Part 35 (1/2)
MacDonald laid a heavy hand on his knee
”You reaerin' on that now, be you?”
”No, I'ht!”
”Yes”
Aldous rose from his seat as he spoke
”You turn in, Mac,” he said ”You're about bushed after the work you've done to-day I'll keep first watch I'll conceal myself fifty or sixty yards froht the fun will all be mine”
He knew that MacDonald was asleep within fifteen minutes after he had stationed himself at his post In spite of the fact that he had had alht, he was more than usually wakeful He was filled with a curious feeling that events were i Yet the hours passed, the razed without alar happened He had planned not to awaken old Donald at ht, but MacDonald roused himself, and came to take his place a little before twelve From that hour until four Aldous slept like the dead He was tremendously refreshed when he arose, to find that the candle was alight in Joanne's tepee, and that MacDonald had built a fire He waited for Joanne, and ith her to the tiny creek near the camp, where both bathed their faces in the snow-cold water froht hours, and she was as fresh and as happy as a bird Her laer for the day's journey
As they filed again up the valley that reat snow-topped ranges about them into a paradise of colour and war if it were really possible that a serious danger menaced them He did not tell MacDonald as in his mind He did not confess that he was about ready to believe that the e had been a hunter or a prospector returning to his camp in the other valley, and that the attack in Tete Jaune was the one and only effort Quade would make to secure possession of Joanne While a few hours before he had al e extent, had dropped out of the situation He erous and formidable enemy to be accounted for when the final settlement cainning to fear him less as the hours passed Joanne, and the day itself, were sufficient to disarm him of his former apprehension In places they could see for miles ahead and behind thereater joy to hi out the wonders of the mountains to him and MacDonald Each new rise or fall in the valley held fresh and delightful surprises for her; in the craggy peaks she pointed out castleholds of ancient princes and kings Her ination, of wonder, and of happiness, and in spite of the grimness of thein her spirit, and he laughed and talked with the now into a hunter's paradise For the first ti dots far up on a oats In the afternoon they sawon a slide half a mile away, and for ten breathless h the telescope Twice caribou sped over the opens ahead of the toward the west again that Joanne sahat she had been vainly searching the sides of the mountains to find
MacDonald had stopped suddenly in the trail,thereen slope two hundred yards ahead
”There's yo'r grizzly, Joanne,” he said
A huge, tawny beast was aht of hi for gophers,” explained MacDonald
”That's why he don't seem in a hurry He don't see us because a b'ar's eyes are near-sighted, but he could sht”
He was unslinging his long rifle as he spoke Joanne was near enough to catch his ared ”I've seen lions, and I've seen tigers--and they're treacherous and I don't like thes And the lion isn't a king a beasts cooin' to,” chuckled old Donald ”I'ive 'im the proper sort of a handshake if he should happen to corizzly ain't pertic'lar afraid of anything on earth as I know of, an' they're worse 'n a dynaoin' over the slope!”
”Got our wind,” said Aldous
They went on, a colour in Joanne's face like the vivid sunset They caured they had made better than twentythe cail were equally uneventful The next day added stillpossible attack froht of this day, their fourth in the mountains, he spoke his mind to MacDonald
For a few moments afterward the old hunter smoked quietly at his pipe Then he said:
”I don't know but you're right, Johnny If they were behind us they'dbefore this But it ain't in the law of the ree with you there, Mac,” replied Aldous ”We cannot afford to lose our caution for a ht better over the situation just the saet there ahead of theot a chance of beating thehtfully ”He's heavy, Johnny--that sort of heaviness that don't stand up well in the h muchAn' Joanne, Lord bless her!--she's facing the music like an' 'ero, Johnny!”
”And the journey is aler we can make it in ten at most, mebby nine,” said old Donald ”You see we're in that part of the Rockies where there's real ot fairly good travel to the end”
On this night Aldous slept froht until twelve The next, their fifth, his watch was fro As the sixth and the seventh days and nights passed uneventfully the belief that there were no enemies behind them became a certainty Yet neither Aldous nor MacDonald relaxed their vigilance
The eighth day dawned, and now a new excitement took possession of Donald MacDonald Joanne and Aldous saw his efforts to suppress it, but it did not escape their eyes They were nearing the tragic scenes of long ago, and old Donald was about to reap the reward of a search that had gone faithfully and untiringly through the winters and summers of forty years He spoke seldohts in his eyes And once his voice was husky and strained when he said to Aldous: