"Morse, I"ve watched ye through four-five days of near-h.e.l.l. I ken nane I"d rather tak wi" me as a lone companion on the long traverse.
You"re canny an" you"re bold. That"s why I"m trustin" my la.s.s to your care. It"s a short bit of a trip, an" far as I can see there"s nae danger. But the fear"s in me. That"s the truth, man. Gie me your word you"ll no" let her oot o" your sight till ye hand her ower to my wife at Faraway."
Angus clamped a heavy hand on the young man"s shoulder. His blue eyes searched steadily those of the trader.
"I"ll not let her twenty yards from me any time. That"s a promise, McRae," the trader said quietly.
Well wrapped from the wind, Onistah sat in the cariole.
Jessie kissed the Scotchman fondly, laughing at him the while. "You"re a goose, Father. I"m all right. You take good care of yourself. That West might come back here."
"No chance of that. West will never come back except at the end of a rope. He"s headed for the edge of the Barrens, or up that way somewhere," Beresford said. "And inside of a week I"ll be north-bound on his trail myself."
Jessie was startled, a good deal distressed. "I"d let him go. He"ll meet a bad end somewhere. If he never comes back, as you say he won"t, then he"ll not trouble us."
The soldier smiled grimly. "That"s not the way of the Mounted. Get the fellow you"re sent after. That"s our motto. I"ve been a.s.signed the job of bringing in West and I"ve got to get him."
"You don"t mean you"re going up there alone to bring back that--that wolf-man?"
"Oh, no," the trooper answered lightly. "I"ll have a Cree along as a guide."
"A Cree," she scoffed. "What good will he be if you find West? He"ll not help you against him at all."
"Not what he"s with me for. I"m not supposed to need any help to bring back one man."
"It"s--it"s just suicide to go after him alone," she persisted. "Look what he did to the guard at the prison, to Mr. Whaley, to Onistah!
He"s just awful--hardly human."
"The lad"s under orders, la.s.s," McRae told her. "Gin they send him into the North after West, he"ll just have to go. He canna argy-bargy aboot it."
Jessie gave up, reluctantly.
The little cavalcade started. Morse drove. The girl brought up the rear.
Her mind was still on the hazard of the journey Beresford must take.
When Morse stopped to rest the dogs for a few moments, she tucked up Onistah again and recurred to the subject.
"I don"t think Win Beresford should go after West alone except for a Cree guide. The Inspector ought to send another constable with him. Or two more. If he knew that man--how cruel and savage he is--"
Tom Morse spoke quietly. "He"s not going alone. I"ll be with him."
She stared. "You?"
"Yes. Sworn in as a deputy constable."
"But--he didn"t say you were going when I spoke to him about it a little while ago."
"He didn"t know. I"ve made up my mind since."
In point of fact he had come to a decision three seconds before he announced it.
Her soft eyes applauded him. "That"ll be fine. His friends won"t worry so much if you"re with him. But--of course you know it"ll be a horrible trip--and dangerous."
"No picnic," he admitted.
She continued to look at him, her cheeks flushed and her face vivid.
"You must like Win a lot. Not many men would go."
"We"re good friends," Morse answered dryly. "Anyhow, I owe West something on my own account."
The real reason why he was going he had not given. During the days she had been lost he had been on the rack of torture. He did not want her to suffer months of such mental distress while the man she loved was facing alone the peril of his grim work in the white Arctic desert.
They resumed the journey.
Jessie said no more. She would not mention the subject again probably.
But it would be a great deal in her thoughts. She lived much of the time inside herself with her own imagination. This had the generosity and the enthusiasm of youth. She wanted to believe people fine and good and true. It warmed her to discover unexpected virtues in them.
Mid-afternoon brought them to Faraway. They drove down the main street of the village to McRae"s house while the half-breeds cheered from the door of the Morse store.
Jessie burst into the big family room where Matapi-Koma sat bulging out from the only rocking-chair in the North woods.
"Oh, Mother--Mother!" the girl cried, and hugged the Cree woman with all the ardent young savagery of her nature.
The Indian woman"s fat face crinkled to an expansive smile. She had stalwart sons of her own, but no daughters except this adopted child.
Jessie was very dear to her.
In a dozen sentences the girl poured out her story, the words tumbling pell-mell over each other in headlong haste.
Matapi-Koma waddled out to the sled. "Onistah stay here," she said, and beamed on him. "Blackfoot all same Cree to Matapi-Koma when he friend Jessie. Angus send word nurse him till he well again."
Tom carried the Indian into the house so that his feet would not touch the ground. Jessie had stayed in to arrange the couch where Fergus usually slept.
She followed Morse to the door when he left. "We"ll have some things to send back to Father when you go. I"ll bring them down to the store to-morrow morning," she said. "And Mother wants you to come to supper to-night. Don"t you dare say you"re too busy."
He smiled at the intimate feminine fierceness of the injunction. The last few hours had put them on a somewhat different footing. He would accept such largesse as she was willing to offer. He recognized the spirit in which it was given. She wanted to show her appreciation of what he had done for her and was about to do for the man she loved.
Nor would Morse meet her generosity in a churlish spirit.
"I"ll be here when the gong rings," he told her heartily.
"Let"s see. It"s nearly three now. Say five o"clock," she decided.
"At five I"ll be knockin" on the door."
She flashed at him a glance both shy and daring. "And I"ll open it before you break through and bring it with you."
The trader went away with a queer warmth in his heart he had not known for many a day. The facts did not justify this elation, this swift exhilaration of blood, but to one who has starved for long any food is grateful.
Jessie flew back into the house. She had a busy two hours before her.
"Mother, Mr. Morse is coming to dinner. What"s in the house?"