When Jessie hurried into the spotless kitchen her mother glanced quickly up from her cook-stove.
"What is it?" she demanded, at the sight of the eager eyes and parted lips. "You"re----" She broke off with a smile. "There, child," she added, "you don"t need to tell it. Your face does that. John Kars has come up the river."
The girl flushed scarlet. Her eyes were horrified.
"Why, mother," she cried dismayed, "am I so easy to read? Can--can anybody read me like--you can?"
The mother"s eyes were very tender.
"I don"t believe John Kars can anyway," she said rea.s.suringly. "You see, he"s a man. Is he coming along over?"
Jessie"s relief was as obvious as her momentary dismay. The flush of shame faded from her pretty cheeks. Her eyes were again dancing with delight.
"Why, sure, mother," she cried. "He"s coming right over--after they"ve fixed things with Father Jose. I don"t think they"ll be to supper.
Dr. Bill"s with him, of course. And say, aren"t they just two dears?
To see them together, and hear their fool talk, you"d think them two kids instead of two of the big men of the country. It must be good to keep a heart so young all the time. I think, mother, they must be good men. Real good men. I don"t mean like Father Jose. But the sort who do things square because they like square living. I--I wish they lived here all the time. I--I don"t know which I like best."
"I do."
The mother set the scones on the table and glanced over it with approving eyes. The girl"s protest came swiftly but playfully.
"Be quiet, you mother dear," she cried, her ready blushes mounting again. "Don"t you dare to say--things. I----"
The mother only smiled the more deeply.
"Best go and round Alec up. Supper"s ready."
But the girl hesitated.
"He"s at the barns fixing his outfit with Keewin," she said. "He reckons to break trail in a few days. Say, Murray"s gone across to Father Jose with them. Will I get him, too?" Then she added thoughtfully, "Do you know, mother, I don"t think Murray"s glad to see John Kars. He"s sort of quiet with him around. I don"t know. I don"t reckon he likes him. I wonder why?"
The mother"s eyes searched her daughter"s face. Her smile must have been full of meaning for any one less simple than the girl before her.
"There"s no accounting the way men feel for each other," she said at last. "Maybe Murray guesses John Kars is b.u.t.ting into our trade.
Maybe he"s anxious to keep the country to ourselves. You see, these folks aren"t traders, and we are."
The girl became indignant at once.
"But he"s no right to feel that way," she cried. "The country"s free.
It"s big enough for us all. Besides, if John Kars isn"t a trader, where"s the trouble? I think Murray"s mean. That"s all."
The mother shook her head.
"Best go and call the men-folk," she said, in her direct fashion.
"Murray can see to his likes and dislikes the same as he can see to most things he"s set on." Then she smiled. "Anyway, I don"t suppose it figgers any with you around. John Kars isn"t likely to suffer from it."
Just for one instant the girl"s eyes answered the mother"s gentle challenge. Then she went off firing her parting shot over her shoulder as she vanished through the doorway.
"I"ve always thought Murray mean--for--for all his fat smile. I--just hate meanness."
Ailsa Mowbray was startled. Nothing could have startled her more. In all the years of their a.s.sociation with Murray she had never before heard so direct an expression of dislike from either of her children.
It troubled her. She had not been blind to Alec"s feelings. Ever since the boy had grown to manhood she had known there had been antagonism between them. She was never likely to forget the scene on the night her husband"s appeal for help reached her. But Jessie.
She was disquieted. She was wondering, too. And, wondering, the memory of her promise to Murray rose up threateningly before her. She turned slowly back to the stove for no definite purpose, and, so turning, she shook her head.
Later, Jessie returned, the last sign of her ill-humor completely gone.
Behind her came the two men of her mother"s household. And so the evening meal progressed to its conclusion.
Later still Father Jose and his two visitors foregathered in the hospitable living-room, and, for the time at least, Ailsa Mowbray gave no further thought to her disquiet, or to the appeal Murray had made to her.
CHAPTER IX
MURRAY TELLS HIS STORY
For a whole week Ailsa Mowbray was given no further opportunity of dwelling upon the possibilities of the situation between Jessie and Murray McTavish. John Kars pervaded the Mission with a personality too buoyant to allow of lurking shadows. On the mother he had an effect like the voice of hope urging her to a fuller appreciation of the life about her, an even greater desire for the fulfilment of those responsibilities which the pa.s.sing of her husband had thrust upon her.
His great figure, his strong, reliant face, his decision of manner, all combined to sweep any doubt from the path of the simple folk at St.
Agatha"s Mission.
The only person who escaped his cheering influence, perhaps, was Murray McTavish. Father Jose yielded Kars a friendship and liking almost equal to the friendship which had sent him to Leaping Horse in the depths of winter on behalf of Allan Mowbray"s widow. This man was a rock upon which the old priest, for all his own strength of character, was not ashamed to seek support. To Alec he was something of a hero in all those things for which his youthful soul yearned. Was he not the master of great wealth? Did he not live in Leaping Horse, where life pulsated with a rush, and no lagging, sluggish stream of existence could find a place? Then, too, the instinct of the trail which the youth had inherited from his father, was not John Kars endowed with it all?
But the week of this man"s stay had more meaning for Jessie than for any one else. Her frank delight in his presence found no denial.
Every shadow was banished out of her life by it. Her days were rendered doubly bright. Her nights were illuminated by happy dreams.
His kindness to her, his evident delight in her company, were sources of unspeakable happiness.
He had brought presents for them all, he had reserved the best and costliest for Jessie. Yet no word of love pa.s.sed his lips, no act of his could have been interpreted as an expression of such by the most jealous-minded. Nor had the girl any thought but of the delight of the moments spent with him, and of the shadow his going must inevitably leave behind.
The mother watched. She understood. And, understanding, she dreaded more than she admitted even to herself. She felt that her child would awaken presently to the reality, and then--what then? Would John Kars pa.s.s on? Would he come again, and again pa.s.s on? And Murray. Murray was always in the back of her mind.
The last day came. It was a day of labor and preparation at the landing. Under the supervision of Kars and Bill the work went forward to its completion, with a precision and care for detail which means perhaps the difference between safety and disaster on the long trail.
Nothing was too small for the consideration of these men in their understanding of the fierce wilderness which they had made their own.
Their spirits were high. It was the care-free spirit which belongs to the real adventurer. That spirit which alone can woo and win the smiles of the wanton G.o.ds of the wilderness. The landing was alive with activity. Father Jose found excuse for his presence there. Even Ailsa Mowbray detached herself from the daily routine of her labors to watch the work going forward. Nor was there a moment when a small crowd of the Indian converts of the Mission were not a.s.sembled in the hope that the great white hunter might be disposed to distribute at least a portion of tobacco by way of largesse. Murray, too, found his way thither. And his mood seemed to have improved. Perhaps it was the knowledge of the going of these people on the morrow which stirred his spirits to match their own.
And Jessie? Jessie found every excuse she desired to add her presence at the bank of the river. The day for her was all too short. For her it was full of the excitement of departure, with the regret at the going looming like a shadow and shutting out her sun. She concealed nothing from herself, while her smile and happy laughter banished every sign of all it really meant.
So the day wore on till the last of the evening light found everything ready for the morning"s departure. All stores were bestowed under their lashed coverings, and the canoes lay deep in the water. Then came the evening festival planned by Ailsa in her hospitable home. A homely supper, and a gathering of all the white folk of the post. It was all so simple. But it was just such as these people understood and appreciated. It was the outward sign of the profound bond which held them all in a land that is eternally inhospitable.
It was nearly midnight when the party broke up. Farewells were said and the men departed. Jessie, herself, closed the heavy door upon the last of them. Alec bade his mother and sister good-night, and betook himself to his belated rest. Mother and daughter were left alone.
The mother"s knitting needles were still clicking busily as she sat beside the great stove, whose warmth was a necessity in the chill of the spring evenings. Jessie came slowly over and stood gazing down at the fierce glow radiating beneath the iron door, where the damper had been withdrawn.
No word was spoken for some moments. Then a sound broke the quiet of the room. It was the sound of a stifled sob, and the mother looked up anxiously.
"Why, child!" she cried, and sprang to her feet.
The next moment her protecting arms were about the pretty figure of the girl, and she drew her to her bosom, with a world of tender affection.