Part 2 (1/2)
”Good-by”
Suddenly, the door leading into the rear roous Fitzpatrick, his eyes glittering under the beetling white brows For a silent moment, he took in the scene before him
”Jean,” he said harshly, ”what does this irl flushed painfully
”Mr McTavish is going now, father,” she said, quietly ”I' him away”
”I'll look to that Indian woman,” muttered Fitzpatrick ”She had orders not to admit him” Then, aloud:
”Mr McTavish, in the future, kindly do not confuse your business at this factory with your personal desires I do not wish it”
”Very well,” replied the captain i at the factor
His eyes were fixed hungrily upon the face of the girl, searching for a sign of tender emotion But there was none Only confusion, fear, and surprise struggled for mastery there Hopelessly, he bowed stiffly to her, and went out of the door
Crossing the courtyard by a path that was a veritable canyon of snow, he gained his quarters in the barracks There, he found Peter Rainy, gaunt and with a wrinkled, leathern face, starting to gather the packs for the early start nextDonald filled and lit his pipe soleible and ill-favored had been streaked across the clean page of his life Angus Fitzpatrick's increasing malice toward him was not the sudden whis being equal, the factor was really just, in a rough and ungracious way Any otherhilorious as they were, and his own unimpeachable, as far as he knew Some event or circumstances over which he had no control had raised itself, and defamed him to these persons who held his honor and his happiness in their hands This much he sensed; else why had the factor taken such half-hidden, buthim forth on these two Herculean tasks; else, why had the ruainst him, and held her aloof and unapproachable?
That Jean should not love hiroped in vain for an explanation of old Fitzpatrick's evident hatred The old factor and the elder McTavish, now commissioner, had known each other for years, the latter's incu kept theht Donald, should be a matter in his favor, and not an obstacle, as it appeared to be Pondering, searching, he racked his weary brain feverishly until Peter Rainy unobtrusively announced that dinner was ready Then, occupied with other things, he put the ish dawn had barely cast its first glow across the measureless snohen Rainy roused him from heavy sleep After a breakfast of boiled fat, ether, and with ot the, strained impatiently in the moose-hide harness Donald, when the packs had been strapped securely on, gave a quick final inspection, and then a word that sent the train ate in the wall
But few men were about, and an indifferent wave of the hand froate, Peter Rainy took the lead, breaking a path for the dogs with his snowshoes, while McTavish walked beside the loaded sled Their course ran ard up the frozen dickey River, which now lay ada snow Forty miles they would follow it, to the fork that led on the north to Beaver Lake, and on the south to Bolsover Taking the south branch, they would then struggle across the wind-swept body of water, and follow the river ten miles farther, to a headland upon which stood the snow-muffled block-house of Fort dickey
If you draw a straight line north from Ashland, Wisconsin, and follow it for six hundred and fifty miles, you will find yourself in the vicinity of Fort dickey, in the lobe In that journey, you will have crossed Lake Superior and the great tangle of spruce that extends for two hundred miles north of it North of Lake St
Joseph, which is the head of the great Albany River, whence the waters drain to Hudson Bay, you will strike north across the Keewatin barrens: Bald, fruitless rocks, piled as by an indifferent hand; great stretches of almost impenetrable forest, ravines, lakes, rivers, and rapids; all these will hinder and baffle your progress Add to such conditions snow, ice, and eighty degrees of frost, and you have the situation that Donald McTavish faced the day he left Fort Severn
CHAPTER III
A MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE
”What do you know about this murder?”
Donald sat at the dinner table in Fort dickey with John Buller and Pierre Cardepie, his two assistants A roaring log fire barely fought off the cold as they ate their caribou steak, beans, bread, and tea
”Not much,” replied Buller ”The day after you left, one of the Indians tore in at ht with the news He said that he and his partner, thetheir trap-line, and that Charley had drawn the other aside in private conversation Half an hour later, there had been sudden words, followed by blows, and, before Johnny could defend hi about the Indian didn't know, for Charley had hurried off immediately after the murder”
”What direction did he take?” asked McTavish
”The rumor declared that he went north, toward Beaver Lake”