COLINA'S ENTERPRISE.
Upon leaving Ambrose, Colina despatched his letter across the river by
Michel Trudeau. She then dressed for dinner.
To-night was to be an occasion, for beside Inspector Egerton they had
Duncan Seton, inspector of Company posts, and his wife.
The Setons had come down with the police. Seton was to run the post at
Fort Enterprise while John Gaviller and Gordon Strange were absent at
the trials.
Colina, buoyed up with anger, dressed with care. She saw herself
self-possessed and queenly at the foot of her own table's favorite
picture of herself.
Nevertheless, the reaction was swiftly setting in. She couldn't help
having a generous heart, nor could she put away the picture of Ambrose
and his miserable, untasted supper.
At the last moment her courage failed her. She knew the conversation
would have to do solely with the coming trials. She knew Inspector
Egerton's style in dealing with Ambrose. She could not face it.
She sent down-stairs the time-honored excuse of young ladies and,
tearing off her finery, flung herself, like Ambrose, on her bed.
She passed a worse night than he, for while the man accused fate, she
had to accuse herself. Colina was nothing if not whole-hearted; coward
was the gentlest of the names she called herself.
More than once she was on the point of rushing out of the house and,
regardless of consequences, imploring Ambrose's forgiveness.
However, after midnight a way out of her coil suggested itself like a
star shining out. She slept for a peaceful hour.
Long before dawn she arose and awakened her maid. This was Cora, a
stolid Cree half-breed, doggedly devoted to her mistress and accustomed
to receiving her impulsive orders like inscrutable commands from Heaven.
Upon being notified, therefore, that they were about to set off on a
long journey overland instead of by the launch, she set to work to get
ready without surprise or question.
Colina wrote the letter to Ambrose and another to her father. The
latter was a little masterpiece of casualness, designed to prevent
pursuit, if that were possible.
She knew that they dared not wait another day, before starting
up-stream in the launch.
DEAR FATHER:
I have heard a rumor of new evidence bearing on the trials. It's not
worth while telling Inspector Egerton and delaying everything, because
I'm not sure of anything. I'm off to investigate for myself.
I'm taking Cora, and shall have a couple of reliable men with me, so
there's no occasion to worry. You must not attempt to wait for me, of
course.
If I secure any information worth while Mr. Seton will find a way to
send me out with it. If I do not, why I'm not an essential witness at
the trials, and of course I'll be all right here with the Setons until
you get back.
Affectionately,
COLINA.
She left the letters with the cook, giving precise instructions for
their delivery. That to her father was not to be handed over until her
absence from the house should be discovered. Nothing was to be said
about the other letter.
The two girls saddled Ginger and the next best horse in the stable for
Cora to ride, and took a third horse with a pack-saddle for their
baggage.
They rowed across the river, making the horses swim in the wake of the
boat. On the other side they set off forthwith on the Kakisa trail.
Colina had decided that it would be a waste of precious time to turn
aside to the Grampierres.
Whether Germain started before or after her, she could find him on the
way. That he would start for the Kakisa River this morning she had no
doubt.
When they had ridden a couple of miles Cora pointed out to her where
the tracks of four horses struck into the trail. They were just ahead,
she said.
They came upon Germain Grampierre and his brother Georges making their
first spell by the trail. Great was their astonishment upon hearing
Colina announce her intentions.
Germain used all the obvious arguments to turn her back, and Colina
smilingly overruled them. He was openly in awe of her, and, of course,
in the end she had her way, and they rode together, Germain shaking his
head with secret misgivings.
They pushed their horses to the utmost, ever urged on by Colina, who
could not know what might be behind them. But she knew they rode the
best horses to be had at Enterprise.
They reached the Kakisa River on the third day without any surprise
from the rear.
They found that the main body of the Kakisas had been brought back to
their village here, where they were pursuing their usual avocations
under the eye of the police encamped on the terrace around the shack.
Colina immediately addressed herself to the police headquarters.
She had remarked Sergeant Plaskett on his arrival at Fort Enterprise, a
typical mounted policeman, and a fine figure of a man to boot--tall,
lean, deep-chested, deep-eyed--a dependable man.
She approached him with confidence. The sight of her astonished,
confused, and charmed him, as she meant it should. He was only a man.
But as she told her story he stiffened into the policeman. "Sorry," he
said uncomfortably. "I have explicit orders from Inspector Egerton not
to allow any communication between these people here and the other
branches of the tribe."
"Why not?" asked Colina.
Plaskett shrugged deprecatingly. "Not for me to say. I can guess,
perhaps. It's not possible to lock them all up, but these people are
under arrest just the same. I must keep the disaffected from mingling
with the loyal."
"That's all right," said Colina, "but you can give me a policeman to go
up the river with me and make a search."
He shook his head regretfully but firmly. "Inspector Egerton ordered
me to leave the up-river people alone," he said. "The coming of a
policeman would throw them into excitement. No one can say what they
might do. I can't take the responsibility."
Colina shrugged. "Then the Grampierres and I must go by ourselves,"
she said.
Plaskett became even stiffer and more uncomfortable. "Germain
Grampierre and his brother had no business to leave home," he said.
"By their own confessions they are implicated in the raid on the
Company's flour-mill. They were told that if they remained at home
they would not be molested. But if they attempted to escape they would
immediately be arrested."
"They're not trying to escape!" cried Colina.
"I don't believe they are," said Plaskett. "But I've got to send them
home. Orders are orders."
But this was not the kind of argument to use with a young woman whose
blood is up.
"Don't you recognize anything but orders?" she cried. "Inspector
Egerton is hundreds of miles away by this time. Are you going to wait
for his orders before you act?"
Plaskett's position was not an enviable one. "When anything new comes
up I have to act for myself," he explained stiffly. "The story about
this girl is not new. During the past week I have examined every
principal man in the tribe and many of the women.
"I have not found any clue to the existence of such a person.
Moreover, every man has testified in unmistakable signs that Ambrose
Doane was not only at large while he was with them, but that he
directed all their movements."
"They have been told that by saying this they can save themselves,"
said Colina.
"Possibly," said Plaskett, "but I cannot believe that among so many
there is not one who would betray himself."
For half an hour they had it out, back and forth, without making any
progress. Plaskett used all of a man's arguments to persuade her to
return to Enterprise.
Colina, seeing that she was getting nowhere, finally feigned to submit.
She obtained his permission to go among the Indians by herself in the
hope that they might tell her something they were afraid to tell the
police.
Accompanied by Cora she went from teepee to teepee. The Kakisas showed
themselves awed by her condescension, but still they were
uncommunicative.
She was Gaviller's daughter. The place of honor by the fire was made
for her, tea hastily warmed up, and doubtful Indian delicacies
produced. But she learned nothing.
At any mention of the names Ambrose Doane or Nesis a subtle, walled
look crept into their eyes, and they became unaccountably stupid.
She was about to give up this line of inquiry when, at a little
distance from the nearest teepee, she came upon a girl engaged in
dressing a moose-hide stretched upon a great frame. There were no
other Indians near. Colina resolved upon a last attempt.