Part 5 (1/2)
”Yes,” said Katherine, as she followed Mrs Burton into the store to look after the fire ”I think he will get better now,” but her tone was so dull and lacking in spirit that her sister faced round upon her in quick consternation
”What is the matter? Do you feel ill? Why, you are white as chalk, and you look as if you had seen a ghost!”
”I don't think there are any ghosts to see in this part of the world,” Katherine replied, with a brave atteh, ”unless, indeed, the unquiet spirit of soent, done to death by treacherous Indians, haunts these shores”
”Or soht in the ice and frozen to death,”catch in her breath
Katherine, as putting wood in the stove, turned suddenly, catching her sister in a warhosts nor unquiet spirits a their daily work, darling!” she said earnestly ”But I fancy soues, and well deserved the fate they ed redyou look so pale, Katherine Come and have your tea, and I will send one of the boys to look after Father for a little while”
Katherine followed her sister fro as she went if tea, however hot, would have the power to drive away the creeping chill at her heart Miles went off to take charge of the sickroo the gossip of the store which had co the last few days
”Thethat most likely, if Mr Selincourt is such a rich h the Strait two or three ti the summer with provisions, and so it will be bad for Father and the store,” he said, carefully setting the cracked cup for Miles, although by rights it was his own turn to have it
”What nonsense people talk!” exclaih ”Mr Selincourt will have his hands full withfleet, and if he is so unwise as to turn general trader, I dare say we can find so his customers away”
Katherine put down her cup of tea with an unsteady movement which spilled some of the contents over the tablecloth Here was a view of the situation which she had not thought to be co which took their trade away, and left them face to face with starvation, would it be their duty to sit downa blow in self-defence, and all because of that evil fro buried, had suddenly cohtened you look! You surely are not worrying about a bit of store gossip, which has probably not the slightest foundation in fact?” Mrs Burton said in re so re fleet,” Katherine answered languidly
”But I am so tired that bed for a few hours seeo, dear, and get a good rest,” said her sister
But, although Katherine lay down and covered herself with the bedclothes, sleep was long in co, while the burden she had taken made her heart heavy as lead
CHAPTER VI
Business Bothers
For a few days 'Duke Radford appeared to get better with astonishi+ng rapidity He left his bed, and crept across the store, to sit in the rocking-chair by the kitchen stove, and said he was now quite well But when he had pulled up thus far towards strength again, he stopped short, unable to get any farther In vain Mrs Burton plied hi food she could think of: an invalid he rey and enterprise under a cloud, and with a settledcould lift
It was then that the burden of life descended with such crushi+ng force on Katherine The work of the store o on, and it was harder in winter than in su the piles of round chaht and brought to Roaring Water Portage when the waters were open Or, with Miles for a co distances across the snoastes, delivering stores by dog teae This was all very well on the still days, when the sun shone with cloudless brilliancy in a clear sky, and the dogs tore along like mad creatures, and the whole of the expedition would sees were very different So ould sweep in fro da north ould howl through the forests, snapping off big trees fros, while earth, air, and sky were a confusion of whirling snowflakes These were the dangerous days, and they never ventured far fro, unless it was for the threeout, and the snow banked, at the beginning of winter
There were a large nu and walrus boats laid up in ice between Roaring Water Portage and Seal Cove Most of these had , in setting traps for wolves, or in boring holes through the ice for fishi+ng Many of thereat portion of their time in the little house at the bend of the river, where Oily Dave dispensed bad whisky and played poker with his custoe, for sixteen hours out of the twenty-four These were the men whom Katherine most dreaded to encounter They looked bold admiration, and roared out compli further; her s which always accompanied her were much too fierce to be trifled with Mrs Burton had left off lae to her sister's complexion from exposure, for she realized that Katherine must be breadwinner now, and the stern necessities of life had to be first consideration for them all
One day Katherine found to her surprise that so fro in the far corner of the cellar, she had unearthed six of these buckets, which had apparently been forgotten, as the date chalked on thehteen months old With much hard work she hauled four of them to the store above, ripped the cover froht be retailed at soin a row on a shelf which was re at the one which had been opened she saw that it was only half full For a moment she supposed that therethe previous evening, while she was teaching night school, with Miles on duty in the store It had been such a fine clear evening that many people were abroad ould otherwise have been in bed, or at any rate shut up in the stuffy little cabins of the snow-banked sealers
A ht, however, showed her that such a demand for lard would have been so much out of the co ti over thirty pounds in weight, so the sale of over sixty pounds' weight of lard in one evening would have been soe Miles was busy at the wood pile; she could not leave the store to go and question him then, so had to hat patience she could ain Her father had not left his bed yet; indeed he rarely did leave it now until noon or later, when he dressed hi-chair until it was tiain
The life would have seeh if it had not been for the hard and constant work, which made the days of that winter fly faster for Katherine than any winter had ever flown before She did not y, the daily toil seemed rather pleasant than otherwise It was business bothers like this about thelard which tried her patience and temper Presently Miles came in, his face red and warm from hard work in the open air, but puckered into a look of worry, which found a reflection on the countenance of Katherine
”We are running out of fish for the dogs, Katherine Have we been using it too fast, do you think?” he asked
”Surely not The poor creatures cannot work unless they are well fed, and they have never had er will it last?”
”Three days perhaps, not o all at once”
”Just so I should fancy the fish has suffered in the same way as the lard You had better keep the door of the fish-house locked in future I wonder where we can get so lo, I expect,” Katherine said, wrinkling her brows and trying to think of a likely place where the want could be supplied