CHAPTER XVIII
Following this day Peter was observant of a strange excitement inthe cabin on the Burntwood. It was not so much a thing of physicalhappening, but more the mysterious FEEL of something impending and verynear. The day following their arrival in the Pashkokogon country hismaster seemed to have forgotten him entirely. It was Nada who noticedhim, but even she was different; and Father John went about, overseeingtwo Indians whom he kept very busy, his pale, thin face luminous with ananticipation which roused Peter's curiosity, and kept him watchful. Hewas puzzled, too, by the odd actions of the humans about him. The secondmorning Nada remained in her room, and Jolly Roger wandered off into thewoods without his breakfast, and Father John ate alone, smilinggently as he looked at the tightly closed door of Nada's bedroom. EvenOosimisk, the Leaf Bud, the sleek-haired Indian woman who cared for thehouse, was nervously expectant as she watched for Nada, and Mistoos,her husband, grunted and grimaced as he carried in from the edge of theforest many loads of soft evergreens on his shoulders.
Into the forest Jolly Roger went alone, puffing furiously at his pipe.He was all a-tremble and his blood seemed to quiver and dance as it ranthrough his veins. Since the first rose-flush of dawn he had been awake,fighting against this upsetting of every nerve that was in him.
He felt pitiably weak and helpless. But it was the weakness andhelplessness of a happiness too vast for him to measure. It was Nada inher ragged shoes and dress, with the haunting torture of Jed Hawkins'brutality in her eyes and face, that he had expected to find, if hefound her at all; someone to fight for, and kill for if necessary,someone his muscle and brawn would always protect against evil. He hadnot dreamed that in these many months with Father John she would changefrom "a little kid goin' on eighteen" into--A WOMAN.
He tried to recall just what he had said to her last night--that he wasstill an outlaw, and would always be, no matter how well he lived fromthis day on; and that she, now that she had Father John's protection,was very foolish to care for him, or keep her troth with him, and wouldbe happier if she could forget what had happened at Cragg's Ridge.
"You're a WOMAN now," he said. "A WOMAN--" he had emphasized that--"andyou don't need me any more."
And she had looked at him, without speaking, as if reading what wasinside him; and then, with a sudden little laugh, she swiftly pulled herhair down about her shoulders, and repeated the very words she had saidto him a long time ago--"Without you--I'd want to die--Mister--JollyRoger," and with that she turned and ran into the cabin, her hair flyingriotously, and he had not seen her again since that moment.
Since then his heart had behaved like a thing with the fever, and itwas beating swiftly now as he looked at his watch and noted the quickpassing of time.
Back in the cabin Peter was sniffing at the crack under Nada's door,and listening to her movement. For a long time he had heard her, but notonce had she opened the door. And he wondered, after that, why Oosimiskand her husband and Father John piled evergreens all about, until thecabin looked like the little jackpine trysting-place down at Cragg'sRidge, even to the soft carpet of grass on the floor, and flowersscattered all about.
Hopeless of understanding what it meant, he went outside, and waited inthe warm May-day sun until his master came back through the clearing.What happened after that puzzled him greatly. When he followed JollyRoger into the cabin Mistoos and the Leaf Bud were seated in chairs,their hands folded, and Father John stood behind a small table on whichlay an open book, and he was looking at his watch when they came in. Henodded, and smiled, and very clearly Peter saw his master gulp, as ifswallowing something that was in his throat. And the ruddiness had gonecompletely out of his smooth-shaven cheeks. It was the first timePeter had seen his master so clearly afraid, and from his burrow in theevergreens he growled under his breath, eyeing the open door with suddenthought of an enemy.
And then Father John was tapping at Nada's door.
He went back to the table and waited, and as the knob of the door turnedvery slowly Jolly Roger swallowed again, and took a step toward it. Itopened, and Nada stood there. And Jolly Roger gave a little cry, so lowthat Peter could just hear it, as he held out his hands to her.
For Nada was no longer the Nada who had come to him in Father John'sclearing. She was the Nada of Cragg's Ridge, the Nada of that wild nightof storm when he had fled into the north. Her hair fell about her, as inthe old days when Peter and she had played together among the rocks andflowers, and her wedding dress was faded and torn, for it was the dressshe had worn that night of despair when she sent her message to Peter'smaster, and on her little feet were shoes broken and disfigured by herflight in those last hours of her mighty effort to go with the manshe loved. In Father John's eyes, as she stood there, was a greatastonishment; but in Jolly Roger's there came such a joy that, in answerto it, Nada went straight into his arms and held up her lips to bekissed.
Her cheeks were very pink when she stood beside McKay, with Father Johnbefore them, the open book in his hands; and then, as her long lashesdrooped over her eyes, and her breath came a little more quickly, shesaw Peter staring at her questioningly, and made a little motion tohim with her hand. He went to her, and her fingers touched his head asFather John began speaking. Peter looked up, and listened, and wasvery quiet in these moments. Jolly Roger was staring straight at thebalsam-decked wall opposite him, but there was something mighty strongand proud in the way he held his head, and the fear had gone completelyout of his eyes. And Nada stood very close to him, so that her brownhead lightly touched his shoulder and he could see the silken shimmer ofloose tresses which with sweet intent she had let fall over his arm. Andher little fingers clung tightly to his thumb, as on that blessed nightwhen they had walked together across the plain below Cragg's Ridge, withthe moon lighting their way.
Peter, in his dog way, fell a-wondering as he stood there, but kept hismanners and remained still. When it was all over he felt a desire toshow his teeth and growl, for when Father John had kissed Nada, and wasshaking Jolly Roger's hand, he saw his mistress crying in that strange,silent way he had so often seen her crying in his puppyhood days. Onlynow her blue eyes were wide open as she looked at Jolly Roger, and hercheeks were flushed to the pink of wild rose petals, and her lips weretrembling a little, and there was a tiny something pulsing in her softwhite throat. And all at once there came a smile with the tears, andJolly Roger--turning from Father John to find her thus--gathered herclose in his arms, and Peter wagged his tail and went out into thesun-filled day, where he heard a red squirrel challenging him from astub in the edge of the clearing.
A little later he saw Nada and his master come out of the cabin, andwalk hand in hand across the open into the sweet-smelling timber whereFather John had been chopping with his axe.
On a fresh-cut log Nada sat down, and McKay sat beside her, stillholding her hand. Not once had he spoken in crossing the open, and itseemed as though little devils were holding his lips closed now.
With her eyes looking down at the greening earth under their feet, Nadasaid, very softly,
"Mister--Jolly Roger--are you glad?"
"Yes," he said.
"Glad that I am--your wife?"
The word drew a great, sobbing breath from him, and looking up suddenlyshe saw that he was staring over the balsam-tops into the wonderful blueof the sky.
"Your WIFE," she whispered, touching his shoulder gently with her lips.
"Yes, I'm glad," he said. "So glad that I'm--afraid."
"Then--if you are glad--please kiss me again."
He stood up, and drew her to him, and held her face between his hands ashe kissed her red lips; and after that he kissed her shining hair againand again, and when he let her go her eyes were a glory of happiness.
"And you will never run away from me again?" she demanded, holding himat arm's length. "Never?"
"Never!"
"Then--I want nothing more in this life," she said, nestling against himagain. "Only you, for ever and ever."
Joll
y Roger made no answer, but held her a long time in his arms, withthe soft beating of her heart against him, and listened to the twitterand song of nesting and mating things about them. In this silence shelay content, until Peter--growing restless--started quietly into thegolden depths of the forest.
It was Pied-Bot's going, cautious and soft-footed, as if danger andmenace might lurk just ahead of him, that brought another look intoMcKay's eyes as Nada's hand crept to his cheek, and rested there.
"You love me--very much?"
"More than life," he answered, and as he spoke he was watching Peter,questing the soft wind that came whispering from the south.
Her finger touched his lips, gentle and sweet.
"And wherever you go, I go--forever and always?" she questioned.
"Yes, forever and always"--and his eyes were looking through miles uponmiles of deep forest, and at the end he saw the thin and pitiless faceof a man who was following his trail, Breault the Ferret.
His arms closed more tightly about her, and he pressed her face againsthim.
"And I pray God you will never be sorry," he said, still looking throughthe miles of forest.
"No, no--sorry I shall never be," she cried softly. "Not if we fly, andgo hungry, and fight--and die. Never shall I be sorry--with you," and hefelt the tightening of her arms.
And then, as he remained silent, with his lips on the velvety smoothnessof her hair, she told him what Father John had already told him--of herwild effort to overtake him in that night of storm when he had fledfrom the Missioner's cabin at Cragg's Ridge; and in turn he told her howPeter came to him in the break of the morning with the treasure whichhad saved him heart and soul, and how he had given that treasure intothe keeping of Yellow Bird, on the shores of Wollaston.
And thereafter, for an hour, as they wandered through the May-timesweetness of the forest, she would permit him to talk of only YellowBird and Sun Cloud; and, one thing leading to another, she learned howit was that Yellow Bird had been his fairy in childhood days, and howhe came to be an outlaw for her in later manhood. Her eyes were shiningwhen he had finished, and her red lips were a-tremble with the quicknessof her breathing.
"Some day--you'll take me there," she whispered. "Oh, I'm so proud ofyou, my Roger. And I love Yellow Bird. And Sun Cloud. Some day--we'llgo!"
He nodded, happiness overshadowing the fear of Breault that had grown inhis heart.
"Yes, we'll go. I've dreamed it, and the dream helped to keep mealive--"
And then he told her of Cassidy, and of the paradise he had found withGiselle and her grandfather on the other side of Wollaston.
And so it happened the hours passed swiftly, and it was afternoon whenthey returned to Father John's cabin, and Nada went into her room.
In the early waning of the sun the feast which the Leaf Bud had beenpreparing was ready, and not until then did Nada appear again.
And once more the lump rose up in Roger's throat at the wonder of her,for very completely she had transformed herself into a woman again,from the softly shining coils of hair on the crown of her head to thecoquettish little slippers that set off her dainty feet. And he saw thewhite gleam of soft shoulders and tender arms where once had been ragsand bruises, and held there by the slim beauty and exquisite daintinessof her he stared like a fool, until suddenly she laughed joyously athis amaze, and ran to him with wide-open arms, and kissed him so soundlythat Peter cocked up his ears a bit startled. And then she kissed FatherJohn, and after that was mistress at the table, radiant in her triumphand her eyes starry with happiness.
And she was no longer shy in speaking his name, but called himRoger boldly and many times, and twice during that meal of marvelousforgetfulness--though long lashes covered her eyes when she spokeit--she called him 'my husband.'
In truth she was a woman and for the most part Roger McKay--fighting manand very strong though he was--looked at her in dumb worship, speakinglittle, his heart a-throb, and his brain reeling in the marvel of whatat last had come into his possession.
And yet, even in this hour of supreme happiness that held him half mute,there was always lurking in the back of his brain a thought of Breault,the Ferret.