CHAPTER XIII
"Kogmollocks--the blackest-hearted little devils alive when it comes totrading wives and fighting," said Philip, a little ashamed of thesuddenness with which he had jumped back from the window. "Excuse myabruptness, dear. But I'd recognize that death-thing on the other sideof the earth. I've seen them throw it like an arrow for a hundredyards--and I have a notion they're watching that window!"
At sight of the dead wolf and the protruding javelin Celie's face hadgone as white as ash. Snatching up one of the pictures from the table,she thrust it into Philip's hand. It was one of the fighting pictures.
"So it's YOU?" he said, smiling at her and trying to keep the trembleof excitement out of his voice. "It's you they want, eh? And they mustwant you bad. I've never heard of those little devils coming within ahundred miles of this far south. They MUST want you bad. Now--I wonderWHY?" His voice was calm again. It thrilled him to see how utterly shewas judging the situation by the movement of his lips and the sound ofhis voice. With him unafraid she would be unafraid. He judged thatquickly. Her eyes bared her faith in him, and suddenly he reached outand took her face between his two hands, and laughed softly, while eachinstant he feared the smash of a javelin through the window. "I like tosee that look in your eyes," he went on. "And I'm almost glad you can'tunderstand me, for I couldn't lie to you worth a cent. I understandthose pictures now--and I think we're in a hell of a fix. The Eskimoshave followed you and Bram down from the north, and I'm laying a wagerwith myself that Bram won't return from the caribou hunt. If they wereNunatalmutes or any other tribe I wouldn't be so sure. But they'reKogmollocks. They're worse than the little brown head-hunters of thePhilippines when it comes to ambush, and if Bram hasn't got a spearthrough him this minute I'll never guess again!" He withdrew his handsfrom her face, still smiling at her as he talked. The color wasreturning into her face. Suddenly she made a movement as if to approachthe window. He detained her, and in the same moment there came a fierceand snarling outcry from the wolves in the corral. Making Celieunderstand that she was to remain where he almost forcibly placed hernear the table, Philip went again to the window. The pack had gatheredclose to the gate and two or three of the wolves were leaping excitedlyagainst the sapling bars of their prison. Between the cabin and thegate a second body lay in the snow. Philip's mind leapt to a swiftconclusion. The Eskimos had ambushed Bram, and they believed that onlythe girl was in the cabin. Intuitively he guessed how the superstitiouslittle brown men of the north feared the madman's wolves. One by onethey were picking them off with their javelins from outside the corral.
As he looked a head and pair of shoulders rose suddenly above the topof the sapling barrier, an arm shot out and he caught the swift gleamof a javelin as it buried itself in the thick of the pack. In a flashthe head and shoulders of the javelin-thrower had disappeared, and inthat same moment Philip heard a low cry behind him. Celie had returnedto the window. She had seen what he had seen, and her breath camesuddenly in a swift and sobbing excitement. In amazement he saw thatshe was no longer pale. A vivid flush had gathered in each of hercheeks and her eyes blazed with a dark fire. One of her hands caughthis arm and her fingers pinched his flesh. He stared dumbly for amoment at the strange transformation in her. He almost believed thatshe wanted to fight--that she was ready to rush out shoulder toshoulder with him against their enemies. Scarcely had the cry fallenfrom her lips when she turned and ran swiftly into her room. It seemedto Philip that she was not gone ten seconds. When she returned shethrust into his hand a revolver.
It was a toy affair. The weight and size of the weapon told him thatbefore he broke it and looked at the caliber. It was a "stocking" gunas they called those things in the service, fully loaded with .22caliber shots and good for a possible partridge at fifteen or twentypaces. Under other conditions it would have furnished him withconsiderable amusement. But the present was not yesterday or the daybefore. It was a moment of grim necessity--and the tiny weapon gave himthe satisfaction of knowing that he was not entirely helpless againstthe javelins. It would shoot as far as the stockade, and it mighttopple a man over if he hit him just right. Anyway, it would make anoise.
A noise! The grin that had come into his face died out suddenly as helooked at Celie. He wondered if to her had come the thought that nowflashed upon him--if it was that thought that had made her place therevolver in his hand. The blaze of excitement in her wonderful eyesalmost told him that it was. With Bram gone, the Eskimos believed shewas alone and at their mercy as soon as the wolves were out of the way.Two or three shots from the revolver--and Philip's appearance in thecorral--would shake their confidence. It would at least warn them thatCelie was not alone, and that her protector was armed. For that reasonPhilip thanked the Lord that a "stocking" gun had a bark like theexplosion of a toy cannon even if its bite was like that of an insect.
Cautiously he took another look at Bram's wolves. The last javelin hadtransfixed another of their number and the animal was dragging itselftoward the center of the corral. The remaining seven were a dozen yardson the other side of the gate now, leaping and snarling at thestockade, and he knew that the next attack would come from there. Hesprang to the door. Celie was only a step behind him as he ran out, andwas close at his side when he peered around the end of the cabin.
"They must not see you," he made her understand. "It won't do any goodand when they see another man they may possibly get the idea in theirheads that you're not here. There can't be many of them or they'd makequicker work of the wolves. I should say not more than--"
"Se! Se!"
The warning came in a low cry from Celie's lips. A dark head wasappearing slowly above the top of the stockade, and Philip dartedsuddenly out into the open. The Eskimo did not see him, and Philipwaited until he was on the point of hurling his javelin before he madea sound. Then he gave a roar that almost split his throat. In the sameinstant he began firing. The crack of his pistol and the ferociousoutcry he made sent the Eskimo off the stockade like a ball hit by aclub. The pack, maddened by their inability to reach their enemies,turned like a flash. Warned by one experience, Philip hustled Celieinto the cabin. They were scarcely over the threshold when the wolveswere at the door.
"We're sure up against a nice bunch," he laughed, standing for a momentwith his arm still about Celie's waist. "A regular hell of a bunch,little girl! Now if those wolves only had sense enough to know thatwe're a little brother and sister to Bram, we'd be able to put up afight that would be some circus. Did you see that fellow topple off thefence? Don't believe I hit him. At least I hope I didn't. If they everfind out the size of this pea-shooter's sting they'll sit up there likea row of crows and laugh at us. But--what a bully NOISE it made!"
He was blissfully unmindful of danger as he held her in the crook ofhis arm, looking straight into her lovely face as he talked. It was amoment of splendid hypocrisy. He knew that in her excitement and thetremendous effort she was making to understand something of what he wassaying that she was unconscious of his embrace. That, and the joyousthrill of the situation, sent the hot blood into his face.
"I'm dangerously near to going the limit," he told her, speaking with aseriousness that would impress her. "I'd fight twenty of those littledevils single-handed to know just how you'd take it, and I'd fightanother dozen to know who that fellow is in the picture. I'm temptedright now to hug you up close, and kiss you, and let you know how Ifeel. I'd like to do that--before--anything happens. But would youunderstand? That's it--would you understand that I love every inch ofyou from the ground up or would you think I was just beast? That's whatI'm afraid of. But I'd like to let you know before I have to put up thebig fight for you. And it's coming--if they've got Bram. They'll breakdown the gate to-night, or burn it, and with the wolves out of the waythey'll rush the cabin. And then--"
Slowly he drew his arm from her, and something of the reaction of histhoughts must have betrayed itself in the look that came into his face.
"I guess I've already pulled off a rotten deal on the othe
r fellow," hesaid, turning to the window. "That is, if you belong to him. And if youdidn't why would you stand there with your arms about his neck and hehugging you up like that!"
A few minutes before he had crumpled the picture in his hand anddropped it on the floor. He picked it up now and mechanically smoothedit out as he made his observation, through the window. The pack hadreturned to the stockade. By the aimless manner in which they hadscattered he concluded that for the time at least their mysteriousenemies had drawn away from the corral.
Celie had not moved. She was watching him earnestly. It seemed to him,as he went to her with the picture, that a new and anxious questioninghad come into her eyes. It was as if she had discovered something inhim which she had not observed before, something which she was tryingto analyze even as he approached her. He felt for the first time asense of embarrassment. Was it possible that she had comprehended someword or thought of what he had expressed to her? He could not believeit And yet, a woman's intuition--
He held out the picture. Celie took it and for a space looked at itsteadily without raising her eyes to meet his. When she did look at himthe blue in her eyes was so wonderful and deep and the soul that lookedout of them was so clear to his own vision that the shame of thatmoment's hypocrisy when he had stood with his arm about her submergedhim completely. If she had not understood him she at least HAD GUESSED.
"Min fader," she said quietly, with the tip of her little forefinger onthe man in the picture. "Min fader."
For a moment he thought she had spoken in English.
"Your--your father?" he cried.
She nodded.
"Oo-ee-min fader!"
"Thank the Lord," gasped Philip. And then he suddenly added, "Celie,have you any more cartridges for this pop-gun? I feel like licking theworld!"