Part 13 (1/2)

”I did not wish to tell you, Captain,” he said, with dignity, ”but you forced me Then, too, perhaps, it is just as well that you know early rather than late Perhaps, old Maria took the girl just for spite of old Fitzpatrick I hope that is the only reason”

”And yet--and yet--!” ue refused to utter the foul alternative

Silent, they moved out in the storm once ood to battle, to struggle with the eleood to weary hi exigencies of every step Else, he should be beside himself with fear and impotence

In flashes, he pondered on what he had heard: the Indian woman's fruitless visit to Fitzpatrick, her relationshi+p to Charley Seguis, her sudden abduction of Jean There was so a wall of insurht

Then, he recalled his last intervieith Jean and the suspicions that had been cast upon himself, suspicions he had vainly endeavored to fathom What was in the wind, anyhow? he asked himself There seemed to be forces at work over which he had no control, forces big with portent, heavy with reen over all about, so these unknown influences were overshadowing all the lives around hi to do Probe matters to the botto rumors out of the country

But how to accomplish this? There was but one answer to that question in Donald's mind, and it was the answer of the o He wouldquestions If she did not yet love him, she would learn to; if her father did not like it, he would have to eon Lake was out of the question for Donald He would attend to that later Just now, Jean was in danger of worse things than death, and needed him He would devote his attention entirely to her

All that night, Rainy, McTavish, and the dogs toiled like galley-slaves, not sure of their exact direction, but aware that they were taking a general southerly course away fro found them fully ten miles on their ith no back trail, and the blizzard lessening perceptibly It did not matter now Their tracks would be taken for those of a trapper running his line

They halted for breakfast in the lee of a bluff, just as a ht made itself apparent

”Shall we rest now, Captain?” asked Rainy

But Donald said no, and told the old servant his reasons and his plans An hour's inactivity represented to him a hundred hideous possibilities They eon Lake, and try to pick up the trail of Maria, the squaw

So, after an hour, they pressed on again, finding easier traveling and ht they came to a little lake, perhaps a mile wide, and on the opposite shore discerned a wretched shanty They decided to cas ith exhaustion Rainy attended to the unharnessing of the anie, while Donald went out to cut wood for the fire and boughs to sleep on When he returned and entered the cabin, he found the Indian exa closely It proved to be a charred eered it and smelled it, and finally announced that it was not more than a day old The two then went outside, and circled slowly about the shanty

Here, forty ht, and the snowfall trifling Presently, they uncovered faint tracks leading away southwest, and judged, froe had occasionally broken through, that they were not older than thirty-six hours

Once more, theout on the trail that night But Peter Rainy restrained his and men were unfit for work

In the cabin, at one time, there had been a bunk The flat shelf still projected out frohs, and threw the them to a semblance of s hard and cold He picked the object up and held it to the light of the fire Then, with a cry, he leaned forward, and examined it intently

It was a bone button froarment

That it was hers, there could be no doubt, for the reason that in the very center was a tiny raised flag-pole and flag, the latter enameled red--the banner of the Hudson Bay Company The buttons were a curiosity, and were the work of an old squaw for whoot here? There was but one explanation: Maria, Tom, her full-blooded Indian son, and Jean had occupied this lonely cabin

”Surely it is hers,” said Peter Rainy, exa the object ”But see, Captain It's now six days since they took her away The trail going from here was made day before yesterday Why should they have stayed here so long?”

”I don't know--I don't know!”up and down outside the door excitedly ”But we have no other cleeslowly We can overtake theht, the sky cleared, and, when McTavish woke after several hours of troubled sleep, the stars were bright It was four o'clock; but he routed out his whole establishment, and in less than an hour they were on their way, so that by daylight they had put fifteen miles behind them

They traveled as they had never done before, following the dis

Tireless, elastic, winged with snowshoes, the miles flowed under them

At eleven o'clock, they came upon the ruins of a ca, and, encouraged by this, Donald could barely stop to make tea The afternoon was a race with darkness Could he have done so, he would have commanded the sullen sun to stand still Noith a vicious cut at the faltering dogs, noith a cry of encouragement to Peter Rainy, he ran on, his shi+rt open at the front, his throat bare

Hour by hour, the trail grew fresher Now, they paused at the open glades before crossing thele of bells in the distance, and took their own off the harness, an act that nearly ended their day's journey, for the dogs could scarcely be induced to travel without this an to settle