XIV
THE LAST STAGE
The hours of the afternoon that followed their encounter withTom Lillywhite were long and heavy ones for Natalie and Garth. Ahaggard misunderstanding rode between them on the trail. Denied theall-explaining, all-healing touch of hands--or lips, the unreasonabledespair of lovers seized on each; and the sunny way was plunged in murk.They rode, and camped, and ate their supper in silence; and in silencethey turned in for the night. But there was little sleep for either; theylay apart, each nursing a burden of unhappiness; unable to say now whatit was all about, only dreadfully conscious that they were divided.
As soon as it was light enough to see, a pale and heavy-lidded Nataliecrept noiselessly out of her tent. In front of the door she saw Garthon his knees preparing to build a fire; but the hand that held thehatchet-helve had dropped nervelessly to the ground; and his eyes, fixedand staring in the torpor of miserableness, had forgotten what he hadset out to do. At the sight, a rapturous peace came back to Natalie'sharried soul; for, she thought, if he were so unhappy as that, he mustlove her in spite of all. And Garth, looking up, saw the tendernessbreak in her weary face, and he understood it all too. The forest spranginto leaf again for them; and presently the sun came gaily up. Theybecame as wildly and unreasonably happy as they had just been miserable;and not a word was exchanged either way. It was not necessary. That theydid not fling themselves into each other's arms at that moment, mustsurely be written down to their credit somewhere.
They made but a leisurely progress this day and the next. The labour ofthe journey was greater than at any time hitherto, for in addition tothe ordinary routine of making and breaking camp twice a day, Garth hadnow the four horses to look after. Catching them was a task of uncertainduration, even though they were turned out hobbled; in particular, theexasperating Timoosis developed the proficiency of a very circus horse,in walking on his hind legs. And once caught, there was all the businessof saddling, packing and drawing the hitch.
Besides, there was that in both their hearts which delayed them evenmore. No ardently desired goal awaited them at the end of this journey;on the contrary they dreaded what they were to find. The last few milesof the way together, before the inevitable came between them, wastherefore very dear; and it became ever easier to say "Let's camp!" andharder to say "Let's move!"
Their boisterous jollity on the trail gave place to much quiethappiness; and there was ceaseless friendly contention, where Garth'severy thought was for Natalie; and hers for him. Each was on his mettleto be worthy of the other's best. Above all they avoided the insidiousdanger of contact; but inevitably sometimes in the business of the camp,their hands did meet--and each to himself stored up and told over theevents like secret treasures. In every labour Natalie insisted on takingher share like a man; and Garth never ceasing to upbraid her, yet lovedher for it prodigiously.
Day by day, now, the leaves of the more exposed trees were yellowing;and on the second night of their journey across the portage, the firstheavy frost of the season descended. Garth, under his sail-cloth at thedoor of the tent, awoke covered with rime.
Toward the end of the third day they had their never-to-be-forgottenfirst glimpse of the mighty Spirit, the dream river of the North, whosename evokes the thought of a garden in a bleak land. The unvaryingflatness of the portage with its standing pools, and the interminablelofty wood that had hemmed them in for three days, had given them thesense of travelling on the bottom of the world, and that somewhere aheadmust be a hill to climb. What then was their astonishment thisafternoon, when, without warning they emerged from among the trees onan abrupt grassy terrace, and beheld the great river lying nearly athousand feet _below_.
It was a view inimitably gorgeous and sublime. Coming so suddenly uponit they caught their breaths and gazed in silence; for there was nothingfitting to say. The high point on which they stood overlooked a deep andnarrow gorge at their left, through which a little river fell to thegreat stream; and across this they could look up the vast trough formiles. In the distance the river seemed to rise, until one would say itissued molten from the low-hung sun itself.
It had an individual and peculiar look, like no watercourse they hadseen. Its course drew a sharp line between the wooded country and theprairie. Like a figure dressed in motley, the steep southern bank waseverywhere dark and wooded, while the other side, sweeping up incountless fantastic knolls and terraces, was bare, except for the browngrass, and patches of scrub-like hair in the hollows. Far back from theopposite rim of the vast trough swept the unmeasured prairie, as flat,in the whole prospect, as the country they had lately traversed.
It was the wealth of colour that most of all bewitched their eyes. Theriver itself was of an odd, insistent green--emerald tinged with milk;the islands on its bosom hung out the rich bottle-green of spruce; thegrass on the north bank was beaver-brown; the wild-rose scrub glowedblood-crimson in the hollows; and the aspen bluffs, touched with frost,were as yellow as saffron. The wild and beautiful panorama was madecomplete in their eyes by a great golden eagle perched on the brink ofthe immediate foreground and, like themselves, gazing over. Though but ahundred yards or so distant, he contemptuously disregarded theirarrival. When Garth, full of curiosity, came closer, he spread his vastwings and drifted indifferently out into space.
For a long time they gazed at the scene without speaking. It was Nataliewho finally expressed their common thought.
"Wouldn't it be sweet," she said wistfully, "if our journey had no otherobject but to see this! With what satisfied hearts we could now turnback!"
Skirting the edge of the steep, presently the Settlement came into viewfar below, a hut or two along the river, hugging the base of the cliffs.The trail zigzagged gradually down, frequently doubling on itself; andwhereas the eagle might have descended in a minute, it promised to bemore like half an hour for them.
Garth, following his previous policy, did not intend to expose Natalieto the stares of the Settlement, until he had at least reconnoitred.Before coming on the houses, therefore, he led his little caravan offthrough the bush to the left; and descended to the shore of the smallerstream they had seen from above. Here, in a private glade beside thenoisy brown water, they pitched their camp; and Garth, leaving Nataliearmed against all eventualities, proceeded into the Settlement.
His inevitable first question at the store elicited the information thatthe Bishop had gone up the river to Binchinnin, Ostachegan Creek and FortSt. Pierre. Next, the name of Herbert Mabyn called forth contemptuousshrugs. None of the men could give certain information of his whereabouts,though Clearwater Lake was mentioned again. He had not been in to the postfor four months; and there was a handful of letters waiting for him.Garth was referred to the breeds across the river for better news. It wasclearly intimated that all self-respecting white men had cast Mabyn off.
Inquiring the means of crossing the river, the ferry was pointed outto Garth, a barge propelled with sweeps. It must be tracked up-streamfor a quarter of a mile before starting across, to allow for the current,he was told. The trader offered to help him when he was ready. Garththanking him, privately resolved to cross before the Settlement wasastir next morning. He saw that his own reticence in answering questionsinspired the three simultaneously with the idea that he was a detectivefrom outside, in pursuit of Herbert Mabyn for some early sin; and he letit go at that.
* * * * *
Garth roused Natalie long before dawn; and they crossed the river by thefirst greenish light of the East. Garth handled one sweep, Natalie theother; and their labour was great. The incorrigible Timoosis, who neverneglected an opportunity to make trouble, balked furiously at the ferry;and, finally driven on board and tied, managed to work the other horsesup to a high state of excitement during the passage.
Finally, when they had almost made the other shore, he succeeded inbreaking his halter; and, leaping over the stern, perversely struckout for the shore they had left. Cy and Caspar, horses of no character,blindly leap
ed after him. For a moment a dire disaster threatened; forTimoosis, borne down by the weight of his pack, could scarcely keep hishead above water; and they thought they had lost both their horse andtheir camp equipment. But the self-contained Emmy, who had not budgedduring all the excitement, merely turned her head, and sent an imperiouswhinny in the direction of her offspring; whereupon Timoosis, with truecoltish inconsistency, turned about, and came meekly swimming afterthe barge, followed by the other two. Since the shore was not abovetwenty-five yards off he managed to win it pack and all, and staggeredup on the beach, chilled, exhausted, and much chastened in mind.Warned by previous experiences, they never trusted him with anythingperishable, so the damage to his pack was slight.
After an hour's travelling, they halted by the trail at sunrise to eat,and to dry out what had been wet. This part of the trail traversed theheavily wooded bottom-lands, before starting to climb the grassy steepsof the further bank. As they sat on a log discussing their bread andcocoa, a rollicking song came, as a sound comes fluctuating through thewoods, now from this side, now from that, and curiously deadened. Itfinally resolved itself into the air of _Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay_ with wordsin Cree. While it still seemed some distance away, suddenly the singerrode upon them; and reining up his horse, called the song into hissurprised throat.
He was the handsomest native they had met, a young fellow of twenty-odd,lean and broad-shouldered, with flashing black eyes and high-bridgednose. His stiff-brimmed "Stetson" was tilted at a dashing angle; he hada scarlet silk handkerchief about his throat; and he sat his horse likea young prince of the woods. Whether pure redskin or breed it wasimpossible for them to tell; certainly there was no visible evidence ofa white admixture; but in spite of his strange and savage air, there wassomething instantly likeable about the young man--according to Nataliehe was the first native they had met who seemed human. He rode a fineblack horse as bravely accoutred as would become the captain of around-up.
He seemed disposed to be friendly; and Garth invited him to share theirmeal. As politeness demanded, he broke a small piece of bread, and dranksome cocoa, which was plainly not at all to his taste. When he sat downhe had the grace to take off his hat, something else they had not seenbefore in a native.
His name, he volunteered, was Gene Lafabe. Since his English was abouton a par with Garth's Cree, communication was difficult. In hissimplicity, the young man was continually forgetting they could notunderstand his language; and when Garth shook his head, only shouted thelouder.
"You know Herbert Mabyn?" Garth asked.
Gene vigorously nodded his head, adding a stream of information, which,had they only understood, would have materially altered their subsequentline of action.
Garth shook his head hopelessly. "Where is he?" he asked.
Gene pointed north. "Clearwater Lake," he said; and in the twinkling ofan eye, counted seventy-five with his ten fingers.
"Where is the trail?" Garth asked.
Gene shrugged. "Nomoya!" he said. "No trail!"
Garth had an inspiration. "Can you take us there?" he asked.
Considerable patience and good-humour were called for from both sides,in the arduous course of arriving at an understanding; but finally abargain was struck. Gene, in addition to the credentials of his person,bore a highly satisfactory letter of recommendation from the companytrader at the Crossing. Whatever his errand in the first place may havebeen, he never gave it another thought; and in half an hour blithelyturned his horse's head, and took the lead on the trail.
Gene looked at every considerable tree, every little gulley, and everyrise in the ground with the eye of an old friend. In a mile or so, at aplace marked in no way that Garth could see, he abruptly turned out ofthe trail; and led them with an air of certainty through the apparentlytrackless woods. The trees ended at the steep rise that marked thebottom of the northern bank; and thereafter they climbed the grass.
By a devious route known to himself Gene led them through many littlegrassy ravines, and over ridges, gradually upward. There was no sense ororder in the arrangement of the knolls and terraces and spurs ofturf--the ground seemed to be pushed up anyhow, like bubbles on thesurface of yeasty dough. For a while they would be swallowed in acup-like hollow; then, surmounting a ridge, they would have a briefglimpse of the distant river behind. It was only when they reached thetop that, looking back over the turbulent rounded masses of earth, theywere able to comprehend the great height to which they had climbed.
Reaching level ground, Gene with a shout set off at a lope in a bee lineacross the prairie; and Garth bringing up the packhorses in the rear,caused the sedate Emmy to put her best foot foremost. Meanwhile, withpocket-compass and memorandum book, he made notes of the route theytook; and when opportunity offered tied a strip of white cotton to abush. It was his intention to dismiss Gene before coming to Mabyn's hut;and he wished to be sure of the way back. The guide, comprehending whathe was doing, gave him to understand that Emmy could bring them backover their own tracks--unless snow should fall. But Garth was neglectingno precautions.
Garth and Natalie deplored to each other the inadequacy of their meansof communication with their guide. The bright-eyed Gene had a hundredthings to point out to them on the prairie, most of which they couldonly guess at. For one thing, he made them understand he was followingin the tracks of two cayuses that had gone that way three days before.One was lame, he said, and the other dragged a travoise. All this helearned from certain marks in the grass, which the other two could notsee at all. In all ways Gene proved himself a very pearl among guides.Garth, merely from watching him, learned as much trail-craft these twodays as he had picked up during the weeks preceding; and Natalieconfessed that his cooking put her utterly to shame.
Such was the energy of their pace that they reached the last waterholebefore coming to Clearwater Lake early next afternoon. Here Garthdecided to camp; for he had determined with Natalie to time theirarrival at Mabyn's hut for the morning; so that after the briefest stay,they could immediately start back. Clearwater Lake was only three milesdistant; and Gene was able to point out a poplar bluff marking the risebehind which it lay.
Neither Garth nor Natalie obtained much sleep that night; only Gene,wrapped in his rabbit-skin robe beyond the fire, slept the sleep of thesavage or the child. They were all astir at dawn; and after eating, theyparted; Gene careering south without a care on his mind; while Garth andNatalie turned their apprehensive faces toward the lake. What they wereto find there they did not know; but intuition warned them it would besufficiently painful.
When they reached the brow of the last hill, and the lake stretchedvividly below them, they had no eyes for the loveliness of the prospect.The little hut at the head of the water far to the left was the firstthing they saw; and it was charged with a significance that obliteratedeverything else. Facing the early sunlight it stood revealed withstartling distinctness; and even at the distance had a ghastly look;gray, artificial and decayed in the midst of the mellow autumnloveliness.
"I will picket the packhorses down at the edge of the water," Garthsaid; "and we'll ride on without them. It will provide us with anobvious excuse to return immediately."
Natalie scarcely heard. Her eyes were fixed on the distant shack. "Whatdo you suppose it hides from us?" she whispered. "Death, misery, ordisgrace?"
Garth could scarcely forbear groaning in the pain of his solicitude forher. "Oh, Natalie!" he said hoarsely, "I haven't done right to exposeyou to this!"
"I made you!" she said quickly. "Besides, it's not a question of rightor wrong. As you said we would, we have only done the best we could,under the circumstances that arose."
"At least let me ride on ahead a little," he begged. "You stay with theoutfit. I will hurry back."
She shook her head. "I couldn't stand the suspense," she said simply."Do not be afraid on my account," she added; "merely looking with myoutward eyes at something that always faces me within won't hurt me.Come on!"
But presently she reined up her pony ag
ain, and turning a pair ofbrimming eyes on him, extended her hand. "Garth!" she murmured, "I--Iwould like to thank you--but I can't!"
"Oh, don't!" he begged.
"Whatever we find down there," she said wistfully, "it can't make anydifference, can it? We will still be the same partners of the trail?"
Garth went pale to his lips--but he contrived to smile at her. He tookher hand and looked at her full. "Until death," he said quietly.
She drew her hand away, with a deep breath. "Come on," she said. "We'vegot to face it!"