At noon, one day, they came to a landing. There was some noise and confusion, much tramping and swearing. She heard Marsac at the door talking to Noko in French and the woman answering him. Her heart beat so that it well-nigh strangled her. But he did not come in. Presently the rumbling and unloading were over, and there was no sound but the oscillation of the vessel as it floundered in the tide with short beats, until the turning, and then the motion grew more endurable. If she could only see! But from her window there was nothing save an expanse of water, dotted with canoes and some distant islands. The cabin was always in semi-twilight.
There was a fumbling at the door presently. The bolt was drawn, the lock snapped; and the door was opened cautiously. It was neither Noko nor Marsac, but some one in a soft, gray blanket, with white borders. The corner was thrown over her head. She turned stealthily, took out the key, and locked the door again on the inside. Then she faced Jeanne who had half risen, and her blanket fell to the floor.
A handsome Indian girl, arrayed in a beautiful costume that bespoke rank in the wearer. Across her brow was a fillet made of polished stones that sparkled like jewels. Her long, black hair nearly reached her knees. Her skin was fine and clear, of a light bronze tint, through which the pink in her cheeks glowed. Her eyes were larger and softer than most of her race, of a liquid blackness, her nose was straight and slim, with fine nostrils, and her mouth like an opening rose, the under petal falling apart.
She came close to the white girl who shrank back terrified at the eyes fixed so resolutely on her.
"You are the French girl who wants to marry Louis Marsac," she hissed, between her white teeth.
"I am a French girl, Jeanne Angelot, and he stole me from Detroit. I do not want to marry him. Oh, no! a thousand times no! I have told him that I shall kill myself if he forces me to marry him!"
The Indian girl looked amazed. Her hands dropped at her side. Her eyes flickered in wavering lights, and her breath came in gasps.
"You do not want to marry him?"
Her voice was hoa.r.s.e, guttural. "Ah, you lie! You make believe! It cannot be! Why, then, did you come up here? And why has he gone to L"Arbre Croche for the priest he expected?"
"I told you. He hired some Indians to take me from Detroit, after his boat had left. I would not go. I did not want to marry him and said "_no_" dozens of times. They took me out in a canoe. I think they were Hurons; I did not understand their language. Somewhere--I do not know where we are now, and I cannot remember the days that pa.s.sed, but they met the trader"s boat and put me on it, and then I knew it was Louis Marsac who had stolen me. Has he gone for a priest? Is that what you said? Oh, save me! Help me to escape. I might throw myself into the bay, but I can swim. I should not like to die when life is so sweet and beautiful, and I am afraid I should try to save myself or some one might rescue me. Oh, believe it is no lie! I do not want to marry him."
"You have another lover?" The eyes seemed to pierce her through, as if sure of an affirmative.
"I have no lover, not even in Detroit. I do not like love. It is foolish and full of hot kisses, and I do not want to marry. Oh, save me if you have any pity! Help me to escape!"
She slipped down at the Indian girl"s feet and caught at the garment of feathers so smooth and soft it seemed like satin.
"See here." The visitor put her hand in her bosom and drew forth a small dagger with a pearl hilt in which was set jewels. Jeanne shuddered, but remained on her knees, glancing up piteously.
"See here. I came to kill you. I said no French girl, be she beautiful as moonlight on the lake, shall marry Louis Marsac. He belongs to me. No woman shall be folded in his arms or lie on his breast or rejoice in the kisses of his mouth and live! I cannot understand. When one has tasted the sweetness--and he is so handsome, not so different from his mother"s race but that I am a fit mate for him. My father was a chief, and there was a quarrel between him and a relative who claimed the right, and he was killed. Ah, you can never know how good and tender Louis was to me, so different from most of the clumsy Canadian traders; next, I think, to the great White Chief of the island; yes, handsomer, though not as large. All the winter and spring he loved me. And this cabin was mine. I came here many times. He loves me unless you have stolen his heart with some evil charm. Stand up; see. I am as tall as you. My skin is fine and clear, if not as pale as the white faces; and yours--pouf! you have no rose in your cheeks. Is not my mouth made for kisses? I like those that burn as fire running through your veins. And my hand--" she caught Jeanne"s hand and compared them. "It is as slim and soft, and the pink is under the nails. And my hair is like a veil, reaching to my knees.
Yes, I am a fitter mate than you, who are naught but a child, with no shape that fills a man with admiration. Is it that you have worked some evil charm?"
Jeanne"s eyes were distended with horror. Now that death and escape were near she shrank with the fear of all young things who have known naught of life but its joy. She could not even beg, her tongue seemed paralyzed.
They would have made a statue worthy of a sculptor as they stood there, the Indian girl in her splendid attire and the utmost beauty of her race, with the dagger in one hand; and the girl, pale now as a snow wreath, at her feet.
"Would you go away, escape?" Some curious thoughts had flashed into Owaissa"s brain.
"Oh, help me, help me! I will beg my way back to Detroit. I will pray that all his love may be given to you; morning and night I will pray on my knees. Oh, believe, believe!"
The Indian girl could not doubt her sincerity. But with the injustice of a pa.s.sionate, jealous love she did not so much blame her recreant lover. Some charm, some art, must have been used, perhaps by a third person, and the girl be guiltless. And if she could send her away and remain in her stead--
She gave a soft, musical ripple of laughter. So pretty Minnehaha must have laughed when Longfellow caught the sound in his charmed brain. She put up her dagger. She raised Jeanne, wondering, but no longer afraid.
This was the miracle she had prayed for and it had come to pa.s.s.
"Listen. You shall go. The night comes on and it is a long sail; but you will not be afraid. The White Chief will take you in, but when you tell your story say it was Indians who stole you. For if you bring any harm to Louis Marsac I will follow you and kill you even if it were leagues beyond sunset, in the wild land that no one has penetrated. Remember.
Promise by the great Manitou. Kiss my hand;" and she held it out.
Jeanne obeyed. Could escape be so near? Her heart beats almost strangled her.
"Wanita is my faithful slave. He will do my bidding and you need not be afraid. My canoe lies down below there," and she indicated the southern end with a motion of her head. "You will take this ring to him and he will know that the message comes from me. Oh, you will not hesitate?"
Jeanne raised her head proudly. "I will obey you to the letter. But--how will I find him?"
"You will go off the boat and walk down below the dock. There is a clump of scrub pines blown awry; then a little cove; the boat lies there; you will say "Wanita," twice; he will come and you will give him the ring; then he will believe you."
"But how shall I get off the boat? And how did you get the key? And Noko--"
"I had a key. It was mine all the early spring. I used to come and we sailed around, but I would not be a wife until a French priest could marry us, and he said "wait, wait," and an Indian girl is proud to obey the man she loves. And when it was time for him to return I came down from the Strait and heard--this--that his heart had been stolen from me and that when Father Hugon did not come he was very angry and has gone up to the island. They have much illness there it seems."
"Then I give you back all I ever had, oh, so gladly."
"Your father, perhaps, wanted him and saw some woman who dealt in charms?"
"I have no father or mother. A poor old Indian woman cares for me. She was my nurse, everything. Oh, her heart will be broken! And this White Chief will surely let me go to Detroit?"
"He is good and gracious to all, and just. That is why you must not mention Marsac"s name, for he might not understand about the wicked go-between. There are _shil loups_, spirits of wretched people who wander about making mischief. But I must believe thee. Thine eyes are truthful."
She brushed Jeanne"s hair from her forehead and looked keenly, questioningly into them. They met the glance with the shine of innocence and truth that never wavered in their heavenly blue.
"The White Chief has boats that go up and down continually. You will get safely to Detroit."
"And you?" inquired Jeanne.
CHAPTER XVI.
RESCUED.
"And you?" repeated Jeanne Angelot when Owaissa seemed lost in thought.
"I shall remain here. When Louis Marsac comes I will break the fatal spell that bound him, and the priest will marry us. I shall make him very happy, for we are kindred blood; happier than any cool-blooded, pale-face girl could dream. And now you must set out. The sun is going down. You will not be faint of heart?"
"I shall be so glad! And I shall be praying to the good Christ and his Mother to make you happy and give you all of Louis Marsac"s heart. No, I shall not be afraid. And you are quite sure the White Chief will befriend me?"
"Oh, yes. And his wife is of Indian blood, a great Princess from Hudson Bay, and the handsomest woman of the North, the kindest and most generous to those in sorrow or trouble. The White Queen she is called.
Oh, yes, if I had a sister that needed protection, I should send her to the White Queen. Oh, do not be afraid." Then she took both of Jeanne"s hands in hers and kissed her on the forehead. "I am glad I did not have to kill you," she added with the nave innocence of perfect truth. "I think you are the kind of girl out of whom they make nuns, who care for no men but the fathers, and yet they must adore some one. In thy convent cell pray for me that I may have brave sons."
Jeanne made no protest against the misconstruction. Her heart was filled with grat.i.tude and wonder, yet she could hardly believe.
"You must take my blanket," and Owaissa began draping it about her.
"But--Noko?" said the French girl.
"Noko is soundly asleep. And the sailors are throwing dice or drinking rum. Their master cannot be back until dark. Go your way proudly, as if you had the blood of a hundred braves in your veins. They are often a cowardly set, challenging those who are weak and fearful. Do not mind."
"Oh, the good Father bless you forevermore." Jeanne caught the hands and covered them with kisses. "And you will not be afraid of--of _his_ anger?"