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+Project Gutenberg's The Shooting of Dan McGrew, A Novel, by Marvin Dana
+
+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 Shooting of Dan McGrew, A Novel
+       Based on the Famous Poem of Robert Service
+
+Author: Marvin Dana
+
+Release Date: May 26, 2011 [EBook #36232]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGREW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D Alexander, Matthew Wheaton and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW
+
+    _A Novel_
+
+
+    BY
+    MARVIN DANA
+
+    Author of WITHIN THE LAW, etc.
+
+
+    BASED ON THE FAMOUS POEM OF
+    ROBERT W. SERVICE
+
+    PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH SCENES
+    FROM THE PHOTO PLAY
+
+    NEW YORK
+    GROSSET & DUNLAP
+    PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+    Copyright, 1915, by
+    BARSE & HOPKINS
+
+
+
+    THE ILLUSTRATIONS SHOWN IN THIS EDITION ARE REPRODUCTIONS OF SCENES
+    FROM THE PHOTO-PLAY OF "THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGREW"--SCENARIO BY
+    AARON HOFFMAN--PRODUCED AND COPYRIGHTED BY THE POPULAR PLAYS AND
+    PLAYERS CO. INC., TO WHOM THE PUBLISHERS DESIRE TO EXPRESS THEIR
+    THANKS AND APPRECIATION FOR PERMISSION TO USE THE PICTURES.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: EDMUND BREESE AND COMPANY IN "THE SHOOTING OF DAN
+McGREW."]
+
+
+
+
+THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW
+
+
+  Produced by
+  THE POPULAR PLAYS AND PLAYERS, Inc.
+
+  Scenario by
+  AARON HOFFMAN
+
+
+
+CAST OF CHARACTERS
+
+
+    Jim                            EDMUND BREESE
+    Dan McGrew                     WILLIAM MORSE
+    Lou                            KATHRIN ADAMS
+    Nell                             BETTY RIGGS
+    Jack Reeves                    WALLACE SCOTT
+    Sam Ward                       JAMES JOHNSON
+    The Sheriff                      JACK AUSTEN
+    Fingie Whalen                    JACK MURRAY
+    Caribou Bill                     BILL COOPER
+    Harry, the Dog Man                   HIMSELF
+
+
+
+
+THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+A clatter of hoofs on the gravel of the driveway. A shout from the rider
+as he swung himself down from the saddle:
+
+"Lou!"
+
+A woman came swiftly from the cool shadows of the porch into the
+brilliance of the summer sunlight, to meet the man who now advanced
+toward her with fond, smiling eagerness.
+
+The two kissed very tenderly, for they were lovers still, after seven
+years of married life. The delicate rose of the wife's cheeks deepened a
+little under the warmth of the husband's caress, and the graciously
+curving lips trembled to a smile of happiness as she looked up into the
+strong face of the man she loved. In the slightly rugged features, she
+read virility and honesty and loyalty. An exquisite contentment pervaded
+her. She felt that the cup of joy was brimming. Husband and child and
+home--!
+
+Her train of thought was broken by the man's words, spoken quickly in a
+tone that mingled curiously amusement and chagrin:
+
+"Dangerous Dan! He's coming, Lou! He's buried the hatchet, and is coming
+to visit us. Dangerous Dan McGrew! Now, what do you think of that?" He
+waited for an answer, staring quizzically into the suddenly perturbed
+face of his wife.
+
+"My rival!" he added whimsically, albeit a bit complacently.
+
+"Never!" the wife declared with emphasis. A note of harshness had crept
+into the music of her voice. "Never your rival, Jim, though he tried to
+be." The earnestness of utterance gratified the man, in whom a vague,
+latent jealousy stirred at thought of that other who had loved where he
+loved. But there was no gratification in the new mood of the woman.
+Instead, a subtle dread touched her spirit. The contentment of a moment
+before was fled. There was nothing precise, nothing formulated, in her
+thoughts. Only, something sinister, menacing, pressed upon her. She
+welcomed the distraction afforded by her daughter's appearance on the
+scene.
+
+The girl came running from the gardens behind the ranch-house and sprang
+into her father's arms with a cry of delight.
+
+To her six years, his frequent rides to the village ten miles away were
+in the nature of great events, and she welcomed each return as if from
+long and perilous voyaging. Moreover, there was always an added thrill
+for Nell in her father's home-coming, because of the mysterious charm in
+the gift that never failed. To-day, indeed, the present was destined to
+mark her life; even to be of vital import in a crisis of distant years.
+
+No hint of the gravity of things-to-be shadowed the radiant joy of the
+child's face, as she was lifted in the man's arms and kissed. There was
+only vivid anticipation of the gift that would mark this wonderful hour.
+
+James Maxwell lowered his daughter to the ground, with an affirmative
+nod toward his wife.
+
+"Now, Nell," he said in a voice of authority, "stand perfectly still,
+and keep your eyes shut, and maybe something will happen."
+
+The girl rested uneasily in an effort of obedience, with her eyes
+screwed tight-shut, giggling expectantly.
+
+The mother looked on, smiling again, the momentary depression of her
+spirit allayed, if not destroyed, by the scene. She met the man's glance
+with understanding in the brown, gold-flecked deeps of her eyes. The
+father took from a pocket a small leather case, and opened it, and held
+up for his wife's inspection the gold chain and pendant locket, set with
+an initial _N_ in tiny pearls. The wife nodded her approval.
+Straightway, the chain was adjusted about the child's neck, with the
+locket hanging low on the slender breast.
+
+"Now!" the father cried sternly.
+
+On the instant, Nell's dark eyes flashed open in swift inquiry to her
+father's face, then, following the direction of his gaze, the proud chin
+was drawn in, and she stared down rapturously at the trinket lying on
+her bosom. Followed little squeals of bliss, then reverent touching of
+the treasure. The secret of the catch baffled her, and the father had to
+come to the rescue lest patience become too hardly strained. When the
+locket had been opened, she stared into it through long seconds in
+wordless pleasure. Finally, she spoke in a hushed voice, as if in the
+presence of something very sacred.
+
+"It's you, Daddy!" It was a broken whisper of happiness. Her eyes,
+lustrous with glad tears, were lifted adoringly to her father's face for
+a moment. Then, again, her glance went to the locket.
+
+"And you, Mamma!" she exclaimed, and turned to regard her mother with
+equal love. "Oh, it's just beautiful! Pictures of both of you--Daddy and
+Momsy!--all my very own!... And may I really, truly wear it?" Nell's
+voice was suddenly become timid, infinitely wistful.
+
+The mother answered, as she stooped and kissed her daughter.
+
+"Yes, darling; it's all your very own, to wear every minute, day and
+night, if you want to."
+
+Presently, when the intricacy of the locket's catch had been fully
+mastered, Nell stole away to her favorite shady nook in the rose-garden,
+to be alone with her delight, while husband and wife ascended the steps
+of the porch, and seated themselves at ease in the wicker chairs. The
+lattice-work of vines shut off the rays of the westering sun. Blowing
+over the stretches of lawn, thick-set with shrubberies and studded with
+trees, the soft breeze came refreshingly, and bore to the two the
+multiple bland aromas of the generous earth. Beyond the green within
+which the mansion stood, rolled rich acres of ripening grain that
+undulated beneath the gentle urging of the wind in shimmering waves of
+gold. The whole scene was one of peace and prosperity, where a fruitful
+soil lavished riches in return for the industry of man. The house itself
+was a commodious structure, bountifully equipped with the comforts and
+elegancies of living; for James Maxwell was, though still a young man,
+one who had achieved a full measure of success from out the fertile
+fields of the West, and his culture and that of his wife had given to
+their home a refinement unusual in regions so remote. Thus far, their
+married life had been almost flawless. The wholesomeness and simplicity
+of their life together, blessed with the presence of the child, varied
+by occasional visits to the larger centers of civilization, had held
+them in tranquil happiness. Yet, this afternoon, there lacked something
+of the accustomed serenity between the two. Now, the oppression that had
+affected the woman at the mention of Dan McGrew returned to her in some
+measure, and, by reason of the sympathy between her and him, a
+heaviness weighed on his mood as well, though he concealed it as best
+he might, even from himself, and spoke with brisk cheerfulness.
+
+"Yes, Lou, Dangerous Dan McGrew is about to descend upon us--handsome as
+ever, I suppose, and with all his wiles still working. I can't cease to
+wonder, Lou, how I ever came to win you from him." There was a new
+tenderness in his voice as he spoke the final words.
+
+The wife laughed softly.
+
+"Don't fish, Jim," she retorted. "You know perfectly well that Dan never
+had a chance with me--not really. He was always a fascinating fellow
+enough, but, somehow--" She fell silent, a puzzled frown lining the warm
+white of her forehead beneath its coronal of golden hair.
+
+"Yes," the husband agreed; "somehow, there is always that 'but' when one
+gets to thinking of Dan." He would have added more, but checked himself,
+reluctant to speak ill of one who had been his friend, one whom he had
+bested in the struggle for a woman's favor.
+
+The wife had no such scruple. She spoke incisively, and her voice was
+harsher than its wont.
+
+"I never trusted him," she said. "I always found myself doubting his
+honesty."
+
+Thus encouraged, Jim spoke his mind frankly.
+
+"Dan was always as crooked as a dog's hind leg," he declared, without
+any trace of bitterness, but as one stating a fact not to be denied.
+
+"He wrote to you?" Lou inquired, with a suggestion of wondering in her
+voice.
+
+"No; it was Tom."
+
+Jim thrust his hand into the breast-pocket of his coat, and brought
+forth an envelope, from which he took out and unfolded a single sheet of
+typewritten paper. Then he read the letter:
+
+     "_Dear old Chum_:
+
+     "Dan McGrew is back again in his old home after five years. He
+     is coming down to see you and his old sweetheart, Lou. He has
+     not yet forgiven you for winning her. He seems to have the same
+     old unsettled disposition and I think he requires the strong
+     hands of a friend to keep him in the straight path.
+
+                                   "Sincerely your old friend,
+                                                              "TOM."
+
+"Then you don't know when he will get here?" Lou asked.
+
+Jim shook his head.
+
+"No," he said, rather irritably; "we'll just have to wait for the
+visitation to descend upon us, be it sooner or later."
+
+"We shall have to be nice to him, of course," the wife said.
+
+"I'm not specially keen on dry-nursing Dan McGrew," Jim remarked
+plaintively. "We were never really intimate, though we were friendly
+enough. To tell the truth, Lou, I'm mighty sorry Dan's coming here." His
+face was somber as he gazed into his wife's eyes and read in their clear
+light sympathy with his own repugnance at the prospect. With an
+impatient ejaculation, he sprang to his feet and went into the house,
+where he seated himself before the grand piano that occupied the center
+of the spacious living-room. In a fierce crashing of dissonances, he
+voiced the resentment that was in him. But after a little, indignation
+somewhat relieved by such audible interpretation, his fingers flew into
+rippling arpeggios, out of which came, at last, a lilting melody,
+joyous, yet tender. For Jim Maxwell, lover of music all his days, had a
+gift of improvisation, with a sufficient technique for its exercise. To
+it he resorted often for the sounding of his deeper moods, and in it
+found a never-failing solace. So now, presently, soothed by his own art,
+he got up from the piano and went back to the porch, where he faced his
+wife, smiling.
+
+Lou smiled in response.
+
+"Thank you, Jim," she said softly. "You scared away all the blue devils
+with those dreadful discords. And then you just tempted all sorts of
+good fairies to come and hover, and they did. You cheered me up. It's
+all right that Dan should come to visit us. Only--"
+
+She broke off, nor did the husband utter any question as to the
+uncompleted sentence. But in the hearts of both lurked still something
+of the dread which the music had failed entirely to dispel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+The time of Dan McGrew's arrival was not long left in doubt; for, on the
+third day following Tom's letter, Jim received one from Dan himself.
+
+     _Dear Jim_:
+
+     Am back again in the old home after five years, and have grown
+     rich. Am coming right down to see you and my old sweetheart,
+     Lou. I can still hardly forgive you for winning her from me,
+     but I suppose you're the better man. I am still the same
+     rolling stone, ever seeking the gold that seems to get further
+     away as I approach. Will reach your place the Tuesday following
+     your receipt of this letter.
+
+                                                    Sincerely,
+                                                         DAN MCGREW.
+
+So, on the appointed Tuesday, Jim drove in his light, covered buggy to
+the town, to meet the through train from the East. With him, mounted on
+her pony, went Nell. She wore the precious locket proudly displayed
+against her trim khaki coat, and she rode in happy excitement, for the
+trip to her was a great adventure, and there was, in addition, the
+thrilling novelty of this stranger's coming, who might be a prince in
+disguise.
+
+When, at last, the limited roared into the station at Coverdale, and Dan
+McGrew swung himself down from the Pullman's steps, Jim went forward and
+seized his visitor's hand in a warm clasp.
+
+"It's good to see you again, after all these years," he cried heartily.
+At this moment, there was only kindness in his feeling toward the tall,
+handsome man who returned his greeting so genially. He meant to be as
+friendly as he could to this guest, to be helpful and loyal, so far as
+he might, though the other had no claim upon his friendship, and though
+he himself had neither liking nor respect for Dan McGrew.
+
+After the first exchange of exclamations between the two, Jim called to
+Nell, who had remained standing diffidently at a little distance, her
+deeply tanned face, under the dark masses of hair, tense with interest,
+as her eyes searched the newcomer in vast curiosity. A great shyness was
+upon her as she approached.
+
+"This is my daughter, Nell," Jim said, with manifest pride in the
+winsome creature.
+
+"And Lou's!" the other muttered, under his breath. But Jim caught the
+words, and was moved to a fleeting pity for the man who had failed in
+love.
+
+Nell murmured a stilted phrase in expression of her pleasure at meeting
+Mr. McGrew. But as the stranger bent and kissed her, she felt a sudden
+instinct of distaste under the caress that both frightened and puzzled
+her. For, hitherto in her childish experience, embraces and kisses had
+been matters either of pleasure, as in the case of her father and mother
+and others dear to her, or of utter indifference, as in the case of
+those for whom she cared nothing. Now, for the first time, a kiss was
+disagreeable. She felt herself somehow frightened by this fine
+gentleman, who might be a prince. She could not understand it.
+
+The child could not have understood even had she been able to look into
+the heart of Dangerous Dan McGrew, there to see the black malice that
+fouled it.
+
+For such was the fact. There was evil in the mind and in the soul of Dan
+McGrew. Through all the years since he had lost Lou Ainsworthy, he had
+longed for her. The circumstance that she was married to another man put
+no curb on his fierce desire for her. Unlawful passion throbbed in his
+blood. It was this that had driven him to the long journey. A man wholly
+without scruple, without care for any other than himself, save only the
+woman to possess whom he so craved, Dan McGrew was resolved to woo that
+woman anew, to win her for himself by any means, no matter how false or
+vile.
+
+Thus, it came to pass that, in the days of his dwelling under the roof
+of the man whom he was determined to wrong, the visitor played the
+hypocrite with his host, aping a manner of bluff, candid
+good-fellowship. With the wife, too, he played the hypocrite. He dared
+not let her so much as suspect the hot fires that burned in him as he
+looked yearningly on her loveliness. He realized, at the outset, that
+her devotion to the man of her choice remained unaltered. He knew that
+the open confession of his illicit love would move her to scorn and
+loathing. Only by guile, and that of the craftiest, could he hope for
+triumph over loyalty and love. With the passing days, the task loomed
+before him as one almost impossible of achievement. From all that he
+knew of Jim's past life and all that he could learn concerning the
+husband's reputation in the community, there showed nowhere any least
+opportunity for attack. And attack must be made, for only by destroying
+the wife's faith could he have any opportunity to gain her favor. It
+occurred to him that, in a conspiracy, he would have need of
+accomplices. To get some information concerning such as might serve his
+end, he often rode alone to the town, while Jim was occupied with ranch
+affairs. There, he entered easily into the vulgar dissipations of the
+place, making himself hail-fellow-well-met with the riff-raff of the
+saloons and dance-houses, both men and women. The occupation was, in
+truth, congenial enough to him; for there was a coarseness in his nature
+that found satisfaction in loose living. Before he had been a week at
+the ranch, he had become known to all the blear-eyed habitues of
+Murphy's saloon--to some of the women frequenters there as well, and to
+certain men who were not blear-eyed; for they drank little, but played
+poker much. With these latter, especially, Dangerous Dan fraternized,
+since, like many a wiser man and better, he greatly admired poker--and
+his own playing of it.
+
+Dan won the first day, and the second, and the third--as those playing
+with him meant that he should. But the stakes were small. Dan himself
+fretted because they were so small. It was his own suggestion, his own
+insistence, that the stakes should be raised. Immediately, then, Dan's
+luck slumped. It worried him only a little at first--more, as the ill
+fortune continued.
+
+On the fourth day, Jess, one of the painted women of the place, leaned
+over him so closely that the heavy musk of her perfume deadened his
+senses. She whispered her admiration of his play. Dan forgot that she
+was the wife without the law of Fingie Whalen, who sat across the table
+from him, ferret-faced and with slender, agile fingers that touched the
+deck of cards always with the soft delicacy of a caress. Jess's praise
+fattened Dan's pride in his own skill. He insisted loudly on larger
+stakes, which were accepted grudgingly by his fellow players. There were
+four others at the table with him. Despite his experience in cities
+further East, he had no least suspicion that the odds of the game were
+four to one. He lost a most attractive pot on a full house of kings with
+treys. The event angered him. A little later, a pot that had been raised
+around the board until it was of admirable proportions, was lost by him
+to one who held a humble, but efficient, flush.
+
+Dan was not an honest man. His losses irritated him. He believed, by
+reason of a certain dexterity in legerdemain, that he could thus cajole
+fortune. He misjudged his company. When he possessed himself of four
+aces, and held them concealed in his hand, he failed to note the eyes of
+Fingie Whalen, which had followed his every movement.
+
+But this same Fingie, being a master of his craft, said nothing until
+after the bets had run high and it had come to the show-down. Dan had
+forced the betting to a point where the chips and bills and gold on the
+table totaled a most respectable sum. He swept the pot toward him, after
+a contemptuous glance at the four-of-a-kind which Fingie had offered
+against him. His own four aces were indisputably winners.
+
+But Fingie Whalen thrust out an imperative hand in restraint.
+
+"Nothin' doin'!"
+
+In the same instant, his fingers closed in a viselike grip on Dan's left
+hand. Dan was the stronger man. But, in the moment of surprise, his
+muscles yielded. His hand was pulled forward--it lay open on the table.
+
+Within his palm four cards were lying. With his free hand Fingie flipped
+the four cards upon the table. They were inconsiderable--a deuce, a
+nine, a pair of sevens.
+
+His trickery thus baldly revealed, Dan would have acted, but he was too
+late. As he pulled the automatic from his pocket, the man next him
+thrust an elbow forward and the shot went wild. In the next instant, the
+pistol had been knocked from his grasp, and four men bore down upon him.
+Dan was a strong man, and, whatever his faults, absolutely fearless. He
+struck out vigorously, but the slender, silk-ankled foot of Jess caught
+him so that he stumbled and missed his blow. The fists of the four beat
+him to the floor.
+
+It was then that Jim entered the room. He had business in town, and, on
+learning at the ranch-house that his guest had preceded him, he had felt
+it incumbent upon him to seek out Dan. He had acted from a rather futile
+sense of duty toward the man who, as Tom had put it, required the strong
+hands of a friend to keep him in the straight path.
+
+At the hotel, he made inquiry of the clerk:
+
+"Have you seen anything of Mr. McGrew?"
+
+The clerk permitted himself an indulgent grin at the question. He
+admired Jim Maxwell, as did all the better element in the community, and
+he found himself wondering over the disreputable associations of the
+stranger who was the ranch-owner's guest. His answer was prompt:
+
+"You're pretty sure to find him in the back room over to Murphy's.
+Usually, when he hits this burg, he sets in a game with the gang over
+there."
+
+Jim's face lined grimly. He felt a great distaste for his mission. He
+was no precisian. He was not above taking a glass on occasion at
+Murphy's bar. But he had no liking for the vicious. The coarse
+debauchery of such a place was repulsive to him, as it must be to any
+decent man. Nevertheless, he went out of the hotel, and strode rapidly
+toward the corner on which stood the rough frame building of the saloon.
+As he drew near, the report of a shot came sharply.
+
+"What hell's mess is on now?" he muttered savagely, and broke into a
+run. In the next instant, he had leaped through the door to the back
+room. He could not see clearly for a few seconds in the gloomy place,
+after the glaring sunlight of outdoors. But the evidences of conflict
+were plain enough from the sounds of stamping boots upon the boarded
+floor, the soft thudding of fists against flesh, the snarling curses,
+gaspings and guttural gruntings of the combatants, the shrill screams
+and whimperings of women. Then his eyes adjusted themselves to the dim
+light, and he made out the form of Dan McGrew, girt about with the
+thrashing arms and legs of his assailants. Without any hesitation, Jim
+plunged into the fray. His fists shot home in sledge-hammer blows,
+against which the four, taken completely by surprise, were defenseless.
+As they fell away from their victim, Jim saw the automatic lying where
+it had fallen on the floor during the scuffle. Before his adversaries
+could rally to the attack, he had pounced upon it, and had sprung back
+against the wall of the room, whence he menaced the four, who halted in
+fear of the weapon.
+
+"There's been enough of this," Jim declared, and his voice was ominous,
+heavy with authority. "I don't know the rights of the fuss, and I don't
+care a damn, I guess. But there'll be no murder done here--unless it's
+been done already."
+
+There came some profane grumblings from the discomfited quartette, but
+they ventured no other opposition to Jim's will, for they feared this
+man, and he knew it, and he did not fear them in the least.
+
+"We caught 'im cheatin'--blast 'im!" Fingie affirmed, sullenly.
+
+"I'm not interested in the history of the row," was the contemptuous
+retort; "only in the end of it." Jim thrust the revolver in his pocket,
+assured that there would be no further trouble; for now the bartender
+and Murphy had made a belated appearance on the scene. He stooped over
+the beaten man, who had already begun to show signs of returning
+consciousness. Presently, in fact, Dan was able to sit up, and to
+swallow the brandy Murphy had brought. His injuries, though painful
+enough, were superficial, and after a little he was able to clamber into
+the buggy, which Jim had hired from the hotel livery for the return to
+the ranch.
+
+They had gone a mile from the village, when Dan spoke for the first
+time:
+
+"It was all a devilish frame-up to rob me," he asserted. His tone was
+vindictive, but, somehow, not quite convincing.
+
+Jim could not keep the scorn from his own voice as he answered:
+
+"You can't complain--you knew what sort they were."
+
+Under the lash of justice in the taunt from the man who had rescued him,
+Dan McGrew was silent; but the black malice in his heart seethed still
+more fiercely from quickened fires of hate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+Jim explained the affair to Lou, with a bitter emphasis that forbade
+questioning as to details.
+
+"Dangerous Dan," he said, unable to avoid a sarcastic inflection on the
+adjective, "got into a fight at Murphy's. When I arrived, there were
+four on top of him."
+
+"And you pulled them off, I suppose," Lou said, her lips curving to a
+smile in which amusement blended with admiration for the stalwart man
+who had spoken so curtly.
+
+"I can't say that I exactly pulled them off," Jim answered, with a faint
+responsive smile. "Anyhow, I managed to get them off him, one way or
+another. That's the reason he's here now--worse luck!"
+
+In the days that followed, Dangerous Dan played the hypocrite to
+perfection. He went no more to town. With Jim, he was all amiability,
+full of reminiscences concerning the long-ago, when they had pranked
+together in the devious ways of boys. Indeed, he was so agreeable that
+Jim found himself at least tolerant of the company of this guest, for
+whom, without any obligation whatsoever, he had assumed some measure of
+responsibility. For he remembered always that phrase in the letter Tom
+had written him: "And I think he requires the strong hands of a friend
+to keep him in the straight path." He felt an onerous responsibility for
+the visitor whom fate thrust upon him, though he detested that
+responsibility--and the man.
+
+It was the time of the harvest. Jim was busy with overseeing a multitude
+of details in the gathering of the crops. Often, he was away from the
+house from dawn to dark. Nell, too, was frequently absent, for she
+delighted in the activities of men and horses and machines in the
+fields. On her pony, she spent hours in her father's company. The
+consequence was that Dan McGrew enjoyed unlimited opportunities of
+association with his host's wife. Necessarily, the intimacy of their
+former relations had its effect on their present intercourse. Indeed,
+Dan made a habit of half-jesting, half-sentimental references to that
+time when he had wooed so vainly. The phrase was often on his lips:
+
+"Do you remember, Lou, when we were sweethearts--?"
+
+Lou, for her part, undoubtedly found something pleasant in the
+situation. Dan showed himself at his best toward her. Since he knew the
+utter hopelessness at this time of winning her from her allegiance, he
+strove to hide from her any expression of the passion that burned within
+him, though the effort taxed his strength of will to the utmost. But,
+because of his restraint, Lou was unsuspicious as to the visitor's
+designs, and accepted Dan's proffer of innocent friendship. He was an
+amiable and entertaining companion, an agreeable variation from the
+somewhat monotonous loneliness of the ranch-house; especially at this
+season of the year, when husband and daughter alike so constantly
+deserted her. Certainly, she knew that her guest was her lover as
+well. But the fact did not militate against him in her regard. On the
+contrary, it gave piquancy to their companionship. The unvarying manner
+of respect for her as his friend's wife lulled suspicion. She
+sympathized with him for his failure in attaining the desire of his
+heart. A mild feminine vanity found gratification in the presence of one
+so humbly devoted. She had no shred of liking for him, in any deeper
+sense. Sometimes, indeed, of an evening, when the three were together
+under the lights of the living-room, she found herself comparing the two
+men. She admitted that, in a superficial way, Dan was perhaps the
+handsomer. His features were as clearly cut as those of some Roman
+emperor. The eyes, set wide-apart, gave dignity to his expression. There
+was in his air always a suggestion of ruthless strength, even of
+lawlessness, as of one who would wreak his will, reckless of
+consequence. It was that quality which in his boyhood had won him the
+name of Dangerous Dan. He had been given over to escapades, to
+exploits of daring prowess, to fights against odds for the sheer love of
+fighting. In bodily strength and the usual manly qualities, the two men
+were well matched. Lou could see little to choose between them. But her
+comparison ended always in a great welling of love for her husband.
+There was in his expression a kindliness, in no way weakness, that the
+other lacked. And there was, too, something subtle, a quality of the
+soul, to be felt, though not to be seen or described, by those with whom
+he came in contact. It occurred to Lou once, as she thus meditated while
+the men talked together, that Jim's love for music, together with his
+skill in its interpretation, was characteristic of the difference
+between the two; for to Dan, though he was at times swayed easily and
+deeply by music, the art meant little to him, made no component part in
+his life.
+
+Strangely enough, it was Jim's music that, very directly, precipitated a
+crisis in the situation.
+
+It was a day of languorous heat from a sun like molten brass. Jim, a
+little weary after hours among his men, found an opportunity for
+leisure, and welcomed it. He rode to the ranch-house, and sighed
+gratefully as he entered the cool-shaded porch, where he found Lou busy
+with some sewing, while Dan lounged at ease over a pipe. The wife
+welcomed her husband gladly, and fussed over him, and brought him
+lemonade. Jim was listless at first from fatigue, and listened lazily to
+the chatting of his wife and their guest, without taking part. But
+presently, he felt himself revived, and entered heartily into the talk.
+Perceiving his increased animation, Lou made a request.
+
+"If you're not too tired, Jim," she said eagerly, "I wish you would play
+over that melody you worked out the day you received Tom's letter. I do
+hope you remember it," she continued, with a little catch of anxiety in
+her voice. "Bits of it have been running in my head all day."
+
+Jim rose obediently, with a smile for his wife. As their eyes met, Lou
+smiled mischievously.
+
+"Perhaps, you will remember it began with a great lot of startling
+chords. But you don't need to repeat them."
+
+Jim grinned appreciatively.
+
+"I'm not in the mood for those chords, as you politely term them,
+to-day. But I think I have that song still in my head--and in my heart."
+The last words were spoken softly.
+
+From the living-room, a moment later, came a ripping charm of arpeggios
+that in their sequence told softly of the melody to come. Then, soon,
+the air itself sounded in its joyous, lilting rhythm of a passionate
+tenderness.
+
+It was plain that the player was telling the truth of his heart. The
+music made a rhapsody of love. Deep within it was a whisper of spiritual
+things, of things sacred. But, too, the weaving notes made a mesh of
+sensuous splendor. There was a voluptuous spell in the throbbing
+cadences.
+
+It was the sensual witchery of the music that probed the emotions of Dan
+McGrew, and beat them to swirling revolt against the calmness he had
+striven to maintain. The finer, nobler meaning of the love-lyric touched
+him not at all. But the sorcery of that exquisite voluptuousness
+thrilled in his blood. He sat watching the woman, and his eyes were
+aflame. The enchantment of the melody was upon her as well. Body and
+soul, she responded in her mood to the mood of the player, whom she
+loved, even as he loved her. The oval of her cheeks bore a deepened
+rose. The red curves of the lips bent to a tremulous smile. The dark
+glory of her eyes shone more radiantly, as she stared, unseeing, into
+the distance. The lithe, gracious form was become tense in this moment
+of absorbed feeling. Never had Dan McGrew seen her so wonderfully alive,
+so vibrant of emotion, so beautiful, so desirable, so altogether
+adorable. With the beat of the music lashing on desire, the spectacle of
+the woman's loveliness fed the flames of longing, until the fires of
+his passion consumed utterly the will that would have held them in
+control. The music softened at last to a mere breath of beautiful sound.
+Then, a clangor of triumphant harmonies--and silence.
+
+Lou rose quickly, and went into the living-room.
+
+In his fevered imagination, Dan McGrew could see the caress between
+husband and wife, and, though he continued to sit immobile, staring
+dazedly at the spot where a moment before the woman had been, wrath
+surged in him against that other man. By so much as his love for the
+woman welled in him, by so much the tide of his hate mounted. For a long
+time, he sat there, through ages of torture, as it seemed to him. He
+heard Jim go out of the house by the back way. Soon afterward, there
+came to his ears the clatter of a horse's hoofs on the gravel of the
+drive, and he knew that the ranch-owner was off again to the fields,
+though he did not look up to see. With mad eagerness, he was awaiting
+the woman's return. Reason no longer had any hold on his mood. He was
+helpless in the clutch of passion. The music had softened the fibers of
+resolve. The allurement of the love-light that had shone from Lou's face
+while she sat listening, had drawn his desire of her into a vortex that
+held him powerless against its rush. He had no plan of action, no
+thought as to what his course should be. He was conscious only of an
+intolerable need of this woman. As the minutes passed, and still she did
+not return, the longing mastered him completely. He got to his feet,
+with unaccustomed awkwardness, and went into the living-room with
+shambling steps wholly unlike his usual elastic tread. He moved
+falteringly, as might one in the dark in a strange place. For, in truth,
+the mists of passion had settled on his spirit, shrouding and blinding
+him.
+
+Lou was reclining in a low easy chair, within a nest of cushions. In the
+abandonment of her posture, the suave grace of her body's lines, still
+maidenly, rather than matronly, despite her full womanhood, were
+clearly revealed to the man's avid eyes. On her face was still the
+expression of rapturous tenderness that was not for him, which,
+nevertheless, had enthralled him. Dan McGrew, in this hour of folly, was
+bereft of judgment utterly. The woman there in the chair, who did not
+even turn her head toward him as he entered, was a loadstone that drew
+toward her irresistibly every atom of the blood racing in his veins. He
+went toward her--without any hesitation or faltering now. All the life
+in him seemed in this instant to be at its best, potent as never before,
+and not to be denied. So, he moved forward lightly and swiftly. Before
+the woman had so much as guessed his presence there beside her, he had
+stooped and taken her in his arms.
+
+Lou cried out sharply under the shock of fear in the first second, when
+the man's arms closed about her. But, in the next instant, as she felt
+herself lifted bodily from her place, and crushed against Dan's breast,
+a horrible fear beset her that sapped her strength, and left her limp
+within the fierce embrace. Her face was suddenly become pallid. She was
+half-swooning under the dreadfulness of the thing that had befallen. Dan
+rained kisses on the golden masses of her hair, from which the delicate
+perfume penetrated his senses, and inflamed him to new madness. He
+loosened his clasp upon her body, in order to raise the white face to
+his lips. But then, at last, the energies of the woman were suddenly
+restored. A hot flush of mingled shame and anger dyed face and throat.
+The heavy lids lifted from the dark eyes, which now were blazing. Her
+body tensed, then writhed in an abrupt, violent effort for freedom. Her
+action caught the man unawares. She slipped from his arms, and darted
+behind the chair in which she had been sitting, so that its bulk was
+interposed as a barrier between them.
+
+"Oh, you have dared--!" She broke off, choking over the humiliation of
+such an outrage against her womanhood. She was pale and flushed by
+turns. Her body was racked by convulsive shudderings. She was wounded to
+the depths of her being.
+
+Dan, nevertheless, was without compunction at sight of her distress. He
+was still crazed by desire of her--a desire only intensified a
+thousand-fold by that brief contact of her within his arms. With a great
+leap, he was upon her before she could flee again, had caught her
+shoulder, wrenched her about, and, for a second time, swung her to his
+breast. The shriek she would have uttered was muffled by his lips on her
+mouth.
+
+Jim returned early from the fields that afternoon. His heart was fairly
+singing with happiness, as he mounted the steps of the house. His love
+was overflowing. All things in life were perfect to him. He halted on
+the porch, somewhat surprised that neither Lou nor their guest should be
+there. He chanced to glance through the window into the living-room. It
+was the very moment when Dan McGrew held the woman strained to his
+bosom, his mouth on hers. Jim stared, uncomprehending, unbelieving.
+Then, horror fell upon him, enveloped him in a black pall of agony--for
+his wife lay supine, unresisting, yielding to the kisses that polluted
+purity. But, in another second, Lou found strength to twist her lips
+aside, and the cry that had been stifled broke from her. Its appeal was
+unmistakable in its frantic suffering. Jim heard and understood, and
+answered with a roar of rage, as he hurled himself through the door and
+upon the man who thus dishonored him. Lou, released as Dan heard Jim's
+shout, shrank away, and stood trembling against the wall, while the two
+men reeled back and forth in a frenzied grapple. Their strength was so
+well matched that neither at the outset could gain an advantage; for
+each was keyed to extreme endeavor by the urge of elemental passions at
+their full. Then, as their lurching bodies sent a massive chair
+volleying to the floor, Jim's hold was loosened. Dan had time to snatch
+the automatic from his pocket--but not time to use it. Before his arm
+could be raised to fire, Jim had caught his wrist in a grip not to be
+broken. A hip-lock threw Dan backward violently against the table that
+stood on one side of the room. Strong though it was, the table yielded
+under the impact of the two heavy bodies upon it, and went crashing to
+the floor, with the two men atop the splintered boards. The force of the
+fall stunned Dan for a moment. The automatic dropped from his released
+hand. Jim saw, and seized the weapon. Ere Dan could move, he had
+scrambled to his feet, where he stood menacing the fallen man. Perhaps
+he would have shot his enemy there and then--but Lou interposed. She had
+watched with dilated eyes the fight between the men who loved her. Her
+whole feeling had been a desperate prayer for her husband's victory: a
+prayer made vital by hate against the man who had so grossly insulted
+her. Now at the end, however, a softer, feminine emotion compelled her.
+She leaped forward, and clung to her husband's arm.
+
+[Illustration: THE TABLE WENT CRASHING TO THE FLOOR, WITH THE TWO MEN
+ATOP THE SPLINTERED BOARDS.]
+
+"No, no, Jim!" she implored him. "Don't shoot! Tell him to go.... Oh, my
+God! Tell him to go, Jim."
+
+Dan clambered clumsily to his feet. The muzzle of the automatic stared
+at him in vicious threat of death. The issue had left him helpless. He
+was too weak for further combat, in the reaction from great emotions. He
+stood with downcast eyes, swaying a little unsteadily.
+
+Jim spoke, his voice metallic:
+
+"You hear?" he said. "Get out of here, you dog! I'll send your things to
+the hotel to-night. Not a word out of you--damn you!--or I'll kill you
+in your tracks."
+
+Husband and wife stood rigidly motionless, watching. The beaten man
+ventured no rebellion against the decree. He went out of the room with a
+stealthy, slinking haste, as though he feared lest the self-restraint of
+his victor might fail. But in his heart was neither remorse nor
+despair--only a fiercer hatred of the man, a fiercer love of the woman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+On the porch, Dan caught up his hat, which had been lying on the chair,
+and hastened to the stables. He did not scruple now to make use, for the
+journey to the village, of the horse which he had been accustomed to
+ride. As he trotted down the driveway, he encountered Nell, mounted on
+her pony. The girl's gypsy-like face was flushed from a brisk canter
+under the hot sun, and her black eyes shadowed by the long, curling
+lashes, were sparkling with the joy of life. She called out cheerily in
+inquiry whether her father was at the house. Dan called a curt, "Yes,"
+in answer, without checking his pace. But, as the two came abreast, the
+girl's glance took in the haggard fury on the man's face, and the
+fearfulness of it fell like a blight on her gladness. She was
+terror-stricken, without in the least understanding why. For his part,
+Dan McGrew rode on his way with an added curse for this innocent child.
+
+Dan McGrew registered at the hotel in the village, with a careless
+announcement to the clerk that the loneliness of the ranch had outworn
+his patience, and that his luggage would be along presently. Then, after
+he had been fortified with a solitary drink at the bar, he betook
+himself to his cell-like room, which was the best the hotel afforded,
+and there gave himself over to evil plotting. As a result, when night
+had fallen he sent a message by the hotel porter to Fingie Whalen, who
+at this hour would doubtless be found somewhere about Murphy's. Under
+the circumstances, naturally enough, he deemed it a measure of prudence
+not to visit Murphy's, where he would be at the mercy of the men from
+whom Jim had saved him. He was sure, however, that Fingie would not
+permit any false delicacy to stand in the way of possible gain. He had
+decided that he could make use of the gambler, and of the gambler's
+painted woman, Jess, and he meant to bribe the pair to his purpose.
+
+Fingie came promptly. Within fifteen minutes from the dispatching of the
+porter, there came a heavy knock at Dan's door, and in response to a
+summons to enter, the squat form and lowering face of the gambler
+appeared. He grinned evilly at Dan, and swaggered forward truculently.
+
+"What in hell are you up to?" he demanded, as he came to a standstill,
+facing his host, who remained sprawling in a chair, seemingly quite at
+ease. Dan had determined precisely on how to conduct himself in the
+interview. So, now, he waved his hand hospitably toward a bottle of
+whiskey which, with a jug of water and glasses, stood on the table.
+
+"Help yourself," he exclaimed genially, "and sit down. I want to have a
+talk with you."
+
+"You'll have to do some mighty tall talkin' to get rid of them extra
+four kyards I seen with my own eyes," Fingie retorted. He approached the
+table, however, without any reluctance, where he helped himself
+liberally before seating himself.
+
+Dan made his explanations glibly.
+
+"I got on to the fact that I was getting the bad end of a crooked deal
+in that card game.... Now, hold your horses!" he commanded, as Fingie
+scowled and would have spoken. "I don't mean anything for you to get mad
+about. Only, the four of you were doing me up. I had too much of
+Murphy's dope, and tried a silly trick. It failed, as it ought to have
+failed, and I was in bad. I'm sorry, and I want you to let bygones be
+bygones. You bruised me up good and plenty, if that's any satisfaction
+to you, and, besides, you got my money. Not quite all of it, however!"
+he added suggestively. He noted with satisfaction the increasing
+amiability of Fingie's expression, and the avaricious glint in the
+ferret eyes of the man at the concluding words.
+
+"What's the game?" Fingie demanded bluntly.
+
+Dan forthwith revealed in detail the work he required to be done. He
+felt himself safe in being candid with this accomplice, who was wholly
+free from any moral restraints, and who, as he now made known with many
+oaths, was still suffering from a swollen jaw, the result of one of
+Jim's blows. In fine, the gambler entered into the conspiracy with such
+evident zest that Dan was able to make a better bargain than he had
+expected for his services and those of his mistress. For an hour, the
+two discussed the vicious plot, and then, at Dan's bidding, Fingie went
+in quest of the woman, Jess. Presently, he returned with her, and she,
+too, was stirred to pleasurable anticipations of the evils to be wrought
+through her aid. For, on one occasion, she had cast languishing and
+provocative glances on Jim Maxwell, which he had returned with a look in
+which pity could not conceal repugnance.
+
+There was a round of drinks for the three, and then Dan made his payment
+to the gambler. This done, Jess was seated at the table with writing
+materials, and took from Dan's dictation a note, which she wrote in her
+natural hand, without any effort toward disguise, and signed with her
+own name. When, at last, the worthy pair took their leave, that note
+remained in the possession of their host.
+
+Dangerous Dan's activities for the day were not yet completed. Within an
+hour, he was astride a horse from the hotel livery, riding rapidly
+toward the Maxwell ranch. When he was within a quarter of a mile from
+the house, he dismounted, and hid his horse behind some bushes by the
+roadside. He went forward on foot cautiously, for it was moonlight, and
+objects were clearly discernible. Yet, he had little apprehension of
+being observed, for he knew the customs of the place: that, though it
+still lacked an hour to midnight, the household would doubtless be fast
+asleep. There were dogs, it was true, which ran at large; but with these
+Dan had made friends, and they would raise no outcry against him, though
+he came with malignant purpose.
+
+Dan, after he reached the lawns that spread before the house, picked his
+way so as to keep within the shadows of the trees and shrubberies. He
+avoided the gravel of the drive and the walks, going noiselessly over
+the turf. The dogs charged upon him, welcoming, but gave no alarm.
+Burglary was a thing almost unknown in this region, and the ranch-house,
+as Dan knew, was left quite unprotected from thievery--or worse. The
+prowler, when he had come to the porch, took off his shoes, and then
+crept silently up the steps, and on to a window of the living-room. As
+he had anticipated, it was open, though there was a wire screen. Under
+Dan's hand, the screen was raised. It slid easily along its grooves, and
+in another moment Dan stepped into the room. Enough moonlight fell
+through the side windows for him to see his way distinctly. He crossed
+to a corner in which was a writing-desk, commonly used by the master of
+the house for the keeping of papers not sufficiently important for the
+safe. Conspicuous upon it was lying a letter-case of Russia leather. Dan
+could distinguish the darker shadow of its outline upon the surface of
+oak. With a deft certainty of movement, he took from his pocket the note
+he had that night dictated to the gambler's woman, and, opening the
+case, thrust it within one of the compartments. Immediately, he retraced
+his steps across the room, and climbed out through the window, where he
+paused to lower the screen. When he had descended the porch steps, he
+sat down on the grass, and put on his shoes again. In due time, he
+reached his horse, and rode back to the town, filled with unholy joy
+over the success of his expedition.
+
+Dan, like many another conscienceless scoundrel, slept soundly after his
+evil work. Yet, he was early astir, for time pressed, and there was
+still much to be done toward the accomplishment of his design. He found
+the morning clear, to his vast relief, since, had rain come, Jim would
+in all likelihood have remained at the ranch-house, thus shutting off
+the possibility of Dan's seeing Lou alone, which was his immediate
+purpose. At once, then, after he had breakfasted, he mounted and rode to
+the ranch-house boldly. He had no lack of courage, and freely ran the
+risk of meeting the man whose hospitality he had so abused. That risk,
+he knew, must be encountered for the sake of his plan. But he knew,
+also, that the chances of an encounter were small with the harvest
+requiring the rancher's presence in the fields.
+
+As a matter of fact, when he rode up to the house, he neither saw nor
+heard anything of its master. But, even before he dropped from the
+saddle, he saw Lou, sitting on the porch with idly folded hands, and
+with an expression of deep melancholy casting its shadows over the
+delicate loveliness of her face. Dan's heart leaped exultantly. He
+wondered if, by any chance, the reflex of her mood from yesterday might
+contain some measure of sadness on his account. The slightest feeling of
+womanly compassion for the culprit might prove invaluable to him in his
+campaign of treachery. He was annoyed for a moment over the presence of
+Nell on the porch, playing with a doll. But a second thought caused him
+to decide that the child's company at the outset of the interview might
+be of benefit to him, as likely to place restraint on the mother's
+expression of anger against him.... That he was right in his conjecture,
+the issue proved.
+
+At sight of Dan McGrew, riding to the door from which he had been so
+ignominiously spurned less than twenty-four hours before, Lou Maxwell
+sat in dazed amazement, which swiftly merged in anger, untinged by any
+thought of fear. That the man was dangerous, she knew. But she was no
+longer to be entrapped by a belief in the self-restraint of this lover.
+Moreover, she was on her guard now, not unsuspecting, as yesterday. And,
+too, there were servants within call. These things flashed upon her in
+the instant of perceiving him. So, she knew that she need not fear
+anything from him beyond the insult of his presence. But that he should
+dare thus to approach startled and confounded her by the sheer audacity
+of the act. She was stupefied by the effrontery of the man as he
+dismounted and ascended the steps toward her. She rose, under a sudden
+impulse of resentment, and stood regarding him with a level gaze,
+wherein was contempt that might have caused a weaker man to quail. But
+Dangerous Dan had the courage of his wickedness, and he was not to be
+intimidated, or swerved from his design, by her contumely, even though
+to win her favor was the dearest purpose of his heart. For the present,
+he must withstand stolidly the shafts of her disdain, to the end that he
+might entice her to his will against her own.
+
+Dan swept the cap from his head, and stood undaunted, yet with an air of
+humility that was disarming. There was something pitiful in the
+appealing glance of his eyes, something almost pathetic in the soft tone
+of humiliation with which he spoke.
+
+"I want you to forgive me, Lou--if you can forgive me--for a madness I
+couldn't help.... I'm sorry."
+
+Somehow, the woman was appeased, despite herself. Her wrath against the
+man who had affronted her so mortally was no whit lessened; yet, his
+manner of humble contrition touched her, against her will, to a feeling
+of compassion. She still loathed him; notwithstanding, her mood was
+unmistakably tinctured by commiseration. She hesitated for a moment,
+then turned toward Nell, who, with round eyes of wonder, was regarding
+her mother and their late visitor.
+
+"Run out in the rose-garden, dear," she said quietly, "and play there
+for a little while."
+
+The child went obediently enough, though with obvious reluctance, for
+her curiosity was aroused. She had passed from sight around the corner
+of the house before Lou spoke again. Then, she did not mince her words:
+
+"You have no right either to ask or to expect forgiveness," she said
+sternly. Her voice was very cold, charged with bitter contempt. "You
+have shown the kind of a man you really are. Nothing can change that. I
+despise you utterly. I hope I shall never set eyes on you again. I do
+not wish to hear another word from you. Your presence is hateful to me.
+Go! My husband may come at any moment, and, if he finds you here, he'll
+kill you on sight, as you deserve."
+
+With the last words, she turned from him, unheeding his exclamation of
+remonstrance, and went into the living-room.
+
+Dan did not hesitate to follow her.
+
+"Let me say this much, at least," he pleaded, still with utmost
+humility. "I sinned so because I loved you so. I could not hold myself
+back. Forgive me, Lou." His voice was tenderly entreating.
+
+The woman faced him resolutely. Her eyes were sparkling with wrath, her
+voice shook a little under the throb of emotion.
+
+"You, and your love!" she cried, in disgust. "Faugh! Must I summon the
+servants to put you out of the house?"
+
+Dan made an appealing gesture. He answered with a tone of deprecation.
+
+"No, Lou, you need not do that. I'll go in a moment, and never trouble
+you again. But, before I go, I must tell you one thing--why I lost my
+self-control yesterday. It was because I saw you so tender and fond and
+devoted and unsuspecting in your love for a man who is--unworthy!"
+
+Lou started involuntarily, then stood rigid, too astounded for speech.
+But, in another moment, she cried out in vehement rebuke:
+
+"How dare you speak like that of Jim!" Her tone was virulent; the
+dark-brown eyes, usually so limpidly soft in their light, flashed with
+the fires of her anger. "Jim is as clean as you are foul. How dare you
+insinuate anything against him! Almost, I wish I hadn't interfered to
+save your life yesterday. Oh, you beast! How dare you!"
+
+"Because it's true," Dan retorted. He felt now that the situation was
+well within his grasp, and there was an authoritative ring in his voice
+that somehow, against her will, caused a chill of apprehension in his
+listener. He went on speaking swiftly, with incisive earnestness, as one
+not to be denied. "You see, Lou, I know the truth, and you do not. For
+example, where is Jim this morning?"
+
+He shot the question at her with such unexpectedness that she answered
+involuntarily:
+
+"Why, Jim's out in the fields, of course." She realized suddenly the
+insolence of the question, and would have added a scathing rebuke.
+
+But Dan went on imperturbably:
+
+"Of course, you say that, because you do not know. But he was wise
+enough to tell you that he must go to town to-day, to attend the meeting
+of the directors of the bank."
+
+Lou smiled in derision.
+
+"To-day is the regular weekly meeting," she said, with an inflection of
+dawning curiosity, which Dan noted complacently. "He always goes to the
+bank-meeting. Why shouldn't he?"
+
+"No reason at all," was the suave response. "But there is every reason
+in decency why he should not go to another place, of which you know
+nothing." He spoke in a voice that was significant, grave, portentous.
+"That's where he is now."
+
+"You mean something--something nasty, I suppose," the wife exclaimed.
+Her tone was full of abhorrence for this traducer of the man she loved
+and trusted. "I'll listen to none of your lies against Jim, Dan McGrew."
+
+"I chanced on some information in the town last night," Dan persisted,
+undismayed by her outbreak. "I have heard gossip before. There's a
+woman--one of the sort you good women shrink from. She had been drinking
+too much. She let drop something about the rich man who was coming to
+visit her to-day, and she said his name was Jim."
+
+Lou felt a tremor of fear. The jealousy that sleeps or wakes in the
+heart of all lovers stirred within her for the first time. She sought to
+stifle it, ashamed of even a thought of doubt as to her husband's
+loyalty. It was monstrous that she should be thus moved by slanderous
+accusations of one for whom she had only contempt. Again, she would have
+spoken, but the man forestalled her.
+
+"The woman, whose name is Jess, was bragging in her cups that her lover,
+Jim, always came when she sent for him. And she said she had written
+him--Jim--to visit her to-day."
+
+The speaker's sneering assurance, his malignant emphasis on her
+husband's name, filled the measure of the wife's wrath full to
+overflowing. She advanced a step, raised her right arm, and with all her
+strength struck the palm of her hand across Dan's cheek.
+
+"Liar!" she cried, savagely.
+
+The man did not flinch under the blow. The eyes of the two clashed, and
+held steadily. Dan's cheek whitened where the stroke had fallen, then
+burned redly. It was the woman's gaze that dropped at last, and Dan
+smiled, cynically exultant.
+
+"I don't ask you to believe me," he said impressively. "I only ask you
+to open your eyes to the truth. I suppose Jim would take pains to
+destroy any note from the woman, Jess. But there's always a chance. Men
+get careless when they have wives that are so very trusting." His sharp
+eyes perceived a lessening tension in the woman's form, a growing
+listlessness in the expression of her face. He knew that there had come
+a reaction from the strain of her emotions, that her will was growing
+impotent, that now, at last, she would be pliant to his purpose.
+
+He strode to the desk, and drew out the letter-case, while Lou watched
+his every movement narrowly, as though she expected some trickery, while
+powerless further to combat him. Her loyalty to Jim was no less, but her
+powers of resistance had snapped. So, she looked on as Dan fumbled for a
+moment among the papers in the letter-case, and then held out to her the
+note that the woman had written in his room at the hotel, the night
+before.
+
+Lou took it rather gropingly, in mechanical obedience, because of the
+utter weariness that was fallen upon her. She read it with eyes that
+were dimmed--and again. Then, she stood staring still at the page of
+coarse paper with its rudely scrawled lines, with its words of vile
+insinuation; but her gaze was unseeing. The man's voice came to her very
+faintly, as from a great distance.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"It's all a lie, of course," Lou said, feebly. "But I--don't
+understand."
+
+The cynical exultation in Dan's smile grew. At last, he was bold enough
+to bring the affair to a crisis.
+
+"Do you dare to ride with me to the town, to test the thing for
+yourself?"
+
+"Do I dare?" Lou repeated, arousing in some degree from her apathy.
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean just that," he said. His voice was intentionally brutal. "You've
+begun already to be afraid of the truth. Do you dare to ride to town
+with me, and so test the truth with your own eyes?"
+
+The taunt provoked her to a new anger, to a new strength. Once again,
+the slender form grew tense, the head was raised proudly. Her voice came
+harshly. There was no note of fear in it now, only a great disdain and
+something of cruelty.
+
+"I will ride with you, Dan McGrew," was her answer, "to find my husband,
+and I shall tell him what you've said, and he'll kill you. Now, do you
+dare?"
+
+"I dare," the man said, quietly. "Let's go."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Dan McGrew had plotted with devilish cleverness. He had seized on the
+fact of Jim's attendance at the bank-meeting as timely to his purpose.
+He had, indeed, made it the pivot about which the details of his
+scheming were grouped. As a result of his carefulness in planning,
+during the hour of his interview with Lou, Fingie Whalen was stationed
+in the street outside Murphy's saloon. He sat on a bench that stood
+against the wall of the structure, and smoked incessant cigarettes, the
+while his ferret eyes scanned closely the length of the main street,
+down which Jim Maxwell must ride on his way to the bank. Just before
+him, a saddled horse stood patiently, with the bridle-rein trailing.
+Within the saloon, Jess, also, waited--with a drink, as well as a
+cigarette, to comfort her in the interval. Thus, it befell that, when
+Jim Maxwell came riding briskly into the town, his approach was noted
+from afar by eyes hired for the purpose. Instantly, then, Fingie acted.
+He sprang up, and darted into the back room of the saloon, where he
+called Jess's name, and beckoned. The response of the woman was no less
+prompt. She stood up quickly, and hurried out of the place, while Fingie
+himself remained to peer anxiously from the window that gave on the
+street. There, for a minute, he observed events outside. Afterward, he
+lounged against the bar with a gratified smirk.
+
+Jim, as he rode slowly down the main street, idly noted the woman who
+hastened out of Murphy's, and mounted astride the horse. He wondered a
+little that she did not start away. But, as he drew closer, his keen
+eyes perceived that the form of the woman was swaying unsteadily in the
+saddle. Alarmed for her safety, though with a suspicion that only excess
+of drink ailed her, Jim quickened his horse's pace--too late. Before he
+could reach her, the woman lurched, and fell heavily to the ground,
+where she lay motionless, evidently stunned, if not more seriously
+injured, while the startled horse backed away snuffing.
+
+Jim was on the ground almost as quickly as the woman herself, and was
+beside her before the few others in the street who came running. He did
+the natural thing under the circumstances, precisely as Dan McGrew had
+expected that he would. Since the woman lay with closed eyes, showing no
+signs of consciousness, unless in the faint moaning that issued from her
+rouged lips, Jim lifted her in his arms, and bore her through the side
+door, which Fingie had thoughtfully left ajar, into the back room of
+Murphy's saloon.... It was at this moment that the gambler left the
+window to lounge unconcernedly against the bar. Jim carried his burden
+to one of the round tables which was empty, and placed her gently upon
+it, continuing to support her with his arms about the waist and
+shoulders.
+
+[Illustration: JIM CARRIED HIS BURDEN TO ONE OF THE ROUND TABLES.]
+
+"Bring brandy!" he called out sharply to the nearest of the occupants of
+the room, who now came crowding forward with ejaculations of dismay. The
+man addressed was Fingie Whalen himself. He stared down at the woman
+with shocked surprise writ large on his sullen features.
+
+"Why, it's Jess!" he mumbled, in a voice that he vainly strove to fill
+with distress. "Whatever has she been an' gone, an' done?"
+
+"Get that brandy!" Jim reiterated the command curtly.
+
+"Yes, sir," Fingie answered humbly, and hurried off to the bar. In a
+moment, he was back with the liquor, which he held to the woman's lips.
+To Jim's relief, Jess swallowed the draft easily enough--to tell the
+truth, rather greedily; but of that fact her rescuer was quite unaware,
+and from it he augured well.
+
+Jess managed her apparent recovery from the effects of the fall with
+such art as she possessed, which, in truth, was not of the highest,
+though ample for the beguiling of a man who was honest and kindly and
+wholly unsuspecting. Soon, her eyes unclosed a little, and she breathed
+more deeply, and the moaning, which had been interrupted by the brandy,
+was resumed more vigorously. Through the paint on her cheeks showed the
+deeper red of a genuine flush, the natural result of the dram, but a
+sure evidence of vitality, none the less. Jim rejoiced over these signs
+of restoration, and even smiled on Fingie, as he bade him continue the
+chafing of the woman's hands.
+
+"She's not seriously hurt," he remarked, with much satisfaction in his
+voice; "though the way she flopped off that horse was enough to jar her
+teeth loose." Being ignorant of the fact that Jess had been a member of
+a circus troupe before she yielded to the blandishments of the gambler,
+Jim wondered mightily that so severe a fall should have had no worse
+effect.
+
+Jess opened her eyes wide, and stared up blankly into the face of the
+man who held her in his arms.
+
+"Where am I?" she asked, with the languid air of her favorite stage
+heroine when swooning.
+
+"It's all right," Jim hastened to explain soothingly, having due regard
+to her dazed condition. "You were dizzy for a second, I suspect, and
+fell from your horse. But there doesn't seem to be anything much the
+matter, and you'll be all right in a jiffy." He addressed Fingie.
+
+"Bring her another nip of the brandy."
+
+The gambler would have remonstrated against this unnecessary
+extravagance, but could find no plausible reason for refusal, and Jess,
+who was enjoying herself hugely, offered him no assistance. When the
+drink had been brought, she swallowed it without too much display of
+eagerness, and coughed as a lady should who is unaccustomed to strong
+waters. At once thereafter, she straightened up to a sitting posture on
+the table, though she still accepted the support of Jim's arms to his
+discomfiture, and regarded him with coquettish glances of gratitude,
+which were offensive to him, and to Fingie Whalen as well. He tried to
+withdraw his arms, but she leaned upon him too heavily, and he was
+forced for a few minutes longer to retain her in a passive embrace. But,
+as he repeated the effort tentatively, Jess bethought herself that her
+recovery had now advanced so far as to make such support unnecessary.
+Therefore, to play her part, she withdrew herself, and sat up
+unassisted, but with a hand to her brow to indicate that her brain had
+not yet wholly cleared.
+
+"Oh, you have been so good to me, Mister!" she gushed. "I shall be
+thankful to you to my dying day. Why," she added in a burst of
+imagination, "the horse might have stepped on me, if you hadn't been
+right there to save me."
+
+"Nothing like that, I'm sure," Jim declared, as amiably as he could
+contrive. "The horse seemed to be doing his best not to step on you
+without any help from me. You don't owe me any thanks, really."
+
+Jess put out an appealing hand. It was accepted reluctantly by Jim, and,
+with his assistance, and that of Fingie on the other side, she got down
+from the table totteringly, and sank into a chair, where she sat limply,
+with closed eyes, following her role devotedly to the end.
+
+"You'll have a drink with us, Mr. Maxwell," Fingie urged, twisting his
+lowering features to an expression of affability. "What's past is past
+an' done. You sure did give me an almighty swat on the jaw t'other day,
+but I ain't one to nuss no grouch, an' Jess here, an' me, we're plumb
+grateful for yer kindness to her this mornin'. What'll you have, Mr.
+Maxwell? I'll bring it."
+
+Jim shook his head in refusal. He, too, had no wish to nourish a grudge;
+but he had no liking for the gambler--less for the woman, whose tawdry
+airs nauseated him. He was already a little disgusted, with the episode,
+and desirous to end it.
+
+Jess saw the refusal in his face, and was quick to intervene; for
+failure now would mean the utter collapse of all their plotting. She
+spoke gently, and, in the genuineness of her anxiety, her voice trembled
+with appeal:
+
+"Please, sir--please, Mr. Maxwell!" she besought him.
+
+Jim, in spite of his repulsion, was touched by the woman's earnestness.
+His sense of chivalry impelled him to yield to a plea so natural and so
+ingenuous on her part. He smiled, a bit wryly, in answer to her
+imploring look, and nodded assent.
+
+"I'll have a glass of beer," he said to Fingie, and, as the gambler
+hurried off to the bar, he seated himself at the table beside Jess.
+
+The woman prattled nervously, made garrulous by the brandy, and by
+fatuous ambition to impress this aloof companion with her charms. As a
+matter of fact, the conspiracy came perilously near to failure in
+consequence of her chatting, which almost drove Jim to flight. His
+instinct of politeness, however, conquered inclination, and he remained
+in his place, listening with a forced semblance of interest to hide how
+desperately he was bored. Yet, throughout, he rested without a faintest
+suspicion that this affair was aught beyond the innocent thing it
+seemed. To him, the happening was merely a nuisance--nothing more,
+nothing in any wise sinister. It did not occur to him to wonder why
+Fingie should have volunteered to serve as their waiter. He did not
+trouble even to follow the gambler with his eyes, as the fellow went to
+the bar.
+
+For that matter, it would have availed Jim nothing, had he watched never
+so closely. The card-sharp possessed the dexterity of his trade. Those
+long, slender, mobile fingers of his had been fashioned by fate for a
+surgeon, a conjurer, a gambler, or a pick-pocket. Not even the keen-eyed
+bartender, who was close to him, noticed the tiny vial in Fingie's hand,
+as it hovered over the frothing glass of beer on the counter, or saw the
+trickle of the colorless drops into the brew. So, the gambler came back
+to the table presently, with a tray, on which were two glasses of
+brandy--one for himself, of generous size; the other for Jess, so tiny
+that she frowned indignantly at sight of it--and the glass of beer for
+Jim. The three drank together.... Then, the gambler and his woman
+watched avidly for what should befall.
+
+There was no delay. Jim, glad that the ordeal was at last done, would
+have risen to leave. But a strange lethargy held him fastbound. A black
+cloud descended on his brain; thought ceased. Suddenly, he slumped in
+his chair. His arms dropped heavily on the table. His head fell on them.
+Fingie and Jess chuckled aloud in gloating over the inert form of the
+man. They were not afraid lest he hear them, now.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+There was not a word exchanged between Lou and Dan on their ride from
+the ranch-house to the town. For his part, the man was filled with
+rejoicing over the triumph that he anticipated. He had no fear of
+failure. The ingenuity of his plot insured success. Its strength lay in
+the seeming simplicity of the events that would lead to the desired
+climax. Dan's only doubt had been concerning his ability to hold the
+woman to his will, and to make her play her vital part in his
+machinations. He had realized that he would have need of all his wit to
+secure from her even a hearing of his accusations against the man she
+loved. By his arts, he had enticed her into listening, and by reason of
+the very indignation thus aroused, he had warped her mood to his
+purpose. So, he went forward full of confidence as to the outcome,
+exultant, heedless of the misery of the woman who rode by his side.
+
+That misery was poignant. At intervals, wrath flamed high in her, and
+she longed for the moment when she should bring the two men face to
+face, that the slanderer might receive the punishment he merited from
+the one maligned. But, oftener, her emotion dropped into abysses of
+despair. There had been something unspeakably revolting to her wifely
+instincts in the tawdry phrases of the ill-written note, signed "Your
+loving Jess." Her spirit writhed as she recalled the words, so damning
+in their explicitness: "Shall expect you at the usual time. Don't let
+your trusting Lou keep you away, as I can't do without you." The wife
+found herself compelled to fight with all her energies against the demon
+of doubt that so hideously beset her. That note had been addressed to
+"Dearest Jim." And Jim was her husband's name, and the note had been
+lying in his letter-case. And, if these things of themselves were not
+enough to sap faith, there was the sneering use of her own name: "Don't
+let your trusting Lou keep you away." The distracted wife told herself a
+hundred times that her belief in the loyalty of her husband remained
+unshaken, but it was not so. She lied to herself, from very horror of
+the truth. Only by fierce and incessant denials of the doubt that welled
+in her could she repel the assaults of despair. Of the man beside her,
+she thought hardly at all, except in the fitful and constantly lessening
+flashes of her anger. Her thought was for the husband, with a pitiful
+wondering over the hateful mystery that had come to pass. Oh, surely,
+there was some simple explanation of it all--there must be! It was a
+hoax, a jest, some misunderstanding--anything! But, though she argued
+against belief, there remained always in her consciousness the stubborn,
+sickening facts, and a great dread lay crushingly upon her spirit. The
+agony of suspense grew unbearable. Her quirt rose and fell in a vicious
+lash on the flanks of the mare. The astonished thoroughbred leaped and
+stretched into a run.... Dan McGrew pressed his own mount forward, to
+keep pace.
+
+While the two thus rode toward the town, there was a period of tedious
+inaction for Dan's accomplices. In the back room of Murphy's saloon,
+Jess remained impatiently in her seat at the table, with the empty
+brandy glass before her. She would have liked another drink, but dared
+not call for it, since it had been forbidden by her master, because her
+part in the sordid drama was not yet finished. Beside her, Jim sat
+motionless, his body sprawled clumsily over the table. He had not
+stirred since his yielding to the influence of the drug. The only
+evidence of life about him was the sound of stertorous breathing. The
+habitues of the place had given no heed to him after a few sneering
+comments concerning one who would get drunk so early in the day.
+
+Fingie Whalen, after he had seen his drops take effect on the victim,
+went out of the saloon, and reestablished himself on the bench against
+the wall, where once again he gave himself over to an unremitting survey
+of the main street, down which any one coming from the ranch must pass.
+He smoked with nervous rapidity, which increased as minute after minute
+passed, and there was still no sight of those for whom he watched. At
+the end of an hour, the gambler's impatience had become anxiety. He
+began to fear failure at the last, when success had seemed assured. It
+might well be that, in spite of Jess's note, Dan McGrew had been unable
+to persuade Lou Maxwell into accompanying him. Or--as would be equally
+disastrous--they might come too late. Fingie had been as liberal as he
+dared in the drugging of the beer, but there is a great difference in
+the reactive powers of various men against such poison. He had not been
+minded to run any risk of murder. Therefore, he could not tell with
+precision when Jim Maxwell would recover consciousness. As the minutes
+hurried on, Fingie's fear mounted by leaps and bounds. From time to
+time, he left the bench, and peered in through the window, to reassure
+himself as to the continued unconsciousness of the drugged man.
+
+Then, at last, as he turned from one of these glimpses through the
+window, Fingie Whalen saw in the distance the forms of two riders coming
+at a furious gallop. For a second, he stood staring, to make sure that
+there was no mistake, that these were in fact those for whom he had
+waited with such anxiety. In another moment, he became certain that one
+of the two who approached was Dan McGrew. The flapping of a divided
+skirt proved that the other rider was a woman. He could no longer doubt
+that McGrew had succeeded. There needed now only to set the stage for
+the final scene. For the second time that day, Fingie whirled and darted
+into the saloon. He caught up from the bar a glass of brandy, which he
+had left under the barkeeper's charge, since he had not deemed it safe
+on the table within Jess's reach. He moved now without undue haste, in
+order to avoid attracting attention to himself and the others concerned.
+When he had reached the table at which Jess and their victim were
+seated, he put the glass down, with a nod to the woman to indicate that
+the end of the play was now at hand. Jess shoved her chair close to that
+in which Jim slouched. At the same time, Fingie seized the unconscious
+man by the shoulders, and lifted the heavy form upright in the chair.
+Jim yielded limply to the procedure--a dead weight in the other's grasp.
+He was still unconscious. His face was hot and flushed, the face of one
+under the influence of liquor. His breath still came noisily. Fingie,
+straining under the weight, tilted the flaccid body over a little way,
+until it rested against the shoulder of Jess, who braced herself to
+sustain it. Fingie raised Jim's left arm, as the unconscious man reposed
+thus against the woman at his right, and laid it about her neck. Thus
+the two remained in an embrace, which bore every evidence of fondness
+that knew no shame in this public and disreputable place. Jim's head
+sagged, until it rested upon the woman's bosom. Her right arm was
+wreathed about him, holding him tenaciously, with all her strength, lest
+he lurch away from her. With her left hand, she took up the glass of
+brandy, which Fingie had brought, and held it close to the lips of the
+unconscious man.
+
+[Illustration: JIM'S HEAD SAGGED UNTIL IT RESTED UPON THE WOMAN'S
+BOSOM.]
+
+Such was the business of the piece, as it had been arranged beforehand
+in each detail by the conspirators. Jess cast a look of inquiry toward
+the gambler, to learn whether or not the situation met all the
+requirements of the plot. He gave a brief nod, and grunted approval. He
+heard the clatter of hoofs in the street outside--a clatter of hoofs of
+horses ridden in haste. It ceased just without the door of the saloon.
+Fingie walked quietly to the bar. A quick glance about showed that the
+attention of none had been attracted to his movements. He grinned evilly
+in anticipation.... From the time when he had first sighted the riders,
+not more than a half-minute had elapsed. He leaned against the bar, and
+stared furtively toward the window that gave on the street.
+
+Dan McGrew drew close alongside Lou, as the pair pounded down the main
+street of the town.
+
+"Stop at the corner, this side of the bank," he called to her. "At
+Murphy's saloon."
+
+The woman shivered as her ears caught the words. She knew the character
+of the notorious place, which catered to the most depraved tastes of the
+community. Was it to a resort so ignoble that she must go to refute the
+slander against her husband? To refute it! Or--she broke off her
+thought, appalled by the terrible alternative. Then, in the following
+instant, she found herself already abreast of the saloon. She heard her
+companion's brisk command:
+
+"Stop here!"
+
+She obeyed, though, almost, the dread that beat upon her forced her to
+flee on, and on--anywhere away from the horror that menaced. She pulled
+her mare to a standstill, and got down from the saddle, and let the
+bridle-reins trail. She moved as one in a dream--rather, as one in a
+nightmare. Yet, now the crisis was upon her, she did not suffer quite so
+cruelly. Her feeling was numbed, somehow. It was with a certain
+listlessness in her voice that she addressed Dan McGrew, as he stepped
+to her side.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"There's no need to go inside," Dan explained. "We can see enough, I
+fancy, through the window.... Come!"
+
+Lou followed obediently whither he led. So the two came to the window,
+with the dirty glass and its tattered shade raised high, so that
+whosoever would might look freely on the squalor within. Dan stepped
+forward and peered into the room for a moment, then turned and beckoned
+to Lou.... And the wife advanced, as he bade her, and looked over his
+shoulder.
+
+Lou's eyes, accustomed to the full glare of the noon-day sun, could at
+first distinguish nothing more than a vague litter of weaving shadows
+within the murk of the dingy room. Very soon, however, her vision
+adjusted itself to the dim interior, so that she began to see
+distinctly. Even in this moment of emotional stress, Lou was conscious
+of her repugnance at the spectacle of coarsely flaunted vice. She noted
+the line of sodden men loafing along the bar, the few others grouped
+about the tables with the bedizened and painted women, whose wanton
+faces, and more wanton manners, proclaimed their unsavory sort. Yet, her
+attention was thus arrested for only a fleeting fraction of a second.
+Then her gaze fell on that other table and she saw her husband.
+
+There could be no doubt as to Jim's identity. As she recognized him,
+Lou's dark brown eyes dilated before the fearfulness of this thing. For
+she saw, as well, every detail of his visible plight. The scene was
+etched on her consciousness with the acid of horror, there to remain
+indelible throughout the years. She knew, in the first second of seeing,
+every feature of the creature within whose arms her husband was lying.
+She knew the cut and color of the soiled bodice, with its drapery of
+cheap lace over the bosom--on which his loved face reposed. She felt a
+nausea. There was nothing lovable now in his face. Instead, it was
+bestial, repulsive--the face of a man who had given himself over to
+gratification of the beast within him, and who was wallowing in the mire
+of his degradation.... So it seemed to Lou Maxwell, as she stood
+staring, bereft, upon that scene which to her meant the end of all
+things. The life had gone out of her face. A sickness as of death
+clutched at her heart. Suddenly her gauntleted hands caught Dan McGrew's
+shoulder. Only his quick support saved her from falling. She spoke
+dully, in a broken whisper:
+
+"Take me away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Lou was able to climb to her saddle with Dan's assistance, though she
+moved very feebly, and her white, drawn face was that of one who had
+been stricken with a mortal hurt. But once safely mounted, with less
+strain on her muscles, a little strength flowed back into her, so that
+she sat steadily enough as the two started back at a walk over the way
+down which they had ridden so furiously. By the time the town was left
+well behind, the fresh air and the motion had restored her faculties in
+part, both physical and mental. But with the clearing of her brain came
+an agony of realization almost unendurable. She urged her horse to its
+full speed, fain to put all distance possible between her and the
+detestable scene on which she had just looked. Indeed, the instinct of
+flight in this crisis of her fate was dominant. Her one desire was to
+flee to the ends of the earth, to escape forever from all that had been.
+
+Throughout the years of her life hitherto, Lou had experienced no real
+anguish. Her sorrows, great though some of them had seemed to her as
+child and woman, had been essentially trivial, over trivial things. She
+had never known the ills of poverty. The death of her father had
+occurred while yet she, the only child, was too young to grieve deeply
+or long. Her mother's death had occurred some years after her marriage,
+when she had been weaned from the old home-life. In truth, all her years
+had been pleasant ones. The sum of her happiness had been far beyond
+that of most. The love between her and her husband had been a beautiful
+one, in which she had found supreme content. It had been crowned by the
+birth of the child. It had held the promise of serenely joyous years to
+come.... And now, the catastrophe! Here was the end of all things. Doubt
+of her husband's loyalty had never tainted her devotion. She had
+believed utterly in his cleanness, his wholesome manhood. And now, in
+an instant, the whole fabric of her life was in shreds, beyond any
+possibility of reweaving; befouled beyond any possibility of purifying.
+All her happiness had been an illusion, the gracious charm of it only a
+mask that covered the ugly truth.
+
+Lou had never a doubt concerning that truth. With her own eyes, she had
+witnessed it. She had seen Jim in drunken debauch with the painted
+woman, who had boasted that this lover came always at her call. The wife
+had seen her husband fondled openly by a wanton in a public place, had
+seen the creature holding the glass to that husband's lips. Dan McGrew
+had plotted well. By his intrigue, he had destroyed absolutely all her
+faith and happiness.
+
+The humiliation of the revelation sharpened the torture. It would not
+have been quite so terrible, Lou thought, if Jim had loved some woman of
+a decent sort. But the loathesomeness of being scorned for that infamous
+woman of the dance-hall--! The wife writhed under the ignominy: that a
+being so sordid should have ousted her from her husband's heart. His
+infatuation for one so base proved his entire worthlessness. He was but
+the gross, soiled caricature of her ideal. The idol of gold which she
+had worshiped was shown to be of clay--clay filthy and corrupt.
+
+Dan McGrew realized, to some extent at least, the anguish of the woman
+at whose side he rode. Had it been consistent with his purposes, he
+would have spared her that suffering. In his way, he sympathized with
+her keenly. Yet the fact that her grief was wholly of his making, had no
+cause whatsoever except the visible lie which he had built for her eyes
+to see--the fact that he alone had thrust the iron into her soul
+troubled Dangerous Dan not at all. He had no remorse, though he pitied
+her. He was absolutely without compunction for the misery he had
+wrought. Dangerous Dan was a strong man, save for his vices. He was a
+hard man as well. What he desired, he meant to take, and he was
+ruthless and unscrupulous as to the manner of his taking. More than
+anything else in the world, he desired to possess for his own Lou
+Maxwell. To that end, he had concocted his scheme of villainy. The
+woman's present agony was a necessary part in the success of his
+plotting. So, though he was sorry for her whom he had thus fearfully
+wronged, he felt no vestige of regret--only exultation. In his way, Dan
+McGrew loved Lou. His love for her was, indeed, the chief passion of his
+life. But his love, like that of many another man, was wholly selfish.
+She was necessary to his happiness. That he must destroy her happiness
+in order to secure his was of no importance. Moreover, with the egotism
+of a strong man, he was confident that he would be able in the days to
+come to make her happier than she had ever been before.
+
+Now, on the ride, Dan discreetly kept silence. He could follow well
+enough the workings of the woman's mood, and he believed that it would
+be unwise at this time to attempt the direction of her thoughts. It
+seemed to him certain that under the circumstances she must inevitably
+reach the conclusion he desired. There might be danger that a suggestion
+from him would provoke suspicion, though this possibility was remote,
+after the effectiveness of the scene on which she had looked.
+Nevertheless, despite his confidence in a victorious issue of the
+affair, Dan was glad when Lou went forward at full speed. He, like
+Fingie Whalen, knew that the influence of the drug on Jim Maxwell would
+be only of a temporary sort, and that soon the ranch-owner would recover
+consciousness. Just how long an interval there might be before the
+husband's return to the ranch, Dan could not tell. But, because he was
+in a fever of impatience for a rapid development of events, he rejoiced
+over the haste in which they rode, and welcomed with a sigh of relief
+their arrival at the ranch.
+
+As Lou dismounted, Nell came running from the porch with a rapturous cry
+of greeting. The mother dropped to her knees, and gathered the girl into
+her arms, with passionate kisses. She realized, with bitter
+self-reproach, that in all this time of trial she had had not a single
+thought for the daughter whom she so loved. In her humiliation as a wife
+she had forgotten her obligation as a mother. Now, abruptly, the
+shameful significance to the daughter of what had befallen was borne in
+upon Lou's consciousness.
+
+"He is unworthy ever to look on her face again." She was unaware that in
+the intensity of her feeling she had spoken aloud with deliberate
+emphasis.
+
+Nell, already somewhat perplexed by the ardor of these caresses, became
+even a little frightened by the unfamiliar expression on her mother's
+face, and by the sternly spoken words, which she did not understand. She
+was relieved when, the next moment, she was released, and she hurried
+off to her favorite nook in the rose-garden, where she might be alone to
+puzzle over the meaning of it all.
+
+Unlike the child, Dan McGrew understood exactly the wife's ejaculation,
+and he knew that he had achieved his end. Without invitation, but quite
+as a matter of course, he walked at Lou's side as she ascended the steps
+and entered the living-room. She accepted his company without
+remonstrance, indifferently. It was only after she had sunk down into a
+low easy chair, where she lay back wearily with closed eyes, while she
+drew off her gauntlets, that Dan McGrew finally dared to address her
+explicitly:
+
+"You must leave him, of course," he said gently. His voice was very
+grave and kindly. It came with something of a shock to the woman's
+ears--she had forgotten him so completely in the self-absorption of her
+mood. But, too, there was something soothing to her in the manner of his
+utterance. She became aware that here was one to aid her in the
+accomplishment of things to be done. She no longer remembered how,
+within the hour, she had execrated this man who now stood before her.
+She had become oblivious of the insult he had so recently put upon her.
+The revelation of her husband's treachery obsessed her mind to the
+exclusion of all else. So, she was fully disposed to accept the
+assistance of Dan McGrew in this emergency. She was ready to acquiesce
+in his suggestions for her guidance in escaping from this place which
+her husband had polluted. She sat up in a quick access of energy.
+
+"Yes," she said harshly, "I must leave him--at once." Her animation
+grew. Her face, which had been pallid a moment before, was flushed with
+eagerness. Her expression became resolute. "I must take Nell away from
+him. I don't want him ever to set eyes on her again--he's not fit."
+
+Dan forbore comment. There needed from him no condemnation of the
+husband. The wife's conviction as to Jim's guilt was complete. So he
+avoided Lou's reference to her husband's culpability, and spoke to the
+point:
+
+"You want to get away without seeing him again," he remarked, in a tone
+of positiveness, as if the matter admitted of no doubt.
+
+"Yes," the wife answered. "It would be too horrible to see him again!
+And for Nell--"
+
+Dan McGrew nodded sympathetically.
+
+"It would only mean a nasty row," he agreed. "You might as well spare
+yourself that--and spare the child, too," he concluded, craftily. For he
+realized that Lou would fly fast and far for the child's sake, if not
+for her own. He detested the necessity of the child's presence in their
+flight, but he recognized the fact that it was a necessity, and
+therefore to be endured--even, as far as possible, to be turned to
+advantage.
+
+"Yes," Lou continued, "we must hurry as fast as we can, for I suppose
+there's no telling when Jim might return. And it would be dreadful to
+run into him in the town, on the way to the train."
+
+Dan McGrew nodded assent.
+
+"It would, indeed!" he declared. "In the condition he's in now there's
+no telling what he might do."
+
+Lou shuddered at the memory of her husband's sodden face, as she had
+seen it resting on the breast of the woman in Murphy's saloon.
+
+"We must not meet him!" she declared desperately. "It would be too
+terrible to have him see Nell." She pressed her hands to her bosom as if
+to hold back the emotion that surged within her. "More dreadful for Nell
+to see him. I want her to have a clean memory of her father, whatever he
+is."
+
+"We can avoid any danger of meeting him," Dan McGrew asserted, with a
+brisk tone of confidence that reassured his listener. "We'll just ride
+across country to the main line. Do you know the road? I have only a
+general idea."
+
+Lou was all eagerness over the suggestion.
+
+"Yes, yes," she exclaimed excitedly; "that is the way to do it. I know
+the road. We must get ready and start at once. But you don't need to go
+with us."
+
+Dan McGrew spoke decisively:
+
+"I've got you into this mess, Lou, and it's up to me to see the thing
+through. I want to help you in any way I can--and just now you need
+help." His tone was firm, yet tender, with a note of devotion in it that
+touched the distraught woman. She sprang to her feet and held out both
+her hands, which were seized in a warm clasp.
+
+"Thank you, Dan," she said gently. "God knows I need help."
+
+Then, forthwith, she became all animation. She summoned her maid, and
+ordered that two small bags which could be carried on horseback should
+be packed with necessaries for herself and Nell. At Dan's suggestion,
+she sent an order to the stables for Nell's pony and two fresh mounts to
+serve for Dan and herself. These things done, it occurred to her that
+she must leave some explanation of her departure for her husband on his
+return. She seated herself at his desk, and wrote hurriedly and briefly,
+in distaste for even this indirect contact with the man who had wronged
+her.
+
+     _Dear Jim_:
+
+     I know all. I do not want to be in your path, so am going away.
+     You love another, so will perhaps not miss me.
+
+     Good-by, Jim.
+
+     I forgive you.
+                                                       LOU.
+
+Lou, when she had set her name to the short form of words, thrust the
+sheet into an envelope, which she addressed with the single word, "Jim."
+For long seconds she sat staring at the lines she had last traced--that
+name which had been through so many years the symbol of her happiness,
+which was now become the symbol of vileness and misery. The horror of it
+smote her anew, essenced in that name which had been her blessing, which
+was now become her curse.
+
+The sound of the hoofs stamping on the gravel before the door aroused
+her. The maid came to announce that the horses were in readiness, with
+the bags strapped to the saddles. With the maid came Nell, who had
+needed no preparation, since she was already in her riding clothes. Lou
+took the girl in her arms and kissed the exquisite dark face with a
+tenderness that was like a benediction.... She had no least hint that
+this was destined to be the last time her lips should touch the soft
+roundness of the girlish cheek.
+
+"You are to ride with me this afternoon, Nell," she said. "Don't ask any
+questions now. I'll tell you all about it by-and-by. It's a surprise."
+She shivered over the words. A surprise--yes, a surprise that meant the
+end of all things. So, presently, the three went forth from the
+living-room, and across the porch, and down the steps, and got into the
+saddles of the waiting horses. Without any exchange of words among them,
+they rode away. None of the three looked back--Nell, because she had no
+guess as to the sinister meaning of this parting; Dan, because even his
+calloused soul felt a twinge of shame over the ruins that he left
+behind; Lou, because she could not.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+It was not until late afternoon that Jim slowly struggled back to
+consciousness. He was first aware of a deadly nausea, which seemed
+billowing through every atom of his being. Then he felt the torture that
+stabbed through his brain. In an effort of revolt, he raised his head,
+though the movement tried his strength to the utmost. His eyes swept
+dimly over the scene, and a dull wonder filled him. Just at first, he
+did not recognize the place. Very quickly, however, the acrid odors of
+spilled liquors and the reek of cheap perfumes from the women quickened
+memory. Suddenly his eyes opened wide, and he saw clearly, with new
+consciousness of his surroundings--and of himself. He realized that in
+some mysterious fashion, altogether inexplicable to him, he had been
+overcome in the back room of Murphy's saloon. His mind went to the
+period immediately preceding the blank in memory. He remembered his
+presence there along with the woman, Jess, and the gambler, and his
+taking a drink with them. Of whatever had followed, he had no knowledge.
+Evidently, he had suffered a seizure of some sort. As his faculties were
+restored, it occurred to him that he might have been drugged by the
+gambler or the woman, for the purpose of robbery. But a hasty
+examination showed that his watch and money were untouched. Besides, it
+seemed to him, on second thought, preposterous that either of the two
+should have dared anything of the kind against him. No, it was certain
+that he had been attacked thus without warning by some unexpected
+physical ailment. He was rather alarmed by the experience, as strong men
+usually are when unaccustomed weakness assails them. He determined to
+submit himself to a careful examination at the hands of a competent
+physician, on his first visit to the county-seat.
+
+The nausea had subsided in some measure, and the pain in his head, too,
+had lessened. But he felt mouth and throat parched. He got up, moving
+with difficulty, and, after a few moments of unsteadiness while he held
+to the back of a chair for support, he was able to stand firmly enough
+and to walk forward to the bar.
+
+"Give me a glass of water," he said to the bar-keeper.
+
+The fellow obeyed with alacrity, for he knew Jim Maxwell to be a man of
+importance in the community, and he had been puzzled by the events of
+the day--even a little frightened lest trouble come of them. Jim gulped
+the water and demanded more. He drank a number of glasses before his
+thirst was even partially quenched. The effect was speedy. He felt
+strength returning to him. His brain was quite clear again.
+
+The bar-tender, watching narrowly, saw that the ranch-owner was himself
+once more. He ventured to speak ingratiatingly, in the hope of
+satisfying his curiosity.
+
+"That was quite some snoozle, Mister," he remarked, with a smirk.
+
+"It was nothing of the sort," Jim snapped. "I don't know what it was.
+But it was bad enough."
+
+"I thought mebbe as how you'd had a drop too much," the bar-keeper
+explained, "an' was jest nacherly sleepin' it off. If we'd knowed you
+was sick, we'd have got the Doc in to give you a look-over."
+
+"That's all right," Jim answered. "I'm not blaming you any--unless it
+was the drink you gave me that poisoned me."
+
+Presently Jim went out into the street. He found his horse tied to a
+ring at the corner of the saloon building. He unhitched it, mounted, and
+rode slowly homeward. He was still in distress physically, but his
+condition was improving from moment to moment, so that he no longer felt
+apprehension as to the outcome. Soon, indeed, he became sufficiently
+sure of himself to put his horse to a trot.... As the shadows of evening
+drew down, he rode up to the door of his home.
+
+There was a bank of lurid clouds in the west, massed heavily on the
+horizon. The air was motionless, weighted with portents of coming storm.
+Jim felt the oppressiveness, and in a subtle way it rested upon his mood
+as something sinister. A weight of melancholy pressed upon him as he
+entered the house. The stillness of the air seemed reenforced in the
+quiet of the living-room into which he stepped. There was no sound. He
+listened for his wife's greeting. It did not come. He listened for the
+pattering steps of Nell, running to welcome him. He did not hear them.
+The silence hurt him in some curious way. He had an overwhelming sense
+of the absence of those he loved--the absence of wife and child.
+
+He crossed the room to his desk. He slipped the loop of the quirt from
+his wrist and let it fall on the desk. The effect of the drug was not
+yet assuaged; he was very thirsty. He called to the maid passing through
+the hall:
+
+"Bring me a glass of water, Mary."
+
+The girl came quickly with the drink. She and the other servants were in
+a ferment of curiosity, full of suspicions and wonderings. There had
+been much gossip in the house over the fight between the two men the day
+before, which had not passed unobserved. To-day, the wife had suddenly
+left her home with the man who had been ordered out of the house. Over
+this fact, scandalous tongues were clacking loudly. Mary had made it her
+business to be passing in the hall, in order that she might note the
+attitude of the master at such a time. So she stood, in eager
+expectation, eying her master closely, as he took the glass of water.
+
+But he set the glass back on the tray suddenly, for he saw an envelope
+lying on the desk, addressed in the handwriting of the woman he loved:
+
+"Jim."
+
+A foreboding of disaster crashed upon him. He trembled, standing there
+with the envelope unopened in his hand. Then he strove to throw off this
+craven dread--for which there was no reason. He turned to the maid.
+
+"Where is your mistress?" he asked, quietly.
+
+It was the question for which Mary, and the whole household, had been
+waiting.
+
+"Why, sir," she answered falteringly, dismayed now that the matter was
+coming to a crisis, "she has gone out--with Miss Nell, sir--and with Mr.
+McGrew."
+
+McGrew! The name roared in Jim's brain. The man who had insulted his
+wife, whom he had beaten and driven from his home like a whipped cur....
+And Lou and Nell had gone with Dan McGrew. He felt a sickness,
+inexpressibly more horrible than the physical nausea that had sickened
+him there in Murphy's saloon. That Lou should have gone with Dan
+McGrew--and Nell! The thing was incredible!
+
+His eyes searched the room, as if looking for wife or child, or for some
+clew to explain the mystery. They fell on the envelope, which he still
+held in his hand. He tore it open in a frenzy of eagerness.
+
+He read confusedly. But, somehow, the essential meaning beat upon his
+brain. He grasped the fact that the woman he loved had gone from him. It
+was all a monstrous lie, of course. Yet, there was the horrid truth--she
+had gone away. Lou and Nell--the two things in the world--had gone away.
+He could not understand. But they had gone.
+
+"Good-by, Jim!"
+
+She had written that, and she had signed it "Lou." There was confusion
+in his thoughts. He could not guess the meaning that lay back of what
+his wife had written. He only knew that there was some monstrous lie.
+
+The maid's voice came softly. The girl was appalled at the expression on
+the man's face as he stood staring down at the sheet of paper in his
+hands. It was from a desire to bring things back to the ordinary that
+she spoke apologetically:
+
+"Your glass of water, sir."
+
+The words made a mechanical impression on Jim Maxwell's consciousness.
+He stretched out his left arm, and his hand, from which he had not yet
+pulled off the riding-gauntlet, closed over the glass on the tray. He
+raised it toward his lips. His eyes fell on the note once more.
+
+"You love another, so will perhaps not miss me."
+
+The incredible words were there before him. And she had gone--she and
+Nell.... With Dan McGrew! The thing was impossible. There was no truth
+anywhere. He stared down at the letter, aghast at the horrible conundrum
+propounded to him by fate. Lou had gone--with Dan McGrew!... Why?
+
+His eyes held to the note.
+
+"--so I am going away."
+
+The words beat a refrain of dreadfulness in his brain.
+
+"--so I am going away."
+
+His hand, holding the glass of water, clenched fiercely in the reflex of
+emotion. The glass was shivered, and the fragments were multiplied as
+his passion still sought expression in the violence of that clutch.
+
+[Illustration: HIS HAND CLENCHED FIERCELY IN THE REFLEX OF EMOTION.]
+
+Jim turned to the maid, who had watched his unconscious splintering of
+the glass with distended eyes.
+
+"When did they go?" he asked.
+
+Mary answered hurriedly, disconcerted by the obvious distress of her
+master.
+
+"It was some hours ago, sir. They went sort of unexpected-like, as it
+seemed to me, sir."
+
+Jim reasoned swiftly. Somehow, he sensed a frightful fraud underlying
+this mystery. But he knew the need of haste. By some malevolent chance,
+his wife had been led into this error of understanding--out of which she
+had written:
+
+"I do not want to be in your path, so am going away."
+
+Jim turned to the girl, who was still hovering doubtfully in the
+doorway.
+
+"There's been a mistake somewhere, I guess." His voice was quiet, but in
+it throbbed a heart-beat of deepest feeling. "Tell the foreman, I want
+the boys to ride with me to-night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+As the cavalcade passed from the driveway into the high road, which ran
+east and west, Dan McGrew spoke quickly.
+
+"We'll ride toward the town."
+
+Lou turned her horse obediently, according to his direction.
+
+"But why?" she demanded, wonderingly. "We might meet--him."
+
+"That's a risk we must run," was the decisive answer. "When we are well
+out of sight of the house, we'll cut around through the fields, and get
+back into the road below. So, if they come after us, they'll start the
+pursuit in the wrong way."
+
+In this fashion, the matter was carried out. Half an hour later, the
+three were back on the high-road, riding in the direction opposite to
+that in which they had started. They went forward rapidly through the
+hot hours of the afternoon, but not too rapidly, in order that the
+horses might hold out for the long journey. Nell, from time to time,
+would have questioned her mother over this strange outing. She became a
+little petulant, fretful from balked curiosity. But the mother was not
+minded to explain as yet. It required all her powers of self-control to
+maintain a fair degree of composure in this time of trial. She knew that
+any attempt to make plausible explanations to the girl would overtax her
+strength, and cause collapse.
+
+Night drew down on the travelers. With its coming, the storm, which had
+been threatening in the sultry air, broke furiously. Within the minute,
+the three were drenched. Dan was disturbed by the discomfort thus
+inflicted on mother and child, as well as himself, but pressed on
+stubbornly, since no relief was possible. Presently, however, as he
+asked a question concerning roads and distances, Lou had an inspiration:
+
+"We can cut off eight or ten miles by not going through Salisbury, to
+which this road runs. We can ford the river, and beyond it's open range
+to Hoytsville. Then we'll strike the high-road again."
+
+Dan questioned her closely, and was convinced by her replies.
+
+"I've ridden it often with--with Jim," she said. There was a catch in
+her throat at utterance of the name. "I think it would be quite safe,
+even in the dark."
+
+Dan agreed as to the advisability of her plan. Presently, then, the
+three turned out of the road, and moved toward the river, which, Lou
+explained, ran through a little valley just beyond. The rain had ceased
+as suddenly as it had begun. The passing of the storm had cleared the
+air. The oppressive heat of the afternoon and evening was gone. Now, a
+chill breeze was blowing. It pierced the drenched garments of the three,
+so that they shivered with cold. Lou became alarmed lest Nell should
+suffer some ill consequence from this exposure. As they descended the
+slope that ran down to the river-bank, she spoke suddenly.
+
+"Let's stop here for a little rest," she suggested; and her voice was so
+anxious that Dan hardly dared refuse. For that matter, he had had
+something of the sort in his own mind.
+
+"It's imprudent," he answered; "but, if we must, why, we must, I
+suppose."
+
+"I don't think it's really imprudent," Lou maintained. "There are trees
+and bushes along the river-bank to hide us and the horses. Anyhow, we're
+out of sight from the road. Could you build a fire?"
+
+"If I can find any wood dry enough to burn," was the rather doubtful
+response.
+
+They halted on the edge of a grove, which grew close to the river. Dan
+led the horses within the concealment of the trees, and tied them as
+best he could with his chilled fingers. He had difficulty in finding dry
+leaves and branches for the fire, but, in the end, succeeded in making a
+blaze. Soon, the three were grouped close around the flame, grateful for
+the heat, which relaxed their stiffened muscles, and sent up steaming
+vapors from their wet garments. After a little, Dan left the fire for a
+look at the river, which was to be forded at this point. He could see
+only very indistinctly, for scudding masses of black cloud hid moon and
+stars. As nearly as he could make out, the river was about fifty yards
+in width, its surface almost flush with the bank on which he stood. In
+the darkness of the night, the vaguely seen stream appeared somehow
+disquieting, as if in treacherous waiting Dan McGrew, looking on it,
+felt a shiver that was not from the cold. He turned away, with an
+impatient curse for his moment of weakness. Lou had said that the utmost
+depth of water in this shallow creek would not reach to the stirrups.
+Yet, despite self-contempt over his feelings, Dan experienced a
+depression of spirit for which he could in no wise account, as he
+returned to the fire.
+
+It was perhaps an hour after their arrival in the grove that the man's
+alert ears caught a thudding of hoofs upon the high-road from which they
+had turned aside. He listened and made sure that the riders--for there
+were several--were following the road toward Salisbury and Hoytsville,
+at full speed. Had they been going in the opposite direction, they could
+have been disregarded. But, under the circumstances, their presence
+seemed a sure indication that pursuit in the right direction had been
+begun. To escape them, it would be necessary to press forward with all
+haste, taking advantage of Lou's plan for a shorter distance.
+
+Even while his thoughts were formulating this decision, Dan had taken
+prompt measures of precaution against discovery. He had scattered the
+glowing embers with thrusts of his feet, and had stamped upon them,
+until they were completely extinguished.
+
+"We must ride instantly," he said, in an authoritative voice to Lou, who
+acquiesced at once. For she, too, had heard the galloping through the
+night and had guessed its meaning.
+
+Dan hurried to unfasten and lead out the horses. When he was come to the
+place where he had tied them, he could distinguish in the faint light
+only the two larger mounts. Instantly, the apprehension that had been
+so formless crystallized in definite fear of a possibility, which, in
+the following moment, was proven fact. Dan cursed again over the
+clumsiness of his cold-stiffened fingers, which had caused such a
+mishap. More than ever, now, he detested the presence of the child with
+him and Lou, for it was likely to prove a serious encumbrance in their
+further flight. He called softly, but there came no nicker of response
+from the pony. He explained to Lou and Nell what had happened, and, at
+his request, the girl called, in hope that her pet would hear the
+summons and obey her voice, if not another's. But, again, there was no
+response. A search, Dan knew, would be useless, since the escaped pony
+might be already miles distant, on its way to the ranch.
+
+"I'll take Nell on behind me," Dan announced roughly. "It's the only
+way."
+
+Within a minute, Lou and Dan were mounted. Then, Dan bent over, and
+swung the girl up to a seat behind him.
+
+"Hold on tight," he commanded.
+
+The girl obeyed passively. What with the cold and the soaking and the
+loss of her pony, and this dreadful river which they were about to
+enter, and the strangeness of everything, the child was frightened and
+miserable. She was sobbing very softly, and the sound irritated Dan
+McGrew.
+
+"You lead, Lou," he ordered, "since you know the way. You can see well
+enough?" he asked anxiously. "You're sure that you know the way?"
+
+"Yes," was the confident reply. "But the water is higher than I've ever
+seen it. Why, it's up level with the bank, almost."
+
+"Is it safe, then?" Dan demanded.
+
+"We must risk it, anyhow," Lou returned. "If we go by the road now,
+they'll be waiting for us ahead."
+
+"If the creek's as shallow as you said, I guess we can manage it, all
+right," was the man's decision. "There must have been a cloud-burst
+somewhere in the mountains where the stream rises. We got the tail end
+of the storm--and that was a plenty!" he added savagely. "Let's be off."
+
+Lou led the way as he had bidden her. She rode a furlong down the bank
+of the stream, to a point beyond the grove where she and her husband had
+entered the water for the crossing. As the horse stepped reluctantly
+down the shelving bank into the current, a qualm of dismay stirred in
+the woman. She could not doubt that the rush of the water as it came
+swirling about the horse's legs was much more violent than it had been
+on those other occasions when she had ridden through it. And, too, there
+was something strangely dispiriting in the combined effects of the black
+tide and the ominous gloom of the night beneath a heaven hidden by the
+masses of scurrying clouds. She looked back, as her horse advanced with
+laggard pace into the deepening water. She craved the comfort of
+companionship in this horrible time and place. Her eyes could make out
+only a silhouette that moved a little way behind her. She could not
+perceive any detail there in the darkness. But she knew that Dan McGrew
+rode close at hand, and with him, though invisible, rode her daughter,
+Nell--the one thing dear left to her in all the world. So, she went
+forward bravely enough, though her mood was as black as the blackness of
+the night that hung upon her in a smothering pall of weariness.
+
+The water deepened and flowed with more fierceness. It reached to the
+horse's belly. The steed snorted in affright. Then, it lost its footing,
+and sank until only its head, with the nostrils lifted high, was clear
+of the water. Lou cried out at the shock, as she found herself immersed
+in the coil of waters. But, even as she screamed, she threw herself out
+of the saddle, to relieve the mare of her weight, and swam, holding to
+the pommel of the saddle. Her horse fought its way forward, breasting
+the flood valiantly. At an oblique angle to the force of the current,
+the woman and her steed won slowly to the shore.... Her own cry and the
+splash of her body, as she threw herself from the saddle, had shut from
+the mother's ears another shriek that had broken the silence of the
+night.
+
+Dan's mount, troubled by its increased burden, was more reluctant even
+than Lou's had been to advance through the lashing currents of the
+swollen river. It had held back, in spite of Dan's urging, so that it
+was at some distance in the rear, when, at last, it slipped, and
+scrambled wildly to regain its footing--only to fail and plunge beneath
+the surface, borne down by the weight it carried. It was in the second
+before the two riders were finally submerged that Nell voiced her terror
+in a shrill cry. The noise of it rang in Dan's ears, confusing him. But
+it was strangled in the second of its birth by the enveloping waters. As
+he struggled out of the saddle, holding his breath, Dan became aware
+that the girl was no longer on the horse. She was not clinging to him.
+She had gone from him out into the mystery of the black night and the
+hungry river. He realized that her cry had been that of despair, as the
+force of the current wrested the child from her hold on horse and man.
+Dan's head came above the surface, and he floated easily enough,
+supported by a hand on the swimming horse. Even his iron nerves were
+shaken by the calamity. There was no further sound out of the stillness
+of the night, save the rippling murmur of the water as the horse swam
+onward. Dan was aware that he could do nothing toward the girl's rescue.
+Already, the hurrying current must have carried her far beyond his
+reach. It seemed clear enough that Nell must have lost consciousness at
+once after being swept down into the element. Otherwise, she must have
+cried out again--and there had come no second cry. Strong man as he was,
+Dan McGrew felt himself helpless in the grasp of circumstance. There was
+nothing that he could do to avert or to mitigate the tragedy. He could
+only go forward helplessly, leaving the unfortunate girl to her fate.
+The suddenness, as well as the dreadfulness of the catastrophe, sickened
+him. Later on, he might rejoice over this summary removal of one who
+must have proved an obstacle in his path. But, just now, his emotion
+was of dismay--a dismay strange to his experience. Beyond the natural
+horror aroused in him by the accident, Dan McGrew found himself almost
+in despair over what must come to pass when the mother should learn of
+her daughter's death. He knew well that Nell was the one treasure that
+remained in the mother's heart. The loss of this last possession would
+rend her being to its depths, and leave her utterly desolate. The first
+effect from knowledge of the tragedy would be that the mother would not
+go a step further, until after the river had been searched, and her
+daughter's body recovered. Such a delay would be fatal to the plotter's
+every hope.... At once, Dan McGrew forgot his horror, his despair. He
+began again his plotting--to the end that the mother should not learn
+the truth too soon.
+
+When, finally, his horse gained a footing, near the other bank of the
+river, Dan McGrew had matured a plan to suffice for the moment. Beyond
+that, he could not see his way. The future lay in the lap of the gods.
+
+On dry land again, Dan reined in the horse, which welcomed the respite
+gladly after its battling with the river. He listened, and soon heard
+Lou calling his name. From the sound of her voice, he knew that she was
+at some distance from him, further up the stream. He sent a cheery shout
+in answer to her hail. Then, he rode forward slowly and cautiously
+through the darkness, which was so deep that he could hardly see to pick
+a way among the bushes and trees that lined the bank of the creek. And
+Dan McGrew blessed fate for that darkness. Lou's voice came again, near
+at hand. Now, Dan could perceive the vague outline of her form against
+the background of the sky, as she sat her horse on the crest of the
+little knoll that rose from the river's brim.
+
+"We're all right," he cried, and his voice was full of content. "But I
+don't think much of your easy ford, Lou. It was a nasty crossing." Then
+his voice rang sharply, imperiously: "But we must hurry on, if we are to
+gain anything for all our trouble."
+
+"And you're all right, then?" Lou asked. There was a note of vast relief
+in her voice. "You're all right, you--and Nell?"
+
+Dan McGrew's voice came with an emphasis of sincerity:
+
+"We're all right, Nell and I." Again his voice came insistently:
+
+"Ride on, Lou. We'll follow."
+
+Lou called out once again, and the music of her voice was very tender:
+
+"It will only be for a little longer, Nell. Mother's brave darling!"
+
+Dan's voice came roughly, to cover the lack of any response from the
+child.
+
+"Hurry, Lou! Hurry! We'll follow."
+
+Wholly unsuspicious, Lou rode on her way amid the shadows of the night.
+She had no least instinct to warn her that now, at last, she had lost
+everything her life had held dear. There was still the torture that had
+come when she had learned the baseness of her husband. But she could not
+guess the last evil that was upon her. So, she rode swiftly through the
+night. Always, even when they came into the road at Hoytsville, Dan
+rode a little in the rear. Lou looked back from time to time. She could
+see the outlines of man and horse. She could not see the form of her
+daughter; the bulk of the man hid even its shadow from her eyes. But the
+fact that she could not see caused no fear in her, and she rode swiftly,
+as contented as one may be when the sweetness of life has changed to
+abomination.
+
+It was not till they came to the outskirts of the little city, through
+which the main line of the railroad ran, that Lou learned the truth. It
+was under the lights of the streets that she turned, and looked, and saw
+Dan McGrew close behind her--and saw that there was none clinging at his
+back. She stared disbelievingly. Then, a ghastly fear leaped within her.
+
+"Nell!" she cried.
+
+Her voice was strained and shrill, broken with dread. "Nell!" she
+repeated, in a tone muffled by terror. "Where is she?" She turned her
+horse sharply and reined it to Dan McGrew's side. Motionless, the two
+regarded each other through seconds that were as ages.
+
+Finally, Dan McGrew spoke:
+
+"She was torn away when we were swept under," he said; and his voice was
+very compassionate. "I did what I could. There was no way to save her.
+She only cried out once. She must have gone down immediately."
+
+Lou sat rigid, gazing with eyes that widened and burned in flames under
+which the man before her cringed. And then, of a sudden, the fires of
+her gaze were quenched. It was as if a black flood rolled over her as
+well, and extinguished the very last sparks of her spirit. The lids
+slowly fluttered down to closing. Under the blue white of the arc-light,
+her face was that of a dead woman. The last blow of fate in that
+frightful day had overwhelmed her. She tottered in her saddle. Dan
+McGrew, watching fearfully this thing that had come to pass through his
+machinations, leaped, and stood, and caught the fainting woman as she
+fell.
+
+He remained motionless there for a full minute, with the lifeless body
+in his arms. For once, he found himself perplexed, incompetent. But,
+abruptly, his thoughts cleared. Something of his usual self-confidence,
+so greatly shaken this night, came back to him. He smiled with a cruel,
+utterly selfish satisfaction.
+
+"It's the best way out," he muttered to himself. "I'll get her into some
+quiet place. She'll need a lot of nursing before she gets over all this.
+I'm sorry for Lou, but it had to be; and it's all for the best."
+
+With that monstrous declaration concerning the evil that he had wrought,
+Dan McGrew strode forward toward the nearest house, carrying the
+unconscious woman in his arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Jim and his men rode throughout the night in vain. Nowhere could they
+come on any trace of the fugitives. There was as yet no telephone
+installed in this newly settled region. But their search was thorough.
+There were inquiries at the railway stations in the various towns round
+about. At none of these had ought been seen of Dan McGrew and woman and
+child. Jim found himself baffled in his quest. He could not guess that
+the wife who had thus deserted him was lying in a stupor, from which she
+aroused only to rave over a lost husband and a dead child. He could not
+know that she had broken under the stress of sorrow, and was being
+ministered unto by a kindly woman to whom Dan McGrew had told many lies,
+in order to enlist her sympathetic aid. Even had his inquiries reached
+the very house in which Lou was sheltered, he would still have been
+deceived. For he sought a mother and her child: and here was no child.
+
+So, the hunt availed nothing. The three who fled had vanished utterly.
+There came not even a rumor as to their whereabouts. They were gone as
+completely as if the earth had opened and swallowed them up.
+
+Nevertheless, Jim was not slow in learning something of the truth. He
+was told of Dan's visit at the ranch that fatal day, and of his wife's
+accompanying this visitor to the town. Those there were who had seen the
+two as they dismounted at Murphy's saloon, and looked in through the
+window. Jim, remembering his own experiences of that day in the back
+room of the saloon, was aroused to suspicion of the fact. He got from
+the bar-keeper details as to what had occurred. The fellow's reference,
+jestingly made, to the manner in which Jim and the woman, Jess, had
+embraced, gave him a sudden illumination concerning the plot of Dan
+McGrew by which his wife had been beguiled.
+
+Straightway, Jim hunted out Fingie Whalen's woman. She would have
+denied, but, in the face of the injured husband's rage, she was fairly
+terrified into confession. In the end, the woman wrote at Jim's
+dictation, even as she had written at the dictation of Dan McGrew. But,
+now, she wrote without any smirk of vicious satisfaction--with a face
+pallid and with fingers that trembled from fear of the fierce-visaged
+man who stood over her in stern and menacing domination. Fingie Whalen,
+all his bluster gone, looked on in timid consternation, cringing from
+the baleful threat in the eyes of the man mortally wronged.
+
+[Illustration: SHE WOULD HAVE DENIED, BUT WAS FAIRLY TERRIFIED INTO
+CONFESSION.]
+
+The painted woman was so moved by the anger of the man whom she had
+helped betray, that, for the first time in more years than she would
+have cared to tell, she revealed the name with which, back in a quiet
+New England village, she had been christened by simple, God-fearing
+parents.
+
+This was the note of confession, which the woman wrote at Jim's
+command, duly dated, and witnessed by Fingie Whalen and the landlady of
+the house, who was summoned for the purpose. Jim realized that these
+formalities were extravagant, but, somehow, they seemed necessary to him
+just then, to put this evidence of the crime against his home and
+happiness beyond cavil of doubt.
+
+     I, Anne Weston, confess to tricking Jim Maxwell and deceiving
+     his wife at the instigation of Dan McGrew. McGrew hired Fingie
+     Whalen and me to help him fool Mrs. Maxwell. I wrote the note
+     signed "Jess." At the time when Mr. Maxwell was due to arrive
+     in town, I was all ready, and as he came by fell from my horse
+     as if I had fainted. He carried me into the saloon, and then
+     Fingie gave him knock-out drops, and we fixed it up so that
+     when McGrew came with Mrs. Maxwell and looked in at the window,
+     it was as if we were loving together. But it was all a lie,
+     worked out by Dan McGrew to make Mrs. Maxwell believe her
+     husband was false to her.
+
+                                                        ANNE WESTON.
+
+Jim carried that paper in his pocket. It was the document with which he
+would prove to Lou how she had been deluded. But the days passed, and
+there came no opportunity to show her the sheet of paper on which Anne
+Weston had scrawled her confession. He used every means at his command,
+but he was powerless to gain any trace of the woman whom he had loved
+and lost through despicable treachery.
+
+It was on the fourth day after Lou had fled her home, that Jim Maxwell
+seated himself at the piano in the living-room. Hitherto, he had been so
+occupied in the vain effort to find his wife that he had been, in some
+measure, unappreciative of the misery that was upon him. Now, when he
+had exhausted every resource of activity, he suddenly felt the
+desolation of his home--the ruin of his life. With his instinct toward
+the musical expression of moods, he took his place before the
+instrument.
+
+Then, again, that glorious love-lyric came softly sonorous from the
+keys. The lilt of the melody rose and fell with a subtle vigor, instinct
+with the joy of life. The delicate tenderness of the music throbbed the
+story of a love complete and enduring. There was passion in the rhythm.
+It was a passion ennobled and purified by the intricate harmonies woven
+around and within it. It was a song of the spirit. It was overlaid with
+a splendor of sensuous sound. There was nothing gross--only the fullness
+of life.... Jim was playing with exquisite art that song of happiness
+which he had improvised on the day he received the news of Dan McGrew's
+coming.
+
+Now, after he had followed the melody to its end, the truth, which
+during the moments of his playing he had forgotten, crashed upon him in
+a discord so horrible that he could not touch the keys to voice
+it--could only sit, moveless, listening to the din within his own soul
+in an ecstasy of despair.
+
+Often, again, in the years to come, Jim Maxwell played that same melody.
+Always, he was searching for the wife whom he had loved and lost. Men
+whose eyes were sharp noted him here and there around the world,
+because he seemed so uninterested in everything, and because so often
+his left hand touched his breast.... In the pocket there, he carried,
+ready for Lou's reading, the confession signed by Anne Weston--the woman
+Jess.
+
+And, in the years as they passed, Jim Maxwell gained something of
+reputation for another thing. He traveled the world over; he had money
+enough. His foreman was competent. Even without his personal attendance,
+the revenues from the ranch increased year by year. He lived for only
+two things: to find Lou and prove to her his innocence--and to kill the
+man who had betrayed them. In his search, Jim Maxwell went everywhere.
+He was known in the capitals of Europe; he was known in the wild places
+of the earth. Men spoke of him, though they had little acquaintance with
+him. The reason they spoke of him was because on occasion--it might be
+in the parlor of some sailor's lodging-house in Vladivostok, or it might
+be in a drawing-room of the Savoy, this man would seat himself at the
+piano, and he would play. And, always, he played the self-same melody, a
+lilting air of love and tenderness, filled full of the joy of life.
+Always, too, the melody was embroidered over with an intricate web of
+harmonies, magnificent, yet somber. And, in the end, always, the player
+beat suddenly upon the keys a frenzy of discord.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+"Then you're quite sure, Jack? You don't mind my being a--nobody?" The
+girl's tone was half-playful, half-sad. There was a note of wistfulness
+in the musical cadences of her voice.
+
+The young man whom she had addressed answered with an emphasis that left
+no doubt as to his sincerity. His clear gray eyes were alight with love,
+as he looked into the dark, gypsy-like face of the girl at his side.
+
+"Why, Nell, you're just everybody. You're everything worth while in this
+little old world of ours."
+
+"You do say the sweetest things, Jack!" The shadowy eyes that met
+tenderly the warm gaze of the lover were lighted with fond appreciation.
+Then, of a sudden, the red lips trembled into a mischievous smile, as
+she added: "I guess I wouldn't give a snap for a sweetheart who was
+tongue-tied when he talked about my charms."
+
+The two were seated in the main room of a small, roughly-built Alaskan
+cabin, which stood on the outskirts of a ramshackle village, created
+almost in a day by the gold lure's magic. The lovers had been left alone
+together on the eve of their wedding-day by the kindness of the girl's
+foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ross. It was of these, who, in the tiny
+back room, were recalling the distant days of their own courtship, that
+Nell now spoke.
+
+"They have been so good to me!" she said musingly. "I've told you that
+they were not really and truly my parents. I didn't tell you just how I
+came to be with them, because it was such a dreadful time to me. Even
+after all these years, I hate thinking of it."
+
+"Don't!" Jack Reeves urged. "What's past is past, and there's no earthly
+reason for you to worry yourself over it by telling me."
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"I want to tell you, dear," she said simply. Then she fell silent for a
+little. The lover, watching the warm olive contour of the cheek against
+which the long black lashes swept as her eyes closed in meditation,
+rejoiced yet once again in the beauty and the daintiness of this maiden
+whom he had found and won for himself here amid the rigors of the
+Northland. He noted the slight drooping of the tenderly curving lips,
+and longed to kiss away their sadness. Presently Nell went on speaking,
+rather rapidly, as if anxious to be done with an unpleasant task, and in
+a tone that told of restrained emotion:
+
+"It was twelve years ago that Papa and Mamma Ross found me. You know
+Papa Ross is a born pioneer, and Mamma has grown to be just like him.
+For years they have been moving with the frontiers. That time they were
+camping by a river down below. There had been a heavy storm, and the
+river ran high. They heard a cry from somewhere out in the night on the
+water. They ran to the bank and looked. But it was dark, and they
+couldn't see anything or hear another sound. Rover was with them--a
+splendid big Newfoundland." The girl's voice softened. "Rover died two
+years ago, just before we came up here. I loved him so!"
+
+"I think I can guess," Jack ventured, as the girl paused. "It was Rover
+who saved you--for, of course, it was you out there in the river."
+
+The girl nodded somberly.
+
+"Yes," came her answer, very gently uttered; "I was out there in the
+river, drowning. The current swept me along with it. There was a point
+of the shore just below where Papa Ross had camped. I was carried into
+the eddies there. Somehow, Rover caught a glimpse of my face, or, maybe,
+just his instinct guided him. Anyhow, as Papa Ross has told me, Rover
+sprang into the river, and, when Papa Ross had followed around the inlet
+toward the point, he found the dog trying to drag me out of the water,
+up on the bank. Papa Ross carried me to the camp, and there he and Mamma
+worked over me for a long time. It was a close call, Papa Ross says,
+but finally they got me to breathing again.... And that's about all."
+
+"And so," Jack questioned in some surprise, "you don't know any more
+than that?--where you came from, or anything?"
+
+Once again Nell shook her head.
+
+"No, nothing more than that. Papa Ross always thought that I must have
+struck my head somehow, there in the water. Anyhow, I was confused when
+I came to. I couldn't seem to remember anything exactly--except my name,
+Nell. Sometimes I have shadowy memories, but they melt away before I can
+get anything definite. So, you see, I'm just a nobody, Jack, as I told
+you--just a mystery that came out of the night and the river."
+
+"Everybody to me," the lover declared again; "everything to me." And
+now, at last, he took the lithe, slender form of the girl into his arms,
+and kissed the sorrowfully drooping lips to smiles again.
+
+But, after a little, when there came a lull in the caresses and murmured
+endearments, Jack Reeves spoke a question that was puzzling him:
+
+"But I should think it would have been easy enough to trace you? If
+inquiries had been made, surely you might have learned where you came
+from, and who you were, and all that?"
+
+But, once again, Nell shook her head, and this time very emphatically.
+
+"Papa Ross did what he could, but it came to nothing. When we got to a
+town, he tried to find out about any girl's being lost like that. Nobody
+knew of any such case. There was no report of any child's having been
+drowned. He did what he could--I'm sure of that. Anyhow, as long as you
+don't care, Jack, I don't suppose I need to. But, somehow--" Nell's
+voice broke, and she sat silent, absorbed in melancholy reverie. Always,
+this mystery was a painful thing to her. Even now, when her happiness
+was full, on the eve of her marriage to the man she loved, she was
+grieved by the fact that she must come to her husband as a waif, a
+creature whose origin was unknown, a nameless bit of flotsam, dragged
+from the river by a dog. Then, in another moment, the depression of her
+mood was forgotten as she drew away from Jack's embrace, for she heard
+Papa Ross stamping heavily about the back room of the cabin--in kindly
+warning that he was about to intrude upon the lovers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The next morning broke clear, and when at last the slowly clambering sun
+rose to traverse its short circle between the horizons, its slanting
+beams seemed full of warmth and good cheer, though the mercury stood at
+twenty degrees below zero. There was not a breath of wind, and the chill
+air, pure with a purity unknown to lower latitudes, was like the wine of
+life. The breath of it in the lungs set the blood a-tingle with
+joyousness. And the purity of the air had for its background the visible
+purity of the snow-mantle that lay over everything. Beneath the sun, the
+white expanse shimmered in prismatic brilliance. Afar, the mountains
+loomed in purple masses--the green of conifers seen through the vista
+of many miles.
+
+And the day, in its spirit of vigorous life and wholesome gayety, was
+suited to the mood of the tiny temporary town, which sprawled here in
+the wilderness. For the place was en fete. The hardy men who had thus
+ventured into the wilds of the North welcomed the diversion of this
+romance among them, which was to culminate to-day in the wedding of Jack
+Reeves and Nell Ross at the Dyea Hotel. Public sentiment had insisted
+that the nuptials should be celebrated at the hotel. The hotel, truth to
+tell, was neither commodious nor imposing. But it was a boarded
+structure, the only one in the village, and it was by far the largest,
+small though it was. And the citizens were determined that they should
+be permitted to assemble in force on this auspicious day, when the
+glamour of love was to soften in some degree the austerity of the arctic
+land. So, betimes, the men of the community gathered at the hotel to
+await the marriage ceremony. A scant half-dozen women, courageous
+followers of the men they loved, were there as well. Some had been at
+pains to bring heaps of evergreen boughs, and with these the main room
+of the hotel--at once lobby, bar and office--was decorated. Caribou Bill
+brought a great bank of moss, for which he had dug through six feet of
+snow. To it was attached a piece of flaming-red paper, in which tea had
+originally been packed, and this paper had been laboriously cut by
+Caribou Bill into the shape of two hearts, lovingly joined as one. The
+symbol of wedded happiness was established by its smirking inventor on
+the central shelf above the bar, where it commanded the enthusiastic
+admiration of the populace.
+
+It was noon to the second when Nell Ross and Jack Reeves stood in the
+center of the main room of the hotel before the one who was to make them
+man and wife. He, too, was at heart a pioneer, and he was, as well, an
+earnest worker for the saving of souls. His own preference, with a
+roving commission, had brought him to this remote place. He found a
+singular pleasure in the fact that his ministrations were required for
+the uniting of this winsome maiden and this virile, clean young man. It
+was as if the ceremony typified in some fashion the purity and vigor of
+life here within the frozen North.... It was noon to the second! The
+time-keeper was Harry, the Dog-Man, who carried a Waterbury watch, on
+the accuracy of which he would cheerfully have staked his hopes of
+eternal happiness. Because of the exactness of his time-piece, which
+none cared to deny, he had usurped the office of master of ceremonies.
+When he saw the two hands of the watch blent as one upon the hour of
+twelve, he raised his arm, and Nell and Jack moved forward within the
+little lane walled by the crowd, to stand before the clergyman, who
+regarded them with a benevolent smile, in which, unknown to himself, was
+something almost of envy in the presence of their youth and happiness
+and love.
+
+So, the minister spoke the words that made this pair husband and wife.
+
+There was a noise of snapping dogs outside. A man came into the hotel,
+stamping the snow from the high-buckled overshoes worn over his boots of
+felt. Behind him came a woman muffled in furs. She looked on the scene
+with a certain feminine interest, for she realized at once that a
+wedding was in progress; but without any personal concern. Indeed, she
+was rather displeased, being weary from a long journey over the snows,
+because she saw that she must wait for attention until the ceremony
+should be concluded. The man with her shook the hood of the parka from
+his head, and stood regarding with cynical amusement the two who had
+clasped hands before the clergyman. So he waited while the words were
+uttered that made the pair one. The ceremony ended, the husband kissed
+the bride; the minister in turn bent and touched his lips to hers, with
+a curious stirring of half-forgotten emotions.
+
+Then the crowd surged forward, eager for its prerogative of a kiss. And,
+as she turned, Nell saw the man who had just entered, standing there
+with that smile of cynical amusement upon his handsome face. The eyes of
+the two met and battled. There came to her a strange feeling of dread.
+In this, the supreme moment of her life, wherein all had been happiness,
+there stirred a feeling of doubt, of evil anticipation.
+
+The man, staring into the face of this beautiful girl upon whose
+nuptials he had stumbled by chance, experienced a thrill of emotion
+which he could not understand. Some secret monition moved him to an
+alarm. He felt an unreasonable disturbance in the presence of this
+girl.... Dan McGrew had no suspicion that he had blundered thus on the
+child who, years before, had been swept away from him in the darkness of
+the river's flood-tide.... Nor did the woman, who stood behind him so
+wearily, waiting for the end of this tiresome ceremony, guess that the
+gentle girl, blushing there under the storm of kisses claimed by the
+crowd, was, in fact, the daughter for whose death she had mourned
+through so many years.... Nell did not see the woman at all.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: "THEY'VE STRUCK IT RICH ON FORGOTTEN CREEK!"]
+
+Of a sudden there came an interruption:
+
+A man leaped through the doorway. He waved his hands and staggered as
+one drunken. His voice rose in a raucous shriek:
+
+"They've struck it rich on Forgotten Creek!"
+
+There was a moment of intense stillness. These men had fled from
+civilization in pursuit of the will-o'-the-wisp of gold. Now sounded the
+clarion call:
+
+"They've struck it rich on Forgotten Creek!"
+
+[Illustration: THESE MEN HAD FLED FROM CIVILIZATION IN PURSUIT OF THE
+WILL-'O-THE WISP OF GOLD.]
+
+For long seconds the stillness endured. Then, abruptly, there came a
+huge cachinnation. It was the mellow, roaring laughter of Bert Black,
+the only negro in this Aladdin village so close up under the Pole. The
+company looked at the man expectantly, and he answered the interrogation
+in their eyes:
+
+"We-all is just shohly goin' to have a stampede!"
+
+Then, again, the silence held for a little, while each and every man of
+them saw the vision of the straggled crowd trailing the waste places,
+lured on by the will-o'-the-wisp of gold.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The Fates, in weaving the intricate web of human lives, smile grimly
+oftentimes over the curious intermingling of the threads. Often, too,
+the incomplete design might well move them to a cruel mirth, but that
+they see beyond the seeming tangle of events to the perfecting of their
+pattern at the last. So, perhaps, they are content of their task, though
+we mortals, with short-sighted eyes, seeing dimly, look on the
+happenings of our lives as the blessed or the baneful work of chance.
+Thus, now, the Fates had brought here, beneath the flickering of the
+Northern Lights, all the actors in the drama of the years agone, when
+the happiness of a home had been shattered by a villain's ruthless
+passion. Their presence within a short radius of miles had every
+appearance of purest chance. Nevertheless, the Fates had brought them
+within reach of one another, that thus the seeming snarl in the threads
+of these lives might be shown as in fact untangled and woven into a
+design just and harmonious and beautiful.
+
+Dan McGrew moved sociably among the men of the village, as they
+celebrated the wedding with many jovial libations. He was
+hail-fellow-well-met with each and all, for it had come to be a matter
+of professional necessity with him to attain a fair measure of
+popularity whithersoever he went. He had deteriorated much with the
+passage of the years. He had sunk to be a common gambler, and on
+occasion had not scrupled at worse methods in pursuit of ill-gotten
+gains. To-day his keen eyes were speedily drawn to one of the men, who
+was especially lavish in hospitality.
+
+"Who is he?" Dan asked of the bar-tender. "Seems flush, all right."
+
+"That's Sam Ward," was the answer. "He's got a hole somewhere up in the
+hills, which nobody don't know nothin' about--'cept it's cussed rich.
+Sam blows a pokeful o' dust ev'ry time he hits town."
+
+Dan eyed the fortunate prospector greedily, and his predatory instinct
+brought him to a quick decision. He went to Lou, who was sitting,
+drearily enough, alone at a table in a corner of the room. He spoke to
+her softly, that none might overhear, though of this there was little
+danger amid the noise of rollicking gayety.
+
+"There's a chap here I mean to chum up with a bit," Dangerous Dan
+explained. "I'll introduce him, and you must be nice enough to him to
+make him talk."
+
+The woman nodded assent. For it had come to such a pass. Often, she had
+stooped to play decoy for the man in his schemes against his fellows.
+
+Dan McGrew had persistently lied to this woman. By his arts he had
+ruined her life. But Lou had still no inkling of the truth. One great
+fact was impressed upon her as time passed: This man loved her--and he
+was loyal to her. Since she had lost everything dear, it seemed her
+duty to give the worthless remnant of her life to the one who thus
+esteemed it something precious.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Lou returned to consciousness, after the fever and delirium that
+seized her the dreadful night of the flight from home, her first
+question was concerning the drowned child.
+
+The man at the bedside met her imploring gaze steadfastly, and spoke his
+falsehoods so convincingly that she had never a doubt. The river had
+been searched with every care, he declared. The body had not been found.
+The bereaved mother had been denied the last pitiful solace of grief--a
+place of burial wherein to mourn over the lost.
+
+After the final deprivation, Lou was apathetic. The light had gone out
+of her life. She was numb with misery. Her most distinct emotion was a
+sort of passive gratitude toward the man who had so frightfully wronged
+her. It was in obedience to the promptings of this feeling that Lou
+meekly accepted his every suggestion. She did so with the more
+readiness because these suggestions were so skillfully contrived as to
+seem the epitome of unselfishness.
+
+Thus, for example, there was the matter of divorce. Dan learned that the
+kindly woman into whose house he had brought Lou suffered from
+nostalgia. She had come out into the West with an eager, improvident
+husband, who had died and left her with this tiny home, on which the
+mortgage of a few hundreds rested as a burden beyond her strength to
+remove. She was sick with longing to go back among the home-folk. Dan's
+sympathetic voice and candid, honest eyes won confidence from the lonely
+old woman. And, too, she quickly grew fond of the invalid in her house.
+Therefore, she had no hesitation in acceding to the proposal made to her
+by Dan McGrew: that she should travel to the East with Lou, as nurse and
+companion. The money offered to her by Dan McGrew for these services was
+enough to ease her declining years. Moreover, there was the added
+inducement that, in this manner, she would be able to return to the
+place for which she longed.
+
+Lou made no objection to the arrangement. She liked the old woman, and
+the instinct of flight was still upon her.... She was only grateful to
+the man who was at such pains in her behalf.
+
+In due time, the three were duly established in the East. Dangerous Dan,
+in the course of his daily visits to Lou from a lodging he had taken
+close at hand, guided her thoughts so craftily that, with no suspicion
+of having been influenced, the heart-broken woman decided that she
+should get a divorce. Dan had chosen a location in a State where
+desertion was a sufficient cause. Lou brought suit, and the issue was
+expedited in the courts. She believed that thus she gave to her husband
+an opportunity to marry the woman with whom he had become infatuated,
+and thus, too, an opportunity to restore in some degree his
+self-respect.... She could not guess that, owing to the treachery of the
+man on whose advice she relied, her husband had no knowledge whatsoever
+of these proceedings. The newspapers, with their formal advertisements
+to the defendant in the action instituted in the courts, were never
+posted to the address of the ranch-owner.... Dan McGrew saw to that.
+
+Eventually, there came a decree _nisi_. In due time, the divorce was
+made absolute. Throughout this interval of delay, the man demonstrated
+the firmness of his purpose by the patience with which he waited for the
+attainment of his ends.
+
+It was not until a year after her flight from home that Lou became the
+wife of Dangerous Dan McGrew.... Why should she not give herself to him
+who had so befriended her?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The late dawn of the morning after the wedding came on clear, with a
+soft wind blowing from the south. Under its gentleness, the sun was able
+to thaw the surface of the snow. Then the wind swung to the north.
+Within an hour, the crust on the snow, as the Arctic air blew over it,
+was strong enough to support a horse. And Dan McGrew and many another
+took advantage of the fact. There were a few meagerly fed horses in the
+town, remnants from the discontinued Lodestar Mine, which had failed to
+pay a profit, after elaborate installation of equipment. They knew that
+at the first change of the weather their mounts would become worse than
+useless. In the meantime, however, there was a luxury in this form of
+travel that appealed. And there were hangers-on in the town, too poor
+for a grub-stake, who for a pittance would run on foot with the train,
+and afterward take back the horses to the village, when a softer snow
+should make them a hindrance rather than a help.
+
+Nell used the voice of wifely authority:
+
+"Why, the idea! Of course I shall go too!" She was all eagerness. For
+years she had lived with those who were informed with the spirit of the
+frontiers. Her husband, thus far in his battling with the Northland, had
+been successful. He had found claims of value. Some of them he had sold;
+some of them he had worked. From most of them he had won a deserved
+profit. So, when the news of the strike on Forgotten Creek came--even
+though it was his wedding-day--Jack Reeves was all agog with
+anxiety to be off to this region whither fortune beckoned.... And Nell
+would not be left behind. She would follow her husband where fate led.
+She would not be denied.
+
+Thus it came about that the bridal pair were among the crowd that surged
+in the village street before the Dyea Hotel on the morning after their
+wedding. Jack had a team of dogs, the best within hundreds of miles.
+They were strong enough to make play of hauling the long sled, laden
+with provisions, on which Nell was seated with ease, well-wrapped in
+furs, and sheltered beneath a drapery of white--the skin of a polar
+bear, which Jack had brought back with him as a trophy of experiences
+beneath the Arctic night.
+
+There were in the throng men who had no dogs. They carried on their
+backs the small allowance of bacon, beans, flour, tea, coffee, sugar,
+tobacco. The adventurers were of all sorts. Some went well supplied.
+Others joined in the stampede recklessly. They might starve, or freeze,
+out there in the mountains. But they were caught and drawn on by the
+lust for riches. Somewhere out there in the cold and the distance gold
+was lying. In the sands of the creeks, in the ledges of the mountains,
+were the golden flakes, the riches for which each and every one
+craved....
+
+[Illustration: THE ADVENTURERS WERE OF ALL SORTS. THEY WERE DRAWN ON BY
+THE LUST FOR RICHES.]
+
+The huskies yelped and snarled in fierce rivalry. Harry, the Dog-Man,
+snapped his whip with a vicious crack like the report of a gun. The dogs
+strained against the breast-straps in their fierce lunge forward. Along
+the line was everywhere impetuous, eager movement. The stampede had
+begun.
+
+Dangerous Dan McGrew, who rode beside his wife, spoke to her softly, so
+that his question would not be overheard by Sam Ward, who rode on her
+other side:
+
+"What does he say?"
+
+Lou answered in a whisper:
+
+"He'll leave to-night, when the camp's quiet, for his own claim."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+From a nook on the mountainside, a lone man watched scornfully the long,
+thin line of the stampede.
+
+Those same threads spun by the Fates had caught another in their mesh.
+In a lonely hut, there in the desolate Northland, Jim Maxwell had his
+home. His presence was needful for the weaving of that design by which
+right should be realized in the final presentation of life's tapestry.
+He had traveled thus far beyond the confines of civilization under the
+urge of that immutable purpose which drove him in all his wanderings
+throughout the years--to find the man he hated, and the woman he loved.
+He had sought vainly over all the world in the usual haunts of men--in
+many that were unusual. Never, anywhere, had he found a trace. He had
+come into this forbidding land, not for the lure of gold, as the others
+had come; but for the lure of vengeance against the man who had
+despoiled him, and for the lure of love toward the woman who had his
+heart in her keeping.
+
+Then, somehow, Jim Maxwell, when he found himself isolated there in a
+cabin amid the loneliness of this land, almost forgot vengeance, almost
+forgot love, in the immensity of the peace that brooded over the
+snow-clad wastes. In the hut he had built with his own hands, from
+spruce timbers, he was snugly sheltered against the austerities of the
+clime. He had fuel enough, of his gathering along the wooded slopes of
+the foot-hills. In the maw of the sheet-iron stove, which he had packed,
+the resinous branches were transmuted into dancing flames, redolent of
+warmth and cheer in the tiny room of the hut, though outside the blasts
+from the Pole were cold as the ice from which they came.
+
+The day of his daughter's wedding--though he had no least suspicion that
+wife, or child, or enemy was within thousands of miles--Jim made a
+round of his traps. In making the circuit, he was absorbed, without
+thought, for the time being, of the life that had been, without thought
+of vengeance, without thought of love. It was only after he had returned
+at nightfall to the hut, and had fried his mess of bacon on top of the
+red-hot stove, and had boiled his coffee hard, as one must in the North,
+where there is need of all the energy from food, that Jim sat down on
+his bunk of spruce boughs, ready for sleep--yet, for a moment, wakeful.
+
+Then there sounded softly on his ears that old, old lyric of love. It
+was the song that had been played out of the feeling of his heart for
+his wife, in the years long gone. It was that improvisation with which
+he had told Lou his passion on the day when he had heard that Dan McGrew
+was coming to visit them. Now, Jim had no means of audible expression.
+Nevertheless, the song welled in him. It thrilled in every atom of his
+being. It was that same wonderful, joyous, lilting melody, full of life
+at its best. The tenderness of love rang in its cadences. Jim's fingers
+tensed--they were hungry to seize the chords, rapacious to pounce on the
+notes that voiced this heart-song of a lost happiness.
+
+Jim aroused from the trance of memory. He looked to the fire, and rolled
+into the bunk.... He had heard, that day, in a native iglook, of a find
+of gold on Forgotten Creek. He recalled the fact drowsily as sleep fell
+on him.
+
+"I'll take a look across the valley in the morning," he thought.
+"There's sure to be a stampede."
+
+So it came about on the day following the marriage of Nell Ross and Jack
+Reeves that there was a watcher who looked out over the valley through
+which the long line of dogs and men hurried toward the possible riches
+of Forgotten Creek.
+
+Jim seated himself on the trunk of a fallen spruce, high on the
+mountainside. From this point, he overlooked the whole length of the
+valley. He saw at last the animate line darting out of the distance, and
+watched as it became definite, with a smile of cynical amusement....
+These were the hunters of gold. And gold--Bah! There were only two
+things in the world: love and vengeance.
+
+From his seat on the fallen spruce, Jim Maxwell stared out over the
+valley. For hours he sat there. He saw the breaking up of the company,
+as its members scattered in various directions, now that they were come
+into the region of possible wealth. At the last, the valley showed clear
+of the human invaders.... And, just then, Jim Maxwell heard a sound,
+which already he had learned to know, there in the Northland. It was a
+gentle sound, but with a sibilance that held a threat of danger--like
+the hiss of a gigantic serpent.
+
+As he heard, Jim instinctively let out a great shout of fear in the
+presence of this peril so close upon him. In the same moment, without
+pausing to look up, he dropped from the log on which he had been
+sitting, and crowded as closely under it as he could, to make it serve
+as a bulwark--though, indeed, he well knew the futility of such a
+protection against the avalanche that was now crashing down the slope.
+Crouched there beneath the log, Jim awaited the issue with an unuttered
+prayer for escape in his heart--if escape should be possible.
+
+[Illustration: CROUCHED THERE BENEATH THE LOG, JIM AWAITED THE ISSUE.]
+
+In another instant the din of the snow-slide burst on his ears in its
+full fury. And, along with that thunderous noise, the daylight was
+blotted out. In the darkness, the man felt the soft, yet inexorable
+weight of the massed snow crushing upon him, holding him as in a vise.
+There was a tiny free space still beneath the log, and as yet he had no
+lack of air. But he was powerless to stir. He realized that there was no
+possibility of digging his way out through the heaped bulk of snow
+within which he lay entombed. He could find no room for hope. He
+resigned himself to meet the end with what fortitude he might. A wave of
+wrath swept through him that he must die thus futilely, with his
+vengeance unaccomplished. The emotion passed presently, and in its
+stead came a vast and poignant yearning for the woman he loved. By a
+fierce effort of will, he fought down such desires, which he deemed
+weakness at this time, and strove to look Death in the face calmly, with
+resignation and without fear.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jack Reeves and his bride, despite the excellence of the young
+prospector's dog-team, lagged behind the others in the long line of the
+stampede, for the young husband had his own ideas concerning a location
+likely to yield the best results, and meant to let the crowd precede
+him, in order that he might pursue his course unmarked. So it came about
+that, after the straggling procession of gold-hunters had passed from
+the sight of Jim Maxwell, the newly married pair entered the valley,
+riding at ease behind the leisurely moving dogs. Jim Maxwell, from his
+position on the mountainside, held his gaze turned toward where the last
+of the stampeders had vanished, and so failed to observe the newcomers.
+Thus, when the avalanche swept down upon him, he had no thought that
+his wild, instinctive cry for succor could be heard.
+
+But it was. A quarter of a mile away, Jack Reeves heard the despairful
+shout; and Nell, too, heard it. Jack's quick gaze, darting in the
+direction of the sound, caught a glimpse of moving shadow against the
+white surface of the slope, as Jim dropped from the log to take shelter
+beneath it. At the same time, there came to Jack's ears the first noise
+of the avalanche's descent, and he understood fully how great was the
+peril of the unknown, whose cry for help he had heard. He called to his
+dogs savagely, and sent them forward toward the slope at speed. Before
+he had time to explain to the startled Nell, the rush and roar of the
+snow-slide made clear the situation to her, familiar as she was with
+this peril of the mountains. Yet, ere the hurtling masses of snow buried
+the spot where he had seen the moving shadow, Jack marked its location
+precisely by means of an outcropping ledge, just to the right of the
+tree-trunk. As he went forward swiftly, he noted with relief that the
+slide, which soon ceased, was a comparatively small one, though of a
+size sufficient to prove fatal to its victim, unless aided from without.
+
+At the foot of the slope, some distance to the right of the freshly
+heaped-up snow, the sled was halted. Jack and Nell put on their
+snow-shoes, and, with a couple of spades from the pack, made their way
+with some difficulty to the jutting point of the ledge, which still
+protruded a little beyond the new covering of snow. A few feet to the
+left of this, they began to dig, working with feverish haste. They
+progressed rapidly, for the prospector was in the full prime of his
+manhood, with muscles like steel, and the girl, if less strong, was in
+equally perfect condition, and with training enough in the arduous life
+of the frontier to make the toil simple to her.
+
+They had dug down perhaps a score of feet, and had reached, as Jack
+judged, almost to the ground, so that he feared lest he might have
+mistaken the location, when suddenly Nell rested motionless.
+
+"Listen!" she commanded. Her tense face was radiant.
+
+Jack ceased shoveling, and listened as he had been bidden.
+
+There came a faint, strangely muffled sound. It came again--an
+indistinguishable, inarticulate mutter from somewhere under the snow at
+their feet.
+
+Jack shouted triumphantly.
+
+"By cricky, Nell," he cried joyously, "we've struck him, sure as sin!"
+He raised his voice to its full volume in a cheerful bellow, meant to
+reach the ears of the imprisoned man below:
+
+"Buck up, old pal! We'll have you out in a jiffy." Then the bridal pair
+betook themselves to shoveling with the enthusiasm inspired by success.
+
+There was no difficulty in the completion of the work of rescue. Very
+soon, the excavation reached the log under which Jim Maxwell was
+sheltered, and he was able to crawl forth with some difficulty, owing to
+cramped and aching muscles, but safe and sound. He was a little dazed
+over his escape, when he had resigned himself to hopelessness. It seemed
+to him as if a miracle had been wrought in his behalf by the timely
+appearance of these two, where he had believed there was none to aid
+him. His feeling of wonder was increased by the fact that one of these
+two who had saved him from death, and who now stood beside him
+supporting him, was a girl, whose dark, lovely face beneath the fur cap
+was alight with an almost maternal joy over the deliverance in which she
+had shared. The event seemed, somehow, to soften in a certain degree the
+nature of the man, embittered by long years of suffering under a
+grievous wrong. For almost the first time since the loss he had
+sustained at the hands of Dan McGrew, Jim Maxwell felt a warm emotion,
+which was close to tenderness. He continued to regard the two
+bewilderedly. But his voice, when at last he spoke, was firm, and
+vibrant with gratitude:
+
+"You saved me--and I sha'n't forget it." He paused for a moment, then
+added whimsically: "I don't know who you are, or how you got
+here--unless you're two sure-enough angels, dropped plumb-straight down
+from heaven for this special occasion." The half-jesting note left his
+voice. "And I'll say just one thing: If you children ever need a friend,
+you can call on me, and I sha'n't fail you. In the meantime," he added
+briskly, "I want you to be my guests for the night. My cabin is near
+by--a little way up the gulch there."
+
+Something in the dignity of his manner as he made the proffer of
+hospitality, some refinement of inflection in his tones, caused the
+listeners to look with new curiosity on this roughly dressed man, whose
+face was almost hidden beneath the thicket of beard. They were moved by
+a sudden, compelling respect for this uncouth-appearing dweller in the
+waste. It needed but a glance between husband and wife to ensure their
+acceptance of the invitation. So, presently, the three rode on together.
+They felt a certain unusual kindliness in their relation as host and
+guests. They attributed it, as far as they thought of the matter at
+all, to the peculiar manner of their meeting.... They could not guess
+that strands woven by the Fates had caught them in a mesh for the final
+right weaving of a perfect design.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+After the horses had been given up and sent back, Lou, by Dan's
+arrangement, continued the journey on the sled of some men who were not
+properly of the stampeders, but were bound for Malamute. Dan himself,
+hardy as he was, had no difficulty in keeping up the pace with the best
+of the travelers on foot. He carried snow-shoes--for which he had no
+present need as the crust held--and a light pack on his back. The others
+of the stampeders regarded him as one of themselves, without ulterior
+purpose beyond the legitimate finding of gold somewhere in the
+creek-beds, or within the ledges of the mountains. Only Lou guessed
+aught of the evil project cherished by her husband. She had little
+compunction, for her sensibilities had become hardened with the passage
+of the years, and she had long ceased to regard herself as in any wise
+the keeper of Dan's conscience.
+
+Dan himself, as always, had no scruples, though he meant to add yet
+another to the list of his crimes. He went warily to his work. He held
+Sam Ward under close observation, but so discreetly that the victim of
+his watchfulness had no hint of it. As the train straggled out toward
+nightfall, Dan contrived to be near his intended victim, though not in
+company with him. Because of the information gathered by Lou, that the
+miner meant to steal away from the others during the night, Dangerous
+Dan had determined to keep a vigil during the hours of darkness, so
+that, when the miner slipped away by stealth, thinking himself
+unobserved by any one, he would be able to follow as stealthily, and
+thus to trace the owner to the secret mine.
+
+To one of Dangerous Dan McGrew's accomplishments the task was very
+simple. The night was clear, and he became aware at once when Sam Ward
+prepared to set forth. He allowed the miner to proceed for a
+considerable distance before following. Against the white surface of
+the snow, the moving form was distinguishable for a long way, and, since
+it alone in the expanse moved at all, it was not to be mistaken. But,
+while the miner was so distinctly visible to his pursuer, Dan McGrew had
+little fear of being himself observed, since no eyes were seeking his
+presence there. So, separated by a considerable distance, the two men
+advanced through the night, ascending at a smart pace from the level
+reaches of the valley to the lower slopes of the mountains. Here the
+spruce cast black shade, and often gorges lay deep in shadow. Dan was
+forced to lessen the distance between himself and the one he followed.
+Often, he was hard put to it to keep close enough on his quarry to be
+sure of the man's movements, without revealing his own presence on the
+trail. Some risks he took, since needs must. But the danger of discovery
+did not trouble Dangerous Dan, for he had never lacked courage, whatever
+his other vices.
+
+It was in the gray of the dawn when at last Sam Ward halted, with a
+grunt of satisfaction, which the listening man, crouched behind a stump
+fifty yards away, plainly heard through the motionless chill air. The
+miner cast off the pack that he had carried throughout most of the day
+and all of the night, and began hasty preparations for pitching camp....
+It was evident that Sam Ward had reached his destination.
+
+Assured that this was the end of the journey, Dangerous Dan silently
+withdrew to a sheltered nook within the trees, a full quarter of a mile
+from the other's camp. Here he built a fire, without any fear of its
+light being seen by Sam Ward; for, besides the screen of trees, a high
+ridge intervened between the two camps. Dan, owing to the unusual
+mildness of the night, did not trouble with piling green logs against
+which to stack his fire, but contented himself with selecting a spot
+where a steep bank at his back aided in the retention of the heat.
+
+Tired as he was, Dangerous Dan gathered sufficient fuel ready at hand,
+so that he might replenish the blaze, arousing instinctively from sleep
+as the flames died down. He guessed that the miner would sleep late,
+after the fatigue of the trip. But he allowed himself only two hours of
+rest; for he had yet much to do, and weariness must await leisure. Dan
+McGrew could sacrifice selfish desires for the time being in order to
+attain to selfish ends.
+
+The sun was well above the horizon, when Dan McGrew at last arose
+reluctantly, and stamped out the dying embers. He rolled up his pack,
+but left it where he had camped. He carried a revolver with him, but he
+had no intention of using it, lest the report attract the attention of
+some chance prospector in the vicinity. He was not quite sure, even,
+that he meditated violence--it might not be necessary. But, before
+setting forth, he drew from its sheath, hidden within his bosom, a long,
+wicked-looking knife, the blade of which he examined approvingly,
+testing its edge with a bare thumb. When he had returned the weapon to
+its place of concealment, he went forward very cautiously, his feet
+leaving hardly a trace of their passage over the snow-crust. He took
+advantage of the shelter afforded by bushes and trees, so that his
+approach might not be detected. Thus, he came finally to a vantage point
+behind a clump of bushes, which grew on a little knoll. Below this,
+hardly a score of yards away, was Sam Ward's camp.
+
+The miner was just arousing from sleep, when Dan reached this point of
+observation. While the hidden man watched attentively, Sam Ward
+replenished the fire, and hastily prepared a breakfast, which he
+devoured even more hastily. Forthwith, then, he set about the serious
+business of the day. To the watcher's surprise, the miner removed a heap
+of firewood, which had been stacked against the sloping bank, some
+distance above a tiny frozen stream. When the branches had been thrown
+aside, there was revealed an opening through the snow, and on into the
+earth itself. It was evident that the miner had already tunneled into
+the ledge.
+
+Now, he got dynamite from his pack, and set it carefully where it might
+thaw out within the radius of heat from the fire. Thereafter, he crawled
+into the tunnel, and was occupied out of the watcher's sight for some
+time. On emergence, he examined the dynamite, and, satisfied with its
+condition, took it, along with caps and fuse, on his return into the
+tunnel. This time, he was gone for only a short interval. Presently,
+came a dull rumble as the explosive detonated within the earth. The
+miner reentered the tunnel, carrying a bag. When he brought this forth,
+he was staggering under the weight it contained.
+
+[Illustration: DAN McGREW, STARING DOWN WITH HUNGRY EYES, SAW THE MINER.]
+
+Dan McGrew, staring down with hungry eyes, saw the miner pound the
+fragments of rock to powder in a roughly contrived mortar, which was set
+beside the fire. Dangerous Dan had learned enough of gold-mining to
+understand that the miner had chanced on a quartz lead of the richest
+sort. Undoubtedly, it was a vein of considerable size which would assay
+thousands of dollars to the ton. It was free-milling ore. The rough
+method employed by the miner was sufficient to secure the golden
+treasure. Now, when he had made an end of crushing the bits of rock, Sam
+descended to the creek, where he chopped a hole through the ice, and so,
+after great labor, was able to winnow the dust. Dan McGrew was able to
+see the golden stream of tiny flakes that the miner at last poured into
+his poke, with chuckles of glee. The watcher's steady eyes narrowed and
+grew savage, for black envy and avarice filled his heart. Of a sudden,
+his vague purpose became crystallized.... He would have this mine for
+his own--at any cost.
+
+Dangerous Dan looked over the scene carefully, as he made his plans. The
+little stream, above which the miner had encamped, ran straight between
+shallow banks out into a broad valley beyond. Dan was sure that he could
+advance to a point on the slope where he would be just above his
+unsuspecting prey. Thence, he could drop down on the miner, who, all
+unconscious of any peril, squatted before the fire gloating over his
+treasure. A single blow of the knife would put a term to his ownership
+of the mine. Afterward, it would be a simple matter to conceal the body
+in some cranny where only the wolves would be likely to scent it out.
+And Dan McGrew would have the treasure-house for his own.
+
+His decision made, Dan acted upon it at once. It came about according to
+his calculations--with two exceptions:
+
+The first was that, as he leaped upon his victim from behind, some
+faintest sound of movement, or some subtle instinct in the victim, gave
+warning. Sam Ward sprang to his feet, whirling as he rose. The lust of
+gold was in him, too. On the instant, he understood the death that
+threatened and the cause of it. He fought for his life and his gold with
+all the strength that was in him. He got his hands to his assailant's
+throat, and the fingers clutched in a clutch meant to kill. Dangerous
+Dan's eyes goggled from his head as he strangled within that grip. But
+he did not forget, even in his anguish, either his purpose or his
+advantage. He thrust the knife with all his power into the miner's
+breast. For a second that seemed to endure for an eternity, Dan was
+still held in the vice-like grasp. Then abruptly, there came a gurgling
+moan from Sam Ward's lips. The clenched fingers relaxed. Dan thrust the
+form of his adversary from him. The haft of the knife, which he still
+held in his right hand, was broken from the blade by the wrench of the
+inert body, as it fell and went limply sliding down the slope toward the
+creek.
+
+[Illustration: HE FOUGHT FOR HIS LIFE AND HIS GOLD WITH ALL THE STRENGTH
+THAT WAS IN HIM.]
+
+Dan McGrew gazed on the grim descent with eyes that were dull still from
+the deadly grapple. His breath came in sobs. He was triumphant, but he
+realized how close he had been to failure.
+
+Then, a minute later, when his brain and his sight were clear again, he
+suddenly uttered a frightful curse....
+
+In the wide expanse of the valley into which the creek flowed, a sled
+moved rapidly, as the dogs strained in their harness. And it was coming
+straight toward the creek--toward the place where he stood. Dangerous
+Dan McGrew cursed yet once again--and more horribly. Then, he leaped
+down the slope to where the dead body had halted. He stooped over
+it--searched with desperate rapidity. A moment later, with the poke of
+gold and a few papers from the dead man, Dangerous Dan raced back up the
+bank, and on, flying from the spot where he had committed a crime so
+great for a reward so small.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+The bridal pair were at once astonished and gratified by the
+entertainment offered them in this remote wilderness. There was nothing
+remarkable in their surroundings at the cabin. The fare provided was of
+the simplest. The effect on the two visitors was produced wholly by the
+personality of the man himself. As the men sat in easy communion over
+their pipes, while Nell listened eagerly, Jim Maxwell, still under the
+influence of that softer feeling aroused by gratitude to the two who had
+rescued him, relaxed from the usual aloofness toward his fellows, and
+talked of many things in a manner of singular charm. Jack Reeves had had
+excellent advantages in education, before ever the spirit of adventure
+drove him toward the Arctic. As he perceived the extent of the older
+man's experience, he plied his host with questions. To these, Jim
+responded readily--at first from courtesy, and then, moved by patent
+interest on the part of his hearers, with a certain enthusiasm. He found
+a long-forgotten pleasure in thus speaking at ease of the things he felt
+to sympathetic auditors. In the years of his wandering and suffering,
+the man's nature had deepened and mellowed, even though it was shut
+within the crust of bitterness. So, to-night, he gave himself
+unreservedly to this new mood of genial intercourse. He marveled over
+his own changed mood, but indulged it to the full, nevertheless. In a
+gentle, unfamiliar fashion, Jim Maxwell was almost happy
+to-night--almost happy, for the first time in twelve years.
+
+Nell's presence moved him deeply, though she sat silent for the most
+part. Her close attention was a compliment greater than any words she
+could have uttered. Jim Maxwell felt this, and yielded to the
+inspiration of it. He was by no means unaware of the piquant loveliness
+of the girl. His critical appreciation was betrayed by many swift,
+penetrating glances at the rapt face. The dusk, lucent beauty of her
+eyes especially appealed to him. In them, he glimpsed her soul, full of
+the joy of life, a-thrill with expectation of the happiness that
+awaited, pure and undaunted by any fear of evil. As he looked on her,
+Jim's admiring gaze was always a little wistful. Since the tragedy in
+his life, women had had no interest for him, because he had lost her
+whom he loved. To-night, somehow, it was different. He felt himself
+strangely drawn to this unknown girl. His heart stirred toward her. It
+was not an emotion of which even a bridegroom could complain--it was
+something utterly untouched by any instinct of sex, something subtle and
+exquisite. Jim himself could not understand his feeling in the least.
+Only, he yielded to the spell of it with delight.
+
+The host left his guests in possession, when it came the hour for
+retiring. He was deaf to their remonstrances, and betook himself to an
+outbuilding, which had been his first shelter in this place, before the
+making of the cabin.
+
+Left alone with her husband, Nell spoke musingly, very softly:
+
+"What a wonderful man, Jack! He is the sort of man I should like--" She
+broke off, staring with vaguely puzzled, unseeing eyes at the glowing
+stove.
+
+"Now, what do you mean by that?" the bridegroom demanded, with asperity.
+
+Nell aroused from introspection at the shortness of the husband's tone.
+Then she laughed.
+
+"Don't be absurd, goosie!" she bantered. "I actually believe you'd like
+to be jealous of the first man I've met on our honeymoon." Her voice
+softened. "Well, you needn't be. But he is a dear, all the same."
+
+Something in her tone quelled the young husband's impulse of alarm.
+Straightway, he spoke his own admiration, without further jealousy.
+
+"He sure is a wonder," he declared emphatically. "He's one of the sort
+who could make himself at home--and make himself the center of
+attraction, too--anywhere around the world, with high or low or Jack or
+the game."
+
+A little later, he spoke again, reflectively:
+
+"I wonder what he did!"
+
+"What he did!" Nell repeated, bewildered.
+
+"Whether he robbed a bank, or just murdered somebody," Jack explained.
+
+Nell flared.
+
+"He's not that sort!" she flung at him. Then, her eyes grew dreamy
+again.
+
+"But," she added--and there was a note of sympathetic tenderness in her
+voice--"perhaps it was something that somebody else did."
+
+"Eh?" Jack demanded, perplexed in his turn.
+
+"I mean," Nell said, half-apologetically, "perhaps it was
+something--some crime even--some one else did that made Mr. Maxwell come
+away off here, to live alone in the mountains. A man like him!"
+
+Next morning, Jack and Nell went on their way, almost regretfully, so
+great was the impression made upon both by this man whom they had
+rescued from death. Still without haste, Jack drove his dogs over the
+level valley-crust. As it drew toward night, he selected for his camp a
+point where a few stunted spruce grew a little way up the slope.
+
+"I guess we're alone in our glory," he commented, as his eyes swept the
+scene. "Not a stampeder in sight--and I'm glad of it. You see," he
+continued, as Nell looked at him inquiringly, "I've been over this way
+before. There's a creek flows in here from the other side of the valley.
+I was up it once. It showed some prospects. I'd like another look at
+it--without any stampeders by. And there's not a one in sight."
+
+"I wonder!" While Jack went to straighten out the over-lively dogs, Nell
+took the field-glasses from their case, and amused herself with a
+careful scrutiny of this white world over which now lay a purpling
+glamour as the sun sank wearily below the horizon.
+
+Suddenly, there was a moving blur, a fleeting black shadow, in the line
+of vision. Hitherto, there had been no sign of life anywhere. This trace
+of activity, in the stillness of the snow-clad wild, interested her,
+even startled her a little, though she had no thought that it could be
+more than a glimpse of some stampeder plodding through the distance.
+
+Nell adjusted the glasses, and sought again. Then, in a flash, she saw
+clearly--a camp-fire burning, a man squatted close to the flames. There
+was nothing out of the ordinary in the scene. It was not the sight of
+camp-fire and man beside it that caused Nell's cheek to pale, that
+caused her hand to shake, until for a moment the vision was blurred,
+that caused the little gasp from her lips. It was another figure thus
+revealed there in the far distance that so affected her--another figure
+high up on the slope, which moved with a craftiness and stealth that
+were in themselves sinister. These were the slinking movements of a
+beast of prey. But the figure was that of a man.
+
+Nell called to Jack--softly, as if she feared lest, across the
+valley-space, that skulking man might hear her cry.
+
+When Jack came to her, Nell put the glasses in his hands.
+
+"Look there!" she directed, and pointed. Afterward, she sat tensed and
+apprehensive in her place on the sled, while her husband stood at her
+side, and looked as she had bidden him.
+
+An ejaculation burst from Jack as his eyes caught the action in that
+drama across the valley. Through a long minute, and another, he rested
+rigid, silent. Suddenly, with an imprecation, he tossed the glasses
+toward Nell. He pointed desperately across the valley, then sprang to
+the dogs, and straightened them out, his voice so harsh that they
+cringed under it.
+
+[Illustration: HE POINTED DESPERATELY ACROSS THE VALLEY.]
+
+"Mush!" he yelled savagely, and the whiplash hissed its message to the
+leaders.... They were off at full speed.
+
+"Too late!" Jack groaned, as the dogs bounded forward. "Oh, damn him! I
+hope he hangs for it--the dirty murderer!"
+
+It was, indeed, too late. When they were come up the lesser valley,
+through which the creek ran, to a point near where the body of Sam Ward
+was lying, Jack halted the dogs, and went forward alone. He would not
+yield to Nell's pleadings that she be allowed to accompany him. He was
+not minded that she should thus look on the assassin's victim.
+
+Jack returned very soon.
+
+"Dead as a door-nail!" he said shortly. His face was a little pale under
+the bronze of open-air living. "A knife-blade in his chest--handle
+broken off. We've seen the chap. It was Sam Ward. Had a secret mine,
+they said."
+
+Jack chose a camp-site close at hand, to which he removed the body of
+the murdered man, so that it would be protected from any prowling wolf.
+He brought down to his camp the dead man's pack, and he covered the
+still and rigid shape decently with one of the blankets that had been
+Sam Ward's. He made no attempt to trace the assassin. To have done so
+would have been useless in itself, and would have been to risk the like
+death. Nor did he make even a cursory search for the secret mine. He had
+no wish for personal profit out of this grewsome event. On the contrary,
+he was willing to delay his operations in the mountains, in order that
+he might deliver the corpse to the authorities, and make known to them
+the facts in the case.
+
+"We'll put him on the sled in the morning," he said to Nell, who was
+very quiet, and who turned her eyes from time to time fearfully toward a
+place just on the edge of the firelight, where flickering shadows danced
+grotesquely over a deeper shadow--a shadow huge and misshapen and
+menacing.
+
+"We'll take him up to Kalmak. It's a little place on the way to
+Malamute. But they have a sheriff, and that's what we need."
+
+And neither he nor his wife, who looked from time to time affrightedly
+toward the shadows, had any hint as to the irony that the Fates had put
+into the husband's concluding words.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Dan McGrew, from a point of safe concealment, watched the coming of the
+sled with keen interest. He was still furious over the miscarriage in
+his plans caused by this arrival. There was no longer possibility of his
+holding the secret of the mine for himself. In return for the blood on
+his hands, he had gained a single poke of gold-dust. His chief concern
+now was the evading of any possible suspicion against himself. His
+thoughts were busy with this problem of safety. At his distance, and in
+the darkening light, he could not make out the identity of the man who
+examined the body of Sam Ward, and afterward removed it. Since Nell did
+not leave the sled, he did not guess even that one of the two was a
+woman. But it did occur to him that, since the arrival of these persons
+had thwarted his evil hopes, it would be fitting that they themselves
+should serve his need as the scape-goats of suspicion.
+
+Once this idea had stirred in his brain, Dangerous Dan found little
+difficulty in planning the accomplishment of his designs. He remained in
+hiding, without venturing even to light a fire though he was hard put to
+it to resist the numbing cold. It was not till some hours after
+nightfall, when he judged the two in their camp safely asleep, that
+Dangerous Dan acted on the plan he had formed.
+
+He crept with the utmost caution down the slope, and made a wide detour,
+so as to come near the camp to windward of the point where he heard the
+little yelps and whinings of dogs restless in their sleep. The night was
+clear, and, even within the shadows of the trees about the camp, Dan
+could see distinctly where the sled stood outside the limit of the
+firelight. Toward this, with increased care and slowness in the
+progress, Dan made his way.
+
+He had almost reached the sled, when he stumbled over what he had deemed
+merely a deeper shadow beside it, and sprawled forward. To save himself
+from falling, he thrust out his right hand. The palm touched something
+cold--with a coldness beyond that of the arctic air. It was the face of
+the man whom he had slain, from off which his rough contact had thrust
+the blanket. And Dan McGrew knew the thing for what it was.
+
+Strong man that he was, he was sickened. For a little, he stood there
+shivering, unnerved by the grisly encounter. But it was only the shock
+that had unmanned him. Presently, his courage rose again. He grinned to
+himself, standing there in the dark over the dead body. Here was nothing
+to be afraid of, he said to himself in brutal disdain of his own
+weakness. So, soon, he went on again, quite undismayed, to carry out his
+purpose.
+
+Noiselessly, Dangerous Dan fumbled over the pack on the sled for some
+minutes. Once, he put a hand in his pocket, and drew forth something,
+which he disposed within the wrappings of the pack. Finally, he
+readjusted everything, as nearly as he could by the sense of touch, to
+the condition in which he had found it. Only, there was something added
+to the contents. For once in his life, Dangerous Dan had not been a
+robber. Yet, never had his intent been more deadly.
+
+His task thus accomplished, the man withdrew as silently as he had come.
+Nevertheless, despite his bravado, he was at pains to tread aside, lest
+he brush a second time against that blanketed form.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jack and Nell were up and away early. They made good speed with the
+grewsome burden on the sled. They ran easily without snow-shoes, for the
+crust still held. Jack was distressed that his bride should be unable to
+ride luxuriously on their honeymoon. But for this Nell cared not at all.
+In her youth and perfect health, the physical activity was, in truth, a
+pleasure, rather than a toil. But she was disturbed by the presence of
+that grim thing which they escorted. She could not avoid yielding in
+some measure to superstition. The radiant joy of her bridal was
+quenched by this tragedy that had followed so close upon it, and into
+association with which they had been forced by circumstance. Her mood
+was oppressed with forebodings. She was all anxiety to reach Kalmak,
+where they might be rid of this ill-omened clay. So, she urged Jack
+often to increase the pace. And he, for his part, hardly less sensitive
+to this malignant influence at such a time, consented readily enough,
+hurrying on the dogs with whip and voice.... The train swung into Kalmak
+in mid-afternoon--at least an hour sooner than it would have made the
+distance with a lighter load.
+
+[Illustration: SHE WAS DISTURBED BY THE PRESENCE OF THAT GRIM THING
+WHICH THEY ESCORTED.]
+
+Jack halted the dogs before the very unpretentious structure that was
+inappropriately designated the Grand Hotel. At sound of the arrival,
+those within hurried forth, eager for any interruption of the day's
+monotony. Among the others came a tall, lank man, with a lantern-jawed
+face and a drooping, melancholy mustache, whom Jack recognized as Hal
+Owens, the sheriff. He himself, however, was not known to Owens, or to
+any of those present, nor was Nell, as they were speedily to learn to
+their sorrow. Another face in the group was vaguely familiar to both the
+young husband and his bride. Jack, for the moment, could not recall
+where he had seen this stalwart, handsome man, who stood with a
+masterful erectness, emphasized by his frank and fearless gaze. But
+Nell, in the instant of seeing the stranger, recollected him perfectly,
+though she had seen him but once in a fleeting glance. She remembered
+how he had appeared on her wedding-day, and how he had regarded her with
+that cynical smile, which had aroused in her an inexplicable sense of
+dismay, a fear of mysterious disasters, past or to come. It seemed to
+her appropriate enough that now this man should be present to welcome
+her and her husband as they brought in their ghastly load. Again, she
+experienced a curious repugnance in meeting the steady stare that seemed
+to probe into her soul with a mocking amusement. Nell wrenched her eyes
+from his, and turned away with a little shudder of revulsion. Then, the
+natural buoyancy of her spirits asserted itself. After all, this man,
+who affected her so strangely, was nothing to them--could be nothing to
+them. And they were at last free of the horrible incubus that had been
+thrust upon them. The dead body was now gone out of their charge, was
+become the property of the law. She smiled, a little wanly, while her
+eyes moved over the roughly garbed cluster of men. She was glad--oh, so
+glad!--that miserable interruption of their honeymoon was done and over.
+
+Jack addressed the sheriff briskly, himself almost as anxious as Nell to
+have done with this wretched matter.
+
+"This is your business, Sheriff. I've brought in the body of a chap who
+got killed out Forgotten Creek way, yesterday afternoon."
+
+The sheriff nodded with what he took to be the dignity befitting his
+authority.
+
+"The coroner should set on the corpse," he said gravely, pleased at this
+display of his familiarity with legal phrases. "In his absence--bein'
+there hain't none--I reckon I'll do the best I kin."
+
+He strode to the sled, and pulled aside the blanket that had concealed
+the dead man's face. He turned to the men who had crowded around.
+
+"Anybody know him?" he demanded, authoritatively.
+
+There was a chorus of grunts in negation.
+
+Then, as the others fell silent, Jack spoke again:
+
+"I knew him by sight, though I never spoke to him. His name was Sam
+Ward. They said he'd struck it rich--a secret mine somewhere in the
+mountains."
+
+"Know anything more about him?" The sheriff's voice was heavy with
+responsibility.
+
+Jack made an impatient gesture.
+
+"He was in the stampede that came up to Forgotten Creek day before
+yesterday. You know?"
+
+"I know," the sheriff assented. "What else do you know?"
+
+"I know he's dead," Jack snapped. He was heartily sick of this
+business, and his temper grew strained. "If you have any doubt about
+it," he added sarcastically, "why, I saw him killed."
+
+There was a general start of surprise over this bald announcement. The
+sheriff, however, preserved his official composure.
+
+"That ought to help some," was his response. "Supposin' now, you fire
+ahead, an' tell all you know about this corpse o' your'n."
+
+"No corpse of mine!" Jack retorted gruffly, more than ever annoyed,
+while Nell felt a qualm of new dread at the sheriff's ambiguous words.
+But Jack curbed his impatience, and related in detail what he knew
+concerning the incidents of the tragedy.
+
+His hearers listened intently. There were features in this murder that
+gave it a certain distinction. The fact that it had been witnessed from
+such a distance through the field-glasses gave it a charm of novelty
+that a mere murder must otherwise have lacked. The men, who had hitherto
+been stealing many a sly glance toward the young woman with the dainty
+face and glowing eyes, now stared at her with open admiration for the
+one who had first seen the assassin's advance upon his victim, and had
+guessed his deadly purpose. All those present accepted the truth of the
+narrative without question. The young man's frank expression and the
+simplicity of his story, strange as it was, carried conviction.
+Moreover, it was well-nigh impossible to suspect this beautiful girl of
+any complicity in crime. So, the account was accepted by all hearers as
+truth, and it occurred to none even to question it.... To none, save
+one. And that one was he who, of his own knowledge, best knew that it
+was truth. Yet, he would question, and to some purpose--for his own
+safety's sake.
+
+The formalities of the occasion thus fully satisfied, the sheriff
+ordered the corpse removed to a back room in the hotel, where it was
+laid out on the table. Before replacing the blanket, the sheriff
+withdrew the blade of the knife from the dead man's breast.
+
+[Illustration: THE FORMALITIES FULLY SATISFIED, THE SHERIFF ORDERED THE
+CORPSE REMOVED.]
+
+"It's a clew," he explained, with obvious admiration for his own
+sagacity, as he wiped the blackened blood from the blade upon the
+blanket.
+
+Dan McGrew had followed the four men who, at the sheriff's direction,
+carried the body into the hotel. He was known here, as through most of
+the region round about, where he was regarded as an honest gambler--for
+his methods had improved in the twelve years since his discomfiture by
+Fingie Whalen.
+
+To be here at this time, Dangerous Dan McGrew had employed the resources
+of both mind and body. His reasoning had convinced him that Kalmak would
+be Jack's destination in the trip. He had been obliged to risk the
+correctness of this conclusion in order that he might be free to start
+for the village at once, after completing his night-visit to the young
+man's camp. Since he must travel on foot, and slowly because of
+increasing fatigue, he had need of all the time he could gain for the
+journey, in order to reach the scene first. He had succeeded. Even, he
+had had time for an hour's sleep, which was craved by every atom in his
+body after a day and two nights of almost constant exertion.
+
+So, now, Dan McGrew was on the spot, alert and arrogant with evil
+purpose. He stepped close to the sheriff, and spoke so that the others
+could not overhear. He knew the harmless vanity of the official, and
+meant to play upon it for his own ends, by letting the other take credit
+on himself for great shrewdness.
+
+"You think that youngster's story is a bit fishy, I see!" Dan remarked;
+and there was deep admiration in his voice.
+
+The sheriff, who had thought nothing of the sort, immediately assumed an
+air of suspicion, and nodded assent.
+
+"Fishy--very!" he agreed.
+
+"Of course," Dan continued deprecatingly, as if even to question this
+were an impertinence on his part, "you'll search that young man's pack?"
+
+The sheriff nodded glumly.
+
+"It's my sworn duty to do jest that."
+
+Dan sauntered away, well content. He went out of the hotel, and stood
+unobtrusively among the other idlers, watching while Jack and Nell,
+restored to the best of spirits by the completion of their unpleasant
+duty, were now laughing and chatting together as they busied themselves
+about the sled.
+
+Presently appeared the sheriff. He approached the sled, and spoke with a
+harshness he had not hitherto displayed.
+
+"Young feller, I'll jest take a look through your pack."
+
+Jack and Nell glanced up in amazement at the tone no less than at the
+words.
+
+"But what--what the devil do you mean?" Jack demanded, wrathfully.
+
+"Never you mind what I mean, young feller," was the offended retort. The
+sheriff threw back the lapel of the heavy outer coat he wore, and showed
+a silver shield. "There's my authority," he sternly announced. "I'll
+jest take a squint through your belongin's."
+
+Jack and Nell protested, but their protests were in vain. The sheriff in
+explanation vouchsafed only a single word, most contemptuously uttered:
+
+"Fishy!"
+
+In the end, the young pair stood by in mute indignation, while the
+official search was prosecuted.... They had one consolation in the
+presence of this outrage: The search would prove its own absurdity.
+
+The issue came on them like a thunderbolt. From somewhere in the pack,
+the sheriff's groping fingers drew forth an object, which he held up
+that all might see. It was undoubtedly the bone handle of a large knife.
+Without a word, the sheriff reached into a pocket of his coat, and
+brought forth the blade which had been in the dead man's breast. Still
+without a word, while all looked on in breathless tension, he put blade
+and haft together. They fitted perfectly.
+
+The sheriff's mouth, under the drooping mustache, twisted in a
+triumphant grin. An amazed consternation held Jack and Nell silent for
+the moment in the face of this damning evidence against them. The
+sheriff moved forward a step, and laid his hand on Jack's shoulder.
+
+"Young feller," he said heavily, "I arrest you in the name of the law,
+for the murder of Sam Ward, deceased. And don't say anythin'," he added,
+in paraphrase of the legal formula, "for what you say will be used agin
+ye."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+The catastrophe that had thus put an end to the honeymoon, drove the
+unfortunate husband and wife almost to despair. The thing was monstrous,
+incredible. Nevertheless, it had occurred. Jack raged against the unjust
+accusation which Dan McGrew had caused to be laid against him; but
+neither his wrath nor his entreaties were powerful enough to create even
+a doubt on the part of the public of Kalmak as to his guilt. The
+evidence against him was, in fact, incontrovertible. His case was made
+the worse, also, by the absence of any one who could vouch for his
+character. Given time, he could easily enough summon witnesses in his
+behalf, though even then the issue might be uncertain. He had no
+plausible explanation to offer concerning the presence of the
+knife-handle among his effects. He could only deny all knowledge of how
+it came there. And such denial was utterly valueless, as Jack himself
+realized with utter discouragement.
+
+As for Nell, there was only a single thing to mitigate her misery, and
+of this she was hardly conscious. It was that she herself was not
+subjected to the indignity of arrest. In this matter, the chivalry of
+the community worked in her behalf. These men of the Northland were not
+of a sort to war against women. They left such warfare to a more complex
+state of civilization.
+
+But, in truth, no arrest was needed for the unhappy bride. Nothing could
+have tempted her to leave the place where her husband was in peril.
+Indeed, she was like a thorn in the side of the sheriff's ideas
+concerning official strictness and decorum--and rose as well as thorn;
+for the winsome loveliness of this suffering girl disturbed him greatly,
+so that he was fain to grant her privileges which ill accorded with his
+conception of official etiquette. It was owing to this laxness under
+Nell's persuasion that she was permitted to interview her husband,
+though separated from him by the heavy grating in the cell-door, and
+though fretted by the presence of the sheriff himself, who sat within
+ear-shot, and forbade secret communication.... Those interviews harrowed
+the souls of the lovers, for, though each strove to cheer the other,
+neither could understand how this calamity had come to pass. Nell
+occupied the intervals between visits to her husband in frantic efforts
+to devise some means of proving Jack's innocence, or in pitiable
+weeping, shut within her squalid hotel-room.
+
+[Illustration: NELL WAS PERMITTED TO INTERVIEW HER HUSBAND.]
+
+It was in the forenoon of the day following his arrest that the prisoner
+had his first glimmer of hope. It came to him while he was surveying for
+the thousandth time the roughly-hewn timbers that made the walls of his
+cell. He had long ago admitted the uselessness of trying to break out,
+inasmuch as he had not even a penknife with which to work. Yet, now, as
+his glance roved the tiny room, his eyes lighted with hope.
+
+Forthwith, Jack began plotting escape. He understood that his situation
+was most desperate. The sheriff, who from pride in his office had added
+the cell to his log-house at his own expense, was fond of sitting on
+guard in the adjoining room; not so much for the sake of precaution
+against the prisoner's escape, as for pleasure in receiving visitors, in
+the full majesty of his office. And Jack had heard some of the
+low-spoken remarks of the visitors among themselves. He knew that these
+men of primitive emotions looked upon him as a murderer, and were
+disposed to end the affair in a lynching-bee. Only the sheriff
+interposed between him and such a fate, and the man was by no means
+strong enough to stand against a mob. Therefore, Jack was convinced that
+the only possibility of safety lay in flight. And that flight must be
+made at once, or it would be too late.
+
+Little by little, the details of a plan were evolved. He went over the
+matter with every care, knowing well that he risked his life on the
+accuracy of each detail in his device. Some ideas he rejected; others,
+after much testing and readjustment, were approved. In the end, he
+became confident that his method might win success--confident that it
+would.
+
+His preparations thus complete up to the point of action, the prisoner
+did not delay the action itself. For that matter, the opportunity he
+desired at the outset was offered to him almost immediately after he had
+decided upon his course.
+
+The sheriff, who was a kindly soul, apart from the sternness compelled
+by his ideas of high office, repeated a favor he had already shown the
+prisoner, by coming to the grating, and thrusting forward a cigar.
+
+"Smoke up, young feller," he said.
+
+Jack took the cigar with due expressions of gratitude, and he was at
+pains to conceal the new hopeful eagerness that filled him.
+
+"And here's the match, young feller," the sheriff continued, as he held
+it forth. It was one of the regulations formulated by himself that the
+inmates of the jail should not be allowed possession of matches.
+
+Of that regulation, Jack was already aware, and to secure its evasion,
+he now acted. As the sheriff turned away, in pursuance of his principle
+of not encouraging familiarity on the part of a prisoner, Jack tossed
+the match to the floor, where it lay invisible in the light which shone
+in from the other room. Then he addressed the sheriff, with becoming
+humility.
+
+"I'm sorry, Sheriff, but the match went out."
+
+Dan McGrew, in the sheriff's place, would have demanded the return of
+that match. Instead, the official turned back promptly, and gave
+another, with which the prisoner succeeded in lighting his cigar. The
+sheriff, seated at his table, could not see the captive, who stooped and
+picked up from the floor the first match, and put it away in his pocket
+with extraordinary care.
+
+Thereafter, still careful to escape observation by the sheriff, Jack got
+out a stub of pencil which he had been allowed to retain. He secured a
+small fragment of paper from the untidy litter on the floor of the cell.
+Then, he hastily scribbled a brief note. This was rolled up into a tiny
+cylinder with the writing on the inner side. By liberal moistening with
+his tongue he managed to make the roll retain its shape. Having
+accomplished all he could for the time being, the prisoner, with the
+cylinder in his pocket, awaited the coming of Nell.
+
+The wife's advent was not long delayed. Within the hour, the girl
+appeared before the sheriff, softly appealing in voice, more softly
+appealing in the gaze of her misty eyes. The official strove to frown,
+but only succeeded in smirking shamefacedly.
+
+"I suppose it can't do any harm to let you chin a little," he said
+grudgingly. "But remember now," he added, shaking a warning finger at
+the visitor, "no whispering, an' keep your hands in plain sight all the
+time. An' I'll have my eyes on you, you bet!"
+
+With a murmur of thanks, Nell went forward to the grating, where she
+stood with her hands duly exposed against the metal bars. Husband and
+wife exchanged greetings as best they could, thus forced to speak aloud
+so that the sheriff could hear every word. Yet, without anything said
+to warrant it, Nell knew instantly that her husband's mood had changed.
+There was a light in his eyes, a smile on his lips. And, too, he nodded
+almost imperceptibly, very mysteriously. Nell felt her own spirits rise
+in response. They spoke of sending to Malamute for a lawyer. They spoke
+of securing proof against the actual murderer--at which the sheriff
+smiled.
+
+But the sheriff, though he listened so intently, did not watch with
+equal closeness. He glanced over some of the papers lying before him.
+
+It was Jack who watched carefully, for much was now at stake. As he saw
+the sheriff's gaze averted, he parted his lips, and with his tongue
+pushed forward the tiny cylinder of paper, which on the instant of
+Nell's arrival, he had placed in his mouth.
+
+The wife perceived the protruding roll in astonishment. Jack moved his
+head forward, puckering his lips as for a kiss. Nell understood. She
+turned instinctively. The sheriff's eyes were still on his papers. At
+once, then, the girl put her own lips to the opening in the grating,
+where Jack's waited. The mouths of the two met in a kiss that lingered.
+The sheriff looked up, and saw the kiss. He noted that the hands of the
+two were duly exposed, as required by the regulation in such case made
+and provided.
+
+[Illustration: THE MOUTHS OF THE TWO MET IN A KISS THAT LINGERED.]
+
+Nell took her departure forthwith. Her murmur of thanks to the sheriff
+for his kindness was a trifle indistinct. That excellent officer
+observed the fact. Also, he was inclined to believe that the unfortunate
+young woman appeared somewhat cheered by her visit to the
+murderer--though what there could be cheering in such a situation, the
+sheriff could not guess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+In the solitude of her bleak chamber, Nell hastened to take from her
+mouth the cylinder of paper that Jack had given her. Moist as it was,
+when unrolled it lay flat, and the writing on the inner side was
+decipherable without difficulty.
+
+The note lacked address or signature, since neither was needed. But the
+curt words filled Nell with rapture:
+
+     Have found way to escape. Go to Maxwell, ask him for help. Have
+     him somewhere near the village on his side by eleven o'clock
+     to-night.
+
+With the reading, Nell took new heart of hope. She could not guess the
+means that her husband had devised for his escape from the jail, but the
+confident tone in which he had written to her gave promise of success.
+Her own part in the plan was simple enough. It only required that she
+act promptly in its execution. It occurred to her that Mr. Maxwell might
+be absent from the cabin, following the line of his traps. The thought
+of possible delay in the performance of her mission struck a chill to
+the eager wife's heart. At once, then, she was in a fever of impatience
+to be off and away.
+
+Nell made her preparations swiftly. At her order, the dogs were
+harnessed to the sled, and were ready at the door of the hotel, as she
+issued forth. The news that the murderer's bride was about to start out,
+spread through the village like wild-fire. The sheriff himself appeared
+on the scene, as Nell was at the point of departure. He shook his head
+dolefully; but, to the girl's immense relief, he did not offer to detain
+her.
+
+[Illustration: THE DOGS WERE READY--AT THE DOOR OF THE HOTEL--AS SHE
+ISSUED FORTH.]
+
+"I dunno," he remarked doubtfully, "what you git by goin', an' I dunno
+neither what you'd git by stayin', fer the matter o' that.
+
+"Anyhow, a wife can't testify agin her husband, so I hain't got any
+call to hang on to ye."
+
+That was his valedictory.
+
+Nell wasted neither words nor smiles on the assembly. She had no kindly
+feeling toward these men, who had dared accuse her husband of crime. Her
+sole response to the sheriff's statement was a crack of the whip and a
+lively cry to the dogs, which leaped forward with a speed and surety of
+movement in the splendidly muscled bodies that made the watchers exclaim
+admiringly.
+
+There was now no leisurely progress, such as had been that with which
+she and her husband had traversed the miles together, before death
+brought tragedy to their bridal-journey. Nell, in two years of her
+living in the North, had learned the management of these animals, on
+which transportation over the snowy expanses of the Arctic so depends.
+She knew well how to get from her team every ounce of speed, and she did
+not spare them in the least. The crust still held, so that the going was
+of the best. Mechanically, with the instinct that develops quickly in
+those who live among the wilds, Nell had noted each salient detail of
+the route followed by her and Jack. So, now, she was sure of her course,
+and drove the dogs at full speed on and on, following the levels of
+interwoven valleys with never a hint of hesitation.
+
+It was late afternoon when, at last, Nell found herself passing along
+the valley where they had lingered behind the line of the stampede. Hope
+mounted higher here; for only a few miles still separated her from the
+man whose aid she sought.
+
+In turn, despair smote her at thought of the possibility that this Mr.
+Maxwell might be absent--might even not return that night. She had a
+dreadful vision of Jack, escaped from his prison, yet helpless, without
+dogs or supplies, doomed to perish in the cold. She resolved that,
+should other help be wanting, she herself would return alone to meet
+him. She took a little encouragement from this determination, until it
+occurred to her that there were limits to the endurance of the dogs.
+Then, again, desolation fell on her. But, at least, they would be
+together!... Thus, her thoughts rioted in the stress of anxiety.
+
+Anxiety became an anguished suspense, when, finally, she saw the tiny
+bulk of the cabin, showing darkly against the white of the valley-slope.
+As the dogs raced nearer, she stared with fierce eagerness to catch some
+sign of life. She was in terror when she made sure that no smoke issued
+from the chimney. One does not sit at home fireless in the Far North. A
+great fear was on her as she halted the dogs before the cabin-door, and
+none came forth to greet her.
+
+Nell's misery, like that of most persons in this world of mistaken
+ideas, was of her own making. Hardly had she clambered down stiffly from
+the sled, when the cabin-door swung open, and Jim Maxwell stepped out.
+At sight of his visitor, whom he recognized in the first glance, he
+uttered an ejaculation of astonishment, and advanced toward her quickly.
+His thought on seeing her alone thus before his cabin was that some
+serious accident must have befallen her husband. He was deeply concerned
+over the girl's plight, and sympathy showed in his face with a sincerity
+of feeling that touched the girl deeply--so deeply, indeed, that for a
+few seconds after he was come to her, she could only stand wordless,
+with her hands in his firm clasp, her eyes glowing with the gratitude
+and the relief with which his presence inspired her.
+
+Jim Maxwell's voice was softer than it had been in more than a decade of
+years.
+
+"Why, child, what's the matter?" he asked soothingly. "Whatever it is,
+we'll make it come out all right. Tell me about it."
+
+Nell choked down her emotion, and presently regained a fair degree of
+self-control.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad--so glad you're here, Mr. Maxwell!" Her voice throbbed
+with feeling. It stirred to a new life a joy long dead in the man's
+bosom--joy in the realization that some one wanted him. It had been
+twelve years since any one had wanted him.
+
+"Tell me," he repeated. His tone was even gentler than before. The
+warmth of it cheered the girl like a draft of rich wine.
+
+Nell fumbled at her bosom for a moment, and drew forth the note that
+Jack had written. She held it out, and Jim Maxwell took it from her, and
+read it through with growing astonishment.
+
+[Illustration: JIM MAXWELL TOOK THE NOTE FROM HER AND READ IT THROUGH
+WITH GROWING ASTONISHMENT.]
+
+After he had scanned it for a second time, he looked up at the expectant
+girl, with a puzzled, though no less kindly, glance.
+
+"But what does it all mean?" he asked. "I suppose the note is from your
+husband?"
+
+"Yes," assented Nell hurriedly. "He's going to escape."
+
+Jim patted the girl's hand reassuringly.
+
+"Now, just take it easy," he counseled. "You must remember that I don't
+know a thing about it. So, you're going to tell me everything that's
+happened, and what your husband is going to escape from."
+
+The calmness of the speaker's voice quieted Nell's excitement, and she
+proceeded to relate without confusion an outline of what had occurred.
+
+"Poor little girl!" her listener said tenderly, when the narrative was
+concluded. "Well, he did right to send word to me. I owe you two more
+than I can pay. And don't you worry, my dear. This cloud will pass
+quickly. The sunshine will be all the brighter after the shadow." His
+manner changed, and he spoke briskly. "Now, you get into the cabin. I'd
+only just got back from my line and kindled the fire when you came. The
+stove, I guess, is about white-hot by now. I'll attend to the dogs."
+
+Nell went obediently, full of happy reliance on the strength of this
+man, who was at once so courteous and so kind. She smiled over her
+distress of a few minutes before. Now, a thick column of smoke rose into
+the still air from the cabin-chimney.
+
+Inside the tiny room, Nell glanced about her with a curious sense of
+contentment. There was something homelike in the aspect of the place,
+despite its bareness. It was plainly, even roughly, furnished with a few
+tables and chairs besides the stove and bunk. The only decorations were
+the skins that hung on the log-walls. An oil-lamp was on a small table
+in a corner. On the large table in the opposite corner were some tins of
+meat, a saucepan, a few pieces of heavy crockery, and the like. Nell
+could not interpret the strange effect wrought upon her by these
+surroundings. She had felt it, in some measure, on the occasion of her
+first visit to the cabin. Now, however, its force seemed vastly
+stronger. She puzzled over it in vain. She tried to think it was the
+sense of relief that so affected her. But she knew that this was not the
+explanation. She had that inexplicable feeling of being at home. There
+was no visible cause. Whatever the reason, it lay beneath the surface of
+things. It was something in the atmosphere, some psychic quality.
+
+It seemed to Nell that the impression made upon her by this room in the
+cabin was intensified by the entrance of the dweller there, who greeted
+her with his friendly, gentle smile. Indeed, the kindliness of that
+smile and the look in the grave eyes touched the girl anew to
+thankfulness that this man would devote himself to her service in the
+time of need. She thought to herself that Mr. Maxwell must always have
+been a very kindly man to all, because he smiled so easily,
+notwithstanding the sadness of his face in repose. She could not know
+that, through two-thirds of the years measuring her span of life, Jim
+Maxwell had not smiled at all.
+
+"First," Jim commanded, "throw off the outside things, and make yourself
+at home. You're going to stay awhile."
+
+Nell would have protested. But the man raised a monitory hand.
+
+"It's no use your arguing about it," he said; and Nell recognized the
+masterful note in his voice, though he spoke as gently as before. She
+was rebellious, but she listened patiently while he went on to explain.
+
+"You see, my dear, this is men's work. There might be a hitch somewhere.
+There might even be a bit of a mix-up. You'd only be in the way then,
+young lady. We may have our hands full, without you on them. Probably
+everything will be all right. Anyhow, we'll do our best, and to do it we
+mustn't be hampered by the presence of a non-combatant. We'll come
+straight here as fast as my dogs can bring us. That will give you a
+chance to rest up. You'll just have to wait here till we come. I don't
+say that that isn't the hardest part of the whole job. But that's
+woman's work--waiting."
+
+Jim had spoken thus frankly and at length, in the hope of avoiding
+useless discussion of a matter concerning which discussion could avail
+nothing, and he succeeded; for Nell yielded at once, very meekly.
+
+"You're right, of course," she said, unhappily. "And you're right, too,
+about my having the hardest part in just sitting here with my hands
+folded, while I don't know what is happening to Jack."
+
+"Better unfold them," Jim suggested with a chuckle, "and rustle yourself
+some grub." He waved his hand toward the larger table. "The larder is
+quite at your service. As for me, I'll get ready and start at once.
+That'll get me to the edge of Kalmak soon after dark, so that I'll be
+all ready and waiting--just like you!--for whatever's to happen."
+
+"Yes," Nell said, and again there was the emphasis of anxiety in her
+voice, "you must start at once. You must be there, ready for Jack when
+he comes."
+
+Yet, in spite of this decision on the part of both that the man should
+start immediately, it was ordained by the Fates that there should be
+some delay; for this was an hour fraught with momentous things for the
+two thus cast together in the solitary cabin on the mountainside.
+
+It was as Jim Maxwell began his preparations for the journey that he
+chanced--or that he was guided--to stand close to the girl, facing her.
+His eyes were caught by a golden gleam, which seemed pulsing, as it
+moved in the rhythm of her breathing. His gaze rested there idly at
+first. And then, a moment later, his attention was drawn to a more
+careful scrutiny--just why, he did not know. Perhaps, as some maintain,
+a secret, tenuous vibration emanated from the metal, and moved to
+response a sleeping memory of old associations in the man's soul.
+Whatever the cause, Jim Maxwell's eyes were seized and held fast by the
+locket lying on Nell's breast.
+
+Of a sudden, he started violently. He thrust his head forward, with a
+movement so abrupt, almost threatening in its seeming, that the girl, in
+her turn, was startled, and withdrew a step, half-fearful.
+
+"I want to see that locket you are wearing." Jim Maxwell spoke in a tone
+that Nell had not heard before. It rang with a note of command not to be
+denied. She gazed affrighted at the change in his face. The kindliness
+was fled from it. It was imperious, ruthless, with a trace of underlying
+savagery. The young wife was dazed by the metamorphosis in the man on
+whom depended now her husband's rescue. And she was afraid, as well--no
+longer with a doubtful fear, but with a real terror before the
+expression in that heavily lined face, out of which the eyes stared at
+her with a cruel insistence.
+
+"I want to see that locket you are wearing," he repeated harshly, and
+held out his right hand with the palm upward to receive it.
+
+Without a word, Nell took off the chain from her neck, and dropped it
+with the locket into the waiting palm. Then, she moved a little aside,
+shrinking from the new being with whom she found herself. But, after a
+few seconds, she forgot her own emotion, her alarm, her anxiety in
+behalf of her husband. For she was looking on the soul of a man, bared
+in agony. So great and so terrible was that revelation that, very
+quickly, she turned her gaze aside that she might not see.
+
+Jim Maxwell remained with his eyes fixed on the little locket, which
+bore for an ornament an initial _N_ traced in tiny pearls. He could not
+doubt. It was the locket that he had caused to be made for his daughter,
+for Nell--his little girl! Presently, he would open it, to see if the
+pictures of Lou and of himself were still within. But, in this first
+burst of emotion, he could only stand moveless there, racked by all the
+torments of memory. It was the tearing open of wounds, which, though
+they had never healed, had ceased to bleed. Now, they bled afresh, and
+it seemed to him that his soul was drowning in the blood.
+
+The fierceness of his first emotion passed. Suddenly, it was as if a
+cloud lifted from his brain, and he became aware of himself standing
+there in the cabin. A moment before--or was it ages?--he had been in
+heaven--and in hell. Now, he was back in the cabin in the wilderness.
+And he was glad to be there, for it was home....
+
+Again, his attention was caught by the gleam of the gold within his
+hands. He recognized the locket. But, at last, he was able to accept its
+presence with some degree of calm.
+
+Jim Maxwell turned to the girl, and addressed her gently enough, but
+still with that dominant tone which would brook no denial.
+
+"Where did you get this locket?"
+
+"I have had it always," she answered. None could doubt her truth as she
+spoke, with the clear eyes meeting her questioner's stern gaze
+squarely.
+
+The severity of the man's expression yielded a little.
+
+"Who gave it to you?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+Jim frowned at this check.
+
+"But you must know," he insisted.
+
+Nell shook her head resolutely.
+
+"I do not remember who gave it to me," she repeated. "But I don't
+remember anything about myself when I was a very little girl. I've had
+the locket always, just as far back as I can remember."
+
+"How far back can you remember?" It was a perfunctory question.
+
+"Papa and Mamma Ross, who saved me from the river, guessed that I was
+five or six years old. They decided on calling it six."
+
+"And you had the locket then?"
+
+Nell nodded assent again.
+
+"And how old are you now?"
+
+"I'm just eighteen."
+
+As his brain took in the figures, and made a mechanical calculation, Jim
+Maxwell's form, which had relaxed a little, grew tense again. His eyes
+searched the girl's face with a strange hunger in the intensity of the
+gaze. Twelve years! Twelve years ago, this girl here before him, who
+knew nothing as to her life prior to that time, had been saved from a
+river. And she had worn the locket that he had caused to be fashioned
+for his daughter, Nell. And twelve years ago his wife and his daughter,
+Nell, had vanished. The incredible crowded in his thoughts. Could mother
+and child, by an evil stroke of fate, have been caught somewhere in
+treacherous waters? Could one have perished, and the other have escaped?
+Could this girl, who stood there wondering at him--could she be that
+child, his little Nell, grown to this splendid womanhood? The thoughts
+electrified him. Was it possible that there was still left for him in
+life this supreme consolation--a creature whom he might love with all
+his heart, who would love him in return?
+
+But Jim Maxwell dared not believe. He was afraid of hope, lest it become
+despair to destroy him. Yet, the chief influences that wrought upon him
+were his own desire that this miracle might be truth, and the new and
+singular yearning of his heart toward Nell.
+
+Presently, Jim Maxwell approached the girl where she was standing a
+little aloof. He reached out and put his hand on her arm. The girl
+started at his touch, but, for some reason she could not understand, she
+did not shrink from him now. He spoke very softly; and in his voice
+there was a music that penetrated to the girl's soul.
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRL STARTED AT HIS TOUCH BUT SHE DID NOT SHRINK FROM
+HIM NOW.]
+
+"You are my daughter--my little Nell!... God has given you back to me."
+
+The girl did not doubt. As with the man, her own yearning bore witness.
+She offered no resistance, but yielded with a reverent joy to the
+caress, as her father turned her about until she faced him, then stooped
+and kissed her on the forehead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+In the tedious hours of waiting after parting from Nell, Jack Reeves was
+infinitely cheered by the consciousness that he would have for an ally
+in this crisis one such as Jim Maxwell. Often, there came into the
+prisoner's thought a memory of how he had last seen the trapper. He had
+turned for a look back as the sled dropped to the level of the valley.
+The solitary dweller in that wild place had been standing erect and
+motionless before the cabin--a splendid figure of a man, posed in
+unconscious majesty.
+
+[Illustration: A SPLENDID FIGURE OF A MAN, POSED IN UNCONSCIOUS
+MAJESTY.]
+
+There was, of course, the risk that Jim Maxwell might be away from the
+cabin and so not available to render assistance. That risk, however,
+could not be avoided, since there was no one else to whom appeal might
+be made. But Jack was able to hold an optimistic frame of mind. Somehow
+the effect made upon him by the stranger whom he and Nell had rescued
+from death was such that he felt a certain confidence as to the outcome
+of his plan, merely because it depended vitally on the cooeperation of
+Jim Maxwell. Jack was sure that he could have secured this assistance,
+even had there been no sense of obligation to bind the stranger to his
+service. With Jim Maxwell's obvious and profound gratitude for having
+been rescued from death, there could be no doubt concerning his response
+to the prisoner's call for help.
+
+Though he was busy with thoughts concerning his projected flight, Jack
+found the day dragging endlessly. It seemed an eternity before at last
+the shadows lengthened into night. Then, indeed, when patience was least
+needed, it became most difficult. Now that the time was so near at hand,
+the minutes crawled with a sluggishness that was exasperating. It seemed
+to Jack that the sheriff purposed to sit in the adjoining room
+throughout the night. It was only when he looked at his watch that the
+fretting captive learned how anxiety deceived him, for it yet lacked a
+half-hour of the official's usual retiring time.
+
+Finally, since all things have an end, the sheriff stood up, and, after
+an amiable but formal good-night, went out into the living-quarters of
+the house. Followed an hour that was still more laggard than any of
+those that had preceded it in this most laggard day. Jack had decided
+that there could be no need of waiting until late at night before making
+his attempt. There were only two classes among the citizens of the town.
+One went to bed early; the other went very late--if at all. The prisoner
+hoped that the first class would sleep too soundly to have any knowledge
+of his undertaking until too late to thwart it; that the second class
+would be too drunk for serious interference.
+
+When he deemed it time to begin his preparations for escape, Jack
+gathered the most inflammable parts of the litter on the floor. There
+was more than sufficient for his purpose, since the sheriff, however
+great his other official virtues, was by no manner of means a tidy
+person. This collection of fragments of paper and wood was stacked
+against the partition that separated the cell from the outer room,
+midway on one side of the door. The prisoner was at pains to use only
+paper and splinters, which would burn with little smoke. He had chosen
+the only possible point of attack for his purpose. The other three walls
+of the cell were of heavy timbers, which could have been set on fire
+only with difficulty, and, once well alight, would have assuredly
+roasted to death any one in the place, since there could have been no
+possibility of breaking through them.
+
+The situation was different as to the wall in which the door was set.
+This was made of boards, instead of logs. They were too heavy to be
+broken through by blows from the heavy chair, which was the only tool
+available to the prisoner. Jack had conceived the possibility of setting
+fire to some of the lower boards, and thus weakening them to a point
+where they would yield to his attack. So, now, when he had placed his
+kindling in position, he made ready with the match.
+
+Never was a match struck more carefully. It was the only one, and on its
+aid at the outset the whole attempt of escape rested. Jack breathed a
+prayer of thanksgiving as the match sputtered and flared to a steady
+flame. Next moment paper and sticks were burning briskly. The fire
+mounted, lapping gently at the boards of the wall.
+
+Jack, kneeling closely, watched earnestly. There was nothing more for
+him to do now; he had only to wait for his servant, the fire, to prepare
+the way. He shuddered a little at the thought that the servant might
+become the master--that in the end he might perish miserably in a
+fire-trap of his own devising.
+
+He stood up, and, by an effort of will, thrust the thought from him,
+lest fear drain him of the energy needed for the flight to come. He
+forced himself to think of anything else, rather than of a failure so
+horrible--of Nell, who would be waiting for him in a mood of hope and
+despair intermingled; of Jim Maxwell, who would be ready in this time of
+need. He pictured the trapper with his dogs, waiting patiently on the
+snow where the spruce shadows fell.
+
+[Illustration: THE TRAPPER, WITH HIS DOGS, WAITING PATIENTLY ON THE
+SNOW.]
+
+The flame rose higher and higher. The dry boards in the partition were
+smoking. Little lines of sparks ran over the rough surface, then died.
+The smoke from the boards grew heavier. The acrid odor filled the cell.
+Jack coughed and dropped again to his knees, in order to avoid the worst
+of the fumes. The heat increased, but it was not sufficient to cause any
+particular discomfort. Jack had vastly more fear that the increasing
+volume of smoke might overcome him before he should have opportunity for
+carrying out his project. Presently, however, he was greatly heartened
+by observing that there was draft which carried the greater part of the
+smoke out of the cell through the grating in the door. As he looked, he
+saw that the other room was filled already with dense clouds of smoke.
+He took further comfort from the fact that the fumes were not
+apparently escaping into the main body of the house, where they might
+have given the alarm.
+
+In the cell, the lower boards of the partition had burst into flame. The
+heat from them was now so great that Jack crawled away from it into the
+farthest corner. The tiny room was like an oven, and to add to the
+discomfort of it and the deadly danger, the smoke thickened visibly,
+notwithstanding the current passing out through the door.
+
+Jack realized, with a thrill of horror, that here was a duel--a duel to
+the death. It was a duel between him and those fiercely darting flames.
+Rather, it was a duel between him and those blazing boards in the
+partition--a duel of endurance between him and them. Which would be the
+first to yield? If the boards should hold out the longer, then he--!
+Jack shuddered once again, with a wry smile over the irony of fate.
+Here, in this rigorous climate, men went often hand-in-hand with a Death
+whose scythe was edged with ice. Jack had contemplated the possibility
+of being some time struck down by the numbing cold. It had never
+occurred to him that in this Arctic land he might die in a hell of his
+own stoking.
+
+The stifling prisoner dared hope that at last the blaze had weakened the
+boards sufficiently for his purpose. Whether or no, his suffering drove
+him to action. The heat was intolerable now. Sweat poured from him. The
+pungent smoke blinded him, and bit cruelly at throat and lungs. Still
+without rising to his feet, Jack laid hold of the chair, which was just
+beside him, and hobbled clumsily toward the partition, pushing the chair
+before him.
+
+Even this comparatively slight exertion caused the perspiration to gush
+in new abundance, and here, closer to the flame, the temperature was
+well-nigh unbearable. Jack's head swam. He felt his senses failing. It
+was only by a tremendous effort that he regained control of himself. He
+was aware of his mortal peril. Any least weakening or faltering now
+would mean his destruction. It was, indeed, a duel to the death--a duel
+of endurance between him and a foe that knew no mercy.
+
+Jack realized, as well, that there could be no delay in the issue. He
+must act at once, if he were to act at all. A minute later would be
+forever too late. His brain was reeling. His agonized flesh could not
+longer withstand the strain. He felt his energies flow out of him like
+water.... What he would do must be done instantly--or not at all.
+
+Jack drew a long breath, sprang up, swung the chair, and brought it
+crashing against the boards of the partition where the flames burned
+most furiously. The wall did not break, though it seemed to yield a
+little under the blow. But, before he could try another assault,
+dizziness sent him staggering away from the unbearable heat and smoke of
+that spot. He dropped to the floor, where he lay stretched at full
+length, panting in choking breaths. For a few seconds he was in the grip
+of despair. He felt himself impotent, doomed to shameful death in this
+furnace-hole.
+
+Nevertheless, the spirit of the young man, albeit fainting, was not
+dead. It aroused presently. And it quickened the flesh. Once again Jack
+acted. His brain was dulled. He was hardly conscious of thought. The
+whole strength of his being was concentrated in his will to make a last,
+supreme effort. Again, after a deep breath, he leaped to his feet,
+seized the chair and hurled it against the center of the flaming mass
+with every atom of his strength.
+
+In the interval since his first attempt, the fire that threatened him
+with death had, notwithstanding, been working in his behalf, weakening
+still more the boards, his enemies in this duel of endurance. The heavy
+chair burst through the blazing barrier and fell noisily in the other
+room.
+
+Joy surged in the prisoner. Under the stimulus of it, he forgot pain and
+feebleness. He rushed at the flaming wall and kicked clear a larger
+opening. Then he plunged through the flames.
+
+Jack fell headlong on the floor of the sheriff's office. By instinct,
+he remained prostrate, with his face against the floor, else he must
+have strangled. But instinct urged him onward. He crept toward the
+window, which, fortunately, was on the side of the room where he had
+fallen. His eyes were shut fast now, for the smoke had blinded him. But
+his groping hand, upraised, found the window-sash. Once more Jack held
+his scant breath as he got to his feet. He drove his elbows through the
+panes. The zero air enwrapped him. The touch of it was bliss. It brought
+blessed life to the seared lungs. Jack took one great breath of it. Then
+he put a foot to the window-ledge, drew himself up and went through,
+amid the noise of rending glass and wood. Without an instant of pause,
+or a single glance backward, he was off, plowing his way through the
+heaped-up snow, which bordered the clear space beyond the buildings. In
+another minute he was on the solid crust. Thus he ran on in a line
+parallel with the one street of the village, but behind the buildings
+that straggled there. He passed the last of these, and saw before him
+the white reaches of the valley, without sign of life anywhere,
+beckoning him on to freedom. His stride quickened and he went forward
+jubilantly.
+
+[Illustration: WITHOUT AN INSTANT PAUSE, HE WAS OFF, PLOWING HIS WAY
+THROUGH THE SNOW.]
+
+A hail came to Jack's ears. He looked in the direction of the sound and
+saw, a little to the right of the trail, a ghostly silhouette, even as
+he had pictured it--the trapper, with his dogs, waiting patiently on the
+snow where the spruce shadows fell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+Nell, standing before the cabin-door, peered for the hundredth time that
+night across the valley. Her eyes seemed to catch in the far distance a
+hint of movement, a flickering shadow out there in the dim light of snow
+beneath starlight. It was gone in the same instant. It must have been a
+trickery of vision. No! there it was again--a shadow that moved, a
+tiniest speck, but real. Nell's hands went to her bosom convulsively. It
+could be none other than Mr. Maxwell--her father--coming there. Did he
+come alone? She stood with straining eyes in a torment of doubt. Soon
+she was able to make out that only one figure ran with the moving sled.
+It was as if the heart died in her. Then, in the next moment, she
+thought that she could distinguish vaguely the outlines of another form
+on the sled. She was a-tremble with hope. The sled rushed toward her up
+the slope, the wearied dogs mending their pace in the frantic delight of
+home-coming. It was certainty now. Nell could see the man on the sled.
+He waved a hand to her. A cry of rapture burst from her lips. Within the
+minute, she was clasped to her husband's breast--all sorrows forgot.
+
+Presently, when the first excitement of the reunion was over, and the
+three were together in the cheery warmth of the cabin, Jack told his
+story very briefly, whereat Nell paled and trembled as she realized how
+near to death this night had been the man she loved. But, when the
+fugitive finished the story with his arrival at the point where Jim
+Maxwell waited, Nell suddenly rose and went to the older man and threw
+herself on his breast and kissed him.
+
+[Illustration: WHEN THE FIRST EXCITEMENT OF THE REUNION WAS OVER, JACK
+TOLD HIS STORY.]
+
+"Father, if it hadn't been for you--!"
+
+Jack regarded the scene in amazement, not untinged by disapproval.
+Gratitude was all very well, but it need not express itself too
+extravagantly. Then he almost forgot the embrace in wonder over the
+word--"father!"
+
+"Eh?" he questioned confusedly. "You've adopted him? That is, he's
+adopted you?"
+
+"Oh!" Nell exclaimed, drawing away from her father to regard him with
+consternation. "Didn't you tell him?"
+
+Jim Maxwell smiled very tenderly.
+
+"No, I didn't tell him. I thought maybe you'd like to do that yourself,
+dear."
+
+Nell kissed her father again, with such enthusiasm that Jack's
+disapproval returned with increased bitterness.
+
+"You're a darling, Father," she declared happily. In the reaction from
+her suffering, she was bubbling over with girlish gayety. "I'd just love
+to tell him. It will be such fun to see his eyes pop out."
+
+It was fun--and something deeper and sweeter. Jack, for his part,
+welcomed the fact of this new relationship with the man so curiously and
+intimately brought into his life. He rejoiced for his own sake, and he
+rejoiced more for Nell's; since now she need no longer mourn over being
+a nameless waif, though the mystery of her life was only partly
+explained.
+
+The hands of the two met in a warm clasp, and their eyes met no less
+warmly in a firm, honest gaze of mutual liking and respect.
+
+"I reckon I've done a pretty good day's work," Jim said, with a
+whimsical smile to mask his emotion. "I've got a daughter and a son,
+too--both in one day. And I didn't have anybody before--not for twelve
+years." There was a pathetic intensity in his voice, which touched the
+two hearers to a new appreciation of this man's great loneliness. Then
+Jim Maxwell shrugged his shoulders, as if he would cast off the mood of
+emotion. He spoke rapidly now, with incisive directness.
+
+"You must get across the Border as fast as you can. I'll tell you some
+short cuts." He had driven his dogs often to Malamute, and knew the ways
+by which the fugitives might gain advantage over their pursuers. "You've
+had an hour here, and it would be risky to wait any longer before
+starting out. They may be after you any minute."
+
+[Illustration: HE HAD OFTEN DRIVEN HIS DOGS TO MALAMUTE.]
+
+"They may think I've been burned up in the fire," Jack suggested.
+
+Jim shook his head in dissent.
+
+"No. Those logs would take a good bit of burning. Somebody would give
+the alarm, and they'd tumble out to see the fire, and they'd see that
+window you'd smashed through."
+
+"And I had to wade through some loose snow," Jack added. "They'd find my
+tracks fast enough."
+
+"Tracks leading this way! I tell you, there's no time to be lost. You
+know the trails to Malamute. Make it as quick as you can. From there,
+strike across the Border."
+
+He was interrupted by Nell, who exclaimed impulsively:
+
+"But, Father, what about you? I can't bear the thought of leaving you
+now, when I've just found you after all these years."
+
+Jim Maxwell smiled down on his daughter with deep fondness.
+
+"When you're in Canada, write to me here--to Kalmak, telling me where
+you will be, and I'll join you very soon."
+
+He turned to Jack and gave explicit directions as to how the route to
+Malamute might be shortened profitably. When he was sure that the young
+man had understood, he turned again to Nell.
+
+"I'm not quite so poor as I look, little girl," he said, smiling. "When
+I join you I'll have a wedding-present ready for you--for you, and for
+the boy here." His glance went affectionately to Jack, who returned it
+with like affection.
+
+Preparations for the departure of the two were speedily made. The
+farewells were uttered; father and daughter kissed tenderly; the men
+shook hands heartily. Then the dogs, in fine fettle after ample food and
+rest, leaped forward with joyous energy. The night was clear enough to
+see the way distinctly; there was no danger of mistaking the trail. On
+and on they flew over the frozen surface of the snow, following the
+valleys that trended to the east. Warmly clad and habituated to icy
+airs, the two did not suffer any discomfort from the bitter cold of the
+wind created by their rapid motion through the night. On the contrary,
+it set their blood tingling with the joy of life. Both were gloriously
+happy. The starlight was as noon-day since they had come out of the
+valley of the shadow.
+
+Thus they went forward swiftly, Nell stretched at ease, Jack riding and
+running by turns. In the twilight of dawn, they came on a native family
+comfortably encamped, and here they halted for an hour, that the dogs
+might be fed and rested, and that they, too, might eat and rest. They
+basked contentedly in the cheery heat from the flames, and at last took
+leave of their stolid hosts almost reluctantly. Then, once again, they
+went skimming over the waste, as the pale-yellow sun crept languidly
+above the horizon. The slanting beams set all the scene a-shimmer with
+prismatic radiance from the snow crystals. Hitherto, the two had been
+content with silence, happy in the knowledge that they were together
+and that the speeding miles put peril far behind. Now, however, with the
+quickening life of day, the placid mood came to an end. They became
+lively, garrulous, demonstrative. Nell insisted that Jack should
+rehearse for her anew every detail of his escape from the jail. The
+husband, in turn, demanded a full account of how father and daughter had
+become known to each other. Both were curious to know the story of Jim
+Maxwell's life. They could not forbear many speculations as to the
+nature of the events that had driven this man, whom Jack liked and
+esteemed, and whom Nell had already grown to love, to isolate himself
+thus in the desolate North. But they could only guess, since the father
+had told nothing of himself, except the single fact of his relationship
+to Nell.
+
+They made Malamute in mid-afternoon. Jack halted the dogs in front of
+the chief structure in the place, which, though nominally only a saloon,
+was in fact the hotel and trading post.
+
+"Don't get out, Nell," Jack directed. "I'll have to get directions here
+for the next stage in the journey. Maybe we'll have to stay for the
+night, and maybe we won't. I'll be back in a minute." With that he
+hurried off and entered the saloon.
+
+As the door swung open to admit the newcomer, the few men straggling
+along the bar, or lounging at the tables, looked up in mild curiosity to
+see who this might be. Only one showed any especial interest in the
+stranger. This single exception was a man who sat by a table placed
+against the wall at right angles to the bar. He had been lazily busy
+over a game of solitaire, while the woman seated across the table from
+him looked on listlessly. At Jack's entrance, he had looked up with
+languid attention. On the instant, he was transformed. All the
+indifference of his expression vanished. His face showed first an
+unbounded amazement, then rage. Finally, another emotion--hardly fear,
+but a furtive anxiety closely akin to fear. He watched covertly as the
+escaped prisoner went up to the bar, where, after ordering a drink, he
+began questioning the bartender concerning the most direct route to the
+Border.
+
+Having secured the information he required, Jack went back to Nell, who
+sat waiting on the sled, snug within her furs.
+
+[Illustration: JACK WENT BACK TO NELL, WHO SAT ON THE SLED, SNUG WITHIN
+HER FURS.]
+
+"We'd better stay here for the night," he explained, "and make an early
+start in the morning."
+
+Nell got down from the sled obediently and accompanied her husband into
+the saloon, where arrangements for their entertainment were speedily
+concluded. It was only after the two had gone upstairs to the room
+assigned them that the man, who had held his head bent low over the
+spread-out cards of the solitaire game during their presence, looked up
+and beckoned to a tall, rough-featured individual standing alone at one
+end of the bar. This was the sheriff of Malamute. As he came near, Dan
+McGrew spoke, and his voice rasped.
+
+"Did you recognize that chap with the girl?"
+
+"Never laid eyes on him before," the official averred. "What about it?"
+
+"When I was down at Kalmak the other day," Dangerous Dan answered
+impressively, "they arrested that fellow for murder. He's broken jail."
+
+The sheriff grinned contentedly.
+
+"Then right here's where he breaks in again. I'll see to that. You're
+sure there's no mistake?"
+
+"No mistake!" was the terse assurance. "I'll swear to his identity if
+necessary. But probably there'll be somebody after him pretty soon, as
+they'd figure he'd take this way for the Border."
+
+"I thought you were going in the morning," the sheriff objected. "I'll
+have to have you for a witness, if nobody else turns up."
+
+"Oh, I'll stay, all right!" Dan laughed.
+
+And the Fates must have laughed with him, and at him, in mockery; for,
+in this last malignant act, Dangerous Dan McGrew worked evil against
+himself and none other.... Lou, looking on apathetically, wondered why
+Dan should be so eager to deliver over a fugitive from justice. He was
+not usually so intolerant of crime!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Jim Maxwell, left alone in his cabin, had company a-plenty in thronging
+thoughts. His mood, on the whole, was nearer to one of happiness than
+any he had known before in the years since the wrecking of his home. The
+discovery of his daughter had filled him with pure delight. Had she been
+other than she was, this recovery of her would still have filled him
+with gladness. To find her so lovely and so winsome in her personality
+moved him to proud exaltation. He looked forward to companionship with
+her in the years to come, and thanked Providence for this assuagement of
+past loneliness and sorrow. He was grateful, too, for the fact that she
+had entrusted her life's happiness to one who seemed worthy, so far as
+any man might be, of such a treasure. Since he had no son of his own,
+Jim Maxwell rejoiced over this gift of his daughter's bringing to him.
+
+Nevertheless, it was in this connection that the otherwise happy father
+found ground for anxiety, and that anxiety pressed upon him heavily. His
+understanding of the circumstances, which was wider than that of the
+young persons involved, made him appreciate the evil consequence that
+must ensue from the present situation. Either Jack would escape across
+the Border, or he would not. In the latter contingency, there would be
+immediate peril of his life on being brought back to Kalmak; for Jim had
+been told, what Nell had not, of the probable lynching by men impatient
+of the law's delay. But, with the fugitive's escape safely accomplished,
+there would remain always a stigma on the young man's reputation.
+Throughout his life, he would go in constant danger of being pointed out
+as a jail-breaker and murderer. Jim Maxwell would not tolerate such a
+fate for one near and dear to him, and dearest to his daughter. He made
+a last round of his traps, bringing them in and storing them in the
+cabin preparatory to his departure. And in his progress over the miles,
+his thoughts were grappling always with the problems by which he was
+confronted. It was not until nightfall, as he sat smoking cozily in the
+warm comfort of the cabin, which had been blest by his daughter's
+presence, that he at last reached a decision. He had little fear of a
+lynching in case of Jack's recapture; for he meant to take a hand
+himself in coming events, and he believed that the sheriff at Kalmak,
+though he knew the official to be of a spineless sort, would make a
+stand against the mob with his backing. So he dismissed any immediate
+concern over the retaking of the escaped prisoner. There remained,
+however, the matter of the stigma. He would not let his son-in-law,
+Nell's husband, whom she loved, be thus branded by the world. There was
+only one means of prevention. The young man's innocence must be proved.
+With the evidence against him such as it was, that innocence could be
+established in a single way, and in none other--by proving the identity
+of Sam Ward's actual slayer. Since this was so, Jim Maxwell decided that
+he himself must bend every energy to tracing out the truth concerning
+the crime of which Jack Reeves stood accused. Before he slept that
+night, he resolved that with the dawn he would start for Kalmak, there
+to begin his work.
+
+In the morning, then, Jim Maxwell set forth on his quest. On arrival at
+Kalmak, he halted his dogs before the Grand Hotel, where he judged, from
+a slight acquaintance with the sheriff, that he would find the official
+in the bar-room. In this he was proven right; for, on entering the
+saloon, the first person his gaze encountered was the sheriff himself,
+who stood at the end of the bar facing the door, with an expression of
+profound melancholy upon his horse-like face. Jim, with only a nod to
+the others, went straight to the sheriff, whom he greeted with an
+assumption of deference, since he was well aware of the fellow's pet
+vanity.
+
+"And what's new?" he asked innocently, after he had given an order to
+the bar-tender.
+
+The sheriff could hardly pause to drain his glass, so eager was he to
+pour out his woes to one who had not yet heard them. There was nothing
+in the narrative that increased the stock of information already
+possessed by the questioner. It was not until Jim Maxwell had pursued a
+cross-examination for some time that there came a revelation of
+importance. This, when it did come, crashed on him like a thunderbolt.
+
+"Have there been any other strangers in the place lately?" he demanded,
+desirous of any clew to the possible murderer.
+
+"Nary one," the sheriff responded dismally. "It's been dull as
+ditch-water all winter hereabouts. Hain't anybody come in for a
+month--leastways, only Dan McGrew, and he ain't a stranger exactly--not
+by a long shot!"
+
+Dan McGrew! The name screamed in Jim Maxwell's brain. Dan McGrew,
+here--within reach of his two hands!
+
+He stood motionless, unhearing, unseeing. Beneath the concealing beard,
+his cheeks were bloodless. His thoughts were chaos. The despair of the
+years seemed crystallized in this new anguish over the fact that the
+enemy had been here, almost within his grasp, and he had not known. He
+seemed to realize as never before the monstrousness of the crime
+committed against him. Hate more savage than he had known hitherto
+filled his heart with its black flood. It seemed the final crushing blow
+of fate, that the wrecker of his home should have come so nearly within
+his power and then have escaped unscathed. For, somehow, he sensed
+details given by the sheriff concerning Dan McGrew's going from Kalmak,
+though he heard not a word of the babbling voice.
+
+Presently, Jim Maxwell aroused from this trance of rage. He found
+himself weak and shaken, and his tone was husky as he ordered more
+drinks for himself and for the gratified sheriff. He gulped the raw
+liquor hurriedly, and welcomed the sting of it. He regained his usual
+stern composure soon, and, immediately then, his thoughts took a new
+turn. He resumed the prosecution of his inquiries with increased
+eagerness. It may have been that the association of ideas drove him on.
+Dan McGrew was to him the epitome of crime. The presence of Dan McGrew
+in the neighborhood struck him as of possible significance. He was
+without a shred of evidence, in the matter of Sam Ward's death, against
+the man he hated. Yet, he felt a strange conviction that here was the
+clew for which he had been searching.... The sheriff was highly pleased
+by the manifest interest of this trapper, who, in their previous
+meetings, had shown no trace of geniality.
+
+"You say this Dan McGrew--" Jim stumbled a little over the name--"was
+here when this Reeves chap came in?"
+
+"Blew in that very self-same day, jest a little while before the
+murderer got here."
+
+"I suppose he hadn't heard of the murder until he got here?" Jim
+suggested.
+
+The sheriff shook his head.
+
+"We didn't any of us know a thing about Sam Ward having been killed,
+until the young feller drove up and told that cussed yarn about seein'
+the murder through his glasses. The nerve of him! And he'd got away with
+it, too, if it hadn't been for Dan McGrew puttin' it into my head to
+search his pack."
+
+The listener started perceptibly at this information.
+
+"Oh, it was Dan McGrew who first directed suspicion against this young
+man, was it?"
+
+The sheriff was deeply chagrined by his inadvertent revelation of the
+truth. He attempted to hedge.
+
+"Why, not exactly. Maybe he was the first to speak right out plain, but
+I'd been thinkin' jest that same thing."
+
+Jim did not care to press the point. He had no wish to wound the
+sheriff's sensibilities, at least while further information might be
+extracted from the man. But he regarded this news concerning the part
+Dan McGrew had played in the affair as of vital importance. While the
+sheriff maundered on, he rapidly reviewed the details of the case, so
+far as he knew them.
+
+The murderer, according to Jack's account, must have seen the approach
+of the bridal pair. The fact was, indeed, proven by his hasty flight
+from the scene of the crime. Thereafter, he might have watched, and
+probably had watched, the arrival of the sled, and he doubtless had been
+aware that the newcomers camped on the creek for the night. Already, in
+previous study of the questions involved, Jim had arrived at these
+conclusions, which established a plausible explanation for the presence
+of the knife-handle in Jack's pack. Certainly, it could have been no
+difficult feat for the assassin to secrete this evidence during the
+night encampment. As certainly, there could have been no other
+opportunity. Nor could there be any doubt as to the motive for the
+action. It had been for the purpose of fixing guilt upon the innocent,
+that the guilty might go free.
+
+Now, in addition to these conclusions already established, there
+appeared another and salient fact.
+
+The person who first suggested the searching of the pack wherein the
+knife-handle lay concealed had been Dan McGrew. The inference was
+undeniable. It was made stronger still by the correlated fact that Dan
+McGrew had arrived at Kalmak only shortly before the coming of the
+alleged murderer. By further questioning, Jim drew from the loquacious
+sheriff additional data. Dangerous Dan had arrived on foot. He had
+talked of having been in the stampede; but he had given no precise
+account of his movements, nor had he explained the reason for his coming
+to Kalmak, over which the sheriff had puzzled. The day following his
+arrival, he had set out for Malamute with a hired outfit.
+
+A rapid survey of all these circumstances brought Jim Maxwell to the
+conviction that Dangerous Dan McGrew had added murder to his other
+crimes. The evidence was by no means conclusive, but it was sufficient
+to any one reasoning from the facts. Jim, sure of Jack's innocence,
+regarded the guilt of Dan McGrew as actually established. There remained
+the necessity of final proof, which would brand the murderer as such
+before the world and clear the innocent from unjust suspicion.
+
+It was reasonable to suppose that the slayer of Sam Ward had taken to
+himself, in payment for his crime, anything of value on the dead man's
+body. Thus there was a possibility, even a probability, that Dangerous
+Dan McGrew now carried with him some tangible evidence that would serve
+to convict him. This evidence must be secured. In no other way could the
+innocence of Jack Reeves be proclaimed to the world. And Dangerous Dan
+had gone to Malamute. Jim smiled slowly, staring fixedly, as if his gaze
+reached out across the miles. The sheriff, though hardly a coward,
+shrank a little from some strange quality in that look.
+
+Jim Maxwell, in truth, was wondering as to his exact purpose in going to
+Malamute. Was it to save Jack Reeves, or was it to kill Dangerous Dan
+McGrew? Both, perhaps.
+
+He put a last question to the sheriff, who was puzzled by it--not the
+less so by reason of a certain hesitation in the questioner's voice as
+he spoke.
+
+"There wasn't any--any woman with this--Dan McGrew?"
+
+"Nope! He's been here three or four times for a game with the boys. He's
+square, Dan is. An' I hain't never seen him look at nary one of the
+gals."
+
+Jim Maxwell turned away abruptly from the sheriff, without a word in
+parting. The careless words screeched in his brain, mocking devils of
+derision:
+
+"He's square, Dan is."
+
+Jim Maxwell set his face homeward, and urged the dogs to their best
+speed, for he had much to do and time pressed. He reached the cabin with
+the first shadows of dusk, and, after attending to the dogs, busied
+himself in collecting important papers, which must be carried with him,
+since he could hazard no guess as to when he might return to the cabin,
+if ever. His skins were to be left behind, though their total value was
+a considerable sum. He had put out his line of traps for the solace
+afforded by occupation, rather than for profit from the pelts. He would
+leave them with no regret over the loss involved. He cared little for
+money at any time--now, not at all. The only consideration was that he
+must travel fast and light.
+
+With the dawn Jim Maxwell was off. At the last, he experienced a pang of
+regret over leaving this humble dwelling, where, though he had
+companioned so long with misery, he had, nevertheless, found soothing
+from the serenity and the silence, and where, in the end, he had found a
+daughter and a daughter's love. But this regret at parting from the
+familiar place was, after all, a trivial thing compared with the desire
+to hasten from it to the accomplishment of the work that awaited. He was
+obsessed by the purpose to avenge his own wrongs and those of his
+children, as he had already come to term Nell and Jack in his thoughts.
+The object of that vengeance was Dan McGrew. In these hours of pursuit
+after the man who had injured him and his so foully, his mood was all of
+fierce hatred. The tenderness that had stirred and wakened in his heart
+with the recognition of his daughter now slept again. A fury of rage
+filled him. This nearness to his enemy inflamed every passionate memory
+of wrong. Usually considerate of every creature, he was now merciless,
+and sent the dogs forward at top speed, cursing them when they lagged.
+
+As the day advanced, heavy gray clouds covered the whole face of the
+heavens. The light wind which had been blowing from the east, veered to
+the north soon after mid-day, and quickened. It quickened more and more.
+Presently it was blowing a gale. And it came icy cold from the floes
+within the Circle. Jim, under the numbing touch, was compelled to go
+afoot oftener, in order to make the sluggish blood bestir itself. Yet
+his action was almost automatic, the result of habit formed in like
+experiences. He was hardly conscious of the changed conditions. Though
+his flesh felt the ice-lash of the air and fought against it, the brain
+inhibited sensation. His thought was all of the task that awaited. The
+chill of the body was nothing to him. He knew only the hot wrath that
+throbbed in his blood. He gave no heed, even when the powdery snow came
+in almost level flight. It was solely the slackening pace of the dogs
+that had power to arouse him. Sorely reluctant, he gave them a breathing
+spell, and fed them. He desired no food for himself. He was sustained by
+the spirit of vengeance which was flaming within him. He was not afraid
+of the cold, which grew momently more deadly; nor of the snow, though it
+fell so thickly that, when the journey was resumed, the dogs attained
+hardly half their former speed. The flakes flew in masses so dense that
+it was difficult to tell whether the darkness were of its own making or
+the night were come. He could still distinguish the peaks by which he
+set his course, and, since he went to his destination, nothing else
+mattered at all--except that the dogs dawdled. He cursed them again. His
+voice went out to them by turns raucously savage and imploring.
+
+The dogs ran floundering through the snow, which deepened dangerously
+fast. Ever afterward, Jim Maxwell believed that, somehow, the power of
+righteousness had gone with him, triumphing in his behalf over the
+elements that would have barred his way. It seemed, indeed, that only a
+miracle could have carried him safely through the cold and storm. He had
+expected, by unsparing driving of the dogs, to reach Malamute well
+before dark. He himself now had no sense of time, only as it meant delay
+in coming face to face with Dan McGrew. As a matter of fact, it was ten
+o'clock at night when his eyes picked out faint yellow gleams twinkling
+through the snow-wrack, which he knew to be the lighted windows of the
+Malamute saloon. The dogs understood that they were come to the
+journey's end. They strained at the breast-straps in a last desperate
+burst of speed, and then, unbidden, halted before the door of the saloon
+and dropped on their bellies, panting and slavering. Jim Maxwell with
+difficulty stirred his cold-stiffened muscles and clambered down from
+the sled. He stood dazed for a full minute, as if not yet fully
+conscious that he had reached the end of the way, that the hour of
+vengeance had at last struck.
+
+Then, suddenly, Jim Maxwell straightened himself and squared his
+shoulders. He walked to the door of the saloon and opened it with a
+steady hand and stepped within, shaking the snow from his parka as he
+went. He halted just inside and stood quietly. At his entrance, silence
+had fallen on the noisy room and the eyes of all were turned on him.
+
+[Illustration: HE HALTED JUST INSIDE AND STOOD QUIETLY.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+For a time Jim Maxwell stood there without movement, blinking
+confusedly, while his body drank in the steaming warmth. The men in the
+room regarded the newcomer with frank stares of curiosity. He was
+unknown to any of them. They guessed him to be a miner just in from the
+creeks, dog-tired from his fight with the storm. Without being told, one
+of the hangers-on of the saloon hurried out to care for the dogs, since
+their owner seemed almost helpless. Very soon, in fact, a suspicion grew
+in the minds of the observers that something more than the cold had
+affected this stranger.
+
+"Full of hooch!" was the verdict.
+
+Presently, Jim's vision cleared. He cast one piercing glance about the
+room. He saw Dangerous Dan McGrew sitting at a table along the wall, a
+little way to his left. He had schooled himself for the sight. There
+was no betrayal of the emotion that shook his soul at first sight of the
+man who had robbed him of wife and child and happiness. He even noted
+with a savage satisfaction something constrained in the pose of his
+enemy, who sat half-turned toward him, a card suspended in mid-air. Dan
+McGrew had seen him--that was certain. And it was certain, too, that Dan
+McGrew would not make the opening move. Jim Maxwell was content. His foe
+hesitated--and hesitation is weakness. He had no doubt as to his own
+strength. He believed it adequate for every demand upon it.
+
+He vaunted himself too soon. His eyes passed beyond the man he hated to
+the one who sat on the opposite side of the table. A darkness fell upon
+his spirit. He gazed steadily enough, for he had no power even to shift
+the direction of his eyes. There was no outward sign of the convulsion
+in his soul. He remained looking steadfastly at the woman who had been
+his wife, at the woman whom he had loved and lost. None of the
+onlookers dreamed that the sight of her meant anything to this stranger.
+It was natural that he should consider her attentively--she was a
+handsome woman, in a place where women were rare.
+
+Jim Maxwell's heart died within him. He had tried so often throughout
+the years to believe that the wife, who had been tricked into deserting
+him, had at least never been beguiled into aught unfitting her
+womanhood. Now, he saw before him the damning proof that she had given
+herself to vileness, to Dangerous Dan McGrew, whom presently he would
+kill....
+
+But the sight of her dear face! Notwithstanding all the horror, to see
+her once again in the flesh before his eyes was a rapture exquisite, yet
+torturing. Her face was the loved symbol of all his happiness. It was,
+as well, the symbol of all hideousness, which had swallowed up
+happiness. As he beheld her thus, ravening emotion devoured his
+strength. Suddenly he felt his knees sag. His eyelids fell of their own
+weight, so that sight of her was shut out. The shock of darkness, after
+the glory of her face, startled him to realization of his surroundings
+and steadied him. He asserted his will once again. He straightened and
+shuffled toward the bar. But he did not open his eyes until he had
+fairly turned his back on the pair at the table by the wall. Those
+observing him sniggered and mumbled again of hooch, when he lurched
+against the bar, and clung to it for support as a drunken man might....
+Jim Maxwell was drunken--drunken with grief and hate and love.
+
+After a little he recovered some measure of composure. He drew from his
+pocket a buckskin bag, and poured some gold-pieces on the bar.
+
+"Drinks for the house!" he commanded.
+
+The bartender busied himself in dispensing this hospitality to the
+crowd, which surged forward thirstily at the welcome summons. The
+Rag-time Kid, a wan-faced youth with a cigarette dangling from his lower
+lip, who performed noisily on the piano which stood against one wall,
+left his instrument and came forward hastily. Jim saw that drinks were
+served to Dangerous Dan McGrew and the woman opposite him, as well as
+the few others that were seated at the tables. He nodded curtly when the
+company raised their glasses toward him before drinking. His manner,
+however, was so singular and so remote that none ventured to address him
+directly. They eyed him askance. They speculated among themselves
+concerning who the man might be; for now, in some mysterious fashion,
+they had come to perceive that this was not one of the ordinary miners
+from the creeks, with the mud of the bottoms still matted in his beard.
+But they could make no definite surmise to account for him. In some
+vague way, they felt the portentousness of his presence among them. It
+was as if he stood enveloped in an atmosphere of tragedy. They looked at
+him furtively, confused, wondering, half-fearful, at his aspect. They no
+longer deemed him merely a drunken man. But what he was, they could by
+no means understand. They drank again, for his money still lay on the
+bar. They raised their glasses toward him. But the mystery of his
+coming remained unsolved, and it grew more burdensome as minutes passed,
+pressing heavily upon their spirits. Jim Maxwell drank with the others
+the first time and the second. He might, perhaps, have drained a third
+glass, but, while he delayed, his eyes chanced to fall on the piano, for
+the wan-faced youth with the cigarette dangling from his lower lip, was
+still enjoying his respite and was making merry at the bar. It had been
+a long time since Jim had touched the keys, but now, in the travail of
+his soul, it seemed to him that in music he might find surcease for the
+warring emotions within his breast. He went toward the piano, striding
+firmly. When he was come to it, he threw off parka and cap and seated
+himself and laid his hands noiselessly on the keys in a touch gentle and
+fond as a caress.
+
+As the first soft chord sounded, the pallid youth at the bar started as
+if struck. He wheeled, and thereafter gazed unfalteringly toward the man
+at the piano.
+
+It had been long since Jim Maxwell had played. At the outset, his hands
+moved slowly, almost hesitatingly, for the muscles were still a little
+numb from the cold of outdoors. But they grew elastic quickly, and a
+great series of clanging harmonies echoed through the squalid room. The
+others looked now with the wan-faced youth, whose cigarette had fallen
+unheeded. There came the dainty scamper of cadenzas, a crashing chord,
+and silence. The youth, who played himself, though not like this,
+understood that the stranger had made ready. He waited, tremulous with
+eagerness; for he loved his art, although he debased it. He muttered to
+himself:
+
+"God! how that man can play!"
+
+Jim Maxwell's fingers sought the keys again, weaving strange harmonies.
+And through them ran a thread of melody. The listeners could not
+understand, though the spell of it held them. Only, they knew somehow
+that the one who played was a man, full of a man's passions--the
+primitive passions of love and hate. There was a harshness in the
+dissonances that told of bitter sorrows; there was a charm in the thread
+of melody that was all truth and tenderness.
+
+[Illustration: JIM MAXWELL'S FINGERS SOUGHT THE KEYS AGAIN, WEAVING
+STRANGE HARMONIES.]
+
+Those who heard saw visions, each according to his kind. In this
+improvisation, Jim interpreted his thronging emotions. The coldness and
+the desolation of the North were made audible. Through sound itself, he
+made these dwellers in the lonely places realize again the silence of
+solitary wastes. The music cried out in sudden anguished longing, then
+broke in discords, like shrieks for vengeance. Some of the listeners
+stirred uneasily, uncomprehendingly, yet thrilled--for the soul is more
+intelligent than the brain. The Rag-time Kid shivered.
+
+Dan McGrew, the cards of his solo-game unheeded on the table before him,
+watched the man at the piano with steady gaze. His face was
+expressionless. He had recognized Jim Maxwell at first sight, and he
+knew that the time of reckoning was at hand. He was dismayed, for he had
+come in the course of years to believe that they two would never meet.
+Now that they were met, he was ready for whatever might befall. But he
+dared do nothing to precipitate the crisis. He must wait to be accused
+or attacked. If he could have followed his desire, he would have shot
+down the man he had wronged--would have shot him in the back,
+remorselessly, in cold blood. That he could not do. The code of the
+frontier forbids such murder. At such an act, these men about him would
+show no mercy beyond the short shrift of a rope. He could only await the
+issue with what patience he might, cursing inaudibly, so poised that he
+could draw at a second's warning.
+
+Lou had not recognized Jim Maxwell on his entrance. She had given only a
+glance at this bearded stranger. She was infinitely weary of life. She
+hated this vulgar place, reeking with rank tobacco-smoke and the fumes
+of liquors. She felt, even through an apathy that had become habitual
+with her, shame from the leering glances of these men, who took her for
+the gambler's light-o'-love. She felt herself degraded more and more at
+her manner of life and by the associations thrust upon her. She knew the
+evil spirit of the man she had married, which daily and hourly she was
+compelled to tolerate. The life was become almost unendurable. Yet, she
+continued the sordid existence, partly because she lacked the courage to
+break away from him, partly because she could condone the wickedness of
+Dan McGrew to some extent in appreciation of his loyalty to her. She
+could not doubt the reality of his love for her. That his love was
+utterly selfish, she knew. But he gave her all that he could. The
+woman's instinct toward martyrdom made her feel it a duty not to desert
+him. Now, after the coming of the stranger, she felt, rather than saw,
+the change in Dan McGrew, and she wondered over it dully. Not for a
+moment did she suspect that her husband's emotion was connected with the
+advent of the bearded man, toward whom she glanced so idly.... Love,
+often, is not so shrewd as hate.
+
+Her eyes followed Jim Maxwell as he went to the piano. She was still
+listless, wholly unsuspecting that aught impended. Even the first softly
+sounded notes did not arouse her. It was not until her ears caught the
+delicate thread of melody that her heart heard it, and answered, and she
+knew that this was the man she loved. Her hands clutched at her bosom in
+a spasmodic gesture. She swayed in her chair for a moment, then relaxed
+limply, and sat huddled in the corner between the table and the wall,
+her face ghastly beneath the rouge. But, lifeless as she seemed, she was
+listening through every atom of her being. In the varying phases of the
+music, she lived again the blisses and the torments. And, too, it was
+borne in upon her that, as she had suffered in the years since their
+parting, even so had he, who thus wove in sound the fabric of their
+lives. Yet, she could not believe that this man still loved her, though
+the music that grew under his fingers was like the talking together of
+their souls. A great wonder dawned in her, a greater fear, still greater
+hope. Could it be that the scales had fallen from his eyes, that he had
+freed himself from a degrading passion, that he had returned to his
+allegiance, that he loved her--her! Her body shook as with a palsy from
+the riot in her heart.
+
+Abruptly, the music ceased. Then, in another instant, there came a
+series of noble chords, sonorous and serene. Followed the tripping dance
+of arpeggios, which deftly hinted of a melody to come. The Rag-time Kid
+quivered in ecstatic anticipation of something splendid, nor was he
+disappointed.
+
+There sounded a lilting melody, a-throb with the joy of life. The notes
+rang with the calls of passion; they trembled into the sighings of
+exquisite tenderness. There was rapture in the magnificent harmonies
+that marched with this melody. It was like a song of two hearts glorious
+in the fulfillment of their love, with all the universe chanting praise
+of their happiness. It was the lyric of love triumphant.
+
+The man at the piano raised his arms high, and brought his hands down on
+the keys in a great swoop. The flames in the smoking-oil lamps leaped
+and quivered at the devil's din of the discord. The nerves of those that
+heard leaped and quivered. The player got up from the stool. His eyes
+swept the staring faces, and he smiled--a smile like a curse.
+
+"You don't know who I am, boys," he said. His voice, resonant, yet
+softly modulated, was very gentle--dangerously gentle the listeners
+might have thought, had they known him well.
+
+Dan McGrew knew him well. He understood that the crisis was upon him. He
+shifted very slightly in his chair, that he might have greater freedom
+of movement when the need came. He darted a single glance at his wife,
+and saw her sitting erect again, gazing at the player with dilated eyes
+in which showed the hunger of a soul. Dan McGrew cursed beneath his
+breath, and did not look again. Instead, he held his whole attention on
+the man who had spoken, and who now spoke once more:
+
+"I haven't anything to say to you, except that"--the voice deepened and
+roughened savagely--"one of you is a hound of hell! His name is--Dan
+McGrew!"
+
+Two shots rang out, which almost blent as one--almost, not quite. The
+crowd scattered and dropped to the floor. The lights went out.
+
+[Illustration: TWO SHOTS RANG OUT, WHICH ALMOST BLENT AS ONE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Word had been sent to the sheriff of Kalmak of Jack Reeves' capture at
+Malamute, and he at once set forth to bring his prisoner back. He
+arrived hardly an hour in advance of Jim Maxwell. He took formal
+possession of the accused, and forthwith made it clear that he was not
+minded to run any risk of a second escape.
+
+"That young feller ain't in no way safe in a jail," he explained to his
+brother official. "There's no tellin' what didoes he'd be up to--he's
+that ornery. I'll jest take him along with me to the saloon over night,
+an' I'll set up with him, an' nuss him like he was a baby."
+
+Despite all arguments to the contrary, the sheriff had his way, and
+started to the saloon-hotel, where the distracted bride had already
+established herself. The officer and his captive were hardly a rod from
+the door, when the shots rang out, and, almost in the same second, the
+lights were extinguished. The sheriff uttered an excited exclamation,
+and hurried forward with his prisoner. They were just within the door,
+when the bartender, who had so discreetly shot out the lights, produced
+new chimneys and leisurely set the oil lamps going again.
+
+As his eyes fell on the form stretched out upon the floor near the
+piano, Jack Reeves uttered a cry of alarm, and sprang forward. Kneeling,
+he caught Jim Maxwell's hand in his. He could not speak in the first
+shock of emotion, for he believed that the man was dead, who lay there
+so still and white, with closed eyes, and the blood trickling from a
+wound in his head.
+
+Nell, in an adjoining room, had been shaken with fear at the noise of
+firing. But, in the stillness that followed, she heard a cry of distress
+in her husband's voice. She forgot fear then, and rushed into the saloon
+and to his side. The sight of her father there struck her dumb and
+motionless with horror. Thus it came about that she and her husband were
+passive spectators of the great heart-drama that now developed.
+
+There was another in the group. It was Lou. Before the shots were fired,
+she had sprung to her feet, and forward, as if to forbid the deadly
+work. She had been too late. But she had plunged on, heedless of the
+weapons, reckless of her own life. The instinct of love had guided her
+through the sudden blackness. So, when the lights burned again, she was
+there on her knees, crooning heart-broken words to the ears that did not
+hear. She had no thought whatsoever of that other form which lay stark,
+crumpled on the floor by the table she had left. She supported Jim in
+her arms, with a passion of tenderness and mourning; for she, too,
+believed him dead, and it seemed to her that all the misery that had
+gone before were as nothing to this anguish over finding him, only to
+lose him forever. Then, of a sudden, Lou gave a gasp of pure
+rapture--for Jim Maxwell had opened his eyes, and lay staring placidly
+at the smoke-begrimed ceiling. She bent and kissed the bearded face,
+then raised a countenance that was transfigured. It was years younger in
+that illumination of joy.
+
+[Illustration: JIM MAXWELL HAD OPENED HIS EYES AND LAY STARING
+PLACIDLY.]
+
+Nell, watching in startled wonder, recognized the face in the locket.
+She knew this woman to be her mother. She could understand nothing else.
+But there on the floor at her father's side was the mother whom she had
+never known. The mystery appalled her. Yet, a tremulous happiness
+stirred in her heart over this meeting, so unexpected, so inexplicable,
+so fraught with amazing possibilities.
+
+Jim Maxwell spoke, very low, so that Lou held her ear close to listen.
+
+"Get it from the pocket inside my shirt," he commanded.
+
+"But your wound, Jim dearest," Lou pleaded. "Don't bother about anything
+else, whatever it is."
+
+"Get it!" Jim repeated.
+
+Lou yielded to the authority in his voice, and searched as he had
+bidden. She drew forth a bit of oil-skin, which she opened. In it was a
+sheet of notepaper, folded twice, and worn through along the creases.
+
+"Read it," Jim directed her; and Lou read obediently, though slowly
+through scalding tears:
+
+"I, Anne Weston, confess to tricking Jim Maxwell and deceiving his wife
+at the instigation of Dan McGrew."
+
+That first sentence gave her understanding of the lie that had wrecked
+her life. She read on to the end of Anne Weston's confession, and knew
+for the first time the entire infamy of the man whose treachery had
+robbed her of home and husband and child. Hate flared in her. She turned
+to look behind her, and saw the ungainly heap on the floor, which was
+all that was left of Dangerous Dan McGrew. And she was glad!... She
+turned again to the man she loved.
+
+"Forgive me, Jim--oh, forgive me, dearest!" she murmured.
+
+"I've nothing to forgive," was the answer. "A scoundrel fooled
+you--that's all. You couldn't help but believe your own eyes. But he's
+paid at last, I guess. Hasn't he?"
+
+"He's dead!" Lou replied; and there was no sorrow in her voice.
+
+"And I'm alive!" Jim declared contentedly. "He only creased me." He sat
+up suddenly by his own strength. For the first time, he appeared to
+notice his daughter and Jack Reeves. He spoke briskly now, and his voice
+had its accustomed firmness.
+
+"Help me up, Jack," he bade his son-in-law. And then, a minute later,
+when he stood firmly on his feet again, he turned to Lou, and spoke
+softly.
+
+"I'm going to make you very happy, to make up for what you have
+suffered. And I'll start by giving you back the daughter you lost twelve
+years ago." He nodded toward the girl, who approached.
+
+"Nell," he ordered, "I want you to take this lady to your room, and tell
+her who you are. Go now, both of you, and have a talk. Jack and I will
+come soon. We have something to attend to first."
+
+The women yielded to the masterful air of the man they both loved, and
+went away together to that talk in which there would be many kisses and
+the mingling of happy tears.
+
+No sooner were the women gone than Jim Maxwell faced the sheriff of
+Kalmak, who, throughout the excitement, had kept his attention
+unswervingly fixed on the prisoner, with an eye to possible didoes. But
+before Jim Maxwell could speak, he was interrupted by the local
+official, who detached himself from the group about the body of Dan
+McGrew, and now approached.
+
+"You got him, stranger," he remarked to Jim, in a congratulatory tone.
+"And he mighty near got you. Pretty shootin' by cripes! And I suppose,
+Mister, you understand you're my prisoner?"
+
+"Certainly," was the indifferent answer. "But I sha'n't try to get away,
+and there's something I want to have attended to right now. It has to do
+with my son-in-law, Jack Reeves here, who is accused of a crime he
+didn't commit. I want to prove his innocence, and there's a chance I
+may be able to do it. Dan McGrew killed Sam Ward. I know it. I want
+everybody else to know it. I'm hoping that somewhere among his things,
+or on him, there'll be the proof to connect him with the crime."
+
+The sheriff of Kalmak protested against the possibility, and spoke
+concerning Jack's possession of the knife-handle. In answer, Jim made
+clear the reasoning by which he had come to suspect his enemy of Sam
+Ward's murder.
+
+"And, anyhow," he concluded, "you'd search this dead man's effects. I'm
+only asking that you do it now, and in my presence. He had the
+opportunity to do the killing, and the circumstances must appear
+suspicious against him to you, though you didn't know him for the dog he
+was. It's an idiotic idea that this boy of mine, who was on his
+honeymoon, would stop off to kill a man he didn't know, for a pinch of
+dust he didn't need."
+
+The Malamute official nodded assent.
+
+"You're talkin' sense, Mister," he agreed. "I reckon Hal Owens thinks
+the same as I do." He regarded the sheriff of Kalmak inquiringly, who
+found himself exceedingly confused over this new turn to an affair
+already finally determined in his own mind. He vouchsafed a nod of
+acquiescence, but ventured nothing further. "And that being so," the
+other went on, "why, we'll just naturally take a squint at the corpse
+and his goods and chattels, and get a line, if so be, on what's what."
+Having thus spoken, he led the way to where the body of Dan McGrew was
+lying by the table; and with him went Jim Maxwell; and Jack Reeves and
+his guard followed them.
+
+The Malamute sheriff, as became his authority, made the examination of
+the dead man's clothing. He went through the pockets painstakingly,
+sorting the articles, and laying each in turn on the table, while Jim
+Maxwell looked on with a close scrutiny that nothing escaped. But the
+collection of miscellany grew little by little without showing anything
+in the least significant. No one of the various objects disclosed could
+by any ingenuity be claimed as evidence that Dan McGrew had perpetrated
+the crime of which Jack Reeves stood accused. The hope that had sprung
+up in the young man's breast at Jim Maxwell's utterance quickly died.
+But Jim himself did not despair. Sure of his enemy's guilt, he was sure,
+too, that somehow it would be brought to light.
+
+The searcher came at last to a pocket inside the waistcoat. In it was a
+tiny book, bound in paste-board covers. On the outside of the front
+cover were printed words and written. The sheriff gave a glance at
+these, and shouted exultantly:
+
+"We've got him--cuss him!" And then he added, in a tone of disgust: "And
+to think of him carryin' the goods on him like that!" He handed the book
+to Jim Maxwell, who read in a glance, with Jack looking over his
+shoulder:
+
+"The Tacoma Savings Bank, in account with Sam Ward."
+
+Jack's captor, also, who throughout had kept his hold on the prisoner's
+arm, read, and abruptly took his hand away. His voice revealed how
+great was the injury done to his dignity:
+
+"The damn' skunk! An' him a-leadin' me on! I wish he'd come to life for
+five minutes, an' I'd show him that Hal Owens ain't to be made a fool
+of." And the sheriff's flashing eyes and scowling brows showed that he
+meant it.
+
+Without a word, Jim Maxwell turned to his son-in-law, and put out his
+hand, and the two men shook hands joyously, yet with a certain gravity.
+
+"This will be glorious news for Nell," Jack said, happily. Then the
+gladness went out of his face. "Now, we must think about you." He
+grinned ruefully. "I'll have to be trying to do for you what you've done
+for me."
+
+The sheriff of Malamute regarded the young man jovially.
+
+"Now, don't you worry a mite--not a mite, my lad," he said genially,
+clapping Jack Reeves on the back. "We'll have a court a-sittin' in this
+blessed saloon in about five minutes, with a judge and a jury all
+regular. From what the boys have been a tellin' me, it seems perfectly
+clear that the prisoner just naturally shot Dan McGrew in self-defense."
+He beamed good-naturedly on Jim. "I calculate, the sooner you're tried,
+the better you'd like it, and have the thing off your mind like."
+
+His prisoner smiled in return.
+
+"It can't be too quickly to suit me," he declared. As a matter of fact,
+the amiable manner of the officer, as well as the suggestion itself,
+afforded Jim Maxwell immense relief. Until within the hour, he had had
+no concern as to his fate. He had determined to take the law in his own
+hands in order to rid the world of a scoundrel. He had not troubled to
+think that his act might involve himself in destruction. But a change
+had been wrought in his attitude. That change had had its origin in the
+discovery of Lou. Her presence had turned his thoughts at the very
+outset to new hopes of happiness. He himself had scarcely realized
+this, until, with the approach of the sheriff, he awoke to appreciation
+of the fact that he stood in peril of his life. He had not been able to
+guess what the mood of these men might be toward him, a stranger to
+them, who had come among them to kill one whom they did know. Though he
+concealed it, he had experienced a considerable trepidation concerning
+the outcome. He was gratified accordingly now over the sheriff's
+announcement, which manifested the kindly disposition of the crowd
+toward him.... He turned to Jack.
+
+"Go to Nell and her mother," he directed, "and keep them away from here.
+Tell Nell that your innocence has been proved." As the young man turned
+away, half in reluctance half in eagerness, Jim addressed the sheriff
+gravely:
+
+"And now, sir, I am at your service."
+
+The trial was of record shortness, but, in its way, it was formal, and
+it had the sanction of the law. There were no pleas, only the taking of
+evidence and the rendering of the verdict, on which the jury decided
+without leaving their places.
+
+The verdict was justifiable homicide in self-defense.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+Jim thanked the court and the jury for their treatment of him, and shook
+hands heartily with each man of them. As he turned away, the barkeeper
+called to him:
+
+"Hey, Mr. Maxwell! There's money comin' to you!"
+
+Jim went toward the bar, smiling.
+
+"Use it, and if you need more, I'll pay."
+
+He turned toward the crowd in the saloon. "You're my guests to-night,
+boys, and I want you to whoop it up. You're all friends of mine.
+Perhaps, I'll look in again by-and-by. But I must go now. I was alone
+when I came here, but, thank God!"--his voice grew suddenly husky--"I'm
+not alone now."
+
+In the adjoining room, the others were waiting for him anxiously. As he
+entered, Jack sprang to his feet.
+
+"They've acquitted you!" he cried.
+
+Jim nodded assent.
+
+"I've been acquitted according to the law." His voice was grave, yet
+with an undernote of jubilation. "My conscience never accused me, I
+guess. Somehow, it seemed to me that I had to do what I did. And what
+about you? What's your verdict?"
+
+Nell threw herself into her father's arms, and clung to him. He held her
+close, inexpressibly comforted by this contact with his own flesh and
+blood.
+
+"As if any one could doubt that you did right!" she exclaimed,
+scornfully.
+
+"I've heard the story," Jack interrupted. His voice was quivering with
+sympathetic anger. "Shooting was too good a death for this Dan McGrew."
+
+"And you?" Jim spoke more softly now, with his eyes fixed on the woman,
+who had not risen. His voice was very wistful. His eyes were even more
+wistful, as they searched that dear face, which, though weary and worn,
+was still so beautiful.
+
+The great, dark eyes, brilliant as a girl's in this hour of excitement,
+met his in frank adoration.
+
+"Jim," she said, and the music of her voice seemed sweeter than he had
+ever heard it before, "you were right to kill him, of course. But
+whatever you do, always, will be right to me--just because you do it. I
+doubted you once, Jim. Never again!" She rose now, and came to him. And,
+at her coming, a feminine instinct caused Nell to slip from her father's
+embrace. Her mother stepped close, and raised her lips.
+
+"Kiss me, Jim." Her voice was no more than a whisper, but it went
+echoing through all the chambers of the man's heart. He folded his arms
+about her with a reverent gentleness, yet strongly, as if he would never
+let her go. Then, he bent his head, and kissed her on the lips.... It
+was the sacrament of a new life in the old love.
+
+Thereafter, the four talked of many things. Nell was compelled to tell
+again the story of her escape from the river. The mother was deeply
+stirred by gratitude to the kindly pair who had rescued and ministered
+unto her daughter through so many years. She turned to Jim, all
+eagerness, her eyes aglow, her lips curving in the gracious smile he
+knew so well.
+
+"Oh, can't we go to visit them, and thank them? We must!"
+
+Jim nodded.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "we must, indeed. We owe them more than we can ever
+repay. We're proud of our daughter, and we bless them for it. Yes, we
+must tell them so. We'll help them in a material way, but we can never
+pay them our debt."
+
+"Nell and I," Jack remarked, after a little interval of silence, "have
+about decided that we've had enough excitement for one honeymoon. We're
+ready to hike back. What about you folks going with us?"
+
+Jim looked at Lou, who returned his glance in kind. The desire of the
+two was one. They nodded in silent acceptance of the suggestion. Then,
+for the first time in those many years, Jim Maxwell laughed gayly.
+
+"Your daughter can chaperon you, Lou," he said.
+
+She blushed like a girl.
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, in embarrassment. "I had forgotten!"
+
+All four, for the first time, were thinking of the complications that
+had arisen in this most curious situation; but a certain shyness held
+them silent. It was not until the younger pair had said good-night, and
+had gone to their room, that Lou at last spoke openly of the thing that
+was most in her thoughts. It was now that Jim learned of the divorce
+granted to his wife, of her marriage to Dangerous Dan McGrew. The news
+stunned him with its unexpectedness. But, too, it afforded him a mighty
+relief. There remained, however, the astounding fact that Lou was not
+his wife.
+
+"Why," he ejaculated, "we'll have to be married over again."
+
+"Yes," Lou assented, in some confusion. "It's not proper, of course,
+but--" She broke off, regarding Jim with puzzled eyes.
+
+"There's nothing conventional about this affair," was the man's brisk
+comment. "For that matter, this is not a land of conventions, of the
+sort they set such store by down below. They go here by the right and
+wrong of things in themselves. That way is a good deal simpler, and, in
+most cases, it's a good deal better, I guess. By right, Lou, you're my
+wife. I'll make you so legally the first minute possible. It's right I
+should. Conventions don't go."
+
+"I'm glad, Jim," Lou answered happily.
+
+"There's the minister that married Nell and Jack. He'll be there where
+we're going to visit Papa and Mamma Ross. Nell says he's a fine old
+chap. It would be nice to be married by the minister that married Nell.
+What do you think?"
+
+"Oh, splendid!" Lou agreed, with enthusiasm. She smiled and dimpled.
+"Why, Jim, I saw him. He has such a good face! Jim, you don't know! I
+saw Nell married--my own daughter, and I never knew it!" She told the
+story.
+
+"In the morning, we'll hit a good pace on the trail," Jim said,
+decisively, "and get to that parson as fast as ever we can."
+
+"Yes," Lou said again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The morrow broke fair and warmer after the storm. The four were off
+early, with the whole town turned out to do them honor at their parting.
+Afterward, the cheering populace would attend the obsequies of Dan
+McGrew.
+
+The going was slow; whereat Jim Maxwell fretted hugely. But there was no
+other flaw in his perfect happiness, or in that of the woman who sat
+with her face turned so that she might look up often into the bearded
+one of the man as he ran behind the sled. Both were content. Already,
+yesterday was remote, with all its loneliness and grief. This was a new
+day, in a new life, the beginning of a happiness that would abide. The
+sorrows they had known had cleansed and strengthened them, and made them
+ready for a finer joy in their love. They spoke little together, for
+there was small need of words between them. Neither needed to tell the
+other of the torment endured during the years of separation. Neither
+wished to remember the evil that was gone. Why should they mourn when
+the cup of gladness was brimming at their lips? The past was dead. The
+scars from the old wounds would remain always. But they were hidden, and
+the wounds were healed by love's magic, and would ache no more. They set
+their faces to the future, where life shone radiant.
+
+[Illustration: HE POINTED OUT--OVER THE BROAD-SWEEPING WHITENESS OF THE
+VALLEY--TOWARD THE SOUTHERN HORIZON.]
+
+On the crest of the hill, Jim halted the dogs for a brief rest. He
+pointed out over the broad-sweeping whiteness of the valley toward the
+southern horizon.
+
+"Down there, Lou," he said, and his voice rang with a tender joyousness,
+"down there our home is waiting for us."
+
+And the woman echoed very softly:
+
+"Our home."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP'S
+
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+
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+
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+
+
+_WHAT HAPPENED TO MARY,_ By Robert Carlton Brown. Illustrated with
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+
+This is a narrative of a young and innocent country girl who is suddenly
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+
+The story of Mary is being told in moving pictures and played in
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+_THE RETURN OF PETER GRIMM,_ By David Belasco. Illustrated by John Rae.
+
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+
+The story is spectacular and extremely pathetic but withal, powerful,
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+       *       *       *       *       *
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+STORIES OF WESTERN LIFE
+
+
+_RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE,_ By Zane Grey.
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+Illustrated by Douglas Duer.
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+_FRIAR TUCK,_ By Robert Alexander Wason.
+
+Illustrated by Stanley L. Wood.
+
+Happy Hawkins tells us, in his humorous way, how Friar Tuck lived among
+the Cowboys, how he adjusted their quarrels and love affairs and how he
+fought with them and for them when occasion required.
+
+
+_THE SKY PILOT,_ By Ralph Connor.
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+Illustrated by Louis Rhead.
+
+There is no novel, dealing with the rough existence of cowboys, so
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+
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+_THE EMIGRANT TRAIL,_ By Geraldine Bonner.
+
+Colored frontispiece by John Rae.
+
+The book relates the adventures of a party on its overland pilgrimage,
+and the birth and growth of the absorbing love of two strong men for a
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+
+
+_THE BOSS OF WIND RIVER,_ By A. M. Chisholm.
+
+Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson.
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+This is a strong, virile novel with the lumber industry for its central
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+
+_A PRAIRIE COURTSHIP,_ By Harold Bindloss.
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+A story of Canadian prairies in which the hero is stirred, through the
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+_JOYCE OF THE NORTH WOODS,_ By Harriet T. Comstock.
+
+Illustrated by John Cassel.
+
+A story of the deep woods that shows the power of love at work among its
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+
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+_Ask for a complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
+
+
+Inconsistent punctuation corrected e.g. "," vs "."
+
+Inconsistencies retained such as:
+
+  (1) bartender used five times, bar-tender used three times.
+  (2) barkeeper used two times, bar-keeper used two times.
+
+On Page 296 "babby" changed to "baby".
+
+On Page 304 "acquiesence" replaced with "acquiescence".
+
+End of book advertisements:
+
+  "War field" changed to "Warfield"
+  "copyrighed" changed to "copyrighted"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Shooting of Dan McGrew, A Novel, by Marvin Dana
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