Close to the tent Philip sat down, smoked his pipe, and waited.
Not only had the developments of the last few minutes been
disappointing to him, but they had added still more to his
bewilderment. He had expected and hoped for immediate physical
action, something that would at least partially clear away the
cloud of mystery. And at this moment, when he was expecting things
to happen, there had appeared this new factor, Jean, to change the
current of excitement under which Josephine was fighting. Who
could Jean be? he asked himself. And why should his appearance at
this time stir Josephine to a pitch of emotion only a little less
tense than that roused by her fears of a short time before? She
had told him that Jean was part Indian, part French, and that he
"belonged to her." And his coming, he felt sure, was of tremendous
significance to her.
He waited impatiently. It seemed a long time before he heard
voices and the sound of footsteps over the edge of the coulee. He
rose to his feet, and a moment later Josephine and her companion
appeared not more than a dozen paces from him. His first glance
was at the man. In that same instant Jean Croisset stopped in his
tracks and looked at Philip. Steadily, and apparently oblivious of
Josephine's presence, they measured each other, the half-breed
bent a little forward, the lithe alertness of a cat in his
posture, his eyes burning darkly. He was a man whose age Philip
could not guess. It might have been forty. Probably it was close
to that. He was bareheaded, and his long coarse hair, black as an
Indian's, was shot with gray. At first it would have been
difficult to name the blood that ran strongest in his veins. His
hair, the thinness of his face and body, his eyes, and the tense
position in which he had paused, were all Indian. Then, above
these things, Philip saw the French. Swiftly it became the
dominant part of the man before him, and he was not surprised when
Jean advanced with outstretched hand, and said:
"M'sieur Philip, I am Jean--Jean Jacques Croisset--and I am glad
you have come."
The words were spoken for Philip alone, and where she stood
Josephine did not catch the strange flash of fire in the half-
breed's eyes, nor did she hear his still more swiftly spoken
words: "I am glad it is YOU that chance has sent to us, M'sieur
Weyman!"
The two men gripped hands. There was something about Jean that
inspired Philip's confidence, and as he returned the half-breed's
greeting his eyes looked for a moment over the other's shoulder
and rested on Josephine. He was astonished at the change in her.
Evidently Jean had not brought her bad news. She held the pages of
an open letter in her hand, and as she caught Philip's look she
smiled at him with a gladness which he had not seen in her face
before. She came forward quickly, and placed a hand on his arm.
"Jean's coming was a surprise," she explained. "I did not expect
him for a number of days, and I dreaded what he might have to tell
me. But this letter has brought me fresh cause for thankfulness,
though it may enslave you a little longer to your vows of
knighthood. We start for home this afternoon. Are you ready?"
"I have a little packing to do," he said, looking after Jean, who
was moving toward the tent. "Twenty-seven prunes and--"
"Me," laughed Josephine. "Is it not necessary that you make room
in your canoe for me?"
Philip's face flushed with pleasure.
"Of course it is," he cried. "Everything has seemed so wonderfully
unreal to me that for a moment I forgot that you were my--my wife.
But how about Jean? He called me M'sieur Weyman."
"He is the one other person in the world who knows what you and I
know," she explained. "That, too, was necessary. Will you go and
arrange your canoe now? Jean will bring down my things and
exchange them for some of your dunnage." She left him to run into
the tent, reappearing quickly with a thick rabbit-skin blanket and
two canoe pillows.
"These make my nest--when I'm not working," she said, thrusting
them into Philip's arms. "I have a paddle, too. Jean says that I
am as good as an Indian woman with it."
"Better, M'sieur," exclaimed Jean, who had come out of the tent.
"It makes you work harder to see her. She is--what you call it--
gwan-auch-ewin--so splendid! Out of the Cree you cannot speak it."
A tender glow filled Josephine's eyes as Jean began pulling up the
pegs of the tent.
"A little later I will tell you about Jean," she whispered. "But
now, go to your canoe. We will follow you in a few minutes."
He left her, knowing that she had other things to say to Jean
which she did not wish him to hear. As he turned toward the coulee
he noticed that she still held the opened letter in her hand.
There was not much for him to do when he reached his canoe. He
threw out his sleeping bag and tent, and arranged Josephine's robe
and pillows so that she would sit facing him. The knowledge that
she was to be with him, that they were joined in a pact which
would make her his constant companion, filled him with joyous
visions and anticipations. He did not stop to ask himself how long
this mysterious association might last, how soon it might come to
the tragic end to which she had foredoomed it. With the spirit of
the adventurer who had more than once faced death with a smile, he
did not believe in burning bridges ahead of him. He loved
Josephine. To him this love had come as it had come to Tristan and
Isolde, to Paola and Francesca--sudden and irresistible, but,
unlike theirs, as pure as the air of the world which he breathed.
That he knew nothing of her, that she had not even revealed her
full name to him, did not affect the depth or sincerity of his
emotion. Nor had her frank avowal that he could expect no reward
destroyed his hope. The one big thought that ran through his brain
now, as he arranged the canoe, was that there was room for hope,
and that she had been free to accept the words he had spoken to
her without dishonour to herself. If she belonged to some other
man she would not have asked him to play the part of a husband.
Her freedom and his right to fight for her was the one consuming
fact of significance to him just now. Beside that all others were
trivial and unimportant, and every drop of blood in his veins was
stirred by a strange exultation.
He found himself whistling again as he refolded his blankets and
straightened out his tent. When he had finished this last task he
turned to find Jean standing close behind him, his dark eyes
watching him closely. As he greeted the half-breed, Philip looked
for Josephine.
"I am alone, M'sieur," said Jean, coming close to Philip. "I
tricked her into staying behind until I could see you for a moment
as we are, alone, man to man. Why is it that our Josephine has
come to trust you as she does?"
His voice was low--it was almost soft as a woman's, but deep in
his eyes Philip saw the glow of a strange, slumbering fire.
"Why is it?" he persisted.
"God only knows," exclaimed Philip, the significance of the
question bursting upon him for the first time. "I hadn't thought
of it, Jean. Everything has happened so quickly, so strangely,
that there are many things I haven't thought of. It must be
because--she thinks I'm a MAN!"
"That is it, M'sieur," replied Jean, as quietly as before. "That,
and because you have come from two years in the North. I have been
there. I know that it breeds men. And our Josephine knows. I could
swear that there is not one man in a million she would trust as
she has put faith in you. Into your hands she has given herself,
and what you do means for her life or death. And for you--"
The fires in his eyes were nearer the surface now.
"What?" asked Philip tensely.
"Death--unless you play your part as a man," answered Jean. There
was neither threat nor excitement in his voice, but in his eyes
was the thing that Philip understood. Silently he reached out and
gripped the half-breed's hand, For an instant they stood, their
faces close, looking into each other's eyes. And as men see men
where the fires of the earth burn low, so they read each other's
souls, and their fingers tightened in a clasp of understanding.
"What that part is to be I cannot guess," said Philip, then. "But
I will play it, and it is not fear that will hold me to my promise
to her. If I fail, why--kill me!"
"That is the North," breathed Jean, and in his voice was the
thankfulness of prayer.
Without another word he stooped and picked up the tent and
blankets. Philip was about to stop him, to speak further with him,
when he saw Josephine climbing over the bulwark of rocks between
them and the trail. He hurried to meet her. Her arms were full,
and she allowed him to take a part of her load. With what Jean had
brought this was all that was to go in Philip's canoe, and the
half-breed remained to help them off.
"You will go straight across the lake," he said to Philip. "If you
paddle slowly, I will catch up with you."
Philip seated himself near the stern, facing Josephine, and Jean
gave the canoe a shove that sent it skimming like a swallow on the
smooth surface of the lake. For a moment Philip did not dip his
paddle. He looked at the girl who sat so near to him, her head
bent over in pretence of seeing that all was right, the sun
melting away into rich colours in the thick coils of her hair.
There filled him an overwhelming desire to reach over and touch
the shining braids, to feel the thrill of their warmth and
sweetness, and something of this desire was in his face when she
looked up at him, a look of gentle thankfulness disturbed a little
by anxiety in her eyes. He had not noticed fully how wonderfully
blue her eyes were until now, and soft and tender they were when
free of the excitement of fear and mental strain. They were more
than ever like the wild wood violets, flecked with those same
little brown spots which had made him think sometimes that the
flowers were full of laughter. There was something of wistfulness,
of thought for him in her eyes now, and in pure joy he laughed.
"Why do you laugh?" she asked.
"Because I am happy," he replied, and sent the canoe ahead with a
first deep stroke. "I have never been happier in my life. I did
not know that it was possible to feel as I do."
"And I am just beginning to feel my selfishness," she said. "You
have thought only of me. You are making a wonderful sacrifice for
me. You have nothing to gain, nothing to expect but the things
that make me shudder. And I have thought of myself alone,
selfishly, unreasonably. It is not fair, and yet this is the only
way that it can be."
"I am satisfied," he said. "I have nothing much to sacrifice,
except myself."
She leaned forward, with her chin in the cup of her hands, and
looked at him steadily.
"You have people?"
"None who cares for me. My mother was the last. She died before I
came North."
"And you have no sisters--or brothers?"
"None living."
For a moment she was silent. Then she said gently, looking into
his eyes:
"I wish I had known--that I had guessed--before I let you come
this far. I am sorry now--sorry that I didn't send you away. You
are different from other men I have known--and you have had your
suffering. And now--I must hurt you again. It wouldn't be so bad
if you didn't care for me. I don't want to hurt you--because--I
believe in you."
"And is that all--because you believe me?"
She did not answer. Her hands clasped at her breast. She looked
beyond him to the shore they were leaving.
"You must leave me," she said then, and her voice was as lifeless
as his had been. "I am beginning to see now. It all happened so
suddenly that I could not think. But if you love me you must not
go on. It is impossible. I would rather suffer my own fate than
have you do that. When we reach the other shore you must leave
me."
She was struggling to keep back her emotion, fighting to hold it
within her own breast.
"You must go back," she repeated, staring into his set face. "If
you don't, you will be hurt terribly, terribly!"
And then, suddenly, she slipped lower among the cushions he had
placed for her, and buried her face in one of them with a moaning
grief that cut to his soul. She was sobbing now, like a child. In
this moment Philip forgot all restraint. He leaned forward and put
a hand on her shining head, and bent his face close down to hers.
His free hand touched one of her hands, and he held it tightly.
"Listen, my Josephine," he whispered. "I am not going to turn
back, I am going on with you. That is our pact. At the end I know
what to expect. You have told me; and I, too, believe. But
whatever happens, in spite of all that may happen, I will still
have received more than all else in the world could give me. For I
will have known you, and you will be my salvation. I am going on."
For an instant he felt the fluttering pressure of her fingers on
his. It was an answer a thousand times more precious to him than
words, and he knew that he had won. Still lower he bent his head,
until for an instant his lips touched the soft, living warmth of
her hair. And then he leaned back, freeing her hand, and into his
face had leaped soul and life and fighting strength; and under his
breath he gave new thanks to God, and to the sun, and the blue sky
above, while from behind them came skimming over the water the
slim birchbark canoe of Jean Jacques Croisset.