Part 32 (2/2)
”She's a queer kid,” he said softly, as he recovered his crutch; ”and a mighty good kid, too.”
CHAPTER x.x.x
CREED
That night the four sat late about the campfire.
Old Wa-ha-ta-na-ta, silent and forbidding, as usual, but with a sharp ear for all that was said, listened as they laid their plans.
At their conclusion the others sought their blankets, while Jacques took the trail for the camp of old Wabishke whose help was needed in the undertaking which was to involve no small amount of labor.
As the two women finished the preparation of breakfast the following morning, the half-breed appeared, followed closely by the old Indian trapper whose scarred lips broke into a hideous grin at the sight of Bill.
”This is Wabishke, of whom I spoke,” said Jacques, indicating the Indian. Bill laughingly extended his hand, which the other took.
”Well! If it isn't my friend, the Yankee!” he exclaimed. ”Wabishke and I are old friends. He is the first man I met in the woods.” The Indian nodded, grunted, and pointed to his feet which were encased in a very serviceable pair of boots.
”Oh, I remember, perfectly,” laughed Bill. ”Have you still got my matches?” Wabishke grinned.
”You keel _loup-garou_ with knife?” he asked, as if seeking corroboration for an unbelievable story.
”I sure did,” Bill answered. ”The old gal tried to bite me.”
The Indian regarded him with grave approval and, stepping to his side, favored him with another greasy hand-shake, after which ceremony he squatted by the fire and removing a half-dozen pieces of bacon from the frying-pan proceeded to devour them with evident relish.
Breakfast over, the three men accompanied by Jeanne set out for the river, leaving to old Wa-ha-ta-na-ta the work of the camp. Sliding a canoe into the water, they took their places, Jacques and Wabishke at the paddles, with Jeanne and Bill seated on the bottom amids.h.i.+ps.
Close to the opposite bank the canoe was headed down-stream and, under the swift, strong strokes of the paddles, glided noiselessly in the shadows. A few minutes later, at a sign from Jacques who was in the bow, Wabishke, with a deft twist of his paddle, slanted the canoe bankward.
With a soft, rustling sound the light craft parted the low hanging branches of killikinick and diamond willow, and buried its nose in the soft mud.
Peering through the tangle of underbrush the occupants of the canoe made out, some fifty yards below their position, a small clearing in the center of which, just above the high-water mark of the river, was a small pyramid of logs.
Seated beside the pile, with his back resting against the ends of the logs, sat a man holding a rifle across his knees.
Bill Carmody's fighting spirit thrilled at the sight. Here at last was action. Here were the stolen logs of bird's-eye, and guarding them was Creed!
While the others steadied the canoe he stepped noiselessly onto the bank, where he sank to his ankles in the mud, and, seizing hold of the bow shot the canoe out into the current.
Creed had been left in the woods by Moncrossen, ostensibly to guard the Blood River camp against pilfering Indians and chance forest fires, but his real mission was to keep watch on the bird's-eye until it could be safely rafted to the railway.
Moncrossen promised to return about the middle of June, and ten mornings Creed had skulked the three miles from the lumber camp to the logs, and ten evenings he had skulked fearfully back again, muttering futile curses at the boss's delay.
Creed was uneasy. Not since the evening the greener had walked into Hod Burrage's store at the very moment when he, Creed, was recounting to the interested listeners the circ.u.mstances attending his demise, had he been entirely free from a haunting, nameless fear.
True, as he told Blood River Jack, he had afterward seen with his own eyes, the greener go down under the rus.h.i.+ng jam where no man could possibly go down and live.
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