THE CALL OF THE NORTH

 Beyond the butternut, beyond the maple, beyond the white pine and the red, beyond the oak, the cedar, and the beech, beyond even the white and yellow birches lies a Land, and in that Land the shadows fall crimson across the snow. 

THE CALL OF THE NORTH

Being a Dramatized Version of

CONJURORS HOUSEA Romance of the Free Forest

BY

Stewart Edward White

AUTHOR OF THE WESTERNERS, THE BLAZED TRAIL, ETC. 

THE CALL OF THE NORTH

Chapter One

The girl stood on a bank above a river flowing north. At her backcrouched a dozen clean whitewashed buildings. Before her ininterminable journey, day after day, league on league intoremoteness, stretched the stern Northern wilderness, untrodden saveby the trappers, the Indians, and the beasts. Close about thelittle settlement crept the balsams and spruce, the birch andpoplar, behind which lurked vast dreary muskegs, a chaos ofbowlder-splits, the forest. The girl had known nothing differentfor many years. Once a summer the sailing ship from England feltits frozen way through the Hudson Straits, down the Hudson Bay, todrop anchor in the mighty River of the Moose. Once a summer asix-fathom canoe manned by a dozen paddles struggled down thewaters of the broken Abitibi. Once a year a little band ofred-sashed _voyageurs_ forced their exhausted sledge-dogs acrossthe ice from some unseen wilderness trail. That was all. 

Before her eyes the seasons changed, all grim, but one by the verypathos of brevity sad. In the brief luxuriant summer came theIndians to trade their pelts, came the keepers of the winter poststo rest, came the ship from England bringing the articles of use orornament she had ordered a full year before. Within a short timeall were gone, into the wilderness, into the great unknown world. The snow fell; the river and the bay froze. Strange men from theNorth glided silently to the Factor's door, bearing the meat andpelts of the seal. Bitter iron cold shackled the northland, theabode of desolation. Armies of caribou drifted by, ghostly underthe aurora, moose, lordly and scornful, stalked majestically alongthe shore; wolves howled invisible, or trotted dog-like inorganized packs along the river banks. Day and night the iceartillery thundered. Night and day the fireplaces roared defianceto a frost they could not subdue, while the people of desolationcrouched beneath the tyranny of winter. 

Then the upheaval of spring with the ice-jams and terrors, theMoose roaring by untamable, the torrents rising, rising foot byfoot to the very dooryard of her father's house. Strange spiritswere abroad at night, howling, shrieking, cracking and groaning invoices of ice and flood. Her Indian nurse told her of them all--ofMannabosho, the good; of Nenaubosho the evil--in her lispingOjibway dialect that sounded like the softer voices of the forest. 

At last the sudden subsidence of the waters; the splendid eagerblossoming of the land into new leaves, lush grasses, an abandon ofsweetbrier and hepatica. The air blew soft, a thousand singingbirds sprang from the soil, the wild goose cried in triumph. Overhead shone the hot sun of the Northern summer. 

From the wilderness came the _brigades_ bearing their pelts, thehardy traders of the winter posts, striking hot the imaginationthrough the mysterious and lonely allurement of their callings. For a brief season, transient as the flash of a loon's wing on theshadow of a lake, the post was bright with the thronging of manypeople. The Indians pitched their wigwams on the broad meadowsbelow the bend; the half-breeds sauntered about, flashing brightteeth and wicked dark eyes at whom it might concern; the tradersgazed stolidily over their little black pipes, and uttered briefsentences through their thick black beards. Everywhere was gaysound--the fiddle, the laugh, the song; everywhere was gaycolor--the red sashes of the _voyageurs_, the beaded moccasins andleggings of the _metis_, the capotes of the _brigade_, thevariegated costumes of the Crees and Ojibways. Like the wild rosesaround the edge of the muskegs, this brief flowering of the yearpassed. Again the nights were long, again the frost crept downfrom the eternal snow, again the wolves howled across barren wastes. 

Just now the girl stood ankle-deep in green grasses, a bath ofsunlight falling about her, a tingle of salt wind humming up theriver from the bay's offing. She was clad in gray wool, and woreno hat. Her soft hair, the color of ripe wheat, blew about hertemples, shadowing eyes of fathomless black. The wind had broughtto the light and delicate brown of her complexion a trace of colorto match her lips whose scarlet did not fade after the ordinary andimperceptible manner into the tinge of her skin, but continuedvivid to the very edge; her eyes were wide and unseeing. One handrested idly on the breech of an ornamented bronze field-gun. 

McDonald, the chief trader, passed from the house to the storewhere his bartering with the Indians was daily carried on; theother Scotchman in the Post, Galen Albret, her father, and the headFactor of all this region, paced back and forth across the verandaof the factory, caressing his white beard; up by the stockade, young Achille Picard tuned his whistle to the note of the curlew;across the meadow from the church wandered Crane, the little Churchof England missionary, peering from short-sighted pale blue eyes;beyond the coulee, Sarnier and his Indians _chock-chock-chocked_away at the seams of the long coast-trading bateau. The girl sawnothing, heard nothing. She was dreaming, she was trying toremember. 

In the lines of her slight figure, in its pose there by the old gunover the old, old river, was the grace of gentle blood, the prideof caste. Of all this region her father was the absolute lord, feared, loved, obeyed by all its human creatures. When he wentabroad, he travelled in a state almost mediaeval in itsmagnificence; when he stopped at home, men came to him from theAlbany, the Kenogami, the Missinaibe, the Mattagami, theAbitibi--from all the rivers of the North--to receive his commands. Way was made for him, his lightest word was attended. In his housedwelt ceremony, and of his house she was the princess. Unconsciously she bad taken the gracious habit of command. She hadcome to value her smile, her word; to value herself. The lady of arealm greater than the countries of Europe, she moved serene, pure, lofty amid dependants. 

And as the lady of this realm she did honor to her father'sguests--sitting stately behind the beautiful silver service, belowthe portrait of the Company's greatest explorer, Sir GeorgeSimpson, dispensing crude fare in gracious manner, listeningsilently to the conversation, finally withdrawing at the last witha sweeping courtesy to play soft, melancholy, and world-forgottenairs on the old piano, brought over years before by the _LadyHead_, while the guests made merry with the mellow port and ripeManila cigars which the Company supplied its servants. Thencoffee, still with her natural Old World charm of the _grandedame_. Such guests were not many, nor came often. There wasMcTavish of Rupert's House, a three days' journey to the northeast;Rand of Fort Albany, a week's travel to the northwest; Mault ofFort George, ten days beyond either, all grizzled in the Company'sservice. With them came their clerks, mostly English and Scotchyounger sons, with a vast respect for the Company, and a vaster fortheir Factors daughter. Once in two or three years appeared theinspectors from Winnipeg, true lords of the North, with theirsix-fathom canoes, their luxurious furs, their red banners trailinglike gonfalons in the water. Then this post of Conjuror's Housefeasted and danced, undertook gay excursions, discussed in publicor private conclave weighty matters, grave and reverend advices, cautions, and commands. They went. Desolation again crept in. 

The girl dreamed. She was trying to remember. Far-off, half-forgotten visions of brave, courtly men, of gracious, beautiful women, peopled the clouds of her imaginings. She heardthem again, as voices beneath the roar of rapids, like far-awaybells tinkling faintly through a wind, pitying her, exclaiming overher; she saw them dim and changing, as wraiths of a fog, as shadowpictures in a mist beneath the moon, leaning to her with bright, shining eyes full of compassion for the little girl who was to goso far away into an unknown land; she felt them, as the touch of abreeze when the night is still, fondling her, clasping her, tossingher aloft in farewell. One she felt plainly--a gallant youth whoheld her up for all to see. One she saw clearly--a dewy-eyed, lovely woman who murmured loving, broken words. One she hearddistinctly--a gentle voice that said, "God's love be with you, little one, for you have far to go, and many days to pass beforeyou see Quebec again. " And the girl's eyes suddenly swam bright, for the northland was very dreary. She threw her palms out in agesture of weariness. 

Then her arms dropped, her eyes widened, her head bent forward inthe attitude of listening. 

"Achille!" she called. "Achille! Come here!"

The young fellow approached respectfully. 

"Mademoiselle?" he asked. 

"Don't you hear?" she said. 

Faint, between intermittent silences, came the singing of men'svoices from the south. 

"_Grace a Dieu_!" cried Achille. "Eet is so. Eet is dat_brigade_!"

He ran shouting toward the factory. 

Chapter Two

Men, women, dogs, children sprang into sight from nowhere, and ranpell-mell to the two cannon. Galen Albret, reappearing from thefactory, began to issue orders. Two men set about hoisting on thetall flag-staff the blood-red banner of the Company. Speculation, excited and earnest, arose among the men as to which of thebranches of the Moose this _brigade_ had hunted--the Abitibi, theMattagami, or the Missinaibie. The half-breed women shaded theireyes. Mrs. Cockburn, the doctor's wife, and the only other whitewoman in the settlement, came and stood by Virginia Albret's side. Wishkobun, the Ojibway woman from the south country, and Virginia'sdevoted familiar, took her half-jealous stand on the other. 

"It is the same every year. We always like to see them come, " saidMrs. Cockburn, in her monotonous low voice of resignation. 

"Yes, " replied Virginia, moving a little impatiently, for sheanticipated eagerly the picturesque coming of these men of theSilent Places, and wished to savor the pleasure undistracted. 

"Mi-di-mo-yay ka'-win-ni-shi-shin, " said Wishkobun, quietly. 

"Ae, " replied Virginia, with a little laugh, patting the woman'sbrown hand. 

A shout arose. Around the bend shot a canoe. At once every paddlein it was raised to a perpendicular salute, then all togetherdashed into the water with the full strength of the _voyageurs_wielding them. The canoe fairly leaped through the cloud of spray. Another rounded the bend, another double row of paddles flashed inthe sunlight, another crew broke into a tumult of rapid exertion asthey raced the last quarter mile of the long journey. A thirdburst into view, a fourth, a fifth. The silent river was alivewith motion, glittering with color. The canoes swept onward, likerace-horses straining against the rider. Now the spectators couldmake out plainly the boatmen. It could be seen that they haddecked themselves out for the occasion. Their heads were boundwith bright-colored fillets, their necks with gay scarves. Thepaddles were adorned with gaudy woollen streamers. New leggings, of holiday pattern, were intermittently visible on the bowsmen andsteersmen as they half rose to give added force to their efforts. 

At first the men sang their canoe songs, but as the swift rush ofthe birch-barks brought them almost to their journey's end, theyburst into wild shrieks and whoops of delight. 

All at once they were close to hand. The steersman rose to throwhis entire weight on the paddle. The canoe swung abruptly for theshore. Those in it did not relax their exertions, but continuedtheir vigorous strokes until within a few yards of apparentdestruction. 

"Hola! hola!" they cried, thrusting their paddles straight downinto the water with a strong backward twist. The stout wood bentand cracked. The canoe stopped short and the _voyageurs_ leapedashore to be swallowed up in the crowd that swarmed down upon them. 

The races were about equally divided, and each acted after itsinstincts--the Indian greeting his people quietly, and stalkingaway to the privacy of his wigwam; the more volatile white catchinghis wife or his sweetheart or his child to his arms. A swarm ofIndian women and half-grown children set about unloading thecanoes. Virginia's eyes ran over the crews of the various craft. She recognized them all, of course, to the last Indian packer, forin so small a community the personality and doings of even thehumblest members are well known to everyone. Long since she hadidentified the _brigade_. It was of the Missinaibie, the greatriver whose head-waters rise a scant hundred feet from those thatflow as many miles south into Lake Superior. It drains a wild andrugged country whose forests cling to bowlder hills, whose streamsissue from deep-riven gorges, where for many years the big graywolves had gathered in unusual abundance. She knew by heart thewinter posts, although she had never seen them. She could imaginethe isolation of such a place, and the intense loneliness of thesolitary man condemned to live through the dark Northern winters, seeing no one but the rare Indians who might come in to trade withhim for their pelts. She could appreciate the wild joy of a returnfor a brief season to the company of fellow-men. 

When her glance fell upon the last of the canoes, it rested with aflash of surprise. The craft was still floating idly, its bowbarely caught against the bank. The crew had deserted, butamidships, among the packages of pelts and duffel, sat a stranger, The canoe was that of the post at Kettle Portage. 

She saw the stranger to be a young man with a clean-cut face, atrim athletic figure dressed in the complete costume of the_voyageurs_, and thin brown and muscular hands. When the canoetouched the bank he had taken no part in the scramble to shore, andso had sat forgotten and unnoticed save by the girl, his figureerect with something of the Indian's stoical indifference. Thenwhen, for a moment, he imagined himself free from observation, hisexpression abruptly changed. His hands clenched tense between hisbuckskin knees, his eyes glanced here and there restlessly, and anindefinable shadow of something which Virginia felt herself obtusein labelling desperation, and yet to which she discovered itimpossible to fit a name, descended on his features, darkeningthem. Twice he glanced away to the south. Twice he ran his eyeover the vociferating crowd on the narrow beach. 

Absorbed in the silent drama of a man's unguarded expression, Virginia leaned forward eagerly. In some vague manner it was bornein on her that once before she had experienced the same emotion, had come into contact with someone, something, that had affectedher emotionally just as this man did now. But she could not placeit. Over and over again she forced her mind to the very point ofrecollection, but always it slipped back again from the verge ofattainment. Then a little movement, some thrust forward of thehead, some nervous, rapid shifting of the hands or feet, someunconscious poise of the shoulders, brought the scene flashingbefore her--the white snow, the still forest, the little square pentrap, the wolverine, desperate but cool, thrusting its blunt nosequickly here and there in baffled hope of an orifice of escape. Somehow the man reminded her of the animal, the fierce little woodsmarauder, trapped and hopeless, but scorning to cower as would thegentler creatures of the forest. 

Abruptly his expression changed again. His figure stiffened, themuscles of his face turned iron. Virginia saw that someone on thebeach had pointed toward him. His mask was on. 

The first burst of greeting was over. Here and there one oranother of the _brigade_ members jerked their heads in thestranger's direction, explaining low-voiced to their companions. Soon all eyes turned curiously toward the canoe. A hum oflow-voiced comment took the place of louder delight. 

The stranger, finding himself generally observed, rose slowly tohis feet, picked his way with a certain exaggerated deliberation ofmovement over the duffel lying in the bottom of the canoe, until hereached the bow, where he paused, one foot lifted to the gunwalejust above the emblem of the painted star. Immediately a deadsilence fell. Groups shifted, drew apart, and together again, likethe slow agglomeration of sawdust on the surface of water, until atlast they formed in a semicircle of staring, whose centre was thebow of the canoe and the stranger from Kettle Portage. The menscowled, the women regarded him with a half-fearful curiosity. 

Virginia Albret shivered in the shock of this sudden electricpolarity. The man seemed alone against a sullen, unexplainedhostility. The desperation she had thought to read but a momentbefore had vanished utterly, leaving in its place a scornfulindifference and perhaps more than a trace of recklessness. He wasripe for an outbreak. She did not in the least understand, but sheknew it from the depths of her woman's instinct, and unconsciouslyher sympathies flowed out to this man, alone without a greetingwhere all others came to their own. 

For perhaps a full sixty seconds the newcomer stood uncertain whathe should do, or perhaps waiting for some word or act to tip thebalance of his decision. One after another those on shore felt theinsolence of his stare, and shifted uneasily. Then his deliberatescrutiny rose to the group by the cannon. Virginia caught herbreath sharply. In spite of herself she could not turn away. Thestranger's eye crossed her own. She saw the hard look fade intopleased surprise. Instantly his hat swept the gunwale of thecanoe. He stepped magnificently ashore. The crisis was over. Nota word had been spoken. 

Chapter Three

Galen Albret sat in his rough-hewn armchair at the head of thetable, receiving the reports of his captains. The long, narrowroom opened before him, heavy raftered, massive, white, with acavernous fireplace at either end. Above him frowned Sir George'sportrait, at his right hand and his left stretched the row ofhome-made heavy chairs, finished smooth and dull by two centuriesof use. 

His arms were laid along the arms of his seat; his shaggy head wassunk forward until his beard swept the curve of his big chest; theheavy tufts of hair above his eyes were drawn steadily together ina frown of attention. One after another the men arose and spoke. He made no movement, gave no sign, his short, powerful form blottedagainst the lighter silhouette of his chair, only his eyes and thewhite of his beard gleaming out of the dusk. 

Kern of Old Brunswick House, Achard of New; Ki-wa-nee, the Indianof Flying Post--these and others told briefly of many things, eachin his own language. To all Galen Albret listened in silence. Finally Louis Placide from the post at Kettle Portage got to hisfeet. He too reported of the trade, --so many "beaver" of tobacco, of powder, of lead, of pork, of flour, of tea, given in exchange;so many mink, otter, beaver, ermine, marten, and fisher pelts takenin return. Then he paused and went on at greater length in regardto the stranger, speaking evenly but with emphasis. When he hadfinished. Galen Albret struck a bell at his elbow. Me-en-gan, thebowsman of the factor's canoe, entered, followed closely by theyoung man who had that afternoon arrived. 

He was dressed still in his costume of the _voyageur_--the looseblouse shirt, the buckskin leggings and moccasins, the longtasselled red sash. His head was as high and his glance as free, but now the steel blue of his eye had become steady and wary, andtwo faint lines had traced themselves between his brows. At hisentrance a hush of expectation fell. Galen Albret did not stir, but the others hitched nearer the long, narrow table, and two orthree leaned both elbows on it the better to catch what shouldensue. 

Me-en-gan stopped by the door, but the stranger walked steadily thelength of the room until he faced the Factor. Then he paused andwaited collectedly for the other to speak. 

This the Factor did not at once begin to do, but satimpassive--apparently without thought--while the heavy breathing ofthe men in the room marked off the seconds of time. Finallyabruptly Galen Albret's cavernous voice boomed forth. Somethingthere was strangely mysterious, cryptic, in the virile tonesissuing from a bulk so massive and inert. Galen Albret did notmove, did not even raise the heavy-lidded, dull stare of his eyesto the young man who stood before him; hardly did his broad archedchest seem to rise and fall with the respiration of speech; and yeteach separate word leaped forth alive, instinct with authority. 

"Once at Leftfoot Lake, two Indians caught you asleep, " hepronounced. "They took your pelts and arms, and escorted you toSudbury. They were my Indians. Once on the upper Abitibi you werestopped by a man named Herbert, who warned you from the country, after relieving you of your entire outfit. He told you on partingwhat you might expect if you should repeat the attempt--severemeasures, the severest. Herbert was my man. Now Louis Placidesurprises you in a rapids near Kettle Portage and brings you here. "

During the slow delivering of these accurately spaced words, theattitude of the men about the long, narrow table gradually changed. Their curiosity had been great before, but now their intellectualinterest was awakened, for these were facts of which LouisPlacide's statement had given no inkling. Before them, for thedealing, was a problem of the sort whose solution had earned forGalen Albret a reputation in the north country. They glanced atone another to obtain the sympathy of attention, then back towardtheir chief in anxious expectation of his next words. Thestranger, however, remained unmoved. A faint smile had sketchedthe outline of his lips when first the Factor began to speak. Thissmile he maintained to the end. As the older man paused, heshrugged his shoulders. 

"All of that is quite true. " he admitted. Even the unimaginativemen of the Silent Places started at these simple words, andvouchsafed to their speaker a more sympathetic attention. For thetones in which they were delivered possessed that deep, rich throattimbre which so often means power--personal magnetism--deep, fromthe chest, with vibrant throat tones suggesting a volume of soundwhich may in fact be only hinted by the loudness the man at themoment sees fit to employ. Such a voice is a responsive instrumenton which emotion and mood play wonderfully seductive strains. 

"All of that is quite true, " he repeated after a second's pause;"but what has it to do with me? Why am I stopped and sent out fromthe free forest? I am really curious to know your excuse. "

"This, " replied Galen Albret, weightily, "is my domain. I tolerateno rivalry here. "

"Your right?" demanded the young man, briefly. 

"I have made the trade, and I intend to keep it. "

"In other words, the strength of your good right arm, " supplementedthe stranger, with the faintest hint of a sneer. 

"That is neither here nor there, " rejoined Galen Albret, "the pointis that I intend to keep it. I've had you sent out, but you havebeen too stupid or too obstinate to take the hint. Now I have towarn you in person. I shall send you out once more, but this timeyou must promise me not to meddle with the trade again. "

He paused for a response. The young man's smile merely becameaccentuated, "I have means of making my wishes felt, " warned the Factor. 

"Quite so, " replied the young man, deliberately, "_La LongueTraverse_. "

At this unexpected pronouncement of that dread name two of the menswore violently; the others thrust back their chairs and sat, theirarms rigidly braced against the table's edge, staring wide-eyed andopen-mouthed at the speaker. Only Galen Albret remained unmoved. 

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, calmly. 

"It amuses you to be ignorant, " replied the stranger, with somecontempt. "Don't you think this farce is about played out? I do. If you think you're deceiving me any with this show of formality, you're mightily mistaken. Don't you suppose I knew what I wasabout when I came into this country? Don't you suppose I hadweighed the risks and had made up my mind to take my medicine if Ishould be caught? Your methods are not quite so secret as youimagine. I know perfectly well what happens to Free Traders inRupert's Land. "

"You seem very certain of your information. "

"Your men seem equally so, " pointed out the stranger. 

Galen Albret, at the beginning of the young man's longer speech, had sunk almost immediately into his passive calm--the calm ofgreat elemental bodies, the calm of a force so vast as to restmotionless by the very static power of its mass. When he spokeagain, it was in the tentative manner of his earlier interrogatory, committing himself not at all, seeking to plumb his opponent'sknowledge. 

"Why, if you have realized the gravity of your situation have youpersisted after having been twice warned?" he inquired. 

"Because you're not the boss of creation, " replied the young man, bluntly. 

Galen Albret merely raised his eyebrows. 

"I've got as much business in this country as you have, " continuedthe young man, his tone becoming more incisive. "You don't seem torealize that your charter of monopoly has expired. If thegovernment was worth a damn it would see to you fellows. You haveno more right to order me out of here than I would have to orderyou out. Suppose some old Husky up on Whale River should send youword that you weren't to trap in the Whale River district nextwinter. I'll bet you'd be there. You Hudson Bay men tried thesame game out west It didn't work. You ask your western men ifthey ever heard of Ned Trent. "

"Your success does not seem to have followed you here, " suggestedthe Factor, ironically. 

The young man smiled. 

"This _Longue Traverse_, " went on Albret, "what is your idea there?I have heard something of it. What is your information?"

Ned Trent laughed outright. "You don't imagine there is any secretabout that!" he marvelled. "Why, every child north of the Lineknows that. You will send me away without arms, and with but ahandful of provisions. If the wilderness and starvation fail, yourrunners will not. I shall never reach the Temiscamingues alive. "

"The same old legend, " commented Galen Albret in apparentamusement, "I heard it when I first came to this country. You'llfind a dozen such in every Indian camp. "

"Jo Bagneau, Morris Proctor, John May, William Jarvis, " checked offthe young man on his fingers. 

"Personal enmity, " replied the Factor. 

He glanced up to meet the young man's steady, sceptical smile. 

"You do not believe me?"

"Oh, if it amuses you. " conceded the stranger. 

"The thing is not even worth discussion. "

"Remarkable sensation among our friends here for so idle a tale. "

Galen Albret considered. 

"You will remember that throughout you have forced this interview, "he pointed out. "Now I must ask your definite promise to get outof this country and to stay out. "

"No, " replied Ned Trent. 

"Then a means shall be found to make you!" threatened the Factor, his anger blazing at last. 

"Ah, " said the stranger softly. 

Galen Albret raised his hand and let it fall. The bronzed andgaudily bedecked men filed out. 

Chapter Four

In the open air the men separated in quest of their variousfamilies or friends. The stranger lingered undecided for a momenton the top step of the veranda, and then wandered down the littlestreet, if street it could be called where horses there were none. On the left ranged the square white-washed houses with theirdooryards, the old church, the workshop. To the right was a broadgrass-plot, and then the Moose, slipping by to the distant offing. Over a little bridge the stranger idled, looking curiously abouthim. The great trading-house attracted his attention, with itsnarrow picket lane leading to the door; the storehouse surroundedby a protective log fence; the fort itself, a medley ofheavy-timbered stockades and square block-houses. After a momenthe resumed his strolling. Everywhere he went the people looked athim, ceasing their varied occupations. No one spoke to him, no onehindered him. To all intents and purposes he was as free as theair. But all about the island flowed the barrier of the Moose, andbeyond frowned the wilderness--strong as iron bars to an unarmedman. 

Brooding on his imprisonment the Free Trader forgot hissurroundings. The post, the river, the forest, the distant bayfaded from his sight, and he fell into deep reflection. Thereremained nothing of physical consciousness but a sense of thegrateful spring warmth from the declining sun. At length he becamevaguely aware of something else. He glanced up. Right by him hesaw a handsome French half-breed sprawled out in the sun against abuilding, looking him straight in the face and flashing up at him afriendly smile. 

"Hullo, " said Achille Picard, "you mus' been 'sleep. I call youtwo t'ree tam. "

The prisoner seemed to find something grateful in the greeting evenfrom the enemy's camp. Perhaps it merely happened upon thepsychological moment for a response. 

"Hullo, " he returned, and seated himself by the man's side, lazilystretching himself in enjoyment of the reflected heat. 

"You is come off Kettle Portage, eh, " said Achille, "I t'ink so. You is come trade dose fur? Eet is bad beez-ness, dis Conjur'House. Ole' man he no lak' dat you trade dose fur. He's very hard, dat ole man. "

"Yes, " replied the stranger, "he has got to be, I suppose. This isthe country of _la Longue Traverse_. "

"I beleef you, " responded Achille, cheerfully; "w'at you call heemyour nam'?"

"Ned Trent. "

"Me Achille--Achille Picard. I capitaine of dose dogs on datwinter _brigade_. "

"It is a hard post. The winter travel is pretty tough. "

"I beleef you. "

"Better to take _la Longue Traverse_ in summer, eh?"

"_La Longue Traverse_--hees not mattaire w'en yo tak heem. "

"Right you are. Have there been men sent out since you came here?"

"_Ba oui_. Wan, two, t'ree. I don' remember. I t'ink Jo Bagneau. Nobodee he don' know, but dat ole man an' hees _coureurs du bois_. He ees wan ver' great man. Nobodee is know w'at he will do. "

"I'm due to hit that trail myself, I suppose, " said Ned Trent. 

"I have t'ink so, " acknowledged Achille, still with a tone of mostengaging cheerfulness. 

"Shall I be sent out at once, do you think?"

"I don' know. Sometam' dat ole man ver' queek. Sometam' he ver'slow. One day Injun mak' heem ver' mad; he let heem go, and shotdat Injun right off. Noder tam he get mad on one _voyageur_, buthe don' keel heem queek; he bring heem here, mak' heem stay in dosewarm room, feed heem dose plaintee grub. Purty soon dose_voyageur_ is get fat, is go sof'; he no good for dose trail. Oleman he mak' heem go ver' far off, mos' to Whale Reever. Eet isplaintee cole. Dat _voyageur_, he freeze to hees inside. Dey tellme he feex heem like dat. "

"Achille, you haven't anything against me--do you want me to die?"

The half-breed flashed his white teeth. 

"Ba non, " he replied, carelessly. "For w'at I want dat you die? It'ink you bus' up bad; _vous avez la mauvaise fortune. "

"Listen. I have nothing with me; but out at the front I am veryrich. I will give you a hundred dollars, if you will help me to getaway. "

"I can' do eet, " smiled Picard. 

"Why not?"

"Ole man he fin' dat out. He is wan devil, dat ole man. I lakfirs'-rate help you; I lak' dat hundred dollar. On Ojibwaycountree dey make hees nam' _Wagosh_--dat mean fox. He knoweverything. "

"I'll make it two hundred--three hundred--five hundred. "

"Wat you wan' me do?" hesitated Achille Picard at the last figure. 

"Get me a rifle and some cartridges. "

The half-breed rolled a cigarette, lighted it, and inhaled a deepbreath. 

"I can' do eet, " he declared. "I can' do eet for t'ousanddollar--ten t'ousand. I don't t'ink you fin' anywan on dissettlement w'at can dare do eet. He is wan devil. He's count allde carabine on dis pos', an' w'en he is mees wan, he fin' out purtyqueek who is tak' heem. "

"Steal one from someone else, " suggested Trent. 

"He fin' out jess sam', " objected the half-breed, obstinately. "You don' know heem. He mak' you geev yourself away, when he lak'do dat. " The smile had left the man's face. This was evidentlytoo serious a matter to be taken lightly. 

"Well, come with me, then, " urged Ned Trent, with some impatience. "A thousand dollars I'll give you. With that you can be richsomewhere else. "

But the man was becoming more and more uneasy, glancing furtivelyfrom left to right and back again, in an evident panic lest theconversation be overheard, although the nearest dwelling-house wasa score of yards distant. 

"Hush, " he whispered. "You mustn't talk lak' dat. Dose ole manfin' you out. You can' hide away from heem. Ole tam long ago, Pierre Cadotte is stole feefteen skin of de otter--desea-otter--and he is sol' dem on Winnipeg. He is get 'boutthousand beaver--five hunder' dollar. Den he is mak' dose longuevoyage wes'--ver' far wes'--_on dit_ Peace Reever. He is mak' heemdose cabane, w'ere he is leev long tam wid wan man of Mackenzie. He is call it hees nam' Dick Henderson. I is meet Dick Hendersonon Winnipeg las' year, w'en I mak' paddle on dem Factor Brigade, an' dose High Commissionaire. He is tol' me wan night pret' latehe wake up all de queeck he can w'en he is hear wan noise in dosecabane, an' he is see wan Injun, lak' phantome 'gainst de moon tode door. Dick Henderson he is 'sleep, he don' know w'at he mus'do. Does Injun is step ver' sof' an' go on bunk of Pierre Cadotte. Pierre Cadotte is mak' de beeg cry. Dick Henderson say he no seedose Injun no more, an' he fin' de door shut' _Ba_ Pierre Cadotte, she's go dead. He is mak' wan beeg hole in hees ches'. "

"Some enemy, some robber frightened Away because the Henderson manwoke up, probably, " suggested Ned Trent. 

The half-breed laid his hand impressively on the other's arm andleaned forward until his bright black eyes were within a foot ofthe other's face. 

"Wen dose Injun is stan' heem in de moonlight, Dick Henderson issee hees face. Dick Henderson is know all dose Injun. He is toleme dat Injun is not Peace Reever Injun. Dick Henderson is say doseInjun is Ojibway Injun--Ojibway Injun two t'ousand mile wes'--onPeace Reever! Dat's curi's!"

"I was tell you nodder story--" went on Achille, after a moment. 

"Never mind, " interrupted the Trader. "I believe you. "

"Maybee, " said Achille cheerfully, "you stan' some show--notmoche--eef he sen' you out pret' queeck. Does small _perdrix_ isyonge, an' dose duck. Maybee you is catch dem, maybee you is keeldem wit' bow an' arrow. Dat's not beeg chance. You mus' geev dose_coureurs de bois_ de sleep w'en you arrive. _Voila_, I geev youmy knife!"

He glanced rapidly to right and left, then slipped a small objectinto the stranger's hand. 

"_Ba_, I t'ink does ole man is know dat. I t'ink he kip you heretill tam w'en dose _perdrix_ and duck is all grow up beeg' nuff sohe can fly. "

"I'm not watched, " said the young man in eager tones: "I'll slipaway to-night. "

"Dat no good, " objected Picard. "Wat you do? S'pose you do dat, dose _coureurs_ keel you _toute suite_. Dey is have good excuse, an' you is have nothing to mak' de fight. You sleep away, and doseole man is sen' out plaintee Injun. Dey is fine you sure. _Ba_, eef he sen' you out, den he sen' onlee two Injun. Maybee you fightdem; I don' know. _Non, mon ami_, eef you is wan' get away w'endose ole man he don' know eet, you mus' have dose carabine. Denyou is have wan leetle chance. _Ba, eef you is not have heem dosecarabine, you mus' need dose leetle grub he geev you, and notplaintee Injun follow you, onlee two. "

"And I cannot get the rifle. "

"An' dose ole man is don' sen' you out till eet is too late formak' de grub on de fores'. Dat's w'at I t'ink. Dat ees not fonnyfor you. "

Ned Trent's eyes were almost black with thought. Suddenly he threwhis head up. 

"I'll make him send me out now, " he asserted confidently. 

"How you mak' eet him?"

"I'll talk turkey to him till he's so mad he can't see straight. Then maybe he'll send me out right away. "

"How you mak' eet him so mad? inquired Picard, with mild curiosity. 

"Never you mind--I'll do it"

"_Ba oui_, " ruminated Picard, "He is get mad pret' queeck. I t'inkp'raps dat plan he go all right. You was get heem mad plainteeeasy. Den maybee he is sen' you out toute suite--maybee he isshoot you. "

"I'll take the chances--my friend. "

"_Ba oui_, " shrugged Achille Picard, "eet is wan chance. "

He commenced to roll another cigarette. 

Chapter Five

Having sat buried in thought for a full five minutes after thetraders of the winter posts had left him, Galen Albret thrust backhis chair and walked into a room, long, low, and heavily raftered, strikingly unlike the Council Room. Its floor was overlaid withdark rugs; a piano of ancient model filled one corner; pictures andbooks broke the wall; the lamps and the windows were shaded, awoman's work-basket and a tea-set occupied a large table. Only acertain barbaric profusion of furs, the huge fireplace, and therough rafters of the ceiling differentiated the place from thedrawing-room of a well-to-do family anywhere. 

Galen Albret sank heavily into a chair and struck a bell. A tall, slightly stooped English servant, with correct side whiskers andincompetent, watery blue eyes, answered. To him said the Factor:

"I wish to see Miss Albret. "

A moment later Virginia entered the room. 

"Let us have some tea, O-mi-mi, " requested her father. 

The girl moved gently about, preparing and lighting the lamp, measuring the tea, her fair head bowed gracefully over her task, her dark eyes pensive and but half following what she did. Finallywith a certain air of decision she seated herself on the arm of achair. 

"Father, " said she. 

"Yes. "

"A stranger came to-day with Louis Placide of Kettle Portage. "

"Well?"

"He was treated strangely by our people, and he treated themstrangely in return. Why is that?"

"Who can tell?"

"What is his station? Is he a common trader? He does not look it. "

"He is a man of intelligence and daring. "

"Then why is he not our guest?"

Galen Albret did not answer. After a moment's pause he asked againfor his tea. The girl turned away impatiently. Here was a puzzle, neither the _voyageurs_, nor Wishkobun her nurse, nor her fatherwould explain to her. The first had grinned stupidly; the secondhad drawn her shawl across her face, the third asked for tea!

She handed her father the cup, hesitated, then ventured to inquirewhether she was forbidden to greet the stranger should the occasionarise. 

"He is a gentleman, " replied her father. 

She sipped her tea thoughtfully, her imagination stirring. Againher recollection lingered over the clear bronze lines of thestranger's face. Something vaguely familiar seemed to touch herconsciousness with ghostly fingers. She closed her eyes and triedto clutch them. At once they were withdrawn. And then again, whenher attention wandered, they stole back, plucking appealingly atthe hem of her recollections. 

The room was heavy-curtained, deep embrasured, for the house, beneath its clap-boards, was of logs. Although out of doors theclear spring sunshine still flooded the valley of the Moose;within, the shadows had begun with velvet fingers to extinguish thebrighter lights. Virginia threw herself back on a chair in thecorner. 

"Virginia, " said Galen Albret, suddenly, "Yes, father. "

"You are no longer a child, but a woman. Would you like to go toQuebec?"

She did not answer him at once, but pondered beneath close-knitbrows. 

"Do you wish me to go, father?" she asked at length. 

"You are eighteen. It is time you saw the world, time you learnedthe ways of other people. But the journey is hard. I may not seeyou again for some years. You go among strangers. "

He fell silent again. Motionless he had been, except for themumbling of his lips beneath his beard. 

"It shall be just as you wish, " he added a moment later. 

At once a conflict arose in the girl's mind between her restlessdreams and her affections. But beneath all the glitter of thequestion there was really nothing to take her out. Here was herfather, here were the things she loved; yonder was novelty--andloneliness. 

Her existence at Conjuror's House was perhaps a little complex, butit was familiar. She knew the people, and she took a daily andunwearying delight in the kindness and simplicity of their bearingtoward herself. Each detail of life came to her in the round ofhabit, wearing the garment of accustomed use. But of the world sheknew nothing except what she had been able to body forth from herreading, and that had merely given her imagination somethingtangible with which to feed her self-distrust. 

"Must I decide at once?" she asked. 

"If you go this year, it must be with the Abitibi _brigade_. Youhave until then. "

"Thank you, father. " said the girl, sweetly. 

The shadows stole their surroundings one by one, until only thebright silver of the tea-service, and the glitter of polished wood, and the square of the open door remained. Galen Albret became aninert dark mass. Virginia's gray was lost in that of the twilight. 

Time passed. The clock ticked on. Faintly sounds penetrated fromthe kitchen, and still more faintly from out of doors. Then therectangle of the door-way was darkened by a man peeringuncertainly. The man wore his hat, from which slanted a slenderheron's plume; his shoulders were square; his thighs slim andgraceful. 

Against the light, one caught the outline of the sash's tassel andthe fringe of his leggings. 

"Are you there, Galen Albret?" he challenged. 

The spell of twilight mystery broke. It seemed as if suddenly theair had become surcharged with the vitality of opposition. 

"What then?" countered the Factor's heavy, deliberate tones. 

"True, I see you now, " rejoined the visitor carelessly, as he flunghimself across the arm of a chair and swung one foot. "I do notdoubt you are convinced by this time of my intention. "

"My recollection does not tell me what messenger I sent to ask thisinterview. "

"Correct, " laughed the young man a little hardly. "You _didn't_ask it. I attended to that myself. What you want doesn't concernme in the least. What do you suppose I care what, or what not, anyof this crew wants? I'm master of my own ideas, anyway, thank God. If you don't like what I do, you can always stop me. " In the toneof his voice was a distinct challenge. Galen Albret, it seemed, chose to pass it by. 

"True, " he replied sombrely, after a barely perceptible pause tomark his tacit displeasure. "It is your hour. Say on. "

"I should like to know the date at which I take _la LongueTraverse_. "

"You persist in that nonsense?"

"Call my departure whatever you want to--I have the name for it. When do I leave?"

"I have not decided. "

"And in the meantime?"

"Do as you please. "

"Ah, thanks for this generosity, " cried the young man, in a tone ofdeclamatory sarcasm so artificial as fairly to scent theelocutionary. "To do as I please--here--now there's a blessedprivilege! I may walk around where I want to, talk to such as havea good word for me, punish those who have not! But do I err inconcluding that the state of your game law is such that it would beuseless to reclaim my rifle from the engaging Placide?"

"You have a fine instinct, " approved the Factor. 

"It is one of my valued possessions, " rejoined the young man, insolently. He struck a match, and by its light selected acigarette. 

"I do not myself use tobacco in this room, " suggested the olderspeaker. 

"I am curious to learn the limits of your forbearance, " replied theyounger, proceeding to smoke. 

He threw back his head and regarded his opponent with an openchallenge, daring him to become angry. The match went out. 

Virginia, who had listened in growing anger and astonishment, unable longer to refrain from defending the dignity of her usuallyautocratic father, although he seemed little disposed to defendhimself, now intervened from her dark corner on the divan. 

"Is the journey then so long, sir, " she asked composedly, "that itat once inspires such anticipations--and such bitterness?"

In an instant the man was on his feet, hat in hand, and thecigarette had described a fiery curve into the empty hearth. 

"I beg your pardon, sincerely, " he cried, "I did not know you werehere!"

"You might better apologize to my father, " replied Virginia. 

The young man stepped forward and without asking permission, lighted one of the tall lamps. 

"The lady of the guns!" he marvelled softly to himself. 

He moved across the room, looking down on her inscrutably, whileshe looked up at him in composed expectation of an apology--andGalen Albret sat motionless, in the shadow of his great arm-chair. But after a moment her calm attention broke down. Something therewas about this man that stirred her emotions--whether of curiosity, pity, indignation, or a slight defensive fear she was notintrospective enough to care to inquire. And yet the sensation wasnot altogether unpleasant, and, as at the guns that afternoon, acertain portion of her consciousness remained in sympathy withwhatever it was of mysterious attraction he represented to her. Inhim she felt the dominant, as a wild creature of the woodsinstinctively senses the master and drops its eyes. Resentment didnot leave her, but over it spread a film of confusion that robbedit of its potency. In him, in his mood, in his words, in hismanner, was something that called out in direct appeal the moreprimitive instincts hitherto dormant beneath her sense ofmaidenhood, so that even at this vexed moment of consciousopposition, her heart was ranging itself on his side. Overpoweringly the feeling swept her that she was not acting inaccordance with her sense of fitness. She knew she should strike, but was unable to give due force to the blow. In the confusion ofsuch a discovery, her eyelids fluttered and fell. And he saw, and, understanding his power, dropped swiftly beside her on the broaddivan. 

"You must pardon me, mademoiselle, " he begun, his voice sinking toa depth of rich music singularly caressing. "To you I may seem tohave small excuses, but when a man is vouchsafed a glimpse ofheaven only to be cast out the next instant into hell, he is notalways particular in the choice of words. "

All the time his eyes sought hers, which avoided the challenge, andthe strong masculine charm of magnetism which he possessed in suchvital abundance overwhelmed her unaccustomed consciousness. GalenAlbret shifted uneasily, and shot a glance in their direction. Thestranger, perceiving this, lowered his voice in register and tone, and went on with almost exaggerated earnestness. 

"Surely you can forgive me, a desperate man, almost anything?"

"I do not understand, " said Virginia, with a palpable effort. 

Ned Trent leaned forward until his eager face was almost at hershoulder. 

"Perhaps not, " he urged; "I cannot ask you to try. But suppose, mademoiselle, you were in my case. Suppose your eyes--likemine--have rested on nothing but a howling wilderness for dearheaven knows how long; you come at last in sight of real houses, real grass, real door-yard gardens just ready to blossom in thespring, real food, real beds, real books, real men with whom toexchange the sensible word, and something more, mademoiselle--awoman such as one dreams of in the long forest nights under thestars. And you know that while others, the lucky ones, may stay toenjoy it all, you, the unfortunate, are condemned to leave it atany moment for _la Longue Traverse_. Would not you, too, bebitter, mademoiselle? Would not you too mock and sneer? Think, mademoiselle, I have not even the little satisfaction of rousingmen's anger. I can insult them as I will, but they turn aside inpity, saying one to another: 'Let us pleasure him in this, poorfellow, for he is about to take _la Longue Traverse_. ' That is whyyour father accepts calmly from me what he would not from another. "

Virginia sat bolt upright on the divan, her hands clasped in herlap, her wonderful black eyes looking straight out before her, trying to avoid her companion's insistent gaze. His attention wasfixed on her mobile and changing countenance, but he marked withevident satisfaction Galen Albret's growing uneasiness. This wasevidenced only by a shifting of the feet, a tapping of the fingers, a turning of the shaggy head--in such a man slight tokens aresignificant. The silence deepened with the shadows drawing aboutthe single lamp, while Virginia attempted to maintain a breathingadvantage above the flood of strange emotions which the personalityof this man had swept down upon her. 

"It does not seem--" objected the girl in bewilderment, "I do notknow--men are often out in this country for years at a time. Longjourneys are not unknown among us, We are used to undertaking them. "

"But not _la Longue Traverse_, " insisted the young man, sombrely. 

"_La Longue Traverse_. " she repeated in sweet perplexity. 

"Sometimes called the Journey of Death, " he explained. 

She turned to look him in the eyes, a vague expression of puzzledfear on her face. 

"She has never heard of it, " said Ned Trent to himself, and aloud:"Men who undertake it leave comfort behind. They embrace hungerand weariness, cold and disease. At the last they embrace death, and are glad of his coming. "

Something in his tone compelled belief; something in his face toldher that he was a man by whom the inevitable hardships of winterand summer travel, fearful as they are, would be lightly endured. She shuddered. 

"This dreadful thing is necessary?" she asked. 

"Alas, yes. "

"I do not understand----"

"In the North few of us understand, " agreed the young man with ahint of bitterness seeping through his voice. "The mighty order, and so we obey. But that is beside the point. I have not told youthese things to harrow you; I have tried to excuse myself for myactions. Does it touch you a little? Am I forgiven?"

"I do not understand how such things can be, " she objected in someconfusion, "why such journeys must exist. My mind cannotcomprehend your explanations. "

The stranger leaned forward abruptly, his eyes blazing with themagnetic personality of the man. 

"But your heart?" he breathed. 

It was the moment. "My heart--" she repeated, as though bewilderedby the intensity of his eyes, "my heart--ah--yes!"

Immediately the blood rushed over her face and throat in a torrent. She snatched her eyes away, and cowered back in the corner, goingred and white by turns, now angry, now frightened, now bewildered, until his gaze, half masterful, half pleading, again conqueredhers. Galen Albret had ceased tapping his chair. In the dim lighthe sat, staring straight before him, massive, inert, grim. 

"I believe you--" she murmured hurriedly at last. "I pity you!"

She rose. Quick as light he barred her passage. 

"Don't! don't!" she pleaded. "I must go--you have shaken me--I--Ido not understand myself----"

"I must see you again, " he whispered eagerly. "To-night--by theguns. "

"No, no!"

"To-night, " he insisted. 

She raised her eyes to his, this time naked of defence, so that theman saw down through their depths into her very soul. 

"Oh, " she begged, quivering, "let me pass. Don't you see--I'mgoing to cry!"

Chapter Six

For a moment Ned Trent stared through the darkness into whichVirginia had disappeared. Then he turned a troubled face to thetask he had set himself, for the unexpectedly pathetic results ofhis fantastic attempt had shaken him. Twice he half turned asthough to follow her. Then shaking his shoulders he bent hisattention to the old man in the shadow of the chair. 

He was given no opportunity for further speech, however, for at thesound of the closing door Galen Albret's impassivity had fallenfrom him. He sprang to his feet. The whole aspect of the mansuddenly became electric, terrible. His eyes blazed; his heavybrows drew spasmodically toward each other; his jaws worked, twisting his beard into strange contortions; his massive framestraightened formidably; and his voice rumbled from the arch of hisdeep chest in a torrent of passionate sound. 

"By God, young man!" he thundered, "you go too far! Take heed! Iwill not stand this! Do not you presume to make love to mydaughter before my eyes!"

And Ned Trent, just within the dusky circle of lamplight, where thebold, sneering lines of Ins face stood out in relief against thetwilight of the room, threw back his head and laughed. It was aclear laugh, but low, and in it were all the devils of triumph, andof insolence. Where the studied insult of words had failed, thissingle cachinnation succeeded. The Trade saw his opponent's eyesnarrow. For a moment he thought the Factor was about to spring onhim. 

Then, with an effort that blackened his face with blood, GalenAlbret controlled himself, and fell to striking the call-bellviolently and repeatedly with the palm of his hand. After a momentMatthews, the English servant, came running in. To him the Factorwas at first physically unable to utter a syllable. Then finallyhe managed to ejaculate the name of his bowsman with such violenceof gesture that the frightened servant comprehended by sheer forceof terror and ran out again in search of Me-en-gan. 

This supreme effort seemed to clear the way for speech. GalenAlbret began to address his opponent hoarsely in quick, disjointedsentences, a gasp for breath between each. 

"You revived an old legend--_la Longue Traverse_--the myth. Itshall be real--to--you--I will make it so. By God, you shall notdefy me----"

Ned Trent smiled. "You do not deceive me, " he rejoined, coolly. 

"Silence!" cried the Factor. "Silence!--You shall speak nomore!--You have said enough----"

Me-en-gan glided into the room. Galen Albret at once addressed himin the Ojibway language, gaining control of himself as he went on. 

"Listen to me well, " he commanded. "You shall make a count of allrifles in this place--at once. Let no one furnish this man withfood or arms. You know the story of _la Longue Traverse_. Thisman shall take it. So inform my people, I, the Factor, decree itso. Prepare all things at once--understand, at once!"

Ned Trent waited to hear no more, but sauntered from the roomwhistling gayly a boatman's song. His point was gained. 

Outside, the long Northern twilight with its beautiful shadows ofcrimson was descending from the upper regions of the east A lightwind breathed up-river from the bay. The Free Trader drew hislungs full of the evening air. 

"Just the same, I think she will come, " said he to himself. "_LaLongue Traverse_, even at once, is a pretty slim chance. But thissecond string to my bow is better. I believe I'll get therifle--if she comes!"

Chapter Seven

Virginia ran quickly up the narrow stairs to her own room, whereshe threw herself on the bed and buried her face in the pillows. 

As she had said, she was very much shaken. And, too, she wayafraid. 

She could not understand. Heretofore she had moved among the menaround her, pure, lofty, serene. Now at one blow all thiscrumbled. The stranger had outraged her finer feelings. He hadinsulted her father in her very presence;--for this she was angry. He had insulted herself;--for this she was afraid. He had demandedthat she meet him again; but this--at least in the manner he hadsuggested--should not happen. And yet she confessed to herself adelicious wonder as to what he would do next, and a vague desire tosee him again in order to find out. That she could notsuccessfully combat this feeling made her angry at herself. And soin mingled fear, pride, anger, and longing she remained untilWishkobun, the Indian woman, glided in to dress her for the dinnerwhose formality she and her father consistently maintained. Shefell to talking the soft Ojibway dialect, and in the conversationforgot some of her emotion and regained some of her calm. 

Her surface thoughts, at least, were compelled for the moment tooccupy themselves with other things. The Indian woman had to tellher of the silver fox brought in by Mu-hi-ken, an Indian of her owntribe; of the retort Achille Picard had made when MacLane hadtaunted him; of the forest fire that had declared itself far to theeast, and of the theories to account for it where no campers hadbeen. Yet underneath the rambling chatter Virginia was aware ofsomething new in her consciousness, something delicious but as yetvague. In the gayest moment of her half-jesting, half-affectionategossip with the Indian woman, she felt its uplift catching herbreath from beneath, so that for the tiniest instant she wouldpause as though in readiness for some message which neverthelessdelayed. A fresh delight in the present moment held her, a freshanticipation of the immediate future, though both delight andanticipation were based on something without her knowledge. Thatwould come later. 

The sound of rapid footsteps echoed across the lower hall, awhistle ran into an air, sung gayly, with spirit;

 "J'ai perdu ma maitresse, Sans l'avoir merite, Pour un bouquet de roses Que je lui refusai. Li ya longtemps que je t'aime, Jamais je ne t'oublierai!"

She fell abruptly silent, and spoke no more until she descended tothe council-room where the table was now spread for dinner. 

Two silver candlesticks lit the place. The men were waiting forher when she entered, and at once took their seats in the worn, rude chairs. White linen and glittering silver adorned theservice. Galen Albret occupied one end of the table, Virginia theother. On either side were Doctor and Mrs. Cockburn; McDonald, theChief Trader; Richardson, the clerk, and Crane, the missionary ofthe Church of England. Matthews served with rigid precision in theorder of importance, first the Factor, then Virginia, then thedoctor, his wife, McDonald, the clerk, and Crane in due order. Onentering a room the same precedence would have held good. Thusthese people, six hundred miles as the crow flies from the nearestsettlement, maintained their shadowy hold on civilization. 

The glass was fine, the silver massive, the linen dainty, Matthewswaited faultlessly: but overhead hung the rough timbers of thewilderness post, across the river faintly could be heard thehowling of wolves. The fare was rice, curry, salt pork, potatoes, and beans; for at this season the game was poor, and the fishhardly yet running with regularity. 

Throughout the meal Virginia sat in a singular abstraction. Noconscious thoughts took shape in her mind, but nevertheless sheseemed to herself to be occupied in considering weighty matters. When directly addressed, she answered sweetly. Much of the timeshe studied her father's face. She found it old. Those lines werealready evident which, when first noted, bring a stab of surprisedpain to the breast of a child--the droop of the mouth, thewrinkling of the temples, the patient weariness of the eyes. Virginia's own eyes filled with tears. The subjective passivestate into which a newly born but not yet recognized love had casther, inclined her to gentleness. She accepted facts as they cameto her. For the moment she forgot the mere happenings of the day, and lived only in the resulting mood of them all. The new-comerinspired her no longer with anger nor sorrow, attraction nor fear. Her active emotions in abeyance, she floated dreamily on the cloudsof a new estate. 

This very aloofness of spirit disinclined her for the company ofthe others after the meal was finished. The Factor closetedhimself with Richardson. The doctor, lighting a cheroot, took hisway across to his infirmary. McDonald, Crane, and Mrs. Cockburnentered the drawing-room and seated themselves near the piano. Virginia hesitated, then threw a shawl over her head and steppedout on the broad veranda. 

At once the vast, splendid beauty of the Northern night broke overher soul. Straight before her gleamed and flashed and ebbed andpalpitated the aurora. One moment its long arms shot beyond thezenith; the next it had broken and rippled back like a brook oflight to its arch over the Great Bear. Never for an instant was itstill. Its restlessness stole away the quiet of the evening; butleft it magnificent. 

In comparison with this coruscating dome of the infinite the earthhad shrunken to a narrow black band of velvet, in which was nothingdistinguishable until suddenly the sky-line broke in calmsilhouettes of spruce and firs. And always the mighty River of theMoose, gleaming, jewelled, barbaric in its reflections, slipped byto the sea. 

So rapid and bewildering was the motion of these two greatpowers--the river and the sky--that the imagination could notbelieve in silence. It was as though the earth were full ofshoutings and of tumults. And yet in reality the night was asstill as a tropical evening. The wolves and the sledge-dogsanswered each other undisturbed; the beautiful songs of thewhite-throats stole from the forest as divinely instinct as everwith the spirit of peace. 

Virginia leaned against the railing and looked upon it all. Herheart was big with emotions, many of which she could not name; hereyes were full of tears. Something had changed in her sinceyesterday, but she did not know what it was. The faint wise stars, the pale moon just sinking, the gentle south breeze could have toldher, for they are old, old in the world's affairs. Occasionally aflash more than ordinarily brilliant would glint one of the bronzeguns beneath the flag-staff. Then Virginia's heart would glinttoo. She imagined the reflection startled her. 

She stretched her arms out to the night, embracing its glories, sighing in sympathy with its meaning, which she did not know. Shefelt the desire of restlessness; yet she could not bear to go. Butno thought of the stranger touched her, for you see as yet she didnot understand. 

Then, quite naturally, she heard his voice in the darkness close toher knee. It seemed inevitable that he should be there; part ofthe restless, glorious night, part of her mood. She gave no startof surprise, but half closed her eyes and leaned her fair headagainst a pillar of the veranda. He sang in a sweet undertone anold chanson of voyage. 

 "Par derrier ches man pere, Vole, mon coeur, vole! Par derrier' chez mon pere Li-ya-t-un, pommier doux. "

"Ah lady, lady mine, " broke in the voice softly, "the night too issweet, soft as thine eyes. Will you not greet me?"

The girl made no sign. After a moment the song went on, "Trois filles d'un prince, Vole, mon coeur, vole! Trois filles d'un prince Sont endormies dessous. "

"Will not the princess leave her sisters of dreams?" whispered thevoice, fantastically, "Will she not come?"

Virginia shivered, and half-opened her eyes, but did not stir. Itseemed that the darkness sighed, then became musical again. 

 "La plus jeun' se reveille, Vole, mon coeur, vole! La plus jeun' se reveille --Ma Soeur, voila le jour!

The song broke this time without a word of pleading. The girlopened her eyes wide and stared breathlessly straight before her atthe singer. 

 "--Non, ce n'est qu'une etoile, Vole, mon coeur, vole! Non, ce n'est qu'une etoile Qu' eclaire nos amours!"

The last word rolled out through its passionate throat tones anddied into silence. 

"Come!" repeated the man again, this time almost in the accents ofcommand. 

She turned slowly and went to him, her eyes childlike andfrightened, her lips wide, her face pale. When she stood face toface with him she swayed and almost fell. 

"What do you want with me?" she faltered, with a little sob. 

The man looked at her keenly, laughed, and exclaimed in anevery-day, matter-of-fact voice:

"Why, I really believe my song frightened you. It is only aboating song. Come, let us go and sit on the gun-carriages andtalk. "

"Oh!" she gasped, a trifle hysterically. "Don't do that again!Please don't. I do not understand it! You must not!"

He laughed again, but with a note of tenderness in his voice, andtook her hand to lead her away, humming in an undertone the lastcouplet of his song:

 "Non, ce n'est qu'une etoile, Qu'eclaire nos amours!"

Chapter Eight

Virginia went with this man passively--to an appointment which, butan hour ago, she had promised herself she would not keep. Herinmost soul was stirred, just as before. Then it had been fewwords, now it was a little common song. But the strange power ofthe man held her close, so she realized that for the moment atleast she would do as he desired. In the amazement andconsternation of this thought she found time to offer up a littleprayer, "Dear God, make him kind to me. "

They leaned against the old bronze guns, facing the river. Hepulled her shawl about her, masterfully yet with gentleness, andthen, as though it was the most natural thing in the world, he drewher to him until she rested against his shoulder. And she remainedthere, trembling, in suspense, glancing at him quickly, inbirdlike, pleading glances, as though praying him to be kind. Hetook no notice after that, so the act seemed less like a caressthan a matter of course. He began to talk, half-humorously, andlittle by little, as he went on, she forgot her fears, even herfeeling of strangeness, and fell completely under the spell of hispower. 

"My name is Ned Trent, " he told her, "and I am from Quebec. I am awoods runner. I have journeyed far. I have been to the uttermostends of the North even up beyond the Hills of Silence. " And then, in his gay, half-mocking, yet musical voice he touched lightly onvast and distant things. He talked of the great Saskatchewan, ofPeace River, and the delta of the Mackenzie, of the winter journeysbeyond Great Bear Lake into the Land of the Little Sticks, and thehalf-mythical lake of Yamba Tooh. He spoke of life with the DogRibs and Yellow Knives, where the snow falls in midsummer. Beforeher eyes slowly spread, like a panorama, the whole extent of thegreat North, with its fierce, hardy men, its dreadful journeys bycanoe and sledge, its frozen barrens, its mighty forests, itssolemn charm. All at once this post of Conjurors House, a month inthe wilderness as it was, seemed very small and tame and civilizedfor the simple reason that Death did not always compass it about. 

"It was very cold then, " said Ned Trent "and very hard. _Le grandfrete_ [froid--cold] of winter had come. At night we had no othershelter than our blankets, and we could not keep a fire because thespruce burned too fast and threw too many coals. For a long timewe shivered, curled up on our snowshoes; then fell heavily asleep, so that even the dogs fighting over us did not awaken us. Two orthree times in the night we boiled tea. We had to thaw ourmoccasins each morning by thrusting them inside our shirts. Eventhe Indians were shivering and saying, 'Ed-sa, yazzi ed-sa'--'it iscold, very cold. ' And when we came to Rae it was not much better. A roaring fire in the fireplace could not prevent the ink fromfreezing on the pen. This went on for five months. "

Thus he spoke, as one who says common things. He said little ofhimself, but as he went on in short, curt sentences the picturegrew more distinct, and to Virginia the man became more and moreprominent in it. She saw the dying and exhausted dogs, thefrost-rimed, weary men; she heard the quick _crunch, crunch, crunch_ of the snow-shoes hurrying ahead to break the trail; shefelt the cruel torture of the _mal de raquette_, the shrivellingbite of the frost, the pain of snow blindness, the hunger that yetcould not stomach the frozen fish nor the hairy, black cariboumeat. One thing she could not conceive--the indomitable spirit ofthe men. She glanced timidly up at her companion's face. 

"The Company is a cruel master, " she sighed at last, standingupright, then leaning against the carriage of the gun. He let hergo without protest, almost without thought, it seemed. 

"But not mine, " said he. 

She exclaimed, in astonishment, "Are you not of the Company?"

"I am no man's man but my own, " he answered, simply. 

"Then why do you stay in this dreadful North?" she asked. 

"Because I love it. It is my life. I want to go where no man hasset foot before me; I want to stand alone under the sky; I want toshow myself that nothing is too big for me--no difficulty, nohardship--nothing!"

"Why did you come here, then? Here at least are forests so thatyou can keep warm. This is not so dreadful as the Coppermine, andthe country of the Yellow Knives. Did you come here to try _laLongue Traverse_ of which you spoke to-day?"

He fell suddenly sombre, biting in reflection at his lip. 

"No--yes--why not?" he said, at length. 

"I know you will come out of it safely, " said she; "I feel it. Youare brave and used to travel. Won't you tell me about it?"

He did not reply. After a moment she looked up in surprise. Hisbrows were knit in reflection. He turned to her again, his eyesglowing into hers. Once more the fascination of the man grew big, overwhelmed her. She felt her heart flutter, her consciousnessswim, her old terror returning. 

"Listen, " said he. "I may come to you to-morrow and ask you tochoose between your divine pity and what you might think to be yourduty. Then I will tell you all there is to know of _la LongueTraverse_. Now it is a secret of the Company. You are a Factor'sdaughter; you know what that means. " He dropped his head. "Ah, Iam tired--tired with it all!" he cried, in a voice strangelyunhappy. "But yesterday I played the game with all my old spirit;to-day the zest is gone! I no longer care. " He felt the pressureof her hand. "Are you just a little sorry for me?" he asked. "Sorry for a weakness you do not understand? You must think me afool. "

"I know you are unhappy, " replied Virginia, gently. "I am trulysorry for that. "

"Are you? Are you, indeed?" he cried. "Unhappiness is worth suchpity as yours. " He brooded for a moment, then threw his hands outwith what might have been a gesture of desperate indifference. Suddenly his mood changed in the whimsical, bewildering fashion ofthe man. "Ah, a star shoots!" he exclaimed, gayly. "That means akiss!"

Still laughing, he attempted to draw her to him. Angry, mortified, outraged, she fought herself free and leaped to her feet. 

"Oh!" she cried, in insulted anger. 

"Oh!" she cried, in a red shame. 

"_Oh!_" she cried, in sorrow. 

Her calm broke. She burst into the violent sobbing of a child, andturned and ran hurriedly to the factory. 

Ned Trent stared after her a minute from beneath scowling brows. He stamped his moccasined foot impatiently. 

"Like a rat in a trap!" he jeered at himself. "Like a rat in atrap, Ned Trent! The fates are drawing around you close. You needjust one little thing, and you cannot get it. Bribery is useless!Force is useless! Craft is useless! This afternoon I thought Isaw another way. What I could get no other way I might get fromthis little girl. She is only a child. I believe I could touchher pity--ah, Ned Trent, Ned Trent, can you ever forget herfrightened, white face begging you to be kind?" He paced back andforth between the two bronze guns with long, straight strides, likea panther in a cage. "Her aid is mine for the asking--but shemakes it impossible to ask! I could not do it. Better try _laLongue Traverse_ than take advantage of her pity--she'd surely getinto trouble. What wonderful eyes she has. She thinks I am abrute--how she sobbed, as though her little heart had broken. Well, it was the only way to destroy her interest in me. I had todo it. Now she will despise me and forget me. It is better thatshe should think me a brute than that I should be always haunted bythose pleading eyes. " The door of the distant church house openedand closed. He smiled bitterly. "To be sure, I haven't triedthat. " he acknowledged. "Their teachings are singularly apropos tomy case--mercy, justice, humanity--yes, and love of man. I'll tryit. I'll call for help on the love of man, since I cannot on thelove of woman. The love of woman--ah----yes. "

He set his feet reflectively toward the chapel. 

Chapter Nine

After a moment he pushed open the door without ceremony, andentered. He bent his brows, studying the Reverend Archibald Crane, while the latter, looking up startled, turned pink. 

He was a pink little man, anyway, the Reverend Archibald Crane, andwhy, in the inscrutability of its wisdom, the Church had sent himout to influence strong, grim men, the Church in its inscrutablewisdom only knows. He wore at the moment a cambric Englishboating-hat to protect his bald head from the draught, a fullclerical costume as far as the trousers, which were of lavender, and a pair of beaded moccasins faced with red. His weak littleface was pink, and two tufts of side-whiskers were nearly so. Aheavy gold-headed cane stood at his hand. When he heard the dooropen he exclaimed, before raising his head, "My, these first fliesof the season do bother me so!" and then looked startled. 

"Good-evening, " greeted Ned Trent, stopping squarely in the centreof the room. 

The clergyman spread his arms along the desk's edge inembarrassment. 

"Good-evening, " he returned, reluctantly. "Is there anything I cando for you?" The visitor puzzled him, but was dressed as a_voyageur_. The Reverend Archibald immediately resolved to treathim as such. 

"I wish to introduce myself as Ned Trent, " went on the Free Traderwith composure, "and I have broken in on your privacy this eveningonly because I need your ministrations cruelly. "

"I am rejoiced that in your difficulties you turn to theconsolations of the Church, " replied the other in the cordial tonesof the man who is always ready. "Pray be seated. He whose soulthirsteth need offer no apology to the keeper of the spiritualfountains. "

"Quite so, " replied the stranger dryly, seating himself assuggested, "only in this case my wants are temporal rather thanspiritual. They, however, seem to me fully within the province ofthe Church.^

"The Church attempts within limits to aid those who are materiallyin want, " assured Crane, with official dignity. "Our resources aresmall, but to the truly deserving we are always ready to give inthe spirit of true giving. "

"I am rejoiced to hear it, " returned the young man, grimly; "youwill then have no difficulty in getting me so small a matter as arifle and about forty or fifty rounds of ammunition. "

A pause of astonishment ensued. 

"Why, really, " ejaculated Crane, "I fail to see how that fallswithin my jurisdiction in the slightest. You should see ourTrader, Mr. McDonald, in regard to all such things. Your requestaddressed to me becomes extraordinary. "

"Not so much so when you know who I am. I told you my name is NedTrent, but I neglected to inform you further that I am a capturedFree Trader, condemned to _la Longue Traverse_, and that I have invain tried to procure elsewhere the means of escape. "

Then the clergyman understood. The full significance of theintruder's presence flashed over his little pink face in a troubleof uneasiness. The probable consequences of such a bit of charityas his visitor proposed almost turned him sick with excitement. 

"You expect to have them of me!" he cried, getting his voice atlast. 

"Certainly, " assured his interlocutor, crossing his legscomfortably. "Don't you see the logic of events forces me to thinkso? What other course is open to you? I am in this countryentirely within my legal rights as a citizen of the CanadianCommonwealth. Unjustly, I am seized by a stronger power andcondemned unjustly to death. Surely you admit the injustice?"

"Well, of course you know--the customs of the country--it is hardlyan abstract question--" stammered Crane, still without grasp on thelogic of his argument "But as an abstract question the injustice isplain, " resumed the Free Trader, imperturbably. "And against plaininjustice it strikes me there is but one course open to anacknowledged institution of abstract--and concrete--morality. TheChurch must set itself against immorality, and you, as the Church'srepresentative, must get me a rifle. "

"You forget one thing, " rejoined Crane. 

"What is that?"

"Such an aid would be a direct act of rebellion against authorityon my part, which would be severely punished. Of course, " heasserted, with conscious righteousness, "I should not consider thatfor a moment as far ay my own personal safety is concerned. But mycause would suffer. You forget, sir, that we are doing here agreat and good work. We have in our weekly congregational singingover forty regular attendants from the aborigines; next year I hopeto build a church at Whale River, thus reaching the benightedinhabitants of that distant region. All of this is a vital matterin the service of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You suggestthat I endanger all this in order to right a single instance ofinjustice. Of course we are told to love one another, but--" hepaused. 

"You have to compromise, " finished the stranger for him. 

"Exactly. " said the Reverend Crane. "Thank you; it is exactlythat. In order to accomplish what little good the Lord vouchsafesto our poor efforts, we are obliged to overlook many things. Otherwise we should not be allowed to stay here at all. "

"That is most interesting, " agreed Ned Trent, with a rather bitingcalm. "But is it not a little calculating? My slight familiaritywith religious history and literature has always led me to believethat you are taught to embrace the right at any costwhatsoever--that, if you give yourself unreservedly to justice, theLord will sustain you through all trials. I think at a pinch Icould even quote a text to that effect. "

"My dear fellow, " objected the Reverend Archibald in gentleprotest, "you evidently do not understand the situation at all. Ifeel I should be most untrue to my trust if I were to endanger inany way the life-long labor of my predecessor. You must be able tosee that for yourself. It would destroy utterly my usefulnesshere. They'd send me away. I couldn't go on with the work, I haveto think what is for the best. "

"There is some justice in what you say, " admitted the stranger, "ifyou persist in looking on this thing as a business proposition. But it seems to my confessedly untrained mind that you missed thepoint. 'Trust in the Lord, ' saith the prophet. In fact, certainrivals in your own field hold the doctrine you expound, and youconsider them wrong. 'To do evil that good may come' I seem torecognize as a tenet of the Church of the Jesuits. "

"I protest. I really do protest, " objected the clergyman, scandalized. 

"All right, " agreed Ned Trent, with good-natured contempt. "Thatis not the point. Do you refuse?"

"Can't you see?" begged the other. "I'm sure you are reasonableenough to take the case on its broader side. "

"You refuse?" insisted Ned Trent. 

"It is not always easy to walk straightly before the Lord, and myway is not always clear before me, but----"

"You refuse!" cried Ned Trent, rising impatiently. 

The reverend Archibald Crane looked at his catechiser with a traceof alarm. 

"I'm sorry; I'm afraid I must, " he apologized. 

The stranger advanced until he touched the desk on the other sideof which the Reverend Archibald was sitting, where he stood forsome moments looking down on his opponent with an almost amusedexpression of contempt. 

"You are an interesting little beast, " he drawled, "and I've seen alot of your kind in my time. Here you preach every Sunday, towhomever will listen to you, certain cut-and-dried doctrines youdon't believe practically in the least. Here for the first timeyou have had a chance to apply them literally, and you hide behinda lot of words. And while you're about it you may as well hearwhat I have to say about your kind. I've had a pretty wideexperience in the North, and I know what I'm talking about. Yourwork here among the Indians is rot, and every sensible man knowsit. You coop them up in your log-built houses, you force on themclothes to which they are unaccustomed until they die ofconsumption. Under your little tin-steepled imitation ofcivilization, for which they are not fitted, they learn to beg, tosteal, to lie. I have travelled far, but I have yet to discoverwhat your kind are allowed on earth for. You are narrow-minded, bigoted, intolerant, and without a scrap of real humanity toornament your mock religion. When you find you can't meddle withother people's affairs enough at home you get sent where you canget right in the business--and earn salvation for doing it. Idon't know just why I should say this to you, but it sort of doesme good to tell it. Once I heard one of your kind tell a sorrowingmother that her little child had gone to hell because it had diedbefore he--the smug hypocrite--had sprinkled its little body with ahandful of water. There's humanity for you! It may interest youto know that I thrashed that man then and there. You are allalike; I know the breed. When there is found a real man amongyou--and there are such--he is so different in everything, including his religion, as to be really of another race. I camehere without the slightest expectation of getting what I asked for. As I said before, I know your breed, and I know just how well yourtwo-thousand-year-old doctrines apply to practical cases. There isanother way, but I hated to use it. You'd take it quick enough, Idare say. Here is where I should receive aid. I may have to getit where I should not. You a man of God! Why, you poor littleinsect, I can't even get angry at you!"

He stood for a moment looking at the confused and troubledclergyman. Then he went out. 

Chapter Ten

Almost immediately the door opened again, "You, Miss Albret!" cried Crane. 

"What does this mean?" demanded Virginia, imperiously. "Who isthat man? In what danger does he stand? What does he want a riflefor? I insist on knowing. "

She stood straight and tall in the low room, her eyes flashing, herhead thrown back in the assured power of command. 

The Reverend Crane tried to temporize, hesitating over his words. She cut him short. 

"That is nonsense. Everybody seems to know but myself. I am nochild. I came to consult you--my spiritual adviser--in regard tothis very case. Accidentally I overheard enough to justify me inknowing more. "

The clergyman murmured something about the Company's secrets. Again she cut him short. 

"Company's secrets! Since when has the Company confided in AndrewLaviolette, in Wishkobun, in _you_?"

"Possibly you would better ask your father, " said Crane, with somereturn of dignity. 

"It does not suit me to do so, " replied she. "I insist that youanswer my questions. Who is this man?"

"Ned Trent, he says. "

"I will not be put off in this way. _Who_ is he? _What_ is he?"

"He is a Free Trader, " replied the Reverend Crane with the air of aman who throws down a bomb and is afraid of the consequences. Tohis astonishment the bomb did not explode. 

"What is that?" she asked, simply. 

The man's jaw dropped and his eyes opened in astonishment. Herewas a density of ignorance in regard to the ordinary affairs of thePost which could by no stretch of the imagination be ascribed tochance. If Virginia Albret did not know the meaning of the term, and all the tragic consequences it entailed, there could be but oneconclusion: Galen Albret had not intended that she should know. She had purposely been left in ignorance, and a politic man wouldhesitate long before daring to enlighten her. The Reverend Crane, in sheer terror, became sullen. 

"A Free Trader is a man who trades in opposition to the Company, "said he, cautiously. 

"What great danger is he in?" the girl persisted with her catechism. 

"None that I am aware of, " replied Crane, suavely. "He is a veryill-balanced and excitable young man. "

Virginia's quick instincts recognized again the same barrier which, with the people, with Wishkobun, with her father, had shut her soeffectively from the truth. Her power of femininity and positionhad to give way before the man's fear for himself and of GalenAlbret's unexpressed wish. She asked a few more questions, received a few more evasive replies, and left the little clergymanto recover as best he might from a very trying evening. 

Out in the night the girl hesitated in two minds as to what to donext. She was excited, and resolved to finish the affair, but shecould not bring her courage to the point of questioning her father. That the stranger was in antagonism to the Company, that hebelieved himself to be in danger on that account, that he wantedsuccor, she saw clearly enough. But the whole affair was vague, disquieting. She wanted to see it plainly, know its reasons. Andbeneath her excitement she recognized, with a catch of the breath, that she was afraid for him. She had not time now to ask herselfwhat it might mean; she only realized the presence of the fact. 

She turned instinctively in the direction of Doctor Cockburn'shouse. Mrs. Cockburn was a plain little middle-aged woman withparted gray hair and sweet, faded eyes. In the life of the placeshe was a nonentity, and her tastes were homely and commonplace, but Virginia liked her. 

She proved to be at home, the Doctor still at his dispensary, whichwas well. Virginia entered a small log room, passed through itimmediately to a larger papered room, and sat down in a musty redarmchair. The building was one of the old regime, which meant thatits floor was of wide and rather uneven painted boards, its ceilinglow, its windows small, and its general lines of an irregular andsagging rule-of-thumb tendency. The white wall-paper evidentlyconcealed squared logs. The present inhabitants, being possessedat once of rather homely tastes and limited facilities, hadover-furnished the place with an infinitude of littlethings--little rugs, little tables, little knit doilies, littleracks of photographs, little china ornaments, little spiderywhat-nots, and shelves for books. 

Virginia seated herself, and went directly to the topic. 

"Mrs. Cockburn, " she said, "you have always been very good to me, always, ever since I came here as a little girl. I have not alwaysappreciated it, I am afraid, but I am in great trouble, and I wantyour help. "

"What is it, dearie, " asked the older woman, softly. "Of course Iwill do anything I can. "

"I want you to tell me what all this mystery is--about the man whoto-day arrived from Kettle Portage, I mean. I have askedeverybody: I have tried by all means in my power to get somebodysomewhere to tell me. It is maddening--and I have a special reasonfor wanting to know. "

The older woman was already gazing at her through troubled eyes. 

"It is a shame and a mistake to keep you so in ignorance!" shebroke out, "and I have said so always. There are many things youhave the right to know, although some of them would make you veryunhappy--as they do all of us poor women who have to live in thisland of dread. But in this I cannot, dearie. "

Virginia felt again the impalpable shadow of truth escaping her. Baffled, confused, she began to lose her self-control. A dozentimes to-day she had reached after this thing, and always herfingers had closed on empty air. She felt that she could not standthe suspense of bewilderment a single instant longer. The tearsoverflowed and rolled down her cheeks unheeded. 

"Oh, Mrs. Cockburn!" she cried. "Please! You do not know howdreadful this thing has come to be to me just because it is made somysterious. Why has it been kept from me alone? It must havesomething to do with me, and I can't stand this mystery, thisdouble-dealing, another minute. If you won't tell me, nobody will, and I shall go on imagining--Oh, please have pity on me! I feelthe shadow of a tragedy. It comes out in everything, in everybodyto whom I turn. I see it in Wishkobun's avoidance of me, in myfather's silence, in Mr. Crane's confusion, in yourreluctance--yes, in the very reckless insolence of Mr. Trenthimself!"--her voice broke slightly. "If you will not tell me, Ishall go direct to my father, " she ended, with more firmness. 

Mrs. Cockburn examined the girl's flushed face through kindly butshrewd and experienced eyes. Then, with a caressing little murmurof pity, she arose and seated herself on the arm of the red chair, taking the girl's hand in hers. 

"I believe you mean it, " she said, "and I am going to tell youmyself. There is much sorrow in it for you; but if you go to yourfather it will only make it worse. I am doing what I should not. It is shameful that such things happen in this nineteenth century, but happen they do. The long and short of it is that the Factorsof this Post tolerate no competition in the country, and when a manenters it for the purpose of trading with the Indians, he isstopped and sent out. "

"There is nothing very bad about that. " said Virginia, relieved. 

"No, my dear, not in that. But they say his arms and supplies aretaken from him, and he is given a bare handful of provisions. Hehas to make a quick journey, and to starve at that. Once when Iwas visiting out at the front, not many years ago, I saw one ofthose men--they called him Jo Bagneau--and his condition waspitiable--pitiable!"

"But hardships can be endured. A man can escape. "

"Yes, " almost whispered Mrs. Cockburn, looking about herapprehensively, "but the story goes that there are some cases--whenthe man is an old offender, or especially determined, or soprominent as to be able to interest the law--no one breathes ofthese cases here--but--_he never gets out_!"

"What do you mean?" cried Virginia, harshly. 

"One dares not mean such things; but they are so. The hardships ofthe wilderness are many, the dangers terrible--what more naturalthan that a man should die of them in the forest? It is no one'sfault. "

"What do you mean?" repeated Virginia; "for God's sake speakplainly!"

"I dare not speak plainer than I know; and no one ever really_knows_ anything about it--excepting the Indian who fires the shot, or who watches the man until he dies of starvation. " whispered Mrs. Cockburn. 

"But--but!" cried the girl, grasping her companion's arm. "Myfather! Does _he_ give such orders? _He_?"

"No orders are given. The thing is understood. Certain runners, whose turn it is, shadow the Free Trader. Your father is notresponsible; no one is responsible. It is the policy. "

"And this man----"

"It has gone about that he is to take _la Longue Traverse_. Heknows it himself. "

"It is barbaric, horrible; it is murder. "

"My dear, it is all that; but this is the country of dread. Youhave known the soft, bright side always--the picturesque men, thelaugh, the song. If you had seen as much of the harshness ofwilderness life as a doctor's wife must you would know that whenthe storms of their great passions rage it is well to sit quiet atyour prayers. "

The girl's eyes were wide-fixed, staring at this first reality oflife. A thousand new thoughts jostled for recognition. Suddenlyher world had been swept from beneath her. The ancientpatriarchal, kindly rule had passed away, and in its place she wasforced to see a grim iron bond of death laid over her domain. Andher father--no longer the grave, kindly old man--had become theruthless tyrant. All these bright, laughing _voyageurs_, playmatesof her childhood, were in reality executioners of a savageblood-law. She could not adjust herself to it. 

She got to her feet with an effort. "Thank you, Mrs. Cockburn, "she said, in a low voice. "I--I do not quite understand. But Imust go now. I must--I must see that my father's room is ready forhim. " she finished, with the proud defensive instinct of the womanwho has been deeply touched. "You know I always do that myself. "

"Good-night, dearie, " replied the older woman, understanding wellthe girl's desire to shelter behind the commonplace. She leanedforward and kissed her. "God keep and guide you. I hope I havedone right. "

"Yes, " cried Virginia, with unexpected fire. "Yes, you did justright! I ought to have been told long ago! They've kept me aperfect child to whom everything has been bright and care-free andsimple. I--I feel that until this moment I have lacked my realwomanhood!"

She bowed her head and passed through the log room into the outerair. 

Her father, _her_ father, had willed this man's death, and so hewas to die! That explained many things--the young fellow'sinsolence, his care-free recklessness, his passionate denunciationof the Reverend Crane and the Reverend Crane's religion. He wantedone little thing--the gift of a rifle wherewith to assure hissubsistence should he escape into the forest--and of all those atConjuror's House to whom he might turn for help, some were too hardto give it to him, and some too afraid! He should have it! She, the daughter of her father, would see to it that in this oneinstance her father's sin should fail! Suddenly, in the white heatof her emotion, she realized why these matters stirred her soprofoundly, and she stopped short and gasped with the shock of it. It did not matter that she thwarted her father's will; it would notmatter if she should be discovered and punished as only these harshcharacters could punish. For the brave bearing, the brave jest, the jaunty facing of death, the tender, low voice, the gay song, the aurora-lit moment of his summons--all these had at last theirtriumph. She knew that she loved him; and that if he were to die, she would surely die too. 

And, oh, it must be that he loved her! Had she not heard it in themusic of his voice from the first?--the passion of his tones? thedreamy, lyrical swing of his talk by the old bronze guns?

Then she staggered sharply, and choked back a cry. For out of herrecollections leaped two sentences of his--the first careless, imprudent, unforgivable; the second pregnant with meaning. "_Ah, astar shoots_!" he had said. "_That means a kiss_!" and again, tothe clergyman, "_I came here without the slightest expectation ofgetting what I asked for. There is another way, but I hate to useit_. "

She was the other way! She saw it plainly. He did not love her, but he saw that he could fascinate her, and he hoped to use her asan aid to his escape. She threw her head up proudly. 

Then a man swung into view across the Northern Lights. Virginiapressed back against the palings among the bushes until he shouldhave passed. It was Ned Trent, returning from a walk to the end ofthe island. He was alone and unfollowed, and the girl realizedwith a sudden grip at the heart that the wilderness itself wassufficient safeguard against a man unarmed and unequipped. It wasnot considered worth while even to watch him. Should he escape, unarmed as he was, sure death by starvation awaited him in the landof dread. 

As he entered the settlement he struck up an air. 

 "Le fils du roi s'en va chassant, En roulant ma boule, Avec son grand fusil d'argent, Rouli roulant, ma boule roulant. "

Almost immediately a window slid back, and an exasperated voicecried out:

"_Hola_ dere, w'at one time dam fool you for mak' de sing so late!"

The voice went on imperturbably:

 "Avec son grand fusil d'argent, En roulant ma boule, Visa le noir, tua le blanc, Rouli roulant, ma boule roulant. "

"_Sacre_!" shrieked the habitant. 

"Hello, Johnny Frenchman!" called Ned Trent, in his acid tones. "That you? Be more polite, or I'll stand here and sing you thewhole of it. "

The window slammed shut. 

Ned Trent took up his walk again toward some designatedsleeping-place of his own, his song dying into the distance. 

 "Visa le noir, tua le blanc, En roulant ma boule, O fils du roi, tu es mechant! Rouli roulant, ma boule roulant. "

"And he can _sing_!" cried the girl bitterly to herself. "At sucha time! Oh, my dear God, help me, help me! I am the unhappiestgirl alive!"

Chapter Eleven

Virginia did not sleep at all that night. She was reaching towardher new self. Heretofore she had ruled those about her proudly, secure in her power and influence. Now she saw that all along herinfluence had in not one jot exceeded that of the winsome girl. She had no real power at all. They went mercilessly on in the grimway of their fathers, dealing justice even-handed according totheir own crude conceptions of it, without thought of God or man. She turned hot all over as she saw herself in this new light--asshe saw those about her indulgently smiling at her airs of themistress of it. It angered her--though the smile might begood-humored, even affectionate. 

And she shrank into herself with utter loathing when she rememberedNed Trent. There indeed her woman's pride was hard stricken. Sherecalled with burning cheeks how his intense voice had stirred her;how his wishes had compelled her; she shivered pitifully as sheremembered the warmth of his shoulder touching carelessly her own. If he had come to her honestly and asked her aid, she would havegiven it; but this underhand pretence at love! It was unworthy ofhim; and it was certainly most unworthy of her. What must he thinkof her? How he must be laughing at her--and hoping that his spellwas working, so that he could get the coveted rifle and the fortycartridges. 

"I hate him!" she cried to herself, the backs of her long, slenderhands pressed against her eyes. She meant that she loved him, butfor the purposes in hand one would do as well as the other. 

At earliest daylight she was up. Bathing her face and throat incold water, and hastily catching her beautiful light hair under acap, she slipped down stairs and out past the stockade to thepoint. There she seated herself, a heavy shawl about her, and gaveherself up to reflection. She had approached silently, hermoccasins giving no sound. Presently she became aware that someonewas there before her. Looking toward the river she saw on the nextlevel below her a man, seated on a bowlder, and gazing to the south. 

His very soul was in his eyes. Virginia gasped at the change in himsince last she had seen him. The gay, mocking demeanor which hadseemed an essential part of his very flesh and blood had fallenaway from him, leaving a sad and lofty dignity that ennobled hiscountenance. The lines of his face were stern, of his mouthpathetic; his eyes yearned. He stared toward the south with analmost mesmeric intensity, as though he hoped by sheer longing tomaterialize a vision. Tears sprang to the girl's eyes at thesubtle pathos of his attitude. 

He stretched his arms wearily over his head, and sighed deeply andlooked up. His eyes rested on the girl without surprise; theexpression of his features did not change. 

"Pardon me, " he said, simply. "To-day is my last of plenty. I amup enjoying it. "

Virginia had anticipated the usual instantaneous transformation ofhis manner when he should catch sight of her. Her resentment wasdispelled. In face of the vaster tragedies little considerationsgave way. 

"Do you leave--to-day?" she asked, in a low voice. 

"To-morrow morning, early, " he corrected. "To-day I found myprovisions packed and laid at my door. It is a hint I know how totake. "

"You have everything you need?" asked the girl, with an assumptionof indifference. 

He looked her in the eyes for a moment. 

"Everything, " he lied, calmly. 

Virginia perceived that he lied, and her heart stood still with asudden hope that perhaps, at this eleventh hour, he might haverepented of his unworthy intentions toward herself. She leaned tohim over the edge of the little rise. 

"Have you a rifle--for _la Longue Traverse_?" she inquired, withmeaning. 

He stared at her a little the harder. 

"Why--why, surely, " he replied, in a tone less confident. "Nobodytravels without a rifle in the North. "

She dropped swiftly down the slope and stood face to face with him. 

"Listen, " she began, in her superb manner. "I know all there is toknow. You are a Free Trader, and you are to be sent to your death. It is murder, and it is done by my father. " She held her headproudly, but the notes of her voice were straining. "I knewnothing of this yesterday. I was a foolish girl who thought allmen were good and just, and that all those whom I knew were noble. My eyes are open now. I see injustice being done by my ownhousehold, and "--tears were trembling near her lashes, but sheblinked them back--"and I am no longer a foolish girl! You neednot try to deceive me. You must tell me what I can do, for Icannot permit so great a wrong to be done by my father withoutattempting to set it right. " This was not what she had intended tosay, but suddenly the course was clear to her. The influence ofthe man had again swept over her, drowning her will, filling herwith the old fear, which was now for the moment turned to pride bythe character of the situation. 

But to her surprise the man was thinking of something else. 

"Who told you?" he demanded, harshly. Then, without waiting for areply, "It was that little preacher; I'll have an interview withhim!"

"No, no!" protested the girl. "It was not he. It was a friend. Ihad the right to know. "

"You had no right!" he cried, vehemently. "You and life shouldhave nothing to do with each other. There is a look in your eyesthat was not in them yesterday, and the one who put it there is notyour friend. " He stood staring at her intently, as one who ponderswhat is best to do. Then very quietly he took her hands and drewher to a place beside him on the bowlder. 

"I am going to tell you something, little girl, " said he, "and youmust listen quietly to the end. Perhaps at the last you may seemore clearly than you do now. 

"This old Company of yours has been established for a great manyyears. Back in old days, over two centuries ago, it pushed up intothis wilderness to trade for its furs. That you know. And then itexplored ever farther to the west and the north, until its servantsstood on the shores of the Pacific and the stretches of the ArcticOcean. And its servants loved it. Enduring immense hardships, cutoff from their kind, outlining dimly with the eye of faith thestructure of a mighty power, they loved it always. Thousands ofmen were in its employ, and so loyal were they that its secretswere safe and its prestige was defended, often to a lonely death. I have known the Company and its servants for a long time, and if Ihad leisure I could instance a hundred examples of devotion andsacrifice beside which mere patriotism, would seem a little thing. Men who had no country cleaved to her desolate posts, her lakes andrivers and forests; men who had no home ties felt the tug of herwild life at their hearts; men who had no God bowed in awe beforeher power and grandeur. The Company was a living thing. 

"Rivals attempted her supremacy, and were defeated by thesteadfastness of the men who received her meagre wages and lookedto her as their one ideal. Her explorers were the bravest, hertraders the most enterprising and single-minded, her factors andpartners the most capable and potent in all the world. No country, no leader, no State ever received half the worship her sons gaveher. The fierce Nor'westers, the traders of Montreal, the Companyof the X Y, Astor himself, had to give way. For, although theywere bold or reckless or crafty or able, they had not the idealwhich raises such qualities to invincibility. 

"And, little girl, nothing is wrong to men who have such an idealbefore them. They see but one thing, and all means are good thathelp them to assure that one thing. They front the dangers, theyovercome the hardships, they crush the rivals. Bloody wars havetaken place in these forests, ruthless deeds have been done, butthe men who accomplished them held the deeds good. So for twohundred years, aided by the charter from the king, they have madegood their undisputed right. 

"Then the railroad entered the west. The charter of monopoly ranout. Through the Nipissing, the Athabasca, the Edmonton, came theFree Traders--men who traded independently. These the Companycould not control, so it competed--and to its credit itscompetition has held its own. Even far into the Northwest, wherethe trails are long, the Free Traders have established their chainsof supplies, entering into rivalry with the Company for a barter ithas always considered its right. The medicine has been bitter, butthe servants of the Company have adjusted themselves to the newconditions, and are holding their own. 

"But one region still remains cut off from the outside world by abroad band of unexplored waste. The life here at Hudson'sBay--although you may not know it--is exactly the same to-day thatit was two hundred years ago. And here the Company makes its standfor a monopoly. 

"At first it worked openly. But in the case of Guillaume Sayer, adaring and pugnacious _metis_, it got into trouble with the law. Since that time it has wrapped itself in secrecy and mystery, carrying on its affairs behind the screen of five hundred miles offorest. Here it has still the power; no man can establish himselfhere, can even travel here, without its consent, for it controlsthe food and the Indians. The Free Trader enters, but he does notstay for long. The Company's servants are mindful of their oldfanatical ideal. Nothing is ever known, no orders are ever given, but something happens, find the man never ventures again. 

"If he is an ordinary _metis_ or Canadian, he emerges from theforest starved, frightened, thankful. If his story is likely to bebelieved in high places, he never emerges at all. The dangers ofwilderness travel are many: he succumbs to them. That is the wholestory. Nothing definite is known; no instances can be proved; yourfather denies the legend and calls it a myth. The Company claimsto be ignorant of it, perhaps its greater officers really are, butthe legend holds so good that the journey has its name--_la LongueTraverse_. 

"But remember this, no man is to blame--unless it is he who ofknowledge takes the chances. It is a policy, a growth ofcenturies, an idea unchangeable to which the long services of manyfierce and loyal men have given substance. A Factor cannot changeit. If he did, the thing would be outside of nature, something notto be understood. 

"I am here. I am to take _la Longue Traverse_. But no man is toblame. If the scheme of the thing is wrong, it has been so fromthe very beginning, from the time when King Charles set hissignature to the charter of unlimited authority. The history of athousand men gives the tradition power, gives it insistence. It isbigger than any one individual. It is as inevitable as that watershould flow down hill. "

He had spoken quietly, but very earnestly, still holding her twohands, and she had sat looking at him unblinking from eyes behindwhich passed many thoughts. When he had finished, a short pausefollowed, at the end of which she asked unexpectedly, "Last evening you told me that you might come to me and ask me tochoose between my pity and what I might think to be my duty. Whatare you going to ask of me?"

"Nothing. I spoke idle words. "

"Last evening I overheard you demand something of Mr. Crane, " shepursued, without commenting on his answer. "When he refused you Iheard you say these words 'Here is where I should have receivedaid; I may have to get it where I should not. ' What was the aid youasked of him? and where else did you expect to get it?"

"The aid was something impossible to accord, and I did not expectto get it elsewhere. I said that in order to induce him to helpme. "

A wonderful light sprang to the girl's eyes, but still shemaintained her level voice. 

"You asked him for a rifle with which to escape. You expected toget it of me. Deny it if you can. "

Ned Trent looked at her keenly a moment, then dropped his eyes. 

"It is true, " said he. 

"And the pity was to give you this weapon; and the duty was my dutyto my father's house. "

"It is true, " he repeated, dejectedly. 

"And you lied to me when you said you had a rifle with which tojourney _la Longue Traverse_. "

"That too is true, " he acknowledged. 

When next she spoke her voice was not quite so well controlled. 

"Why did you not ask me, as you intended? Why did you tell methese lies?"

The young man hesitated, looked her in the face, turned away, andmurmured, "I could not. "

"Why?" persisted the girl. "Why? You must tell me. "

"Because, " said Ned Trent--"because it could not be done. Everyrifle in the place is known. Because you would be found out inthis, and I do not know what your punishment might not be. "

"You knew this before?" insisted Virginia, stonily. 

"Yes. "

"Then why did you change your mind?"

"When first I saw you by the gun, " began Ned Trent, in a low voice, "I was a desperate man, clutching at the slightest chance. Thethought crossed my mind then that I might use you. Then later Isaw that I had some influence over you, and I made my plan. Butlast night----"

"Yes, last night?" urged Virginia, softly. 

"Last night I paced the island, and I found out many things. Oneof them was that I could not. "

"Even though this dreadful journey----"

"I would rather take my chances. "

Again there was silence between them. 

"It was a good lie, " then said Virginia, gently--"a noble lie. Andwhat you have told me to comfort me about my father has been noblysaid. And I believe you, for I have known the truth about yourfate. " He shut his lips grimly. "Why--why did you come?" shecried, passionately. "Is the trade so good, are your needs then sogreat, that you must run these perils?"

"My needs, " he replied. "No; I have enough. "

"Then why?" she insisted. 

"Because that old charter has long since expired, and now thiscountry is as free for me as for the Company, " he explained. "Weare in a civilized century, and no man has a right to tell me whereI shall or shall not go. Does the Company own the Indians and thecreatures of the woods?" Something in the tone of his voicebrought her eyes steadily to his for a moment. 

"Is that all?" she asked at length. 

He hesitated, looked away, looked back again. 

"No, it is not, " he confessed, in a low voice. "It is a thing I donot speak of. My father was a servant of this Company, a good, true servant. No man was more honest, more zealous, more loyal. "

"I am sure of it, " said Virginia, softly. 

"But in some way that he never knew himself he made enemies in highplaces. The cowards did not meet him man to man, and so he neverknew who they were. If he had, he would have killed them. Butthey worked against him always. He was given hard posts, inadequate supplies, scant help, and then he was held to accountfor what he could not do. Finally he left the company indisgrace--undeserved disgrace. He became a Free Trader in the dayswhen to become a Free Trader was worse than attacking a grizzlywith cubs. In three years he was killed. But when I grew to be aman "--he clenched his teeth--"by God! how I have prayed to knowwho did it. " He brooded for a moment, then went on. "Still, Ihave accomplished something. I have traded in spite of yourfactors in many districts. One summer I pushed to the Copperminein the teeth of them, and traded with the Yellow Knives for therobes of the musk-ox. And they knew me and feared my rivalry, these traders of the Company. No district of the far North but hasfelt the influence of my bartering. The traders of alldistricts--Fort au Liard, Lapierre's House, Fort Rae, Ile a laCrosse, Portage la Loche, Lac la Biche, Jasper's House, the Houseof the Touchwood Hills--all these, and many more, have heard of NedTrent. "

"Your father--you knew him well?"

"No, but I remember him--a tall, dark man, with a smile always inhis eyes and a laugh on his lips. I was brought up at a school inWinnipeg under a priest. Two or three times in the year my fatherused to appear for a few days. I remember well the last time I sawhim. I was about thirteen years old. 'You are growing to be aman, ' said he; 'next year we will go out on the trail. ' I neversaw him again. "

"What happened?"

"Oh, he was just killed, " replied Ned Trent, bitterly. 

The girl laid her hand on his arm with an appealing little gesture. 

"I am so sorry, " said she. 

"I have no portrait of him, " continued the Free Trader, after aninstant. "No gift from his hands; nothing at all of his but this. "

He showed her an ordinary little silver match-safe such as men usein the North country. 

"They brought that to me at the last--the Indians who came to tellmy priest the news, and the priest, who was a good man, gave it tome. I have carried it ever since. "

Virginia took it reverently. To her it had all the largeness thatenvelops the symbol of a great passion. After a moment she lookedup in surprise. 

"Why!" she exclaimed, "this has a name carved on it!"

"Yes, " he replied. 

"But the name is Graehme Stewart. "

"Of course I could not bear my father's name in a country where itwas well known, " he explained. 

"Of course, " she agreed. Impulsively she raised her face to his, her eyes shining. "To me all this is very fine, " said she. 

He smiled a little sadly. "At least you know why I came. "

"Yes. " she repeated, "I know why you came. But you are in trouble. "

"The chances of war. "

"And they have defeated you after all. "

"I shall start on _la Longue Traverse_ singing 'Rouli roulant. 'It's a small defeat, that. '

"Listen, " said she, rapidly. "When I was quite a small girl Mr. McTavish, of Rupert's House, gave me a little rifle. I have neverused it, because I do not care to shoot. That rifle has never beencounted, and my father has long since forgotten all about it. Youmust take that, and escape to-night. I will let you have it on onecondition--that you give me your solemn promise never to ventureinto this country again. "

"Yes, " he agreed, without enthusiasm nor surprise. 

She smiled happily at his gloomy face and listless attitude. 

"But I do not want to give up the little rifle entirely, " she wenton, with dainty preciosity, watching him closely. "As I said, itwas a present, given to me when I was quite a small girl. You mustreturn it to me at Quebec, in August. Will you promise to do that?"

He wheeled on her swift as light, the eagerness flashing back intohis face. 

"You are going to Quebec?" he cried. "My father wishes me to. Ihave decided to do so. I shall start with the Abitibi _brigade_ inJuly. "

He leaped to his feet. 

"I promise!" he exulted, "I promise! To-night, then! Bring therifle and the cartridges, and some matches, and a little salt. Youmust take me across the river in a canoe, for I want them to guessat where I strike the woods. I shall cover my trail. And with tenhours' start, let them catch Ned Trent who can!"

She laughed happily. 

"To-night, then. At the south of the island there is a trail, andat the end of the trail a beach----"

"I know!" he cried. 

"Meet me there as soon after dark as you can do so without danger. "

He threw his hat into the air and caught it, his face boyishlyupturned. Again that something, so vaguely familiar, plucked ather with its ghostly, appealing fingers. She turned swiftly, andseized them, and so found herself in possession of a memory out ofher far-off childhood. 

"I know you!" she cried. "I have seen you before this!"

He bent his puzzled gaze upon her. 

"I was a very little girl, " she explained, "and you but a lad. Itwas at a party, I think, a great and brilliant party, for Iremember many beautiful women and fine men. You held me up in yourarms for people to see, because I was going on a long journey. "

"I remember, of course I do!" he exclaimed. 

A bell clanged, turning over and over, calling the Company's men totheir day. 

"Farewell. " she said, hurriedly. "To-night. "

"To-night, " he repeated. 

She glided rapidly through the grass, noiseless in her moccasinedfeet. And as she went she heard his voice humming soft and low, "Isabeau s'y promene Le long de son jardin, Le long de son jardin, Sur le bord de l'ile, Le long de son jardin. "

"How could he _help_ singing, " murmured Virginia, fondly. "Ah, dear Heaven, but I am the happiest girl alive!"

Such a difference can one night bring about. 

Chapter Twelve

The day rose and flooded the land with its fuller life. Allthrough the settlement the Post Indians and half-breeds set abouttheir tasks. Some aided Sarnier with his calking of the bateaux;some worked in the fields; some mended or constructed in thedifferent shops. At eight o'clock the bell rang again, and theyate breakfast. Then a group of seven, armed with muzzle-loading"trade-guns" bound in brass, set out for the marshes in hopes ofgeese. For the flight was arriving, and the Hudson Bay man knowsvery well the flavor of goose-flesh, smoked, salted, and barrelled. 

Now the _voyageurs_ began to stroll into the sun. They were men ofleisure. Picturesque, handsome, careless, debonair, they wanderedback and forth, smoking their cigarettes, exhibiting their finery. Indian women, wrinkled and careworn, plodded patiently about onvarious businesses. Indian girls, full of fun and mischief, drifted here and there in arm-locked groups of a dozen, smiling, whispering among themselves, ready to collapse toward a commoncentre of giggles if addressed by one of the numerouswoods-dandies. Indian men stalked singly, indifferent, stolid. Indian children of all sizes and degrees of nakedness darted backand forth, playing strange games. The sound of many voices roseacross the air. 

Once the voices moderated, when McDonald, the Chief Trader, walkedrapidly from the barracks building to the trading store; once theydied entirely into a hush of respect, when Galen Albret himselfappeared on the broad veranda of the factory. He stood for amoment--bulked broad and black against the whitewash--his handsclasped behind him, gazing abstractedly toward the distant bay. Then he turned into the house to some mysterious and weightybusiness of his own. The hubbub at once broke out again. 

Now about the mouth of the long picketed lane leading to themassive trading store gathered a silent group, bearing packs. These were Indians from the more immediate vicinity, desirous oftrading their skins. After a moment McDonald appeared in thedoorway, a hundred feet away, and raised his hand. Two of thesavages, and two only, trotted down the narrow picket lane, theirpacks on their shoulders. 

McDonald ushered them into a big square room, where the bales wereundone and spread abroad. Deftly, silently the Trader sorted thefurs, placing to one side or the other the "primes, " "seconds, " and"thirds" of each species. For a moment he calculated. Then hestepped to a post whereon hung long strings of pierced woodencounters, worn smooth by use. Swiftly he told the strings over. To one of the Indians he gave one with these words:

"Mu-hi-kun, my brother, here be pelts to the value of two hundred'beaver. ' Behold a string, then, of two hundred 'castors, ' and inaddition I give my brother one fathom of tobacco. "

The Indian calculated rapidly, his eye abstracted. He had knownexactly the value of his catch, and what he would receive for it in"castors, " but had hoped for a larger "present, " by which thepremium on the standard price is measured. 

"Ah hah, " he exclaimed, finally, and stepped to one side. 

"Sak-we-su, my brother, " went on McDonald, "here be pelts to thevalue of three hundred 'beaver. ' Behold a string, then, of threehundred 'castors, ' and because you have brought so fine a skin ofthe otter, behold also a fathom of tobacco and a half sack offlour. "

"Good!" ejaculated the Indian. 

The Trader then led them to stairs, up which they clambered towhere Davis, the Assistant Trader, kept store. There, barred by aheavy wooden grill from the airy loft filled with bright calicoes, sashes, pails, guns, blankets, clothes, and other ornamental anduseful things, Sak-we-su and Mu-hi-kun made their choice, tradingin the worn wooden "castors" on the string. So much flour, so muchtea, so much sugar and powder and lead, so much in clothing. Thuswere their simple needs supplied for the year to come. Then theremainder they squandered on all sorts of useless things--beads, silks, sashes, bright handkerchiefs, mirrors. And when the lastwooden "castor" was in they went down stairs and out the picketlane, carrying their lighter purchases, but leaving the larger as"debt, " to be called for when needed. Two of their companionsmounted the stairs as they descended; and two more passed them inthe narrow picket lane. So the trade went on. 

At once Sak-we-su and Mu-hi-kun were surrounded. In detail theytold what they had done. Then in greater detail their friends toldwhat _they_ would have done, until after five minutes ofbewildering advice the disconsolate pair would have been only tooglad to have exchanged everything--if that had been allowed. 

Now the bell rang again. It was "smoke time. " Everyone quit workfor a half-hour. The sun climbed higher in the heavens. Thelaughing crews of idlers sprawled in the warmth, gambling, tellingstories, singing. Then one might have heard all the picturesquesongs of the Far North--"A la claire Fontaine"; "Ma Boule Roulant";"Par derrier' chez-mon Pere"; "Isabeau s'y promene"; "P'titeJeanneton"; "Luron, Lurette"; "Chante, Rossignol, chante"; theever-popular "Malbrouck"; "C'est la belle Francoise"; "Alouette";or the beautiful and tender "La Violette Dandine. " They had goodvoices, these _voyageurs_, with the French artistic instinct, andit was fine to hear them. 

At noon the squaws set out to gather canoe gum on the mainland. They sat huddled in the bottom of their old and leaky canoe, reaching far over the sides to dip their paddles, irregularlyplaced, silent, mysterious. They did not paddle with the unison ofthe men, but each jabbed a little short stroke as the time suitedher, so that always some paddles were rising and some falling. Into the distance thus they flapped like wounded birds; thenrounded a bend, and were gone. 

The sun swung over and down the slope, Dinner time had passed;"smoke time" had come again. Squaws brought the first white-fishof the season to the kitchen door of the factory, and Matthewsraised the hand of horror at the price they asked. Finally hebought six of about three pounds each, giving in exchange tea tothe approximate value of twelve cents. The Indian women went away, secretly pleased over their bargain. 

Down by the Indian camp suddenly broke the roar of a dog-fight. Two of the sledge _giddes_ had come to teeth, and the friends ofboth were assisting the cause. The idlers went to see, laughing, shouting, running impromptu races. They sat on their haunches andcheered ironically, and made small bets, and encouraged the franticold squaw hags who, at imminent risk, were trying to disintegratethe snarling, rolling mass. Over in the high log stockade whereinthe Company's sledge animals were confined, other wolf-dogs howledmournfully, desolated at missing the fun. 

And always the sun swung lower and lower toward the west, untilfinally the long northern twilight fell, and the girl in the littlewhite bedroom at the factory bathed her face and whispered for thehundredth time to her beating heart:

"Night has come!"

Chapter Thirteen

That evening at dinner Virginia studied her father's face again. She saw the square settled line of the jaw under the beard, theunwavering frown of the heavy eyebrows, the unblinking purpose ofthe cavernous, mysterious eyes. Never had she felt herself veryclose to this silent, inscrutable man, even in his moments of moreaffectionate expansion. Now a gulf divided them. 

And yet, strangely enough, she experienced no revulsion, no horror, no recoil even. He had merely become more aloof, moreincomprehensible; his purposes vaster, less susceptible to thegrasp of such as she. There may have been some basis for thisfeeling, or it may have been merely the reflex glow of a joy thatmade all other things seem insignificant. 

As soon as might be after the meal Virginia slipped away, carryingthe rifle, the cartridges, the matches, and the salt. She wascruelly frightened. 

The night was providentially dark. No aurora threw its splendoracross the dome, and only a few rare stars peeped between the lightcirrus clouds. Virginia left behind her the buildings of the Post, she passed in safety the tin-steepled chapel and the church house;there remained only the Indian camp between her and the woodstrail. At once the dogs began to bark and howl, the fierce_giddes_ lifting their pointed noses to the sky. The girl hurriedon, twinging far to the right through the grass. To her relief thecamp did not respond to the summons. An old crone or so appearedin the flap of a teepee, eyes dazzled, to throw uselessly a billetof wood or a volley of Cree abuse at the animals nearest. In amoment Virginia entered the trail. 

Here was no light at all. She had to proceed warily, feeling withher moccasins for the beaten pathway, to which she returned withinfinite caution whenever she trod on grass or leaves. Though hersight was dulled, her hearing was not. A thousand scurrying noisesswirled about her; a multitude of squeaks, whistles, snorts, andwhines attested that she disturbed the forest creatures at theirvaried businesses; and underneath spoke an apparent dozen ofterrifying voices which were in reality only the winds and thetrees. Virginia knew that these things were not dangerous--thatday light would show them to be only deer-mice, hares, weasels, bats, and owls--nevertheless, they had their effect. For about herwas cloying velvet blackness--not the closed-in blackness of aroom, where one feels the embrace of the four walls, but theblackness of infinite space through which sweep mysterious currentsof air. After a long time she turned sharp to the left. After along time more she perceived a faint, opalescent glimmer in thedistance ahead. This she knew to be the river. 

She felt her way onward, still cautiously, then she choked back ascream and dropped her burden with a clatter to the ground. A darkfigure seemed to have risen mysteriously at her side. 

"I didn't mean to frighten you, " said Ned Trent, in guarded tones. "I heard you coming. I thought you could hear me. "

He picked up the fallen articles, running his hands over themrapidly. 

"Good, " he whispered. "I got some moccasins to-day--traded a fewthings I had in my pockets for them. I'm fixed. "

"Have you a canoe?" she asked. 

"Yes--here on the beach. "

He preceded her down the few remaining yards of the trail. Shefollowed, already desolated at the thought of parting, for thewilderness was very big. The bulk of the man partly blotted outthe lucent spot where the river was--now his arm, now his head, nowthe breadth of his shoulders. This silhouette of him was dear toher, the sound of his movements, the faint stir of his breathingborne to her on the light breeze. Virginia's tender heart almostoverflowed with longing and fear for him. 

They emerged on a little slope and at once pushed the canoe intothe current. 

She accepted the aid of his hand for a moment, and sank to herplace, facing him He spurned lightly the shore, and so they wereadrift. 

In a moment they seemed to be floating on a vast vapor of night, infinitely remote from anywhere, surrounded by the silence thatmight have been before the world's beginning. A faint splash couldhave been a muskrat near at hand or a caribou far away. The paddlerose and dipped with a faint _swish_, _swish_, and the steersman'stwist of it was taken up by the man's strong wrist so it did notclick against the gunwale; the bow of the craft divided the waterswith a murmuring so faint as to seem but the echo of a silence. Neither spoke. Virginia watched him, her heart too full for words;watched the full swing of his strong shoulders, the balance of hisbody at the hips, the poise of his head against the dull sky. In amoment more the parting would have to come. She dreaded it, andyet she looked forward to it with a hungry joy. Then he would saywhat she had seen in his eyes; then he would speak; then she wouldhear the words that should comfort her in the days of waiting. Fora woman lives much for the present, and the moment's word is animportant thing. 

The man swung his paddle steadily, throwing into the strokes awanton exuberance that showed how high his spirits ran. After atime, when they were well out from the shore, he took a deep breathof delight. 

"Ah, you don't know how happy I am, " he exulted, "you don't know!To be free, to play the game, to match my wits against their--ah, that is life!"

"I am sorry to see you go, " she murmured, "very sorry. The dayswill be full of terror until I know you are safe. "

"Oh, yes, " he answered: "but I'll get there, and I shall tell itall to you at Quebec--at Quebec in August. It will he a bravetale! You will be there--surely?"

"Yes, " said the girl, softly; "I will be there--surely. "

"Good! Feel the wind on your cheek? It is from the Southland, where I am going. I have ventured--and I have not lost! It issomething not to lose, when one has ventured against many. Theyhave my goods--but I----"

"You?" repeated Virginia, as he hesitated. 

"Ah, I don't go back empty-handed!" he tried. Her heart stoodstill, then leaped in anticipation of what he would say. Her soulhungered for the words, the words that should not only comfort her, but should be to her the excuse for many things. She sawhim--shadowy, graceful against the dim gray of the river andsky--lean ever so slightly toward her. But then he straightenedagain to his paddle, and contented himself with repeating merely:"Quebec--in August, then. "

The canoe grated. Ned Trent with an exclamation drove his paddleinto the clay. 

"Lucky the bottom is soft here, " said he; "I did not realize wewere so close ashore. "

He drew the canoe up on the shelving beach, helped Virginia out, took his rifle, and so stood ready to depart. 

"Leave the canoe just where we got in, " he advised; "it is aroundthe point, you see, and that may fool them a. Little. "

"You are going. " she said, dully. Then she came close to him andlooked up at him with her wonderful eyes. "Good-by. "

"Good-by, " said he. 

Was this to be all? Had he nothing more to tell her? Was the wordto lack, the word she needed so much? She had given herselfunreservedly into this man's hands, and at parting he had no moreto say to her than "Good-by. " Virginia's eyes were tearful, butshe would not let him know that. She felt that her heart wouldbreak. 

"Well, good-by, " he said again after a moment, which he had spentinspecting the heavens. "Ah, you don't know what it is to be free!By to-morrow morning I shall be half-way to the Mattagami. I canhardly wait to see it, for then I am safe! And then nex; day--why, next day they won't know which of a dozen ways I've gone!" He wasfull of the future, man fashion. 

He took her hands, leaned over, and lightly kissed her on themouth. Instantly Virginia became wildly and unreasonably angry. She could not have told herself why, but it was the lack of theword she had wanted so much, the pain of feeling that he could golike that, the thwarted bitterness of a longing that had grownstronger than she had even yet realized. 

Instinctively she leaped into the canoe, sending it spinning fromthe bank. 

"Ah, you had no _right_ to do that!" she cried. "I gave you no_right_!"

Then, heedless of what he was saying, she began to paddle straightfrom the shore, weeping bitterly, her face upraised, her hair inher eyes, and the tears coursing unheeded down her cheeks. 

Chapter Fourteen

Slower and slower her paddle dipped, lower and lower hung her head, faster and faster flowed her tears. The instinctive recoil, thepassionate resentment had gone. In the bitterness of her spiritshe knew not what she thought except that she would give her soulto see him again, to feel the touch of his lips once more. For shecould not make herself believe that this would ever come to pass. He had gone like a phantom, like a dream, and the mists of life hadclosed about him, showing no sign. He had vanished, and at onceshe seemed to know that the episode was finished. 

The canoe whispered against the soft clay bottom. She had arrived, though how the crossing had been made she could not have told. Slowly and sorrowfully she disembarked. Languidly she drew thelight craft beyond the stream's eager fingers. Then, her forces atan end, she huddled down on the ground and gave herself up tosorrow. 

The life of the forest went on as though she were not there. A bigowl far off said hurriedly his _whoo-whoo-whoo_, as though he hadthe message to deliver and wanted to finish the task. A smallerowl near at hand cried _ko-ko-ko-oh_ with the intonation of a tinhorn. Across the river a lynx screamed, and was answered at onceby the ululations of wolves. On the island the _giddes_ howleddefiance. Then from above, clear, spiritual, floated the whistleof shore birds arriving from the south. Close by sounded a rustleof leaves, a sharp squeak; a tragedy had been consummated, and thefierce little mink stared malevolently across the body of hisvictim at the motionless figure on the beach. 

Virginia, drowned in grief, knew of none of these things. She wasseeing again the clear brown face of the stranger, his curly brownhair, his steel eyes, and the swing of his graceful figure. Now hefronted the wondering _voyageurs_, one foot raised against the bowof the _brigade_ canoe; now he stood straight and tall against thelight of the sitting-room door; now he emptied the vials of hiswrath and contempt on Archibald Crane's reverend head; now hepassed in the darkness, singing gayly the _chanson de canot_. Butmore fondly she saw him as he swept his hat to the ground ondiscovering her by the guns, as he bent his impassioned eyes on herin the dim lamplight of their first interview, as he tossed his hataloft in the air when he had understood that she would be inQuebec. She hugged the visions to her, and wept over them softly, for she was now sure she would never see him again. 

And she heard his voice, now laughing, now scornful, now mocking, now indignant, now rich and solemn with feeling. He flouted thepeople, he turned the shafts of his irony on her father, he scathedthe minister, he laughed at Louis Placide awakened from his sleep, he sang, he told her of the land of desolation, he pleaded. Shecould hear him calling her name--although he had never spokenit--in low, tender tones, "Virginia! Virginia!" over and over againsoftly, as though his soul were crying through his lips. 

Then somehow, in a manner not to be comprehended, it was borne inon her consciousness that he was indeed near her, and that he wasindeed calling her name. And at once she made him out, standingdripping on the beach. A moment later she was in his arms. 

"Ah!" he cried, in gladness; "you are here!"

He crushed her hungrily to him, unmindful of his wet clothes, kissing her eyes, her cheeks, her lips, her chin, even the fragrantcorner of her throat exposed by the collar of her gown. She didnot struggle. 

"Oh!" she murmured, "my dear, my dear! Why did you come back? Whydid you come?"

"Why did I come?" he repeated, passionately. "Why did I come? Canyou ask that? How could I help but come? You must have known Iwould come. Surely you must have known! Didn't you hear mecalling you when you paddled away? I came to get the right. Icame to get your promise, your kisses, to hear you say the word, toget you! I thought you understood. It was all so clear to me. Ithought you knew. That was why I was so glad to go, so eager toget away that I could not even realize I was parting from you--so Icould the sooner reach Quebec--reach you! Don't you see how Ifelt? All this present was merely something to get over, to passby, to put behind us until I got to Quebec in August--and you. Ilooked forward so eagerly to that, I was so anxious to get away, Iwas desirous of hastening on to the time when things could be_sure_! Don't you understand?"

"Yes, I think I do, " replied the girl, softly. 

"And I thought of course you knew, I should not have kissed youotherwise. "

"How could I know?" she sighed. "You said nothing, and, oh! I_wanted_ so to hear!"

And singularly enough he said nothing now, but they stood facingeach other hand in hand, while the great vibrant life they were nowtouching so closely filled their hearts and eyes, and left themfaint. So they stood for hours or for seconds, they could nottell, spirit-hushed, ecstatic. The girl realized that they mustpart. 

"You must go, " she whispered brokenly, at last. "I do not want youto, but you must. "

She smiled up at him with trembling lips that whispered to her soulthat she must be brave. 

"Now go, " she nerved herself to say, releasing her hands. 

"Tell me, " he commanded. 

"What?" she asked. 

"What I most want to hear. "

"I can tell you many things, " said she, soberly, "but I do not knowwhich of them you want to hear. Ah, Ned. I can tell you that youhave come into a girl's life to make her very happy and very muchafraid. And that is a solemn thing; is it not?"

"Yes, " said he. 

"And I can tell you that this can never be undone. That is asolemn thing, too, is it not?"

"Yes, " said he. 

"And that, according as you treat her, this girl will believe ornot believe in the goodness of all men or the badness of all men. Ah, Ned, a woman's heart is fragile, and mine is in your keeping. "

Her face was raised bravely and steadily to his. In the starlightit shone white and pathetic. And her eyes were two liquid wells ofdarkness in the shadow, and her half-parted lips were wistful andchildlike. 

The man caught both her hands, again looking down on her. Then heanswered her, solemnly and humbly. 

"Virginia, " said he, "I am setting out on a perilous Journey. As Ideal with you, may God deal with me. "

"Ah, that is as I like you, " she breathed. 

"Good-by, " said he. 

She raised her lips of her own accord, and he kissed themreverently. 

"Good-by, " she murmured. 

He turned away with an effort and ran down the beach to the canoe. 

"Good-by, good-by, " she murmured, under her breath. "Ah, good-by!I love you! Oh, I do love you!"

Then suddenly from the bushes leaped dark figures. The still nightwas broken by the sound of a violent scuffle--blows--a fall. Sheheard Ned Trent's voice calling to her from the _melee_. 

"Go back at once!" he commanded, clearly and steadily. "You can dono good. I order you to go home before they search the woods. "

But she crouched in dazed terror, her pupils wide to the dim light. She saw them bind him, and stand waiting; she saw a canoe glide outof the darkness; she saw the occupants of the canoe disembark; shesaw them exhibit her little rifle, and heard them explain in Cree, that they had followed the man swimming. Then she knew that thecause was lost, and fled as swiftly as she could through the forest. 

Chapter Fifteen

Galen Albret had chosen to interrogate his recaptured prisoneralone. He sat again, in the arm-chair of the Council Room. Theplace was flooded with sun. It touched the high-lights of thetime-darkened, rough furniture, it picked out the brasses, itglorified the whitewashed walls. In its uncompromisingillumination Me-en-gan, the bows-man, standing straight and talland silent by the door, studied his master's face and knew him tobe deeply angered. 

For Galen Albret was at this moment called upon to deal with aproblem more subtle than any with which his policy had been puzzledin thirty years. It was bad enough that, in repeated defiance ofhis authority, this stranger should persist in his attempt to breakthe Company's monopoly; it was bad enough that he had, whencaptured, borne himself with so impudent an air of assurance; itwas bad enough that he should have made open love to the Factor'sdaughter, should have laughed scornfully in the Factor's very face. But now the case had become grave. In some mysterious manner hehad succeeded in corrupting one of the Company's servants. Treachery was therefore to be dealt with. 

Some facts Galen Albret had well in hand. Others eluded himpersistently. He had, of course, known promptly enough of thedisappearance of a canoe, and had thereupon dispatched his Indiansto the recapture. The Reverend Archibald Crane had reported thattwo figures had been seen in the act of leaving camp, one by theriver, the other by the Woods Trail. But here the Factor'sinvestigations encountered a check. The rifle brought in by hisIndians, to his bewilderment, he recognized not at all. Hisrepeated cross-questionings, when they touched on the question ofNed Trent's companion, got no farther than the Cree woodenstolidity. No, they had seen no one, neither presence, sign, nortrail. But Galen Albret, versed in the psychology of his savageallies, knew they lied. He suspected them of clan loyalty to oneof their own number; and yet they had never failed him before. Now, his heavy revolver at his right hand, he interviewed NedTrent, alone, except for the Indian by the portal. 

As with the Indians, his cross-examination had borne scant results. The best of his questions but involved him in a maze of bafflingsurmises. Gradually his anger had mounted, until now the Indian atthe door knew by the wax-like appearance of the more prominentplaces on his deeply carved countenance that he had nearly reachedthe point of outbreak. 

Swiftly, like the play of rapiers, the questions and answers brokeacross the still room. 

"You had aid, " the Factor asserted, positively. 

"You think so?"

"My Indians say you were alone. But where did you get this rifle?"

"I stole it. "

"You were alone?"

Ned Trent paused for a barely appreciable instant. It was notpossible that the Indians had failed to establish the girl'spresence, and he feared a trap. Then he caught the expressive eyeof Me-en-gan at the door. Evidently Virginia had friends. 

"I was alone, " he repeated, confidently. 

"That is a lie. For though my Indians were deceived, two peoplewere observed by my clergyman to leave the Post immediately beforeI sent out to your capture. One rounded the island in a canoe; theother took the Woods Trail. "

"Bully for the Church, " replied Trent, imperturbably. "Betterpromote him to your scouts. "

"Who was that second person?"

"Do you think I will tell you?"

"I think I'll find means to make you tell me!" burst out the Factor. 

Ned Trent was silent. 

"If you'll tell me the name of that man I'll let you go free. I'llgive you a permit to trade in the country. It touches myauthority--my discipline. The affair becomes a precedent. It isvital. "

Ned Trent fixed his eyes on the bay and hummed a little air, halfturning his shoulder to the older man. 

The latter's face blazed with suppressed fury. Twice his handrested almost convulsively on the butt of his heavy revolver. 

"Ned Trent, " he cried, harshly, at last, "pay attention to me. I've had enough of this. I swear if you do not tell me what I wantto know within five minutes, I'll hang you to-day!"

The young man spun on his heel. 

"Hanging!" he cried. "You cannot mean that?"

The Free Trader measured him up and down, saw that his purpose wassincere, and turned slowly pale under the bronze of his out-of-doortan. Hanging is always a dreadful death, but in the Far North itcarries an extra stigma of ignominy with it, inasmuch as it isresorted to only with the basest malefactors. Shooting is theusual form of execution for all but the most despicable crimes. Heturned away with a little gesture. 

"Well!" cried Albret. 

Ned Trent locked his lips in a purposeful straight line of silence. To such an outrage there could be nothing to say. The Factorjerked his watch to the table. 

"I said five minutes, " he repeated. "I mean it. "

The young man leaned against the side at the window, his armsfolded, his back to the room. Outside, the varied life of the Postwent forward under his eyes. He even noted with a surface interestthe fact that out across the river a loon was floating, andremarked that never before had he seen one of those birds so farnorth. Galen Albret struck the table with the flat of his hand. 

"Done!" he cried. "This is the last chance I shall give you. Speak at this instant or accept the consequences!"

Ned Trent turned sharply, as though breaking a thread that boundhim to the distant prospect beyond the window. For an instant hestared enigmatically at his opponent. Then in the sweetest tones, "Oh, go to the devil!" said he, and began to walk deliberatelytoward the older man. 

There lay between the window and the head of the table perhaps adozen ordinary Steps, for the room was large. The young man tookthem slowly, his eyes fixed with burning intensity on the seatedfigure, the muscles of his locomotion contracting and relaxing withthe smooth, stealthy continuity of a cat. Galen Albret again laidhand on his revolver. 

"Come no nearer, " he commanded. 

Me-en-gan left the door and glided along the wall. But the tableintervened between him and the Free Trader. 

The latter paid no attention to the Factor's command. Galen Albretsuddenly raised his weapon from the table. 

"Stop, or I'll fire!" he cried, sharply. 

"I mean just that. " said Ned Trent between his clenched teeth. 

But ten feet separated the two men. Galen Albret levelled therevolver. Ned Trent, watchful, prepared to spring. Me-en-gan, near the foot of the table, gathered himself for attack. 

Then suddenly the Free Trader relaxed his muscles, straightened hisback, and returned deliberately to the window. Facing about inastonishment to discover the reason for this sudden change ofdecision, the other two men looked into the face of VirginiaAlbret, standing in the doorway of the other room. 

"Father!" she cried. 

"You must go back, " said Ned Trent speaking clearly andcollectedly, in the hope of imposing his will on her obviousexcitement. "This is not an affair in which you should interfere. Galen Albret, send her away. "

The Factor had turned squarely in his heavy arm-chair to regard thegirl, a frown on his brows. 

"Virginia, " he commanded, in deliberate, stern tones of authority, "leave the room. You have nothing to do with this case, and I donot desire your interference. "

Virginia stepped bravely beyond the portals, and stopped. Herfingers were nervously interlocked, her lip trembled, in her cheeksthe color came and went, but her eyes met her father's, unfaltering. 

"I have more to do with it than you think. " she replied. 

Instantly Ned Trent was at the table. "I really think this hasgone far enough, " he interposed. "We have had our interview andcome to a decision. Miss Albret must not be permitted toexaggerate a slight sentiment of pity into an interest in myaffairs. If she knew that such a demonstration only made it worsefor me I am sure she would say no more. " He looked at herappealingly across the Factor's shoulder. 

Me-en-gan was already holding open the door. "You come, " hesmiled, beseechingly. 

But the Factor's suspicions were aroused. 

"There is something in this, " he decided. "I think you may stay, Virginia. "

"You are right, " broke in the young man, desperately. "There issomething in it. Miss Albret knows who gave me the rifle, and shewas about to inform you of his identity. There is no need insubjecting her to that distasteful ordeal. I am now ready toconfess to you. I beg you will ask her to leave the room. "

Galen Albret, in the midst of these warring intentions, had sunkinto his customary impassive calm. The light had died from hiseyes, the expression from his face, the energy from his body. Hesat, an inert mass, void of initiative, his intelligence open towhat might be brought to his notice. 

"Virginia, this is true?" his heavy, dead voice rumbled through hisbeard. "You know who aided this man?"

Ned. Trent mutely appealed to her: her glance answered his. 

"Yes, father, " she replied. 

"Who?"

"I did. "

A dead silence fell on the room. Galen Albret's expression andattitude did not change. Through dull, lifeless eyes, from behindthe heavy mask of his waxen face and white beard, he lookedsteadily out upon nothing. Along either arm of the chair stretchedhis own arms limp and heavy with inertia. In suspense the otherthree inmates of the place watched him, waiting for some change. It did not come. Finally his lips moved. 

"You?" he muttered, questioningly, "I, " she repeated

Another silence fell. 

"Why?" he asked at last. 

"Because it was an unjust thing. Because we could not think oftaking a life in that way, without some reason for it. "

"Why?" he persisted, taking no account of her reply. 

Virginia let her gaze slowly rest on the Free Trader, and her eyesfilled with a world of tenderness and trust. 

"Because I love him, " said she, softly. 

Chapter Sixteen

After an instant Galen Albret turned slowly his massive head andlooked at her. He made no other movement, yet she staggered backas though she had received a violent blow on the chest. 

"Father!" she gasped. 

Still slowly, gropingly, he arose to his feet, holding tight to theedge of the table. Behind him unheeded the rough-built armchaircrashed to the floor. He stood there upright and motionless, looking straight before him, his face formidable. At first hisspeech was disjointed. The words came in widely punctuated gasps. Then, as the wave of his emotion rolled back from the poise intowhich the first shock of anger had thrown it, it escaped throughhis lips in a constantly increasing stream of bitter words. 

"You--you love him, " he cried. "You--my daughter! You have been--atraitor--to me! You have dared--dared--deny that which my wholelife has affirmed! My own flesh and blood--when I thought thenearest _metis_ of them all more loyal! You love this man--thisman who has insulted me, mocked me! You have taken his partagainst me! You have deliberately placed yourself in the class ofthose I would hang for such an offence! If you were not mydaughter I would hang you. Hang my own child!" Suddenly his rageflared. "You little fool! Do you dare set your judgment againstmine? Do you dare interfere where I think well? Do you dare denymy will? By the eternal, I'll show you, old as you are, that youhave still a father! Get to your room! Out of my sight!" He tooktwo steps forward, and so his eye fell on Ned Trent. He uttered ascream of rage, and reached for the pistol. Fortunately theabruptness of his movement when he arose had knocked it to thefloor, so now in the blindness of a red anger he could not see it. He shrieked out an epithet and jumped forward, his arm drawn tostrike. Ned Trent leaped back into an attitude of defence. 

All three of those present had many times seen Galen Albretpossessed by his noted fits of anger, so striking in contrast tohis ordinary contained passivity. But always, though evidently ina white heat of rage and given to violent action and decision, hehad retained the clearest command of his faculties, issuingcoherent and dreaded orders to those about him. Now he bad becomea raging wild beast. And for the spectators the sight had all thehorror of the unprecedented. 

But the younger man, too, had gradually heated to the point wherehis ordinary careless indifference could give off sparks. Theinterview had been baffling, the threats real and unjust, the turnof affairs when Virginia Albret entered the room most exasperatingon the side of the undesirable and unforeseen. In foiled escape, in thwarted expedient, his emotions had been many times excited, and then eddied back on themselves. The potentialities of as blindan anger as that of Galen Albret were in him. It only needed atouch to loose the flood. The physical threat of a blow suppliedthat touch. As the two men faced each other both were ripe for theextreme of recklessness. 

But while Galen Albret looked to nothing less than murder, theFree-Trader's individual genius turned to dead defiance andresistance of will. While Galen Albret's countenance reflected theheight of passion, Trent was as smiling and cool and debonair asthough he had at that moment received from the older man anextraordinary and particular favor. Only his eyes shot a balefulblue flame, and his words, calmly enough delivered, showed theextent to which his passion had cast policy to the winds. 

"Don't go too far! I warn you!" said he. As though the words hadprojected him bodily forward, Galen Albret sprang to deliver hisblow. The Free Trader ducked rapidly, threw his shoulder acrossthe middle of the older man's body, and by the very superiority ofhis position forced his antagonist to give ground. That thestruggle would have then continued body to body there can be nodoubt, had it not been for the fact that the Factor's retrogressivemovement brought his knees sharply against the edge of a chairstanding near the side of the table. Albret lost his balance, wavered, and finally sat down violently. Ned Trent promptly pinnedhim by the shoulder into powerless immobility. Me-en-gan hadpossessed himself of the fallen pistol, but beyond keeping agenerally wary eye out for dangerous developments, did not offer tointerfere. Your Indian is in such a crisis a disciplinarian, andhe had received no orders. 

"Now, " said Ned Trent, acidly, "I think this will stop right here. You do not cut a very good figure, my dear sir, " he laughed alittle. "You haven't cut a very good figure from the beginning, you know. You forbade me to do various things, and I have donethem all. I traded with your Indians. I came and went in yourcountry. Do you think I have not been here often before I wascaught? And you forbade me to see your daughter again. I saw herthat very evening, and the next morning and the next evening. "

He stood, still holding Galen Albret immovably in the chair, looking steadily and angrily into the leader's eyes, driving eachword home with the weight of his contained passion. The girltouched his arm. 

"Hush! oh, hush!" she cried in a panic. "Do not anger him further!"

"When you forbade me to make love to her, " he continued, unheeding, "I laughed at you. " With a sudden, swift motion of his left arm hedrew her to him and touched her forehead with his lips. "Look!Your commands have been rather ridiculous, sir. I seem to have hadthe upper hand of you from first to last. Incidentally you have mylife. Oh, welcome! That is small pay and little satisfaction. "

He threw himself from the Factor and stepped back. 

Galen Albret sat still without attempting to renew the struggle. The enforced few moments of inaction had restored to him hisself-control. He was still deeply angered, but the insanity ofrage had left him. Outwardly he was himself again. Only a rapidheaving of his chest answered Ned Trent's quick breathing, as thetwo men glared defiantly at each other in the pause that followed. 

"Very well, sir, " said the Factor, curtly, at last. "Your time isover. I find it unnecessary to hang you. You will start, on your_Longue Traverse_ to-day. "

"Oh!" cried Virginia, in a low voice of agony, and fluttered to herlover's side. 

"Hush! hush!" he soothed her. "There is a chance. "

"You think so?" broke in Galen Albret, harshly. And looking at hisset face and blazing eyes, they saw that there was no chance. TheFree Trader shrugged his shoulders. 

"You are going to do this thing, father, " appealed Virginia, "afterwhat I have told you?"

"My mind is made up. "

"I shall not survive him, father!" she threatened, in a low voice. Then, as the Factor did not respond, "Do not misunderstand me. Ido not intend to survive him. "

"Silence! silence! silence!" cried Galen Albret, in a crescendooutburst. "Silence! I will not be gainsaid! You have made yourchoice! You are no longer a daughter of mine!"

"Father!" cried Virginia, faintly, her lips going pale. 

"Don't speak to me! Don't look at me! Get out of here! Get outof the place! I won't have you here another day--another hour!By----"

The girl hesitated for a moment, then ran to him, sinking on herknees, and clasping his hand. 

"Father, " she pleaded, "you are not yourself. This has been verytrying to you. To-morrow you will be sorry. But then it will betoo late. Think, while there is yet time. He has not committed acrime. You yourself told me he was a man of intelligence anddaring--a gentleman; and surely, though he has been hasty, he hasacted with a brave spirit through it all. See, he will promise youto go away quietly, to say nothing of all this, never to come intothis country again without your permission. He will do this if Iask him, for he loves me. Look at me, father. Are you going totreat your little girl so--your Virginia? You have never refusedme anything before. And this is the greatest thing in all mylife. " She held his hand to her cheek and stroked it, murmuringlittle feminine, caressing phrases, secure in her power ofwitchery, which had never failed her before. The sound of her ownvoice reassured her, the quietude of the man she pleaded with. Alifetime of petting, of indulgence, threw its soothing influenceover her perturbation, convincing her that somehow all this stormand stress must be phantasmagoric--a dream from which she was evennow awakening into a clearer day of happiness. "For you love me, father, " she concluded, and looked up daintily, with a pathetic, coquettish tilt of her fair head, to peer into his face. 

Galen Albret snarled like a wild beast, throwing aside the girl, ashe did the chair in which he had been sitting. Ned Trent caughther, reeling, in his arms. 

For as is often the case with passionate but strong temperaments, though the Factor had attained a certain calm of control, theturmoil of his deeper anger had not been in the least stilled. Over it a crust of determination had formed--the determination tomake an end by the directest means in his autocratic power of thisgalling opposition. The girl's pleading, instead of appealing tohim, had in reality but stirred his fury the more profoundly. Ithad added a new fuel element to the fire. Heretofore hisconsciousness had felt merely the thwarting of his pride, hisauthority, his right to loyalty. Now his daughter's entreatybrought home to him the bitter realization that he had beenattained on another side--that of his family affection. This manhad also killed for him his only child. For the child hadrenounced him, had thrust him outside herself into the lonely andruined temple of his pride. At the first thought his face twistedwith emotion, then hardened to cold malice. 

"Love you!" he cried. "Love you! An unnatural child! An ingrate!One who turns from me so lightly!" He laughed bitterly, eyeing herwith chilling scrutiny. "You dare recall my love for you!"Suddenly he stood upright, levelling a heavy, trembling arm at her. "You think an appeal to my love will save him! Fool!"

Virginia's breath caught in her throat. She straightened, clutchedthe neckband of her gown. Then her head fell slowly forward. Shehad fainted in her lover's arms. 

They stood exactly so for an appreciable interval, bewildered bythe suddenness of this outcome; Galen Albret's hand outstretched indenunciation; the girl like a broken lily, supported in the youngman's arms; he searching her face passionately for a sign of life;Me-en-gan, straight and sorrowful, again at the door. 

Then the old man's arm dropped slowly, His gaze wavered. The linesof his face relaxed. Twice he made an effort to turn away. All atonce his stubborn spirit broke; he uttered a cry, and sprangforward to snatch the unconscious form hungrily into his bearclasp, searching the girl's face, muttering incoherent things. 

"Quick!" he cried, aloud, the guttural sounds jostling one anotherin his throat. "Get Wishkobun, quick!"

Ned Trent looked at him with steady scorn, his arms folded. 

"Ah!" he dropped distinctly in deliberate monosyllables across thesurcharged atmosphere of the scene. "So it seems you have foundyour heart, my friend!"

Galen Albret glared wildly at him over the girl's fair head. 

"She is my daughter, " he mumbled. 

Chapter Seventeen

They carried the unconscious girl into the dim-lighted apartment ofthe curtained windows, and laid her on the divan. Wishkobun, hastily summoned, unfastened the girl's dress at the throat. 

"It is a faint, " she announced in her own tongue. "She willrecover in a few minutes; I will get some water. "

Ned Trent wiped the moisture from his forehead with hishandkerchief. The danger he had undergone coolly, but thisovercame his iron self-control. Galen Albret, like an anxiousbear, weaved back and forth the length of the couch. In him therumble of the storm was but just echoing into distance. 

"Go into the next room, " he growled at the Free Trader, whenfinally he noticed the latter's presence. 

Ned Trent hesitated. 

"Go, I say!" snarled the Factor. "You can do nothing here. " Hefollowed the young man to the door, which he closed with his ownhand, and then turned back to the couch on which his daughter lay. In the middle of the floor his foot clicked on some small object. Mechanically lie picked it up. 

It proved to be a little silver match-safe of the sort universallyused in the Far North. Evidently the Free Trader had nipped itfrom his pocket with his handkerchief, The Factor was about tothrust it into his own pocket, when his eye caught letteringroughly carved across one side. Still mechanically, he examined itmore closely, The lettering was that of a man's name. The man'sname was Graehme Stewart. 

Without thinking of what he did, he dropped the object on the smalltable, and returned anxiously to the girl's side, cursing thetardiness of the Indian woman. But in a moment Wishkobun returned. 

"Will she recover?" asked the Factor, distracted at the woman'sdeliberate examination. 

The latter smiled her indulgent, slow smile. "But surely, " sheassured him in her own tongue, "it is no more than if she cut herfinger. In a few breaths she will recover. Now I will go to thehouse of the Cockburn for a morsel of the sweet wood [camphor]which she must smell. " She looked her inquiry for permission. 

"Sagaamig--go, " assented Albret. 

Relieved in mind, he dropped into a chair. His eye caught thelittle silver match-safe, He picked it up and fell to staring atthe rudely carved letters. 

He found that he was alone with his daughter--and the thoughtsaroused by the dozen letters of a man's name. 

All his life long he had been a hard man. His commands had beenautocratic; his anger formidable; his punishments severe, andsometimes cruel. The quality of mercy was with him tenuous andweak. He knew this, and if he did not exactly glory in it, he wasat least indifferent to its effect on his reputation with others. But always he had been just. The victims of his displeasure mightcomplain that his retributive measures were harsh, that hisforgiveness could not be evoked by even the most extenuating ofcircumstances, but not that his anger had ever been baseless or thepunishment undeserved. Thus he had held always his ownself-respect, and from his self-respect had proceeded his iron andeffective rule. 

So in the case of the young man with whom now his thoughts wereoccupied. Twice he had warned him from the country without thepunishment which the third attempt rendered imperative. The eventssucceeding his arrival at Conjuror's House warmed the Factor'sanger to the heat of almost preposterous retribution perhaps--forafter all a man's life is worth something, even in the wilds--butit was actually retribution, and not merely a ruthless proof ofpower. It might be justice as only the Factor saw it, but it wasstill essentially justice--in the broader sense that to each acthad followed a definite consequence. Although another might havecondemned his conduct as unnecessarily harsh, Galen Albret'sconscience was satisfied and at rest. 

Nor had his resolution been permanently affected by either thegirl's threat to make away with herself or by his momentarysoftening when she had fainted. The affair was therebycomplicated, but that was all. In the sincerity of the threat herecognized his own iron nature, and was perhaps a little pleased atits manifestation. He knew she intended to fulfil her promise notto survive her lover, but at the moment this did not reach hisfears; it only aroused further his dogged opposition. 

The Free Trader's speech as he left the room, however, had touchedthe one flaw in Galen Albret's confidence of righteousness. Wearied with the struggles and the passions he had undergone, hisbrain numbed, his will for the moment in abeyance, he seatedhimself and contemplated the images those two words had called up. 

Graehme Stewart! That man he had first met at Fort Rae over twentyyears ago. It was but just after he had married Virginia's mother. At once his imagination, with the keen pictorial power of those whohave dwelt long in the Silent Places, brought forward the otherscene--that of his wooing. He had driven his dogs into Fort laCloche after a hard day's run in seventy-five degrees of frost. Weary, hungry, half-frozen, he had staggered into the fire-litroom. Against the blaze he had caught for a moment a young girl'sprofile, lost as she turned her face toward him in startledquestion of his entrance. Men had cared for his dogs. The girlhad brought him hot tea. In the corner of the fire they two hadwhispered one to the other--the already grizzled traveller of thesilent land, the fresh, brave north-maiden. At midnight, theirparkas drawn close about their faces in the fearful cold, they hadmet outside the inclosure of the Post. An hour later they wereaway under the aurora for Qu'Apelle. Galen Albret's nostrilsexpanded as he heard the _crack, crack, crack_ of the remorselessdog-whip whose sting drew him away from the vain pursuit. Afterthe marriage at Qu'Apelle they had gone a weary journey to Rae, andthere he had first seen Graehme Stewart. 

Fort Rae is on the northwestward arm of the Great Slave Lake in thecountry of the Dog Ribs, only four degrees under the Arctic Circle. It is a dreary spot, for the Barren Grounds are near. Men see onlythe great lake, the great sky, the great gray country. They becomemoody, fanciful. In the face of the silence they have little tosay. At Port Rae were old Jock Wilson, the Chief Trader; FatherBonat, the priest; Andrew Levoy, the _metis_ clerk; four Dog Ribteepees; Galen Albret and his bride; and Graehme Stewart. 

Jock Wilson was sixty-five; Father Bonat had no age; Andrew Levoypossessed the years of dour silence. Only Graehme Stewart andElodie, bride of Albret, were young. In the great gray countrytheir lives were like spots of color on a mist. Galen Albretfinally became jealous. 

At first there was nothing to be done, but finally Levoy brought tothe older man proof of the younger's guilt. The harsh travellerbowed his head and wept. But since he loved Elodie more thanhimself--which was perhaps the only redeeming feature of this sorrybusiness--he said nothing, nor did more than to journey south toEdmonton, leaving the younger man alone in Fort Rae to the WhiteSilence. But his soul was stirred. 

In the course of nature and of time Galen Albret had a daughter, but lost a wife. It was no longer necessary for him to leave hiswrong unavenged. Then began a series of baffling hindrances whichresulted finally in his stooping to means repugnant to his opensense of what was due himself. At the first he could not travel tohis enemy because of the child in his care; when finally he hadsucceeded in placing the little girl where he would be satisfied toleave her, he himself was suddenly and peremptorily called east totake a post in Rupert's Land. He could not disobey and remain inthe Company, and the Company was more to him than life or revenue. The little girl he left in Sacre Coeur of Quebec; he himself tookup his residence in the Hudson Bay country. After a few years, becoming lonely for his own flesh and blood, he sent for hisdaughter. There, as Factor, he gained a vast power, and this powerhe turned into the channels of his hatred. Graehme Stewart feltalways against him the hand of influence. His posts in theCompany's service became intolerable. At length, in indignationagainst continued injustice, oppression, and insult, he resigned, broken in fortune and in prospects. He became one of the earliestFree Traders on the Saskatchewan, devoting his energies to enragedopposition of the Company which had wronged him. In the space ofthree short years he had met a violent and striking death; for theearly days of the Free Trader were adventurous. Galen Albret'srevenge had struck home. 

Then in after years the Factor had again met with Andrew Levoy. The man staggered into Conjuror's House late at night, He hadstarted from Winnipeg to descend the Albany River, but had met withmishap and starvation. One by one his dogs had died. In someblind fashion he pushed on for days after his strength and sanityhad left him. Mu-hi-kun had brought him in. His toes and fingershad frozen and dropped off; his face was a mask of blackfrost-bitten flesh, in which deep fissures opened to the raw. Hehad gone snow-blind. Scarcely was he recognizable as a human being. 

From such a man in extremity could come nothing but the truth, soGalen Albret believed him. Before Andrew Levoy died that night hetold of his deceit. The Factor left the room with the weight of acrime on his conscience. For Graehme Stewart had been innocent ofany wrong toward him or his bride. 

Such was the story Galen Albret saw in the little silver match-box. That was the one flaw in his consciousness of righteousness; theone instance in a long career when his ruthless acts of punishmentor reprisal had not rested on rigid justice, and by the irony offate the one instance had touched him very near. Now here beforehim was his enemy's son--he wondered that he had not discovered theresemblance before--and he was about to visit on him the severestpunishment in his power. Was not this an opportunity vouchsafedhim to repair his ancient fault, to cleanse his conscience of theone sin of the kind it would acknowledge?

But then over him swept the same blur of jealousy that had resultedin Graehme Stewart's undoing. This youth wooed his daughter; hehad won her affections away. Strangely enough Galen Albretconfused the new and the old; again youth cleaved to youth, leavingage apart. Age felt fiercely the desire to maintain its own. TheFactor crushed the silver match-box between his great palms andlooked up. His daughter lay before him, still, lifeless. Deliberately he rested his chin on his hands and contemplated her. 

The room, as always, was full of contrast; shafts of light, dust-moted, bewildering, crossed from the embrasured windows, throwing high-lights into prominence and shadows into impenetrabledarkness. They rendered the gray-clad figure of the girl vague andethereal, like a mist above a stream; they darkened the dull-huedcouch on which she rested into a liquid, impalpable black; theyhazed the draped background of the corner into a far-reachingdistance; so that finally to Galen Albret, staring with hypnoticintensity, it came to seem that he looked upon a pure anddisembodied spirit sleeping sweetly--cradled on illimitable space. The ordinary and familiar surroundings all disappeared. Hisconsciousness accepted nothing but the cameo profile of marblewhite, the nimbus of golden haze about the head, the mist-likesuggestion of a body, and again the clear marble spot of the hands. All else was a background of modulated depths. 

So gradually the old man's spirit, wearied by the stress of thelast hour, turned in on itself and began to create. The cameoprofile, the mist-like body, the marble hands remained; but nowGalen Albret saw other things as well. A dim, rare perfume waswafted from some unseen space; indistinct flashes of light spottedthe darknesses; faint swells of music lifted the silenceintermittently. These things were small and still, and under theexternal consciousness--like the voices one may hear beneath theroar of a tumbling rapid--but gradually they defined themselves. The perfume came to Galen Albret's nostrils on the wings ofincensed smoke; the flashes of light steadied to the ovals ofcandle flames; the faint swells of music blended intogrand-breathed organ chords. He felt about him the dim awe of thechurch, he saw the tapers burning at head and foot, the clear, calmface of the dead, smiling faintly that at last it should be no moredisturbed. So had he looked all one night and all one day in thelong time ago. The Factor stretched his arms out to the figure onthe couch, but he called upon his wife, gone these twenty years. 

"Elodie! Elodie!" he murmured, softly. She had never known it, thank God, but he had wronged her too. In all sorrow and sweetheavenly pity he had believed that her youth had turned to theyouth of the other man. It had not been so. Did be not owe her, too, some reparation?

As though in answer to his appeal, or perhaps that merely the soundof a human voice had broken the last shreds of her swoon, the girlmoved slightly. Galen Albret did not stir. Slowly Virginia turnedher head, until finally her wandering eyes met his, fixed on herwith passionate intensity. For a moment she stared at him, thencomprehension came to her along with memory. She cried out, and satupright in one violent motion. 

"He! He!" she cried. "Is he gone?"

Instantly Galen Albret had her in his arms. 

"It is all right, " he soothed, drawing her close to his greatbreast. "All right. You are my own little girl. "

Chapter Eighteen

For perhaps ten minutes Ned Trent lingered near the door of theCouncil Room until he had assured himself that Virginia was in noserious danger. Then he began to pace the room examining minutelythe various objects that ornamented it. He paused longest at thefull length portrait of Sir George Simpson, the Company's greattraveller, with his mild blue eyes, his kindly face, denying thepotency of his official frown, his snowy hair and whiskers. Thepainted man and the real man looked at each, other inquiringly. The latter shook his head. "You travelled the wild country far, "said he, thoughtfully. "You knew many men of many lands. Andwherever you went they tell me you made friends. And yet, as youembodied this Company to all these people, and so made for thefanatical loyalty that is destroying me, I suppose you and I areenemies!" He shrugged his shoulders whimsically and turned away. 

Thence he cast a fleeting glance out the window at the long reachof the Moose and the blue bay gleaming in the distance. He triedthe outside door. It was locked. Taken with a new idea heproceeded at once to the third door of the apartment. It opened. 

He found himself in a small and much-littered room containing adesk, two chairs, a vast quantity of papers, a stuffed bird or so, and a row of account-books. Evidently the Factor's private office, Ned Trent returned to the main room and listened intently forseveral minutes. After that he ran back to the office and beganhastily to open and rummage, one after another, the drawers of thedesk. He discovered and concealed several bits of string, adesk-knife, and a box of matches. Then he uttered a guardedexclamation of delight. He had found a small revolver, and with itpart of a box of cartridges. 

"A chance!" he exulted: "a chance!"

The game would be desperate. He would be forced first of all toseek out and kill the men detailed to shadow him--a toy revolveragainst rifles; white man against trained savages. And after thathe would have, with the cartridges remaining, to assure hissubsistence. Still it was a chance. 

He closed the drawers and the door, and resumed his seat in thearm-chair by the council table. 

For over an hour thereafter he awaited the next move in the game. He was already swinging up the pendulum arc. The case did notappear utterly hopeless. He resolved, through Me-en-gan, whom hedivined as a friend of the girl's, to smuggle a message to Virginiabidding her hope. Already his imagination had conducted him toQuebec, when in August he would search her out and make her his own. 

Soon one of the Indian servants entered the room for the purpose ofconducting him to a smaller apartment, where he was left alone forsome time longer. Food was brought him. He ate heartily, for heconsidered that wise. Then at last the summons for which he hadbeen so long in readiness. Me-en-gan himself entered the room, andmotioned him to follow. 

Ned Trent had already prepared his message on the back of anenvelope, writing ft with the lead of a cartridge. He now pressedthe bit of paper into the Indian's palm. 

"For O-mi-mi, " he explained. 

Me-en-gan, bored him through with his bead-like eyes of the surfacelights. 

"Nin nissitotam, " he agreed after a moment. 

He led the way. Ned Trent followed through the narrow, uncarpetedhall with the faded photograph of Westminster, down the crookedsteep stairs with the creaking degrees, and finally into theCouncil Room once more, with its heavy rafters, its two fireplaces, its long table, and its narrow windows, "Beka--wait!" commanded Me-en-gan, and left him. 

Ned Trent had supposed he was being conducted to the canoe whichshould bear him on the first stage of his long journey, but now heseemed condemned again to take up the wearing uncertainty ofinaction. The interval was not long, however. Almost immediatelythe other door opened and the Factor entered. 

His movements were abrupt and impatient, for with whatever gracesuch a man yields to his better instincts the actual carrying outof their conditions is a severe trial. For one thing it is aspecies of emotional nakedness, invariably repugnant to theself-contained. Ned Trent, observing this and misinterpreting itscause, hugged the little revolver to his side with grimsatisfaction. The interview was likely to be stormy. If worstcame to worst, he was at least assured of reprisal before his ownend. 

The Factor walked directly to the head of the table and hiscustomary arm-chair, in which he disposed himself. 

"Sit down, " he commanded the younger man, indicating a chair at hiselbow. 

The latter warily obeyed. 

Galen Albret hesitated appreciably. Then, as one would make aplunge into cold water, quickly, in one motion, he laid on thetable something over which he held his hand. 

"You are wondering why I am interviewing you again, " said he. "Itis because I have become aware of certain things. When you left mea few hours ago you dropped this. " He moved his hand to one side. The silver match-safe lay on the table. 

"Yes, it is mine, " agreed Ned Trent, "On one side is carved a name. "

"Yes. "

"Whose?"

The Free Trader hesitated. "My father's, " he said, at last. 

"I thought that must be so. You will understand when I tell youthat at one time I knew him very well. "

"You knew my father?" cried Ned Trent, excitedly. 

"Yes. At Fort Rae, and elsewhere. But I do not remember you. "

"I was brought up at Winnipeg, " the other explained. 

"Once, " pursued Galen Albret, "I did your father a wrong, unintentionally, but nevertheless a great wrong. For that reasonand others I am going to give you your life. "

"What wrong?" demanded Ned Trent, with dawning excitement. 

"I forced him from the Company. "

"You!"

"Yes, I. Proof was brought me that he had won from me my youngwife. It could not be doubted. I could not kill him. Afterwardthe man who deceived me confessed. He is now dead. "

Ned Trent, gasping, rose slowly to his feet. One hand stole insidehis jacket and clutched the butt of the little pistol. 

"You did that, " he cried, hoarsely. "You tell me of it yourself?Do you wish to know the real reason for my coming into thiscountry, why I have traded in defiance of the Company throughoutthe whole Far North? I have thought my father was persecuted by abody of men, and though I could not do much, still I haveaccomplished what I could to avenge him. Had I known that a singleman had done this--and you are that man!"

He came a step nearer. Galen Albret regarded him steadily. 

"If I had known this before, I should never have rested until I hadhunted you down, until I had killed you, even in the midst of yourown people!" cried the Free Trader at last. 

Galen Albret drew his heavy revolver and laid it on the table. 

"Do so now, " he said, quietly. 

A pause fell on them, pregnant with possibility. The Free Traderdropped his head. 

"No, " he groaned. "No, I cannot. She stands in the way!"

"So that, after all, " concluded the Factor, in a gentler tone thanhe had yet employed, "we two shall part peaceably. I have wrongedyou greatly, though without intention. Perhaps one balances theother. We will let it pass. "

"Yes, " agreed Ned Trent with an effort, "we will let it pass. "

They mused in silence, while the Factor drummed on the table withthe stubby fingers of his right hand. 

"I am dispatching to-day, " he announced curtly at length, "theAbitibi _brigade_. Matters of importance brought by runner fromRupert's House force me to do so a month earlier than I hadexpected. I shall send you out with that _brigade_. "

"Very well. "

"You will find your packs and arms in the canoe, quite intact. "

"Thank you. "

The Factor examined the young man's face with some deliberation. 

"You love my daughter truly?" he asked, quietly. 

"Yes, " replied Ned Trent, also quietly. 

"That is well, for she loves you. And, " went on the old man, throwing his massive head back proudly, "my people love well! Iwon her mother in a day, and nothing could stay us. God bethanked, you are a man and brave and clean. Enough of that! Iplace the _brigade_ under your command! You must be responsiblefor it, for I am sending no other white--the crew are Indians and_metis_. "

"All right, " agreed Ned Trent, indifferently. 

"My daughter you will take to Sacre Coeur at Quebec. "

"Virginia!" cried the young man. 

"I am sending her to Quebec. I had not intended doing so untilJuly, but the matters from Rupert's House make it imperative now. "

"Virginia goes with me?"

"Yes. "

"You consent? You----"

"Young man, " said Galen Albret, not unkindly, "I give my daughterin your charge; that is all. You must take her to Sacre Coeur. And you must be patient. Next year I shall resign, for I amgetting old, and then we shall see. That is all I can tell younow. "

He arose abruptly. 

"Come, " said he, "they are waiting. "

They threw wide the door and stepped out into the open. A breezefrom the north brought a draught of air like cold water in itsrefreshment. The waters of the North sparkled and tossed in thesilvery sun. Ned Trent threw his arms wide in the physical delightof a new freedom. 

But his companion was already descending the steps. He followedacross the square grass plot to the two bronze guns. A noise ofpeoples came down the breeze. In a moment he saw them--the variedmultitude of the Post--gathered to speed the _brigade_ on itsdistant journey. 

The little beach was crowded with the Company's people and withIndians, talking eagerly, moving hither and yon in a shiftingkaleidoscope of brilliant color. Beyond the shore floated the longcanoe, with its curving ends and its emblazonment of thefive-pointed stars. Already its baggage was aboard, its crew inplace, ten men in whose caps slanted long, graceful feathers, whichproved them boatmen of a factor. The women sat amidships. 

When Galen Albret reached the edge of the plateau he stopped, andlaid his hand on the young man's arm. As yet they wereunperceived. Then a single man caught sight of them. He spoke toanother; the two informed still others. In an instant the brightcolors were dotted with upturned faces. 

"Listen, " said Galen Albret, in his resonant chest-tones ofauthority. "This is my son, and he must be obeyed. I give to himthe command of this _brigade_. See to it. "

Without troubling himself further as to the crowd below, GalenAlbret turned to his companion. 

"I will say good-by, " said he, formally. 

"Good-by, " replied Ned Trent. 

"All is at peace between us?"

The Free Trader looked long into the man's sad eyes. The hard, proud spirit, bowed in knightly expiation of its one fault, for thefirst time in a long life of command looked out in petition. 

"All is at peace, " repeated Ned Trent. 

They clasped hands. And Virginia, perceiving them so, threw them awonderful smile. 

Chapter Nineteen

Instantly the spell of inaction broke. The crowd recommenced itsbabel of jests, advices, and farewells. Ned Trent swung down thebank to the shore. The boatmen fixed the canoe on the very edge offloating free. Two of them lifted the young man aboard to a placeon the furs by Virginia Albret's side. At once the crowd pressedforward, filling up the empty spaces. 

Now Achille Picard bent his shoulders to lift into free water thestem of the canoe from its touch on the bank. It floated, caughtgently by the back wash of the stronger off-shore current. 

"Good-by, dear, " called Mrs. Cockburn. "Remember us!"

She pressed the Doctor's arm closer to her side. The Doctor wavedhis hand, not trusting his masculine self-control to speak. McDonald, too, stood glum and dour, clasping his wrist behind hisback. Richardson was openly affected. For in Virginia's personthey saw sailing away from their bleak Northern lives the figure ofyouth, and they knew that henceforth life must be even drearier. 

"Som' tam' yo' com' back sing heem de res' of dat song!" shoutedLouis Placide to his late captive. "I lak' hear heem!"

But Galen Albret said nothing, made no sign. Silently andsteadily, run up by some invisible hand, the blood-red banner ofthe Company fluttered to the mast-head. Before it, alone, bulkedhuge against the sky, dominating the people in the symbolism of hisposition there as he did in the realities of everyday life, theFactor stood, his hands behind his back. Virginia rose to her feetand stretched her arms out to the solitary figure. 

"Good-by! good-by!" she cried. 

A renewed tempest of cheers and shouts of adieu broke from thoseashore. The paddles dipped once, twice, thrice, and paused. Withone accord those on shore and those in the canoe raised their capsand said, "Que Dieu vous benisse. " A moment's silence followed, during which the current of the mighty river bore the light craft afew yards down stream. Then from the ten _voyageurs_ arose a greatshout. 

"Abitibi! Abitibi!"

Their paddles struck in unison. The water swirled in white, circular eddies. Instantly the canoe caught its momentum and beganto slip along against the sluggish current. Achille Picard raiseda high tenor voice, fixing the air, "En roulant ma boule roulante, En roulant ma boule"

And the _voyageurs_ swung into the quaint ballad of the fairy ducksand the naughty prince with his magic gun. 

 "Derrier' ches-nous y-a-t-un 'elang, En roulant ma boule. "

The girl sank back, dabbing uncertainly at her eyes. "I shallnever see them again, " she explained, wistfully. 

The canoe had now caught its speed. Conjuror's House was droppingastern. The rhythm of the song quickened as the singers told ofhow the king's son had aimed at the black duck but killed the white. 

 "Ah fils du roi, tu es mechant, En roulant ma boule, Toutes les plumes s'en vont au vent, Rouli roulant, ma boule roulant. "

"Way wik! way wik!" commanded Me-en-gan, sharply, from the bow. 

The men quickened their stroke and shot diagonally across thecurrent of an eddy. 

"Ni-shi-shin, " said Me-en-gan. 

They fell back to the old stroke, rolling out their full-throatedmeasure. 

 "Toutes les plumes s'en vont au vent, En roulant ma boule, Trois dames s'en vont les ramassant, Rouli roulant, ma boule roulant. "

The canoe was now in the smooth rush of the first stretch ofswifter water. The men bent to their work with stiffened elbows. Achille Picard flashed his white teeth back at the passengers. 

"Ah, mademoiselle, eet is wan long way, " he panted. "C'est unelongue traverse!"

The term was evidently descriptive, but the two smiledsignificantly at each other. 

"So you do take _la Longue Traverse_, after all!" marvelledVirginia. 

Ned Trent clasped her hand. 

"We take it together, " he replied. 

Into the distance faded the Post. The canoe rounded a bend. Itwas gone. Ahead of them lay their long journey. 

THE END