THE MISSION OF ST. AGATHA
A haunting silence prevails in the land beyond the barrier of the Yukon
watershed. It is a world apart, beyond, and the other land, the land
where the battle of civilization still fluctuates, still sways under
the violent passions of men, remains outside.
Its fascination is beyond all explanation. Yet it is as great as its
conditions are merciless. Murray McTavish had sought the explanation,
and found it in the fact that it was a land in which man could make his
own laws and break them at his pleasure. Was this really its
fascination? Hardly. The explanation must surely lie in something
deeper. Surely the primitive in man, which no civilization can
out-breed, would be the better answer.
In Allan Mowbray's case this was definitely so. Murray McTavish had
served his full apprenticeship where the laws of civilization prevail.
His judgment could scarcely be accepted in a land where only the strong
may survive.
The difference between the two men was as wide as the countries which
had bred them, and furthermore Allan had survived on the banks of the
Snake River for upwards of twenty-five years. For twenty-five years he
had lived the only life that appealed to his primitive instincts and
powers. And before that he had never so much as peeped beyond the
watershed at the world outside. His whole life was instinct with
courage. His years had been years of struggle and happiness, years in
which a loyal and devoted wife had shared his every disappointment and
success, years in which he had watched his son and daughter grow to the
ripeness of full youth.
The whole life of these people was a simple enough story of passionate
energy, and a slow, steady-growing prosperity, built out of a
wilderness where a moment's weakness would have yielded them complete
disaster. But they were merciless upon their own powers. They knew
the stake, and played for all. The man played for the tiny lives which
had come to cheer his resting moments, and the defenceless woman who
had borne them. The woman supported him with a loyal devotion and
courage that was invincible.
For years Allan Mowbray had scoured the country in search of his trade.
His outfit was known to every remote Indian race, east and west, and
north--always north. His was a figure that haunted the virgin
woodlands, the broad rivers, the unspeakable wastes of silence at all
times and seasons. Even the world outside found an echo of his labors.
These two had fought their battle unaided from the grim shelter of Fort
Mowbray. And, in the clearing of St. Agatha's Mission, at the foot of
the bald knoll, upon the summit of which the old Fort stood, their
infrequent moments of leisure were spent in the staunch log hut which
the man had erected for the better comfort of his young children.
Then had come the greater prosperity. It was the time of a prosperity
upon which the simple-minded fur-hunter had never counted. The Fort
became a store for trade. It was no longer a mere headquarters where
furs were made ready for the market. Trade developed. Real trade.
And Allan was forced to change his methods. The work was no longer
possible single-handed. The claims of the trail suddenly increased,
and both husband and wife saw that their prospects had entirely
outgrown their calculations.
Forthwith long council was taken between them. Either the trail, with
its possibilities, which had suddenly become an enormous factor in
their lives, or the store at the Fort, which was almost equally
important, must be abandoned, or a partner must be found and taken.
Allan Mowbray was not the man to yield a detail of the harvest he had
so laboriously striven for. So decision fell upon the latter course.
Murray McTavish was not twenty-five when he arrived at the Fort. He
was a man of definite personality and was consumed with an abundance of
determination and resource. His inclination to stoutness was even then
pronounced. But above all stood out his profound, concentrated
understanding of American commercial methods, and the definite, almost
fixed smile of his deeply shining eyes.
There was never a doubt of the wisdom of Allan's choice from the moment
of his arrival. Murray plunged himself unreservedly into the work of
the enterprise, searching its possibilities with a keenly businesslike
eye, and he saw that they had been by no means overestimated by his
partner. There was no delay. With methods of smiling "hustle" he took
charge of the work at the Fort, and promptly released the overburdened
Allan for the important work of the trail.
Nor was Ailsa Mowbray the least affected by the new partner's coming.
It was early made clear that her years of labor were at last to yield
her that leisure she craved for the upbringing of her little family,
which was, even now, receiving education under the cultured guidance of
the little French-Canadian priest who had set up his Mission in this
wide wilderness. For the first time in all her married life she found
herself free to indulge in the delights of a domesticity her woman's
heart desired.
It was about the end of the summer, after Murray's coming to the Fort,
that an element of trouble began to disquiet the peace of the Mission
on Snake River. It almost seemed as if the change from the old
conditions had broken the spell of the years of calm which had
prevailed. Yet the trouble was remote enough. Furthermore it seemed
natural enough.
First came rumor. It traveled the vast, silent places in that
mysterious fashion which never seems clearly accounted for. Well over
a hundred and fifty miles of mountain, and valley, and trackless
woodlands separated the Fort from the great Mackenzie River, yet, on
the wings of the wind, it seemed, was borne a story of war, of
massacre, of savage destruction. The hitherto peaceful fishing Indians
of Bell River had suddenly become the hooligans of the north. They
were carrying fire and slaughter to all lesser Indian settlements
within a radius of a hundred miles of their own sombre valley.
The Fort was disturbed. The whole Mission struck a note of panic.
Father José saw grave danger for his small flock of Indian converts.
He remembered the white woman and her children, too. He was seriously
alarmed. Allan was away, so he sought the advice of those remaining.
Murray was untried in the conditions of the life of the country, but
Ailsa Mowbray possessed all the little man's confidence.
In the end, however, it was Murray who decided. He took upon himself
the position of leader in his partner's absence, and claimed the right
to probe the trouble to its depths. The priest and Ailsa yielded
reluctantly. They, at least, understood the risk of his inexperience.
But Murray forcefully rejected any denial, and, with characteristic
energy, and no little skill, he gathered an outfit together and
promptly set out for Bell River.
It was the one effort needed to assure him of his permanent place in
the life of the Fort on Snake River. It left him no longer an untried
recruit, but a soldier in the battle of the wilderness.
A month later he returned from his perilous enterprise with his work
well and truly done. The information he brought was comprehensive and
not without comfort. The Bell River Indians had certainly taken to the
war-path. But it was only in defence of their fishing on the river
which meant their whole existence. They were defending it
successfully, but, in their success, their savage instincts had run
amuck. Not content with slaying the invaders they had annexed their
enemy's property and squaws. Then, with characteristic ruthlessness,
they had set about carrying war far and near, but only amongst the
Indians. Their efforts undoubtedly had a dual purpose, The primary
object was the satisfying of a war lust suddenly stirred into being in
savage hearts by their first successes. The other was purely politic.
They meant to establish a terror, and so safeguard their food supplies
for all time.
Murray's story was complete. It was thorough. It had not been easy.
His capacity henceforth became beyond all question.
So the cloud passed for the moment. But it did not disappear. The
people at the Fort, even Allan Mowbray, himself, when he returned,
dismissed the matter without further consideration. He laughed at the
panic which had arisen in his absence, while yet he commended Murray's
initiative and courage.
After the first lull, however, fresh stories percolated through. They
reached the Fort again and again, at varying intervals, until the Bell
River Valley became a black, dangerous spot in the minds of all people,
and both Indians, and any chance white adventurer, who sought shelter
at the Fort, received due warning to avoid this newly infected plague
spot.
It was nearly ten years since these things had occurred. And during
all that time the primitive life on the banks of Snake River had
continued to progress in its normal calm. Each year brought its added
prosperity, which found little enough outward display beyond the
constant bettering of trade conditions which went on under Murray's
busy hands. A certain added comfort reached the mother's home in the
Mission clearing. But otherwise the outward and visible signs of the
wealth that was being stored up were none.
Father José's Mission grew in extent. The clearing widened and the
numbers of savage converts increased definitely. The charity and
medical skill of the little priest, and the Mission's adjacency to a
big trading post, were responsible for drawing about the place every
begging Indian and the whole of his belongings. The old man received
them, and his benefits were placed at their service; the only return he
demanded was an attendance at his religious services, and that the
children should be sent to the classes which he held in the Mission
House. It was a pastoral that held every element of beauty, but as an
anachronism in the fierce setting north of "sixty" it was even more
perfect.
Allan Mowbray looked on at all these things in his brief enough
leisure. Nor was he insensible to the changed conditions of comfort in
his own home, due to the persistent genius of his partner. The old,
rough furnishings had gone to be replaced by modern stuff, which must
have demanded a stupendous effort in haulage from the gold city of
Leaping Horse, nearly three hundred miles distant. But Ailsa was
pleased. That was his great concern. Ailsa was living the life he had
always desired for her, and he was free to roam the wilderness at his
will. He blessed the day that had brought Murray McTavish into the
enterprise.
Just now Allan had been away from the Fort nearly the whole of the open
season. His return was awaited by all. These journeys of his brought,
as a result, a rush of business to the Fort, and an added life to the
Mission. Then there was the mother, and her now grown children,
waiting to welcome the man who was their all.
But Allan Mowbray had not yet returned, and Jessie, young, impulsive,
devoted, was living in a fever of apprehension such as her experienced
mother never displayed.
Supper was ready at the house when Murray and Jessie arrived from the
Fort. Ailsa Mowbray was awaiting them. She regarded them smilingly as
they came. Her eyes, twins, in their beauty and coloring, with her
daughter's, were full of that quiet patience which years of struggle
had inspired. For all she was approaching fifty, she was a handsome,
erect woman, taller than the average, with a figure of physical
strength quite unimpaired by the hard wear of that bitter northern
world. Her greeting was the greeting of a mother, whose chief concern
is the bodily welfare of her children, and a due regard for her
domestic arrangements.
"Jessie's young yet, and maybe that accounts for a heap. But you,
Murray, being a man, ought to know when it's food time. I guess it's
been waiting a half hour. Come right in, and we'll get on without
waiting for Alec. The boy went out with his gun, an' I don't think
we'll see him till he's ready."
Jessie's serious eyes had caught her mother's attention. Ailsa Mowbray
possessed all a mother's instinct. Her watch over her pretty daughter,
though unobtrusive, was never for a moment relaxed. Some day she
supposed the child would have to marry. Well, the choice was small
enough. It scarcely seemed a thing to concern herself with. But she
did. And her feelings and opinions were very decided.
Murray smilingly accepted the blame for their tardiness.
"Guess it's up to me," he said. "You see, Jessie was good enough to
let me yarn about the delights of this slice of God's country. Well,
when a feller gets handing out his talk that way to a bright girl, who
doesn't find she's got a previous engagement elsewhere, he's liable to
forget such ordinary things as mere food."
Mrs. Mowbray nodded.
"That's the way of it--sure. Specially when you haven't cooked it,"
she said, with a smile that robbed her words of all reproach.
She turned to pass within the rambling, log-built house. But at that
moment two dogs raced round the angle of the building and fawned up to
her, completely ignoring the others.
"Guess Alec's--ready," was Murray's smiling comment.
There was a shadow of irony in the man's words, which made the mother
glance up quickly from the dogs she was impartially caressing.
"Yes," she said simply, and without warmth. Her regard though
momentary was very direct.
Murray turned away as the sound of voices followed in the wake of the
dogs.
"Hello!" he cried, in a startled fashion. "Here's Father José,
and--Keewin!"
"Keewin?"
It was Jessie who echoed the name. But her mother had ceased caressing
the dogs. She stood very erect, and quite silent.
Three men turned the corner of the house. Alec came first. He was
tall, a fair edition of his mother, but without any of the strength of
character so plainly written on her handsome features. Only just
behind him came Father José and an Indian.
The Padre of the Mission was a white-haired, white-browed man of many
years and few enough inches. His weather-stained face, creased like
parchment, was lit by a pair of piercing eyes, which were full of fire
and mental energy. But, for the moment, no one had eyes for anything
but the stoic placidity of the expressionless features of the Indian.
The man's forehead was bound with a blood-stained bandage of dirty
cloth.
Ailsa Mowbray's gentle eyes widened. Her firm lips perceptibly
tightened. Direct as a shot came her inquiry.
"What's amiss?" she demanded.
She was addressing the white man, but her eyes were steadily regarding
the Indian.
A moment later a second inquiry came.
"Why is Keewin here? Why is he wounded?"
The Padre replied. It was characteristic of the country in which they
lived, the lives they lived, that he resorted to no subterfuge,
although he knew his tidings were bad.
"Keewin's got through from Bell River. It's a letter to you
from--Allan."
The woman had perfect command of herself. She paled slightly, but her
lips were even firmer set. Jessie hurried to her side. It was as
though the child had instinctively sought the mother's support in face
of a blow which she knew was about to fall.
Ailsa held out one hand.
"Give it to me," she said authoritatively. Then, as the Padre handed
the letter across to her, she added: "But first tell me what's amiss
with him."
The Padre cleared his throat.
"He's held up," he said firmly. "The Bell River neches have got him
surrounded. Keewin got through with great difficulty, and has been
wounded. You best read the letter, and--tell us."