Rina brought all four horses handily through the wood, bringing up the
rear on the back of old Cy. She slipped off beside Garth, and looked in
the direction where Natalie lay.
"Still sleeping," Garth said.
As Rina's eyes fell on him, they suddenly widened; and plain fear broke
through the mask of her face. "'Erbe't been here!" she said breathlessly.
"How do you know?" he said in surprise.
Rina pointed to his belt. "You got his knife!" she said. "How you get
his knife?"
"He tried to murder me with it," said Garth, watching her face narrowly.
Rina had no more thought for Natalie. "Where is he?" she said agitatedly.
"W'at you do to him?"
"I let him go," Garth said carelessly. "Murder is not exactly in my
line."
"He try to kill you an' you let him go!" she breathed incredulously.
Plainly such magnanimity was outside her ken. She walked away from him,
considering it.
Presently she came back with a swift glide. "You got to promise me not
to 'urt 'Erbe't!" she said, threateningly and passionately.
"If he attacks me, I defend myself--and her," Garth said coolly.
Rina studied the ground. It was impossible for him to tell what was
going on behind her inscrutable eyes. In a moment she went to Natalie as
if nothing had happened; and dropping beside her, listened attentively
to her breathing. Garth, ever watchful, followed her close. When she
arose, they moved off a little to avoid disturbing the patient; and
Rina briefly instructed Garth what he should do during the night.
Garth, not satisfied with merely knowing what to do, asked the reason
of her various measures; whereupon Rina became suddenly evasive.
"But I must know why you do these things," he insisted.
Rina looked away. "I not tell you," she said coolly.
"What does this mean?" he demanded, surprised and frowning.
Rina met his eyes. "Nobody but me can mak' her well," she said boldly.
"I mak' her well if you not 'urt 'Erbe't. If you go after 'Erbe't, she
can die. I not look at her no more!"
This at least was honest; and Garth could respect such an opponent.
"He's safe!" he said coolly. "Provided he keeps away from here."
Rina vouchsafed no comment. "I come to-morrow," she said and disappeared
through the trees.
* * * * *
The horses offered Garth his next problem. Since immediately they were
turned out they would bolt for the sweet grass of the prairie above,
there was no way in which he could secure them from Mabyn, or keep them
within reach against a time of need. They might stray for miles over the
plains before he could leave Natalie long enough to round them up. But
there was no help for it; the beasts would all die of starvation, if he
attempted to keep them in his camp. There was a little grass between
the willows and the timber; and he determined to keep old Cy picketed
nearby, to be sure of one mount in the case of an emergency. The other
three he hobbled, hung a bell around Emmy's neck, and turned them loose.
He was now able to make Natalie more comfortable. Putting up her tent,
he spread a bed of balsam within, and her own blankets upon it. The next
time she awoke, he carried her inside; and at the door of the tent,
where he could look at her, and speak to her, he cooked her the best
invalid's supper the grub-box and his own skill could afford. This same
grub-box was an ever-fresh cause of anxiety to him; allowing for liberal
contributions from his own gun, he could not see much more than a week's
supply for two. This he kept to himself, however, while he joked and
made light of their situation for Natalie's benefit. She was very
quiet; she did not suffer much, she said; but she had little humour to
talk. When Garth thought of her, only the day before, galloping over
the prairie, he ground his teeth afresh. But the silver lining of
this blackest cloud of his was that in her weakness she clung to
him unreservedly.
Some time after supper she fell asleep again; and Garth prepared for
his night-long vigil. His head was much too busy to allow of any desire
for sleep. Sitting in the dark, he faced the situation open-eyed. There
they were in the remotest wilderness, imprisoned in the narrow valley by
Natalie's injury for weeks to come; with insufficient food and inclement
weather in prospect, and without the remotest chance of succour from the
outside. Moreover, there hovered about them an implacable and half-insane
enemy, whose busy brain was bent on Garth's destruction. The outlook was
enough to unnerve the strongest; there were things in it that Garth in his
courage could only glance at, and hurriedly avert the eyes of his mind.
The night was so still he could hear the breathing of the horse at fifty
paces. He had let the fire die down, for fear its loud crackling would
awaken Natalie. Overhead the Northern lights flung their ragged pennons
across the zenith, with a ghostly echo of rustling. He suddenly became
conscious of distant human voices in the void of stillness; and presently
distinguished the voice of Mabyn. Rina's answers he could not hear,
though he sensed a second voice. The sound was from the neighbourhood
of the hut.
Garth was tempted by the opportunity to discover at the same time the
plans of his enemy, and Rina's true disposition toward himself. He glanced
at Natalie; she had but lately fallen asleep, and was sleeping soundly;
there were no animals abroad that could harm her; he need be gone but half
an hour. The role of eavesdropper was not at all attractive to him; but he
felt he had no right to refuse to use any weapon that offered. Finally he
fastened the flaps of Natalie's tent, replenished the fire, and stole away
through the trees.
He crossed the stony watercourse to the left of the usual place and
mounted the slope. Coming closer, he satisfied himself that the speakers
were sitting on the bench at the door of the shack. In the darkness he
almost fell across the figure of the little cayuse, prone in the grass.
The animal scrambled to its feet and trotted away. Garth paused,
listening, his heart in his throat--but Mabyn's voice presently went
on undisturbed.
He finally gained the top of the rise; and let himself down in the
grass, distant some thirty feet from them. A flash of lightning--or even
the lighting of a lantern would have revealed him clearly.
He instantly understood that he was the subject of their talk.
"It's his life or mine," in Mabyn's blustering whine were the first
words he distinctly heard.
"He could kill you to-day, and he let you go," Rina quietly returned.
"That's a lie!" blustered Mabyn. "How do you know?" he added
inconsequentially.
"He tak' your knife from you. I saw it in his belt," said Rina. "And he
let you go."
Mabyn made no reply.
"He say to me he not 'urt you, if you keep away from there," Rina went
on.
"Keep away!" Mabyn fumed. "This is my place! I'll go where I choose on
it! He's trespassing on my land! I've a right to drive him off! I've a
right to kill him if he doesn't go!"
"He will hear you!" said Rina warningly.
"Let him hear me!" said the man--nevertheless he lowered his voice.
"They're a quarter-mile off," he added.
"Listen!" said Rina.
Over the lake, from an immeasurable distance, came throbbing the
imbecile laughter of a loon.
"Loon, him three miles off," said Rina significantly.
Thereafter, Mabyn spoke in a whisper; a wheedling note crept into his
voice. "That was a good scheme of yours, going to the camp to set the
girl's arm," he said. "Now we can find out all they do!"
"I not go to find out," said Rina sadly. "I go for I sorry I 'urt her. I
shoot her jus' lak a breed I am!"
Mabyn paid no attention to this. "Keep your eyes open when you're in
their camp every day," he urged. "See how much food they have; find out
where he keeps the shells for his gun. If you could only steal the gun!"
"He carry it always on his back," said Rina. "He never put it down."
"I know, he's on his guard now," said Mabyn. "But if you act friendly
all the time, he'll forget. We've got plenty of time; do nothing for a
few days. I'll keep away from there too. He'll think it's all right.
_Then_"--Mabyn's whisper was pure venom--"sneak up behind him and knock
him on the head with an axe! Choose a moment when the girl is asleep or
delirious. We will throw his body in the lake. No one will ever know how
it happened!"
There was a pause.
"Will you do it?" said Mabyn eagerly.
Rina remained silent.
Mabyn cursed her under his breath. "I believe this smooth-faced young
whelp has cast an eye on you too," he snarled. "You're false to me!"
A low cry was forced from Rina's lips; she made a rapid move; and Garth
understood that she had thrown herself at the man's feet. "'Erbe't, you
know you don' speak true," she whispered painfully. "You my 'osban'! All
men I hate, but you!"
"Then do what I tell you," snarled Mabyn.
"'Erbe't!" she pleaded rapidly and urgently. "Let them go! What have
they got to do with us? To-morrow I go to him. I tell him how to mak'
her well. The man will give me a horse and things. An' you and I will
ride to the Rice River people. They are my people. They will give me a
gun. We will be so ver' happy, and not think of this man and this woman
any more!"
"You can go, and be damned to you!" said Mabyn sullenly. "I stay on my
own place!"
Garth understood then, that she drew very close to the man, lavish in
the expression of her sad love and timid caresses, in a desperate effort
to move him. He could not hear it all; but his cheeks burned to be the
intruder on such an exposure of a woman's soul--a white soul, he
thought, whatever the colour of her skin.
Mabyn was utterly insensible to it all. In the end he became impatient,
and flung her away from him with an oath. She fell to the ground with a
soft thud; and for a while there was no other sound, but the dreadful,
low catch of her breath, as she sought to strangle her sobs.
"'Erbe't, if you no love me I die," she breathed.
"Rid me of this man and I'll love you fast enough!" said Mabyn eagerly.
His breath came thick and stertorous. "Ah! Let me once grind my heel in
the smooth, sneering face of him! and you shall do what you like with
me!" Rage robbed him of speech; he made mere brutish sounds in his
throat.
By and by he managed to control himself; and his voice resumed its
crafty, wheedling tone. "Only do what I tell you, my Rina, and you shall
know what it is to be loved by a white man. I shall have no thought all
day, but of you! Up to now you have done all the loving; I will repay it
twice over! You shall be loved as no red woman was ever loved before!"
"'Erbe't! 'Erbe't! Don't mak' me do it!" she whispered terror-stricken.
Garth could stand no more. Springing to his feet, he strode forward,
grasping the barrel of his rifle to use it for a club. Shooting was too
merciful for such a creature.
"You damned scoundrel!" he cried.
Mabyn fell back against the wall with a gasping cry of fright. Quick as
Garth was, Rina was quicker. Before he could reach the man, she
scrambled over the ground, and clutched him by the knees.
"Let him be!" she screamed. "I kill you!"
Garth struggled vainly to free himself. Finally bending over and seizing
her shoulders, he thrust her away. But the blow he again aimed at Mabyn
never descended; for with incredible swiftness Rina gained her feet, and
darted down hill.
"I kill _her!_" she shrilled.
A sickening fear gripped Garth's heart, instantly obliterating all
thought of Mabyn. He dashed after Rina, nerved to a desperate fleetness.
She knew the ground better than he; and hampered, moreover, by the
weight of his gun, he despaired of overtaking the moccasined savage. But
at the watercourse the strange creature stopped dead; and waited for him
to come up.
"Go back to your white woman!" she cried stormily. "If you 'urt him, I
pull her bandage off, and beat her arm till she die of pain!"