The Promise Page 39

  CHAPTER XXXVIII

  CHARLIE FINDS A FRIEND

  The following morning the camp looked out upon a white world. Thethreatened snow which began during the night was still falling, andfrom the windows the dark walls of the clearing could be seen but dimlythrough the riot of dancing flakes.

  It was a constrained and rather glum party that sat down to breakfastshortly after daylight in the room adjoining the office, where two dealtables had been drawn together and spread with a new, white oilcloth.

  Ethel Manton had entirely recovered from her syncope of the previousevening, and had offered no elucidation other than that of fatigue.Nevertheless, not a person in the room but felt that there had beenanother and more immediate cause for the girl's collapse.

  Charlie had begged to be allowed to "eat with the men," and the foremanhad courteously declined Appleton's invitation to join the party duringtheir stay in camp.

  The dismal and sporadic attempts at conversation had slumped into anawkward silence, in the midst of which the door burst open and youngCharlie catapulted into the room.

  "Oh, Eth! Guess who he is!" he cried. "Guess who's the boss--the manthe Indians call The-Man-Who-Cannot-Die'! It's _Bill Carmody_! And Iknew him the minute I saw him, if he _has_ got whiskers all over hisface and a buckskin shirt.

  "And he knew _me_! And he shook hands with me right before all themen--and you ought to seen 'em look! And he's going to teach me how towalk on snowshoes! Oh, ain't you _glad_! 'Cause now you and Billcan----"

  "_Charlie!_" The girl's face flamed, and the word seemed wrung from hervery heart. The boy paused for a moment in the midst of his breathlessharangue and eyed his sister with disgust.

  "You know you _do_ love him," he continued, his eyes flashingdefiantly, "even if you did have a scrap--and he loves you, too! Andthat dang St. Ledger's just nothing but a--a--a _squirt_--that's whathe is--and if I was Bill Carmody I'd punch his head for him if he even_spoke_ to you again--if you was _my_ girl!

  "And I'm going to tell him we _know_ he never swiped those bonds, andyou stuck up for him when old man Carmody told you he did."

  The last words of the boy's remarks were addressed to an empty chair,for the girl, white and trembling, had fled into the other room andbanged the door after her.

  Mrs. Appleton, with an unintelligibly muttered excuse, hurriedlyfollowed, leaving her husband gazing from her retreating back to theexcited face of the youngster, and muttering: "Bless my soul! Bless mysoul!" between the gulps of his coffee, which for once in his life heswallowed with never a growl at the canned milk. A moment later heabruptly left the table and, motioning the boy to follow, led the wayto the office.

  A half-hour passed, and Charlie left the building under the strictestkind of orders not to mention to Bill Carmody either Ethel or thebonds.

  Puzzling his small head over the inexplicable doings of grown-uppeople, he wandered toward the cook-shack to hunt up Daddy Dunnigan,with whom he had already struck up a great friendship.

  "She loves him and he loves her," he muttered to himself as he scuffedhis brand-new moccasins through the soft snow, "and each one tries tolet on they don't. And Uncle Appleton won't let me tell Bill _she_ doesso he'd go and tell her _he_ does; and then old man Carmody and hisbonds could go to the _devil_!

  "You bet, I hope I never get in love and act like a couple of fools.Now, I bet she'll marry that _sniffit_, and he'll marry Blood RiverJack's sister." The boy paused and glanced speculatively at the fallingsnow. "I wonder if he wants to? Anyhow, I can ask him that much."

  Later, in the office, Mrs. Appleton broke in upon her husband's thirdblack cigar. There was no doorway connecting the office with the othertwo rooms, and the lumberman watched the snowflakes melt on his wife'shair as she seated herself directly in front of him.

  "Well, Hubert Appleton, this is a nice mess you have got us into, Imust say!"

  "_Me!_" grinned the man. "Why, little girl, this is your party."

  "I wish you would tell me who it was that suggested leaving out youngMr. Holbrooke, and coming here so that Ethel could meet this _man_?"

  "She--er--met him--didn't she?"

  "You needn't try to be facetious! What are you going to do about it?"

  "Who--me? Oh, just stick around and watch the fun."

  "Fun! Fun! Hubert Appleton, aren't you _ashamed_ of yourself? And thatpoor girl in there crying her eyes out! Fun, indeed--it's _tragedy_!"

  "There, there, little woman; don't let's get excited. It's up to us tokind of figure things out a bit; but the young folks themselves will bethe real actors.

  "Now, just how much--or, how little did she tell you?"

  "She told me _everything_. Poor dear, it did her good. She has hadnobody to tell--nobody to cry with her and sympathize with her."

  When his wife concluded, H. D. Appleton had received a very accuratechronicle of the doings of Bill Carmody from the time of his boyhooduntil chance threw them together in the smoking-compartment of thewest-bound sleeper.

  The lumberman listened attentively, without interrupting, until hiswife finished.

  "Does she think Bill took those bonds?" he asked.

  "No. She does not. Even with everything else against him, she cannotbring herself to believe that he is a thief."

  "Do _you_ think he took them?"

  "Why--I--I don't know," she hesitated.

  "Do you _think_ he took them?"

  The little woman looked into her husband's eyes as she purposelydelayed her reply.

  "No," she said at length. "I do not. But his own father accused him."

  Appleton leaned forward in his chair and brought his fist down upon thedesk-top.

  "I don't give a damn _who_ accused him!" he cried. "That boy neverstole a bond, or any other thing, and I'll stake my last cent on it!"

  "Oh, it isn't the bonds. Ethel does not believe he stole them. But--theother--you heard what the guide said--and Ethel heard it. She never_can_ get over _that_! He may be honest--but he is a perfect_villain_!"

  "Hold on, now. Let's go easy. Maybe it isn't so bad as it sounds."

  "Not so bad! Hubert Appleton, do you mean to tell me that you would,for a minute, think of allowing your niece to _marry_ such a man?"

  Appleton smiled into the outraged eyes of his wife.

  "Yup. I think I would," he replied, and then hastened to add:

  "Wait here and I will fetch Blood River Jack. He may have told morethan he knows, or he may not have told all he knows. When you come tothink of it, from what he _did_ tell, we only jumped at conclusions."

  He hurried from the office, returning a few minutes later with thehalf-breed, who seated himself and lighted the proffered cigar withevident enjoyment.

  "Now, Jack," Appleton began, speaking with his accustomed brevity,"tell us about Monsieur Bill and this sister of yours. Did you say hewas going to marry her?"

  The guide looked from one to the other as if silently taking theirmeasure. Finally he seemed satisfied.

  "No," he said gravely, "he will not marry Jeanne."

  The lumberman cleared his throat and waited while the man looked outupon the whirling snow, for well he knew that the half-breed must beallowed to take his own time--he could not be "pumped." And Mrs.Appleton, taking her cue from her husband, curbed her impatience, andwaited with apparent unconcern.

  "It is," the guide began, as if carefully weighing his words, "that youare the good friends of M's'u' Bill. Also I have seen that you know themen of the logs.

  "Wa-ha-ta-na-ta, my mother, who is old and very wise, knows the men ofthe logs, and, knowing them, hated M's'u' Bill, and would have returnedhim to the river, but Jeanne prevented. For Wa-ha-ta-na-ta, knowing ofthe fatherless breeds of the rivers, hated all white men, and a greatfear was in her heart for the girl, who is her daughter, and thedaughter of Lacombie whom, she says, was the one good white man; butLacombie is dead.

  "So always in the days of the summer, when these two would leave thelodge to visit the deserted camp of Moncrossen, Wa-ha-ta-na
-ta followedthem. Stealthily and unknown she crept upon their trail, and always hersharp eyes were upon them, and in the fold of her blanket was concealeda long, keen blade, and behind the unfailing gaze of the black eyes wasthe mind to kill.

  "Thus passed the days of the summer, and the hand of Wa-ha-ta-na-ta wasstayed, but her vigilance remained unrelenting. For deep in her heartis seared the memory of two winters ago, when Moncrossen gazed upon thebeauty of Jeanne, and came to the tepee in the night, knowing I wasaway, and Wa-ha-ta-na-ta fought him in the darkness until he fled,cursing and swearing vengeance.

  "Never since that night has the girl been safe, for Moncrossen, withthe cunning of the wolf, is waiting his time--and some day he willstrike!

  "But I shared not the fear of my mother that harm would come to Jeanneat the hand of the great _chechako_, for I have looked into his eyes,and I know that his heart is good.

  "Upon the day before his departure for the land of the white man hegave to the girl the skin of Diablesse, and then she told him she lovedhim, and begged him to remain with her in the country of the Indians.

  "But he would not, for he does not love Jeanne, but another--a woman ofhis own people, who lives in the great city of the white man. And eventhough this woman sent him from her, he loves her, and will marry noother.

  "Listening, Wa-ha-ta-na-ta heard him tell this to Jeanne; but of thiswoman the girl knew, for he talked incessantly of her, and cried outthat she would marry another--in the voice of the fever-spirit, in thetime of his great sickness.

  "The following day he departed in a canoe, and as he pushed from theshore, Jeanne handed him his mackinaw, and words passed between themthat Wa-ha-ta-na-ta could not hear from her position behind a log.

  "But, as the canoe passed from sight around a bend in the river, thegirl plunged into the woods, and Wa-ha-ta-na-ta returned to the tepeeand made up a light pack and slipped silently upon her trail. The girlcut through the forest and came again to the river, and for a night anda day awaited the coming of the canoe.

  "The third evening it came and the man camped, and Jeanne crept closeand watched him across the blaze of his little fire as he smoked andstared into the embers. While Wa-ha-ta-na-ta also crept stealthily tothe fire, making no sound, and she came to within an arm's reach of theman's back, and in her hand was clutched tightly the sheath-knife withits long, keen blade.

  "At the midnight the man unrolled his blankets and laid down to sleep,and then it was that Jeanne stepped into the firelight. And in the deepshadow, Wa-ha-ta-na-ta gripped more tightly the knife and made ready tostrike."

  The half-breed paused while the others waited breathlessly for him toresume.

  "Think not that Jeanne is bad. She is good, and her heart is the pureheart of a maiden. But, such is the love of woman--to face gladly thesneers of the world, and the wrath of her people--for she did not askhim to marry her--only to take her.

  "But the man would not, and commanded her to return to the lodge. Shetold him that she could not return--that three days and three nightshad passed since they had departed together, and that, if he would nottake her, she would go alone to the land of the white man.

  "Then M's'u' Bill arose and folded his blankets and made up his pack,and when he spoke to her again it was in the voice of the terriblesoftness--the softness that causes men first to wonder, and then toobey, though they know not why. He said that he himself would take herback, and that Wa-ha-ta-na-ta, who is old and very wise, would knowthat his words were true.

  "Wa-ha-ta-na-ta, lurking there in the deep shadow, in that moment knewthat the man's heart was good. And she stepped into the firelight, andlooked long into his eyes--and she broke the knife--and between themthere passed the _promise_."

  Jacques puffed slowly upon his cigar, arose to his feet, and stoodlooking down upon the two who had listened to his words.

  "It is well," he said, and his dark eyes flashed, "for the heart ofMoncrossen is bad, and the beauty of Jeanne has inflamed the evilpassions of him, and he will stop at nothing in the fulfillment of hisdesire.

  "But, into the North has come a greater than Moncrossen. And terriblewill be the vengeance of this man if harm falls upon Jeanne. For he isher friend, his word has passed, his heart is strong and good, and heknows not fear.

  "Upon Moncrossen will fall the day of the Great Reckoning. And, in thatday, justice will be done, for he will stand face to face with M's'u'Bill--The-Man-Who-Cannot-Die--the man whom Wa-ha-ta-na-ta has named'The One Good White Man'!"