"Alone!"
"Alone," she a.s.sented. "I"m com" for learn de ways of de white women."
Chloe motioned the girl closer, and then, seized by a sudden chill, shivered violently. The girl noticed the paroxysm, and, dropping to her knees by Chloe"s side, spoke hurriedly.
"You col"," she said. "You got no blanket. You los"."
Without waiting for a reply, she hurried to a light pack-sled which stood nearby upon the snow. A moment later she returned with a heavy pair of blankets which she spread at Chloe"s side, and then, throwing more wood upon the fire, began rapidly to remove the girl"s clothing.
Within a very short s.p.a.ce of time, Chloe found herself lying warm and comfortable between the blankets, while her damp garments were drying upon sticks thrust close to the blaze. She watched the Indian girl as she moved swiftly and capably about her task, and when the last garment was hung upon its stick she motioned the girl to her side.
"Why did you come so far to my school?" she asked. "Surely you have been to school. You speak English. You are not a full-blood Indian."
The girl"s eyes sought the shadows beyond the firelight, and, as her lips framed a reply, Chloe marvelled at the weird beauty of her.
"I go to school on de Mission, two years at Fort MacPherson. I learn to spik de Englis". My fadder, heem Englis", but I"m never see heem.
Many years ago he com" in de beeg boat dat com" for ketch de whale an"
got lock in de ice in de Bufort Sea. In de spring de boat go "way, an"
my fadder go "long, too. He tell my modder he com" back nex" winter.
Dat many years ago--nineteen years. Many boats com" every year, but my fadder no com" back. My modder she t"ink he com" back som" day, an"
every fall my modder she tak" me "way from Fort MacPherson and we go up on de coast an" build de _igloo_. An" every day she set an" watch while de ships com" in, but my fadder no com" back. My modder t"ink he sure com" back, he fin" her waitin" when he com". She say, mebe so he ketch "m many whale. Mebe so he get reech so we got plen" money to buy de grub."
The girl paused and her brows contracted thoughtfully. She threw a fresh stick upon the fire and shook her head slowly. "I don" know,"
she said softly, "mebe so he com" back--but heem been gone long tam"."
"Where is your mother now?" asked Chloe, when the girl had finished.
"She up on de coast in de little _igloo_. Many ships com" into Bufort Sea las" fall. She say, sure dis winter my fadder com" back. She got to wait for heem."
Chloe cleared her throat sharply. "And you?" she asked, "why did you come clear to the Yellow Knife? Why did you not go back to school at the Mission?"
A troubled expression crept into the eyes of the Louchoux girl, and she seemed at a loss to explain. "Eet ees," she answered at length, "dat my man, too, he not com" back lak" my fadder."
"Your man!" cried Chloe in astonishment. "Do you mean you are married?
Why, you are nothing but a child!"
The girl regarded her gravely. "Yes," she answered, "I"m marry. Two years ago I git marry, up on de Anderson Reever. My man, heem free-trader, an" all summer we got plent" to eat. In de fall he tak"
me back to de _igloo_. He say, he mus" got to go to de land of de white man to buy supplies. I lak" to go, too, to de land of de white man, but he say no, you Injun, you stay in de Nort", an" by-m-by I com"
back again. Den he go up de reever, an" all winter I stay in de igloo wit" my modder an" look out over de ice-pack at de boats in de Bufort Sea. In de spreeng my man he don" com" back, my fadder he don" com"
back neider. We not have got mooch grub to eat dat winter, and den we go to Fort MacPherson. I go back to de school, and I"m tell de pries"
my man he no com" back. De pries" he ver" angry. He say, I"m not got marry, but de pries" he ees a man--he don" un"stan".
"All summer I"m stay on de Mackenzie, an" I"m watch de canoes an" I"m wait for my man to com" back, but he don" com" back. An" in de fall my modder she go Nort" again to watch de ships in de Bufort Sea. She say, com" "long, but I don" go, so she go "lone and I"m stay on de Mackenzie. I"m stay "til de reever freeze, an" no more canoe can com".
Den I"m wait for de snow. Mebe so my man com" wit" de dog-team. Den I"m hear "bout de school de white woman build on de Yellow Knife.
Always I"m hear "bout de white women, but I"m never seen none--only de white men. My man, he mos" white.
"Den I"m say, mebe so my man lak" de white women more dan de Injun. He not com" back dis winter, an" I"m go on de school and learn de ways of de white women, an" in de spreeng when my man com" back he lak" me good, an" nex" winter mebe he tak" me "long to de land of de white women. But, eet"s a long trail to de Yellow Knife, an" I"m got no money to buy de grub an" de outfit. I"m go once mor" to de pries" an"
I"m tell heem "bout dat school. An" I"m say, mebe so I"m learn de ways of de white women, my man tak" me "long nex" tam".
"De pries" he t"ink "bout dat a long tam". Den he go over to de Hudson Bay Pos" an" talk to McTavish, de factor, an" by-m-by he com" back and tak" me over to de pos" store an" give me de outfit so I"m com" to de school on de Yellow Knife. Plent" grub an" warm blankets dey give me.
An" t"irty-two sleep I"m travel de snow-trail. Las" night I"m mak" my camp in de scrub cross de reever. I"m go "sleep, an" by-m-by I"m wake up an" see you fire an" I"m com" "long to fin" out who camp here."
As she listened, Chloe"s hand stole from beneath the blankets and closed softly about the fingers of the Louchoux girl. "And so you have come to live with me?" she whispered softly.
The girl"s face lighted up. "You let me com"?" she asked eagerly, "an"
you teach me de ways of de white women, so I ain"t jus" be Injun girl?
So when my man com" back, he lak" me an" I got plent" to eat in de winter?"
"Yes, dear," answered Chloe, "you shall come to live with me always."
Followed then a long silence which was broken at last by the Indian girl.
"You don" say lak" de pries"," she asked, "you not marry, you bad?"
"No! No! No! You poor child!" cried Chloe, "of course you are not bad! You are going to live with me. You will learn many things."
"An" som" tam", we fin" my man?" she asked eagerly.
Chloe"s voice sounded suddenly harsh. "Yes, indeed, we will find him!"
she cried. "We will find him and bring him back--" she stopped suddenly. "We will speak of that later. And now that my clothes are dry you can help me put them on, and if you have any grub left in your pack let"s eat. I"m starving."
While Chloe finished dressing, the Louchoux girl boiled a pot of tea and fried some bacon, and an hour later the two girls were fast asleep in each other"s arms, beneath the warm folds of the big Hudson Bay blankets.
The following morning they had proceeded but a short distance upon the back-trail when they were met by a searching party from the school.
The return was made without incident, and Chloe, who had taken a great fancy to the Louchoux girl, immediately established her as a member of her own household.
During the days which followed, the girl plunged with an intense eagerness into the task of learning the ways of the white women.
Nothing was too trivial or unimportant to escape her attention. She learned to copy with almost pathetic exactness each of Chloe"s little acts and mannerisms, even to the arranging of her hair. With the other two inmates of the cottage the girl became hardly less a favourite than with Chloe herself.
Her progress in learning to speak English, her skill with the needle and the rapidity with which she learned to make her own clothing delighted Harriet Penny. While Big Lena never tired of instructing her in the mysteries of the culinary department. In return the girl looked upon the three women with an adoration that bordered upon idolatry.
She would sit by the hour listening to Chloe"s accounts of the wondrous cities of the white men and of the doings of the white men"s women.
Chloe never mentioned the girl"s secret to either Harriet Penny or Big Lena, and carefully avoided any allusion to the subject to the girl herself. Nothing could be done, she reasoned, until the ice went out of the rivers, and in the meantime she would do all in her power to instil into the girl"s mind an understanding of the white women"s ethics, so that when the time came she would be able to choose intelligently for herself whether she would return to her free-trader lover or prosecute him for his treachery.
Chloe knew that the girl had done no wrong, and in her heart she hoped that she could be brought to a realization of the true character of the man and repudiate him. If not--if she really loved him, and was determined to remain his wife--Chloe made up her mind to insist upon a ceremony which should meet the sanction of Church and State.
Christmas and New Year"s pa.s.sed, and Lapierre did not return to the school. Chloe was not surprised at this, for he had told her that his absence would be prolonged; and in her heart of hearts she was really glad, for the veiled suspicion of the man"s sincerity had grown into an actual distrust of him--a distrust that would have been increased a thousand-fold could she have known that the quarter-breed was even then upon Snare Lake at the head of a gang of outlaws who were thawing out MacNair"s gravel and shovelling it into dumps for an early clean-up; instead of looking after his "neglected interests" upon the rivers.
But she did not know that, nor did she know of his midnight visit to Tostoff, nor of what happened at Brown"s cabin, nor of the release of MacNair.
CHAPTER XX
ON THE TRAIL OF PIERRE LAPIERRE
Bob MacNair drove a terrific trail. He was known throughout the Northland as a hard man to follow at any time. His huge muscles were tireless at the paddle, and upon the rackets his long swinging stride ate up the miles of the snow-trails. And when Bob MacNair was an a hurry the man who undertook to keep up with him had his work cut out.
When he headed northward after his release from the Fort Saskatchewan Jail, MacNair was in very much of a hurry. From daylight until far into the dark he urged his malamutes to their utmost. And Corporal Ripley, who was by no means a _chechako_, found himself taxed to the limit of his endurance, although never by word or sign did he indicate that the pace was other than of his own choosing.