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Show Men Marooned By QEORGE MARSH WNU Service. Copyright by The Penn Publishing Co. CHAPTER XII 1& Garth found Jn;ai Quarrier at the Mission school. Kntering the build Ing, he stood for a space in a doorway and watched her read to a group of Cree orphans. As she looked up, aware of his presence, he said : "It is not February, but I have returned." "Something Is the mat ter?" she said, apprehensively. "What has happened t Elkwan?" "Etienne shot himself." "But you, why are you here? Why did vo l come?" "For you." "for me to go to KlUwan?" Dazed at the idea, her hand sought her forehead, fore-head, while the chattering children crowded curiously around them. "lie wants you. There may be In fcction and you know wounds have everything In your kit, bandages, stimulants, antiseptics." "Let me put on my coat and we'll talk outside." she 'jaid. So they went to the clearing. "I know well what I'm asking," he sr. Id. "It means a day on the sled discomfort, for you. Hut he Is my friend, and It may mean his Ufe your coming." Her troubled eyes turned to his. "1 Want tO CO the frin U nnrl,inT Tfo going, alone, with you it means leaving the mission, I suppose." "Of course. Swan will make a fuss To hira 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 pleaded, plead-ed, "is there any choice?" She smiled wistiully as she gazed over the frozen river. "I've got to go. It's In my blood-to blood-to help them the wounded." His heart leaped at the words. "To help the strong to help mo-is that In your blood, too, Joan Quarrier?" he asked passionately. She shivered and avoided his eyes, as a wave of color swept up to her dark hair. "Tte strong need no help," she parriea Again in coutrol of himself, the elated Gurt:iie smothered his own emotion in t.'ils thought for ttie stricken strick-en friend at Elkwan, for whom he had lied to ti e man he respected and the girl he lo ed. And he wondered what she would say to him" when she learned of the decep'ion. That she would have come as readily, had he told the truth, h had no doubt but the secret of Galbraith's presence at Elkwan was a trust, sacred, invio- lik uuu nuo Cameron mat me crew of the Ghost hrd died to a -man. At Albany, Laughing McDonald was a dead man. On the way up the coast, Joan Quarrier should learn the truth. "Oh. ye of little faith!" Guthrie sad.y shook his head. "What must I do to convince you?" Tli girl made no answer. Looking up. Gifth saw. bundled in fur cap and coat much loo large for him, a short figure blocking their path. "You nre going on this mad journey?" jour-ney?" the shrill voire of Swan demanded. de-manded. "Do yon hold your reputation reputa-tion so cheaply?" "You htti heard?" "Yes! Mi a. Cameron has told me what this man. has come for." "You're too late, Swan, she has promised to go." said Garth quietly. Ignoring Guthrie, the little man gravely grave-ly warned : "You realize, .Miss Quarrier, if you go, you cannot return to the mission':" "Yes," Mr. Swan. Before I became a mission teacher, and my moral welfare wel-fare the object of your solicitude. I lived for three years with wounded men. A man's life is at slake. It is worth more than my reputation " To Garth she said abruptly : "Come for me when you are ready. I'll go and pack my kit." "Bravo. Healer of Wounds ! That was spoken like a soldier," and walking walk-ing siiuaroly at the mortified missionary, mission-ary, dazed at the Homing of his authority, au-thority, who stopped Into the sift snow to avoid the threatened collision, colli-sion, the elated Guthrie hurried to the trade-house. "She'll go. she'll go!" he announced to the wailing factor. "Good ! You'll take good care of her. I know. I wish you the best of luck, my boy. She's a rare one-is Joan." "Swan told her she couldn't return to the mission." "A nh !" contemptuously grunled the other. "We'll send over and get her belongings. She'll spend the rest of the winter with us But she's much too valuable to I he Swans for them to stills to their high horse. They'll be over trying to wheedle her into coining back." "But I hope she won't." "We'll see to that. Why, they didn't know how to feed a husky pup, and In charge of twenty children! Think of It ! Joan turned to and taught 'e:u lomcthing, scientific, you know. Oh, they'll be back after her." Guthrie Errioned broadly as he said ' "So will I." "Well. 1 nope you cot her." Behind the slab counter Garth curl.'d up on a bundle of blankets for . K'w hours' sleep, until his dogs were tit to take the ninety-mile run north to Elkvvju and the sick man who, officially, of-ficially, had died on the Ghost. At noon he drove his refreshed team to the mission where Joun, standing beside her dutlle bags, waited in the snow. With the light load of two passengers, passen-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 for the five powerful dogs. Driving, as he would, to bring skill and medicine to the succor of the guest at Elkwan, Garth hoped to reach the post before dawn, bur much dependeil on the light. A thick night would slow the dogs to a walk while crossing the mouths of the big rtvers. where tide cracks opened and closed over night and the trail led through hummocks and ridges, bad going by day at night, heart-breaking to driver driv-er and dogs. "You're not sorry haven't regretted regret-ted promising to come?" he asked, as lie wrapped her in robes and stowed her hags. She shook her head. "Not in the least, Mr. Exile. I'm 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 thev realized threats were fu tile." "Prayed for you you, hound 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 must be a monster mon-ster to them." She laughed. "Yes, I can truthfully say that after what my brother told them, they think you are a terrible person." "Do you?" he countered, leaning over the sled. "Well " her dark eles flashed up into his, "not exactly terrible, rather what shall I say? stubborn." "Marche, Castor!" And the huskies, with Shot ahead, galloped to tiie trade-house. There the Camerons were waiting for the girl who had, also, burned her bridges, shortly, down the clilT trail and over the river-ice raced the team, carrying hope for Craig Galbraith. deep in delirium de-lirium at Elkwan, ninety white miles away. As they left the river and turned up the coast, Guthrie's anxious eyes circled the gray horizon for. Indications Indica-tions of what would follow the haze-smothered haze-smothered sunset ever the Keewalin muskeg. For days, now, the weather naa sorienea to anove zero temperature, tempera-ture, a characteristic of James hay winters, which are milder than those of the forest country to the sonth, and he prayed for a bright night, as his thoughts were busy with the tragedy trag-edy of Craig Galbraith and his own part in the climax of the pitiful history. his-tory. The decision he had made 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 Galbraith. But tiie situation which Guthrie faced as he watched the -high barrens of Akimlski catch and hold the veiled light of the dying sun, might easily result not only in dismissal dismis-sal from the company but In arrest by the authorities. His clear duty to his employers had oemanded that he report re-port to Cameron the presence of Laughing McDonald at Elkwan. The information that a Hudson's bay factor fac-tor had concealed from the government 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 with Etienne, but as his eyes rested for an instant on t lie tragic face of the friend who, that day In front of Amiens, had not counted the cost, there was in his face the look of a man who would repay to the last farthing. Ottawa, -the company he 1 had served so well, were nothing There lay Craig Galbraith, sick, hunted hunt-ed by the law he had defied, deserted Laughing McDonald, whom he had fought for the trade his friend, and be would see it through. Craig should have his char.ee. slight as it looked With ihe woman of the great heart and the skilled hands, he was hurrying hurry-ing over the sea-ice as fast as live Un-gav.-is could travel. Hold on, Galbraith. Gal-braith. V. C. ! as you held at many a disputed-parapet and shell-hole! They had talked lit lie through the tir.-t miles, the thoughts of the man centered on his problem. With the skill of lung training, she had gone Into the details of Etionne's wound, and Garth had had no heart so early in their Journey frr a confession of bis duplicity. But when. olT the mouth of the Big Willow, he announced that it was time to rest the ihers and eat the supper prepared by .Mrs. Cam eron. he fell that, over th? hot tea. Joan Quarrier should lie told the facts. With the aid of cedar kind: iiig carried car-ried on the sled, he soon had a fire under the teakettle. "Do you realize hew you have ignored ig-nored your passenger. Mr. Exile? T;,is Is u.y first ride behind tiie dogs an I I wanted to talk about them." The huskies, except Shot, who was Inspecting the willow thicket, were 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 long miles to Elkwan, Guthrie felt strangely strange-ly dillident, L'ntil 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, decep-tion, he would feel ill at ease with the woman who faced the world with the stark truth in her eyes. "Let me see," she went on. "I know Castor and Bollux, but that cream-colored one?" "Oh, that's Dido," he laughed, "and the white-gray one is Aeneas." "Aeneas? And does lie run away from her like his namesake?" "Run away? Hardly. She's the fastest dog in the team. What's more, he doesn't try. He's more constant than Virgil's hero." "What's the name of that surly one, who growls so much?" "Oh. that's Achilles, of course, the sulker. But he's not so much of a hero. He's deathly afraid of Castor, and Shot fought him to a standstill, once." I'ouring her a cupful of the steaming steam-ing tea and making a sandwich with Watched the Murk Slowly Blot Out the Stars. ' the bacon, he passed Joan her supper. sup-per. "My, I'm hungry I How good the tea tastes!' But aren't the dogs to have some fish after, their work ?" "No. they were fed tills morning. Jf I feed them now, it would make them lazy; we wouldn't reach Elkwan before noon, and I'm worried I'm afraid we're going to be too late- as it is." She looked up, puzzled at his tone. "Why, you said he wasn't bleeding badly no artery Involved. It's only a matter of keeping the wound clean." The moment had come. "I have a confession to make to you. Joan Quarrier," he began. "I have lied to you brought you from a warm shelter up this coast tonight on false pretenses." "False pretenres! What do you mean?" She was curious but not disturbed. dis-turbed. "I have been the cause of your breaking with the Swans given the missionary people the chance to raise their saintly eyebrows in horror for what?" "Why, my dear man !" she protest- o.. "I understand all that Thelt prav te can't hurt me, can It? I dont undei jtand. Where Is the HeT He sucked In a deep breath and leaned toward her, a he said: "Etienne was not shot. You're on your way to help me save a friend a friend who crawled with me on hli back through gas and shell fire. They broke his arm and got him In the chest, but he came through. Can yon 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. "You said Etienne was hurt. Now you say It was some one else I don't see " "Laughing McDonald." "Laughing McDonald?" she cried. "Yon said you found him dead on the schooner?" "He was alive, but very sick 'flu,' pneumonia, I'm not sure Etienne and an Indian took him to Elkwan while I came to ask you to go to help- " "He was this friend who saved your life in France?" she asked, wide-eyed with surprise. "Yes, CapL Craig Galbraith. He took the name of McDonald " "When be disappeared after the murder?" she broke In. "That Is unworthy of Joan Quarrier," Quar-rier," he demanded gently. "But his description tallies with that of the man wanted In Halifax. You forget that I've seen him." ' Guthrie warmed to the defense of his friend. "Suppose he Is the man? Is It strange that a man branded for 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, cher-ished, as I know he did, turns, In horror of his sears, to a lover? Tell me, is It strange?" "It was murder," she objected, halfheartedly. .no, not ir tne man was struct in the heat of passion as Galbraith could strike. It was retribution." "After all, he was a gallant soldier," she roused 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 w hat his bitterness his agony must hae 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, In his need, she turned to another." There was a mist In Joan Quarrler's eyes as she said : "You must have loved him gmatly to defend him so well." "He threw away his hope of reaching reach-ing the lines, when he followed Shot to my shell-hole and started back with a gassed man ; Is It strange that I'm lighting for' his life, oh, Healer of Wounds?" - For nn Instant, as he waited for answer, she mt the fierce plead-l-i? of his tyes, then looked Into the ti.lckening night as she said gently: "Yoti have won. I'll give all I have to save him for he was a gallant soldier and has suffered." I Joau Quarrier did not see the pride, the grititude, and the love that shone down on her from GuthrhYs eyes. For art hour after the stop at the Big Willow for the hot tea the weather weath-er had been gradually thickening. As the dogs followed the coast, Guthrie's restless eyes watched the murk slowly slow-ly blot out the stars. It meant feeling their way past the river mouths; and, across the delta of the Attawapiskat, a sharp watch on the compass to avoid entering the river Itself. Clearly Clear-ly caution dictated turning Into the Kapiskau and spending the night at the post. But the chance of the man at Elkwan might hang on the hours saved by pushing on through the sable blanket which shrouded the coast. He turned to the 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 you tell where we're going? I can't see a thing." "I'm letting Castor pick the trail just checking him with the compass. It has a luminous dial." "But he can't see any more than we can." CTO BE CONTINUED.? |