Show uund WN CHAPTER XII 16 U under der the bitter stars for the snow had ceased the two dog teams jingled out 0 of f the post clearing to the lake lea fee As they left the shore and took the snowed over trail up the burp purple to Ip plain lelie ot of lake expanse to the mouth 0 of the woman river jim glanced back at the huddle of dark buildings from the second floor of the inspectors Inspector 1 house a w window shone yellow through the christie d dusk u sk it was the room of mary she ashes it sorry poor girl I 1 he thought ashes saying goodby good by telling me ashes sorry orry bless her big heart I 1 he stopped and waved his hand wondering if she could see gee him out there I 1 in I 1 the starlight then with his bitterness turned and followed his tro trotting atin do dogs A week later jim esau and with three loaded sleds left sunset house bound for the pipestone Pl lakes white while omar remained at the post to prepare for the christmas trade night after night the hurt which tortured jims days waked him with the poignancy of the dreams it brought and after supper as he conjured up the face of aurore in the fire which held hla his brooding eyes often from old habit his he hand nd instinctively groped tor for the furry ruff the pointed ears on en the massive skull of smoke lying beside him to meet no touch of a moist nose mose no lick of a worm warm tongue no he had bad lost them both the two creatures he be loved at the lake of the great stones old jinai who had acted as hla his ag gent agent waited at a large camp of hunters for jims sleds loaded with trade goods in two days daya stuart and esau turned south with more black and silver fox for lynx and marten than had reached sunset house the previous year and according to jinai the bulk of the christmas trade was yet to come christies christias Chri sties stick out of hla his head when he sees the fur we send mend to expanse after christmas jim said triumphantly to esau weve got more than double the value of last years trade on the sleds right now ile he patted the old mans shoulder affectionately tiona tely and you are responsible for it esaus seamed beamed face beamed in his pleasure your fader he feel happy now mow to know dat sunset house get do de fur far ah hahl babl the man who carried a wound no mater material lal success could heal smiled at the quaint fancy of the loyal old ojibwa yes father will be happy now ile he know he be left jim in good hands bands through the dusk of one starless night might three trail weary teams of huskies left the lake lee ice and turned into the clearing where the candlelit candle lit windows of sunset house beckoned warned by the yelping of the dogs omar threw open the trade house door and hurried to the sleds with welcoming bo jos you yon get de fur demanded omar peering at the tha sled wrappings heaps of it omar I 1 cried jim jinai and old are tri bringing nging the whole hunt of the country with them christmas weve got leblond licked to a standstill 1 when the sleds sled were unloaded at the trade house door and the dogs fed the hungry and tired factor of sunset house sought his supper in his kitchen he found sarah busy over a pan of sizzling moose steaks bojo bo ibo jo jol bo jo jeems beem I 1 cried the red faced cook brandishing a fork in one hand as she welcomed stuart with the other you home all safe you make de beeg trade all hah bell I 1 I 1 head you tell omar but you breena back de face so thin sarah she feed you up then with a questioning look of tier her snapping black eyes she asked as she alia nodded toward the living room you see een dere no iso what druh mean flat face divided in a wide grin you look 1 curious jim wall walked ed into the living room there on the table lay one of his own envelopes casually he picked it up on the envelope he read his bis own came in the handwriting of aurore leblond dazed mystified jim stared at the paper he held in his slinking shaking hand saraha Sa I 1 q lie ojibwa stood in the room her black eyes on the twitching face of the min mall who stared at the unopened letter ITOW how did this get here the indian shook her head you look and see sec you sou know den jim studied the envelope what could it mean what trick were they playing on him now site she was at winnipeg and yet here was her handwriting on one of his own envelopes without address or stamp ne lie turned angrily on the woman who waited who brought thise why dont you tell me the the complaisant smile of the ojibwa as she fingered sone son e dark stuff which circled her throat and was tucked into her woolen blouse drove jim to open the envelope she was bidding him goodby good by telling him bira what he had already learned from the winnipeg paper then he read jim darll darling ng ive come back bacal I 1 I 1 was hurt tried to close my heart to you but it was waa no use you already were there had all of it I 1 I 1 you just be ba driven out oh ive been so unhappy since leaving leading that note they tried to drive me into a hateful thing but my magician in the forests me with his spell jim I 1 wait for spring ivo ive come back to yon u dear maker of magic do you want me now after abo tb e vain pain I 1 gave kara BY george copyright by pona penn pub co ft NO B tc you I 1 reached bonne chance by dog team earn yesterday and here I 1 am at sunset house boase writing you 8 BO 0 you may know on your return I 1 wanted those big arms of yours youra around me agata again waited to know you still loved 02 me e 1 I beg of you come to bonne chance when you get this and tell me I 1 lost you brought my heart through the snows snow to you in vain I 1 love you love you yoo jim jim stuart read and reread the letter until the words grew crew illegible to his blurred eyes like the thrust of a knife had cone come the thock shock of her first letter and now numb with the tale dull agony of despair a joy pore more poignant than pala pain held him I 1 inarticulate artle he raised his hand to his hot forehead as his dazed eyes turned to the woman who watched him she come wid sled to see you explained sarah she cry wen ven I 1 tell her you travel nord wid de dog I 1 not let her eon do de house antil 0 she he say gay the she ees aea your woman den sh she 0 write dot dat lestair and tell me to say onell you read I 1 it t jims heart was beating with delirious 0 J joy y she had cast maclauren aside laughed at the lure of the city alfy jim stuart read and reread the tha letter until the th words word grew illegible to his HI blurred eyes eye to come to him her heart was too wild wad to be caged down there in winnipeg she belonged to the forests to the land ot of the long snows ills his face darkened with disappointment as he looked at his watch it was too late too late to gallop his tired dogs doga across ten miles of frozen lake the post would be asleep tomorrow morning he would go to the girl who had flouted the smooth maclauren to come back to her fur trader and demend demand his daughter of leblond take her ber by force if it came to that for she loved him loved him she had said she was ills his his woman in the face of leblond held hed take her be married by the missionary at fort hope shed never escape him again for he was a made nan man now sunset douse would startle headquarters at winnipeg wl with th its trade now he had more than a heart and empty hands to give her As the famished and half mad alm 31 ilm ate his supper his eye was cau caught by the dark stuff circling tile the hovering vering bo Sarn lis thick neck that youve got around your neck he demanded the copper hued features of the ojibwa lit with pride dat ee eos arigan she breena sarah what A stocking on your neck sarah straightened with algi dignity alty as she ehe countered with disdain you vink I 1 wear cot on my foot dat ver nice dice rile his pent emotion found release in uncontrolled laughter while sarah stoutly held her ground with sober face then he appeased her with be good to her now ashes come back to jim the ojibwa beamed until her black eyes were slits allta in her broad face wen the she so go she hug sarah she geeve her wan beeg kiss on dla dis place and sarah pointed proudly to an expanse of dusky cheek like her ber all heart and impulse sarah would die for her now thought stuart as he rose and taking his cap went to the trade house already omar had bad started hopeni opening ng the fur packs brought from the he north and the two men ran their fingers through the shimmering pelts classifying their and making an estimate of their value down on the rail railroad roaL they were admiring a large black fox which for size thickness rind end sheen of its fur was the prize of the trip north it will bring a thousand in winn winnipeg omar commented jim 1 I never saw a better one ah hahl hah I 1 dat ees good wan for the hurried entrance of ekau drew the eyes of tho the men at the counter do de sky look ver queer cross de alakl he announced 1 I watch beet for long piece Wb where ero jim demanded south toward LeBlond sl ah hah bahl 1 ue de sky ees acs light lak bush 1 fire mak eon cen do summer then theil its the buildings at le blondal said bald jim bt starting arting tor for the door followed by the othora others lits it out oat of range of the northern lights and therece ther ere ilona cone tonight anyway its too thick 11 t A fire at LeIl londal what could it mean outside in the snow the three men gazed through the gloom of the thick night across the frozen lake where a dull glow hung above the horizon dat ees fire for sure muttered omar first fire t thought jim it might be the tha living quarters the trade house toot tool if so shed have nothing but tie the indian shacks for shelter ile he would gol go 1 hitch our dogs omar im going over 1 ill wy you borres beet dot dat place burn demanded the halfbreed half breed jim thrust his face close ciboso to the almost invisible features of hla his friend because he said shea come back to me my girl I 1 ashes therel there I 1 she in may a y aeed help understand for answer a calloused hand tumbled fumbled in the dark found jims and closed to in a hard grip 1 I get de da dog I 1 and omar hurried away ten miles of lake trail broken only by the passage of the sled which had carried aurore to sunset house lay before jim and omar as they started with the empty sled through the murk of the tha starless night there were reaches where the snow had drifted as it had fallen which drove the hurrying crying men ahead to break trail on their snowshoes while the willing dogs floundered to their shoulders on went the team toward the glow in the sky aay across the great lake and as they traveled stuart wondered what awaited him at what was once bonne chance it was early they have been caught in their beds he be assured himself they reached a strait between two or of the islands through which the wind had swept as through a tunnel funnel scouring the ice fee of snow shortly the post clearing would open up before them atad abd they would know what had happened marche wolf I 1 tim jim snapped his long dog goad in tile the biting air as an he called to the lead dog who had taken the place of the lost smoke shortly the racing team rounded a point of 0 island and there a mile away an inferno of red flames leaped from the ruined trade house of louis lebond the trade housel house 1 cried jim with relief ills quarters qu artera are fafel she was waa there among those dark figures and in minutes he would look in her eyes hear bear her voice yelping as they ran the excited dogs took the sled bled up from the lake lee ice into the clearing running to a group of awed indian women jim cried Wb wheres eres Lell leblond lond as hta his roving eyes circled the clearing for the familiar figure he be sought A gray faced squaw pointed to 0 o four men carrying bags baga of flour on ill tump lines from a heap of salvaged provisions to the stockade gate leading to LeD Le Blonds londs house bouse following stuart overtook the packers as they reached the house and dropped their loads on the slab porch leblond I 1 he called at the name one of the packers turned and from a face blackened with char the reddened eyes of leblond glared at jim what druh want herel here we saw the light in the sky replied jim unruffled and I 1 came to offer you my quarters if you needed them im glad that you dont not why you camel you came for her well y cant havo have herl and the smudged face of leblond tightened with passion as his hi a md lidded eyes glittered where Is she in the house I 1 you cant see her I 1 then the black brows of leblond slowly contracted lie ile raised a hand to his face as if dazed groping for something he be could not recall and looked blankly at tim jim youre all in leblond im sorry tills s happened this loss to you let me see sea her for a minute and ill go As though he had not heard leblond turned and staggered into the house Aur aurore orel 1 Aur aurore orell 1 he called as ill bla 3 head man renault ne arid and the two company indians went back to their work leaving omar and jim at the door queer Qu eert 1 thought jim as the voice of f leblond shouting his daughters daughter name reached them where can sh she be she must have been at the fire ind and left cloral ill are you yon here ber florer ja jan heard lealond call in french the than mon this I 1 jim and omar looked into each others othera startled eyes as the trader appeared in the door come in lieret beret theres something wrong with a bound tim jim was in the house bouse omar at ahli heels what can it be happe happened nedr he gasped sud nd denly cold with a great fear look I 1 commanded leblond on tile the floor of the largo large living room bound and tagged gagged lay jay an indian woman unconscious a red welt her forehead overturned chairit chain bore evidence of a struggle ive searched the housel house I 1 he cried in his desperation sties ashes not here ghea gonel gone 1 they took her when they bound flore fiore herel here I 1 shift brutal swiftness of the blow left jim dazed incapable of thought Aur aurore oret I 1 aurore V t he groaned what have they done to you then his brain cleared there was no time tim a to loset lose no he must think i acal youre sure sties not in the house ashes not herel here sties not beret cried the shattered father omar circle the house and stockade for tracks leblond tell your people I 1 we must bring this woman to and get tier her story get some whisky I 1 quick ill S jim slashed the rawhide thongs binding the unconscious ojibwa removed the gag and forcing whisky down tier lier throat got a weak pulse pulsa from her wrist as omar burst into the room trail of dog team from behind stockade to lak ink ne ile got her wen dey fight de fire at trade house bousel I 1 para does dees I 1 Par paradas aills had bad come for his r revenge I 1 Aur aurore oret I 1 Aur aurore orel 1 groaned jim in his agony then he straightened where he knelt at the side aide of the indian and the face which met omar 1411 pitying 11 eyes wile was flint hard with a savage ruthlessness well trail him omar night and day until his dogs die on their betl if you get him first hes minet mine I 1 bring him to me alive I 1 iles hes millet 1 I breena heem ile he weel die slow I 1 breena heem As the hurt ojibwa revived under the stimulant the half crazed leblond appeared with renault weve welve found hla his trail on the label nea lies headed for the outlet I 1 jules and I 1 tire are starting starling now bowl 1 no one would be mad enough for this but paradis I 1 yes yea its paradis said bald the tortured J jim lm im crossing the lake tor for two six elx dog teams look herel here I 1 you cant hold his bis tracks in a night like ilke this man youre worn out get some rest start at daylight and wait for me at a the trail it if he turned south there hell take the albany the pipestone ri or the deer lo 10 lodge dge trail adorth oreb and well Ee separate parate and get him renault nodded dat ces |