| Show peeving 7 A 1 P r 1 1 H W N U mark darrell young american lumberman Is boss of a lumber camp near st victor canada nat page Is his assistant mark has fallen in love with madame madeleine kinross the young widow who owns the timberland she returns his hi affection but tells him that she believes her husband Is still alive so that there is no hope hope of marriage her lawyer horace broussal Brous sac also Is a suitor brous sac has made several cash offers to mark to ret get out the last tor for he tells mark that he intends to marry madeleine to gain her property as well as herself mark visits the parish priest to try to learn the truth about eric kinross the priest tells him simply madame kinross Is not tor for you CHAPTER VH those four know andre hector mackintosh alphonse eitard and father lacombe but I 1 must never know my husband is alive somewhere I 1 know and insane as the result of his epo exposure sure he was never quite sane he would drink until a kind of devil took possession oi of him then he would fight a dozen men at a time and beat them he was the most adored and hated bated man on the lower st lawrence 1 I know he Is living mad somewhere and they will not tell me madeleine I 1 love you ali ah what is the use of telling me that do you not see my fate I 1 married the seigneur when I 1 was fifteen because I 1 was forced into it and also because he fascinated me 1 I was proud to be chosen wife of the se seigneur and ana there was never any other woman in his life chehad always loved me and there was my fathers little property what could I 1 do now I 1 know that he is alive tor for father lacombe has told me that I 1 must remain a widow all my days I 1 who was married half an hour before the fleet sailed and did not even know what marriage meant do you see my friend do you see my dear she laid her hand on marks face and stroked it gently then men we must not see each other again we must try not to meet again then I 1 shall give up my lease said mark she caught her breath sharply ah but horace broussal Brous sac he believes in nothing he laughs at father lacombe he wants me to marry him in quebec come back defy them all I 1 am afraid of him I 1 have thought and thought and I 1 think that I 1 shall go away I 1 have a cousin who is a semp stress in quebec she will take me in I 1 cannot bear it any longer we must try not to meet again she was weeping weeping desolately in marks arms and he bent and kissed her tear stained cheek they stood looking at each other hopelessly cant you speak to father lacombe and find out whether your husband is really alive asked mark she shook her head he would not answer me she said why not because it would violate the secrets of the confessional you mean that those three men have told him the truth if that is the case old andre knows yes andre knows but he has never told me a word there was a time when I 1 used to plead with him now I 1 have learned enough to keep silent ill make him talk said mark grimly no v answered madeleine there Is nothing more to be said everything that could possibly be said has been said in the past five years you must go mark and we must try not to meet again ill give up the lease said mark once more for a moment he held her close to him and their lips met then mark turned away toward the bridge but not before he had seen andre galipeault standing at the lighthouse entrance a bitter sneer upon his bearded face had he been a witness of that goodby good by mark care tor for he realized that he was through st victor had got him down with its secrecy its furtiveness its hugging of its own mysteries to its breast but what about broussal Brous sac mark mind the ignominy of having to go to broussal Brous sac and accept his offer but he had promised to protect madeleine against the lawyer now it seemed that he must abandon even this small dream yes st victor had got him down with its pertinacity its dogged resola tion it was fast growing dark as mark made his way down the slope toward his shack in the little clearing the one two flash of the lighthouse was growing clearer there came the resonant bellow of the foghorn and looking back mark saw that one of the white mists was creeping up the st lawrence even as he watched it blotted out the lighthouse and the rocks crept upward until the bridge disappeared began to envelop him with its clammy arms mark hit the trail groping through the mists toward his cabin on the morrow he would tell tall nat that he had decided to relinquish his lease write to his backers at least there would be a small but substantial profit coming to them that night he would be glad of the solitude of the shack that night he be would fight out his battle alone he was almost at the shack when suddenly he be saw the bearded face of andre galipeault rise out of a clump of bushes at the same instant he was conscious of a violent blow upon the back of the head he swung about with flailing fists to see two other men unknown to him standing over him with clubs in their hands mark alark gives up and awaits the end As mark struck andre hit him from behind the mist wrapped scene began to swim before marks eyes and he felt his knees begin to buckle fighting desperately he was borne bome down and once more a stunning blow dropped upon his temple he tell fell and everything went out in darkness consciousness itself became extinct mark could not have been out for long he came to to find himself lying upon the floor of his cabin his head bead aching dully from the blows he had received he tried to move and found that he was unable to do more than flex his fingers for a while he lay still in sheer exhaustion until a sudden flare of flame showed him that the bush around the cabin was on fire he tried to move his limbs again and now discovered that he wa was tightly roped so that all motion was practically impossible his arms were fastened to his body at the wrists and elbows his legs bound in a similar way and he himself was bound to one of the corner comer uprights upright of the hut but the glare was growing bright er torrents of smoke came pouring into the cabin through the entrance mark could see a long line of fire running toward the bridge and sweeping in a wide curve about him with that he realized his predicament one day more and his announced determination to give up the lease would have meant security broussad Brous sac for some reason driven to this desperate course had had him tied in the cabin which would shortly be ablaze the ropes with which he was tied would of course shrivel into ashes there would be nothing to show that mark had not been overcome by the smoke while he was asleep V 0 alphonse eitard the mayor was closeted with hector mackintosh the landlord he began to struggle desperately in his bonds without the least result try as he might he could not move a limb at last he gave up the fight and lay pan panting ting waiting for the end all the worlds about the bridge seemed afire dense torrents torrent S of smoke came pouring into the cabin and rose above the treetops tree tops the crackling of the running flames grew louder and spires of fire shot up and vanished in the curling smoke wreaths mark tried again he put forth every effort of the muscles of his strong body once the ropes seemed to slip but they grew tight again and it was growing insufferably hot inside the cabin the surge of smoke was stifling mark gasped as he tried fried to draw his breath think he had been overcome by the smoke while he was asleep and burned bumen to a crisp and nobody would know that he had already decided to relinquish his lease of the but what about madeleine it if the seigneur was really alive what about broussal Brous sac mark felt trapped he was not fighting father lacombe he was fighting all st victor and he had always felt that from the beginning again he fought furiously against his bonds and again unsuccessfully the hut was filled with smoke now mark drew in great gasping lungs ful of it and felt consciousness going out in death nat page down at the mill watched the cloud of smoke slowly thicken through the white mist that had crept in from the gulf that mist had blotted out everything it had made st victor a phantom village obliterating obliteration g the houses and the masts of the fishing schooners that lay off the wharf the very voices that called to one another from doorway to doorway seemed strange since their owners were no longer distinguishable alphonse phonse AI eitard the mayor was closeted with hector mackintosh the landlord in a back room of the hotel there were two glasses and a bottle of spirits upon the table between them and at first sight you might have thought the two men were drunk it was only after another glance that it became evident that they were not drunk only shaking with mortal fear there was a fumbling at the door and andre galipeault of the lighthouse staggered in his face was blanched a deathly white above his gray beard he dropped into a chair poured himself out a glass of raw spirits and drained it eh well asked alphonse phonse AI vi tard we have done what we agreed to do have we not wives and families are not our own lives at stake why should we die and our families starve because an outsider comes into st victor to spy 1 I have sometimes wondered said hector mackintosh whether that monsieur darrell was really a spy it may be that he was honest he certainly was a lumberman what have we to do with that shouted andre who gave us our orders monsieur broussal Brous sac who threatened us with the loss of our lives or at least swore that we should never see st victor again unless we did what he told us who showed us that cabled dispatch from france three men are filled with fear and horror they stared at one another with white quivering faces where is the american demanded alphonse phonse AI eitard dead dead A crisp in what Is left of the blazing hut answered andre 1 I tied him and left him there ma fol foi it was our lives against his I 1 tell you hush dont speak so loud whispered hector mackintosh glancing apprehensively at the door what of father lacombe he shall never know then we we are damned whispered mackintosh there are other priests to whom to make confession mumbled alphonse eitard when ones own life is at stake and the well being of ones little ones one has to fight bien are we sinners because we chose that one man should die in place of all of us 0 but the seigneur did not die whispered hector mackintosh q 1 I tell you the whole thing should never have been covered up we were tools fools and horace broussal Brous sac was a knave to keep the money that was raised from the seigneurs seigne urs lands I 1 pity horace when the seigneur gets his hands on him where Is he be asked andre listen alphonse phonse AI eitard grasped him by the shoulder did you see horace Brous sacs yacht steal into the harbor just before the tog fog shut down do you think he is going to stay and face the seigneur I 1 tell you he is going to get that thai girl to sail away with him dieu nol no shouted old andre springing to his feet hector mackintosh put out a brawny hand and forced him down into his chair again dont be a fool andre he said you will ruin r ul n everything ever y thing horace is too ton er for you and me of ay aye but the seigneur the seigneur god pity horace broussal Brous sac if the seigneur gets his hands on him the smoke cloud had blotted out the mist A little anxious group had gathered about nat page at the mill looking northward toward it now and again flashes of lurid fire could be seen in the midst of the curling smoke that was beginning to obscure the stars in the night sky the whole neck is afire said one of the lumberjacks lumber jacks it will take in monsieur barrels Darr els cabin but he ha could not have been asleep he must have escaped in time said another they peered anxiously across the flke dark terrain but by now the s was rolling toward them i ting out all sight of anything nat page spoke sharply get all the men you can with axes mr darrell may have been trapped in his cabin its up to us to get him out A dead man ilan returns to take vengeance within five minutes twenty five men were streaming across the terrain at first they poured along the trail under a sky of blinding blindin smoke then the heat of the fire began to reach them little billets of fire ran through the underbrush on either side of them and the cabin was still far away in the heart of the dense yellow smoke cloud that was pouring toward them monsieur if he is in his cabin we are too late well try nat led the way the smoke was almost intolerable now the lumbermen gasped and choked as they faced the turbid yellow clouds and now they were ip preaching pro aching the district of the fire on either side of the runway wisps of flame were racing through the scrub and in front of them was vas a solid roaring wan wall of fire tak at ing up the trees and roaring in ward the neck and the natiel nat Z bridge the lumbermen halted overcome by the heat of the conflagration we cant go any further big louis said to nat see boss there is a line of flame right along he ridge the cabin is behind that if he has not escaped he is roasted to a cinder by now no time nat panted we bec got to get on and he hurled himself against the wall of living fire that was sweeping down with a roar as the rising wind fanned it hurled himself against it only to recoil he knew that if mark was in the hut in the heart of that conflagration there was not one chance in a thousand that he could escape alive TO BE CONTINUED li 4 A k I 1 |
