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Show - ' I , " ' - I THE INDIAN DRUM I By Willtcim Mactlarg and Ltdwin Balmer H Copyrigfrt by Edwin Balmer M A M ll.l III I J M CHAPTER XVIII Continued. m 15 H The door opened then a very little, H and the frightened fuco of an Indlnn H woman nppenred In the crnck. The H woman evidently Imd expected and H feared some arrival, and was rens- H mired when he naw only n Rtrl. She H threw tho door wider open, nnd bent H to help unfasten ' Conntntico's snow- H 9hoi8; having done that, who led her H tn and cloned the door. M "Where Ih your man?" ConB.nnco H had cnuglit the woman's arm. H "They sent him to the heach. A H ship has mink." H "Are there houses near hero? Toy H must run to one of them nt once. H IlrliiR whoever you enn Ret; or If you H won't do thut, tell me where to ko." H Tho woman stared at her s'.olldly H nnd moved nwrry. "None near,'' she H unld. "Besides, you could not get H homebody before some one will come." M "Who Is that?" H "Ho Is on tho beach Henry Hpenr- B man. lie comes hero to warm him- H self, It Is nearly time hu comes H H Conxtunco gazed nt her; tho woman H wns plainly Rind of her comliiR. Her H rellcf-r-rcllcf from that fear she had H been fed I iir when she opened the door H was very evident. 1. was Henry, H then, who had frightened her. H Tho Indian woman set n chair for H her beside the stove, nnd put water In H a pan to heat; alio shook ten leaves fl from a box Into a bowl and brought a B H "How many on thnt Bhlp?" H "Altogether there were .'.hlrty- H nine," Cotistunoc replied. B "Seven are living then." H "Seven? Whnt have you heard? B What makes you think so?" H ''That Is what the Drum snys." H The Drum 1 . There wns a Drum H then I At 'least there was some sound B which people heard nnd which they H called the Drum. For lie woman hnd H heqrd H (Jonstance Rrcw suddenly cold. For B twenty lives, tho wbinan said, the H Drum hnd beat; thnt meant to her, H anil to Constance too now, that seven H were left. Indefinite, desperate denial H 'hat all from the ferry must be dead H thut denial which hnd been strength- B cued by the news that at least one H boat, had been adrift near Heaver H ' altered In Constance to conviction of H a boat with seven men from tho ferry, H seven dying, perhaps, but no, yet H dead. Seven out of twenty-seven ; H The score were gono; the Drum had H beat for them In little groups ns they H died. When the Drum bent again, H would It beat boyond the score? H Having finished the tea, Constance H returned to the door and reopened It; H the sounds outside were the stiine, A H solitary figure appeared movlng along H the edge of the Ice tho figure of a H tall "man, walking on snowshocs; H moonlight distorted the figure, nnd It H was muffled, too, In a great cont which H made It unrecognizable. He luiltcd H find stood looking out at the lako and H then, with u sudden movement, strode H on 1 he halted again, and now Con H stnitce got tho knowledge thnt ho was H Jtot looking; he wns listening as she H "Is the Drum sounding now?" she H asked ttie woman. M "Ho," H Cotuitntico gazed again at the man H ami found bis motion quite untnlstuk- H ble; he was counting If not counting H lomt'thlng that ho heard, or thought he H heard, he was recounting and review- H !ng within himself something thut he had heard before some Irregular m rhythm which hud become so much a H pact, of him thnt It sounded now con- H tlnunlly within his own brain ; so that, M Instinctively, he moved In cadcucu to H It. He stepped forward again now, B and turned towurd the house. M Her breath caught as she spoke to M the woman. "Mr. Spearman Is coming H here now I" B Her Impulse was to remain where Hj she was, lest he should think bho was H afraid of him; but realization came to H her that there might be advantage In B heelng him before hu knew thnt she 1 Was there, ho she reclosed the door Had H drew buck Into the cabin. H CHAPTER XIX H Tho Soundlnn of1 tho Drum. K Noises of the wind nnd the roaring H of the lake made Inaudible any sound B of Ids approach to the cabin; she H heard his snowshoes, however, scrape B the cabin wall as, ufler taking them off, PbH he leaned them liesldo the door. He PS thrust the door open then and came PH In he did not see her at Ursa and, as Pbbj be irned to force the door shut again PbbJ iigiiVist tho wind she watched him PB PbB He saw her now uud started and, PJH as though sight of her confused him, PJB he looke'd from tho woman uud then PJH 'jmcU to Constance before he seemed PJH certain of her. PJH "Hello 1" he said tentatively, "lie!- Hi PB "I'm here, Henry." PJH "Oh; you are I You are!" He stood H drawn up, swaying a little as he PJH b tared at her; whisky was upon bis PJH breath, nnd It becnn.o evident In the PJB luitof -the room; out whisky could M not account lot thU condition she wit- PbH nefiupl In tdtu. V1tlier could It coil- HHHh ceul.tliat condition; some turmoil uud strain within him mode him Immune to Its effects. She hud realized on her way up here what, vaguely that strain within him must be. Guilt guilt of some awful sort connected him, and had connected Uncle Ucnny, with the Mlwukn the lost ship for which the Drum had beaten the roll of tho dend. Guilt wuh In his thought now racking, tearing nt him. Hut there was something more than that ; what she hnd seen In him when he first caught sight of her was fenr fenr of her, of Constuncc Sherrlll. "You came up hero about I5cn Cor-vet?" Cor-vet?" he challenged, "Yes no I" "Which do you mean 7" "No." "I know, then. For hltn, then eh I For him?" "For Alan Conrad? Yes," sh said. "I knew It I" he repented. "He's been tho trouble between you and me all tho tlmol" She made no denial of that ; she had begun to know during tho last two days that It was so. "So you camo to find him?" Henry went on. v "He'll be fotindI" she defied him. "He found?" "Some nrc dead," she ndmtttcd, "but not all. Twenty nrc dead; but seven ure not I" "Seven?" ho echoed. "You say seven uru not I How do you know?" "Tho Drum bus been beating for twenty, but not for morel" Constance said. "Tho Drum you've been listening listen-ing to nil day upon the bench the Indian In-dian Drum that sounded for tho dead of the Mlwnka; sounded, one by one, for nil who died I Hut It didn't sound for him! It's been sounding again, you know ;,but, again, It doesn't sound for him, Henry, not for him I" "The Mlwukn 1 What do you mean by that? What's that got to do with this?" His swollen fnee wns thrust forward at her; thcro wus threat against her In his tense muscles nnd his bloodshot eyes. She did not shrink back from him, or move ; and now he wns not waiting for her nnswer. Something a souud had caught him about. Once It echoed, low In Its reverberation but penetrating and quite distinct. It came, so far as direction could be assigned as-signed to It, from the trees townrd the shore ; but it was like no forest souud. Distinct, too, wus It from nny noise of tho lake. It was like a Drum Yet, when tho echo had gone, It was a sensation sen-sation easy" to deny n hallucination, thut was all. Hut now, low nnd distinct It enmo again; nnd, as before, Con-stance Con-stance 'saw It catch nenry nnd hold him. Ills lips moved, but he did not speak ; ho was counting. ''Two,"' Bho saw his lips form. The sound of tho Drum was continuing, continu-ing, the bents a few ucconds npnrt. "Twelve," Coristnncc counted to herself. her-self. The beats hnd seemed to be quite measured and regular at first; but now Constance knew that this wns only roughly true; they beut rather In rhythm than nt regular Intervals. "Twenty twenty-ono twenty-two 1" Quilt Was In His Thought Now Rack-Ino, Rack-Ino, Tearlno at Him. Constance caught breath ami walled for the next beat ; the time of the Interval In-terval between tho. measures of the rhythm passed, and still oly Jho whistle of the wind and the undertone of water sounded. The Drum had beaten its roll nnd, for the momcfit, was done. Twenty-two hnd been her count, us nearly us she could count at all ; tho reckoning agreed with what the Indian woman bad heard. Two had died, then, since the Drum last hud beat, when Its roll wns twenty. Two more than before ; that meant five were left I Constance caught up her woolen hood from tho table mid put It on. Her action seemed to call Henry to himself. him-self. "What nre you going to do?" he do-uluuded. do-uluuded. "I'm gUrjc out.h He moved between her und'tlni 'door. "Not alone, you're not j" His heavy voice had n deep tone of menncc in It; he seemed to consider nnd decide something about her. "There's a farm house about n mile back ; I'm going to tnko you over there nnd leave you with those people." "I will not go there 1" He swore. "I'll curry you, then I" She shrunk back from him is he lurched townrd her with hands outstretched out-stretched to selzo her; ho followed her, and she nvoldcd him again; If his guilt and terror hnd given her mental ascendency over him, tils- physical strength could still force her to his will nnd, realizing the Impossibility of evading him or overcoming him, sho stopped. "Not thut 1" she cried. "Don't touch me 1" "Come with me, then I" he commanded command-ed ; nnd he went to the door and laid his snowshoes on tho snow nnd stepped Into them, stooping nnd tightening tight-ening the gtruns; ho stood by while she put on hers. Ho did not attempt ngatn to put hands upon her as they moved away from the little cabin townrd to-wnrd the woods back of tho clearing; but went abend, breaking the trull for her with his snowshoes. He moved forward slowly; ho could travel, If ho had wished, threo feet to every two thnl she could cover, but he seemed not wishing for speed" hut rather for delay. A deep, dull resonance wns booming above the wood; it boomed ngnln and ran Into a rhythm. No longer was It above; at least It was not only above; It was nil nhout them -hero, there, to right nnd to left, beforo, behind the booming of tho Drum. Doom wns the substance of thnt sound of the Drum beating the roll of the dend. Henry hnd stopped In front of her, half turned her way; his body swnyed nnd beut to the booming of the Drum, as his swollen lips counted its sound-lugs. sound-lugs. She could see him plainly In the moonlight, yet sho drew nearer to him as sho followed his count. "Twenty-one," "Twenty-one," ho counted "Twenty-two I" Tho drum wns still going on. "Twenty-four "Twenty-four twenty-flvt) twenty-six 1" Would ho count another? Ho did not; and her pulses, which hnd halted, leaped with relief. Ho moved on again, descending the steep side of n little ravine, and she followed. fol-lowed. One of his. snowshoes caught In a' protruding' root nnd, lnstcnd bf slowing to freo It with care, he pulled It violently out, and sho heard the dry, seasoned wood crack. He looked down, swore; saw that tho wood was not broken through and went on; but ns ho reached tho bottom of the slope, she leaped downward from n little height behind hltn and crashed down upon his trailing 8uowshoo Just behind the heel. Thu rending sunp of the wood came beneath her feet. Had she broken through his shoe or snnpped her own? She sprang back, (is hu cried out uud .bwuiir In 'an attempt to grasp her; he lunged to follow her, uud she ran a few steps uwny und stopped. At his next step his foot entangled In the mesh of the broken snowshoe, and he stooped cursing, to strip it off und hurl It from him; then he tore off the ono from tho pthcr foot, nnd threw it away, nnd lurched nf ter her again ; but now ho sunk above his knees und floundered floun-dered In Uio snow. She stood for a moment while tho half-mad, half-drunken half-drunken figure struggled toward her along the side of the ravine ; then she ran to whero the tree trunks hid her from him. He gained the top of the slope und turned In tho direction she hnd gone ; nssured then, nppnrently, thut sho had flown In four of him, he started back more swiftly toward the beach. Sho followed, keeping out of his sight among the trees. To twenty-sir, he had counted to twenty-six, each time I That told thut ho knew one was living umong thoso who hnd been upon the ferry I What one? It could only be one of two to dismay him so; there had been only two on the ferry whose rescue he had feared ; only two who, living, ho would hnve let He upon this bench which he hud chosen und set aside for his pn-trol, pn-trol, while ho waited for him to dlei Sho forced herself on, unsparingly, as she saw Henry gain Ihe shore anil as, believing himself alone, he hurried uorthward. She could n'ot rest; shn could iu.t let herself be exhausted. Merciless minute ufter minute she raced him thus A dark shape a llg-ure llg-ure lay stretched .upon the Ice ahead I lleyond and still farther out, some- thing which seemed the fragments of u lifeboat tossed up and down where the waves thundered nnd gleamed nt the edge of the tloe. Henry's pace quickened; hers quickened quick-ened desperately, too. Sho left the shelter of the trees and scrambled down the steep pitch of the bluff, shouting, crying uloud. Henry turned about und saw her; he halted, ami she pnssed him with a rush und got between be-tween him und tho form upon the Ice, before sho turned und fuced him. Defeat defeat of whatever purpose ho hnd had wus his now that sho wns there to witness what he might do; und In his realization of thut. ho burst out in oaths against her He ndvnnced; the stood, confronting be swnyed slightly In his walk and swung past her und" uwny; he wenf past those .things tm' the bench and kept on along llie Ice liiifniHock-J tbu'urtl' the 'north. She run to tho huddled nure or the man In mucklnnw and cap; bis face wus hidden partly by the position In which he lay and partly by tho drifting drift-ing Bnow; bnt, before she swept the snow away nnd turned him to her, she knew thnt he wns Alan. She cried to hliu uud, when he did not nnswer, shn shook him to get htm awake; but she could not rouse him. I'rnylng In wild whispers to herself, she opened bis jacket nnd felt within his clothes; he wns warm nt least he wus not frozen within I No; nnd there seemed some stir of his heart I She tried to lift him, to carry him; then to drag him. Hut sho could not; he fell from her arms Into the snow again, and she snt down, pulling him upon her lap and clnsplng him to her. She must have aid, she must get him to some house, she must tnke him out of the terrible cold; but dared sho leave him? Might Henry return, If she vnt away? She arose and looked nhout. Far up the shore she saw his figure rising and falling with his flight over the rough Ice. A sound camo to her, too, the iow, deep reverberation of the Drum beating once more along the shore and In the woods nnd out upon the lako; and It seemed to her thut Henry's figure, In tho stumbling steps of his flight, wns keeping time to the wild rhythm of thnt sound. And she stooped to Alan nnd covered him with her coat, before leaving him; for she feared no longer Henry's return. CHAPTER XX Tho Fate of the Miwaka. "SO this Isn't your house, Judnh?" "No, Alnn ; this Is nn Indian's house, but It Is not mine. It Is Adam Knos' house. He nnd his wife went somewhere some-where else when you needed this." "He helped to bring me here, then?" "No, Alnn. They were alone, here sho nnd Adam's wife. When sho found you, they brought you hfere more than n mile along the beach. Two women I" Alnn choked as ho put down the lit-tlo lit-tlo porcupine quill box which had started this line of Inquiry. Whatever questions he hnd asked Juduh or Sherrlll Sher-rlll these Inst few days had brought him very quickly back to her. Moved by so;ne Intuitive ccrtnlnty regarding Spearman, she hnd come north; she hnd not thought of peril to herself; she had struggled alone across danger ous lec in storm n girl brought up as she had been! She hud found him Alnn with life ulmost extinct upon thu beach ; she nnd the Indian woman, Wassuquam had Just said hud brought him nlong the shore. How had tlioy managed thutj ho wondered. His throat closed up, and his eyes filled ns he thought of this. In tho week during which he hnd been cared for here, .Alnn hnd not seen Constnnco; but there had been a peculiar pe-culiar and exciting alteration in Sher-rill's Sher-rill's manner townrd him, he had felt; It wns something more than merely liking lik-ing for htm thut Sherrlll hnd showed, nnd Sherrlll hnd spoken of her to hint ns Constuncc, not, ns he hfcd culled her always before, "Miss Sherrlll," or "my daughter." Alnn had had dreams which hud seemed Impossible of fulfillment, ful-fillment, of dedicating his life nnd nil that he could make of It to her; now SherrlH's manner hnd brought to him something like awe, ns of something quite Incredible. Ho turned to tho Indlnn. "Has anything more been heurd of Spenrmnn, Judnh?" "Only this, Alnn; he crossed tho straits the next day upon the ferry there. In JIncklnnw City he bought liquor at a bar and took It with him; ho naked thcro about trains Into the northwest. He hns gone, leaving all he hud. Whnt else could he do?" Alan crossed the little cnbln nnd looked out the window over the snow-covered snow-covered slope, where the bright sun was shining. Snow hnd covered nny tracks that there had been upon the bench where those who hud been In tho bont with him hud been found dead. He had known thntthls must be; he had believed them Keyond nld when he hnd tried for the shore "to summon help for them nnd for himself. him-self. The other bout, which had cur-'rled cur-'rled survivors of the. wreck, blown farther to the south, had been able to gain the shore of North Fox Island; und ns these men had not been so long exposed before they were brought to shelter, four men lived. Sherrlll hnd told him their mimes; they were the mute, the assistant engineer, u deckhand deck-hand nnd Father Perron, the priest who hnd been a passenger hut who had stayed with the crew till tho last. Hen-Jamln Hen-Jamln Corvet hnd perished in the wreckage of the curs. As Alan went back to his chair, the Indian watched him uud seemed not displeased. "You feel good, now, Alan?" Wassn-quum Wassn-quum naked. "Almost like myself, Judnh." "That Is right, then. It was thought you would be like thnt today. A sled Is coming boon, now." "We're going to leave here. Judnh?" "Yes, Alan." Wus ho going to see her, then? Incitement In-citement stirred him, and he tinned to Wnssuquum to ask thut; hut suddenly he lie.-ltatt'd and did not Inquire. Wn.ssuqunm brought the mncklmiw nnd enp which Alan had worn on Number Num-ber 5!5; he took from the bed the new blankets which hnd been furnished by Sherrlll. They waited until n farmer appeared driving u teem hitched to a low, wlde-runnered Med. The lndlin settled Alan on tho sled, und they drove off. They traveled south along the shore, rounded .Into I.lttle Traverse bay, ami the houses of Harbor I'olnt nppeure. among tholr pines. The sled proceed-oil proceed-oil across the edgo of the bay to the little city ; oven beforo leaving tho liny Ice, Alan saw;, Constnnce nnd her fa-I fa-I ther; they were walking nt the water I front near, the railway station, and inry came out on the Ice us they tetog-nlzed tetog-nlzed the occilpnnW of the sled. Alan felt lilmsflf alternately weak nnd roused to strength as be saw her. Their eyes encountered, and hers looked away; a sudden shyness, which sent his heart leaping, hnd come over her. He wanted to speak to her, to make some recognition to her of what she hnd Uonc, but hie did not dar to trust his voice ; and she seemed to understand un-derstand Hint. He turned to Sherrlll Instead. An engine nnd tender coupled to a single cur stood at the railway stutlon. "We're going to Chicago?" he Inquired In-quired of Sherrlll. "Not yet, Alnn to St. Ignuce. Father Fa-ther Perron the priest, you know went to St. Ignncc ns soon as he recovered recov-ered from his exposure. Ho sent word to me that he wished to see me nt my convenience; I told him that we would go to him ns soon ns you wore nble." "He Hont no other word thnn that?" "Only that he hnd a very grave communication com-munication to make to us." Alan did not ask more; at mention of Father Perron he had seemed to feci himself once .more among tho crushing, charging freight cars on the ferry and to see Hcnjamln Corvet. pinned amid the wrccknge and speaking Into tho car of the priest, i It wns not merely a confesslonnl which Father Pprron hnd tnken from the lips of. the dying man on Number 25; It wns an accusation of crime ngalust another man ns well; nnd the confession und nccusatlon both hnd been made, not only to gain forgiveness forgive-ness from God, but to right terrible wroncs. If the confession left some things unexplnihcd, It did not lack confirmation con-firmation ; tho priest ' hnd learned enough to be certain that It wns no hnllutflnntlon of mildness., no had been charged definitely to repeat what had been told lilm to the persons he was now going to meet ; so he watched expectantly ex-pectantly upon the rallwny station Father Perron Went to a Desk and Took Therefrom Some Notes Which He Had Made. platform nt St.i Ignnce. A tall, handsome hand-some man whom Fnther Perron thought' must be the Mr. Sherrlll with whom ho hnd communicated appeared upon the car platform ; the young man from Number 25 followed him, nnd the two helped down a young nnd beautiful beauti-ful girl. They recognized the priest by his dress and came townrd him at once. "Mr. Sherrlll?" Father Perron Inquired. In-quired. Sherrlll assented, taking the priest's band und Introducing his daughter. "I nm glad to see you safe, Mr. Stafford." Staf-ford." The priest hud turned to Alan. "We havo thanks to offer up for thut, you und II" "I nm his son, then I I thought thnt must bo so." Alnn trembled nt tho priest's sign of confirmation. There wns no shock of surprise In this ; he hnd suspocted ever since August, whqn Captain Stafford's watch and tho wedding ring hnd no strangely come to Constnnce, that hu might bo Stafford's son. He looked at Constnnce, us they followed the priest to the motor which was waiting to take them to tho house of old Fnther Heultot, whose guest Fnther Perron wus ; she wns very quiet. Whnt would that grave stutement which Father Perron 'u to make to them mean to him to Alnn? Would further kiimvl edge about thnt father whom ho hnd not known, hut whose blood was his and whose name he now must beur, bring pride or shninc tn him? A bell was tolling somewhere, n they followed the priest Into Fnthef Henltot's small, bare room which had been prepared for their. Interview. Fa ther Perron went to a desk and took therefrom somo notes which he had made. "Whnt I have," he siild. penklng more particularly to Sherrlll, "Is the terrible, not fully coherent statement of u (Ijlng man. It has given me name!) also It has given mo facts. Hut Is. qlnted. It does not give whnt ennu before or whnt cume after; therefore It does not muke plain. I hope that, ns Itenjumln Cor.vet's partner, you citu furubli what I lack." (TO S'i: CONTINUED.) |