Garth was thankful he was alone when it happened. The reaction after
their day of joyous hopefulness was too sudden to be borne. Crouching
behind the bush, he dropped his head in his arms. What could he hope
for, single-handed against such overwhelming odds? For a while his heart
failed him utterly, and all his faculties were scattered in clownish
confusion. He knew not which way to turn. At last one thought shone
through the murk of his brain like a star: Natalie must not be rudely
frightened. He got up; and composing his face with a great effort of
will, he hastened back to her.
But the riders having crossed the bed of the stream, and mounted the
rise, Natalie already knew as much as he. Her first thought was likewise
for him. She turned a solicitous face.
"My poor Garth!" she said. "More care and danger for you!"
The simple words acted on him like a strong tonic. His brow smoothed;
his mouth hardened; and he was mightily ashamed for his moment of
weakness.
"More fun!" he said with his dry, arrogant note of laughter. "Act four
of the drama begins!"
Natalie caught his spirit and laughed back.
"Who was the half-breed, do you suppose?" he said. "Whitey-blue eyes,
ugly scar!"
"Don't you remember?" she said quickly. "The stage to the Landing----"
"Xavier! Of course!" he cried.
"And the second woman?"
"I only saw a ring of gray curls under her hat."
"Mary Co-que-wasa!"
"Hm! The entire _dramatis personae_?" said Garth.
Natalie, not to be outdone, saluted with her good arm, and asked:
"Orders of the day, Captain?"
In a truly desperate pass one breaks down--or laughs. Youth laughs. They
bolstered each other's courage with their jests, each secretly wondering
and admiring of the other.
"We have the house, anyway!" said Garth. "Good old tumbledown shanty!"
"No! Fort Indefatigable!" amended Natalie.
"It'll be besieged all right," said Garth. "We must carry in everything
we own, and fill up the rest of the space with wood for the fire. I
would share my room with Cy, but the old boy couldn't get his ribs
through the door!"
Natalie was told off for sentry duty. She took up her position at the
edge of the shore, where she could report on all that transpired in the
other camp. It seemed to be the design of these people first to overawe
them with a display of force. They pitched camp openly, in and around
Mabyn's hut; and moved about all day in plain view. The men amused
themselves by shooting their guns at various marks, clearly to show the
number and strength of their weapons. Up to dark, Natalie was able to
report that none of the five had left camp.
Garth, meanwhile, worked like a Trojan. All the wood cut for the fire
was carried inside, and he had, besides, a quantity of logs left over or
discarded from the building of the shack; and these were likewise
stored. The hut was built so near the edge of the bank there was little
possibility of an attack from in front; in each of the other three sides
he cut a loophole for observation and defense. The last hours of
daylight he spent in hunting near camp; and in setting snares to be
visited later. Two rabbits were all that fell to his bag.
At nightfall they locked themselves in. Garth did not stop then, but
worked for hours piling the spare logs around the three vulnerable sides
of the shack; so that if the bullets should fly, they would be protected
under a double barrier.
The night passed without alarms.
In the morning Garth wished to venture forth as if nothing had happened.
Inaction was intolerable to him. He insisted it would be fatal for him
to act as if he were afraid.
Natalie was all against it.
"But this is the twentieth century after all," he said; "and we're under
a civilized Government. They would never dare shoot me in cold blood!"
"Not kill you, perhaps," she said; "but bring you down, helpless!" Tears
threatened here; and Garth was silenced.
Opening the shutter in Natalie's room, they could still command a view
of the other camp. Grylls and Mabyn were visible; and at intervals the
two women appeared. Xavier was missing.
"He will be watching us," Natalie said.
As if to give point to her words, a rifle suddenly barked its hoarse
note, close outside. Garth sprang to the loophole in Natalie's room; and
was in time to see the poor, stupid, faithful old horse, tethered
outside, sink to his knees, and collapse on the grass.
He leaped up, turning an ominous, wrathful face.
"Oh! The damned cowards!" he muttered.
Natalie flew into the adjoining room, and flung herself in front of the
door. "You must not go out!" she cried. "What would I do, if you were
hurt?"
She was unanswerable, and he turned from the door, sickened with balked
wrath, and flung himself face down on his blankets until he could
command himself.
As if to give this act time to sink in, nothing further was undertaken
against Garth and Natalie all day; though they were undoubtedly under
surveillance, because the five were never about their own camp at the
same time. It was a bitter, hard day on the besieged; Garth, chafing
intolerably, paced the shack like a newly caged animal; and even Natalie
suffered from his temper.
At nightfall he eased his pent-up feelings by a cautious sally. He
filled all their vessels in the lake; and revisited his snares, which,
however, yielded nothing. They were too near camp. He saw no sign of any
adversary; but some of them came about later in the night like coyotes;
for in the morning Garth saw that the body of old Cy had been dragged
away--in the fear, perhaps, that his flesh might furnish them with food.
After breakfast Garth took his pipe to the window, and folding his arms
on the high sill, watched the movements in the camp across the little
bay. They were watching him too; he presently sensed a pair of
field-glasses in Grylls's hands. Garth laughed and obeying a sudden,
ironical impulse, waved his hand. Grylls abruptly lowered the glass and
walked away.
Garth was still smiling, when all at once, without warning, Rina came
around the corner of his shack and faced him point blank. The smile was
fixed in astonishment; Rina was unperturbed.
"What do you want?" he demanded, picking up his gun.
"I got no gun," she said, indifferently, exhibiting her empty hands.
"Nick Grylls, him send you letter."
Garth reflected that by letting her in, he stood the chance of getting
much useful information; so bidding Natalie stay in her own room, he
opened the door.
Rina handed him the note from Grylls. It was scribbled in a small,
crabbed hand on the back of a business letter. On the other side Garth
had a glimpse of the time-honoured formula: "_Dear Sir: Yours of the
first instant to hand, and contents noted. In reply we beg to say_----"
It gave him a queer, incongruous start: outside, it seemed, people still
went to and from their offices, absorbed in their inconsequential
affairs--while here in the woods he was fighting for his life, and
Natalie's honour!
"Where is _she_?" Rina asked--she had never referred to Natalie by name.
"I will fix her hair for her if she want," she added humbly enough.
Natalie immediately came forward, offering her hand. Rina clung to it
without speaking, turning away her head to hide welling tears.
"Where did you meet these people?" Garth asked her.
"On the prairie," she answered, low-voiced. "Yesterday, noon spell. They
coming this way. Nick Grylls, him mak' moch friend with 'Erbe't, and
'Erbe't, him glad. Nick Grylls big man, rich man, everybody lak to be
friend with him. Nick Grylls say him come to help 'Erbe't. Him give
'Erbe't ver' fine gun."
"Humph! Mabyn will pay dear for it!" Garth exclaimed.
"I say so him," Rina said eagerly. "Me, I tell 'Erbe't everybody see
Nick Grylls him jus' mak' a fool of you. What he want with you? He want
her for himself. 'Erbe't on'y laugh. 'E say--" Rina's voice sunk very
low--"'Let him help me get her, and I'll keep her, all right!'"
Garth frowned and clenched his fists. His gorge rose intolerably, at the
thought of this precious pair contending which was to have Natalie.
Rina went on: "Nick Grylls say to 'Erbe't, mustn't let her get out of
the country. He say 'If she go out she divorce you.'" Rina pronounced
the word strangely. "Nick Grylls say he know a place to tak' her all
winter, Northwest, many days to Death River, where no white man ever go
before. Him think I not hear what he say."
This was valuable information indeed.
Garth opened the letter. It was a curious document, for while the
thoughts were like Grylls's, they were clothed in a certain smoothness
of phrase more likely supplied by Mabyn:
MR. GARTH PEVENSEY, SIR: (Thus it ran) I am astonished beyond
measure at the story I have learned from the lips of my good
friend, Mr. Herbert Mabyn. I assure you, sir, that, though this is
an unsettled country, we are not accustomed to lawlessness; nor do
we propose to stand for it from strangers. You have twice attempted
Mr. Mabyn's life; you have stolen and converted to your own use his
household effects and supplies; you have unwarrantably imprisoned
him on an exposed island to the great detriment of his health. Your
purpose in all this is transparent. You seek to part him from his
wife; and you are at this moment detaining Mrs. Mabyn in your
shack.
I flatter myself I am not without weight and standing in this
community; and I hereby warn you that in the absence of the regular
police, I mean to see this wrong righted. If Mrs. Mabyn is
immediately returned to her husband, you will be allowed to go
unmolested. If you still detain her, we will seize her by force, as
we have every right, moral and legal, to do. We know you have only
food enough for a few days, so in any case the end cannot remain
long in doubt.