Part 16 (2/2)
Donald, in the first bliss of happiness realized, leaned over to kiss her, but this time the eyes that met his were serious He took the upraised hand in his banteringly, but listened to what she said, nevertheless
”Donald, of course we have to be a little foolish soood friends after--oh, say three o'clock in the afternoon From then on, no foolishness, it will spare us a lot”
Donald looked at the girl, keenly surprised The saht had been in histo entangle himself in impossible explanations But, now, her wo he knew, that love, fierce, burning, desirous, comes in the northland as well as in the tropics With a feords, they made their rule and he dropped her hand
”But, to return to the preacher,” he resumed presently, as they had more fish, ”I think it will be better for all hands, if we marry at once This little honeyless honeymoon won't stand the strain of months, dearest, for in that time it will have been discussed from Labrador to the Columbia, and from the Copperues of e has to be”
”But, Donald, think of father! This is the last thing in the world he will allow,” Jean protested ”Why, if he thought I had such a step in mind he'd have apoplexy, I'ly he feels about it, and about you”
”In reference to this Charley Seguis, who in?”
”No, it isn't that He disposed of that by putting you in the guard-house”
”It can't be my escape then, for he hasn't heard of that”
”No,” said the girl, sitting back, her eyes troubled; ”it isn't any of these things, but so else more dreadful or hurtful to you I have tried so hard to learn what it is, but he won't tell me! Old Maria knows, and hinted at it--”
”Old Maria!” cried Donald, in disgust ”What can that old hag know about irl, my life has been clean, and yet these accursed rurouse-nest
Even your father, a just ive me a chance to prove or disprove In heaven's nato earth, if it takes all irl lifted her calm eyes to his troubled ones, and he knew that he would hear the frank truth
”Poor boy!” she said ”I don't know anything definite Old Maria hinted at a stain on your life, and father, when I demanded the facts from him, said that he wouldn't tell me if he could, for it wasn't proper for me to hear them That's all I know But, Donald, never for a moment have I doubted you, or lost faith that you could upset this whole tissue of rumor as soon as you laid hold of it”
”Good little princess!” he said gratefully, and pressed her hand for a moment ”My conscience is clear, and, if I have your faith and love, I can fight anything God help these breeders of slander, if I get hold of therimly
A little while later, armed with ax and knife, and accompanied by Jean, who carried the hoh the woods to the river that had brought hi while angling, his eyes had seen s Fifty feet from where he sat, he had observed an iced pool in which a back-set froishly He had noticed little tracks of five-toed, webbed feet on the thin drift of powdery snow that led to the bank above this pool Last of all, he had seen a smooth incline worn by these webbed feet down to the brink of the pool
”Otter!” he had said to himself; and he had resolved to come back later
Noith crisp instructions as to silence, he advanced noiselessly, trying every bit of crust before he set his weight upon it, avoiding tufts of underbrush, and repressing his breathing Jean, a true daughter of the North, sensed these precautions almost by instinct, and followed his exa, but rather a clu fortune that the light as in his face, so that the man-smell could not be carried down to the pool With infinite care, the two approached the shelter of the trees, and, presently, when the wind rustled ah
There, on the bank, was the whole colony of otters, engaged in an exhilarating pastiroups, the little anian-like path they had worn froe
No sooner did they roll to the bottoain, slithering, careening, tuht, but to Donald it was fa in the favorite a down a snow-bank
The two observers turned away soon, and, with exaggerated care, made their way back to the little shanty, where Donald at once set aboutthe broken trap In two hours' ti it te Jean in her blankets and furs on the spruce-coveted bunk, he rolled up in his own coverings before the fire for the night
The next ht a fish for breakfast, and then returned to the otter-slide with his trap and the piece ofthe trap with part of a fish, he buried it in the snow at a point where the otter must come down the slide to the pool Then, he rubbed the meat in the tracks where he had stepped, and brushed snow across the every trace of his presence After that, he returned to the shanty, for there was still much to be done
On his way to the fish pool that , he had seen a number of sharply inized the tracks of the hare Now, he searched the by-ways of the low ground in the vicinity, and finally discovered a line of undergrowth like a hedge, through which a passage had been forced The hard-packed runway told hi expeditions He cut a nu, leaving barely enough room for a small ani of ut that had made part of the fish-line, and fashi+oned it into a running noose This he hung across the opening, and tied the other end to a bent thich would spring up iht position Here, too, he carefully effaced any e, where he set a snare s At noon, he returned to his snares, and found two strangled rabbits hanging inthem, he reset the snares, and returned jubilantly to the cabin with his catchAnd they had rabbit stew that day
This was only the beginning It was food, and no more As the days passed, Donald spent s and underbrush for the fire, going farther and farther fro since, he had chopped the broken and battered sledge out of the ice, and hauled it hoed beyond repair, the s been broken and splintered hopelessly
But there was still use for it With reh, so Then, fros for Mistisi, who, apparently anxious to help in all he saw going on around hiather wood, however far distant The dog ular round trips from the cabin to the spot where the reat pile of wood formed a wind-break for the shanty
Jean Fitzpatrick now attended to the fishi+ng alone, and what they did not use for food was packed away out of Mistisi's eager reach in the preserving cold The rabbit-snares with two settings yielded three or four of the animals every day, and these, skinned and cleaned, added to the store of reserve food