Show Z i ah it tah t H H H H M the plains of abraham by james oliver curwood 0 by doubleday doran co ino ina service ha H l H CHAPTER X continued 19 to jeems an and d tollette Tol nette netto there was nothing spectacular in their first day or in the many that followed after the triumphal night the indian town fell on once ce more into the routine neof of its existence elisten e men hunted bomeli women worked c children played warriors met in solemn counci councils a and smoked incessantly as they discussed discussed the affairs or of their commonwealth balth and planned tor for the future the dark year tear was upon the them winter threatened but there wern were a other matters to be settled XI toga had brought unusual news the english under a general named braddock had been defeated and massacred the french had been de on lake george sir william johnson the white father of the sioux nations was victorious and the mohawks were profiting greatly this brought somber looks into the faces of the Se the thea eastern wilderness was bound to run red with war was sure ills his warriors were sure eure the long expected struggle between the english and the F reach french was at hand band and there would be no rest for the tomahawk until the land was tree free of one or the other and his councilors councillors counci lors in chenue Chent if do faced war and famine if their fighting men went into the east who would keep the people from starvation it was decided that should take the warpath karpath again with abl th ty men chosen by lot while thirty of his braves should remain to fight hunger and death during the winter months the drawing came but jeems was not included was doomed doom d to leave his sweetheart again these were days when misgivings assailed jeems and toinette Tol netto nette in spite of their hopes and plans yet no cloud inore more than temporarily darkened their visions in the heart of each was the prayer that a wandering priest might come their way so that the ceremony could be performed which would make them husband and wife in the town were e a number of white women who had it accepted indian husbands in the indian way but against this practice tobnette Tol nette revolted she prayed and mary idary dagelen Dag lilen prayed with her for through the years since her mother had bad died the thrush had kept her faith unbroken the seneca worshiping hr her honored it early in november groups began to leave each with the small amount of food which remained as its share mary was to accompany two fambles of eight people under the protection of thunder shield a valiant warrior and a splendid hunter they were going toward lake ontario Tol tobnette nette was given to alt all de bah the tall man a relative of Tl hiding their disappointment jeems and tobnette Tol nette encouraged themselves with visions of a future which they tried to paint in bright colors the months would pass quickly with the earliest days of spring they would return to every hour they would live in each others ot liers thoughts and at night their prayers would cross in the wilderness next nest year there would surely be a way fate would hot separate them again in their final moments together eyes glowed with a depth of faith and love which it was impossible for jeems to measure fully in this way they parted ve he went north and west with koo toward the river which emptied into lake ontario odd struggled between his devotion for hems and for tobnette Tol nette ile he followed his master a distance then and turned back A lump rose in jeems throat and lie he could not see clearly as his comrade sat in the trail and watched until lie he disappeared led the way to a hardwood country in which he was sure there would be hunting that would last through the winter there were plenty of raccoons and the mergansers sers or fish bab ducks would come to abe swift running headwaters to feed ns as soon as ice closed the lakes and the mouths of the streams here they roads made their lodge of saplings it was a new kind of home tor for wood pigeon jeems built it with a cooking hearth and a chimney and a tiny room set act apart for wood pigeon herself the childs eyes glowed with delight at this possession each day jeems told her more about tobnette Tol nette how bow sol yan tan cared for her beautiful hair how it was part of her religion to keep herself clean how and why site she did this thing and that until thoughts and desires grew in Wa Wanona nonato tB head and she employed the comb and the brush which deeina made tor for her until her sleek black hair was never untidy heavy snow and extreme cold camo early in the he season by the middle of december jeems was compelled to hunt on snowshoes and so bitter 4 were the nights that hat the first of january found even the headwaters freez lne out the mergansers sers this was vai the memorable winter of 01 1755 at ami 1758 1756 the story of which the th handed down from father to t son for or many generations a winter it in which all game seemed to have gont gone from the face of the earth and when hardship and starvation killed a tenth of the three westernmost of the six great nations the Se the cayu caiyu gas ens and the onondagas Onon dagas at first jeems was partly prepared because he had bad killed a buck and with koos shrewd as assistance sistan a had lu marked it a number of trees in which raccoons were sure to hibernate but late in jan january ary famine drew closet closer about trie the cabin u on the little selus and jeems traveled farther in his hunts until he be was gone two days at a time in february he made four of these hunts and found no game came the cold wa was terrific trees cracked like rifles in the wooda woods bitter winds continued night and day wood PI pigeons geons eyes grew larger and her boily body more fragile as the weeks passed each bach time jeems came in from his hunts the she blazed up like a fire in her happiness but he could mark the steady fading of her strength he hunted with almost insane energy everything was for her when famine clutched at them hardest torturing fears assailed jeems tol nette bette was never out of ills his mind for 1 I 1 1 ty W z on the th second of these days he H married deerns and tobnette Tol nette even in his sleep lie he dreamed of her she too was a part of this fight to hold life together at night when the wind howled and trees walled in their distress he sweated in tear fear and more than once the thought came to him to abandon his family famili and go in search octol of tol nette ilia his visions of the fate which might be overtaking lier her became almost unbearable ills his hunts were not long now and seldom took him more than three or tour four miles from the cabin for its his own strength was ebbing ills his only hope was to kill tin an occasional bird and it was in the dark darkest est hour that an answer came to hla his prayers in a blizzard against which he was working his way in half blindness he stumbled upon a doe as weak as himself and killed her without this stroke of fortune wood pigeon and must have died when the thaws rame came they were alive raccoons began to appear and fleshy ro roots could be gathered out of the opening streams early march brought a warm break in which jeems and his companions started for che food was plentiful on the way and each night they gathered strengthening sap from the maples they arrived at the people there had lived frugally on their supplies and from the first running of the maple sap had been making sugar only four families had preceded jeems to the village and of their number which was was twenty eight five had died no word had been received from and hla his warriors the maple sap ran steadily in spite of this opening grace of spring there hung over oer a grim specter whose shadow grew darker with each day that passed tills this specter was death scarcely a family returned which did not bring grief with it and all ah do ball bali the mightiest hunter of them all did not come no one had heard of him no one knew where lie he was fifty seventy a hundred and then it a hundred and fifty of those aho vho ft ho had gone la in the breakup break up were accounted for by the end of march among them was vas mary dagelen Da ghlen of their number thirty had died still ali ah de bah bab the tall man alan did not come then he appeared one day he was a grotesque rack of fie fleshless flesh leg bones whom would nat hat recognized behind him lafin trall trailed ed him people jeems counted them before he could tell one from another eleven I 1 ile he ran toward them and tobnette Tol nette swayed from the line at the head of which the tall man ilan marched arched in he might not have hav e known her at first it if she had not met him la in this way for those who were behind ah de ball walked with bowed heads and dragging steps like death figures in a weird parade her eyes stared at him from a face so BO strange and thin that it choked his joy iier her body was not heavier than a childs child s when lie he clasped her then the she began to cry softly with her face against his breast lie he carried her to file the tepee her clothes were in tatters her moccasins i worn sworn to shreds so small a burden that her lightness sent horror through him and his ayes eyes were blinded bya by a hot fire when slie she raised a cold hand to touch hta his toce face lie placed her on the soft skins shins in the tepee then he was conscious of wood alg pigeon aon near him in a moment diary Mary dagelen i came in jeems ma made deway way for them ne ile went outside and in ills his path was a creature who leapt weakly against him it was odd a skeleton with red and watery eyes and jaws falling failing apart jeems waited until the thrush came out and told him she was going for warm water and food and that wood pigeon was undressing tobnette Tol nette then he sought the others all but ah de ban bab had disappeared and were being cared for the tall man alan could scarcely stand as he told his story he had brought his eleven people back alive the dog and lie like the truly great he gave credit to his inferior without the dog lie he would have failed in his struggle to teed feed eleven mouths months and jeems knew why odd had riot not been eaten after a time mary dagman let him see tobnette Tol nette again she was in her bed of skins the look which had frightened him was gone from her eyes and they were bright with th the a joy of its his presence site she held out her arms to him and lie knelt besl deher wood pigeon looked at the two with shining eyes eye sand and a soft mist gathered in mary Dagli lens after tills this jenins did not see tobnette Tol nette again for an afternoon find and a night during this time she slept and the thrush and wood pigeon were never far from her side the next day she walked with him about the town what was in heart was wag also in mary Dagh lens the young girl who had bad known no other life than that of her adopted people since babyhood but whose mother had kept god and church alive in her soul watched wat clied with increasing anxiety for the return of Sh indas and she told tobnette Tol nette that at last she was prepared to yield to her e environment and if no priest came that spring or summer she would marry in the indian way this thought now held less lesl of horrox for T Tol olnette nette she had seen the fidelity a and ad courage of an indian family in ltv itu a struggle against death site she had seen the tall man alan gnaw at bitter bark that thai his women and children might havo have scraps of skin and flesh she had seen a mother adother hide her portion of food day after day that she might save it for her children she had witnessed a faith and devotion which could have been inspired by nothing less than the strength of god in their souls her prejudices melted away in spite 0 of f their background of unforgettable tragedy and she began to experience emotions which had bad not come to her before and though she said nothing 0 of f it to jeems the conviction was wag growing in her heart that she would not allow another winter to separate them even it a priest did not come to but he came following closely the mon months of starvation lie he was vas a gaunt death faced nan man on his woy way to take the place of a brother who had died among the indians indiana of the ohio that was what he said history was to relate otherwise for a year later he was the force behind the in their slaughter of the english at fort william henry ills his name was rather father pierre he was a cold terrible man of god yet he wa was 8 the church he aou would id have died a thousand deaths for the cause of which he was the spiritual it if not the moral representative ile he would have eaten human flesh in defense of it it ile he did see such flesh eaten by ills his 9 savage vage disciples at fort william henry ile he remained in two days on the second of these days daya he married jeems and tobnette Tol nette according to the ritual of the catholic church the gloom he brought with him was dissipated by this event gave itself up to it ft few hours hour of re joicine in honor of Ti daughter daghmer and the son of TO BE CONTINUED |