Part 4 (2/2)
”I didn't do it for _you_; I did it for my father. They'll jail him if they catch him hiding you. They've got it in for him. If they put him in prison he'll die. He couldn't stand it. I _know_. And that's why I came to find you and tell you to clear out----”
The distant crack of a dry stick checked her. The next instant she picked up his rifle, seized his arm, and fairly dragged him into a spruce thicket.
”Do you want to get my father into trouble!” she said fiercely.
The rocky flank of Star Peak bordered the marsh here.
”Come on,” she whispered, jerking him along through the thicket and up the rocks to a cleft--a hole in the sheer rock overhung by s.h.a.ggy hemlock.
”Get in there,” she said breathlessly.
”Whoever comes,” he protested, ”will see the buck yonder, and will certainly look in here----”
”Not if I go down there and take your medicine. Creep into that cave and lie down.”
”What do you intend to do?” he demanded, interested and amused.
”If it's one of Harrod's game-keepers,” said the girl drily, ”it only means a summons and a fine for me. And if it's a State Trooper, who is prowling in the woods yonder hunting crooks, he'll find n.o.body here but a trespa.s.ser. Keep quiet. I'll stand him off.”
IV
When State Trooper Stormont came out on the edge of Owl Marsh, the girl was kneeling by the water, was.h.i.+ng deer blood from her slender, sun-tanned fingers.
”What are you doing here?” she enquired, looking up over her shoulder with a slight smile.
”Just having a look around,” he said pleasantly. ”That's a nice fat buck you have there.”
”Yes, he's nice.”
”You shot him?” asked Stormont.
”Who else do you suppose shot him?” she enquired, smilingly. She rinsed her fingers again and stood up, swinging her arms to dry her hands,--a lithe, grey-s.h.i.+rted figure in her boyish garments, straight, supple, and strong.
”I saw you hurrying into the woods,” said Stormont.
”Yes, I was in a hurry. We need meat.”
”I didn't notice that you carried a rifle when I saw you leave the house--by the back door.”
”No; it was in the woods,” she said indifferently.
”You have a hiding place for your rifle?”
”For other things, also,” she said, letting her eyes of gentian-blue rest on the young man.
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