Show dpn a JL by MARSH sei alce copyright by tb peon co CHAPTER XII 18 garth found joan quarreler at the Alls slon school entering the build ing he stood for a space in a doorway and watched her read to a group of arce orphans aa she looked up aware of his presence he said it Is not february but I 1 have returned something Is the matter she said apprehensively what has happened at elkman El kwan Lt lenne shot himself but you why are iou here why did you come for you tor me to go to ellaan ElL wan dazed at the idea her band sought her fore dead while the chattering children crowded curiously around them lie wants you there may be in and you know wounds have everything in your kit bandages antiseptics let me put on my coat and well talk outside she bald so they went to the clearing 1 I know well what im asking he eadd it means a day on the sled discomfort for you but he Is my friend and it may mean his life your coming her troubled eyes turned to his 1 I want to go the trip Is nothing its going alone with you it means leaving the mission I 1 suppose of course swan will make a fuss to him it will look immoral your going to save a man s life he said savagely but for you an army nurse with a life at stake he plead ed Is there any choice she smiled as she gazed over the frozen river ive got to go is ifs in my blood to help them the wounded his heart leaped at the words to help the strong to help me Is that in your blood too joan quarreler he asked passionately she and avoided his eyes aa a wave of color swept up to her dark hair tte strong need no help she parried again in of himself the elated guthrie smothered his own emotion in thought for the en friend at elkman for whom he had lied to tie man he respected and the girl he load add he wondered what she to him when she learned of the dece plok that she would have cone as readily had he told the truth he had no abbt but the secret of presence at eikman was a trust sacred indio late he had told cameron that ane crew of the ghost had died to a man at albany laughing aj cDonald ans a ded man on the ay up the coast joan quarreler should learn the truth oh e of little altaf guthorle sadly shook his head hat must I 1 do to convince you the garl made no answer looking up gath saw bundled in fur cap and coat much loo large for him short figure their path lou ire going on this mad jour ney the shrill voice of swan demanded do you hold your deputa aton so cheaply you haat heard yes I 1 clr cameron has told me what this man has come for youre too late swan she has promised to go said garth quietly ignoring guthric Gut bric the little man gravely warned yu realize miss quarrier if you go you cannot return to the mission yes mr swan before I 1 became a mission teacher and my moral wel tare the object of your solicitude I 1 lived tor three years with wounded men A mans life Is at stake it Is worth more than my reputation to garth she said abruptly come for me when you are ready III go and pack my kit bravo healer of wounds 1 that wag spoken like a soldier and walk ing squarely at the mortified mission ary dazed at the flouting of his au dhority tho rity who stepped into the soft snow to avoid the threatened ciolll pion the elated guthorle hurried to the trade house she 11 go she 11 go 1 he announced to the waiting factor good I 1 you 11 take good care of her I 1 know I 1 wish you the best of luck my boy ashes a rare one Is joan swan told her she return to the mission A ah contemptuously grunted the other well send over and get her belongings shell spend the rest of the winter with us but ashes much too variable able to the swans for them to etlick to their high horse they 11 be over trying to wheedle her into coming back but I 1 hope she won t well see to that why they know how to feed a husky pup and in charge of twenty children 1 think of it 1 joan turned to and taught em scientific you know oh they 11 be bark after her guthorle grinned broadly as he said so will L well I 1 nope you apt her behind the slab counter garth curled up on ft bundle of blankets for ft few hours sleep until his dogs were i fit to take the ninety mile run north to elkman and the sick man who of had died on the ghost at noon he drove his refreshed team to the mission where joan standing beside her duelle bags waited in the snow with the light load of two gers the big runner sled its wooden shoes shod with ice which slips over a hard surface with less friction than steel and can be renewed at will would be sport tor the five powerful dogs driving as he would to bring skill and medicine to the succor of the guest at bikwan garth hoped to reach the post before dawn but much depended on the light A thick night would slow the dogs to a walk while crossing the mouths of the big rivers where tide cracks opened and closel over night and the trail led through hummocks and ridges bad going by day at night heart breaking to delv er and dogs you re not sorry haven t regret ted promising to come he asked as he wrapped her in robes and stowed her bags she shook her head bisot in the least sir exile im reconciled now to the loss of the last shred of my reputation it was a wild scene in the house they even prayed for me when they realized threats were fu tile prayed for you you bound on an errand of mercy in the name of all the saints they d let an innocent man die for want of proper care because of my reputation I 1 must be a mon ster to ahem i she laughed yes I 1 can truthfully say that after what my brother told them they think you are a terrible person do you he countered leaning over the aled well her dark eles flashed up into his not exactly terrible rather what shall I 1 say stubborn mirche castor I 1 and the huskies with shot ahead galloped to the trade house there the Cime roBS were waiting or the girl who had also burned her bridges shortly down the cliff trail and over the river ice raced the team carrying hope for cragg galbralth deep in de at elkman ninety white miles away As they left the river and turned up the coast guthries Guth rles anxious ees circled the gray horizon for indica alons of what would follow the haze smothered sunset over the muskeg for days now the weather had softened to above zero tempera ture a characteristic of james bay winters which are milder than those of the foredt country to the south anal he for a bright night as his thoughts were busy with the trag edy of cragg galbralth and his own part in the climax of the pitiful his tory the decision he had nade beside the bunk in the ghost once he had struck on a feasible plan of procedure was inevitable to the man who owed his life to the heroism of the stricken dut the situation which guthrie faced as he watched the high barrens of al catch and hold the veiled light of the dying sun might easily result not only in dismissal from the company but in arrest by the authorities ills clear duty to his employers had demanded that he re port to cameron the presence of laughing mcdonald at elkman the information that a hudson s bay tac tor had concealed from the govern ment a man suspected of murder would raise a hornets nest in ottawa all this garth guthrie had seen with clear vision the night before when he shared his plan eilenne Et lenne but ns his eyes rested for an instant on the tragic face of the friend who that daiy diy in fiant of akiens amiens had not counted the cost there was in his face alie look of a man who would repay to the last farthing ottawa the company ho had served so well were nothing lay cragg galbralth sick hunt ed by the la he bad belled deserted laughing mcdonald whom he had fought for ohp trade his friend and he would see it through cragg should have his chance slight as it looked with the woman of the great feirt and the skilled hands he was hurry ing over the sea ice as fast as five un gavas could travel hold on gal braith V C 1 as you held at many a disputed parapet and shell hole 1 they had talked little through the first miles the thoughts of the man centered on his problem with the skill of long training she had fronc into the details of I 1 glennes tl ennes wound and garth had had no heart so earla in their journey for a confession ol 01 his duplicity nut when off the mouzli of the big willow he announced that it was time to rest the dogs and eat the supper prepared by mrs cam eron he felt that over the hot tea joan quarreler should be told the facts with the aid of cedar kind lings car aled on the sled he soon had a clr under the teakettle te kettle do you realize how you have ig norad your passenger mr exile this Is my first ride behind the dogs and wanted to talk about them the huskies except shot who wa inspecting the willow thicket wen sprawling in their harness sniffing hungrily at the odor of bacon now that he was alone with joan was to be alone with her through the ions miles to elkman guthorle felt strange ly diffident until he had laid the truth before her told of the love he bore this broken thing once feared as laughing mcdonald waiting in such sore need of her ministrations and received her absolution for his deception he would feel III at case with the wom in who faced the world with the stark truth in her eyes let me see she went on 1 I know castor and pollux but that cream col ored one oh that a dido he laughed and the white gray one Is aeneas aeneas and does he run away from her like his namesake hun away hardly ashes the fastest dog in the team what s more he doean doesn t try lie s more constant than virgil s hero hats the name of that surly one who growls so much oh that s achilles of course the but hes not so much of a hero lies deathly afraid of castor and shot fought him to a standstill once pouring lier a cupful of the steam ing tea and making a sandwich with watched the murk slowly blot out the stars the bacon he passed joan her sup per my im hungry I 1 how good the tea tastes I 1 but aren t the dogs to have some bsh after their work 0 o they were fed tills morning if I 1 feed them now it would make them lazy we wouldn t reich before noon and im worried im afraid were going to be too late as it Is slie looked up puzzled at his tone V hy you said he gasn wasn t bleeding badly no artery involved its only a matter of keeping the wound clean the moment had come I 1 have a confession to make to you joan lie began 1 I have lied to vou brought you from a warm shelter up this coast tonight un false pretenses false pretenses hat do you mein she was curious but not disturbed I 1 have been the cause of your breaking with the swans given the missionary people the chance to raise their silently eyebrows eve brows in horror for what hy my deir man she protest 1 I understand all that cheh te can t hurt me can it 1 doat iland V here is the alet lie sucked in a deep breath and leaned toward her aa he cald eilenne Et lenne was not shot youre on your way to help me save a friend a friend who crawled with me on hit back through gas and shell fire they broke his arm and got him in tha chest but he came through can you guess who it Is her dark brows contracted as she met the pleading look of the man standing by the fire slowly she shook her head yon said eilenne was hurt now you say it was some one else I 1 dont see laughing mcdonald laughing SI cDonald she cried yon said you found him dead on the schooner he was alive but very sack flu pneumonia I 1 m not sure eilenne and an indian took him to elkman while I 1 came to ask you to go to help lie was this friend who saved your life in trance she asked wide eyed with surprise es caal cragg galbralth ne took the name of McDonal fl hen he disappeared after the murder she broke in that Is unworthy of joan quarrier he demanded gently but his description tallies with that of the man wanted in halifax you forget that I 1 ve seen him guthrie warmed to the defense of his friend suppose he Is the danl Is it strange that a man branded tor life with that grimace he pleaded a man proud sensitive coming home with the victoria cross twice won should go mad when the wife he cherished as I 1 know he did turns in horror of his scars to a lover tell me Is it strange it was murder she objected halt heartedly no not if the man was struck in the heat of passion as galbralth could strike it was retribution after all he was a gallant soldier she mused aloud and he saved your life ignoring the inference garth pressed his point for he saw to his joy that his story had touched her think what his bitterness his agony must haie been doomed forever to wear that mask when the woman who should have been proud to bear his name failed him imagine his loneliness his despair when tn his need she timed to another there wai a mist in joan eyes as she said you must hie loved him to defend him so well he threw away his hope of reach ing the lines when he followed shot to my shell hole and started back with a gassed man Is it strange that I 1 m fighting for his life oh healer of wounds for an instant as he waited for he answer she mt m t the fierce plead ing of his eyes then looked into the thickening night as si said gently you have won give all I 1 have to save him for he was a gallant soldier aart has suffered join quarrier did not see the pride the gratitude and the love that shone down en her from gethris Gu thris eyes for ao hour after the stop at the big willow for the hot tea the er hid been gradually As the dogs followed the coast guthries restless aei watched the murk slow ly blot out the stars it meant feeling their way pat the river mouths and across the delta of the a sharp on the compass to abold entering the aler itself clear ly caution dictated turning anio the Kapl skau and spending the night at the post but the chance of the man at hakwan might hang on the hours sied by pushing on through the sable blanket which shrouded the coast lie turned to alie girl muffled in robes on the sled behind him it s not going to be cold but a cold night with the stars would be better than this how can ou betl where were going ll 11 cant see a thing im castor pick the trail just checking him with the compass it lias a luminous dial put he can t see any more than we can TO BE CONTINUED |