AN INTERVENTION OF FATE
"Form one of our party?" I echoed, believing I must have misunderstood
her words. "Surely, Mademoiselle, you cannot mean that you take your
promise to the half-breed so seriously as voluntarily to remain in
captivity?"
"Yes, but I do, Monsieur!" and the tone in which she said it was firm
with decision. "The Indian asked my pledge in all solemnity, and has
gone away trusting to it. My conscience could never again be clear did
I prove false in such a matter. You also made a pledge, even before
mine was given; was it not your purpose to abide by it?"
"No," I answered, a bit shortly. "I merely agreed to his proposition
at your expressed desire that I should, and because I believed you
had framed some plan of escape. Have you such small respect for me,
Mademoiselle, as to think I could consent to leave you here alone and
at the mercy of these red fiends? Have I risked my life in coming here
for no other end than this?"
I felt her reach her arm across the pile of skins lying between us, and
grasp my hand within her own.
"But, dear friend, you must!" she said, pleadingly, her softly
modulated voice dwelling upon the words as if they came hard. "Truly
you must, John Wayland, and for my sake as well as your own. I am
comparatively safe here,--safe at least from actual physical harm, so
long as the savages dream that the sparing of my life will yield them
profit. You have no right to remain in such peril as surrounds you
here, when by so doing you benefit no one. You have father and mother
awaiting in prayer your safe return to them yonder on the Maumee;
while I,--I have no one even to ask how sad my fate may be. Think you
that because I am a girl I must therefore be all selfishness? or that
I would ever permit you thus to sacrifice yourself unnecessarily for
me? No, no, Monsieur! I will remain prisoner to Little Sauk, for my
sacred word has been pledged; and you must go, because there are others
to whom your life is of value. Nor need you go empty-handed, for the
one you have sought so far and long seems now ready enough to travel
eastward with you."
Scarcely had her voice ceased, leaving me struggling to find fit words
to change her mad decision, when a rough hand flung back the entrance
flap, and the naked body of an Indian, framed for a single instant
against the light, lurched heavily through the opening. Even that brief
glimpse told me the man had been drinking to excess; while for the
moment, as I huddled down closer behind my robes, I was unable to make
out his identity.
"Where white woman?" he ejaculated gruffly, as he paused, blinded by
the darkness. "Why she not come help me?"
His quick ear evidently caught the slight rustle of the girl's skirt
as she rose hastily to her feet, for with a muttered Indian oath the
savage lurched forward. I could scarcely make out the dimmest shadow of
them in the dense gloom, yet I seemed to know that he had grasped her
roughly, though not the slightest sound of fear or pain came from her
lips.
"Ugh! better come!" he muttered, a veiled savage threat growling in his
tone. "You my squaw; cook in my lodge; get meal now."
"But where? and how?" she asked, her voice trembling perceptibly, yet
striving to placate him by a seeming willingness to obey. "I have
nothing here to cook, nor have I fire."
"Indian squaw no talk back!" he retorted angrily. "This way I show
white squaw to mind chief!"
I heard plainly the brutal blow he struck her, though even as she
reeled back she managed to stifle the scream upon her lips, so that it
was barely audible. With one bound I was over the barrier of robes and
clutching with tingling fingers for the brute. I touched his feathered
head-dress at last, and he must have supposed me his helpless victim,
for with a grunt of satisfaction he struck once again, the blow meeting
my shoulder, where he judged in the dark her face would be.
"White squaw mind now--"
I had him gripped by the throat before he ended, and we went down
together for a death-struggle in the darkness, from which each realized
in an instant both could never rise again. My furious grip sobered him,
and he made desperate efforts to break free, struggling vainly to utter
some cry for rescue. Once I felt him groping at his waist for a knife;
but I got first clasp upon its hilt, though I twisted helplessly for
some minutes before I could loosen his hold at my wrist so as to strike
him with the blade. His teeth closed upon my hand, biting deep into
the flesh like a wild-cat, and the sharp sting of it yielded me the
desperate strength I needed to wrench my hand free, and with one quick
blow the knife I clutched cut deep into his side, so that I could feel
the hot blood spurt forth over my hand. I held him in a death grip, for
I knew a single cry meant ruin to all our plans, until the last breath
sped, and I knew I lay prostrate above a corpse. It had been so swift
and fierce a contest that I staggered half-dazed to my feet, peering
about me as if expecting another attack. I was steadied somewhat by the
sound of a low sob from the darkness.
"'Tis well over with, Toinette," I murmured hastily, my voice trembling
from the strain that still shook me.
"Oh, John! John Wayland! And you are truly unhurt of the struggle?" It
was scarcely her voice speaking, so agitated was it. "Have you killed
him?"
"Yes," I answered, finding my way cautiously toward her, and speaking
in whispers. "I had no other choice. It was either his life or yours
and mine. Knew you the savage?"
"It was Little Sauk," she replied, clinging to me, and growing somewhat
calmer from my presence. "Oh, what can we do now?"
"There remains but one thing, and that is to accept the chance that
Providence has given us. There remains no longer a shadow of excuse
for your staying here, even by your own reasoning. You are no longer
prisoner to Little Sauk. Your pledge has been dissolved by Fate,
and it must be God's will that you go forth with me. What say you,
Mademoiselle?" And I crushed her hands in mine.
I could feel her slight form tremble as I waited her reply, and
believed she peered across my shoulder through the darkness, imagining
she saw the dead Indian's form lying there.
"Do you truly wish it?" she questioned at last, as though warring with
herself. "Think you she would greatly care?"
'Tis a strangely perverse thing, the human mind. As there dimly dawned
upon me a conception of her meaning,--a knowledge that this seemingly
heart-free girl cared enough for me to exhibit such jealousy of
another,--I would not undeceive her by a word of explanation.
"I certainly do wish it," was my grave answer, "nor does it greatly
matter what the desire of any other may be. This is not an invitation
to a ball, Mademoiselle. I beg you answer me; will you go?"
She looked toward me, wondering at my words.
"Yes," she said simply. "Has the time come?"
"I have no certain means of knowing; but it cannot be far from the
hour, and we shall be much safer without."
I took the Indian's knife with me, wiping the long blade upon the pile
of skins, and placing it convenient to my hand within the bosom of my
hunting-shirt. It was dark enough back of the lodge away from the glare
of the fires, and we rested there well within the shadow, for some
time, while I scanned the surroundings and planned as best I might our
future movements.
"Was it from dread of venturing once more upon the water that you held
back so long?" I asked her, seeking rudely to delve into the secret of
her reserve.
"Have you ever found me of cowardly heart, Monsieur?" she questioned in
return, parrying with quick skill, "that you should think any bodily
terror could hold me back? If I had reasons other than those already
given, they were worthy ones."
"You are not afraid of the perils before us?"
"No," she answered; "my heart beats fast, but 'tis not from fear."
Only a few scattered lodges had been raised to the eastward of where
we were, nor did these show any signs of life. We crept forward with
painful slowness, partially hiding our movements by following a
shallow, curving gully, until we had gained the extreme limits of the
encampment, where we crawled out into the gloom of the surrounding
prairie. Not until then did either of us venture to stand erect, or
advance with any degree of freedom.
Directly ahead of us there was nothing by which I could safely guide
our course. The flat sameness of the plain offered no landmarks, while
the night sky was so thickly overcast as to leave no stars visible.
Nor was there light of any kind, save that of the fires in the camp we
had just left. I hesitated to risk the open prairie thus unaided, lest
we should wander astray and lose much valuable time; so, although it
measurably increased our peril of encountering parties of savages,
I turned sharply northward, keeping the bright Indian fires upon our
left, and groping forward through the gloom toward where I knew the
main branch of the river must lie. It was neither the time nor place
for speech. I held her hand closely while we moved onward silently,
carefully guarding each step lest by mischance it should bring
betrayal. Once, after we had reached the river and were moving eastward
again, a party of Indians passed us, coming so silently out of the
black void, in their soft moccasins, that I had barely time to hold her
motionless before they were fairly upon us. I counted nine of them,
moving rapidly in single file, like so many black ghosts. We waited
with wildly throbbing hearts, listening for fear others might follow in
their trail.
We were almost beside the walls of the factory building before
either of us was aware of its proximity. Even then, as I lay prone
on the earth and studied its dim outlines, they possessed nothing
of familiarity, for the high-pitched roof had fallen in and carried
with it the greater portion of the upper walls, leaving a mere shell,
shapeless and empty. I rested there, gazing at it, and wondering how
best we might proceed to find our way beneath where the boat was to
be moored, when I felt Mademoiselle's fingers press my arm warningly.
Scarcely a yard away, on a ridge of higher ground, two dim figures came
to a sudden pause.
"I perceive naught of the presence of your friends as yet, Monsieur,"
spoke a soft voice, "but I will remain until certain of the outcome."
"Then your decision is unchanged?" asked the other, in deeper accent,
full of earnest pleading. "All is to be over between us from this hour?
And you deliberately choose to devote your life to the redemption of
these savages?"
"We have discussed all this at length, Monsieur le Marquis, as we came
along, and, as you fully know, my choice is made beyond recall. I am
here to serve you to-night, because it seems to be a duty given unto
me by some strange Providence; and I have relied upon your courtesy
to make it as little unpleasant as possible. I pray you, beseech me
no more. The girl I once was lives no longer; the woman I now am has
been given a special mission by God, too sacred to be cast aside for
aught that earth has to offer her of happiness. We part in kindness,
Monsieur,--in friendship even; but that which was once between us may
never be again."
There was no answer; even the reckless audacity of a courtier was
silenced by that calm final dismissal. It was Mademoiselle who spoke in
swift whisper, her lips at my ear.
"Speak! who is she?"
"The woman of whom you have heard so often,--the missionary in the
Indian camp."
"Yes, I know," impatiently; "but I mean her name?"
"She calls herself Sister Celeste; I have indeed heard mention of
another, but it abides not in my memory."
"You deceive me, Monsieur; yet I know, and will speak with her," was
the quick decision. "Mother of God! 'tis a voice too dear ever to be
forgotten."
She was beside them with a step, seeming no doubt a most fair vision to
be born so instantly of the night-shadows.
"Marie Faneuf!" she exclaimed, eagerly. "I know not by what strange
fortune I meet you here, but surely you will not refuse greeting to an
old friend?"
The girl drew hastily back a step, as if her first thought was flight;
but ere such end could be accomplished, Mademoiselle had clasped her
arm impetuously.
"Marie!" she pleaded, "can it be possible you would flee from me?"
"Nay," returned the other, her voice trembling painfully, as she
struggled to restrain herself. "It is not that. Dear, dear friend! I
knew you were among the few saved from Dearborn. The American hunter
told me, and ever since have I tried to avoid you in the camp. 'Twas
not for lack of the old love, yet I feared to meet you. Much has
occurred of late to make the keeping of my vow most difficult. I have
been weak, and grievously tempted; and I felt scarce strong enough,
even though protected by prayers, to withstand also my deep love for
you."
Their voices insensibly merged into French, each speaking so rapidly
and low that I could get little meaning of it. Then I noted De Croix,
half lying upon the ground, his head hidden within his hands. With
sudden remembrance of the work before us, I touched his shoulder.
"Come below, Monsieur, and help me search for the boat," I said,
kindly, for I was truly touched by his grief. "It will help clear your
mind to have some labor to accomplish."
"I dare not, Wayland!" he answered hoarsely, and the face he uplifted
toward me was strangely white and drawn. "I must stay with her; I dare
not leave her again alone, lest she escape me once more. She is mine,
truly mine by every law of the Church,--my wife, I tell you, and I
would die here in the wilderness rather than permit her longer to doom
herself to such a fate as this."
His words and manner were so wild they startled me. Surely, in his
present frame of mind he would prove useless on such a mission as that
before us.
"Then remain here, Monsieur!" I said, "and do your best to win her
consent to accompany us. No doubt Mademoiselle will aid you all that is
in her power."