Show a oy HAROLD TITUS 6 ROLD SERVICE criep IX continued 12 the little tr trader aderi 1 she mumbled he came floating down the river ead dead in his canoe I 1 put him out before your lodge on the grass before fore your lodge with these bands ads I 1 put him out you leave me e alone when there is whiskey and d f that was all they wanted from her now they turned away with much to tell not heeding her chatter of explanation little duck had come saying shaw was dead it was a time of death flat son was dead and now their briend the trader was dead they spoke rapidly and loudly word ord ran from group to group until it reached the knot of hunters about rickman smoking his tobacco but contemptuous of a man who had been driven out of his lodge the story of how shaw had spent the night waiting for the company trader to return had been about all day they had watched rickman concealing their contempt and wonder because he gave them tobacco now shaw was dead and they kept their wonder about that to themselves as well this company trader did not meet their eyes he breathed quickly when he heard of shaws shaves death but he did not look at them then after a time he began to talk he was their friend he said if the little trader was dead the tha band would not lack a fort for trading he would welcome them to his lodge they would find his hands full and his heart generous but he licked his lips as he said these things and looked continually at an island down the lake as a hungry man will look and soon afterward put out in his canoe and started for the company post conrad rich had put in a day of desperate suspense his mind ae ac icus tomed to figures and thoroughly comfortable only when concerned with figures had been whipped to a fr frenzy eny by the multitude of fan basti C happenings since last night tall all he had fussed bussed about watching the lake eagerly listening to those men imen who came and went and had contact i with others and who might have hav e learned something that would dished light on the many matters which baal baffled ed him but none brought ineas which did else than add to his bewilderment in late afternoon he abandoned attempts at puzzling matters out and sought solace with the familiar hedgers ledgers and invoices spread before j him he tried to work but he was so harried that his mind would not even find peace in the familiar he just sat before the table in the trading room and stared at the wall heart quick and aching with suspense so he was vas in a fit mood to be startled when annette spoke to him from the doorway ohl she cried did I 1 frighten you fri lord maam I 1 lord ma mam m bellel sel lel oh lord miss annette I 1 he gasped and went to iber quickly and took both her hands and drew her within the room 1 I heard what rickman said to you here nd what you said to him she flushed but he did not notice tears stood in his eyes as he stumbled on things ave ve happened sos a man cant wonder straight for any minute after th next u un nand and if it ben tor for capes bein here id I 1 d thought rickman was after you and nd 21 why conrad youre in a she stroked the back of one old hand state how could a man be another way youre here hare nd fires are set which aint expect expected ted for to burn and madmen run in and out nd hellish schemes are hatched under a blodys nose that cant be understood der stood complete nor halt half state im to say im in a state I 1 but you ought to be herd eret craning his neck t to 0 look through the doorway in the di direction ef ct the stockade gate taint no place for you I 1 ought to know after you hew last eve inin if he should come in nd find you there conrad youre more alarmed than even 1 I and I 1 must confess that it has not been a tranquil day for mel me but burke is at the medicine encampment the men saw him there within the hour ile he has been there since early morn morning ing 1 I I 1 have come for your help she said oh just counsell counsel as he stirred and gulped plainly with an awareness of his own inadequacies im alone her heres now conrad I 1 encamped last night near lieutenant capes I 1 attempted to persuade him to stay on until rodney should at least be warned of the threats made against him but the majors orders were beyond be yond mistaking the lieutenant was distressed to leave me but I 1 assured him that with rodney shaw here I 1 was in no danger again the flush showed in her lovely cheeks and she dropped her gaze but I 1 have been unable to see rodney all the day he has been absent from his post 11 all night he was here all night he waited ready to shoot burke like a man d shoot a conrad do you suppose hes in in danger now dangers all about but rickman hes with the indians lies hes ben there all day true it comforts me I 1 you see conrad it is necessary that I 1 talk with rodney at once there are so many things for me to say I 1 harmed him grievously and I 1 want him to know it and my regret from my own lips and also he must be warned of the threats burke makes against him its no barnin he why ben like hostile dogs ever since e mackinac Rick mans tried shaw once and last night shaw comes here ready to blast our trader into kingdom come he broke short jaw sagging over his shoulder he could see rickman entering the gate hes comin bowl now he rasped Rick mani nl at th gate dragging her from the doorway it if he found you here theres no guersin gu essin here this window outside and leave him to me til you get a chance to slip away he lifted her thrust her feet through the window in the rear wall and let her down outside e the building turning to confront rickman as he approached ched the doorway the trader stopped on the threshold he put one hand against the logs and smiled at his clerk shaw said rickman shaw is dead shaw was dead rodney dead annette swayed against the wall coldness enveloping her and raised hands to her mouth to stifle the cry her throat could not stop hes dead I 1 tell you rich and theres none to babble that I 1 had a part in it the trades mine now its mi mine mineah neat at last for the company hes no bourgeois to collect his furs his babiles Ba siles like a faithful dog but hes no head for trade but a bauble a trinket rich there are other things a man values higher even than this trade and i go for one of these bowl now he reached beneath his bed and dragged out a jug and lifting i it t to his lips drank deeply annette slipped around the building and fled for the gate ill pull her claws bowl now the trader boasted impose a fraud frau d on me eh ashes here alone with her boatmen capes is gone and all day rich all a day ive waited wa waited 1 he drank again lingeringly and the liquor mingled with the intoxication engendered by his passion and his sense of achievement capes is gone and shaw is dead de ad and ashes a womac woman without a protector in the trite interior giorl sleep with the men rich tonight this with a sweeping ge gesture 11 becomes a bridal chamber As annette ran through the gateway her boatmen lounging by the canoe rose but did not go to them she stood a moment starin staring up the lake shielding her eyes eye from from the descending su sun n she saw men gathered before fort shaw saw others running from the st stockade with burdens and be began an again to run herself she neither staggered nor sobbed now her feet were firm beneath her and though her breathing was ragged her eyes were dry she ran as she had never run before e lightly and swiftly from the head of 0 the last little cove she must skirt before reaching shaws fort she saw them launch a canoe and cried out they did not hear she slowed to I a walk for breath to scream more loudly but it did no good her hearts heart s belting beating crowded her throat her bloods roaring was loud in her ears walking did no good and she ran again so just as he settled himself in the stern to babiles Ba siles ears came a strangled hail his name the admonition to wait we cannot wait he called shaw has been shot down we goll go where when she was in the water to knees grasping for the moving canoe Yond yondell Yon derl ert it if he lives he has hastate lain alone since noon we go to 1 I go g with i th youl she sobbed a all bu but t aco collapsing ala Js s an g into the canoe oarse basile growled and the four our blades caught the w water ater in unison good men at the paddles the best the fort boasted with basile at the steering oar goading them on annettee Ann ettes hands were clenched in her lap her face white and rousing after a time she stared ahead unmindful of the occasional slap of spray which camo came scudding studding scud ding past the men to drench her face on they went into the sunset into the cool of evening basile had called the stroke and barked for speed shoulders and backs and arms worked in swift cadence the canoe leaped and lunged on its way but it was not enough faster the girl called suddenly half rising to her knees ahr throwing ow a look of appeal upward at the startled basile basterl Fa sterl he may be yet alive but dying for want of your speed and the backs bent further the arms swept harder they boiled on their way they grunted under the strain to which she forced and held them in the stream though t they h e y slowed their stroke groping through darkness cautious of snags and shallows A deer splashed splash e d from the water before them ducks rose with a clatter of wings it was beyond the marsh their lodge no below I 1 remember still three bends to go so the boatmen arguing in whispers stars shone above them river mists en shrouded them holdi hold I 1 see basile standing could catch the loom of the lodge against ghostly birch trunks ay we arrive the canoe grated the sand and it was annettee Ann ettes foot that first trod the bank rodney her voice t that h a t pinched and shrill like the cry of some hurt bird it made the men mutter rodney oh rodney neyl her call caught in a sob as she went forward and then she gasped herel here basile Basi lel I 1 she was on her knees beside him as they pressed about her palms on his cheeks rodney I 1 rodney I 1 we have come can you not hear oh he lives she sat there feverishly chafing his wrists as the remains of fire were found as lusty breaths bleve ble life into the ash covered coals shaw turned his head and moaned heavily we cannot all return with him basile mumbled return with him annette hands busy with shaws shirt qu questioned e s in contempt when the spark in him is duller than the spark was in the fire yo ud carry those coals back to the fort to blow life no herel here I 1 know from my aunt I 1 have learned much she taught them much those awed and bungling men they brought boughs and built a bed they carried robes from the indian lodge to cover it they pegged a blanket to the ground and secured its other edge to a pole held lashed to two saplings to shelter him on the opposite side of the fire they raised another blanket to throw the heat against his couch this much they knew how to do rocks were rolled into the fire to warm at annettee Ann ettes order his leggings and moccasins stripped oft off and hard hands set to chafing the flesh as cold as the flesh of the dead but he was not dead not yet from time to time he moaned lightly carefully tenderly A annette n n e t t e soaked the bloodied shirt from 11 his skin and bared the gaping wound in his back and its companion close to where neck and chest joined she straightened still on her knees A hand went within her gown in against her bosom her fingers twined and she tugged ripping out tatters of soft cloth soft and clean from washing clean and warm from from her clean warm body she pressed them against the wounds holding them close calling out to him that she would stay the ebbing e life that she had arrived in time for an hour she sat so shaws head in her lap pressing the cloths claths that had been her garments against the bleeding wounds then satisfied she bound them close and turned him to his back heated stones were wrapped in skins and placed at his feet and his sides the fire was kept going with meticulous steadiness at first shaw was restless mumbling trying to turn to shove himself erect but annette called out to him held him close telling him that to move would start the bleeding afresh he gave no evidence of cheari hearing ng of understanding der standing but sank back and after a time slept heavily yes she remembered muc much h from those heedless days when life was life and there was no death when her old aunt went about caring g and curing and muttering betimes because a girls thoughts could only be of light inconsequential affairs another that must have been another to be so heedless it was she annette her true self who had remembered what tonight stood her in in such stead two men put out for the fort to fetch a tent and blankets and utensils and the dozen other items which annette demanded and to deliver orders whispered at length by basile when they were gone basile turning to her said Mam selle must rest I 1 will watch rest startled oh rest contemptuously contemptuous ly as though rest were the least important item she did not rest she moved away into the shadows she was gone for long and basile bending to peer beneath the shelter saw her on her knees under the birches face uplifted lips moving as she begged for aid CHAPTER X days I 1 now of desperate watching beside that pallet about which hovered the shadow of death A tent was up sheltering rodney its flaps wide to themire the fire another tent was pitched for the men and the stores but annette V when she slept slept on robes b beside the trader from the moment she stumbled on rodney there in the darkness she had assumed command she arranged the camp she announced the routine never bea before ore had those engages taken orders from a woman but never also had they encountered a woman such such as this she did not direct them to do this or that without reason she demonstrated that for such a task she was far better equipped than they and they obeyed without dissenting look or word old basile when not thinking about his unconscious master pondered deeply in his simple way on this girl she had come to them from the company fort from no other place could she have come TO BE CONTINUED |