It seemed ages he stood there, staring in horrible fascination at the man in the river--and then the man moved!
He was advancing slowly sh.o.r.eward, with a curious limp, as he had entered Burrage"s store. Creed"s ashen lips moved stiffly, and his tongue seemed to fill his mouth.
"I"ve got "em! I"ve got "em," he maundered. ""S the booze, an" I"m seein" things!"
His groping brain grasped at the idea, and it gave him strength--better the "snakes" than _that_! But he must do something, the man was coming toward him--only hip-deep now--
"Go "way! Go "way!" he shrieked in a sudden frenzy of action. "d.a.m.n you! Y"re dead! D"ye hear me! Go "way from here!"
Suddenly his weakening knees stiffened under him, and he reached swiftly for the rifle on the ground at his feet.
Slowly and deliberately he raised it, c.o.c.ked it, rested it across a log, and took deliberate aim at the center of the man"s face--twenty paces away.
"Bang!" The crack of the rifle sounded loud and sharp in the tense stillness.
The apparition, at the water"s edge, raised its hand slowly to its lips, and from between its teeth took a small object which it tossed toward the other. The object struck lightly against Creed"s breast and dropped to the ground.
He looked, downward--it was a 30-40 bullet--his own! He stared dumbly at the thing on the ground. Then, automatically, he fired again, taking careful aim.
Again the ghost"s hand moved slowly toward its mouth, and again the light tap upon his chest--and two bullets lay upon the ground at his feet.
His head felt strange and large, and inside his skull things were moving--long, gray maggots that twisted, and writhed, and squirmed, like fishing worms in a can.
He laughed flatly, a senile, cackling laugh. He did not want to laugh, but laughed again and, stooping, reached for the bullets. He stared at his fingers, bewildered; they groped helplessly at a spot a foot from the place where lay the two bullets with their shining steel jackets.
He must move his fingers to the right--this way. Again he stared--puzzled; they were moving farther and farther toward the left--away from the bullets. Again the dry, cackling laugh. He would fool his fingers. He would move them _away_ from the bullets.
He tried, and the next instant the groping fingers closed unerringly upon the little cylinders. The laugh became an inarticulate babble of satisfaction, his knees collapsed, and he pitched forward and lay still with wide, staring eyes, while upon the corners of his mouth appeared little flecks of white foam.
A shadow fell across his face--he was staring straight into the eyes of the greener, who stood, dripping wet with the water of the river into which he had fallen more than two months before.
The man leaped from the ground in a sudden frenzy of terror, and fled screaming into the forest, crashing, wallowing, tearing through the underbrush, he plunged, shrieking like a demon.
The greener stood alone in the clearing and listened to the diminishing sounds.
At length they ceased and, in the silence, the greener turned toward the sparkling river, and as he looked there came to his ear faint and far, one last, thin scream.
CHAPTER x.x.xI
THE ROBE OF DIABLESSE
It required three days of hard labor to remove the fifty-two bird"s-eye maple logs to a position of safety. Jacques made a trip to the log camp, returning with a stout rope and an armload of baling wire which he collected from the vicinity of the stables.
The fact that bird"s-eye maple logs, when green, will sink in water, rendered necessary the use of two large pine logs as floats. These were connected at the ends and in the middle with rope sufficiently long to permit four of the heavier logs to rest upon the ropes between the floats.
The raft thus formed was laboriously towed up-stream to the eddy where the bird"s-eye logs were wired together, weighted with stones, and allowed to sink.
During the whole time Jeanne worked tirelessly by the side of the men, and when the last log rested safely upon the bottom of the river, and the scars were carefully removed from the bank, Bill surveyed the result with satisfaction.
"I think that will keep Moncrossen guessing," he laughed. "He won"t know whether Creed ate the logs or an air-ship made away with them."
"But, he will know they are _somewhere_," said Jeanne gravely, "and he will search for them far and wide."
"He will not find them," Jacques interrupted. "No man would search up-stream for logs, even though he believed them to be upon the bottom of the river."
"But, in the searching, he may come upon the lodge, and in his rage, who can tell what he would do?" Bill"s eyes narrowed, and he answered the girl with a smile.
"I will remain, and if Moncrossen comes----"
The girl laid a small hand upon his arm and looked into his eyes.
"I am but a girl and know nothing of logs, but, is it not better that he return down the river without searching?"
Carmody smiled into the serious dark eyes. "Go on, Jeanne," he said, "tell us what you would do."
"It is simple--only to build a big fire upon the spot where the logs were piled, and when Moncrossen finds the ashes he will seek no farther for his logs."
"Great!" cried Bill, in undisguised admiration and, with the help of the others, proceeded to carry the plan into effect. All night they piled fuel upon the fire, and in the morning their efforts were rewarded by a pile of ashes that would easily be mistaken for the ruins of the bird"s-eye rollway.
With the pa.s.sing of the long, hot days of summer, Bill Carmody regained his strength, and yet he lingered in the camp of the Lacombies.
Creed was seen no more upon Blood River, and Bill a.s.sumed the responsibility of guarding the log camp, making for the purpose almost daily excursions with Jeanne or Jacques.
August mellowed into smoky September--September gave place to the red and gold of October, and the blood of the forest folk quickened to the tang of the North.
At the conclusion of one of these tours of inspection, Bill came suddenly upon the girl standing in awe before the skin of Diablesse, which remained where he and Fallon had nailed it on the wall of the bunk-house. Bill carefully removed the nails and laid the dry pelt at the feet of the girl.
"See," he said, "the skin of the werwolf--it is yours."
"Mine!" she cried, with shining eyes. "You would give me _this_!"
Bill smiled. "Yes, that is all I have, here in the woods. But when I return I will bring you many things from the land of the white men."
"The robe of Diablesse!" she breathed softly, as she gazed down upon the peculiar silvery sheen of the great white wolfskin. "I had rather you gave me this than anything else in the world."
She stopped in sudden confusion.
"And why?" questioned Bill, pleased at her evident delight.
"It is," she hesitated, and a slender hand clutched at her breast. "It is as you spoke of the hunting shirt--that you would always keep it because it is the work of my hands. Only the robe means much more, for, among men but one man could have slain the _loup-garou_, and in all the North there is none like it--the robe of Diablesse! and it shall bring us luck--and--and happiness?" she added, the rich voice melting to softness.
At the words the man glanced quickly into the face of the girl and encountered the shy, questioning gaze of the mysterious dark eyes. The gaze did not falter, and the deep, l.u.s.trous eyes held the man enthralled in their liquid depths. She advanced a step, and stood her lithe young body almost touching his own, holding him fascinated in the compelling gaze of the limpid eyes.
"And happiness?" The words were a whispered breath; the bronzed face of the man paled and, with an effort, he turned swiftly away.