Show F KAZAN JAMES OLIV C CN N COPYRIGHT Q Ben aerie Ie Chapter XI Continued XI Continued 19 19 Vainly she was lighting fighting now not to him or to escape but to get her breath She tried to cr cry out again aln but this time no sound came from be- be between between be between tween her gasping lips Again he laughed and amI as ns he lie Inu laughed hed he heard the door open Was It the wInd He lie turned still holding her In hIs arms In the open door stood Pierrot During that terrible space whIch followed an nn eternity of time tine rolled I slowly through the little cabin on al the Gra Gray that Loon Loon that eternity whIch lies somewhere between life lIe and death and which Is sometimes meted out to toa toa toa a human human life In seconds Instead of eons ons In those seconds did not move moye from where he stood In the door door- doorway doorway way ny huddled over oyer with the weight In his arms and nOlI staring nt at Pierrot did not move moye But nut the eyes ees were opening And a acO cO convulsive e quiver ran through the bod body of Paree Daree where he In lay near the wall vall There was not the sound of a hrc breath nth And then In that silence a 3 great gasping sob came from Then Pierrot stirred to life Ilfe lIe Ile spoke and his voice olce was not like Ilke It was a strange voice The great God Cod has lias sent me back In time time he said I traveled by byway byway way of or the east cast and saw your trail where It turned this way No tha was not like hike Pierrot's voice I IA A chill chili ran through h art now and slowly he let go of r She fell to the time floor door Slowly he lie straight straight- straightened straightened ened Is It not true said n again aln I have com come In time What What power power power was what It-what It what great reat fear perhaps that made nod his head that made his thick lips fora fonn huskily the words Yes In Yes time And yet It was not fear far It Was something greater grenter something more powerful all than that And Pierrot said In that same strange voice I thank the great God great God I The ees eyes of madman met the eyes ees or of madman now no Between n them them was death ath Both noth saw It It Both noth thought that the they saw the direction In which Its bony tin finger er pointed Both Iloth were certain hand did not go 0 goto to tn the pistol In his holster and Pier Pier- Pierrot Pierrot rot did not touch the lIfe nife In n his belt When the they came together it was throat to two throat throat two beasts now DOW instead of one for or Pierrot had In him the rhe fury and strength of the wolf the cat 1 t and the panther was the bigger and heavier ler man a giant In strength th yet In 11 the face ace of Pierrot's fury fur ur he lie lurched hack back o er over the table and went down with a crash Many times tines In hIs Ills life lie he had hind fou fought ht but he lie had never felt feltH elt II 1 grip a at his throat like the grip of hands T They le almost crushed life lle from ro him at once Ills neck t napped napped- d a little more would have broken lie Ile struck out blindly from rom his Ins back and twisted himself to n the wel weight ht of the tile halfbreed's Iod body But Pierrot was fastened there LS the ermine had fastened Itself at nt the jugular of the partridge and Mush Musli jaws slowly wung wun open and his Ills race ace began to turn from fromn rom red to purple Cold air all rushing through the door door Pierrot's voice olce and the sound of bat bait baittie battie tie roused r quickly to and the power to raise her her- herself self from the floor She Slie had fallen near Baree and as she lifted her head hc her r eyes ees rested for a moment on UH the I dog before they went to the fighting then Joen Barve Baree was alive Ills lIs bod body was twitchIng Ills hIs eyes ees were open he made an effort to raise his head ns as ashe looking at him she Ill was Then she slie dragged herself to her knees and turned to the men and Pierrot even In the red blood fury of his lis desire to kill must Have heard tile the of Joy that came from her hr harp cry when dlen she fhe saw that It was the Factor from I L Las C Main Bain who was underneath With a tremendous effort she stag stag- stag f to her lier feet and for n few ew no- no mo plic ghie stood swa swaying ln unsteadily ns as a pr and her bod body readjusted she he looked down w Hn v hven I- I c as rillon the thc blackening face from from from which perrot's fingers ers were choking the life h land hand was groping for or hIs hs pistol lIe He found It In een h by he lie dragged It holster It was one of the front its black dewily devils of or chance that favored II 0 red In his nl excitement he helid hel for 1 i fin Im I'm again I the safety shut after n snapped napped 1111 lid KI 1 riot oot ra l Now lie he had onh r left heft le to pull pill p the trl trigger jer r Twice closed dosed Twice there Ills his forefinger deadened explosion close to in came J holly body In n free face saw V what pad Hili Her Iler heart lied Bled In hr looked the swift upon hr breast t II its she sad sull sud 0 rand nc t ten ibl 1 change hange wrought by ace u n a riP NI Slowly Pierrot straight r ened Ills eyes ees were wide for a n mo moment wide meat ment wide and staring lie made no sound She could not see sec Ills hits I ups pg move mo And then he fell felt toward her hel so 80 that IeTa arts art's body fre free Blindly and with an agony that gate Ja no evidence e In cr cry or won word she nun flung herself herselt down beside him lie was dead How flow long In lay there how howlong howlong Inn long she waited wailed for Pierrot to move mO to open his Ills eyes to breathe she slie would never ne know Imm In that lint time ro rose e c to Ills hits feet ft-et- ft et and stood leaning against the wall the pistol In his hand hIs Ills bruin brain clearing Itself as liS he saw Ills hits final triumph Ills work worl did not frighten him Even I In that lint tragic moment as ns he stood tood against the wall Ills defense If defense if It ever came to a de- de de defense framed ense framed Itself In n his mInd Pierrot flad had murderously assaulted without hIm without cause In self-defense self self e ehe he had killed him Was he lie not the Factor of Lac Bain Would not the Company Company- and the law believe his word before that of this tills girl Irl Ills His brain leaped with the old exultation It would never come to that to to a be- be betrayal be betrayal of ot thIs tills struggle and death In Inthe the cabin after cabin after he had finished with her She would not be known for all time as La Bete r No r the they would bury hury Pierrot and ond she slie would return to Lac Bain with him If she had been helpless I before she slie was vas ten times more helpless now She Slie would never tell of what hat hind happened In the cabin lIe He forgot the lie presence of death as ashe aslie aslie lie he looked at her bowed over her father ather so that her hair hall covered hIm like Ilke n a silken shroud lie He replaced the pistol In Its holster and drew n a deep breath Into his Ills lungs lIe was still a n little unsteady on his II III I p y tv K Yrs 1 i it t to His Neck Snapped a Snapped a Little More and It Would Would Have Broken feet but his face was again the face of a devil lie He took a step and It was then there came a sound to rouse I the girl Irl In the the shadow shadO of the farther wall Baree Barea had Irad struggled to ills his haunches and lind now he growled Slowly pese lifted her head hearl A power which she slie could not resist drew her eyes ees up ull until she was looking Into the face of hush Bush She Slie had almost lost consciousness of his presS pres presence ence her senses were cold and dead dead- deadened It ened-It ened It was as If her own heart had stopped beating olon along with What she saw In him the Factors Factor's face clra dragged ged her lier out of the numbness of her grief back hack to the lie abyss of her own peril He lIe was stun standing ding over her herIn In do his Ills face there was no pity nothing of horror at what lie he hall had only done done au as Insane exultation as he lie looked looked- looked not at Pierrot's dead body but at It her lie put out a hand and It rested on her head She Slie felt el t his thick lingers fingers crumpling her tier hull hair and his Ids eyes I blazed like hike embers of tire fire behind water watery 1 thins She struggled to rise but with Ith his hands at her hall he liefield held her down Great Grent God she breathed She Slie uttered no nor words no plea for merc mercy n no no other oilier sound but hut n a dry hopeless sub In that moment neither of then them heard or sow saw ow Bare Twice 1 In crossin crossing the cabin cullin his Ills hind hindquarters had sagged ell to the tile floor door Now he lie close to lie wanted to la give I e It n single ingle lun lunge e to time the man brutes back lind and shall map his Ills thick neck as ns he would have e broken a u caribou bone lint But he lie hall hal no sh strength lIe He was vas still partially paralyzed from his Ills fore fore- shoulder fore shoulder houlder back But his Ills jaws were wre like hike Iron bon und roil they closed su ngel savagely on Mc- Mc Mc c- c leg leI with a yell II of f pain pale the Factor re- re ree released re released leased e hIs bis hold on the Willow ani and ine alie staggered to her lier feet For or a II pre pre- precious precious cious half she slie was free re and andas midas as the Factor kicked and struck to In loose Barce's Baree's hull hold slip hp in to the canin door and t Into the day The cold air struck her face It tilled her lungs with new strength and anil without thought of where hope might lie she sheran ran through tile the snow now Into the lie for forest st art appeared at the door just In time thine to tn see her lier disappear Ills Il leg w was ns torn orn where Baree nare had fas fastened Ills hits fangs angs but hut he felt frit no as he lie ran In pursuit of the girt girl lrI She Sho could not go far An exultant ex cry Inhuman ns as the lie cr cry of n a beast came In u a great grent rent breath from from his Ills gaping month as ns he lie saw that she slie was oaR stag stag- staggering staggering gering weakly as she slie he ned led lie Ile was to the lie edge de of the forest when linree dragged himself f over o the lie thresh threshold old Ills Jaws were bleeding where gart hind had kicked him again and before his Ills fangs gave gate e a way between hIs Ills ears was wag n a seated seared spot pot ns os If a red hot poker oler hud had open there for nn an 11 Instant This was where whre bullet hind had gone A quarter of or nn an Inch Inh deeper cleIr and It would lu e meant death As AsIt AsIt AsIt It was vas It had been heen like Ilke tile the lie blow of a heavy y club paril zing his Ills senses and sending ending him him and unconscious lI tile the will wall lie He could move mo on hIs feet now without falling fulling all I n nail slow slow- slowly slowly loW I ly he lie followed In the lie trucks tracks of the theman man and llio the girl As she slie ran epee es e's mind becamE all 1111 lit ill once ghee clear and reasoning She Rhe turned into the lie narrow trail mil over O Imd- Imd followed followell her once onee before but bilt Just Jut before reaching reach In the ni she s vun sharply to the right Site She could see art lie He was not running fast fust ast but was 1 steadily as If enjoying the sight of her helplessness as ns he hind enjoyed It In another way was on that other day Two hundred yards below the he heel deep pool Into which she hind had pushed the just Factor Just beyond the Hie out or of which he hind hall dragged himself to was safety was the beginning of Blue Feathers Feather's gorge or e An appalling thing was shaping Itself In h her lier r mind as she sheran sheran ran mn to It-a It It a thin tiling thing that with each gasping breath she drew became more and more a n great and glorious hope hopet t At lust last she reached readied It and looked down And as ns she looked there whispered up out of ot her lier soul and antl trembled on her lips the swan song or of her mothers mother's people e Our fathers come fathers coma Come from from out of oC the valley Guide us for us for today we die And the winds whisper of oC o death She raised her lier arms Against the white wilderness beyond the lie chasm she he stood tall an and I slim slim Fifty yards behind her the lie Factor from Lac Hamn stopped suddenly in his Ills tracks Au Ah he mumbled Is she not wonderful I And behind coming faster and faster was Baree Again the Willow looked down She was at nt the edge for or she had no fear fearIn enrIn In this hour Many Inny times she had clung to Pierrot's hand hantl as ns she looked over o Down there no one could fall falland falland and live lire Fifty feet below her the water whIch never froze was smash smashing In Itself Into froth among the lie rocks It Il was deep and black and terrible for between heh the narrow rock walls the sun jun did not reach It It The roar of It tilled filled the Willows Willow's ears She turned and faced aced Even then he did not guess hut but came toward her again his arms I stretched out ahead of him Fifty yards ards It was not much and shorten shorten- shortening shortening ing swiftly Once more the Willows Willow's lips hips mo ed moved After nil all It Is the mother soul that gives us faith to meet eternity and eternity It t was to the spirit of her mother that the Willow called In the hour of death dath With the call on her tier lips she plunged Into the abyss her hr whipped whipped hair clinging to her bel In-a In In a listening shroud Chapter XII A m moment ment later the lie Factor from Lac Hahn Bain stood nt at the lie edge of the chasm Ills voice olce had hail called out In n a hoarse bellow n bellow a wild willi cr cry of disbelief rind horror that had Irad formed ormed the Wil 1511 Willow's lows low's name nnnie as ns she disappeared 11 Ile 1001 11 down clutching his hu huge red rell hanes hands and staring In ghastly suspense at the boiling water and black rocks fat far below There was nothing there now now-no no sl sign n of her no last Hash of her pale pate face and streaming hall hair In Inthe the while foam And she slie had done donI that to to save sn herself from rom him The soul of the man beast turned sick within him so sick that he stR stag staggered hack back Ills his vision Islon blinded and hi his legs lej's tottering under him lIe He hind had killed Pierrot and It had been ben a n trl tri triumph nil all his Ills life he lie had pla played ed the part of the brute with n a stoicism and cruelty that hind had known no shock nothing like that overwhelmed him now numbing him to the marrow of nf Ills his bones until he stood like one oar paralyzed He lIe did not see ee cc naree Baree lIe He did diel not hear the dogs dog's whining crIes lit at the lie edge of the chasm chum For a 1 few ew moments the Hie world turned black for hint him and then dr dragging gln himself out of his Ills stupor he lie run ran along the edge dge d e of the gor gorge e looking down wherever where Ills his e eyes could reach the water striving for a n glimpse of her herAt At lust last It grew too ton deep There was ou hope hOlle She was gone and gone she slie had faced that to escape him ITO ITO I ITO TO lit lit CO CONTINUED Tl |