Part 15 (1/2)

”nobody's here,” he said, blankly; ”that's funny”

Flashes of half-truth cohten the darkness of his ainst his te would coht, the fires were almost dead, the cabin door was open, so that he could see that the place was unoccupied Then, he looked for stars, and laughed, because the sun was up

But the thought of the stars set hihtly on the fear that now took possession of hi out the situation piece by piece At last, the whole truth and every event of the day and night before came back to him with a rush He sat down abruptly, and dry sobs shook hiry and weak, but his ain, and he thanked God for that So near had he come to concussion of the brain from old Maria's vicious club!

When he had recovered a little, he made another circuit of the ca wolves, he was helpless in the center of absolute desolation Neither dog, sledge, food, nor covering had they left hi-knife, which he luckily wore beneath his caribou shi+rt Like Andre stepping froht have been dropped solitary where he was by so bird

CHAPTER XIII

A RESCUE AND A SURPRISE

There was in Donald, as in all who battle with the monstrous moods of nature, a certain calm fatalism, or acceptance of the inevitable

When he had recovered his self-possession and the full use of his faculties, he got to his feet again, and made a second inspection of the camp As he had noted at first, the place was stripped clean

An old bit of ut, which had evidently been taken fro to be found in the shanty The string was so, and McTavish, with the trapper's instinct of hoarding every possible item, rolled it up and put it in his pocket Of food there was none; Maria had done her best to put him beyond the need of sustenance, but, now that he was hi to eat seized his vitals, and he knew he must make all haste to satisfy it When he was struck, his snowshoes had been on his feet, and the Indians in their haste, or because of the darkness, had not reht help in the probleht McTavish's ear as he stood listening, a sort of rushi+ng, roaring sound like waters, yetno pocket compass, he had to find directions by thewith a snowshoe, the end of the racket struck so hard With an effort, he rolled this up to view, and found it to be the shoulder-blade of a bear, smooth and white, when cleaned of the snow and leaves that clung to it

An idea now took possession of hiain for the sound of muffled waters, then follohither his ears led him Now and then, the bulk of a rock or a bend of the stream itself would deceive hihtly raised banks of a little river, perhaps a hundred feet in width Here, the noise of waters was very loud, and he realized what it was

While radually into solid blocks of ice, , there are some whose extre but a thin coat forreen shell, the water roars and tumbles all winter, except perhaps in the most terrible weather Such was the stream upon which Donald had come He felt that luck ith him, and the idea that had taken possession of him back in the woods returned From his left pocket, he drew forth the shoulder-blade of the bear, and unlimbered his knife from beneath his shi+rt

Fortunately, this had been a small bear, and the work before him did not represent more than an hour's time Meanwhile, his stomach clamored for food, and he set his jaws resolutely In the forest it is truer than elsewhere that haste makes waste, and, as materials are rare and valuable, patience is the trapper's stock in trade

McTavish sat down on the bank, and carved busily until the bone between his hands took the appearance of a fish-hook, barb and all

Then he unlaced histo this line the ut he had found in the shanty A flat stone with a s the banks, and this he used as a sinker, tying a knot beneath the hole A rod was easily procured, and for bait he took a piece of the red flannel that lined his leggings

Next, he built a fire on top of the bank, and lastly chopped through three inches of ice, a quarter of the way across the strea Fish, like everything else in the northern winter, find food-stuffs rare and costly, and scarcely tenon the ice beside hi until it was dead, the Hudson Bay man cleaned it, and thrust it on forked sticks to cook over the fire while he went on fishi+ng

Before the first savory whiffs reached hierly taken the bait Presently, he left work at the hole, and returned to the fire, where he enjoyed thethe first after Peter Rainy's rescue of hiht projected Rainy into his mind, and for the hundredth time he asked himself what had become of the old Indian

The only possible explanation to offer itself was that Maria and To warder, and had then crawled up on Rainy, as sleeping like a log, bound hi McTavish either to die as he lay, or within a few days after awakening

Well, Donald adainst him, and the outlook was indeed dark But, even in these desperate straits, there was a buoyancy in his spirits that he had seldoht for it; he had youth, strength, hope, and the spur of deeds to be done, all of which roweled his faith whenever it faltered Even thishis ar to the desolation:

”Coht it out, and, by heaven, I'll break you, too!”What was it, this buoyancy of soul? Did it portend anything?

Hark! What was that? Through the clear, thin air came the sound of silvery bells, _clink, clink, a-tinkle-inkle, clink-a-tinkle, clink, clink_, as the dogs trotted on so? Five minutes later, Donald was sure they were, and with a feift kicks scattered his fire Then, he ran down to the water's edge, and re up the bank to a vantage-point behind a bushy tree Too reet the unknown _voyager_ with open arms

The banks of the streah and sloped sharply to the water's edge, fairly free frole

Presently, McTavish localized the sound of bells as coe, preceded or acco the direction of the streae, fine-looking dog top the opposite shore and start down the incline to the ice, followed in turn by three others Then cae, and on it the driver of the train

McTavish's attention was now suddenly riveted to the first dog