Part 42 (1/2)

”Did Quade get me with the knife?” he asked

”No, no”

”Am I shot?”

”No, dear”

”Any bones broken?”

”Donald says not”

”Then please give et up Why do you wantlike an ox, as Donald says?”

Joanne laughed happily

”You _are_ getting better every minute,” she cried joyously ”But you were terribly beaten by the rocks, John If you ait until you have the broth I will let you sit up”

A few minutes later, when he had sed his broth, Joanne kept her promise Only then did he realize that there was not a bone or a muscle in his body that did not have its own particular ache He grimaced when Joanne and Donald bolstered hiht was coave the final pats and turns to the blankets and pillows, MacDonald was lighting half a dozen candles placed around the rooht, Donald?” asked Aldous

”No, Johnny, there ain't no watch to-night,” replied the old mountaineer

He came and seated himself on a bench with Joanne For half an hour after that Aldous listened to a recital of the strange things that had happened--how poor marksmanshi+p had saved MacDonald on the mountain-side, and how at last the duel had ended with the old hunter killing those who had come to slay him When they came to speak of DeBar, Joanne leaned nearer to Aldous

”It is wonderful what love will sometimes do,” she spoke softly ”In the last few hours Marie has bared her soul to me, John What she has been she has not tried to hide from me, nor even froh's tools DeBar saw her and loved her, and she sold herself to hiold When they ca happened She loved DeBar--not in the way of her kind, but as a woman in whom had been born a new heart and a new soul and a new joy She defied FitzHugh; she told DeBar how she had tricked hih attempted his old faave them excuse for what they had planned to do

Before her eyes Marie thought they had killed theherself on his breast, and she said she could not feel his heart beat, and his blood floarainst her hands and face Both she and DeBar had determined to warn us if they could Only a few minutes before DeBar was stabbed he had let off his rifle--an accident, he said But it was not an accident It was the shot Donald heard in the cavern It saved us, John!

And Marie, waiting her opportunity, fled to us in the plain DeBar was not killed He says ht him back to life He came out--and killed Quade with a knife Then he fell at our feet A few minutes later Donald came DeBar is in another cabin He is not fatally hurt, and Marie is happy”

She was stroking his hand when she finished The curious ruht with a whih poor Joe when I coed him when I found what he'd done, Johnny! Joe says their cah looked us up, an' Joanne thought she'd been dreamin' He didn't have any help, but his intention was to finish us alone--murder us asleep--when Joanne cried out Joe says it was just a devil's freak that took 'iht He saw our fire an' ca outside the door It was Marie As Joanne went to her a quick gleam came into old Donald's eyes He looked behind him cautiously to see that she had disappeared, then he bent over Aldous, and whispered hoarsely:

”Johnny, I had a h--afore he died!

He wasn't dead when I went to him But he kneas dyin'; an' Johnny, he was smilin' an' cool to the end I wanted to ask 'irave were empty!_ But he asked for Joanne, an' I couldn't break in on his last breath I brought her The first thing he asked her was how people had took it when they found out he'd poisoned his father! When Joanne told hih sat leanin' against the saddles for a ht he 'ad died with his eyes open Then it came out, Johnny He was set his money Later he came to America He didn't have time to tell us how he come to think they'd discovered his crime He was dyin' as he talked It caht they'd found 'ied his nah had died in the mount'ins But Johnny, he died afore I could ask hirave!”

There was a final note of disappointment in old Donald's voice that was alrave,” he said ”An' the clothes were laid out so prim an' nice”

Aldous laid his hand on MacDonald's

”It's easy, Mac,” he said, and he wanted to laugh at the disappointment that was still in the other's face ”Don't you see? He never expected any one to dig _into_ the grave And he put the clothes and the watch and the ring in there to get rid of theht have revealed his identity

Why, Donald----”

Joanne was coain She laid a cool hand on his forehead and held up a warning finger to MacDonald