"The cabin has a most forlorn look," he said, half-pausing to view it.
Helen, who was very tired, replied, "It certainly looks cheerless in the darkness, but that is because there is no light. A few sticks in the stove and the glare of the fire shining through the parchment window would make it seem cheerful and homey enough."
"But——" he broke off suddenly. "Hark. What was that?"
"I heard nothing," answered Helen.
"Listen," he said.
For perhaps twenty seconds they stood perfectly3 still, then somewhere in the wood some unseen creature barked. Stane laughed at himself.
"A fox! I believe I am getting nervous," he said, beginning to move forward. Helen moved with him, and they entered the cabin together. Striking a match and lighting4 a slush lamp which he had devised, Stane looked round. Things were just as they had left them on their departure, and he drew a little breath of relief. Why he should do so he could not have explained, any more than he could have explained the feeling of apprehension5 which had overtaken him. A few minutes passed, and soon the stove was roaring, filling the cabin with a cheerful glow. Then whilst the girl busied herself with preparations for supper, he went outside to bring in more wood. On the return journey, as he kicked open the cabin-door, for a second his slightly stooping form was outlined against the light and in that second he caught sounds which caused him to drop the logs and to jump forward, suddenly. He threw the door to hurriedly and as hurriedly dropped the bar in place. Helen looked round in surprise.
"What is it?" she asked quickly.
"There is some one about," he answered. "I heard the twang of a bowstring and the swish of an arrow over my head. Some one aimed—Ah, there it is!"
He pointed6 to the wall of the cabin, where an arrow had struck, and still quivered. Going to the wall he dragged it out, and looked at it. It was ivory tipped, and must have been sent with great force. The girl looked at it with eyes that betrayed no alarm, though her face had grown pale.
"An Indian!" she said.
"Yes," he answered. "And more than one I should fancy. That fox-bark was a signal. No doubt it gave notice of our return."
"What shall we do?" asked Helen quietly.
"Do!" he answered with a short laugh. "We will have our supper and wait developments. We can do nothing else. We shall have to wait until daylight—then we may learn something."
Helen nodded. "Yes, I suppose there is nothing else to do; and a hostile force outside is no reason why we should die of hunger within."
Calmly, as if hostile Indians were part of the daily program, she continued the preparations for supper, whilst Stane fixed7 a blanket over the parchment window, which was the one vulnerable point in the cabin. This he wedged with the top of a packing case, which the owner of the cabin had improvised8 for a shelf, and by the time he had finished, supper was almost ready. As they seated themselves at the table, the girl laughed suddenly.
"I suppose we are in a state of siege?"
"I don't know, but I should not be surprised. It is very likely."
"I feel quite excited," she said. "Do you think we shall have to fight?"
"It depends what the intentions of our friends outside may be. We shall certainly have to be on the alert."
"You mean we shall have to keep watch."
"That I think will be necessary. They might try to rush the cabin, though I do not think they will. It is pretty solidly built."
"Why should Indians attack us?"
"I do not know. They may think that we are interfering9 with their hunting-rights."
"That is possible. This is a good fur country; but he may have felt that the furs were not worth the risk."
"Yes!" answered Helen, and after a moment's silence asked: "Do you think those Indians up the lake have anything to do with it?"
"That is more than possible, indeed, it is very likely. I did not like that old chief. There was a very cunning look in his eyes and it is very possible that he designs to get rid of both us and Anderton. The mysterious visitants we have had, and the man in the wood this morning have a rather ominous11 look."
"But we shall fight them?"
"Of course! If they are going to fight, we shall fight; though for your sake I hope that won't be necessary."
"Oh, you must not mind me," was the reply, given with a little laugh. "The truth is that I think I should rather enjoy a fight."
Stane gave her a quick look of admiration12. "I know you will not be afraid," he said, "and if Anderton gets through it may not be long before help arrives. Also it must be remembered that we may be disturbing ourselves unnecessarily. That," he nodded towards the arrow—"may be no more than the malicious13 freak of some hunter returning home, and meant to scare us."
"But you do not think so?" asked Helen, looking at his grave face.
"Well——" he began, but the girl interrupted him.
"You don't," she cried. "I know you don't. You have already admitted that you think the matter is serious, as I do myself, though I don't pretend to know anything about Indians. In a situation of this sort the truth is the best, and I know, we both know, that there is some occasion for concern. Is not that so?"
"Well," he agreed, "we can't be too careful."
"Then tell me what we must do," she said a little reproachfully, "and don't make me feel that I am a child."
He considered a moment, then he replied: "We must keep watch and watch through the night. Not that I think there will be any attack. These Northern Indians are wonderfully patient. They will play a waiting game, and in the end make a surprise attack. They will know that now we are on the alert, and I should not be surprised if for the present they have withdrawn14 altogether."
"You really believe that?"
"Honestly and truly!"
"Then for the moment we are safe."
"Yes! I think so; and you can go to rest with a quiet mind."
"Rest!" laughed the girl. "Do you think I can rest with my heart jumping with excitement? I shall keep the first watch, perhaps after that I shall be sufficiently16 tired—and bored—to go to sleep."
Stane smiled at her words, and admiration of her courage glowed in his eyes, but what she suggested fitted in well enough with his own desires, and he let her have her way, and himself lay down on his couch of spruce-boughs, and after a little time pretended to sleep. But in reality sleep was far from his eyes. From where he lay, he could see the girl's face, as she sat in the glowing light of the stove. There was a thoughtful, musing17 look upon it, but no sign of fear whatever, and he knew that her courageous18 demeanour was not an assumed one, but was the true index of the gay courage of her heart.
Helen was thinking of the face of Miskodeed as she had seen it over her shoulder, when they were departing from the encampment up the lake. She had read there a love for the man who was her own companion, and in the dark, wildly beautiful eyes she had seen the jealousy19 of an undisciplined nature. And as she sat in the glowing light of the stove, she was conscious of a feeling of antagonism20 to this rare daughter of the wilds who dared to love the man whom she herself loved. She understood, from the feelings she herself was conscious of, what must be the Indian girl's attitude towards herself, and was inclined to trace the hostility which had suddenly manifested itself to that source. The girl had been in the neighbourhood of the cabin once, she was sure of that, and might have come again, probably by some short path through the woods, her hand, possibly, had drawn15 the bow and sent the arrow which had awakened21 their apprehensions23. But in that case, she asked herself, why had the arrow been directed against her companion rather than herself?
That she could not understand, and after a time her thoughts passed to the story which Stane had related to the policeman, and the account of the forged bill that the latter had given. The two together seemed absolutely conclusive24. What a man had done once on the way of crime, he could do again, and as her conviction of Gerald Ainley's guilt25 grew, she was quite sure that somehow he was the moving spirit in her companion's deportation26 from Fort Malsun. He had not expected to see Hubert Stane, and when the latter had demanded an interview he had been afraid, and in his fear had taken steps for his removal. Ainley loved her; but now, if he were the last man left in the world, she would never——
A sound of movement interrupted her reverie, and she half-turned as Stane rose from his spruce-couch.
"You have heard nothing?" he asked.
"Nothing!" she replied.
"I will take the watch now, Miss Yardely, and do you lie down and rest."
"I will lie down," she said with a little laugh, "but I am afraid sleep will be another matter. My mind is in a ferment27."
"You promise?" she asked. "I wouldn't miss one bit of anything that is happening—not for worlds."
"I promise," he answered with a smile.
Stane lit his pipe, and seated himself near the stove. He had, as he had previously32 told the girl, little fear of any attack developing that night, and this anticipation33 proved to be the correct one. The still, dead hours passed in quietness, and when the grey day broke, he cautiously opened the cabin-door and looked out. Nothing stirred anywhere, either in the forest or lakewards. He turned and looked at his companion who had just emerged from her sleeping place.
"I think we have our little world to ourselves again."
"That of course is more than possible, but I do not think it is likely. It is extremely cold and a night in the open would be anything but desirable. The attacker or attackers, if from the Indian encampment, probably returned there. They must know that we can't leave here, and they will probably try to lull35 us into a feeling of security, and then attempt a surprise. Anyway after breakfast we'll beat the neighbouring coverts36, I don't fancy being kept indoors by an enemy who may prove to be very contemptible37."
When breakfast was finished and the necessary morning tasks finished, Stane, who had been in and out of the hut frequently and had kept a careful watch on the wood and lake, looked at Helen.
"Do you feel equal to facing the possible danger, Miss Yardely?"
"I am not afraid," answered Helen quickly, "and if I were I wouldn't own it—or show it, I hope."
"I don't believe you would," replied Stane with a smile. "We will go out, first on the lake where we can survey the shore; and then along the path in the woods where we saw that man yesterday."
"About that man," said Helen slowly. "There was something that I meant to tell you yesterday, but I forgot it again in the excitement of Mr. Anderton's arrival."
"What was that?" asked Stane pausing in the act of slipping on his fur parka.
"Well, I had an odd fancy that he was not an Indian."
"You thought he was a white man?"
"Yes," answered Helen, "that idea occurred to me when you spoke38 of Indians. The man may have been a native, but in the fleeting39 glimpse I had of him he did not give me that impression. Of course I may be utterly40 mistaken."
"But what white man would run away from us?" asked Stane, thoughtfully. "What could possibly be his reason for avoiding us?"
"I don't know," answered Helen, with a quick laugh. "And as it may be no more than my fancy, the question of the man's racial identity is not worth worrying over. I merely thought I would tell you what my impression was."
Stane nodded. "Anyway, white or red he is not going to keep us from our walk. Are you ready?"
"Quite," she answered, and going outside they slipped on their snow-shoes, and then made a bee-line out on the lake.
They walked forward for perhaps half-a-mile and halted at a point whence they got a wide view of the shore. Stane looked up and down the lake. Its smooth white surface was absolutely without life but for his companion and himself. Then he scrutinized42 the shore, point by point, creek43 by creek, and Helen also looked carefully.
"No sign of any one," he commented at last. "No camp or fire, we might be alone in the world. If there is any one he is hidden in the deep woods, and for the present invisible. I think instead of going back to the cabin we will make a detour44 to the point where we surprised the stranger yesterday."
Stane leading, to break the track in the untrodden snow, they made their way shorewards and struck it well to the north of the cabin, then began to work through the woods, keeping a sharp look out as they went. They saw nothing, however, and when they reached the bushes behind which the stranger had slipped the previous day, there were no fresh tracks to awaken22 alarm. They stood there looking down between the serried45 lines of trees. Nothing save the trees was visible, and there was no sound of movement anywhere. The silence was the silence of primeval places, and somehow, possibly because of the tenseness of nerve induced by the circumstances of the walk, the girl was more conscious of it than ever she had been before.
"There is something inimical in the silence up here," she said in a whisper, as she gave a little shudder46. "One has a feeling as if all the world of nature were lying in wait to ambush47 one."
"Nature red in tooth and claw," Stane quoted lightly, "only up here her teeth are white, and her claws also. And when she bares them a man has little chance. But I understand your feeling, one has the sense of a besetting48 menace. I felt it often last winter when I was new to the country, and it is a very nasty feeling—as if malign49 gods were at work to destroy one, or as if fate were about to snip50 with her scissors."
"Yes," answered the girl, still whisperingly, then she smiled. "I have never felt quite like this before. I suppose it rises out of the real menace that may be hidden in the woods, the menace of some one watching and waiting to strike."
"Very possible," answered Stane, flashing a quick look at her. He was looking for the sign of fear, but found none, and a second later he said abruptly51: "Miss Yardely, I think you are very brave."
"Oh," laughed the girl in some confusion, "I don't know that, but I hope I am not below the general average of my sex."
"You are above it," he said with emphasis. "And I know that this, even for the bravest of women, must be rather a nerve-breaking walk."
"I won't deny that I find it so," was the reply. "But I am sustained by an ideal."
"Indeed?" he asked inquiringly.
"Yes! Years ago I read about some English women in India who were at a military station when the Mutiny broke out. The regiments52 in the neighbourhood were suspected of disloyalty and any sign of fear or panic would have precipitated53 a catastrophe54. If the women had left, the Sepoys would have known that they were suspected, so they remained where they were, attending to their households, paying their ordinary calls, riding about the district as if the volcano were not bubbling under their feet, and they even got up a ball in defiance55 of the danger. Some people would call the latter mere41 bravado56, but I am sure it was just a picturesque57 kind of courage, and in any case it impressed the Sepoys. Those particular regiments remained loyal—and it was the behaviour of the white women which saved the situation. And their courage is my ideal. I have always felt that if I were placed in a similar situation I would at least try to live up to it."
"You are doing so," answered Stane with conviction. "This situation is not quite the same, but——" He broke off and looked round the silent woods, which might well be the hiding-place of implacable enemies, then added: "Well, it is a test of character and courage!"
In due time they reached the cabin without mishap60. They had found no sign of the enemy of the previous night. If he still lurked61 in the wood he kept himself hidden and Stane hoped that he had withdrawn for good. But he determined62 to take no chances, and busied himself in the next few hours with cutting a good store of wood which he stacked in the cabin. He also chopped a considerable amount of ice which he stored as far away from the stove as possible. Some cached moose-meat, which was frozen solid as a board, he hung on the rafters of the cabin, which themselves were white with frost.
The short day had almost ended when he had completed these tasks, and he was about to enter the cabin, when through the dusk he caught sight of a figure, standing63 among the trees openly watching him. The garb64 proclaimed the figure to be that of a woman, and for a moment he was utterly startled. Then, acting65 on impulse, he started to walk towards the watcher, his unmittened hand on the butt66 of the pistol at his hip67.
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1
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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2
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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18
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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21
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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24
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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deportation
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| n.驱逐，放逐 | |
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ferment
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| vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱 | |
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untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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devoutly
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| adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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coverts
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| n.隐蔽的，不公开的，秘密的( covert的名词复数 )；复羽 | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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38
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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40
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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42
scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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44
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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45
serried
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| adj.拥挤的；密集的 | |
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46
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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47
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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48
besetting
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| adj.不断攻击的v.困扰( beset的现在分词 )；不断围攻；镶；嵌 | |
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49
malign
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| adj.有害的；恶性的；恶意的；v.诽谤，诬蔑 | |
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50
snip
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| n.便宜货，廉价货，剪，剪断 | |
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51
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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52
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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53
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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54
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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55
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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56
bravado
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| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
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57
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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58
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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59
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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60
mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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61
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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62
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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63
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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64
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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65
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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66
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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