THE ALARM
Darkness had just fallen over the snow-enshrouded fort. Three hours
ago, Maria, with her stoical Indian son, had pulled out behind a
dog-train with fresh supplies. The old squaw had been balked in
her attempt to see the factor. Since she had not been sent for,
she did not dare try to force another entrance.
Angus Fitzpatrick and his daughters, Laura and Jean, were having
tea in the drawing-room; preparations were under way for dinner in
the kitchen. Outside, a couple of huskies got into a fight, the
bell of the chapel rang for mid-week even-song, a couple of Indians
called in Ojibway to each other across the snowy expanse of the
courtyard.
Suddenly, from somewhere out on the frozen Severn, there came faint
yells, followed by the staccato of revolver and rifle shots. Just
as suddenly, all the life in the factory came to a dead stop, as
everyone listened for more shots by which to make sure of the
direction. Three minutes later, the additional reports sounded
sharply.
With lightning speed, snowshoes were strapped on, rifles and
cartridge-belts gathered up, and, almost in less time than it takes
to tell, twenty men were racing across the ice to help.
It was the familiar winter's tragedy near the fort--a man traveling
fast and nearing his destination at nightfall. Perhaps, he had five
miles to go for food, warmth, light, and companionship. He took
the risk, and pressed on in the dark. And, then, the wolf-pack,
that had been dogging him over many leagues, closed in for the
kill, since the lone man's one security is his fire.
"When will these Indians learn that lesson?" asked the factor
irritably, sipping his tea. The shots had reached his ears, and
the swift departure of the rescuers had been heard from the courtyard.
It was, perhaps, an hour later when a tramping of feet and chorus
of voices announced the return of the men. As there was no sad
procession, it was evident that the trapper had been saved. Presently,
Butts entered the lamplit room.
"The trapper they just rescued is asking to see you, sir," he said.
"Claims his message to be most important, sir, 'e does."
"Life and death?"
"Might as well say so, sir, from the way he carries on."
"Show him in."
Five minutes later, Cardepie, the Frenchman from Fort Dickey, stood
in the presence of the factor's family, vastly embarrassed, but
bursting with news.
"Ah, by gar!" he cried when permission to speak had been given;
"dere is gran' trouble in de distric'. Everywhere, de trapper is
gone away--everywhere de shanty is desert'. B-gosh! For sure, dere
is somet'ing wrong! One, two, ten, dirteen days ago, dat brave
Captain McTavish go on de long trail for Charley Seguis, an' have
not been heard of since. _Diable!_ Perhaps, he no find heem in
dat time; anyway, he sen' word to de fort. But dis time? _Non!_ We
haf no word, an' by gar! I know somet'ing wrong.
"I call my dogs, Ba'tiste an' Pierre an' Raoul an' Saint Jean, an'
pack de sleigh. I cannot stan' my brother lost, so I go after heem.
_Bien donc!_ I hunt de distric' careful, but I fin' not wan track
of heem. I go to trapper shanty one after de other. Peter Rainy,
he gone four days before me, but I not even see heem. _Tonnerre,
sacre!_ De hair stan' on my head wit' fear of somet'ing I do not
know. Mebbe wan beeg _loup-garou_ eat every man in de distric',
an' have his eye on me.
"I go into a shanty, an' fin' paper not burn' In stove just wan
end. I pick it up; I read de English good, like I talk. McTavish
teach me dat on long nights. B-gosh! _m'sieur_, I read dat fas',
once, twice. Den I go out, an' jump into de sleigh, an' point
Ba'tiste's nose to Fort Severn. _Pauvre_ Saint Jean, he die I run
heem so hard, an' now I got only t'ree dogs."
"Stop! Stop!" yelled the factor at the top of his voice, interrupting
with difficulty the tumbling cascade of Cardepie's speech. "Have
you that paper with you?"
"_Oui_, by gar!" cried the Frenchman proudly, digging into his fur
coat, and finally producing a half-sheet of rough paper, charred
at the upper edge.
Fitzpatrick puzzled over it for a full minute. Then, his eyes
began to bulge, and the veins in his neck to swell as he read aloud:
The brotherhood meets in five days at Sturgeon Lake. Bring your
early furs to the post there.
SEGUIS, Chief Free-Trader.
"Free-traders! Free-traders!" he gasped. "By heaven, this is too
much! For thirty years, I have been factor in this district, and
kept the hunters in line. But, now, there's a brotherhood of
free-traders. They'll flout the Company, will they? They'll flout
me, eh? I'll show them, by heaven! I'll show them!"
The factor heaved himself out of his chair, and lumbered excitedly
up and down the room.
"And Seguis is at the head of it. I wonder where that man, McTavish,
is? If he has done his duty, that sneaking half-breed is either
dead or tied to a sledge on his way here. That'll break 'em up
quick enough--taking their leader! It's up to him, now... Cardepie,
send the chief trader of the fort and the doctor to me, at once.
We'll have to organize to meet this situation."
The Frenchman, frightened at the anger of the fierce old man, was
glad enough to make his escape. Fitzpatrick turned to his daughters.
"Girls, please have your dinners brought upstairs to you to-night.
I want to talk business with my chiefs at the table."
Obediently, the two young women rose and left the room, glad, in
their turn, to avoid the tantrum of the irate factor.
Morning found Fort Severn in a tumult of excitement. The news of
the free-trading organization had spread until even the dullest
Indian had been made aware of it.
The council of department heads, at dinner the night before, had
unanimously decided that but one course lay open to them--to crush
the rebellion against the Company before it could reach any larger
proportions. At the same time, it was agreed that a wait of a few
days would be judicious, for in that time McTavish might come in
with Charley Seguis as his prisoner.
No one doubted for a moment that, if McTavish came at all, it would
be either to announce the death of the man he had set out to capture,
or to hand his prisoner over to the authorities. Such was Donald's
reputation in the district.
Nevertheless, all necessary preparations for a military expedition
were made. Storekeeper Trent drew liberally on his supplies, and
kept his helpers busy making up packs for traveling. Also, he opened
cases of cartridges, that he might serve them out to the men on a
moment's notice. Sledges were overhauled and repaired.
About noon of the third day, a dog-train and sledge, with one man
walking beside it, were sighted far across the frozen Severn, headed
toward the fort. Half an hour later, a man stationed in one of
the bastions with a field-glass announced that a second man lay on
the sledge.
"That settles it," said he. "It's McTavish bringing in Charley
Seguis."
A sigh of relief went up, for all knew their task would now be
easier. After another space, however, the man with the glass began
to focus industriously and mutter to himself.
"That's not McTavish walking at all!" he suddenly cried. "It's an
Indian." And five minutes later: "By heaven! That's McTavish on
the sleigh."
Thus did the fort first know of the happening to the captain of
Fort Dickey. When the dogs, with a final burst of speed and music
of bells, swept through the tunneled snow of the main gate, the
whole settlement gathered around curiously.
With a wry grin, McTavish rose from the furs that wrapped him, and,
with a wave of his hand, but no word, started directly for the
factor's house. One hand was bound in strips of fur and a fold of
his _capote_ shielded his eyes from the glare. He was beginning to
see again, however, and went straight toward his object, turning
aside all questions with a shake of his head.
Not so with Peter Rainy. The center of an admiring and curious
group, he narrated his adventures with many a flourish and
exaggeration. Reduced to a few words, the facts were these:
When McTavish had refused to take his old servant on the hunt for
Charley Seguis, Rainy had moped disconsolate for almost a week. It
was the first time they had ever been separated on a dog or canoe
journey. At the end of that period, when no runner had brought word
of his master, the Indian became restless and anxious.
Finally, having nothing himself, he had mended an old sleigh at
the fort, borrowed Buller's dog-team, and set out to locate McTavish,
against the desire and advice of Cardepie and Buller.
How he had followed the blind trail, how he had escaped capture at
Lake Sturgeon by a hair's breadth and a snowfall that obliterated
his tracks, and how he had, finally, in despair, started for Fort
Severn for help, took long in the telling.
But the same snowfall that saved him, saved McTavish, for, in taking
a cut through the woods, Rainy had come upon the erratic tracks of
the blind man, and followed them without the slightest suspicion
of whose they were, only knowing that someone was in distress.
The meeting between man and master, just barely in time to save
the latter's life, had been fervent, but reserved. McTavish gave
himself up to the ministrations of the other like a child, and
obediently rode almost all the way to the fort on the sledge, his
eyes covered. Food there had been in plenty, so that, by the time
the snowy masses of Fort Severn showed themselves, he had regained
nearly all his strength.
But, while Peter Rainy was satisfying curious ears outside, a far
different scene was taking place in the factor's private office.
Donald, the covering removed from his eyes in the darkened room,
faced Angus Fitzpatrick across the latter's desk, and briefly told
the story of his adventures.
When he had finished the account, there was silence in the room
for a minute. Fitzpatrick scowled. Something about this young man,
even his presence itself, seemed to irritate him.
"Where is the man you went out to get, McTavish?" asked the factor.
"At Sturgeon Lake."
"He ought to be here in jail."
"I know it, sir. I did the best I could."
"The Hudson Bay Company doesn't take that for an excuse. It wants
the man. This is a hard country and a hard rule, but no other rule
will keep a respect for law in our territories. A shot, a
dagger-thrust, anything to punish Seguis for his crime, and this
ruffianly collection of free-traders would have disbanded,
leaderless."
"But," expostulated McTavish, "surely you do not counsel murder as
a punishment for murder."
"I counsel measures to fit needs. In this vast desolation, I am
the law; I represent the inevitable result of a cause, the inexorable,
never-failing punishment of a wrong. As my lieutenant, you also
represent it. Charley Seguis should either be dead or a prisoner
here."
Donald did not answer. Theoretically, the factor was right; according
to all the traditions of the Company, he spoke the truth. But he
had evidently forgotten that even the Company he worshiped was made
up of men, who were human and not omnipotent. Carried too far,
his premises were unjust, ridiculous, and untenable. But of what
good were arguments?
"Then, I have failed in my duty?" McTavish asked, wearily.
"Judge for yourself."
"What are your next orders for me?"
"A hundred dollars fine and a month's confinement in the fort here."
McTavish shrank back as though a blow had been aimed at him.
"You can't mean it, Mr. Fitzpatrick," he cried, passionately. "I
have earned no such disgrace. Command anything but that; send me
to the ends of the district; let me go back to Sturgeon Lake, and
throw my life away there, if you must have it; send me to the
loneliest trading-post in Keewatin, but don't disgrace me needlessly,
unjustly."
"I can only do what my conscience dictates," said the factor coldly.
"Well, all I can say is, that, if heaven has a conscience like
yours, God help you when you die, Mr. Fitzpatrick."
The factor touched a bell, and, an instant later Tee-ka-mee stepped
noiselessly into the room.
"Take Mr. McTavish to his room in the old barracks," Fitzpatrick
directed. "And, by the way, please ask Miss Jean to come here a
moment. I wish to speak with her."
At the innocent request, Tee-ka-mee almost fell to the floor with
terror.
"What's the matter with you, you demon?" growled the factor. "Have
you been drinking again?"
"No, no, no," cried the Indian, hastily. "I am afraid--I must tell
you--Miss Jean--Oh, what can I say?"
"In heaven's name, what's the matter? What's this about Miss Jean?"
shouted the factor.
"She is gone, sir, disappeared completely!" cried the frightened
Indian. "Her serving-woman has been searching for hours. She went
tobogganing out behind the fort at ten o'clock, with the missionary's
wife. Mrs. Gates came in at noon, but Miss Jean said she would
slide once or twice more, alone. She hasn't come in, and we can
find no trace of her."
"Why wasn't I told of this?" cried the factor, in a weak, pitiful
voice.
"We didn't want to alarm you unnecessarily, sir," Said Tee-ka-mee.
"Oh, get out of here! Leave me alone," groaned Fitzpatrick; and
the two men quietly went out, and closed the door on the old man's
grief.