to obey without question -the words of the white _kloochman_, and therefore they absorbed her -teaching with painstaking care. - -Time and again the girl tried to obtain the admission that MacNair was -in the habit of supplying his Indians with whiskey, and always she -received the same answer. "MacNair sells no whiskey. He hates -whiskey. And many times has he killed men for selling whiskey to his -people." - -At first these replies exasperated the girl beyond measure. She set -them down as stereotyped answers in which they had been carefully -coached. But as time went on and the women, whose word she had come to -hold in regard, remained unshaken in their statements, an uncomfortable -doubt assailed her--a doubt that, despite herself, she fostered. A -doubt that caused her to ponder long of nights as she lay in her little -room listening to the droning voices of LeFroy and Big Lena as they -talked by the stove in the kitchen. - -Strange fancies and pictures the girl built up as she lay, half waking, -half dreaming between her blankets. Pictures in which MacNair, -misjudged, hated, fighting against fearful odds, came clean through the -ruck and muck with which his enemies had endeavoured to smother him, -and proved himself the man he might have been; fancies and pictures -that dulled into a pain that was very like a heartache, as the vivid -picture--the real picture--which she herself had seen with her own eyes -that night on Snare Lake, arose always to her mind. - -The tang of the northern air bit into the girl's blood. She spent much -time in the open and became proficient and tireless in the use of -snowshoes and skis. Daily her excursions into the surrounding timber -grew longer, and she was never so happy as when swinging with strong, -wide strides on her fat thong-strung rackets, or sliding with the speed -of the wind down some steep slope of the river-bank, on her smoothly -polished skis. - -It was upon one of these solitary excursions, when her steps had -carried her many miles along the winding course of a small tributary of -the Yellow Knife, that the girl became so fascinated in her exploration -she failed utterly to note the passage of time until a sharp bend of -the little river brought her face to face with the low-hung winter sun, -which was just on the point of disappearing behind the shrub pines of a -long, low ridge. - -With a start she brought up short and glanced fearfully about her. -Darkness was very near, and she had travelled straight into the -wilderness almost since early dawn. Without a moment's delay she -turned and retraced her steps. But even as her hurrying feet carried -her over the back-trail she realized that night would overtake her -before she could hope to reach the larger river. - -The thought of a night spent alone in the timber at first terrified -her. She sought to increase her pace, but her muscles were tired, her -footsteps dragged, and the rackets clung to her feet like inexorable -weights which sought to drag her down, down into the soft whiteness of -the snow. - -Darkness gathered, and the back-trail dimmed. Twice she fell and -regained her feet with an effort. Suddenly rounding a sharp bend, she -crashed heavily among the dead branches of a fallen tree. When at -length she regained her feet, the last vestige of daylight had -vanished. Her own snowshoe tracks were indiscernible upon the white -snow. She was off the trail! - -Something warm and wet trickled along her cheek. She jerked off her -mittens and with fingers tingling in the cold, keen air, picked bits of -bark from the edges of the ragged wound where the end of a broken -branch had snagged the soft flesh of her face. The wound stung, and -she held a handful of snow against it until the pain dulled under the -numbing chill. - -Stories of the night-prowling wolf-pack, and the sinister, man-eating -_loup cervier_, crowded her brain. She must build a fire. She felt -through her pocket for the glass bottle of matches, only to find that -her fingers were too numb to remove the cork. She replaced the vial -and, drawing on her mittens, beat her hands together until the blood -tingled to her finger-tips. How she wished now that she had heeded the -advice of LeFroy, who had cautioned against venturing into the woods -without a light camp ax slung to her belt. - -Laboriously she set about gathering bark and light twigs which she -piled in the shelter of a cut-bank, and when at last a feeble flame -flickered weakly among the thin twigs she added larger branches which -she broke and twisted from the limbs of the dead trees. Her camp-fire -assumed a healthy proportion, and the flare of it upon the snow was -encouraging. - -At the end of an hour, Chloe removed her rackets and dropped wearily -onto the snow beside the fire-wood which she had piled conveniently -close to the blaze. Never in her life had she been so utterly weary, -but she realized that for her that night there could be no sleep. And -no sooner had the realization forced itself upon her than she fell -sound asleep with her head upon the pile of fire-wood. - -She awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright, staring in bewilderment -at her fire--and beyond the fire where, only a few feet distant, a -hooded shape stood dimly outlined against the snow. Chloe's garments, -dampened by the exertion of the earlier hours, had chilled her through -while she slept, and as she stared wide-eyed at the apparition beyond -the fire, the figure drew closer and the chill of the dampened garments -seemed to clutch with icy fingers at her heart. She nerved herself for -a supreme effort and arose stiffly to her knees, and then suddenly the -figure resolved itself into the form of a girl--an Indian girl--but a -girl as different from the Indians of her school as day is different -from night. - -As the girl advanced she smiled, and Chloe noted that her teeth were -strong and even and white, and that dark eyes glowed softly from a face -as light almost as her own. - -"Do not 'fraid," said the girl in a low, rich voice. "I'm not hurt -you. I'm see you fire, I'm com' 'cross to fin'. Den, ver' queek you -com' 'wake, an' I'm see you de one I'm want." - -"The one you want!" cried Chloe, edging closer to the fire. "What do -you mean? Who are you? And why should you want me?" - -"Me--I'm Mary. I'm com' ver' far. I'm com' from de people of my -modder. De Louchoux on de lower Mackenzie. I'm com' to fin' de -school. I'm hear about dat school." - -"The lower Mackenzie!" cried Chloe in astonishment. "I should think -you have come very far." - -The girl nodded. "Ver' far," she repeated. "T'irty-two sleep I'm on -de trail." - -"Alone!" - -"Alone," she assented. "I'm com' for learn de ways of de white women." - -Chloe motioned the girl closer, and then, seized by a sudden chill, -shivered violently. The girl noticed the paroxysm, and, dropping to -her knees by Chloe's side, spoke hurriedly. - -"You col'," she said. "You got no blanket. You los'." - -Without waiting for a reply, she hurried to a light pack-sled which -stood nearby upon the snow. A moment later she returned with a heavy -pair of blankets which she spread at Chloe's side, and then, throwing -more wood upon the fire, began rapidly to remove the girl's clothing. -Within a very short space of time, Chloe found herself lying warm and -comfortable between the blankets, while her damp garments were drying -upon sticks thrust close to the blaze. She watched the Indian girl as -she moved swiftly and capably about her task, and when the last garment -was hung upon its stick she motioned the girl to her side. - -"Why did you come so far to my school?" she asked. "Surely you have -been to school. You speak English. You are not a full-blood Indian." - -The girl's eyes sought the shadows beyond the firelight, and, as her -lips framed a reply, Chloe marvelled at the weird beauty of her. - -"I go to school on de Mission, two years at Fort MacPherson. I learn -to spik de Englis'. My fadder, heem Englis', but I'm never see heem. -Many years ago he com' in de beeg boat dat com' for ketch de whale an' -got lock in de ice in de Bufort Sea. In de spring de boat go 'way, an' -my fadder go 'long, too. He tell my modder he com' back nex' winter. -Dat many years ago--nineteen years. Many boats com' every year, but my -fadder no com' back. My modder she t'ink he com' back som' day, an' -every fall my modder she tak' me 'way from Fort MacPherson and we go up -on de coast an' build de _igloo_. An' every day she set an' watch -while de ships com' in, but my fadder no com' back. My modder t'ink he -sure com' back, he fin' her waitin' when he com'. She say, mebe so he -ketch 'm many whale. Mebe so he get reech so we got plen' money to buy -de grub." - -The girl paused and her brows contracted thoughtfully. She threw a -fresh stick upon the fire and shook her head slowly. "I don' know," -she said softly, "mebe so he com' back--but heem been gone long tam'." - -"Where is your mother now?" asked Chloe, when the girl had finished. - -"She up on de coast in de little _igloo_. Many ships com' into Bufort -Sea las' fall. She say, sure dis winter my fadder com' back. She got -to wait for heem." - -Chloe cleared her throat sharply. "And you?" she asked, "why did you -come clear to the Yellow Knife? Why did you not go back to school at -the Mission?" - -A troubled expression crept into the eyes of the Louchoux girl, and she -seemed at a loss to explain. "Eet ees," she answered at length, "dat -my man, too, he not com' back lak' my fadder." - -"Your man!" cried Chloe in astonishment. "Do you mean you are married? -Why, you are nothing but a child!" - -The girl regarded her gravely. "Yes," she answered, "I'm marry. Two -years ago I git marry, up on de Anderson Reever. My man, heem -free-trader, an' all summer we got plent' to eat. In de fall he tak' -me back to de _igloo_. He say, he mus' got to go to de land of de -white man to buy supplies. I lak' to go, too, to de land of de white -man, but he say no, you Injun, you stay in de Nort', an' by-m-by I com' -back again. Den he go up de reever, an' all winter I stay in de igloo -wit' my modder an' look out over de ice-pack at de boats in de Bufort -Sea. In de spreeng my man he don' com' back, my fadder he don' com' -back neider. We not have got mooch grub to eat dat winter, and den we -go to Fort MacPherson. I go back to de school, and I'm tell de pries' -my man he no com' back. De pries' he ver' angry. He say, I'm not got -marry, but de pries' he ees a man--he don' un'stan'. - -"All summer I'm stay on de Mackenzie, an' I'm watch de canoes an' I'm -wait for my man to com' back, but he don' com' back. An' in de fall my -modder she go Nort' again to watch de ships in de Bufort Sea. She say, -com' 'long, but I don' go, so she go 'lone and I'm stay on de -Mackenzie. I'm stay 'til de reever freeze, an' no more canoe can com'. -Den I'm wait for de snow. Mebe so my man com' wit' de dog-team. Den -I'm hear 'bout de school de white woman build on de Yellow Knife. -Always I'm hear 'bout de white women, but I'm never seen none--only de -white men. My man, he mos' white. - -"Den I'm say, mebe so my man lak' de white women more dan de Injun. He -not com' back dis winter, an' I'm go on de school and learn de ways of -de white women, an' in de spreeng when my man com' back he lak' me -good, an' nex' winter mebe he tak' me 'long to de land of de white -women. But, eet's a long trail to de Yellow Knife, an' I'm got no -money to buy de grub an' de outfit. I'm go once mor' to de pries' an' -I'm tell heem 'bout dat school. An' I'm say, mebe so I'm learn de ways -of de white women, my man tak' me 'long nex' tam'. - -"De pries' he t'ink 'bout dat a long tam'. Den he go over to de Hudson -Bay Pos' an' talk to McTavish, de factor, an' by-m-by he com' back and -tak' me over to de pos' store an' give me de outfit so I'm com' to de -school on de Yellow Knife. Plent' grub an' warm blankets dey give me. -An' t'irty-two sleep I'm travel de snow-trail. Las' night I'm mak' my -camp in de scrub cross de reever. I'm go 'sleep, an' by-m-by I'm wake -up an' see you fire an' I'm com' 'long to fin' out who camp here." - -As she listened, Chloe's hand stole from beneath the blankets and -closed softly about the fingers of the Louchoux girl. "And so you have -come to live with me?" she whispered softly. - -The girl's face lighted up. "You let me com'?" she asked eagerly, "an' -you teach me de ways of de white women, so I ain't jus' be Injun girl? -So when my man com' back, he lak' me an' I got plent' to eat in de -winter?" - -"Yes, dear," answered Chloe, "you shall come to live with me always." - -Followed then a long silence which was broken at last by the Indian -girl. - -"You don' say lak' de pries'," she asked, "you not marry, you bad?" - -"No! No! No! You poor child!" cried Chloe, "of course you are not -bad! You are going to live with me. You will learn many things." - -"An' som' tam', we fin' my man?" she asked eagerly. - -Chloe's voice sounded suddenly harsh. "Yes, indeed, we will find him!" -she cried. "We will find him and bring him back--" she stopped -suddenly. "We will speak of that later. And now that my clothes are -dry you can help me put them on, and if you have any grub left in your -pack let's eat. I'm starving." - -While Chloe finished dressing, the Louchoux girl boiled a pot of tea -and fried some bacon, and an hour later the two girls were fast asleep -in each other's arms, beneath the warm folds of the big Hudson Bay -blankets. - -The following morning they had proceeded but a short distance upon the -back-trail when they were met by a searching party from the school. -The return was made without incident, and Chloe, who had taken a great -fancy to the Louchoux girl, immediately established her as a member of -her own household. - -During the days which followed, the girl plunged with an intense -eagerness into the task of learning the ways of the white women. -Nothing was too trivial or unimportant to escape her attention. She -learned to copy with almost pathetic exactness each of Chloe's little -acts and mannerisms, even to the arranging of her hair. With the other -two inmates of the cottage the girl became hardly less a favourite than -with Chloe herself. - -Her progress in learning to speak English, her skill with the needle -and the rapidity with which she learned to make her own clothing -delighted Harriet Penny. While Big Lena never tired of instructing her -in the mysteries of the culinary department. In return the girl looked -upon the three women with an adoration that bordered upon idolatry. -She would sit by the hour listening to Chloe's accounts of the wondrous -cities of the white men and of the doings of the white men's women. - -Chloe never mentioned the girl's secret to either Harriet Penny or Big -Lena, and carefully avoided any allusion to the subject to the girl -herself. Nothing could be done, she reasoned, until the ice went out -of the rivers, and in the meantime she would do all in her power to -instil into the girl's mind an understanding of the white women's -ethics, so that when the time came she would be able to choose -intelligently for herself whether she would return to her free-trader -lover or prosecute him for his treachery. - -Chloe knew that the girl had done no wrong, and in her heart she hoped -that she could be brought to a realization of the true character of the -man and repudiate him. If not--if she really loved him, and was -determined to remain his wife--Chloe made up her mind to insist upon a -ceremony which should meet the sanction of Church and State. - -Christmas and New Year's passed, and Lapierre did not return to the -school. Chloe was not surprised at this, for he had told her that his -absence would be prolonged; and in her heart of hearts she was really -glad, for the veiled suspicion of the man's sincerity had grown into an -actual distrust of him--a distrust that would have been increased a -thousand-fold could she have known that the quarter-breed was even then -upon Snare Lake at the head of a gang of outlaws who were thawing out -MacNair's gravel and shovelling it into dumps for an early clean-up; -instead of looking after his "neglected interests" upon the rivers. - -But she did not know that, nor did she know of his midnight visit to -Tostoff, nor of what happened at Brown's cabin, nor of the release of -MacNair. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -ON THE TRAIL OF PIERRE LAPIERRE - -Bob MacNair drove a terrific trail. He was known throughout the -Northland as a hard man to follow at any time. His huge muscles were -tireless at the paddle, and upon the rackets his long swinging stride -ate up the miles of the snow-trails. And when Bob MacNair was an a -hurry the man who undertook to keep up with him had his work cut out. - -When he headed northward after his release from the Fort Saskatchewan -Jail, MacNair was in very much of a hurry. From daylight until far -into the dark he urged his malamutes to their utmost. And Corporal -Ripley, who was by no means a _chechako_, found himself taxed to the -limit of his endurance, although never by word or sign did he indicate -that the pace was other than of his own choosing. - -Fort McMurray, a ten- to fourteen-day trip under good conditions, was -reached in seven days. Fort Chippewayan in three days more, and Fort -Resolution a week later--seventeen days from Athabasca Landing to Fort -Resolution--a record trip for a dog-train! - -MacNair was known as a man of few words, but Ripley wondered at the -ominous silence with which his every attempt at conversation was met. -During the whole seventeen days of the snow-trail, MacNair scarcely -addressed a word to him--seemed almost oblivious to his presence. - -Upon the last day, with the log buildings of Fort Resolution in sight, -MacNair suddenly halted the dogs and faced Corporal Ripley. - -"Well, what's your program?" he asked shortly. - -"My program," returned the other, "is to arrest Pierre Lapierre," - -"How are you going to do it?" - -"I've got to locate him first, the details will work out later. I've -been counting a lot on your help and judgment in the matter." - -"Don't do it!" snapped MacNair. - -The other gazed at him in astonishment. - -"What do you mean?" - -"I mean that I'm not going to help you arrest Lapierre. He's mine! I -have sworn to get him, and, by God, I _will_ get him! From now on we -are working against each other." - -Ripley flushed, and his eyes narrowed. "You mean," he exclaimed, "that -you defy the Mounted! That you refuse to help when you're called on?" - -MacNair laughed. "You might put it that way, I suppose, but it don't -sound well. You know me, Ripley. You know when my word has -passed--when I've once started a thing--I'll see it through to the -limit. I've sworn to get Lapierre. And I tell you, he's mine! Unless -you get him first. You're a good man, Ripley, and you may do it--but -if you do, when you get back with him, you'll know you've been -somewhere." - -The lines of Ripley's face softened; as a sporting proposition the -situation appealed to him. He thrust out his hand. "It's a go, -MacNair," he said, "and let the best man win!" - -MacNair wrung the officer's hand in a mighty grip, and then just as he -was on the point of starting his dogs, paused and gazed thoughtfully -after the other who was making his way toward the little buildings of -Fort Resolution. - -"Oh, Ripley," he called. The officer turned and retraced his steps. -"You've heard of Lapierre's fort to the eastward. Have you ever been -there?" - -Ripley shook his head. "No, but I've heard he has one somewhere around -the east end of the lake." - -MacNair laughed. "Yes, and if you hunted the east end of the lake for -it you could hunt a year without finding it. If you really want to -know where it is, come along, I'll show you. I happen to be going -there." - -"What's the idea?" asked the officer, regarding MacNair quizzically. - -"The idea is just this. Lapierre's no fool. He's got as good a chance -of getting me as I have of getting him. And if anything happens to me -you fellows will lose a lot of valuable time before you can locate that -fort. I don't know myself exactly why I'm taking you there, except -that--well, if anything should happen to me, Lapierre would--you see, -he might--that is---- Damn it!" he broke out wrathfully. "Can't you -see he'll have things his own way with _her_?" - -Ripley grinned broadly. "Oh! So that's it, eh? Well, a fellow ought -to look out for his friends. She seemed right anxious to have _you_ -put where nothing would hurt you." - -"Shut up!" growled MacNair shortly. "And before we start there's one -little condition you must agree to. If we find Lapierre at the fort, -in return for my showing you the place, you've got to promise to make -no attempt to arrest him without first returning to Fort Resolution. -If I can't get him in the meantime I ought to lose." - -"You're on," grinned Ripley, "I promise. But man, if he's there he -won't be alone! What chance will you have single-handed against a -whole gang of outlaws?" - -MacNair smiled grimly. "That's my lookout. Remember, your word has -passed, and when we locate Lapierre, you head back for Fort Resolution." - -The other nodded regretfully, and when MacNair turned away from the -fort and headed eastward along the south shore of the lake, the officer -fell silently in behind the dogs. - -They camped late in a thicket on the shore of South Bay, and at -daylight headed straight across the vast snow-level, that stretched for -sixty miles in an unbroken surface of white. That night they camped on -the ice, and toward noon of the following day drew into the scrub -timber directly north of the extremity of Peththenneh Island. - -Long after dark they made a fireless camp directly opposite the -stronghold of the outlaws on the shore of Lac du Mort. Circling the -lake next morning, they reconnoitred the black spruce swamp, and -working their way, inch by inch, passed cautiously between the dense -evergreens in the direction of the high promontory upon which Lapierre -had built his "Bastile du Mort." - -Silence enveloped the swamp. An intense, all-pervading stillness, -accentuated by the low-hung snow-weighted branches through which the -men moved like dark phantoms in the grey half-light of the dawn. They -moved not with the stealthy, gliding movement of the Indian, but with -the slow caution of trained woodsmen, pausing every few moments to -scrutinize their surroundings, and to strain their ears for a sound -that would tell them that other lurking forms glided among the silent -aisles and vistas of the snow-shrouded swamp. But no sounds came to -them through the motionless air, and after an hour of stealthy advance, -they drew into the shelter of a huge spruce and peered through the -interstices of its snow-laden branches toward the log stockade that -Lapierre had thrown across the neck of his lofty peninsula. - -Silent and grey and deserted loomed the barrier so cunningly devised as -to be almost indistinguishable at a distance of fifty yards. Snow lay -upon its top, and vertical ridges of snow clung to the crevices of the -upstanding palings. - -A half-hour passed, while the two men remained motionless, and then, -satisfied that the fort was unoccupied, they stepped cautiously from -the shelter of their tree. The next instant, loud and clear, -shattering the intense silence with one sharp explosion of sound, rang -a shot. And Corporal Ripley, who was following close at the heels of -MacNair, staggered, clawed wildly for the butt of his service revolver -which protruded from its holster, and, with an imprecation on his lips -that ended in an unintelligible snarl, crashed headlong into the snow. - -MacNair whirled as if upon a pivot, and with hardly a glance at the -prostrate form, dashed over the back-trail with the curious lumbering -strides of the man who would hurry on rackets. He had jerked off his -heavy mitten at the sound of the shot, and his bared hand clutched -firmly the butt of a blue-black automatic. A spruce-branch, suddenly -relieved of its snow, sprang upward with a swish, thirty yards away. -MacNair fired three times in rapid succession. - -There was no answering shot, and he leaped forward, charging directly -toward the tree that concealed the hidden foe before the man could -reload; for by the roar of its discharge, MacNair knew that the weapon -was an old Hudson Bay muzzle-loading smoothbore--a primitive weapon of -the old North, but in the hands of an Indian, a weapon of terrible -execution at short range, where a roughly moulded bullet or a slug -rudely hammered from the solder melted from old tin cans tears its way -through the flesh, driven by three fingers of black powder. - -Near the tree MacNair found the gun where its owner had hurled it into -the snow--found also the tracks of a pair of snowshoes, which headed -into the heart of the black spruce swamp. The tracks showed at a -glance that the lurking assassin was an Indian, that he was travelling -light, and that the chance of running him down was extremely remote. -Whereupon MacNair returned his automatic to its holster and bethought -himself of Ripley, who was lying back by the stockade with his face -buried in the snow. - -Swiftly he retraced his steps, and, kneeling beside the wounded man, -raised him from the snow. Blood oozed from the corners of the -officer's lips, and, mingling with the snow, formed a red slush which -clung to the boyish cheek. With his knife MacNair cut through the -clothing and disclosed an ugly hole below the right shoulder-blade. He -bound up the wound, plugging the hole with suet chewed from a lump -which he carried in his pocket. Leaving Ripley upon his face to -prevent strangulation from the blood in his throat, he hastened to the -camp on the shore of the lake, harnessed the dogs, and returned to the -prostrate man; it was the work of a few moments to bind him securely -upon the sled. Skilfully MacNair guided his dogs through the maze of -the black spruce swamp, and, throwing caution to the winds, crossed the -lake, struck into the timber, and headed straight for Chloe Elliston's -school. - - -In the living-room of the little cottage on the Yellow Knife, Harriet -Penny and Mary, the Louchoux girl, sat sewing, while Chloe Elliston, -with chair pulled close to the table, read by the light of an oil-lamp -from a year-old magazine. If the Louchoux girl failed to follow the -intricacies of the plot, an observer would scarcely have known it. Nor -would he have guessed that less than two short months before this girl -had been a skin-clad native of the North who had mushed for thirty days -unattended through the heart of the barren grounds. So marvellously -had the girl improved and so desirously had she applied her needle, -that save for the beaded moccasins upon her feet, her clothing differed -in no essential detail from that of Chloe Elliston or of Harriet Penny. - -Chloe paused in her reading, and the three occupants of the little room -stared inquiringly into each other's faces as a rough-voiced "Whoa!" -sounded from beyond the door. A moment of silence followed the -command, and then came the sounds of a heavy footfall upon the veranda. -The Louchoux girl sprang to the door, and as she wrenched it open the -yellow lamplight threw into bold relief the huge figure of a man, who, -bearing a blanket-wrapped form in his arms, staggered into the room, -and, without a word deposited his burden upon the floor. The man -looked up, and Chloe Elliston started back with an exclamation of angry -amazement. The man was Bob MacNair! And Chloe noticed that the -Louchoux girl, after one terrified glance into his face, fled -incontinently to the kitchen. - -"You! You!" cried Chloe, groping for words. - -The man interrupted her gruffly. "This is no time to talk. Corporal -Ripley has been shot. For three days I have burned up the snow getting -him here. He's hard hit, but the bleeding has stopped, and a good bed -and good nursing will pull him through." - -As he snapped out the words, MacNair busied himself in removing the -wounded man's blankets and outer garments. Chloe gave some hurried -orders to Big Lena, and followed MacNair into her own room, where he -laid the wounded man upon her bed--the same he, himself, had once -occupied while recovering from the effect of Lapierre's bullet. Then -he straightened and faced Chloe, who stood regarding him with flashing -eyes. - -"So you did get away from him after all?" she said, "and when he -followed you, you shot him! Just a boy--and you shot him in the back!" -The voice trembled with the scorn of her words. MacNair pushed roughly -past her. - -"Don't be a damn fool!" he growled, and called over his shoulder: -"Better rest him up for three or four days, and send him down to Fort -Resolution. He'll stand the trip all right by that time, and the -doctor may want to poke around for that bullet." Suddenly he whirled -and faced her. "Where is Lapierre?" The words were a snarl. - -"So you want to kill him, too? Do you think I would tell you if I -knew? You--you _murderer_! Oh, if I--" But the sentence was cut -short by the loud banging of the door. MacNair had returned into the -night. - -An hour later, when she and Big Lena quitted the bedroom, Corporal -Ripley was breathing easily. Her thoughts turned at once to the -Louchoux girl. She recalled the look of terror that had crept into the -girl's eyes as she gazed into the upturned face of MacNair. With the -force of a blow a thought flashed through her brain, and she clutched -at the edge of the table for support. What was it the girl had told -her about the man who had deceived her into believing she was his wife? -He was a free-trader! MacNair was a free-trader! Could it be---- - -"No, no!" she gasped--"and yet----" - -With an effort she crossed to the door of the girl's room and, pushing -it open, entered to find her cowering, wide-eyed between her blankets. -The sight of the beautiful, terrorized face did not need the -corroboration of the low, half-moaned words, "Oh, please, please, don't -let him get me!" to tell Chloe that her worst fears were realized. - -"Do not be afraid, my dear," she faltered. "He cannot harm you now," -and hurriedly closing the door, staggered across the living-room, threw -herself into a chair beside the table, and buried her face in her arms. - -Harriet Penny opened her door and glanced timidly at the still figure -of the girl, and, deciding it were the better part of prudence not to -intrude, noiselessly closed her door. Hours later, Big Lena, entering -from the kitchen, regarded her mistress with a long vacant-faced stare, -and returned again to the kitchen. All through the night Chloe dozed -fitfully beside the table, but for the most part she was -widely--painfully--awake. Bitterly she reproached herself. Only she -knew the pain the discovery of MacNair's treachery had caused her. And -only she knew why the discovery had caused her pain. - -Always she had believed she had hated this man. By all standards, she -should hate him. This great, elemental brute of the North who had -first attempted to ignore, and later to ridicule and to bully her. -This man who ruled his Indians with a rod of iron, who allowed them -full license in their debauchery, and then shot them down in cold -blood, who shot a boy in the back while in the act of doing his duty, -and who had called her a "damn fool" in her own house, and was even -then off on the trail of another man he had sworn to kill on sight. By -all the laws of justice, equity, and decency, she should hate this man! -She was conscious of no other feeling toward him than a burning, -unquenchable hate. And yet, deep down in her heart she knew--by the -pain of her discovery of his treachery--she knew she loved him, and -utterly she despised herself that this could be so. - -Daylight softly dimmed the yellow lamplight of the room. The girl -arose, and, after a hurried glance at the sleeping Ripley, bathed her -eyes in cold water and passed into the kitchen, where Big Lena was busy -in the preparation of breakfast. - -"Send LeFroy to me at once!" she ordered, and five minutes later, when -the man stood before her, she ordered him to summon all of MacNair's -Indians. - -The man shifted his weight uneasily from one foot to the other as he -faced her upon the tiny veranda. "MacNair Injuns," he answered, "dem -gon' las' night. Dem gon' 'long wit' MacNair. Heem gon' for hunt -Pierre Lapierre!" - -CHAPTER XXI - -LAPIERRE PAYS A VISIT - -Up on Snare Lake the men to whom Lapierre had passed the word had taken -possession of MacNair's burned and abandoned fort, and there the leader -had joined them after stopping at Fort McMurray to tip off to Ripley -and Craig the bit of evidence that he hoped would clinch the case -against MacNair. More men joined the Snare Lake stampede--flat-faced -breeds from the lower Mackenzie, evil-visaged rivermen from the country -of the Athabasca and the Slave, and the renegade white men who were -Lapierre's underlings. - -By dog-train and on foot they came, dragging their outfits behind them, -and in the eyes of each was the gleam of the greed of gold. The few -cabins which had escaped the conflagration had been pre-empted by the -first-comers, while the later arrivals pitched their tents and shelter -tarps close against the logs of the unburned portion of MacNair's -stockade. - -At the time of Lapierre's arrival the colony had assumed the aspect of -a typical gold camp. The drifted snow had been removed from MacNair's -diggings, and the night-fires that thawed out the gravel glared red and -illuminated the clearing with a ruddy glow in which the dumps loomed -black and ugly, like unclean wens upon the white surface of the -trampled snow. - -Lapierre, a master of organization, saw almost at the moment of his -arrival that the gold-camp system of two-man partnerships could be -vastly improved upon. Therefore, he formed the men into shifts: eight -hours in the gravel and tending the fires, eight hours chopping -cord-wood and digging in the ruins of MacNair's storehouse for the -remains of unburned grub, and eight hours' rest. Always night and day, -the seemingly tireless leader moved about the camp encouraging, -cursing, bullying, urging; forcing the utmost atom of man-power into -the channels of greatest efficiency. For well the quarter-breed knew -that his tenure of the Snare Lake diggings was a tenure wholly by -sufferance of circumstances--over which he, Lapierre, had no control. - -With MacNair safely lodged in the Fort Saskatchewan jail, he felt safe -from interference, at least until late in the spring. This would allow -plenty of time for the melting snows to furnish the water necessary for -the cleaning up of the dumps. After that the fate of his colony hung -upon the decision of a judge somewhere down in the provinces. Thus -Lapierre crowded his men to the utmost, and the increasing size of the -black dump-heaps bespoke a record-breaking clean-up when the waters of -the melting snow should be turned into sluices in the spring. - -With his mind easy in his fancied security, and in order that every -moment of time and every ounce of man-power should be devoted to the -digging of gold, Lapierre had neglected to bring his rifles and -ammunition from the Lac du Mort rendezvous and from the storehouse of -Chloe Elliston's school. An omission for which he cursed himself -roundly upon an evening, early in February when an Indian, gaunt and -wide-eyed from the strain of a forced snow-trail, staggered from the -black shadow of the bush into the glare of the blazing night-fires, and -in a frenzied gibberish of jargon proclaimed that Bob MacNair had -returned to the Northland. And not only that he had returned, but had -visited Lac du Mort in company with a man of the Mounted. - -At first Lapierre flatly refused to credit the Indian's yarn, but when -upon pain of death the man refused to alter his statement, and added -the information that he himself had fired at MacNair from the shelter -of a snow-ridden spruce, and that just as he pulled the trigger the man -of the soldier-police had intervened and stopped the speeding bullet, -Lapierre knew that the Indian spoke the truth. - -In the twinkling of an eye the quarter-breed realized the extreme -danger of his position. His wrath knew no bounds. Up and down he -raged in his fury, cursing like a madman, while all about him--blaming, -reviling, advising--cursed the men of his ill-favoured crew. For not a -man among them but knew that somewhere someone had blundered. And for -some inexplicable reason their situation had suddenly shifted from -comparative security to extreme hazard. They needed not to be told -that with MacNair at large in the Northland their lives hung by a -slender thread. For at that very moment Brute MacNair was, in all -probability, upon the Yellow Knife leading his armed Indians toward -Snare Lake. - -In addition to this was the certain knowledge that the vengeance of the -Mounted would fall in full measure upon the heads of all who were in -any way associated with Pierre Lapierre. An officer had been shot, and -the men of Lapierre were outlawed from Ungava to the Western sea. The -intricate system had crumbled in the batting of an eye. Else why -should a man of the Mounted have been found before the barricade of the -Bastile du Mort in company with Brute MacNair? - -The quick-witted Lapierre was the first to recover from the shock of -the stunning blow. Leaping onto the charred logs of MacNair's -storehouse, he called loudly to his men, who in a panic were wildly -throwing their outfits onto sleds. Despite their mad haste they -crowded close and listened to the words of the man upon whose judgment -they had learned to rely, and from whose dreaded "dismissal from -service" they had cowered in fear. They swarmed about Lapierre a -hundred strong, and his voice rang harsh. - -"You dogs! You _canaille_!" he cried, and they shrank from the baleful -glare of his black eyes. "What would you do? Where would you go? Do -you think that, single-handed, you can escape from MacNair's Indians, -who will follow your trails like hounds and kill you as they would kill -a snared rabbit? I tell you your trails will be short. A dead man -will lie at the end of each. But even if you succeed in escaping the -Indians, what, then, of the Mounted? One by one, upon the rivers and -lakes of the Northland, upon wide snow-steeps of the barren grounds, -even to the shores of the frozen sea, you will be hunted and gathered -in. Or you will be shot like dogs, and your bones left to crunch in -the jaws of the wolf-pack. We are outlaws, all! Not a man of us will -dare show his face in any post or settlement or city in all Canada." - -The men shrank before the words, for they knew them to be true. Again -the leader was speaking, and hope gleamed in fear-strained eyes. - -"We have yet one chance; I, Pierre Lapierre, have not played my last -card. We will stand or fall together! In the Bastile du Mort are many -rifles, and ammunition and provisions for half a year. Once behind the -barricade, we shall be safe from any attack. We can defy MacNair's -Indians and stand off the Mounted until such time as we are in a -position to dictate our own terms. If we stand man to man together, we -have everything to gain and nothing to lose. We are outlawed, every -one. There is no turning back!" - -Lapierre's bold assurance averted the threatened panic, and with a yell -the men fell to work packing their outfits for the journey to Lac du -Mort. The quarter-breed despatched scouts to the southward to -ascertain the whereabouts of MacNair, and, if possible, to find out -whether or not the officer of the Mounted had been killed by the shot -of the Indian. - -At early dawn the outfit crossed Snare Lake and headed for Lac du Mort -by way of Grizzly Bear, Lake Mackay, and Du Rocher. Upon the evening -of the fourth day, when they threaded the black-spruce swamp and pulled -wearily into the fort on Lac du Mort, Lapierre found a scout awaiting -him with the news that MacNair had headed northward with his Indians, -and that LeFroy was soon to start for Fort Resolution with the wounded -man of the Mounted. Whereupon he selected the fastest and freshest -dog-team available and, accompanied by a half-dozen of his most trusted -lieutenants, took the trail for Chloe Elliston's school on-the Yellow -Knife, after issuing orders as to the conduct of defence in case of an -attack by MacNair's Indians. - - -Affairs at the school were at a standstill. From a busy hive of -activity, with the women and children showing marked improvement at -their tasks, and the men happy in the felling of logs and the -whip-sawing of lumber, the settlement had suddenly slumped into a -disorganized hodge-podge of unrest and anxiety. MacNair's Indians had -followed him into the North; their women and children brooded sullenly, -and a feeling of unrest and expectancy pervaded the entire colony. - -Among the inmates of the cottage the condition was even worse. With -Harriet Penny hysterical and excited, Big Lena more glum and taciturn -than usual, the Louchoux girl cowering in mortal dread of impending -disaster, and Chloe herself disgusted, discouraged, nursing in her -heart a consuming rage against Brute MacNair, the man who had wrought -the harm, and who had been her evil genius since she had first set foot -into the North. - -Upon the afternoon of the day she despatched LeFroy to Fort Resolution -with the wounded officer of the Mounted, Chloe stood at her little -window gazing out over the wide sweep of the river and wondering how it -all would end. Would MacNair find Lapierre, and would he kill him? Or -would the Mounted heed the urgent appeal she despatched in care of -LeFroy and arrive in time to recapture MacNair before he came upon his -victim? - -"If I only knew where to find him," she muttered, "I could warn him of -his danger." - -The next moment her eyes widened with amazement, and she pressed her -face close against the glass; across the clearing from the direction of -the river dashed a dog-team, with three men running before and three -behind, while upon the sled, jaunty and smiling, and debonair as ever, -sat Pierre Lapierre himself. With a flourish he swung the dogs up to -the tiny veranda and stepped from the sled, and the next moment Chloe -found herself standing in the little living-room with Lapierre bowing -low over her hand. Harriet Penny was in the schoolhouse; the Louchoux -girl was helping Big Lena in the kitchen, and for the first time in -many moons Chloe Elliston felt glad that she was alone with Lapierre. - -When at length she removed her hand from his grasp she stood for some -moments regarding the clean-cut lines of his features, and then she -smiled as she noted the trivial fact that he had removed his hat, and -that he stood humbly before her with bared head. A great surge of -feeling rushed over her as she realized how clean and good--how perfect -this man seemed in comparison with the hulking brutality of MacNair. -She motioned him to a seat beside the table, and drawing her chair -close to his side, poured into his attentive and sympathetic ears all -that she knew of MacNair's escape, of the shooting of Corporal Ripley, -and his departure in the night with his Indians. - -Lapierre listened, smiling inwardly at her version of the affair, and -at the conclusion of her words leaned forward and took one of the slim -brown hands in his. For a long, long time the girl listened in silence -to the pleading of his lips; and the little room was filled with the -passion of his low-voiced eloquence. - -Neither was aware of the noiseless opening of a door, nor of the -wide-eyed, girlish face that stared at them through the aperture, nor -was either aware that the man's words were borne distinctly to the ears -of the Louchoux girl. Nor could they note the change from an -expression of startled surprise to slitlike, venomous points of fire -that took place in the eyes of the listening girl--nor the clenching -fists. Nor did they hear the soft, catlike tread with which the girl -quit the door and crossed to the kitchen table. Nor could they see the -cruel snarl of her lips as her fingers closed tightly about the haft of -the huge butcher-knife, whose point was sharp and whose blade was keen. -Nor did they hear the noiseless tread with which the girl again -approached the door, swung wider now to admit the passage of her tense, -lithe body. Nor did they see her crouch for a spring with the -tight-clutched knife upraised and the gleaming slitlike eyes focused -upon a point mid-way between Lapierre's shoulder-blades as his arm -unconsciously came to rest upon the back of Chloe Elliston's chair. - -For a long moment the girl poised, gloating--enjoying in its fulness -the measure of her revenge. Before her, leaning in just the right -attitude to receive upon his defenceless back the full force of the -blow, sat the man who had deceived her. For not until she had listened -to the low-voiced, impassioned words had she realized there had been -any deception. With the realization came the hot, fierce flame of -anger that seared her very soul. An anger engendered by her own wrong, -and fanned to its fiercest by the knowledge that the man was at that -moment seeking to deceive the white woman--the woman who had taught her -much, and who with the keenest interest and gentleness had treated her -as an equal. - -She had come to love this white woman with the love that was greater -than the love of life. And the words to which this woman was now -listening were the same words, from the same lips, to which she herself -had listened beside the cold waters of the far-off Mackenzie. Thus the -Louchoux girl faced suddenly her first great problem. And to the -half-savage mind of her the solution of the problem seemed very simple, -very direct, and, had Big Lena not entered by way of the outer door at -the precise moment that the girl crouched with uplifted knife, it would -doubtless have been very effective. - -But Big Lena did enter, and, with a swiftness of perception that belied -the vacuous stare of the fishlike eyes, took in the situation at a -glance; for LeFroy had already hinted to her of the relation which -existed between his erstwhile superior and this girl from the land of -the midnight sun. Whereupon Big Lena had kept her own counsel and had -patiently bided her time, and now her time had come, and she was in no -wise minded that the fulness of her vengeance should be marred by the -untimely taking off of Lapierre. Swiftly she crossed the room, and as -her strong fingers closed about the wrist of the Indian girl's upraised -knife-arm, the other hand reached beyond and noiselessly closed the -door between the two rooms. - -The Louchoux girl whirled like a flash and sank her strong, white teeth -deep in the rolled-sleeved forearm of the huge Swedish woman. But a -thumb, inserted dextrously and with pressure in the little hollow -behind the girl's ear, caused her jaws instantly to relax, and she -stood trembling before the big woman, who regarded her with a tolerant -grin, and the next moment laid a friendly hand upon her shoulder and, -turning her gently about, guided her to a chair at the farther side of -the room. - -Followed then a quarter of an hour of earnest conversation, in which -the older woman managed to convey, through the medium of her broken -English, a realization that Lapierre's discomfiture could be -encompassed much more effectively and in a thoroughly orthodox and less -sanguinary manner. - -The ethics of Big Lena's argument were undoubtedly beyond the Louchoux -girl's comprehension; but because this woman had been good to her, and -because she seemed greatly to desire this thing, the girl consented to -abstain from violence, at least for the time being. A few minutes -later, when Chloe Elliston opened the door and announced that Mr. -Lapierre would join them at supper, she found the two women busily -engaged in the final preparation of the meal. - -Big Lena passed into the dining-room, which was also the living-room, -and without deigning to notice Lapierre's presence, proceeded to lay -the table for supper. Returning to the kitchen, she despatched the -Indian girl to the storehouse upon an errand which would insure her -absence until after Chloe and Lapierre and Harriet Penny had taken -their places at the table. - -Since her arrival at the school the Louchoux girl had been treated as -"one of the family," and it was with a look of inquiry toward the -girl's empty chair that Chloe seated herself with the others. -Interpreting the look, Big Lena assured her that the girl would return -in a few moments; and Chloe had just launched into an impassioned -account of the virtues and the accomplishments of her ward, when the -door opened and the girl herself entered the room and crossed swiftly -to her accustomed place. As she stood with her hand on the back of her -chair, Lapierre for the first time glanced into her face. - -The quarter-breed was a man trained as few men are trained to meet -emergencies, to face crises with an impassiveness of countenance that -would shame the Sphinx. He had lost thousands across the green cloth -of gambling-tables without batting an eye. He had faced death and had -killed men with a face absolutely devoid of expression, and upon -numerous occasions his nerve--the consummate _sang-froid_ of him--had -alone thrown off the suspicion that would have meant arrest upon -charges which would have taken more than a lifetime to expiate. And as -he sat at the little table beside Chloe Elliston, his eyes met -unflinchingly the flashing, accusing gaze of the black eyes of the girl -from the Northland--the girl who was his wife. - -For a long moment their glances held, while the atmosphere of the -little room became surcharged with the terrible portent of this silent -battle of eyes. Harriet Penny gasped audibly; and as Chloe stared from -one to the other of the white, tense faces before her, her brain seemed -suddenly to numb, and the breath came short and quick between her -parted lips to the rapid heaving of her bosom. The Louchoux girl's -eyes seemed fairly to blaze with hate. The fingers of her hand dug -into the wooden back of her chair until the knuckles whitened. She -leaned far forward and, pointing directly into the face of the man, -opened her lips to speak. It was then Lapierre's gaze wavered, for in -that moment he realized that for him the game was lost. - -With a half-smothered curse he leaped to his feet, overturning his -chair, which banged sharply upon the plank floor. He glanced wildly -about the little room as if seeking means of escape, and his eyes -encountered the form of Big Lena, who stood stolidly in the doorway, -blocking the exit. In a flash he noted the huge, bared forearm; noted, -too, that one thick hand gripped tightly the helve of a chopping ax, -with which she toyed lightly as if it were a little thing, while the -thumb of her other hand played smoothly, but with a certain terrible -significance, along the keen edge of its blade. Lapierre's glance -flashed to her face and encountered the fishlike stare of the -china-blue eyes, as he had encountered it once before. The eyes, as -before, were expressionless upon their surface, but deep down--far into -their depths--Lapierre caught a cold gleam of mockery. And then the -Louchoux girl was speaking, and he turned upon her with a snarl. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -CHLOE WRITES A LETTER - -When Bob MacNair, exasperated beyond all patience by Chloe Elliston's -foolish accusation, stamped angrily from the cottage, after depositing -the wounded Ripley upon the bed, he proceeded at once to the barracks, -where he sought out Wee Johnnie Tamarack, who informed him that Lapierre -was up on Snare Lake, at the head of a band of men who had already -succeeded in dotting the snow of the barren grounds with the black dumps -of many shafts. Whereupon he ordered Wee Johnnie Tamarack to assemble -the Indians at once at the storehouse. - -No sooner had the old Indian departed upon his mission than the door of -the barracks was pushed violently open and Big Lena entered, dragging by -the arm the thoroughly cowed figure of LeFroy. At sight of the man who, -under Lapierre's orders, had wrought the destruction of his post at Snare -Lake, MacNair leaped forward with a snarl of anger. But before he could -reach the trembling man the form of Big Lena interposed, and MacNair -found himself swamped by a jargon of broken English that taxed to the -utmost his power of comprehension. - -"Ju yoost vait vun meenit. Ay tal ju som'ting gude. Dis damn LeFroy, he -bane bad man. He vork by Lapierre, and he tak' de vhiskey to jour -Injuns, but he don't vork no more by Lapierre; he vork by me. Ay goin' -to marry him, and ju bet Ay keep him gude, or Ay bust de stove chunk -'crost his head. He vork by Mees Chloe now, and he lak ju gif him chance -to show he ain't no bad man no more." - -Big Lena shook the man roughly by way of emphasis, and MacNair smiled as -he noted the foolish grin with which LeFroy submitted to the inevitable. -For years he had known LeFroy as a bad man, second only to Lapierre in -cunning and brutal cruelty; and to see him now, cowering under the -domination of his future spouse, was to MacNair the height of the -ridiculous--but MacNair was unmarried. - -"All right," he growled, and LeFroy's relief at the happy termination of -the interview was plainly written upon his features, for this meeting had -not been of his own seeking. The memory of the shots which had taken off -two of his companions that night on Snare Lake, was still fresh, and in -his desire to avoid a meeting with MacNair he had sought refuge in the -kitchen. Whereupon Big Lena had taken matters into her own hands and -literally dragged him into MacNair's presence, replying to his terrified -protest that if MacNair was going to kill him, he was going to kill and -he might as well have it over with. - -Thus it was that the relieved LeFroy leaped with alacrity to obey when, a -moment later, MacNair ordered him to the storehouse to break out the -necessary provisions for a ten-days' journey for all his Indians. So -well did the half-breed execute the order that upon MacNair's arrival at -the store-house he found LeFroy not only supplying provisions with a -lavish hand, but taking huge delight in passing out to the waiting -Indians Lapierre's Mauser rifles and ammunition. - -When MacNair, with his Indians, reached Snare Lake, it was to find that -Pierre Lapierre had taken himself and his outlaws to the Lac du Mort -rendezvous. Whereupon he immediately despatched thirty Indians back to -LeFroy for the supplies necessary to follow Lapierre to his stronghold. -Awaiting the return of the supply train, MacNair employed his remaining -Indians in getting out logs for the rebuilding of his fort, and he smiled -grimly as his eyes roved over the dumps--the rich dumps which represented -two months' well-directed labour of a gang of a hundred men. - - -As Chloe Elliston sat in the little living-room and listened to the -impassioned words of Lapierre, the man's chance of winning her was far -better than at any time in the whole course of their acquaintance. -Without in the least realizing it, the girl had all along held a certain -regard for MacNair--a regard that was hard to explain, and that the girl -herself would have been the first to disavow. She hated him! And -yet--she was forced to admit even to herself, the man fascinated her. -But never until the moment of the realization of his true character, as -forced upon her by the action and words of the Louchoux girl, had she -entertained the slightest suspicion that she loved him. And with the -discovery had come a sense of shame and humiliation that had all but -broken her spirit. - -Her hatred for MacNair was real enough now. That hatred, the shame and -humility, and the fact that Lapierre was pleading with her as he had -never pled before, were going far to convince the girl that her previous -estimate of the quarter-breed had been a mistaken estimate, and that he -was in truth the fine, clean, educated man of the North which on the -surface he appeared to be. A man whose aim it was to deal fairly and -honourably with the Indians, and who in reality had the best interests of -his people at heart. - -No one but Chloe herself will ever know how near she came upon that -afternoon to yielding to his pleading, and laying her soul bare to him. -But something interposed--fate? Destiny? The materialist smiles -"supper." Be that as it may, had she yielded to Lapierre's plans, they -would have stolen from the school that very night and proceeded to Fort -Rae, to be married by the priest at the Mission. For Lapierre, fully -alive to the danger of delay, had eloquently pleaded his cause. - -Not only was MacNair upon his trail--MacNair the relentless, the -indomitable--but also the word had passed in the North, and the men of -the Mounted--those inscrutable sentinels of the silence whose watchword -is "get the man"--were aroused to avenge a comrade. And Lapierre -realized with a chill in his heart that he was "the man"! His one chance -lay in a timely marriage with Chloe Elliston, and a quick dash for the -States. If the dash succeeded, he had nothing to fear. Even if it -failed, and he fell into the hands of the Mounted--with the Elliston -millions behind him, he felt he could snap his fingers in the face of the -law. Men of millions do not serve time. - -For the men who awaited him in the Bastile du Mort, Lapierre gave no -thought. He would stand by them as long as it furthered his own ends to -stand by them. When they ceased to be a factor in his own safety, they -could shift for themselves, even as he, Lapierre, was shifting for -himself. Someone has said every man has his price. It is certain that -every man has his limit beyond which he may not go. - -Lapierre, a man of consummate nerve, had put forth a final effort to save -himself. Had put forth the best effort that was in him to induce Chloe -Elliston to marry him. He had found the girl kinder, more receptive than -he had dared hope. His spirits arose to a point they had never before -attained. Success seemed within his grasp. Then, suddenly, just as his -fingers were about to close upon the prize--the prize that meant to him -life and plenty, instead of death--the Louchoux girl, a passing folly of -a bygone day, had suddenly risen up and confronted him--and he knew that -his cause was lost. - -Lapierre had reached his limit of control, and when he turned at the -sound of the Indian girl's voice, his hand instinctively flew to his -belt. In his rage at the sudden turn of events, he became for the -instant a madman, whose one thought was to destroy her who had wrought -the harm. The next instant the snarl died upon his lips and his hand -dropped limply to his side. In two strides Big Lena was upon him and her -thick fingers bit deep into his shoulder as she spun him to face her--to -face the polished bit of the keen-edged ax which the huge woman -flourished carelessly within an inch of his nose. - -The fingers released their grip, Lapierre's gun was jerked from its -holster, and a moment later thumped heavily upon the floor of the kitchen -fifteen feet away, while the woman pointed grimly toward the overturned -chair. Lapierre righted the chair, and as he sank into it, Chloe, who -had stared dumbfounded upon the scene, saw that little beads of sweat -stood out sharply against the pallor of his bloodless brow. As from a -great distance the words of the Louchoux girl fell upon her ears. She -was speaking rapidly, and the finger which she pointed at Lapierre -trembled violently. - -"You lied!" cried the girl. "You have always lied! You lied when you -told me we were married. You lied when you said you would return! Since -coming to this school I have learned much. Many things have I learned -that I never knew before. When you said you would return, I believed -you--even as my mother believed my father when he went away in the ship -many years ago, and left me a babe in arms to live or to die among the -teepees of the Louchoux, the people of my mother, who was the mother of -his child. My mother has not been to the school, and she believes some -day my father will return. For many years she has waited, has starved, -and has suffered--always watching for my father's return. And the -factors have laughed, and the rivermen taunted her with being the mother -of a fatherless child! Ah, she has paid! Always the Indian women must -pay! And I have paid also. All my life have I been hungry, and in the -winter I have always been cold. - -"Then you came with your laughing lips and your words of love and I went -with you, and you took me to distant rivers. All through the summer -there was plenty to eat in our teepee. I was happy, and for the first -time in my life my heart was glad--for I loved you! And then came the -winter, and the freezing up of the rivers, and the day you told me you -must return to the southward--to the land of the white men--without me. -And I believed you even when they told me you would not return. I was -brave--for that is the way of love, to believe, and to hope, and to be -brave." - -The girl's voice faltered, and the trembling hand gripped the back of the -chair upon which she leaned heavily for support. - -"All my life have I paid," she continued, bitterly. "Yet, it was not -enough. Years, when the children of the trappers had at times plenty to -eat I was always hungry and cold. - -"When you came into my life I thought at last I had paid in full--that my -mother and I both had paid for her belief in the white man's word. Ah, -if I had known! I should have known, for well I remember, it was upon -the day before--before I went away with you--that I told you of my -father, and of how we always went North in the winter, knowing that again -his ship would winter in the ice of the Bufort Sea. And you heard the -story and laughed, and you said that my father would not return--that the -white men never return. And when I grew afraid, you told me that you -were part Indian. That your people were my people. I was a fool! I -listened to your words!" - -The girl dropped heavily into her chair and buried her face in her arms. - -"And now I know," she sobbed, "that I have not even begun to pay!" - -Suddenly she leaped to her feet and, dashing around the table placed -herself between Lapierre and Chloe, who had listened white-lipped to her -words. Once more the voice of the Louchoux girl rang through the -room--high-pitched and thin with anger now--and the eyes that glared into -the eyes of Lapierre blazed black with fury. - -"You have lied to her! But you cannot harm her! With my own ears I -heard your words! The same words I heard from your lips before, upon the -banks of the far-off rivers, and the words are lies--lies--lies!"--the -voice rose to a shriek--"the white woman is good! She is my friend! She -has taught me much, and now, I will save her." - -With a swift movement she caught the carving-knife from the table and -sprang toward the defenceless Lapierre. "I will cut your heart in little -bits and feed it to the dogs!" - -Once more the hand of Big Lena wrenched the knife from the girl's grasp. -And once more the huge Swedish woman fixed Lapierre with her vacuous -stare. Then slowly she raised her arm and pointed toward the door: "Ju -git! And never ju don't come back no more. Ay don't lat ju go 'cause Ay -lak' ju, but Ay bane 'fraid dis leetle girl she cut ju up and feed ju to -de dogs, and Ay no lak' for git dem dogs poison!" - -And Lapierre tarried not for further orders. Pausing only to recover his -hat from its peg on the wall, he opened the outer door and with one -sidewise malevolent glance toward the little group at the table, slunk -hurriedly from the room. - -Hardly had the door closed behind him than Chloe, who had sat as one -stunned during the girl's accusation and her later outburst of fury, -leaped to her feet and seized her arm in a convulsive grip. "Tell me!" -she cried; "what do you mean? Speak! Speak, can't you? What is this -you have said? What is it all about?" - -"Why it is he, Pierre Lapierre. He is the free-trader of whom I told -you. The man who--who deceived me into believing I was his wife." - -"But," cried Chloe, staring at her in astonishment. "I thought--I -thought MacNair was the man!" - -"No! No! No!" cried the girl. "Not MacNair! Pierre Lapierre, he is -the man! He who sat in that chair, and whose heart I would cut into tiny -bits that you shall not be made to pay, even as I have paid, for -listening to the words of his lips." - -"But," faltered Chloe, "I don't--I don't understand. Surely, you, fear -MacNair. Surely, that night when he came into the room, carrying the -wounded policeman, you fled from him in terror." - -"MacNair is a white man----" - -"But why should you fear him?" - -"I fear him," she answered, "because among the Indians--among the -Louchoux--the people of my mother, and among the Eskimoes, he is called -'The Bad Man of the North.' I hated him because Lapierre taught me to -hate him. I do not hate him now, nor do I fear him. But among the -Indians and among the free-traders he is both hated and feared. He -chases the free-traders from the rivers, and he kills them and destroys -their whiskey. For he has said, like the men of the soldier-police, that -the red man shall drink no whiskey. But the red men like the whiskey. -Their life is hard and they do not have much happiness, and the whiskey -of the white man makes them happy. And in the days before MacNair they -could get much whiskey, but now the free-traders fear him, and only -sometimes do they dare to bring whiskey to the land of the far-off rivers. - -"At the posts my people may trade for food and for guns and for clothing, -but they may not buy whiskey. But the free-traders sell whiskey. Also -they will trade for the women. But MacNair has said they shall not trade -for the women. At times, when men think he is far away, he comes -swooping through the North with his Snare Lake Indians at his heels, and -they chase the free-traders from the rivers. And on the shores of the -frozen sea he chases the whalemen from the Eskimo villages even to their -ships which lie far out from the coast, locked in the grip of the -ice-pack. - -"For these things I have hated and feared him. Since I have been here at -the school I have learned much. Both from your teachings, and from -talking with the women of MacNair's Indians. I know now that MacNair is -good, and that the factors and the soldier-police and the priest spoke -words of truth, and that Lapierre and the free-traders lied!" - -As the Indian girl poured forth her story, Chloe Elliston listened as one -in a dream. What was this she was saying, that it was Lapierre who sold -whiskey to the Indians, and MacNair who stood firm, and struck mighty -blows for the right of things? Surely, this girl's mind was -unhinged--or, had something gone wrong with her own brain? Was it -possible she had heard aright? - -Suddenly she remembered the words of Corporal Ripley, when he asked her -to withdraw the charge of murder against MacNair: "In the North we know -something of MacNair's work." And again: "We know the North needs men -like MacNair." - -Could it be possible that after all--with the thought there flashed into -the girl's mind the scene on Snare Lake. Had she not seen with her own -eyes the evidence of this man's work among the Indians! With a gesture -of appeal she turned to Big Lena. - -"Surely, Lena, you remember that night on Snare Lake? You saw MacNair's -Indians, drunk as fiends--and the buildings all on fire? You saw MacNair -kicking and knocking them about? And you saw him fire the shots that -killed two men? Speak, can't you? Did you see these things? Did I see -them? Was I dreaming? Or am I dreaming now?" - -Big Lena shifted her weight ponderously, and the stare of the china-blue -eyes met steadily the half-startled eyes of the girl. "Yah, Ay seen das -all right. Dem Injuns dey awful drunk das night and MacNair he come -'long and schlap dem and kick dem 'round. But das gude for dem. Dey got -it comin'. Dey should not ought to drink Lapierre's vhiskey." - -"Lapierre's whiskey!" cried the girl. "Are you crazy?" - -"Naw, Ay tank Ay ain't so crazy. Lapierre he fool ju long tam'." - -"What do you mean," asked Chloe. - -"Ah, das a'right," answered the woman. "He fool ju gude, but he ain't -fool Big Lena. Ay know all about him for a jear." - -"But," pursued the girl, "Lapierre was with us that night!" - -Lena shrugged. "Yah, Lapierre very smart. He send LeFroy 'long wit' das -vhiskey. Den v'en he know MacNair's Injuns git awful drunk, he tak' ju -'long for see it." - -"LeFroy!" cried Chloe. "Why, LeFroy was off to the eastward trying to -run down some whiskey-runners." - -Big Lena laughed derisively. "How ju fin' out?" she asked. - -Chloe hesitated. "Why--why, Lapierre told me." - -Again Big Lena laughed. "Yah, Lapierre tal ju, but, LeFroy, he don't -know nuthin' 'bout no vhiskey-runners. Only him and Lapierre dos all de -vhiskey-running in dis country. LeFroy, he tal me all 'bout das. He -tak' das vhiskey up dere and he sell it to MacNair's Injuns, and MacNair -shoot after him and kill two LeFroy's men. Ay goin' marry LeFroy, and he -tal me de trut'. He 'fraid to lie to me, or Ay break him in two. -LeFroy, he bane gude man now, he quit Lapierre. Ju bet ju if he don't -bane gude Ay gif him haal. Ay tal him it bane gude t'ing if MacNair kill -him das night. - -"Den MacNair come on de school and brung de policeman, LeFroy he 'fraid -for scart, and he goin' hide in de kitchen, and Ay drag him out and brung -him 'long to see MacNair. LeFroy, he 'fraid lak' haal. He squeal -MacNair goin' kill him. But Ay tal him das ain't much loss annyhow. If -he goin' kill him it's besser he kill him now, den Ay ain't got to bodder -wit' him no more. But MacNair, he don't kill him. Ay tal him LeFroy -goin' to be gude man now, and den MacNair he laugh, and tal LeFroy to go -'long and git out de grub." - -"But," cried Chloe, "you say you have known all about Lapierre for a -year, and you knew all the time that MacNair was right, and Lapierre was -wrong, and you let me go blindly on thinking Lapierre was my friend, and -treating MacNair as I did! Why didn't you tell me?" - -"Ju got yoost so manny eyes lak' me!" retorted the woman. "Ju neffer ask -me vat Ay tank 'bout MacNair and 'bout Lapierre. And Ay neffer tal ju -das 'cause Ay tank it besser ju fin' out yourself. Ay know ju got to -fin' das out sometam'. Den ju believe it. Ju know lot 'bout vat stands -in de books, but das mos' lak' MacNair say: 'bout lot t'ing, you damn -fool!" - -Chloe gasped. It was the longest speech Big Lena had ever made. And the -girl learned that when the big woman chose she could speak straight from -the shoulder. - -Harriet Penny gasped also. She pushed back her chair, and shook an -outraged finger at Big Lena. "Go into the kitchen where you belong!" she -cried. "I really cannot permit such language in my presence. You are -unspeakably coarse!" - -Chloe whirled on the little woman like a flash. "You shut up, Hat -Penny!" she snapped savagely. "You don't happen to do the permitting -around here. If your ears are too delicate to listen to _the truth_ you -better go into your own room and shut the door." And then crossing -swiftly to her own room, she opened the door, but before entering she -turned to Big Lena, "Make a pot of strong coffee," she ordered, "and -bring it to me here." - -A few minutes later when the woman entered and deposited the tray -containing coffee-pot, cream-pitcher, and sugar-bowl upon the table, she -found Chloe striding up and down the room. There was a new light in the -girl's eyes, and, very much to Big Lena's surprise, she turned suddenly -upon her and throwing her arms about the massive shoulders, planted a -kiss squarely upon the wide, flat mouth. - -"Ah, Lena," she cried, happily, "you--you are a dear!" And the Swedish -woman, with unexpected gentleness, patted the girl's shoulder, and as she -passed out of the door smiled broadly. - -For an hour Chloe paced up and down the little room. At first she could -scarcely bring herself to realize that the two men, MacNair and Lapierre, -had changed places. She remembered that in that very room she had more -than once pictured that very thing. As the conviction grew upon her, her -pulse quickened. Never before had she been so supremely--so wildly -happy. There was a strange barbaric singing in her heart, as for the -first time she saw MacNair--the real MacNair at his true worth. MacNair, -the big man, the really great man, strong and brave, alone in the North -fighting, night and day, against the snarling wolves of the world-waste. -Fighting for the good of his Indians and the right of things as they -should be. - -Her mind dwelt upon the fine courage and the patience of him. She -recalled the hurt look in his eyes when she ordered his arrest. She -remembered his words to the officer--words of kindly apology for her own -blind folly. She penetrated the rough exterior, and read the real -gentleness of his soul. And then, with a shame and mortification that -almost overwhelmed her, she saw herself as she must appear to him. She -recollected how she had accused him, had sneered at him, had called him a -liar and a thief, a murderer, and worse. - -Tears streamed unheeded from her eyes as she recalled the unconscious -pathos of his words as he stood beside his mother's grave. And the look -of reproach with which he sank, to the ground when Lapierre's bullet laid -him low. Her heart thrilled at the memory of the blazing wrath of him, -the cold gleam of his eyes, the wicked snap of his iron jaw, as he said, -"I have taken the man-trail!" She remembered the words he had once -spoken: "When you have learned the North, we shall be friends." She -wondered now if possibly this thing could ever be? Had she learned the -North? Could she ever atone in his eyes for her cocksureness, her blind -egotism? - -Chloe quickened her pace, as if to walk away and leave these things -behind. How she hated herself! It seemed to her, in her shame and -mortification, that she could never look into this man's eyes again. Her -glance strayed to the portrait of Tiger Elliston that stared down at her -from its bullet-shattered frame upon the wall. The eyes of the portrait -seemed to bore deep into her own, and the words of MacNair flashed -through her brain--the words he had used as he gazed into the eyes of -that selfsame portrait. - -Unconsciously--fiercely she repeated those words aloud: "By God! Yon is -the face of a _man_!" She started at the sound of her own voice. And -then, like liquid flame, it seemed to the girl the blood of Tiger -Elliston seethed and boiled in her veins--spurring her on to _do_! - -"Do what?" she questioned. "What was there left to _do_, for one who had -blundered so miserably?" - -Like a flash came the answer. She had done MacNair a great wrong. She -must right that wrong, or at least admit it. She must own her error and -offer an apology. - -Seating herself at the table, she seized a pen and wrote rapidly for a -long, long time. And then for a long time more she sat buried in -thought, and at the end of an hour she arose and tore up the pages she -had written, and sat down again and penned another letter which she -placed in an envelope addressed with the name of MacNair. This done she -took the letter, tiptoed across the living-room, and pushing open the -Louchoux girl's door entered and seated herself upon the edge of the bed. -The Indian girl was wide awake. A brown hand stole from beneath the -covers and clasped reassuringly about Chloe's fingers. - -She handed the girl the letter. - -"I can trust you," she said, "to place this in MacNair's hands. Go to -sleep now, I will talk further with you tomorrow." And with a hurried -good-night, Chloe returned to her own room. - -She blew out the lamp and threw herself fully dressed upon the bed. -Sleep would not come. She stared long at the little patch of moonlight -that showed upon the bare floor. She tried to think, but her heart was -filled with a strange restlessness. Arising from the bed, she crossed to -the window and stared out across the moonlit clearing toward the dark -edge of the forest--the mysterious forest whose depths seemed black with -sinister mystery--whose trees bed-coned, stretching out their branches -like arms. - -A strange restlessness came over her. The confines of the little room -seemed smothering--crushing her. Crossing to the row of pegs she drew on -her _parka_ and heavy mittens, and tiptoeing to the outer door, passed -out into the night, crossed the moonlit clearing, and stepped -half-fearfully into the deep shadow of the forest--to the call of the -beckoning arms. - -As her form was swallowed up in the blackness, another form--a gigantic -figure that bore clutched in the grasp of a capable hand the helve of an -ax, upon the polished steel of whose double-bitted blade the moonbeams -gleamed cruelly--slipped from the door of the kitchen and followed -swiftly in the wake of the girl. Big Lena was taking no chances. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE WOLF-CRY! - -So sudden and unexpected had been Lapierre's _dénouement_ at the hands -of the Indian girl and Big Lena, that when he quitted Chloe Elliston's -living-room the one thought in his mind was to return to his stronghold -on Lac du Mort. For the first time the real seriousness of his -situation forced itself upon him. He knew that no accident had brought -the officer of the Mounted to the Lac du Mort stronghold in company -with Bob MacNair, and he realized the utter futility of attempting an -escape to the outside, since the shooting of the officer at the very -walls of the stockade. - -As the husband of Chloe Elliston, the thing might have been -accomplished. But alone or in company with the half-dozen outlaws who -had accompanied him to the school, never. There was but one course -open to him: To return to Lac du Mort and make a stand against the -authorities and against MacNair. And the fact that the man realized in -all probability it would be his last stand, was borne to the -understanding of the men who accompanied him. - -These men knew nothing of the reason for Lapierre's trip to the school, -but they were not slow to perceive that whatever the reason was, -Lapierre had failed in its accomplishment. For they knew Lapierre as a -man who rarely lost his temper. - -They knew him as one equal to any emergency--one who would shoot a man -down in cold blood for disobeying an order or relaxing vigilance, but -who would shoot with a smile rather than a frown. - -Thus when Lapierre joined them in their camp at the edge of the -clearing, and with a torrent of unreasoning curses ordered the dogs -harnessed and the outfit got under way for Lac du Mort, they knew their -cause was at best a forlorn hope. - -Darkness overtook them and they camped to await the rising of the late -moon. While the men prepared the supper, Lapierre glowered upon his -sled by the fire, occasionally leaping to his feet to stamp impatiently -up and down upon the snow. The leader spoke no word and none ventured -to address him. The meal was eaten in silence. At its conclusion the -men took heart and sprang eagerly to obey an order--the order puzzled -them not a little, but no man questioned it. For the command came -crisp and sharp, and without profanity, in a voice they well knew. -Lapierre was himself again, and his black eyes gleamed wickedly as he -rolled a cigarette by the light of the rising moon. - -The dogs were whirled upon the back-trail, and once more the outfit -headed for the school upon the bank of the Yellow Knife. It was well -toward midnight when Lapierre called a halt. They were close to the -edge of the clearing. Leaving one man with the dogs and motioning the -others to follow, he stole noiselessly from tree to tree until the dull -square of light that glowed from the window of Chloe Elliston's room -showed distinctly through the interlacing branches. The quarters of -the Indians were shrouded in darkness. For a long time Lapierre stood -staring at the little square of light, while his men, motionless as -statues, blended into the shadows of the trees. The light was -extinguished. The quarter-breed moved to the edge of the clearing and, -seating himself upon the root of a gnarled banskian, rapidly outlined -his plan. - -Suddenly his form stiffened and he drew close against the trunk of his -tree, motioning the others to do likewise. The door of the cottage had -opened. A parka-clad figure stepped from the little veranda, paused -uncertainly in the moonlight, and then, with light, swinging strides, -moved directly toward the banskian. Lapierre's pulse quickened, and -his lips twisted into an evil smile. That the figure was none other -than Chloe Elliston was easily discernible in the bright moonlight, and -with fiendish satisfaction the quarter-breed realized that the girl was -playing directly into his hands. For, as he sat upon the sled beside -the little camp-fire, his active brain had evolved a new scheme. If -Chloe Elliston could not be made to accompany him willingly, why not -unwillingly? - -Lapierre believed that once safely entrenched behind the barriers of -the Bastile du Mort, he could hold out for a matter of six months -against any forces which were likely to attack him. He realized that -his most serious danger was from MacNair and his Indians. For Lapierre -knew MacNair. He knew that once upon his trail, MacNair would -relentlessly stick to that trail--the trail that must end at a -grave--many graves, in fact. For as the forces stood, Lapierre knew -that many men must die, and bitterly he cursed LeFroy for disclosing to -MacNair the whereabouts of the Mausers concealed in the storehouse. - -The inevitable attack of the Mounted he knew would come later. For the -man knew their methods. He knew that a small detachment, one officer, -or perhaps two, would appear before the barricade and demand his -surrender, and when surrender was refused, a report would go in to -headquarters, and after that--Lapierre shrugged--well, that was a -problem of tomorrow. In the meantime, if he held Chloe Elliston -prisoner under threat of death, it was highly probable that he could -deal to advantage with MacNair, and, at the proper time, with the -Mounted. If not--_Voilà_! It was a fight to the death, anyway. And -again Lapierre shrugged. - -Nearer and nearer drew the unsuspecting figure of the girl. The man -noted the haughty, almost arrogant beauty of her, as the moonlight -played upon the firm resolute features, framed by the oval of her -_parka_-hood. The next instant she paused in the shadow of his -banskian, almost at his side. Lapierre sprang to his feet and stood -facing her there in the snow. The smile of the thin lips hardened as -he noted the sudden pallor of her face and the look of wild terror that -flashed for a moment from her eyes. And then, almost on the instant, -the girl's eyes narrowed, the firm white chin thrust forward, and the -red lips curled into a sneer of infinite loathing and contempt. -Instinctively, Lapierre knew that the hands within the heavy mittens -had clenched into fighting fists. For an instant she faced him, and -then, drawing away as if he were some grizzly, loathsome thing -poisoning the air he breathed, she spoke. Her voice trembled with the -fury of her words, and Lapierre winced to the lash of a woman's scorn. - -"You--you _dog_!" she cried. "You dirty, low-lived _cur_! How _dare_ -you stand there grinning? How _dare_ you show your face? Oh, if I -were a man I would--I would strangle the life from your vile, sneaking -body with my two hands!" - -The words ended in a stifled cry. With a snarl, Lapierre sprang upon -her, pinning her arms to her side. The next instant before his eyes -loomed the form of Big Lena, who leaped toward him with upraised ax -swung high. In the excitement of the moment, the man had not noted her -approach. With a swift movement he succeeded in forcing the body of -the girl between himself and the up-raised blade. - -With a shrill cry of rage Lena dropped the ax and rushed to a grip. -Sounded then a sickening thud, and the huge woman pitched face downward -into the snow, while behind her one of Lapierre's outlaws tossed a -heavy club into the bush and rushed to the assistance of his chief. -The others came, and with incredible rapidity Chloe Elliston was gagged -and bound hand and foot, and the men were carrying her to the waiting -sled. - -For a moment Lapierre hesitated, gazing longingly toward the cottage as -he debated in his mind the advisability of rushing across the clearing -and settling his score with Mary, the Louchoux girl, whose unexpected -appearance had turned the tide so strongly against him. - -"Better let well enough alone!" he growled savagely. "I must reach Lac -du Mort ahead of MacNair." And he turned with a curse from the -clearing to see an outlaw, with knife unsheathed, stooping over the -unconscious form of Big Lena. The quarter-breed kicked the knife from -the man's hand. - -"Bring her along!" he ordered gruffly. "I will attend to her later." -And, despite the hurt of his bruised fingers, the man grinned as he -noted the venomous gleam in the leader's eye. For not only was -Lapierre thinking of the proselyting of LeFroy, who had been his most -trusted lieutenant, but of his own disarming, and the meaning stare of -the fishlike eyes that had prompted him to abandon his attempt to -poison MacNair when wounded in Chloe Elusion's room. - - -It was yet early when, as had become her custom, the Louchoux girl -dressed hurriedly and made her way to the kitchen to help Lena in the -preparation of breakfast. To her surprise she found that the fire had -not been lighted nor was Big Lena in the little room which had been -built for her adjoining the kitchen. - -The quick eyes of the girl noted that the bed had not been disturbed, -and with a sudden fear in her heart she dashed to the door of Chloe's -room, where, receiving no answer to her frantic knocking, she pushed -open the door and entered. Chloe's bed had not been slept in, and her -_parka_ was missing from its peg upon the wall. - -As the Indian girl turned from the room, Harriet Penny's door opened, -and she caught a glimpse of a night-capped head as the little spinster -glanced timidly out to inquire into the unusual disturbance. - -"Where have they gone?" cried the girl. - -"Gone? Gone?" asked Miss Penny. "What do you mean? Who has gone?" - -"She's gone--Miss Elliston--and Big Lena, too. They have not slept in -their beds." - -It took a half-minute for this bit of information to percolate Miss -Penny's understanding, and when it did she uttered a shrill scream, -banged her door, turned the key, and shot the bolt upon the inside. - -Alone in the living-room, the last words Chloe had spoken to her -flashed through the Indian girl's mind: "I can trust you to place this -in MacNair's hands." - -Without a second thought for Miss Penny, she rushed into her room, -recovered the letter from its hiding-place beneath the pillow, thrust -it into the bosom of her gown, and hastily prepared for the trail. - -In the kitchen she made up a light pack of provisions, and, with no -other thought than to find MacNair, opened the door and stepped out -into the keen, frosty air. The girl knew only that Snare Lake lay -somewhere up the river, but this gave her little concern, as no snow -had fallen since MacNair had departed with his Indians a week before, -and she knew his trail would be plain. - -From her window Harriet Penny watched the departure of the girl, and -before she was half-way across the clearing the little woman appeared -in the doorway, commanding, begging, pleading in shrill falsetto, not -to be left alone. Hearing the cries, the girl quickened her pace, and -without so much as a backward glance passed swiftly down the steep -slope to the river. - -Born to the snow-trail, the Louchoux girl made good time. During the -month she had spent at Chloe's school she had for the first time in her -life been sufficiently clothed and fed, and now with the young muscles -of her body well nourished and in the pink of condition she fairly flew -over the trail. - -Hour after hour she kept up the pace without halting. She passed the -mouth of the small tributary upon which she had first seen Chloe. The -place conjured vivid memories of the white woman and all she had done -for her and meant to her--memories that served as a continual spur to -her flying feet. It was well toward noon when, upon rounding a sharp -bend, she came suddenly face to face with the Indians and the dog-teams -that MacNair had despatched for provisions. - -She bounded among them like a flash, singled out Wee Johnnie Tamarack, -and proceeded to deluge the old man with an avalanche of words. When -finally she paused for sheer lack of breath, the old Indian, who had -understood but the smallest fragment of what she had said, remained -obviously unimpressed. Whereupon the girl produced the letter, which -she waved before his face, accompanying the act with another tirade of -words of which the Indian understood less than he had of the previous -outburst. - -Wee Johnnie Tamarack took his orders only from MacNair. MacNair had -said, "Go to the school for provisions," and to the school he must go. -Nevertheless, the sight of the letter impressed him. For in the -Northland His Majesty's mail is held sacred and must be carried to its -destination, though the heavens fall. - -To the mind of Wee Johnnie Tamarack a letter was "mail," and the fact -that its status might be altered by the absence of His Majesty's stamp -upon its corner was an affair beyond the old man's comprehension. - -Therefore he ordered the other Indians to continue their journey, and, -motioning the girl to a place on the sled, headed his dogs northward -and sent them skimming over the back-trail. - -Wee Johnnie Tamarack was counted one of the best dog-mushers in the -North, and as the girl had succeeded in implanting in the old man's -mind an urgent need of haste, he exerted his talent to the utmost. -Mile after mile, behind the flying feet of the tireless _malamutes_, -the sled-runners slipped smoothly over the crust of the ice-hard snow. - -And at midnight of the second day they dashed across the smooth surface -of the lake and brought up with a rush before the door of MacNair's own -cabin, which luckily had been spared by the flames. - -It was a record drive, for a "two-man" load--that drive of Wee Johnnie -Tamarack's, having clipped twelve hours from a thirty-six-hour trail. - -MacNair's door flew open to their frantic pounding. The girl thrust -the letter into his hand, and with a supreme effort told what she knew -of the disappearance of Chloe and Big Lena. Whereupon, she threw -herself at full length upon the floor and immediately sank into a -profound sleep. - -MacNair fumbled upon the shelf for a candle and, lighting it, seated -himself beside the table, and tore the envelope from the letter. Never -in his life had the man read words penned by the hand of a woman. The -fingers that held the letter trembled, and he wondered at the wild -beating of his heart. - -The story of the Louchoux girl had aroused in him a sudden fear. He -wondered vaguely that the disappearance of Chloe Elliston could have -caused the dull hurt in his breast. The pages in his hand were like no -letter he had ever received. There was something -personal--intimate--about them. His huge fingers gripped them lightly, -and he turned them over and over in his hand, gazing almost in awe upon -the bold, angular writing. Then, very slowly, he began to read the -words. - -Unconsciously, he read them aloud, and as he read a strange lump arose -in his throat so that his voice became husky and the words faltered. -He read the letter through to the end. He leaped to his feet and -strode rapidly up and down the room, his fists clenched and his breath -coming in great gasps. - -Bob MacNair was fighting. Fighting against an irresistible impulse--an -impulse as new and strange to him as though born of another world--an -impulse to find Chloe Elliston, to take her in his arms, and to crush -her close against his wildly pounding heart. - -Minutes passed as the man strode up and down the length of the little -room, and then once more he seated himself at the table and read the -letter through. - - -"DEAR MR. MACNAIR: - -"I cannot leave the North without this little word to you. I have -learned many things since I last saw you--things I should have learned -long ago. You were right about the Indians, about Lapierre, about -_me_. I know now that I have been a fool. Lapierre always removed his -hat in my presence, therefore he was a gentleman! Oh, what a fool I -was! - -"I will not attempt to apologize. I have been too _nasty_, and -_hateful_, and _mean_ for any apology. You said once that some day we -should be friends. I am reminding you of this because I want you to -think of me as a friend. Wherever I may be, I will think of -you--always. Of the splendid courage of the man who, surrounded by -treachery and intrigue and the vicious attacks of the powers that prey, -dares to stand upon his convictions and to fight alone for the good of -the North--for the cause of those who will never be able to fight for -themselves. - -"It will not be necessary to tell you that I shall go straight to the -headquarters of the Mounted and withdraw my charge against you. I have -heard of your lawless raids into the far North; I think they are -_splendid_! Keep the good work up! Shoot as straight as you can--as -straight as you shot that night on Snare Lake. I should love to stand -at your side and shoot, too. But that can never be. - -"Just a word more. Lena is going to marry LeFroy; and, knowing Lena as -I do, I think his reformation is assured. I am leaving everything to -them. The contents of the storehouse will set them up as independent -traders. - -"And now farewell. I want you to have my most valued possession, the -portrait of my grandfather, Tiger Elliston, the man I have always -admired more than any other until----" - - -Until what? wondered MacNair. The word had been crossed out, and he -finished the letter still wondering. - - -"When you look at the picture in its splintered frame, think sometimes -of the 'fool moose-calf,' who, having succeeded by the narrowest margin -in eluding the fangs of 'the wolf' is returning, wiser, to its -mountains. - -"Yours very truly--and very, very repentantly, - -"CHLOE ELLISTON." - - -Bob MacNair lost his fight. He arose once more, his great frame -trembling in the grip of a new thrill. He stretched his great arms to -the southward in a silent sign of surrender. He sought not to dodge -the issue, strange and wonderful as it seemed to him. He loved this -woman--loved her as he knew he could love no other--as he had never -dreamed it was in the heart of man to love. - -And then, with the force of a blow, came the realization that this -woman--his woman--was at that very instant, in all probability, at the -mercy of a fiend who would stop at nothing to gain his own ends. - -He leaped to the door. - -"By God, I'll tear his heart out!" he roared as he wrenched at the -latch. And the next instant the shores of Snare Lake echoed to the -wild weird sound of the wolf-cry--the call of MacNair to his clan! -Other calls and other summons might be ignored upon provocation, but -when the terrible wolf-cry shattered the silence of the forest -MacNair's Indians rushed to his side. - -Only death itself could deter them from fore-gathering at the sound of -the wolf-cry. Before the echoes of MacNair's voice had died away dark -forms were speeding through the moonlight. From all directions they -came; from the cabins that yet remained standing, from the tents -pitched close against the unburned walls of the stockade, from rude -wickiups of skins and of brushwood. - -Old men and young men they answered the call, and each in his hand bore -a rifle. MacNair snapped a few quick orders. Men rushed to harness -the dog-teams while others provisioned the sleds for the trail. - -With one arm MacNair swung the Louchoux girl from the floor, and, -picking up his rifle, dashed out into the night. - -Wee Johnnie Tamarack, just in from a twenty-four-hour trail, stood at -the head of MacNair's own dogs--the seven great Athabasca River dogs -that had carried him into the North. With a cry to his Indians to -follow and to bring the Louchoux girl, MacNair threw himself belly-wise -onto his sled, gave voice to a weird cry as his dogs shot out across -the white snow-level of Snare Lake, and headed south-ward toward the -Yellow Knife. - -He laughed aloud as he glanced over the back-trail and noted that half -of his Indians were already following. He had chosen that last cry -well. Never before had the Indians heard it from the white man's lips, -and they thrilled at the sound to the marrow. The blood surged through -the veins of the wild men as it had not surged in long decades. _It -was the war-cry of the Yellow Knives_! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -THE BATTLE - -Bob MacNair's sled seemed scarcely to touch the hard surface of the -snow. The great _malemutes_ ran low and true over the well-defined -trail. He had selected the dogs with an eye to speed and endurance at -the time he had headed northward with Corporal Ripley after his release -from the Fort Saskatchewan jail. - -The shouts of the following Indians died away. Familiar landmarks -leaped past, and save for an occasional word of encouragement MacNair -let the dogs set their own pace. For, consumed as he was by anxiety -for what might lie at the end of the trail, he knew that the homing -instinct of the wolf-dogs would carry them more miles and in better -heart than the sting of his long gut-lash. - -At daylight the man halted for a half-hour, fed his dogs, and boiled -tea, which he drank in great gulps, hot and black, from the rim of the -pot. At noon one of the dogs showed signs of distress, and MacNair cut -him loose, leaving him to follow as best as he could. When darkness -fell only three dogs remained in harness, and these showed plainly the -effects of the long trail-strain. While behind, somewhere upon the -wide stretch of the Yellow Knife, the other four limped painfully in -the wake of their stronger team-mates. - -An hour passed, during which the pace slackened perceptibly, and then -with only ten miles to go, two more dogs laid down. Pausing only to -cut them free from the harness, MacNair continued the trail on foot. -The hard-packed surface of the snow made the rackets unnecessary, and -the man struck into a long, swinging trot--the stride of an Indian -runner. - -Mile after mile slipped by as the huge muscles of him, tireless as -bands of steel, flexed and sprung with the regularity of clockworks. -The rising moon was just topping the eastern pines as he dashed up the -steep bank of the clearing. For a moment he halted as his glance swept -the familiar outlines of the log buildings, standing black and -clean-cut and sombre in the light of the rising moon. - -MacNair drew a deep breath, and the next moment the long wolf-cry -boomed out over the silent snow. As if by magic, the clearing sprang -into life. Lights shone from the barrack windows and from the windows -of the cabins beyond; doors banged. The white snow of the clearing was -dotted with swift-moving forms as men, women, and children answered the -clan-call of MacNair, shouting to one another as they ran, in hoarse, -deep gutturals. - -In an instant MacNair singled out Old Elk from among the crowding forms. - -"What's happened here?" he cried. "Where is the white _kloochman_?" - -Old Elk had taken charge of the thirty Indians MacNair had despatched -for provisions, and immediately upon learning from the lips of the -Indian women of Chloe's disappearance he had left the loading of the -sleds to the others while he worked out the signs in the snow. Thus at -MacNair's question the old Indian motioned him to follow, and, starting -at the door of the cottage, he traced Chloe's trail to the banskian, -and there in a few words and much silent pantomime he explained without -doubt or hesitation exactly what had taken place from the moment of -Chloe's departure from the cottage until she was carried, bound and -gagged and placed upon Lapierre's waiting sled. - -As MacNair followed the old Indian's story his fists clenched, his eyes -hardened to points, and the breath whistled through his nostrils in -white plumes of frost-steam. - -Old Elk finished and, pointing eloquently in the direction of Lac du -Mort, asked eagerly: - -"You follow de trail of Lapierre?" - -MacNair nodded, and before he could reply the Indian stepped close to -his side and placed a withered hand upon his arm. - -"Me, I'm lak' y'u fadder," he said; "y'u lak' my own son. Y'u follow -de trail of Lapierre. Y'u tak' de white _kloochman_ away from -Lapierre, an' den, by gar, when y'u got her y'u ke'p her. Dat -_kloochman_, him damn fine 'oman!" - -Realizing his worst fears were verified, MacNair immediately set about -preparations for the attack on Lapierre's stronghold. All night he -superintended the breaking out of supplies in the storehouse and the -loading of sleds for the trail, and at the first streak of dawn the -vanguard of Indians who had followed him from Snare Lake swarmed up the -bank from the river. - -MacNair selected the freshest and strongest of these, and with the -thirty who were already at the school, struck into the timber with -sleds loaded light for a quick dash, leaving the heavier impedimenta to -follow in care of the women and those who were yet to arrive from Snare -Lake. - -The fact that MacNair had made use of the wolf-cry to call them -together, his set face, and terse, quick commands told the Indians that -this was no ordinary expedition, and the eyes of the men glowed with -anticipation. The long-promised--the inevitable battle was at hand. -The time had come for ridding the North of Lapierre. And the fight -would be a fight to the death. - -It took three days for MacNair's flying squadron to reach the fort at -Lac du Mort. By the many columns of smoke that arose from the surface -of the little plateau, he knew that the men of Lapierre waited the -attack in force. MacNair led his Indians across the lake and into the -black spruce swamp. A half-dozen scouts were sent out to surround the -plateau, with orders to report immediately anything of importance. - -Old Elk was detailed to follow the trail of Lapierre's sled to the very -walls of the stockade. For well MacNair knew that the crafty -quarter-breed was quite capable of side-stepping the obvious and -carrying the girl to some rendezvous unknown to any one but himself. -The remaining Indians he set to work felling trees for a small stockade -which would serve as a defence against a surprise attack. Saplings -were also felled for light ladders to be used in the scaling of -Lapierre's walls. - -Evening saw the completion of a substantial five-foot barricade, and -soon after dark Old Elk appeared with the information that both Chloe -and Big Lena, as well as Lapierre himself, were within the confines of -the Bastile du Mort. The man also proudly displayed a bleeding scalp -which he had ripped from the head of one of Lapierre's scouts who had -blundered upon the old man as he lay concealed behind a snow-covered -log. The sight of the grewsome trophy with its long black hair and -blood-dripping flesh excited the Indians to a fever pitch. The scalp -was placed upon a pole driven into the snow in the centre of the little -stockade. And for hours the Indians danced about it, rendering the -night hideous with the wild chants and wails of their weird -incantations. - -As the night advanced and the incantations increased in violence, -MacNair arose from the robe he had spread beside his camp-fire, and -drawing away from the wild savagery of the scene, stole alone out into -the dense blackness of the swamp and detouring to the shore of the -lake, seated himself upon an uprooted tree-butt. - -An hour passed as he sat thinking--staring into the dark. The moon -rose and illumined with soft radiance the indomitable land of the raw. -MacNair's gaze roved from the forbidding blackness of the farther -shore-line, across the dead, cold snow-level of the ice-locked lake, to -the bold headlands that rose sheer upon his right and upon his left. -The scene was one of unbending _hardness_--of nature's frowning -defiance of man. The soft touch of the moonlight jarred upon his mood. -Death lurked in the shadows--and death, and worse than death, awaited -the dawning of the day. It was a _hard_ land--the North--having naught -to do with beauty and the soft brilliance of moonlight. He glanced -toward the jutting rock-ribbed plateau that was Lapierre's stronghold. -Out of the night--out of the intense blackness of the spruce-guarded -dark came the wailing howl of the savage scalp-dance. - -"The real spirit of the North," he murmured bitterly. He arose to his -feet, and, with his eyes fixed upon the bold headland of the little -plateau, stretched his great arms toward the spot that concealed the -woman he loved--and then he turned and passed swiftly into the -blackness of the forest. - -But despite the frenzy of the blood-lust, at no time were the Indians -out of MacNair's control, and when he ordered quiet, the incantations -ceased at the word and they sought their blankets to dream eagerly of -the morrow. - -Morning came, and long before sunrise a thin line of men, women, and -heavily laden dog-sleds put out from the farther shore of the lake and -headed for the black spruce swamp. The clan of MacNair was gathering -to the call of the wolf. - -The newcomers were conducted to the log stockade where the women were -left to store the provisions, while MacNair called a council of his -fighting men and laid out his plan of attack. He glanced with pride -into the eager faces of the men who would die for him. He counted -eighty-seven men under arms, thirty of whom were armed with Lapierre's -Mausers. - -The position of the quarter-breed's fort admitted only one plan of -attack--to rush the barricade that stretched across the neck of the -little peninsula. MacNair longed for action. He chafed with -impatience to strike the blow that would crush forever the power of -Lapierre, yet he found himself wholly at the mercy of Lapierre. For -somewhere behind that barrier of logs was the woman he loved. He -shuddered at the thought. He knew Lapierre. Knew that the man's white -blood and his education, instead of civilizing, had served to heighten -and to refine the barbaric cruelty and savagery of his heart. He knew -that Lapierre would stop at nothing to gain an end. His heart chilled -at the possibilities. He dreaded to act--yet he knew that he must act. - -He dismissed the idea of a siege. A quick, fierce assault--an attack -that should have no lull, nor armistice until his Indians had scaled -the stockade, was preferable to the heart-breaking delay of a siege. -MacNair decided to launch his attack with so fierce an onslaught that -Lapierre would have no time to think of the girl. But if worse came to -worst, and he did think of her, what he would do he would be forced to -do quickly. - -Grimly, MacNair led his warriors to the attack, and as the lean-faced -horde moved silently through the timbered aisles of the swamp, the -sound of scattering shots was borne to their ears as the scouts -exchanged bullets with Lapierre's sentries. - -A cleared space, thirty yards in width, separated the forest from the -barricade, and with this clearing in sight, in the shelter of the -snow-laden spruces, MacNair called a halt, and in a brief address gave -his Indians their final instructions. In their own tongue he addressed -them, falling naturally into the oratorical swing of the council fire. - -"The time has come, my people, as I have told you it must sometime -come, for the final reckoning with Lapierre. Not because the man has -sought my life, am I fighting him. I would not call upon you to risk -your lives to protect mine; not to avenge the burning of my storehouse, -nor yet, because he dug my gold. I am fighting him because he has -struck at your homes, and the homes of your wives and your children. -You are my people, and your interests are my interests. - -"I have not preached to you, as do the good fathers at the Mission, of -a life in a world to come. Of that I know nothing. It is this -life--the daily life we are living now, with which I have to do. I -have taught you to work with your hands, because he who works is better -clothed, and better fed, and better housed than he who does not work. -I have commanded you not to drink the white man's fire-water, not -because it is wrong to be drunken. A man's life is his own. He may do -with it as he pleases. But a man who is drunk is neither well nor -happy. He will not work. He sees his women and his children suffering -and in want, and he does not care. He beats them and drives them into -the cold. He is no longer a man, but a brute, meaner and more to be -despised than the wolf--for a wolf feeds his young. Therefore, I have -commanded you to drink no fire-water. - -"I have not made you learn from books; for books are things of the -white men. In books men have written many things; but in no book is -anything written that will put warmer clothes upon your backs, or more -meat in your _caches_. The white _kloochman_ came among you with -books. Her heart is good and she is a friend of the Indians, but all -her life has she lived in the land of the white men. And from books, -the white men learn to gather their meat and their clothing. -Therefore, she thought that the Indians also should learn from books. - -"But the white _kloochman_ has learned now the needs of the North. At -first I feared she would not learn that it is the work of the hands -that counts. When I knew she had learned I sent you to her, for there -are many things she can teach you, and especially your women and -children, of which I know nothing. - -"The white _kloochman_, your good friend, has fallen into the hands of -Lapierre. We are men, and we must take her from Lapierre. And now the -time has come to fight! You are fighting men and the children of -fighting men! When this fight is over there will be peace in the -Northland! It will be the last fight for many of us--for many of us -must die! Lapierre's men are well armed. They will fight hard, for -they know it is their last stand. Kill them as long as they continue -to fight, but _do not kill Lapierre_!" - -His eyes flashed dangerously as he paused to glance into the faces of -his fighters. - -"No man shall kill Lapierre!" he repeated. "He is _mine_! With my own -hands will I settle the score; and now listen well to the final word: - -"Drag the ladders to the edge of the clearing, scatter along the whole -front in the shelter of the trees, and at the call of the hoot-owl you -shall commence firing. Shoot whenever one of Lapierre's men shows -himself. But remain well concealed, for the men of Lapierre will be -entrenched behind the loop-holes. At the call of the loon you shall -cease firing." - -MacNair rapidly tolled out twenty who were to man the ladders. - -"At the call of the wolf, rush to the stockade with the ladders, and -those who have guns shall follow. Then up the ladders and over the -walls! After that, fight, every man for himself, but mind you well, -that you take Lapierre alive, for Lapierre is mine!" - -The laddermen stationed themselves at the edge of the timber, and the -men who carried guns scattered along the whole width of the clearing. -Then from the depths of the forest suddenly boomed the cry of the -hoot-owl. Heads appeared over the edge of Lapierre's stockade, and -from the shelter of the black spruce swamp came the crash of rifles. -The heads disappeared, and of Lapierre's men many tumbled backward into -the snow, while others crouched upon the firing ledge which Lapierre -had constructed near the top of his log stockade and answered the -volley, shooting at random into the timber. But only as a man's head -appeared, or as his body showed between the spaces of the logs, were -their shots returned. MacNair's Indians were biding their time. - -For an hour this ineffectual and abortive sniping kept up, and then -from the walls of the stockade appeared that for which MacNair had been -waiting--a white flag fluttering from the end of a sapling. Raising -his head, MacNair imitated the call of the loon, and the firing ceased -in the timber. Having no white rag, MacNair waved a spruce bough and -stepped boldly out into the clearing. - -The head and shoulders of Lapierre appeared above the wall of the -barricade, and for several moments the two faced each other in silence. -MacNair grim, determined, scowling--Lapierre defiant, crafty, with his -thin lips twisted into a mocking smile. The quarter-breed was the -first to speak. - -"So," he drawled, "my good friend has come to visit his neighbour! -Come right in, I assure you a hearty welcome, but you must come alone! -Your retainers are too numerous and entirely too _bourgeois_ to eat at -a gentleman's table." - -"But not to drink from his bottle," retorted MacNair. "I am coming -in--but not alone!" - -Lapierre laughed derisively. "O-ho, you would come by force--by force -of arms, eh! Well, come along, but I warn you, you do so at your -peril. My men are all armed, and the walls are thick and high. -Rather, I choose to think you will listen to reason." - -"Reason!" roared MacNair. "I will reason with you when we come to -hands' grips!" - -Lapierre shrugged. "As you please," he answered: "I was only thinking -of your own welfare, and, perhaps, of the welfare of another, who will -to a certainty fare badly in case your savages attack us. I myself am -not of brutal nature, but among my men are some who--" He paused and -glanced significantly into MacNair's eyes. Again he shrugged--"We will -not dwell upon the possibilities, but here is the lady, let her speak -for herself. She has begged for the chance to say a word in her own -behalf. I will only add that you will find me amenable to reason. It -is possible that our little differences may be settled in a manner -satisfactory to all, and without bloodshed." - -The man stepped aside upon the firing ledge, evidently in order to let -someone pass up the ladder. The next instant the face of Chloe -Elliston appeared above the logs of the stockade. At the sight of the -girl MacNair felt the blood surge through his veins. He took a quick -step toward and at a glance noted the unwonted pallor of her cheeks, -the flashing eyes, and the curve of the out-thrust chin. - -Then clear and firm her voice sounded in his ears. He strained forward -to catch the words, and at that moment he knew in his heart that this -woman meant more to him than life itself--more than revenge--more even -than the welfare of his Indians. - -"You received my letter?" asked the girl eagerly. "Can you forgive me? -Do you understand?" - -MacNair answered, controlling his voice with difficulty. "There is -nothing to forgive. I have understood you all along." - -"You will promise to grant one request--for my sake?" - -Without hesitation came the man's answer; "Anything you ask." - -"On your soul, will you promise, and will you keep that promise -regardless of consequences?" - -"I promise," answered the man, and his voice rang harsh. For revenge -upon Lapierre with his own hands had been the dearest hope of his life. -At the next words of the girl, an icy hand seemed clutching at his -heart. - -"Then fight!" she cried. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Shoot! And cut! -And batter! And kill! Until you have ridded the North of this fiend!" - -With a snarl, Lapierre leaped toward the girl with arm upraised. There -was a chorus of hoarse cries from behind the walls. Before the -uplifted arm could descend the figure of Lapierre disappeared with -startling suddenness. The next instant the gigantic form of Big Lena -appeared, head and shoulders above the walls of the stockade at the -point where Lapierre had been. The huge shoulders stooped, the form of -Chloe Elliston arose as on air, shot over the wall, and dropped into a -crumpled heap upon the snow at its base. The face of Big Lena framed -by flying strands of flaxen hair appeared for a moment above the wall, -and then the sound of a shot rang sharp and clear. The face -disappeared, and from beyond the wall came the muffled thud of a heavy -body striking the snow. - -A dark head appeared above the walls at the point near where the girl -had fallen, and an arm was thrust over the logs. MacNair caught the -glint of a blue-black barrel. Like a flash he drew his automatic and -fired. The revolver dropped from the top of the wall to the snow, and -the hand that held it gripped frantically at the logs and disappeared. - -MacNair threw back his head, and loud and clear on the frosty air -blared the call of the wolf. The whole line of the forest spit flame. -The crash and roar of a hundred guns was in the air as the men from -behind the barricade replied. Lithe forms carrying ladders dashed -across the open space. Many pitched forward before the wall and lay -doubled grotesquely upon the white strip of snow, while eager hands -carried the ladders on. - -Suddenly, above the crash of the guns sounded the war-cry of the Yellow -Knives. The whole clearing sprang alive with men, yelling like fiends -and firing as they ran. Dark forms swarmed up the ladders and over the -walls. MacNair grabbed the rungs of a ladder and drew himself up. -Above him climbed the Indian who had carried the ladder. He had no -gun, but the grey blade of a long knife flashed wickedly between his -teeth. - -The Indian crashed backward, carrying MacNair with him into the snow. -MacNair struggled to his feet. The Indian lay almost at the foot of -the ladder, and, gurgling horribly, rose to his knees. MacNair glanced -into his face. The man's eyes were rolled backward until only the -whites showed. His lips moved, and he clung to the rungs of the -ladder. Blood splashed down his front and reddened the trampled snow, -then he fell heavily backward, and MacNair saw that his whole throat -had been shot away by the close fired charge of a shotgun. - -With a roar, MacNair scrambled up the ladder, automatic in hand. On -the firing ledge's narrow rim a riverman snapped together the breech of -his shotgun, and looked up--his face close to the face of MacNair. And -as he looked his jaw sagged in terror. MacNair jammed the barrel of -the automatic into the open mouth and fired. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE GUN-BRAND - -Chloe Elliston lay in the snow, partially stunned by her fall from the -top of the stockade. She was not unconscious--her hearing and vision -were unimpaired, but her numbed brain did not grasp the significance of -the sights and sounds which her senses recorded. She wondered vaguely -how it happened she was lying there in the snow when she distinctly -remembered that she was standing upon the narrow firing ledge urging -MacNair to fight. There was MacNair now! She could see him -distinctly. Even as she looked the man drew his pistol and fired. -Something struck the snow almost within reach of her hand. It was a -revolver. Chloe glanced upward, but saw only the log wall of the -stockade which seemed to tower upward until it touched the sky. - -A blood-curdling cry rang out upon the air--a sound she had heard of -nights echoing among rock-rimmed ridges--the pack-cry of the -wolf-breed. She shuddered at the nearness of the sound and turned, -expecting to encounter the red throat and slavering jaws of the -fang-bared leader of the pack, and instead she saw only MacNair. - -Then along the wall of the forest came thin grey puffs of smoke, and -her ears rang with the crash of the rifle-volley. She heard the wicked -spit and thud of the bullets as they ripped at the logs above her, and -tiny slivers of bark made black spots upon the snow. A piece fell upon -her face, she brushed it away with her hand. The sounds of the shots -increased ten fold. Answering spurts of grey smoke jutted from the -walls above her. The loop-holes bristled with rifle-barrels! - -In her nostrils was the rank smell of powder-smoke, and across the -clearing, straight toward her, dashed many men with ladders. A man -fell almost at her side, his ladder, tilting against the wall, slipped -sidewise into the snow, crashing against one of the protruding -rifle-barrels as it fell. Two other men came, and uprighting the -ladder, climbed swiftly up the wall. Chloe saw that they were -MacNair's Indians. - -The scene changed with lightning rapidity. Men with rifles were in the -clearing, now running and shooting, and falling down to remain -motionless in the snow. Above the uproar of the guns a new sound -rolled and swelled. An eery, blood-curdling sound that chilled the -heart and caused the roots of her hair to prickle along the base of her -skull. It was the war-cry of the Yellow Knives as they fired, and ran, -and clambered up the ladders, - -The sights and sounds were clean-cut, distinct, intensely -thrilling--but impersonal, like the shifting scenes of a photo-play. -She glanced about for MacNair. Her eyes travelled swiftly from face to -swarthy face of the men who charged out of the timber. She directed -her glance toward the wall, and there, not twenty feet away, she saw -him reach for the rungs of the ladder. And the next moment two forms -crashed backward into the snow. For an instant the girl closed her -eyes, and in that instant her brain awoke with a start. About her the -sounds leaped into terrible significance. She realized that she was -outside the walls of the stockade. That the sights and sounds about -her were intensely real. - -The forces of MacNair and Lapierre had locked horns in the final -struggle, and her fate, and the fate of the whole North, hung in the -balance. All about her were the hideous sounds of battle. She was -surprised that she was unafraid; instead, the blood seemed coursing -through her veins with the heat of flame. Her heart seemed bursting -with a wild, fierce joy. Something of which she had always been dimly -conscious--some latent thing which she had always held in check--seemed -suddenly to burst within her. A flood of fancies crowded her brain. -The wicked crack of the rifles became the roar of cannon. Tall masts, -to which clung shot-torn shrouds, reared high above a fog of -powder-smoke, and beyond waved the tops of palm-trees. The spirit of -Tiger Elliston had burst its bounds! - -With a cry like the scream of a beast, the girl leaped to her feet. -She tore the heavy mittens from her hands, and reached for the revolver -which lay in the snow at her side. She leaped toward MacNair who had -regained his feet, red with the life-blood of the Indian who lay upon -his back in the snow, staring upward wide-eyed, unseeing, throatless. -She called loudly, but her voice was lost in the mighty uproar, and -MacNair sprang up the ladder. - -Like a flash Chloe followed, holding her heavy revolver as he had held -his. She glanced upward; MacNair had disappeared over the edge of the -stockade. The next instant she, too, had reached the top. She paused, -looking downward. MacNair was scrambling to his feet. Ten feet away a -man levelled a gun at him. He fired from his knee, and the man pitched -forward. Upon him, from behind, rushed two men swinging their rifles -high. They had almost reached him when Chloe fired straight down. The -nearest man dropped his rifle and staggered against the wall. The -other paused and glanced upward. Chloe shot squarely into his face. -The bullet ripped downward, splitting his jaw. The man rushed -screaming over the snow, tearing with both hands at the wound. - -MacNair was upon his feet now. Beyond him the fighting was hand to -hand. With clubbed guns and axes, Lapierre's men were meeting the -Indians who swarmed over the walls. Once more the wild wolf-cry rang -in the girl's ears as MacNair leaped into the thick of the fight. The -girl became conscious that someone was pounding at her feet. She -glanced downward. Two Indians were upon the ladder waiting to get over -the wall. Without hesitation she tightened her grip upon her revolver -and leaped into the stockade. She sprawled awkwardly in the snow. She -felt her shoulder seized viciously. Someone was jerking her to her -feet. She looked up and encountered the gleaming eyes of Lapierre. - -Chloe tried to raise her revolver, but Lapierre kicked it from her -hand. There was the sound of a heavy impact. Lapierre's hand was -jerked from her shoulder; he was hurled backward, cursing, into the -snow. One of the Indians who had followed Chloe up the ladder had -leaped squarely upon the quarter-breed's shoulders. Like a flash -Lapierre drew his automatic, but the Indian threw himself upon the gun -and tore it from his grasp. Then he scrambled to his feet. Lapierre, -too, was upon his feet in an instant. - -"Shoot, you fool! Kill him! Kill him!" cried Chloe. - -But the Indian continued to stare stupidly, and Lapierre dashed to -safety around the corner of his storehouse. - -"MacNair say no kill," said the Indian gravely. - -"Not kill!" cried the girl. "He is crazy! What is he thinking of?" -But the Indian was already out of ear-shot. Chloe glanced about her -for her revolver. An evil-faced half-breed, dragging his body from the -hips, pulled himself toward it, hunching along with his bare hands -digging into the crust of the snow. The girl reached it a second -before him. The man cursed her shrilly and sank into the snow, crying -aloud like a child. - -Suddenly Chloe realized that the battle had surged beyond her. Shots -and hoarse cries arose from the scrub beyond the storehouse, while all -about her, in the trampled snow, wounded men cursed and prayed, and -dead men froze in the slush of their own heart's blood. The girl -followed into the scrub, and to her surprise came face to face with the -Louchoux girl, who was carrying armfuls of dry brushwood, which she -piled against the corner of the storehouse. - -Chloe glanced into the black eyes that glowed like living coals. The -Indian girl added her armful to the pile and, drawing matches from her -pocket, dropped to her knees in the snow. She pointed toward the log -storehouse. - -"Lapierre ran inside," she said. - -With a wild laugh Chloe passed on. The scrub thinned toward the point -of the peninsula, where the rim-rocks rose sheer two hundred feet above -the level of the lake. Chloe caught sight of MacNair's Indians leaping -before her, and, beyond, the crowding knot of men who gave ground -before the rush of the Yellow Knives. One by one the men dropped, -writhing, into the snow. The others gave ground rapidly, shooting at -their advancing enemies, cursing, crowding--but always giving ground. - -At last they were upon the rim-rocks, huddled together like cattle. -Chloe could see them outlined distinctly against the sky. They fired -one last scattering volley, and then the ranks thinned suddenly; many -were leaping over the edge, while others, throwing down their rifles, -advanced with arms raised high above their heads. Some Indians fired, -and two of these pitched forward. Then MacNair bellowed a hoarse -order, and the firing ceased, and the Indians bound the prisoners with -thongs of _babiche_. - -The girl found herself close to the edge of the high plateau. She -leaned far over and peered downward. Upon the white snow of the rocks, -close to the foot of the cliff, lay several dark forms. She drew back -and turned to MacNair, but he had gone. A puff of smoke arose into the -air above the tops of the scrub-trees, and Chloe knew that the -storehouse was burning. The smoke increased in volume and rolled -heavily skyward upon the light breeze. She could hear the crackle of -flames, and the smell of burning spruce was in the air. - -She pushed forward into the cordon of Indians which surrounded the -burning building, glancing hurriedly from face to face, searching for -MacNair. Upon the edge of the little clearing which surrounded the -storehouse she saw the Louchoux girl bending over a form that lay -stretched in the snow. Swiftly she made her way to the girl's side. -She was bending over the inert form of Big Lena. The big woman opened -her eyes, and with a cry Chloe dropped to her knees by her side. - -"Ay ain't hurt much," Lena muttered weakly. "Vun faller shoot me on de -head, but de bullet yump off sidevays. Ju bet MacNair, he gif dem -haal!" - -At the mention of MacNair's name Chloe sprang to her feet and continued -along the cordon. - -One end of the storehouse and half the roof was ablaze, while thick, -heavy smoke curled from beneath the full length of the eaves and -through the chinkings of the logs. Chloe had almost completed the -circle when suddenly she came to a halt, for there, pressed tight -against the logs close beside the jamb of the closed door, stood -MacNair. All about her the Indians stood in tense expectancy. Their -eyes gleamed bright, and the breath hissed between parted lips--short, -quick breaths of excitement. The flames had not yet reached the front -of the storehouse, but tiny puffs of smoke found their way out above -the door. As she looked the form of MacNair stiffened, and Chloe -gasped as she saw that the man was unarmed. - -Suddenly the door flew open, and Lapierre, clutching an automatic in -either hand, leaped swiftly into the open. The next instant his arms -were pinioned to his sides. A loud cry went up from the watching -Indians, and from all quarters came the sound of rushing feet as those -who had guarded the windows crowded about. - -Lapierre was no weakling. He strained and writhed to free himself from -the encircling arms. But the arms were bands of steel, clamping -tighter and tighter about him. Slowly MacNair worked his hand downward -to the other's wrist. There was a lightning-like jerk, and the -automatic new into the air and dropped harmless into the snow. The -same instant MacNair's grasp tightened about the other wrist. He -released Lapierre's disarmed hand and, reaching swiftly, tore the other -gun from the man's fingers. - -Lapierre swung at his face, but MacNair leaned suddenly backward and -outward, still grasping the wrist, Lapierre's body described a short -half-circle, and he brought up with a thud against a nearby pile of -stove-wood. Releasing his grip, MacNair crowded him close and closer -against the wood-pile which rose waist high out of the snow. Slowly -Lapierre bent backward, forced by the heavier body of MacNair. MacNair -released his grip on the other's wrist, but his right hand still held -Lapierre's gun. A huge forearm slid up the quarter-breed's chest and -came to rest under the chin, while the man beat frantically with his -two fists against MacNair's shoulders and ribs. - -He stared wildly into MacNair's eyes--eyes that glowed with a greenish -hate-glare like the night-eyes of the wolf. Backward and yet backward -the man bent until it seemed that his spine must snap. His clenched -fists ceased to beat futilely against the huge shoulders of his -opponent, and he clawed frantically at the snow that hung in a -miniature cornice along the edge of the wood-pile. - -Chloe crowded close, shoving the Indians aside. There was a swift -movement near her. The Louchoux girl forced past and leaped lightly to -the top of the wood-pile, where she knelt close, staring downward with -hard, burning eyes into the up-turned face of Lapierre. - -The man could bend no farther now, his shoulders were imbedded in the -snow and the back of his head was buried to the ears. His chest heaved -spasmodically as he gasped for air, and the thin breath whined through -his teeth. His lips turned greyish-blue and swelled thick, like strips -of blistered rubber, and his eyes rolled upward until they looked like -the sightless eyes of the blind. The blue-grey lips writhed -spasmodically. He tried to cry out, but the sound died in a horrible -throaty gurgle. - -Slowly, MacNair raised his gun--Lapierre's own gun that he had -wrenched, bare-handed from his grasp. Raised it until the muzzle -reached the level of Lapierre's eyes. Chloe had stared wide-eyed -throughout the whole proceeding. Gazing in fascination at the slow -deliberateness of the terrible ordeal. - -As the muzzle of the gun came to rest between Lapierre's eyes the girl -sprang to MacNair's side. "Don't! Oh, don't kill him!" Her voice -rose almost to a shriek. "Don't kill him--for my sake!" - -The muzzle of the gun lowered and without releasing an ounce of -pressure upon the grip-locked body of the man, MacNair slowly turned -his eyes to meet the eyes of the girl. Never in her life had she -looked into eyes like that--eyes that gleamed and stabbed, and burned -with a terrible pent-up emotion. The eyes of Tiger Elliston, -intensified a hundredfold! And then MacNair's lips moved and his voice -came low but distinctly and with terrible hardness. - -"I am not going to kill him," he said, "but, by God! He will wish I -had! I hope he will live to be an old, old man. To the day of his -death he will carry my mark. Bone-deep he will carry the scar of the -gun-brand! The cross of the curse of Cain!" - -MacNair turned from the girl and again the gun crept slowly upward. -The quarter-breed had heard the words. With a mighty effort he filled -his lungs and from between the blue-grey lips sang a wild, shrill -scream of abysmal soul-terror. Chloe Elliston's heart went sick at the -cry, which rang in her ears as the very epitome of mortal agony. She -felt her knees grow weak and she glanced at the Louchoux girl, who -knelt close, still staring into the upturned face, the while her red -lips smiled. - -Closer, and closer crowded the Indians. MacNair deliberately reversed -the gun, his huge fist still gripping the butt. The top of the barrel -was turned downward, and the sight bit deep into the skin at the roots -of the hair on Lapierre's temple. Deeper and deeper sank the sight. -MacNair's fingers tightened their grip until the knuckles whitened and -a huge shoulder hunched to throw its weight upon the arm. - -Slowly, very slowly, the sight moved across the upturned brow, tearing -the flesh, rolling up the skin before its dull, broad edge. The -quarter-breed's muscles strained and his legs twined spasmodically -about the legs of MacNair, while his fingers tore through the snow and -clawed at the bark of the wood-pile. Deliberately, the gun-sight -ripped and tore across the forehead--grooving the bone. The wide scar -showed raw and red, and in spots the skull flashed white. The broad -line lost itself in the hair upon the opposite temple. - -Again MacNair buried the sight, this time among the hair roots of the -median line. Once more the gun began its slow journey, travelling -downward, crossing the lateral scar with a ragged tear. Once more the -flesh and skin ripped and rolled before the unfaltering sight and -gathered upon the edges of the wound in ragged, tight-rolled knots and -shreds that would later heal into snaggy, rough excrescences, grey, -like the unclean dregs of a slag-pot. - -A thin trickle of blood followed slowly along the groove. The -gun-sight was almost between the man's eyes, when, with a scream, Chloe -sprang forward and clutched MacNair's arm in both her hands. - -"You brute!" she cried. "You inhuman brute! _I hate you_!" - -MacNair answered never a word. With a sweep of his arm he flung her -from him. She spun dizzily and fell in a heap on the snow. Once more -the gun-sight rested deep against the bone at the point of its -interruption. Once more it began its inexorable advance, creeping down -between the eyes and along the bridge of the nose. Cartilage split -wide, the upper lip was cleft, and the steel clicked sharply against -blood-dripping teeth. - -Then MacNair stood erect and gazed with approval upon his handiwork. -His glance swept the lake, and suddenly his shoulders stiffened as he -scrutinized several moving figures that approached across the level -surface of the snow. Striding swiftly to the edge of the plateau, he -shaded his eyes with his hand and gazed long and earnestly toward the -approaching figures. Then he returned to Lapierre. The man had stood -the terrible ordeal without losing consciousness. Reaching down, -MacNair seized him by the collar, and jerking him to his feet, half -dragged him to the rim of the plateau. - -"Look!" he cried savagely. "Yonder, comes LeFroy--and with him are the -men of the Mounted." - -Lapierre stared dumbly. His thin hand twitched nervously, and his -fists clasped and unclasped as the palms grew wet with sweat. - -MacNair gripped his shoulder and twisted him about his tracks. Slow -seconds passed as the two men stood facing each other there in the -snow, and then, slowly, MacNair raised his hand and pointed toward the -forest--toward the depths of the black spruce swamp. - -"Go!" he roared. "Damn you! Go hunt your kind! I did not brand you -to delight the eyes of prison guards. Go, mingle with free men, that -they may see--and be warned!" - -With one last glance toward the approaching figures, Pierre Lapierre -glided swiftly to the foot of the stockade, mounted the firing ledge, -and swung himself over the wall. - -Bob MacNair watched the form of the quarter-breed disappear from sight -and then, tossing the gun into the snow, turned to Chloe Elliston. -Straight toward the girl he advanced with long, swinging strides. -There was no hesitancy, no indecision in the free swing of the -shoulders, nor did his steps once falter, nor the eyes that bored deep -into hers waver for a single instant. And as the girl faced him a -sudden sense of helplessness overwhelmed her. - -On he came--this big man of the North; this man who trampled rough-shod -the conventions, even the laws of men. The man who could fight, and -kill, and maim, in defence of his principles. Whose hand was heavy -upon the evil-doer. A man whose finer sensibilities, despite their -rough environment, could rise to a complete mastery of him. Inherently -a fighting man. A man whose great starved heart had never known a -woman's love. - -Instinctively, she drew back from him and closed her eyes. And then -she knew that he was standing still before her--very close--for she -could hear distinctly the sound of his breathing. Without seeing she -knew that he was looking into her face with those piercing, boring, -steel-grey eyes. She waited for what seemed ages for him to speak, but -he stood before her--silent. - -"He is rough and uncouth and brutal. He hurled you spinning into the -snow," whispered an inner voice. - -"Yes, strong and brutal and good!" answered her heart. - -Chloe opened her eyes. MacNair stood before her in all his bigness. -She gazed at him wide-eyed. He was fumbling his Stetson in his hand, -and she noticed the long hair was pushed back from his broad brow. The -blood rushed into the girl's face. Her fists clenched tight, and she -took a swift step forward. - -"Bob MacNair! _Put on your hat_!" - -A puzzled look crept into the man's eyes, his face flushed like the -face of a schoolboy who had been caught in a foolish prank, and he -returned the hat awkwardly to his head. - -"I thought--that is--you wrote in the letter, here--" he paused as his -fingers groped at the pocket of his shirt. - -Chloe interrupted him. "If any man ever takes his Stetson off to me -again I'll--I'll _hate_ him!" - -Bob MacNair stared down upon the belligerent figure before him. He -noticed the clenched fists, the defiant tilt of the shoulders, the -unconscious out-thrust of the chin--and then his eyes met squarely the -flashing eyes of the girl. - -For a long, long time he gazed into the depths of the upturned eyes, -and then, either the significance of her words dawned suddenly upon -him, or he read in that long glance the wondrous message of her love. -With a low, glad cry he sprang to her and gathered her into his great, -strong arms and pressed her lithe, pliant body close against his -pounding heart, while through his veins swept the wild, fierce joy of a -mighty passion. Bob MacNair had come into his own! - -There was a lively commotion among the Indians, and MacNair raised his -head to meet the gaze of LeFroy and Constable Craig and two others of -the men of the Mounted. - -"Where is Lapierre?" asked the constable. - -Chloe struggled in confusion to release herself from the encircling -arms, but the arms closed the tighter, and with a final sigh of -surrender the girl ceased her puny struggles. - -Constable Craig's lips twitched in a suppressed smile. "Ripley was -right," he muttered to himself as he awaited MacNair's reply. "They -have found each other at last." - -And then the answer came. MacNair stared straight into the officer's -eyes, and his words rang with a terrible meaning. - -"Lapierre," he said, "has gone away from here. If you see him again -you shall never forget him." His eyes returned to the girl, close-held -against his heart. Her two arms stole upward until the slender hands -closed about his neck. Her lips moved, and he bent to catch the words. - -"I love you," she faltered, and glancing shyly, almost timidly into his -face, encountered there the look she had come to know so well--the -suspicion of a smile upon the lips and just the shadow of a twinkle -playing in the deep-set eyes. She repeated, softly, the words that -rang through her brain: "I love you--_Brute MacNair_!" - - - - -THE END. - - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gun-Brand, by James B. 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