Chapter III. A Skull And A Flirtation
It was late afternoon when they came into Lac Bain, and as soon asPhilip had turned over the colonel and his wife to Breed, he hurried tohis own cabin. At the door he encountered Buck Nome. The two men hadnot met since a month before at Nelson House, and "there was but littlecordiality in Steele to say howdy to 'em," explained Nome, pausing for amoment. "Deuce of a good joke on you, Steele! How do you like the jobof bringing in an old colonel's frozen wife, or a frozen colonel's oldwife, eh?"
Every fiber in Steele's body grew tense at the banter in the other'svoice. He whirled upon Nome, who had partly turned away.
"You remember--you lied down there at Nelson to get just such a 'job' asthis," he reminded. "Have you forgotten what happened--after that?"
"Don't get miffed about it, man," returned Nome with an irritatinglaugh. "All's fair in love and war. That was love down there, 'pon myword of honor it was, and this is about as near the other thing as Iwant to come."
There was something in his laugh that drew Steele's lips in a tight lineas he entered the cabin. It was not the first time that he had listenedto Nome's gloating chuckle at the mention of certain women. It was thismore than anything else that made him hate the man.
Physically, Nome was a magnificent specimen, beyond doubt the handsomestman in the service north of Winnipeg; so that while other men despisedhim for what they knew, women admired and loved him--until, now and thentoo late for their own salvation, they discovered that his moral codewas rotten to the core.
Such a thing had happened at Nelson House, and Philip felt himselfburning with a desire to choke the life out of Nome as he recalled thetragedy there. And what would happen--now? The thought came to him likea dash of cold water, and yet, after a moment, his teeth gleamed in asmile as a vision rose before him of the love and purity which he hadseen in the sweet face of the colonel's wife. He chuckled softly tohimself as he dragged out a pack from under his bunk; but there wasno humor in the chuckle. From it he took a bundle wrapped in softbirch-bark, and from this produced the skull that he had brought up withhim from the South. There was a tremble of excitement in his low laughas he glanced about the gloomy interior of the cabin.
From the log ceiling hung a big oil lamp with a tin reflector, and underthis he hung the skull.
"You'll make a pretty ornament, M'sieur Janette," he exclaimed, standingoff to contemplate the white thing leering and bobbing at him from theend of its string. "Mon Dieu, I tell you that when the lamp is lightedBucky Nome must be blind if he doesn't recognize you, even though you'redead, M'sieur!"
He lighted a smaller lamp, shaved himself, and changed his clothes. Itwas dark when he was ready for supper, and Nome had not returned. Hewaited a quarter of an hour longer, then put on his cap and coat andlighted the big oil lamp. At the door he turned to look back. Thecavernous sockets of the skull stared at him. From where he stood hecould see the ragged hole above the ear.
"It's your game to-night, M'sieur Janette," he cried back softly, andclosed the door behind him.
They were gathered before a huge fire of logs in the factor's bigliving-room when Philip joined the others. A glance told him why Nomehad not returned to the cabin. Breed and the colonel were smoking cigarsover a ragged ledger of stupendous size, which the factor had spreadout upon a small table, and both were deeply absorbed. Mrs. Becker wasfacing the fire, and close beside her sat Nome, leaning toward her andtalking in a voice so low that only a murmur of it came to Steele'sears. The man's face was flushed when he looked up, and his eyes shonewith the old fire which made Philip hate him.
As the woman turned to greet him Steele felt a suddenly sickeningsensation grip at his heart. Her cheeks, too, were flushed, and thecolor in them deepened still more when he bowed to her and joined thetwo men at the table. The colonel shook hands with him, and Philipnoticed that once or twice after that his eyes shifted uneasily in thedirection of the two before the fire, and that whenever the low laughterof Mrs. Becker and Nome came to them he paid less attention to thecolumns of figures which Breed was pointing out to him. When they roseto go into supper, Philip's blood boiled as Nome offered his arm to Mrs.Becker, who accepted it with a swift, laughing glance at the colonel.There was no response in the older man's pale face, and Philip's fingersdug hard into the palms of his hands. At the table Nome's attentions toMrs. Becker were even more marked. Once, under pretext of helping her toa dish, he whispered words which brought a deeper flush to her cheeks,and when she looked at the colonel his eyes were fixed upon her in sternreproof. It was abominable! Was Nome mad? Was the woman--
Steele did not finish the thought in his own mind. His eyes encounteredthose of the colonel's wife across the table. He saw a sudden, quickcatch of breath in her throat; even as he looked the flush faded fromher face, and she rose from her seat, her gaze still upon him.
"I--I am not feeling well," she said. "Will you please excuse me?"
In an instant Nome was at her side, but she turned quickly from him tothe colonel, who had risen from his chair.
"Please take me to my room," she begged. "Then--then you can come back."
Once more her face turned to Steele. There was a pallor in it now thatstartled him. For a few moments he stood alone, as Breed and Nome leftthe table. He listened, and heard the opening and closing of a seconddoor.
Then a footstep, and Nome reappeared.
"By Heaven, but she's a beauty!" he exclaimed. "I tell you, Steele--"
Something in his companion's eyes stopped him. Two red spots burned inSteele's cheeks as he advanced and gripped the other fiercely by thearm.
"Yes, she is pretty--very pretty," he said quietly, his fingers sinkingdeeper into Nome's arm. "Get your hat and coat, Nome. I want to see youin the cabin."
Behind them the door opened and closed again, and Steele shoved past hisassociate to meet Breed.
"Buck and I have a little matter to attend to over at the cabin," heexplained. "When they--when the colonel returns tell him we'll be overto smoke an after-supper pipe with him a little later, will you? Andgive our compliments to--her." With a half-sneer on his lips he rejoinedNome, who stared hard at him, and followed him through the outer door.
"Now, what the devil does this mean?" Nome demanded when they wereoutside. "If you have anything on your mind, Steele--"
"I have," interrupted Philip, "and I'm going to relieve myself of it.Pretty? She's as beautiful as an angel, Buck--the colonel's wife, Imean. And you--" He laughed harshly. "You're always the lucky dog, BuckNome. You think she's half in love with you now. Too bad she was takenill just at the psychological moment, as you might say, Buck. Wonderwhat was the matter?"
"Don't know," growled Nome, conscious of something in the other's voicewhich darkness concealed in his face.
"Of course, you don't," replied Steele.
"That's why I am bringing you over to the cabin. I am going to tell youjust what happened when Mrs. Becker was taken ill, and when she turneda trifle pale, if you noticed sharply. Buck. It's a good joke, a mightygood joke, and I know you will thoroughly appreciate it."
He drew a step back when they came near the cabin, and Nome enteredfirst. Very coolly Philip turned and bolted the door. Then, throwing offhis coat, he pointed to the white skull dangling under the lamp.
"Allow me to introduce an old friend of mine, Buck--M'sieur Janette, ofNelson House."
With a sudden curse Nome leaped toward his companion, his face flaming,his hands clenched to strike--only to look into the shining muzzle ofSteele's revolver, with Steele's cold gray eyes glittering dangerouslybehind it.
"Sit down, Nome--right there, under the man you killed!" he commanded."Sit down, or by the gods I'll blow your head off where you stand!There--and I'll sit here, like this, so that the cur's heart within youis a bull's-eye for this gun. It's M'sieur Janette's turn tonight,"he went on, leaning over the little table, the red spots in his cheeksgrowing redder and brighter as Nome cringed before his revolver."M'sieur Janette's--and the col
onel's; but mostly Janette's. Rememberthat, Nome. It's for Janette. I'm not thinking much about Mrs.Becker--just now."
Steele's breath came quickly and his lips were almost snarling in hishatred of the man before him.
"It's a lie!" gasped Nome chokingly, his face ashen white. "You lie whenyou say I killed--Janette."
The fingers of Steele's pistol hand twitched.
"How I'd like to kill you!" he breathed. "You won his wife, Nome; youbroke his heart--and after that he killed himself. You sent a reportinto headquarters that he killed himself by accident. You lied. Itwas you who killed him--by taking his wife. I got his skull because Ithought I might need it against you to show that it was a pistol insteadof a rifle that killed him. And this isn't the first man you've sent tohell, Nome, and is isn't the first woman. But your next won't be Mrs.Becker!"
He thrust his revolver almost into the other man's face as Nome openedhis lips to speak.
"Shut up!" he cried. "If you open your dirty mouth again I'll be temptedto kill you where you sit! Don't you know what happened to-night? Don'tyou know that Mrs. Becker forgot herself, and remembered again, just intime, and that you've taken a little blood from the colonel's heart asyou took all of it from--his?" He reached up and broke the string thatheld the skull, turning the empty face of the thing toward Nome. "Lookat it, you scoundrel! That's the man you killed, as you would kill thecolonel if you could. That's Janette!"
His voice fell to a hissing whisper as he shoved the skull slowly acrossthe table, so close that a sudden movement would have sent it againstthe other's breast.
"We've been fixing this thing up between us, Bucky--M'sieur Janette andI," he went on, "and we've come to the conclusion that we won't killyou, but that you don't belong to the service. Understand?"
"You mean--to drive me out--" One of Nome's hands had stolen to hisside, and Steele's pistol arm grew tense.
"On the table with your hands, Bucky! There, that's better," he laughedsoftly.
"Yes, we're going to drive you out. You're going to pack up a few thingsright away, Bucky, and you're going to run like the devil away from thisplace. I'd advise you to go straight back to headquarters and resignfrom the Northwest Mounted. MacGregor knows you pretty well, Bucky, andknows one or two things you've done, even though your whole record isnot an open book to him. I don't believe he'll put any obstacles inthe way of your discharge although your enlistment hasn't expired.Disability is an easy plea, you know. But if the inspector should thinkso much of you that he is loath to let you go, then M'sieur Janetteand I will have to fix up the story for headquarters, and I don't mindtelling you we'll add just a little for interest, and that the woman andthe people at Nelson House will swear to it. You've the making of a goodoutlaw, Bucky," he smiled tauntingly, "and if you follow your naturalbent you'll have some of your old friends after you, good and hard.You'd better steer clear of that though, and try your hand at beinghonest for once. M'sieur Janette wants to give you this chance, andyou'd better make good time. So get a move on, Bucky. You'll need ablanket and a little grub, that's all."
"Steele, you don't mean this! Good God, man--" Nome had half risen tohis feet. "You don't mean this!"
With his free hand Philip took out his watch.
"I mean that if you are not gone within fifteen minutes I'll march youover to Breed and the colonel, tell them the story of M'sieur Janette,here, and hold you until we hear from headquarters," he said quickly."Which will it be, Nome?"
Like one stunned by a blow Nome rose slowly to his feet. He spoke noword as he carefully filled his pack with the necessities of a longjourney. At the door, as he opened it to go, he turned for just aninstant upon Steele, who was still holding the revolver in his hand.
"Remember, Bucky," admonished Philip in a quiet voice, "it's all for thegood of yourself and the service."
Fear had gone from Nome's face. It was filled now with a hatred sointense that his teeth shone like the fangs of a snarling animal.
"To hell with you," he said, "and to hell with the service; butremember, Philip Steele, remember that some day we'll meet again."
"Some day," laughed Philip. "Good-by, Bucky Nome--deserter!"
The door closed and Nome was gone.
"Now, M'sieur Janette, it's our turn," cried Steele, smilingcompanionably upon the skull and loading his pipe. "It's our turn."
He laughed aloud, and for some time puffed out luxurious clouds of smokein silence.
"It's the best day's work I've done in my life," he continued, with hiseyes still upon the skull. "The very best, and it would be complete,M'sieur, if I could send you down to the woman who helped to kill you."
He stopped, and his eyes leaped with a sudden fire. "By George!" heexclaimed, under his breath. His pipe went out; for many minutes hestared with set face at the skull, as if it had spoken to him and itsvoice had transfixed him where he stood. Then he tossed his pipe uponthe table, collected his service equipment and strapped it in his pack.After that he returned to the table with a pad of paper and a penciland sat down. His face was strangely white as he took the skull in hishands.
"I'll do it, so help me all the gods, I'll do it!" he breathedexcitedly. "M'sieur, a woman killed you---as much as Bucky Nome, a womandid it. You couldn't do her any good--but you might--another. I'm goingto send you to her, M'sieur. You're a terrible lesson, and I may be abeast; but you're preaching a powerful sermon, and I guess--perhaps--youmay do her good. I'll tell her your story, old man, and the story of thewoman who made you so nice and white and clean. Perhaps she'll see themoral, M'sieur. Eh? Perhaps!"
For a long time he wrote, and when he had done he sealed the writing,put the envelope and the skull together in a box, and tied the wholewith babiche string. On the outside he fastened another note to Breed,the factor, in which he explained that he and Bucky Nome had foundit necessary to leave that very night for the West. And he heavilyunderscored the lines in which he directed the factor to see that thebox was delivered to Mrs. Colonel Becker, and that, as he valued thehonor and the friendship of the service, and especially of PhilipSteele, all knowledge of it should be kept from the colonel himself.
It was eight o'clock when he went out into the night with his pack uponhis back. He grunted approval when he found it was snowing, for thetrack of himself and Nome would be covered. Through the thickening gloomthe two or three lights in the factor's home gleamed like distant stars.One of them was brighter than the others, and he knew that it came fromthe rooms which Breed had fitted up for the colonel and his wife. AsPhilip halted for a moment, his eyes drawn by a haunting fascination tothat window, the light grew clearer and brighter, and he fancied that hesaw a face looking out into the night--toward his cabin. A moment laterhe knew that it was the woman's face. Then a door opened, and a figurehurried across the open. He stepped back into the gloom of his own cabinand waited. It was the colonel. Three times he knocked loudly at thecabin door.
"I'd like to go out and shake his hand," muttered Steele. "I'd like totell him that he isn't the only man who's had an idol broken, and thatMrs. B.'s little flirtation isn't a circumstance--to what might havehappened."
Instead, he moved silently away, and turned his face into the thin trailthat buried itself in the black forests of the West.