"Humph! You think that? Well, knock off these chains."
Granger brought the lantern nearer and was stooping to his work, when Spurling stopped him, laying his hand upon his shoulder. "Hist! What"s that?" he said. Granger listened. He could distinctly hear the crunch of footsteps on the snow, moving stealthily away from the cabin.
Running to the door, he caught sight of a woman"s skirt, disappearing round the corner of the store, and recognised the shadow which was flung behind as Peggy"s. She must have heard all that they had said.
Spurling waited till his chains were off and he was able to stand upright, a free man. Then he asked significantly, "And now what are you going to do with her?"
"That is my business," Granger retorted hotly.
"But I think that it is also mine."
He knew that it would be unwise to argue the point, so he led the way to Bachelors" Hall, Spurling limping stiffly behind. So cramped had he become with the cold, and the position in which he had been chained during his confinement, that he could hardly move a step without groaning. Until he should recover, despite his own weakness, Granger knew that he was physically the stronger and still had the upper hand.
For Peggy"s sake he intended to make the best use of his time; he began to have fears for her as to what might happen were she left to the mercy of Spurling"s choice.
"What are we coming here for?" growled Spurling, as they stopped at the door of the hall; "why can"t we go to the shack? I"m desperately cold and there"s a fire there."
"I"ll light you a fire," said Granger, placing his hands on his shoulders and thrusting him inside.
"You"re mighty anxious that I shouldn"t get near your wife," said Spurling; "she must be very valuable."
Granger went off and soon returned with fuel. The stove was damp and rusty, and did not draw well at first, so that all the room was filled with smoke. Spurling had stumbled over to the shelf and lay there complaining. When the wood had caught and was burning brightly, Granger fetched him something to eat and then went out to speak with Peggy, leaving him alone, promising to return again to spend the night.
When he had entered the shack, it appeared to be empty. He called Peggy"s name, but she did not reply. Listening intently, he heard the sound of sobbing which she was endeavouring to stifle. Going over to the berth he found her lying there, with face turned to the wall.
Sitting down beside her, he placed his arms about her, and tried to make her turn his way, but she refused to be comforted.
"Peggy," he said, "you heard what we were saying in the cabin? You remember how I said that I was able to trust your word. I want you to promise me that you will not tell anyone that we have left, and that you will not try to follow until I send to tell you that all is safe, so that you can come to me."
"You will never send," she said.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because that man will quarrel with you and kill you on the way out."
"That"s nonsense; you must listen to what I have planned. This summer we found gold on the Forbidden River."
"I know that."
"Who told you?"
"Eyelids."
"Why did he tell you?"
"He found it himself in the spring, when father sent him up there after Spurling; and he was angry when he knew that you had gone there, because he wanted it for himself."
"Did he stop here all summer?"
"Yes, but father went away. I think he must have followed you. He got back four days before your return."
"Humph! I suspected that, for I saw something that was very like him there. . . . And do you still think that they have gone to tell the Mounted Police only in order that Spurling may be arrested?"
"I don"t know; but that"s what they said. I chose to believe them because that was the only way in which I could keep you for myself."
"Well, then, listen. No matter what Eyelids and Beorn may intend, if the Mounted Police once get hold of me the result will be that I shall get hanged. The one way in which you can keep me for yourself is to help me to escape. I can"t take you with me as you are at present; you know that. And I can"t strike the trail alone; I must have someone to help me take the gold out. There"s no one but Spurling. Besides, I"ve promised to stick by him; he saved my life once, and I"m paying back the debt. When once I"ve reached Winnipeg, I"ll be able to purchase friends who will hide me, if need be; but I hope to get there ahead of the news of my escape, before the police have my description and are on the lookout. I shall strike for the south, and, when the hunt is over and I"m given up for dead, I"ll send you word where you can join me."
"You never will do that."
"And why not?"
"Because you will be dead."
Granger was losing patience. Whatever reasoning he used, he could not move her beyond that one a.s.sertion.
"Won"t you help me to take the one chance of life that I think I have?" he said. "It can"t make much difference to you if Spurling does kill me on the trail; if I stay here, I shall die a few weeks later, more disgracefully."
She stood up and led him over to the window, through which the moon was shining, so that he could see her face. She placed her arms about his neck, as if she were a white woman. "I will tell you the truth now," she said; "I have been keeping something back that I might save you from yourself. Since you joined with this man and helped him take the gold from the Forbidden River, Eyelids and my father have both become your enemies. The factor did send his message that your life would be spared if Spurling was given up, but I think he was speaking falsely. I have tried to keep you near me because I alone, if need be, can stand between you and them. If you set out with Spurling, he will kill you; and if you stay here, you will be arrested. But if you will come with me into the forest, we can join some Indians of my mother"s tribe, and they will hide us where you never can be found."
Granger watched her while she was speaking, wondering whether he was hearing the very truth this time. "And, if I do as you ask me, what will happen to Spurling?" he said.
She drew him nearer to herself. "I hate that man," she whispered; "let him die as he deserves."
"And why didn"t you tell me everything at first?"
"Because you are not strong enough to make the journey yet; and I wanted to keep you resting here, till you had no other choice of saving yourself but by following me into the forest. While my father was present, I did not dare to tell you--_for his soul is dead_."
Granger took his eyes from off her face; she tempted him--he had been so long unused to kindness. He gazed out of the window, far away across the frozen forest, and heard the dream of his boyhood calling to him to seek the city out of sight. His choice lay between this woman and El Dorado, in whose search he had wasted all his life. He did not deceive himself, whatever he might say aloud; his hesitancy did not arise out of unwillingness to desert Spurling, but from unwillingness to abandon the quest while a fragment of hope remained.
With that stolen gold, if he could slip by the winter patrol and carry it out to Winnipeg, he would be able to strike for the south and sail up the Great Amana, past the rocks with the forgotten handwriting, till he came to the lake of Parima, on whose sh.o.r.es the city is said to stand.
She saw that his will was wavering and that his choice was going against her. Seizing his hands in her own and pressing them to her breast, "I am only a poor half-breed girl," she cried, "but I am soon to be the mother of your child; and our child will be nearly all white like yourself. You can"t think what my life was before you came to me; for, though my body is half Indian, my mind has become a white woman"s since I went to school in Winnipeg. I am so white that I would die for you to-morrow, if I could give you life by doing that. I could not tell you this before, while my father and brother were present; somehow, with their silence they stifled my words, and made me silent.
But don"t judge me by the past months, believe me now."
"Peggy," he said, "what should we do in the forest, if we went there and joined your mother"s tribe? We should starve, and grow sullen; and you would be treated as a squaw, and our child would grow up an Indian."
"But I should not mind that if only we were together."
"But we shall be together if my plan works out and I manage to escape.
Then there"s Spurling; however much I hate him, I cannot break my promise to him and leave him to die."
She dropped his hands and drew away from him. "You are going to meet the white woman," she said; "you had planned to desert me whatever happened."
"Who told you that?"
"Your lips told me, when you were sick and they moved of themselves."
"But I promise you now that, when I am safe, I will send you word so that you can find me. If I ever did think of deserting you, it was before I knew that we were going to have a child."
"You will not send for me," she said; "but I promise that I will do nothing to you that will hinder you from going out."
"But what will you do when I am gone, and you yourself will be needing help?"