OCR Text |
Show C "fflg By Jam ci Oliver Curwood Plains of Abraham C br Doubleday Doraa Co., Ins, WMTJ ervlce. Jeems shook his head. "He would bare rome to us. tie Is dead." tlis voire possessed the unemotional unemo-tional certainty with which she had referred to her father and Helolse. There was no possibility possibil-ity of his uncle being alive, tie repeated that belief, and added that their sulvatlon was II"' short of a miracle. But now, hw-thought, hw-thought, their way would he clour to friends farther down the river. The Indians could not have gone many miles In that direction, for evidently they were hurrying back . before Baron Dieskau learned of their presence In the French country coun-try and set out forces to cut them off. It did not occur to Jeems that the baron and his men might have been defeated, as was true in that very hour. He produced apples and a pair of purple-topped turnips from the provision pouch which he wore at his belt, and they ate these as they waited. Meanwhile, be told their tracks lay In the grass, one might have thought that three men had traveled instead of forty. And the world was dead behind them. Crows did not return to the meadow, and the blue juys had flown Into safer distance. The woodpecker had gone to a farther stub. Even In the old house there wtis no longer the scurrying and squeaking of mice no sound but the tumultuous throbbing of three hearts, two of them human and one a beast's. It was then Jeems spoke. "I swear there was a white man o free white man lo that painted crowd, and long hair was hanging from his belt," he said. "1 saw bis blond bead and lighter skin, but thought my eyes were lying lo me," replied Tol-nette. Tol-nette. "An Englishman," said Jeems. "A murderer for money such as my Uncle Hepslbah told me aiiout." "And yet he might be French." They stood tooklug into each other's eyes, she of the aristocracy of Old France and he of the New world's freedom, and her hands rose slowly to his fuce as his bow and arrow fell to the floor. For the first time she raised her mouth to his. "Kiss me, Jeems and pray a little with me In gratitude for the mercy God hus shown us I" The thrill of her Hps lay for a moment against his. "1 am sorry for everything In the world," she said. Some of the softness and beauty of boyhood returned Into bis face as she drew herself from his arms and he descended the creaking stair ahead of her. I They did not go out at once, but stood near the lower door, listening lis-tening for sound and watching for something to move. "They are gone," Jeems finally said. "But there may be stragglers behind, and it Is safer not to show ourselves too soon." It was easier for them to talk after this. Quite calmly, as If looking look-ing buck on a distant thing, Toinette Toi-nette told Jeems of the tragedy of wm wiw sjumejeitssjeieiww mmm row fitted to his bow. With a breathless cry, she drew him away from the broken door, and there, safe for a moment from the suv-uges suv-uges who were entering the clear lug, she flung her arms about his shoulders. For In these tragic seconds sec-onds a look bad come Into Jeems' fuce like that which hud frightened fright-ened her in the tower room of the mill, a look hurd and vengeful with the desire to kill. "Jeems, dear, we must hide," she pleaded. "We must hide I" The futility of trying to conceal con-ceal themselves when their footprints foot-prints were clearly left upon the frosty ground did not occur to him at once. It wus her voice and the uurae it claimed for hi in that broke down the resolution which soon would have betrayed them. "I know of a place," she was saying. "We must hurry to III" She ran.ahtud of him and he followed fol-lowed her Into another room where a stair wus fulling into rulu. The red killers bad paused at the edge of the oien. They stood motionless, like stone men, listening and watchful, the upper parts of their bodies stlU unclothed un-clothed until colder days und glistening glis-tening with greuse and paint. Tol-nette Tol-nette did not allow Jeems to pause, and the steps made complaint com-plaint as they trod upon them, jeems looked down from the top I and saw the marks of their feet In the dust below. Their fate was certain 1 the Mohawks cmne this far, but with only the narrow stair for their enemies to uscend he wus determined. In this event, that each of his twenty arrows should hud a home. Toluene preceded tiim Into the room u'bove. She went directly to a panel-like bourd which held a wooden peg and In a moment they were jeerinK Into the musty gloom of a huge black hole under the roof, which the Lussuns hud used nR ii eirret. WHAT WENT BEFORE With his English wife, Cath-rln, Cath-rln, and twelve-year-old son, Jeems, Henri Bulaln, French settler set-tler In Canada In 1749, Is returning- to tale farm after a visit to the Tonteur selgneurls. They meet Catherine'! brother, Hepslbah. Ha distributes presents to the family. To Jeema he gives a pistol pis-tol and ad vines him to perfect himself In marksmanship. Jeema gives Tolnette Tonteur present which Hepslbah bad furnished for that purpose. Jeema fight with Paul Tache, cousin of Tolnette. Toln-ette. Jeems apologises to Tolnette for brawling in front of her. The Tonteurs go to Quebec, where Tolnette Is to be educated. Four years pasa. War between Britain and France flames. Returning from a hunt, Jeems And hla home In flames, and hla father and mother slain. He goes to the selgneurls and :.nds the manor burned and Tonteur and his servants serv-ants dead. Believing him an enemy, en-emy, Tolnette tries to kill Jeems. Jeems returns to his murdered parents. The girl follows and becomes be-comes convinced that her suspicions sus-picions of the youtb were wrong. CHAPTER VI Continued 9 With an effort, Jeems roused himself. He saw Odd at his feet. Day had come, and the sun was rising He sensed these things first, In a Hush of wakefulness, and then felt a weight against him and the softness of bis mother's moth-er's hair on his cheek. Only it v.-(ib Tolnette and not his mother. She must have come to him before the dawn broke. Her head was resting on bis shoulder and his arms wete nhout her as they had been about his mother. His movement move-ment had not awakened her, but now a slow tightening of his arms brought a tremor to her lushes and a deep breath to her lips. He kissed her pale face, and her eyes opened. He kissed her again, and the act did not seem to disturb her Tonteur manor. Her mother, he learned, hud left for Quebec two days preceding the coming of the Indians. Toinette expressed her thankfulness because of this, but no great gladness wus in her Jeema Struck at His Enemy and Clutched His Slippery Throat. her what they must do. They would be forced to spend a night In the woods, but he was sure he could make a comfortable place for her. He walked ahead Instead ef Ht her side when they began their Journey. Jeems carried an arrow fixed to the string of his bow, and suddenly a twig caught it and It slipped from his lingers and fell to the ground. He was stooping to recover It when a terrified scream from Toinette brought him erect. Not more than eight or ten paces from .them stood a painted und half-nuked savage whose Intention had been to make his way toward the abandoned house. He was an appalling figure, and during the few seconds In which they faced each other Jeetns recognized In him the white-skinned scalp hunter he and Toiuette hud fleen with the Mohawks. Mo-hawks. At this discovery there shot through hlin a flush of relief, but a second glance showed him fiend more dangerous than an Indian, In-dian, one of the merciless butchers butch-ers who hunted human hair for the price his own people had set upon it. A M ne-eyed Indlnri! How often had he heard his uncle curse 1st their breed! Beasts more cruel than tigers, demons set loose nti-t paid by English money until their sport as well as their livelihood became be-came an orgy of ambush, murder, rape and fire! Here wus one of them. The man was greased and painted, but he was white. His voice. She could not remember In vivid details all that hud happened, hap-pened, it had been so sudden and overwhelming, like a stream of fire engulfing a black night. Peter Luheck wus with Dieskau, and Helnise. bis young wife, had come to stuy with her. Both were asleep when the savages attacked in the early morning, and she was of the opinion that most of the killing was over before they were fairly - awake and before any guns were fired. Then cume shots and her father's voice roaring roar-ing through tlie big house. They were out of their bed when, the seigneur came In and told them to dress and keep to their room. She did not know what had happened hap-pened until she looked out of her window,, and then she saw what seemed to be hundreds of naked savages running n limit. She rushed after her father, hut he wus gone. When she returned to her room, Ik'loise hud disappeared and she did not see her again. She could hear screaming and terrible ter-rible cries, and dressing hurriedly us her father hud commanded, she disobeyed him by going downstairs, down-stairs, calling for him and for llelolse. The front pari of the house was filled with flame and smoke, and when she turned to the servants' quarters she wus cut off by tire and there was no re- "Mudauie Lussan brought, me to this room after your light with Puul," she whispered. "I Hung my spoiled clothes tar buck In there I" Even with the savages so near, pathos und memory were lu the tremble of her voice. . Jeems fuced the narrow aperture in the wall which Lussan hud left us a window and a gun hole for defense. de-fense. He went to the window, und Toiuette came close to his side. No eyes could see them us they looked through the rectangular slit shadowed under the euves. The Mohawks hud not moved, aud from the steadiness of their attitude Jeems knew they hud come upon the open unexpectedly. Not a hand among the silent suvuges bud moved to hatchet, bow, or gun. This fact drew a hopeful whisper from Jeems. "They see the place Is deserted, und unless they find some sign of us, they won't come nearer," he said. "Look, Tolnette I There Is a white man among them with u prisoners pris-oners collar around his neck " IHs words were cut short by u sudden movement among the watch-era, watch-era, us if a command hud stirred them to life again. The man in the leud, with three eagle feathers hi his tuft, stalked alone into the clearing, a lull and sinister figure hardened only with his weaoiis any more than It amazed ' or shocked him. There was a respon- -she greeting In her eyes. Then she sat up straight beside him and faced the rising sun. The air was so cold that she Shivered. Every shrub and briar and blade of grass In the clearing glistened with frost. The coat she bad brought from the house ' slipped from her shoulders, und Jeems drew it about her again. They stood up, und strength returned re-turned Into the cramped limbs. For a little while they did not speak. That they ' belonged to each other was u truth which pressed Itself u them without effort or confusion. Tolnette was not ashamed that she had come to him nor that her act hud proclaimed what pride and false prejudice had so long hidden from him In her heart. Iler eyes glowed with a light which shone softly out of fathomless depth of pain and grief. She wanted him to know how completely the folly of her pride wus gone anil how glud she was that It was he' who stood beside be-side her now. They might have been years older, so chimly did the sense of surrender Hnd of possession posses-sion hold them. Except for the tenderness In her eyes, Tolnette was unchanged. But Jeems felt himself fuller ut her side und and a warrior's diminutive traveling travel-ing puck a giant who was red aud bluck and ochrlsh yellow In his wur paint, and at whose belt hung a bundle of scalps in which the sun played and danced with changing lights as he moved. Tolnette closed her eyes that she might shut from her vision the grisly trophies of a warrior's success. When she opened something had entered hint which was like the spirit of a conquerer. It was another world now. A vast mystery ahead of him. Something to tight through, to win from, to live for. Mysterious, it wns still veiy real. It set his heart throbbing throb-bing with su unnppulled and dial, lenglng force. Yesterday, black with tragedy and grievous with Itj puln, was a long time ago, but, with Toinette, today had become a tremendous living present. Gently her fingertips touched his shoulder. shoul-der. Then she looked with him toward the east and the Richelieu und what luy beyond. From the moment they hud risen to their feet. Odd hud stood as rigid us eurveu wood lu the white-coated grass with his muzzle muz-zle leveled toward Lussnn's meadow. mea-dow. Something definite hud come within his reach, which made It unnecessary for hint to measure the wind, and suddenly there rose above other sound the wild and mucous crying of a. blue Jay, aud a cawing of alarm among the crows. A second and a third blue Jay Joined the first, and their tumult cume to an eud when a piercing bird cull terminated sharply lu u single screeching note. "That was an arrow," said Jeems, lit ginning to string his bow. "More than once 1 have had to kill a noisy blue jay when creeping creep-ing up on game." He drew, Toiuette Into the shelter shel-ter of the house und culled Odd. A few minutes later swiftly mov- warlock was light and Ids eyes were small and blue. He carried a gun, a knife, and a hatchet, and at his belt was a woman's hair, and with it another scalp that must have been taken from the head of a child. So quickly did Jeems see these things thnt the echoes of Tolnette's scream had scarcely died away before be-fore their meaning pressed Itself upon him. The savage possessed a 'moment of advantage, and as Jeems made a movement to whip an arrow from his quiver, the scalp hunter swung his gun to lire. Seeing See-ing the uselessuess of bis position, Jeems sprang forward and hurled his useless bow ut his enemy. This and the Impact of his body came at an Instant when the other let the hammer of his flintlock fall, and Willi the explosion of the gun the lead from Its barrel flew wild. The scalp hunter hnd seen only a boy and a girl, and a vision of easy victims had leapt to his mind. Now he found upon him an antagonist of unexpected strength and ferocity. fe-rocity. In the first few seconds of the fray, neither hnd a chance f draw Unlfe or tomahawk, and wit'i all the pent-up madness of his body and bruin Jeetns struck at tils enemy en-emy und clutched his slippery throat as they crashed to earth together. For a space rolnette's horror-tilled eyes could scarcely teil which wns one und which the other; and Odd, snarling white- fanged at their heels, was nimble lo become a pnrtner In the conflict. con-flict. Then, with a powerful ef fort, the scalp hunter freed himself and sprang to his feet, drswlng hi toiiMihuwk In the act. As he prepared pre-pared to use his weapon, Od-1 vaulted for his throat, and tlo-hlmit tlo-hlmit end of the hatchet met hit-' In midair, striking with such fon-t . j, upon his head thnt he fell a lim; " , and Inert mass to the ground. (TO EE CONTINUED.) spouse to her cries. It was then site thought of the mill which she had often heard her futher say was Impregnable against both fire and guns. She descended into the cellar und went from it tli rough a hhort underground passage pas-sage to an outdoor caveau made of sod and stones In which they kept fruit and vegetables during the winter. She hid herself In this earthy place, and then dared to raise the surface door- a little. The worst must have been over, for she could see only a few In-diuns In-diuns ubnnt. and everything was on fire. There was yelling In the distance where' the savages were attacking the farmers' homes. When she ascended from the caveuu, she stumbled over the body of old Babln, the miller, who hud fallen with a musket in his hands. She took the musket and went to the . mill, and after that she did not see nn Indian about the seigneurie. Sickness overcame over-came her, nnd she was half unconscious uncon-scious In the tower room. Later, looking through one of the narrow windows, she saw four men come from the south. She w'us sure they were white men, but was afraid to reveal herself because their appearance , wns so terrible, They were like monsters, remaining remain-ing only a little while to look at the dead Now, since she hnd seen the while warrior among the Mohawks, she was even more positive posi-tive thnt they belonged to the war hand and ttiut she was fortunate to have kept herself concealed. When she found that Buhln's musket mus-ket was loaded, she regretted that she had not used it to kill one of the murderers. That wns why. nustuking him for another straggler, strag-gler, she hud fired nt Jeems. One might have expected excitement ex-citement In her narrative, hut It was told quietly as she looked from Jeems across the clearing. It was a recital of fact without the embellishment of pathos or drama, and Jeems remained silent si-lent for a time when It was ended. Then he told of his visit to Lns-snn's Lns-snn's nnd of Ids race home and what he found there. He spoke of Hepstlin h. "lie must have discovered the Mohawks on the far side of the valley ami started the fire which he hurt always told me to expect. After that, he tried to reach us nnd they killed him." "lle'tmty have escaped," sug Bested Tolnette hopefully. lng, somber horrors in a world of shimmering white they saw the Mohawks come out of the edge of Lussnu's meadow. CHAPTER VII THE spectacle of death marching march-ing hack over Its trail brought no terror; to Jeems. He had watched for it, had half expected it, and in a way it was like the answer an-swer to an unvoiced prayer which had followed his awakening when be had found Toinette in his arms. To fight for her now, to rush forth from the house with a buttle cry on his Hps, and to be cut to pieces in her defense was not a prospect which dismayed him, but which, instead. Inspired in him a fear 'ess exaltation. It was Toinette who saved him from whatever folly was brewing itself In his brain as be stood with a long hunting ar- He Kissed Her Pale Face and Her Eyes Opened. them again, twoscore warriors In single file were following in the footsteps of the leader and passed within a hundred feet of what once hnd been l.ussan's home, casting furtive sldewlse glances as th?v went. ' In . more than one belt, fresh scalps shone In the sunshine, sun-shine, and (wo white men and a hoy with their hands tied and prisoner thongs nhout their throats walked In the line. ' Not until the trees on the other side of tlie cleuring had swallowed the last of the Mohawks did Tot nette's straining eyes turn to Jeems. There hud been no sound In the passing of the red scourge, no cautious voice, no ' clatter of wood on steel, no rrackle of brittle grass or weeds under fourscore four-score nioccasined feet. Where |