Ever since the evening in camp when Wentworth had confided in him that
he had the coat, Hedin had been debating his course of procedure. His
first impulse had been to denounce Wentworth to his face, to seize the
coat and obtain the engineer's arrest. He knew that Downey expected to
return to the post--but there was Jean to consider. Jean--the girl of
his fondest dreams, who had forsaken him and fallen under the spell of
the courtly manners of the suave soldier-engineer. What would Jean
think? If she loved the man she would never believe in his guilt. She
would believe, with a woman's irrational loyalty, that he, Hedin, had
in some manner contrived to place the coat in Wentworth's possession,
and he knew that the engineer would never cease to proclaim that he had
been made the dupe of a scheming lover. The case against the man must
be plain. When Jean could be shown that Wentworth deliberately
endeavored to cheat her father, she would then believe that he stole
the coat. She would be saved from throwing herself away, and
he--Hedin's lips moved, "I will hire out to the Company, and ask to be
sent to the northern-most post they've got."
Upon his arrival at the post, Wentworth made out two reports, one to
McNabb and the other to Orcutt, which he dispatched to the railway by a
Company Indian. Late in the afternoon, as he was polishing his
instruments in the little cabin, the figure of Sven Larson appeared in
the doorway. The engineer motioned him to enter and close the door
behind him. "Where is Murchison?" he asked, glancing through the
window toward the post.
"He has gone in a boat with Wawake to set the fish nets."
Without a word Wentworth stepped across the room, unlocked his trunk,
and from its depths drew the sable coat that Hedin had last seen upon
the shoulders of Jean McNabb as she walked from the store upon that
memorable Saturday. With a conscious effort he controlled himself, and
reaching out his hand took the coat and carried it to the window. He
was conscious that the engineer's eyes were fastened intently upon him
as, inch by inch, he carefully examined the garment whose every
skin--every hair, almost--was familiar to him. Still holding the coat,
he spoke more to himself than to Wentworth. "A fine piece. All good
dark Yakutsk skins. And the matching is good. Only one skin a shade
off----"
"What's it worth?" asked Wentworth abruptly. "I don't care a damn
about the specifications. They don't mean anything to me. I knew it
was a fine garment the minute I spotted it, and I knew Hedin was lying
when he said it was a marten."
"Hedin?" queried the clerk. "Was that the name of the princess? She
must be a fool to say this is a marten."
"No, no! Hedin is a man. And he is a fool, all right. Fool enough to
let a damn fool girl make a fool of him----"
Wentworth suddenly saw a blinding flash of light. He felt himself
falling; then he lay very still as a shower of little star-like sparks
flowed upward from a black abyss.
The instant he struck, Hedin realized the folly of his act. He would
have given all he possessed to have recalled the blow. McNabb had
trusted him to carry out a carefully laid plan--and he had failed. He
remembered how the old Scot had told him frankly that Jean had fallen
in love with Wentworth, and personally, while he believed him to be a
good engineer, he wouldn't trust him out of his sight. And then he had
outlined the scheme he had laid for showing him up so that Jean would
be convinced of his crookedness. And now he had spoiled it all.
The man on the floor stirred restlessly. The thought flashed into
Hedin's brain that there might still be a chance. If he played his
part well, it was possible.
The next thing Wentworth knew, Sven Larson was bending over him,
bathing his face with a large red handkerchief saturated with cold
water. "What in hell happened?" muttered the man, as he brushed
clumsily at his fast discoloring eye with his hand. With the help of
the factor's clerk he sat up. "You hit me! Damn you! What did you
hit me for?"
"I am sorry I hit you," answered Hedin heavily. "It is in here--the
thing that makes me strike." He rubbed his forehead with his fingers.
"It is like many worms crawling inside my head, when one speaks ill of
women. My eyes get hot, and the red streaks come, and then I strike.
It was such a thing that made me strike Pollak. But I had a hammer in
my hand and I looked and saw that Pollak was dead, so I ran away from
there and climbed onto the ship. I am glad I did not have a hammer in
my hand to-day."
Wentworth regained his feet and glanced at his fast closing eye in the
bit of mirror that hung above his wash bench. "So am I," he seconded,
forcing a smile. "Where did all this happen? Who was Pollak, and
where did the ship take you?"
"It was in London in the place of Levinski, the furrier. Pollak and I
worked for him in the sorting of skins. The ship took me to Port
Nelson. It was a Hudson's Bay Company ship, and I hired out to the
Company and they sent me here to Gods Lake. I like it here."
"So that's it, is it? Well, now you listen to me. We'll just forget
the black eye and make a little trade. You keep still about the sable
coat, and about hitting me, and I'll keep still about your killing
Pollak. Mind you, if I should tell Murchison you had killed a man he
would send you back to London, and they would hang you."
"Yes, they would hang me because I killed Pollak. But I do not tell
Murchison things that I know. If you do not tell him I killed Pollak,
he will not send me back to get hung."