Part 2 (1/2)
”Of course the coal was hot, and it burned his throat till a drop of blood cah, so ever since that day the sobrd has had a red spot on his throat”
The two children spoke out in theirfor the story of the Good Beaver who saved the hunter's life, and she began, this tie of the Yukon people, while Gale listened to the lowpartition
His squaw came in, her arrival unannounced except by the scuff of her ainst the wall She did not use a chair, of which there were several, but crouched upon a bear-skin, her knees beneath her chin, her toes a trifle drawn together She sat thus for a long time, while Necia continued her stories and put the little ones to bed Soon the girl caht
John Gale had never kissed his daughter, and, as it was not a custom of her mother's race, she never missed the caresses On rare occasions the old man romped with the little ones and took them in his arms and acted as other fathers act, but he had never done these things with her When she had gone he spoke without
”She'll never marry Poleon Doret”
”Why?” inquired Alluna
”He ain't her kind”
”Poleon is a good man”
”None better But she'll marry some--some white man”
”Poleon is white,” the squaw declared
”He is and he ain't I h, and--well, he ain't her kind” Alluna's grunt of indignation was a sufficient answer to this, but he resu his head in the direction of the barracks ”She's been talking a lot with this--this soldier”
”Hiuess,” said the wife
”The hell he is!” cried the trader, fiercely ”He don't ot a wole all right, but you don't understand He's different from us people He's--he's--” Gale paused, at a loss for words to convey his”Well, he ain't the kind that would marry a half-breed”
Alluna pondered this cryptic re its solution when her lord continued:
”If she really got to loving him it would be bad for all of us”
Evidently Alluna read so back of these words, for she spoke quickly, but in her own tongue now, as she was accusto reat Better that you kill him before it is too late”'
”Hardly that,” said the trader
”Think of the little ones and of ed by his silence, continued: ”Why not? Soon the nights will grow dark The river runs swiftly, and it never gives up its dead I can do it if you dare not No one would suspecthand firmly on her shoulder
”Don't talk like that There has been tooa bit as they are There's ti to his room he strode out of the house and walked northward up the trail, passing through the town and out of sight Alluna sat huddled up in the doorway, her shawl drawn close about her head, and waited for him until the late sun--which at this tireat circle overhead--dipped down below the distant ain a few points farther north, to begin its long journey anew; but he did not return At last she crept stiffly in-doors, like an old and weary wo in her eyes
About nine o'clock the next -drawn cry came from the farthest limits of the little caan to howl Before its voice had died away another took it up sadly, and within three breaths, from tip and down the half-mile of scanty water-front, came the cry of ”Stealanced up the stream and echoed the call, while fro and stretching Those who had slept late dressed as they hurried towards the landing-place, joining in the plaint, till men and malamutes united in the shrill, slow cry
Down-strea whoof-whoof of a stea on the swift spring current with the speed of a deer She blew hoarsely before the tardy ones had reached the bank, and when abreast of the town her bell clanged, the patter of her great wheel ceased, she reversed her engines and swung gracefully till her boas up against the current, then ploughed back, inching in slowly until, with s, she slid her nose quietly into the bank beneath the trading-post and was ers, h still clad in azed silently at the hundred -plank was placed, when they cas One of them, however, made sufficient noise to make up for the silence of the others Before the stea the Siwash deck-hands, his head and shoulders towering above the fro to his friends ashore and pantoht to the two Gale children who had co, tall people w'at stan' 'longside of you, Miz Gale?”