Show T layn of dt 7 L e ea S P JL JB a fah B 1 THE STORY with bl bin english wife catherine and son on deerns henry ilu IAU lain french settler in canada in 1719 1749 cultivates farm arm adjacent to tho the As th the is at atory ry opens the dulaine are returning 0 from a v isit to the ton tours catherines wandering brother meeta meats thena them with presents for the family to deenis he gives elvea a pistol stol bidding him h im perfect himself in marksman ship hip deema tights with paul tache cousin of Tol tobnette nette ton tour beur whom they botti both adore next day jeems calls at the ton beur home borne and apologizes tor for brawling in front of tobnette Tol nette the Tonte Tont urB eurs so go to quebec four years pass war between britain and france jecies re turns turna from a hunt to find wit home burned anahis and his father and mother bain ile he goes to the seigne urle and finds the manor destroyed and and hla his servants dead Belleve lne him an enemy nemy tobnette Tol nette wounds deerns jee rn and denounces him as an englishman E ng lishman jeems returns to hla his murdered parents and the th 11 girl follows hini him she bhe becomes convinced her suspicions of jeems were wrong V CHAPTER VI continued 13 1 3 and then he knew what had touched bis shoulder ch in the darkness darl aless tol bettes cheek check pressing against it for a moment ns as ns as a fe feather uther ile he felt tier lier trembling when she looked at him dereyes he her reyes eyes rested on tit the brand of the musket barrel which velch lay in a red stripe across ills his forehead fore head bead the stars stare seemed bigger and clearer when at last they came to tile the half mile of abandoned road which ended in Lus cussans sans clearing it was tile the road down which jeems had watched ton beur and paul tache and a proud little princess ride to the sale years before now the princess walked unsteadily at ills his side she was white and fragile in the ht and her strength was gone her dress wits waa torn by brush and briars and the thin soles of tier lier shoes were almost worn from her feet she struggled bravely as they entered the clearing earing bl with the ruin of the house ahead of them both were so BO tired in soul and bordy body that their minds seized upon this end of their Jour journey fley as a relief from longer supporting the burdens of the flesh in a way it was like coming to a home which they had forgotten for this was cussans Lus sans a place pince filled with memories of hope and triumph and bitterness out of which it built a welcome for them even in its loneliness lips almost smiled as if she ehe saw madame lussan at the thres threshold bold of the door calling to her above the laughing voices of men and women above her fathers cheery greetings to friends and n elgh bora above the restless stamping of her horses hoofs and the crying of the auctioneer silo she might have seen and heard beard these things but yesterday now there was sleep a dark and lifeless ghost of a house crickets rasping their wings in the tangled grass a jungle growing where before there had beep been a broad and level green both were nvere children now seeing the ghosts as only children could see them wide eyed and a little afraid at clr first st and yet comforted by the nearness of that yesterday in their lives tile the tars stars s and the crickets rIckets tc and the rustling grass and the wind in the trees seemed to listen and move to the cautious trend tread of their feet A rabbit ran ahead of thern them an owl flew olt off tile the roof of the house A bat dipped in spirals and curves before their eyes and thorns caught playfully at their shoes and clothes and they felt safe A warmth crept through their blood and with it a relaxation of nerves and eyes and brain here was sanctuary post kost peace they sensed these things without speaking as they alicy approached pro pron ached clied the building the door was ins open starlight splashed like tile the golden glow of candles on the floor they entered and stood silent as if listening anxiously for the voices of sleeping ones whom their entrance might arouse emptiness was h here or e a spectral vacancy but bu t with it were neither death nor nor fear they aey were a little apart and tobnette Tol nette looked like a broken to flower LW er ready to fall walt for me here said jeems 1 I sm am going for an armful of grass 11 ile he made a bed in a corner comer of the room and tobnette Tol nette sank upon it ile he covered her with hla his fathers fat tiers coat 1 which he had brought from the valley 14 and went outside to watch and guard with odd ile he could hear bear her sobbing as tears came at last to give ller her comfort ile he fought back a thickening in his throat and a hot flame in hit his eyes as the boy in him culled called out for hla his mother m lie he oa 06 too wanted this easement for his grief but he abood a man odd watched tirelessly and sleeplessly with ills his master after a long time there ther ewas wa silence in the old house hou seand and jeems knew that tobnette Tol nette was asleep he went in ill quietly and replaced the coat about her ber her face was white and lovely and wet wei lashes glistened 3 on her cheeks timidly his fingers pressed the silken bruli braid of her hair bair ile he brush bru sheda edn wl wisp sp of hay from her forehead lincon bously ills his lips moved moed hope and and falth faith and prayer seemed to stir in n the room as he dared to raise tile the soft braid to Us lips and then he returned to his place outside with something like a glo glory ry enshrined with his sorrow he sat on me ground with tbt house at his back and his bow and sheaf of arrows and uie the english hatchet within bierck of f hla baady the stillness by james oliver curwood Q by doubleday doran co ino ina service lc seemed a live thing that had barred all sound round from solemn hours of meditation and lie soon began to feel its influence slowly and irresistibly it brought tho ho desire to close lila ills eyes and aad steel sleep and lie rose to tits feet in a struggle to keep awake C odds odda teeth ellek clicked edana and tits eyes eye gleit gleamed med with un dimmed vigilance vot for hours they watched led together and marked every changing shadow they skirted the edges edge of the open advancing a step ut tit a time and with as little noise ns the owl wings that now and then floated about them they scanned cussans Lus sans meadow and jeems climbed u tall tree to see it if lie could discover a glow of lie fire at intervals he returned to the house and looked in ut tit it was after midnight blen lie sat down again fand and soon the stars seemed to be laughing tit at and to be drawing nearer us as if they lad hod beaten him in a game they closed lils his eyes ees odd rested ills his heavy jaws between ills forepaws fore pawa and pave gave a deep sigh exhaustion then sleep with an elfort jeems roused himself he saw odd A at ills his feet day had come and tile sun was rising lie ile sensed these bilings first in a lush flash of and then felt it a weight against him tin and tile the softness of ills his rk 0 he kissed KIs edHer her palo pale face fac and her eyes opened mothers hair on his cheek cheety only it was tobnette Tol nette and not hh 16 mother she must have come to him before the dawn broke her head was resting on hla his shoulder and ills arms were about her as they had find been about ills his mother hlf 4 movement ila had d not awak enod enea her but now nov a slow tightening of ills his arms brought a tremor to I 1 her ier lashes and a deep breath to tier lier lips ue he kissed her pule pale face and her eyes esea opened he kissed her again and the act did not seem to disturb tier her any more than it amazed or shocked jilk him there was a responsive grec greeting ting in her eyes then sho sat up straight beside him and faced the rising sun the air was so cold that slie site shivered every shrub and briar and blade of grass egrass inthe in the clearing glistened with it rost frost the coat she had brought from the ilie house slipped from tier shoulders and jeems drew it about tier her again aliey stood up and strength returned into the cramped lamba for a little while they did no t speak that they belonged to each other oilier was a truth which pressed itself on them without effort or confusion tobnette Tol nette was not ashamed that slid she had come to him nor that tier her act hail had pride and false prejudice had so long hidden from him film in her heart her eyes glowed with a n light which S shone hone soft softly ly bulof out of fathomless depth of pain and grief she wanted him to know how completely the folly of her pride was gone and how glad she was that lt it was lie he w who ho stood beside her now they might have been years older so calmly did the sense of surrender and of possession hold them except for the tenderness in tier her eyes tobnette Tol nette was unchanged but jeems felt aielt himself taller at her side and something had entered him which was like the spirit of a conqueror it was another world now A vast mystery ahead of him something to fight through to io win from to bilye for mysterious it was still very real it set ills his heart throbbing with an and ana chall challena 0 ing form force Tes yesterday black with tragedy land and grievous with Us its pain was ill ft long time ngo ago but with toinette Tol notte nette today had find become a tremendous living present gently tier her fingertips touched ills shoulder then she with him toward tile rust east and the richelieu chelleu anil what lay iny beyond from tile the moment they had find risen to feet odd had ila stood ns rigid as carven wood in the white coated gross grass with his muzzle leveled toward cussans Lus sans meadow something definite had come within ills his reach which made it unnecessary for lalni to measure the wind anit and suddenly there piere rose above other sound tile the wild and raucous crying of a blue ja hayand jay yand and a cawing of alarm among the crows A second and a third blue jay joined the ho first and their tumult came to an end when it a piercing bird call terminated sharply in a single screeching note that was an arro arrow said jeems beginning to string his 16 bow more afore than man once I 1 have hail had to kill a noisy blu blue ejay jay when creeping up tip on gaine gaime ile ho drew tobnette Tol nette into tile lie shelter of tile house and called allied odd A few tul minutes later inter swiftly moving somber horrors in a world of shimmering white they saw the lie come out of tile the edge of cussans Lus sans meadow CHAPTER VII the spectacle of death marching back over its trail brought no terror to teems lie ile had watched for it tin had half expected it and in a way I 1 it t was like tile the answer to tin an unvoiced prayer which had find followed ills his awakening when lie he had found tobnette Tol nette I 1 in n his arms to eglit for her now to rush forth from the house houm with a battle cry on ills his lips and to be cut to pieces in tier her defense was not a prospect which dismayed him film but which instead inspired in him a fearless exaltation al alt it was tobnette Tol nette who vilo saved him from whatever folly was brewing itself in ills his brain as lie he stood with a long iong minting hunting arrow fitted to his bow with a breathless cry site she drew him away from the broken door and there safe for a moment front from the savages who were entering the clearing she nung flung her ber arms about his shoulders dern for V or in ln these tragic seconds a look had come into jeems fac elike ellke that which had frightened tier her in the tower room of the mill ellla a look hard and vengeful with the desire to ull 1111 jeams je ems dear we must tilde hide slie she 13 pleaded beaded we must liadel the futility of trying to conceal themselves when their footprints were clearly left upon the frosty gicand did not occur to him bilm at once it was tier her voice and the name it claimed for him that broke down the resolution which soon would have betrayed them 1 I know of a place she was saying we must hurry to site she ran ahead of him film and lie followed tier her into another room where i t stair was fulling failing into ruin the red killers had paused nt at the edge of the open they stood motionless liko stone men listening and watchful the upper parts of their bodies still unclothed until colder days dass and glistening with grease and paint tobnette Tol nette did not allow jeems to batise pause and the steps made complaint its as they trod upon them jeems looked down from the top and saw the lie marks of their feet in the lust dust below their fate was certain it if the mohawks came this far but with wily only the narrow stair for thear enemies to ascend lie he was determined in this event that each of ills twenty arrows should ond find a libbe velnette Tol Vol nette preceded him into the room above site she went directly to apanel apanel like hoard board which held a wooden peg and in a moment they were peering into the musty gloom of a huge black hole andor the roof which the ilie lus sa sans ns had used its as a garret ai SI adame Madame lussan bro brought eglit me to this room after your fight with paul she whispered 1 I lung clift my spoiled clothes far back in therel there 1 even with the savages so near pathos and memory were in the tremble bleff of ilerT her voice olce jeems faced the narrow aperture in the wall hallwhich which aussin had left as a window and a gun we hole for defense lie he went to the window and tobnette Tol netta nette came close to 16 tits his side no eyes could see ece them as they looked tit through rough the rectangular silt shadowed under the paves eaves the Afo mohawks hawks had not moved and ana from tile the steadiness of their attl atti tude jeems knew they had come upon lupori tile the open unexpectedly not a hand among the silent savages had moved to hatchet bow or gun this fact drew a ho hopeful p eaul whisper from jeems TO EB DE CONTINUED |