Show fheo heart of the north by william byron mowery lir t brilan mover CHAPTER XI continued it 10 goaded load ed by the fearsome fen reome prospect of living here among these men whipple made a last frantl effort f ort youve got to inow know about this sergeant baker I 1 think ita its shameful the nay vay deceiving you and tho the way ey hes he i meeting her outi out I 1 there at eight right I 1 mean miss bliss spaulding meeting him abes the down doun there ot at the edge of the woods the tent sent me to tell him where he could find her and lie fie went to her hes there with her now ue ile backed away from alan hastily the expression that came over fore let him know he was fumbling with iab dynamite and god pity him if he bungled it it I 1 D ayou you mean alan demanded that down there at the woods with Ilas lell she tent sent you to bring him out there to her yes sir air whipple stammered im telling you the t uth sir air out there now sergeant baker ties he s trying to get her to well to throw you over and go with him but ashes afraid he marry her and then shed be bewell viell stran stranded led if it she throws you over A horrible suspicion shot into alan s mind here in his cabin a quarter hour ago why hod had eilza eliza beth come in eo so angry and im per perlous and then done a sudden about ace and so strangely yielded to him had lad she been weighing her cannes ith haskell askell ll thinking of marrying ll askell even while she had talked of our home A b burea red through alan like living flame good G d it was for her tier a it mercen merc emry iry like her that I 1 broke away from joyce I 1 I 1 let her lead me ue uze me it was for her I 1 kept that promise sa cred whipple pleaded timidly as alan started past him for the door about mv my transfer sir you 11 help me do what you can for me sir AM ansier fairly dazed him III get yon you a trans transfer ferl I 1 before williamson leaves and still be in your debt I 1 As he strode down donn the slope to the woods abeid of him at the timber edse edge he made out the dim whiteness of 1170 beth s dress and then hj by a lightning lash flash he saw her tier and lIn haskel sitting er under a lv lw sweeping swee pIng pine he ile had an instants glimpse of haskell askell ll holding her hands pleading with her of listening tain of his passion coolly drawing him on to a commitment IN when hen he loomed upon them out of the gusy darkness they spra sprang ig to their feet panic stricken haskell askell ll with a snarl of anger put op up ohp gun ila hackell Hai kell I 1 alan bade him noticing the quick blurred moi movement ement 11 1 dont want mant to fight you not for her I 1 I 1 don dont t come for that A host of bitter and pitiless words had been surging through brain as he tie had come down the slope tie wanted to taunt her not for haung made herself de pen pendent dont on him but for taking his money while she harbored trench ery in her heart ile swore to fling her sordidness into her face so that she would mould know he realized it now to its depths ile intended to remind her of that night in his cabin when she the had offered herself to him out of motives akin to those of any paid woman but as he if confronted the two of them alan checked the brutal words haskell had moved a lit tie in front of elizabeth there wis something of protection of sheltering in the net act something which came nearer making alan respect the man than any act he bad ever seen from haskell askell ll he ile did not speak to Fl izabeth at all but ignored her dont don t think I 1 came down donn here to interfere fl rashell askell he lie said in harsh cold voice youre you re welcome and dont think you surprised me tonight I 1 been mind blind you sent me away on those cracy pa tm t M pie eo an anu could be alone with her you went sneaks sneaking ng around to her while I 1 was vas keeping her and she was ei to me lie ile paused a moment be leaned a little nearer ll Ilas askell lell be he delivered his ultimatum in the tones of a grim mirol warning ng youve worked hard enough to get her you fought me with lies and did me all the damage a man could do what happened happ ned between you two while I 1 was nas gone I 1 dont inow 1 I dont care what but I 1 can guess finding you two 0 oat t here together sneaked away from the post at night now after that youve youe told her you wanted to marry her that s what you re going to do you re not going to put it off you v wont on t spring something bout about taking her out to edmonton or ottawa you lavont be given glen any benefit of the doubt you 11 mirry her here at endur ancel ile I 1 re you leave I 1 you 11 I 1 either do that hat or III come down there to our cabin and III settle vi with ith you the way fly YO you u thought I 1 v was as going to do tonight I 1 he lie turned on his heel and left them As he went out all along ang the slope toward the post he fie was realizing with bitterness of heart that his sacrifice flee eighteen elish teen months ago the greatest sarri sacrifice flee a man can be called upon to make had been worse orse than futile it had cost him dearly it tind find broi brought ight pain to joyce joye it had brought them tonight to their h ur of separation atlon and yet yel h his otter mood ran the knowledge that in his sic sie be bad set all fill 1 personal de alruh 1 aside und and had kept faith ft ith a partner dead and had held sacred his promise to curt spaulding until ellzabeth had ande that promise impossible of again he lived over that hour when ke came upon i a trapper trappers deserted snow sam drifted hut buts and found curt there stricken with die dis eose ease alth ft ath buth both lungs frozen de seated by his treacherous indian helper d ing as valiantly as bedad he had lived lie ile felt that DO no man on earth could understand the emotion that ral aled ed him as he knelt beside the hunk bunk whispering to a partner who lie was going down domi luto into the dark leaving a bister sister penniless alone in the mage north alan she loves you iola he could hear bear those broken whispers that presently were stilled I 1 if marry hermy her my sister alan I 1 mind going if I 1 could think of you partner and brother too and over and again that dying whispered pica plea and the ineffable peace that came when hen alan made covenant 11 1 I will I 1 will curt I 1 love her too because your sister and now as he thought of that tune lone funeral sled trip borne home and as 7 1 I was keeping her and she wa was engaged ie to me hie he glanced up the slope toward curt curls a to towering Nering lob stick his lips fashioned silently 1 I tried curt you have haie asked more of me than then what I 1 did but it be it couldn t be 4 0 joyce had helped bill take her p rhonal baggage down to the wharf harf and bad had talked over with him dial final arrangements about for warding the peltry to edmonton Cd monton and selling the draling store cinalt alt ing for the steamer she had quiet ly stepped out of mrs drummonds house into the garden back of it it telling no one u where here she had gone she was aware that alan intend cd ed to comp down before she left for half an hour with her she had slipped out in the garden to make that impossible if be he came down to the wharf at the last moment she the felt she could say good by calmly enough with a brief hand clasp a voyageurs nod and bon chance but a loneer longer time with him would be unbearable As she stood there halt half hidden by an arbor of morning glor glories leq she saw a dim figure come out along the alore from the direction of the woods wood a edge and as it passed her scarcely a dozen feet away she recognized ahn alin lie ile went on to the factors house she heard him knock heard him ask for her leard his puzzled odd when mrs drommond said shed been gone for half an hour by a lightning flash joyce saw him as he started on past her something in his manner in his dejected hed held in to his slow beaten gnit let her know he was aware she deliberately had gone away in these last minutes and deliberately had shunned a parting talk with him A As alan went slowly past the garden unconscious vt of the light nine ning flashes gashes thinking only enly that jom ft vt bo a had burned chiq 1 picture and his gift was now reful refusing ng a last hour with him he heard a voice in the windy indy blackness it sounded like his name in surprise he whirled toward the arbor of glories and as he stood the e listening he h heard beard it ngah agali Ms name joyces joycea voice half alani alan I 1 dont dort go im rin im here 1 CHAPTER XIV the north norths call S SHE worked on a R report that A AS evening in the oe little library nook joyce null pause now and then and listen intently with her dark lark eyes peering into the blackness the Aln dov it was time or alan to be returning tur lilu with bill and ped from a patrol down the Mac mackenzie benzle in the sharp vigorous gusts of october wind she kept thinking she heard the drone of the across the room from her on a blanket padded couch little marion M mont tit gomery had fallen asle asleep p over a picture book her tiny moccasins off one arm hanging over the couch la in the deep dren dreamless beep of babyhood the little tot aas as oblivious of the threat and snarl of autumnal wind sIr swirling ling around the cabin ft it there nas vias any sacrifice in having that airy alry little companion la to her tier home loyce bad had not yet become aware of it the report she he WM wu working on oil was a statement to her forcier bureau chief in ottawa of tir money mone expended in her work among the indian women omen around endurance during a lull la in the ulna AM suddenly ud denly heard the unmistakable bound of the big police boat mint dp up the wave tossed blacken ite putting aside her report joyce ceased belig bell s deputy indian agent dt at rort gnau rance N W T rind became the wife of inspector In daker baker officer commanding there lah a glance at the bleeping tot bhe she flung dung a cape about her shoulders slid went ent out the lubin and ran do down a the dark winding terrace toward the vili wharf arf when the dellow eye of the launch drew dear near joyce saw law a ifill figure stop upon the prow bait half deck and stand ready with the painter chain when he jumped out upon the planking jerked the be launch along side and lapped lopped the painter around a pier head ho he turned to her bat hat in hand reproaching her girl girl you dat have come down doin here in this raw wet et wind ind louve louie got to begin learning to be careful snapped olt off the launch searchlight and as the to men began gathering their packs er in the darkness joyce silenced reproach rising on tiptoe oblivious of his wet slicker Ilc ker and the cold steel of h gun buckle after athen hen alan had mude made hira self rel re mental again after the tilt ix days hard patrol be he stepped out into the living room where joyce was aa finishing her report she beck beckoned ened him over to her holding out elveral letter letters which aich had bad come for him on the chappe wyan mall she had not opened them but now hen he brought a chair beside her she read them with him buzzard had dashed oft off a page from his apartment address in win he ile had done a couple dozen fairs and pumpkin shows in his new Della but had find faund that line too tame tome night right now he was tiling the winnipeg simonton Fi Fil monton lap of the air moll mall next spring tpring he lie ft as going to boss hoss the smoke hawk division of the manitoba tire prevention some time this inter he post scripted no tie might put skis sus on the crate and hop doun north to visit you but alan you find out first if joice holds anything against me for telling you she burned that rainbow scarf I 1 don dont t think she ever has forgiven me joyce looked up langling lau gling but with a catch in her voice ns as she remembered that haunting day did you notice the no alan he puts her into a postscript i just a mere afterthought 1 11 ho Is she I 1 1 aulse I of kamloops Kom Kam loops Is all I 1 know aim alin answered the next en envelope elope was vias an enl anig m ma it contained no message no 0 writing nothing but two tilio pictures one was a panorama of a larte country estate with lawns ant quarters gardens orchards the other chov showed ed an imposing impo ging town residence a stone building overrun by ivy with a limousine ft ailing in the driveway bewildered alan looked at the pictures twice searched in the envelope for a possible note glanced again at the address and then as he tie studied the crest of the en delope he blurted a little this was from elizabeth 1 that insigne was the lamroth Lara roth hasbell haskell crest I 1 since haskell askell II married her and they left the north they had written to no one at endurance but alan had heard that fla II askell transferred to a small detachment in the kootenay coal fields h d resigned and pone gone east suddenly understanding the pictures pk tures alan looked up and met joyces eyes and he be saw that she too understood in a kind of scorn she remarked like elizabeth it alan she mants wants you to 9 realize got a country estate and to town n house and uniformed chauffeur and all the things that thai say alan bade all the things I 1 id of never been able to give her ashla trying to rub it in yes its like her joyce sometimes I 1 pity her a little with him alan 1 I say that joyce I 1 knew her better than aou ou did lid id say god p PLY ty him with her I 1 inith ft ath a gesture of finality ho nipped flipped the pictures contemptuous ly into the fl fireplace replace later when the lights of the post were out when the fire log logi had burned to red coals coal and jace had carried her sleepy little charge away to bed they went nent outside th j cabin in the night sky SLY they heard beard the conling of arctic geese last of the migrants winging swiftly amply south and they had the feeling that in the illimitable e woods 11 all furry creatures were seeking out warm dens anil and storing food for the frozen moons ap up and doi n the wilderness rivers and fir flung flang over ove r the strong boods a whisper had bad gone abroad of a mighty change brooding a whimper that drove less courageous things into head long flight yet was but a challenge to those moro valiant of heart the spirit of winter was in the tile air tonight and alan and joyce were vere welcoming it here in the far north they bad had lived through other u winters they knew the sa vage y of those moons and their white sl lent beauty too they had work vork to keep them busied during the long dark and a home against 11 the blind su swirling irling blizzards and the vista of a life together here in this far land of their choosing THE END I 1 |