XXI
THE BROKEN DOOR
Garth beat recklessly on the cabin door crying:
"Natalie! Natalie! Good news!"
She was not long in opening.
"See what I've brought you back!" he shouted.
They slammed the door shut; and together pulled Charley in by the lightof the fire.
"Charley! _Charley!_" cried Natalie, quite beside herself with delight;and flinging her free arm around his neck, she pressed her lips full onhis.
The honest full-moon face of the boy turned as red as a peony; but hisarms closed around her too, with a right good will; and it was Nataliein the end, who was obliged gently to disengage herself.
They all talked at once; they laughed and wept in concert. As soon asthey finished shaking hands all around, they began again. Whenever Garthwas at a loss to express his feelings, he whacked Charley between theshoulders, until the boy coughed. In the end, speech failing themcompletely, they whooped and capered about the shack like wild things.
"I say!" said Garth suddenly. "We're giving ourselves away nicely! Thenews has reached Mabyn and Grylls by this time."
They quieted down.
"Tell us your adventures, Charley dear," said Natalie.
"I'd better bring my stuff in first," said he.
"Where is it?"
The boy unslung a bundle from his back. "Thought you might be hungry, soI brought enough for a couple of squares," he said; "sugar, and tea, andbacon, and flour. And say, I thought something fancy would go down good;so there's a tin of sardines and a box of biscuits."
"Oh! you darling!" said Natalie.
Charley was much embarrassed. "The rest of the stuff's cached two milesdown the shore," he went on hastily. "I'll trot along and bring it in."
"Take the canoe," said Garth; "and they can't hold you up."
"What will I do with the horses?" asked Charley.
This was a problem. "How many?" Garth asked.
"Three."
"How will we keep them out of Grylls's hands?"
"Why wait at all?" asked Natalie. "Let us all get in the canoe, andstart for home. It will take me just five minutes to get ready!"
But Garth shook his head. "You can't ride above a walk yet," he said."It would mean a running fight all the way. The odds are still toogreat against us in the open!"
"The fellows from the Settlement promised to come look for us in a weekif we weren't home," said Charley.
"Good!" said Garth. "Then we'll wait for them!"
"And the horses?" said the boy anxiously. "They're not much to bragabout; but I'm in debt a hundred bones for them."
Garth clapped him on the back again. "Don't you worry about that, oldboy!" he cried. "The debt is mine! Tell you what we'll do!" he added,"We'll bring them up here, and swim them off to the island. There'sforage enough over there for a day or two, and they will be right underour eyes!"
They set off immediately in the canoe; and it was all accomplished asplanned. Charley brought the precious grub back by water, out ofGrylls's possible reach; while Garth drove the horses in over the trailat a smart pace. Nothing happened en route; it was probably all donebefore their adversaries had time to plan an attack. They swam thehorses to the island, and were both back in the shack, before it waslight enough to aim a gun.
Breakfast followed; and such a breakfast! They both helped the one-armedcook. There was bannock light and snowy; bacon fried crisp--"breakfast"bacon, very different in the North from plain "bacon"; and friedsardines--delectable morsels! and coffee, and jam. All the deliciousthings Garth and Natalie had dreamed of paled beside this homelyreality. Each of the three was delighted, moreover, to see the otherseat; Charley in especial, at the sight of the good he had brought, couldscarcely stop grinning to chew. Afterward he had to be told all that hadhappened; and he in return related his adventures.
"Tell you what! I was sore when Garth sent me back!" Charley began."'What's the use!' I thought. 'I can't do any work, not knowing what'scome of them.' In the end I just didn't go back. I had all kinds ofcrazy ideas about following you along the trail; but at last I thoughtmaybe I could be some real use by hanging round the Settlement, andkeeping an eye on Nick Grylls. And I did.
"Say, he really was knocked out all right, all right. They carriedhim in from the lake; and the sisters nursed him in the Convent.Construction of the brain he had, or something like that. Seems hegot up when he first come to on the shore, walked ten miles, and thencollapsed right near Grier's Point. But they kept that low. Hooliam gaveout a great story, how a big storm came up on the lake, and how Nickfell overboard, _et cetera, et cetera_; Garth wasn't mentioned in itat all!
"Long before Nick was able to be around, he sent down for Mary Co-que-wasaand Xavier; and then I knew there was more mischief brewing. Say, thosetwo are the toughest of the whole tough bunch. They say Xavier is Mary'sson. All this time I was getting mighty worried myself, why you didn'tcome back, and I was going to look for you anyway. However, as soon as hewas up, Grylls got a big outfit together, and started over the portagewith the two breeds. He gave out that he was going up to OstacheganCreek--but I knew! I got a couple of cayuses on credit, and a littlegrub; and followed him inside three hours.
"He beat me by a day to the Crossing, and went right through. Over thereI heard about you from the fellows; and say, I was scared for fair, whenI counted up the grub I knew you had, and then thought how long you'dbeen away! I hustled and got another horse and all the grub they wouldtrust me for. I tried my darnedest to get some of the fellows to comewith me. They laughed at me! They said I'd been reading too many dimenovels--I never read any! You see, every one knows Nick Grylls so well,and nothing like this ever happened before. Jim Plaskett, the policeman,would have believed me; but he was away. I left a letter for him. I losta couple of good days at the Crossing over this. The most the fellowswould say was, if I didn't bring you back in a week, the bunch wouldride up here.
"I was so excited with it all, I lost myself like a bloody fool for twodays on the prairie; and I just ran on the lake, by accident, yesterdayafternoon. Say, I almost gave the whole snap away, for I came over thehill right above Mabyn's shack. Maybe I didn't duck in a hurry! Therewas the whole bunch below me! Across the corner of the lake, I could seethis house too. I know it must be yours because it was just built; andit had a sort of tenderfoot look to it. Say! I wasn't glad to see smokecoming out of the chimney! Oh, no!
"Well, that's about all. I took a long sweep around the prairie, andcame down at the place where we got the horses. I thought they wouldhave you watched, so I figured I'd better wait for night, before tryingto open up communications. When she got good and dark, I crawled aroundthe shore of the lake. But when I got here, I didn't know how in thunderto let you know it was me, without bringing down the bunch on us. So Idecided to lay low till morning, and show myself to you, the firstchance I got. Then Garth came out and it was all right!"
"Just in the nick of time!" said Garth grimly.
"What were you going to do?" asked Natalie quickly.
But he never told her.
* * * * *
They settled down with what patience they could muster, to wait fortheir relief. Two days passed without any hostile demonstration from thecamp on the hill; but that their enemies kept themselves well informed,they had the best reason to know; for it snowed on the second day, andon the following morning there were moccasin tracks around the house,and the rounded marks of two knees under the loophole in Natalie's room.Garth had taken the precaution to hang a piece of canvas over the hole;nevertheless, the discovery made them decidedly uncomfortable. Garthnailed a board over the hole; and they searched the walls anew for anytell-tale crack that might betray them.
It grew warm again; and the snow melted off the ground. Frequentobservations of the other camp taught them nothing. This apparentinactivity puzzled Garth, since the others must know that the game ofstarving them out was blocked with the arrival of Charley. They waited
in momentary expectation of attack, or a proposal; but none came.
Garth's only serious anxiety now was for the three horses. They must bythis time have cropped the limited herbage of the island; and in anotherday, when they began to suffer with hunger, they would undoubtedly swimoff; and all his trouble to save them would be lost. He was greatlytempted by the recollection of a wide, low meadow on the edge of thelake below, where the blue-joint grass grew as high as a man's thigh,curing naturally in the sun. With an hour's labour, he reflected, hecould cut enough to last them for a day.
There was a risk, of course, in depriving the cabin of its principaldefender for even so long; but he would not be at any time more thanhalf an hour's journey from them; and Charley ought surely to be ableto hold the fort for that time. In case of an attack it might even bean advantage for him, Garth, to be on the outside of the cabin, where hecould flank the attackers with his gun.
In the end he went; setting off two hours before dawn, according to hiscustom. On issuing from the shack, he found with some anxiety that thesky had become heavily overcast, and an east wind had sprung up. Thiswould prevent his hearing as well as he wished; however, he consideredthat if Grylls intended a night attack, he would scarcely wait until sonear morning: and he kept on.
He sat in the stern of the canoe pushing hard against the opposing wind.The raised bow danced over the water, slapping the little waves, andsending out musical cascades of drops on either side. The wind had thesame cool, damp smell of the east winds at home; and he was reminded ofa score of nights when he had nothing heavier on his mind than theapproaching end of a vacation. After two days' imprisonment in theshack, the tussle with the wind was highly exhilarating; and it was verygood to measure the strength of his arms. He sang under his breath as heworked. Black as it was, he could guide himself by the dimly-sensedoutline of the tree masses; and when they receded he knew he had arrivedopposite the meadow.
It took him longer than he had counted on to gather what he could carry;for he was hampered by the intense darkness. He collected the hay intosmall armfuls, which in turn he tied into great bundles; and wedged theminto the canoe. Embarking again, he raced back before the wind at doublethe speed he had made against it.
On the way, a single, dull sound, coming muffled through the night,brought his heart into his throat. He paused; but no other soundfollowed, except the song of the water, and the sweep of the windthrough the branches on shore. He redoubled his strokes, filled with avague anxiety; and pausing only to cast out his bundles on the shore ofthe island, hastened back to the camp. He heard no other untowardsounds; but crossing from the island, he saw that the fire in the othercamp had died down. This had never happened any night before; and itadded to his uneasiness. The increased chill of the air now heralded theapproach of dawn; but it was not yet any lighter.
As he landed, the familiar outline of his own house, just as he had leftit, allayed his fears. Everything about the camp was still. Cautiouslydrawing up the canoe, he advanced with confidence to give the prearrangedknock on the door. His knuckles beat upon the air. The door was wide open.
Then Garth's heart shrivelled in his breast; and his throat wasconstricted as by sudden deadly fumes. He staggered in. There wasa stale odour of gunpowder in the room.
"Natalie! Charley!" he called, in a choked whisper.
The stillness mocked him.
He ran into Natalie's room, still faintly illumined by the embers ofthe hearth. A glance told him it was empty; but he felt with his handsin all the dim corners, agonizingly whispering her name. There was noevidence here that any struggle had taken place.
Running out to the outer room toward Charley's bed, he fell over a bodylying on the floor. A touch told him it was the boy. He disregarded it,until he had made sure Natalie was not there. Then dragging the bodyinto the inner room, he built up the fire. He saw the boy was not dead;he could find no wound on him. He worked desperately to bring him to.
Charley stirred at last, and opened his eyes.
"What happened?" besought the distracted Garth.
The boy only looked at him stupidly.
"For God's sake collect your wits, and tell me!" he cried.
Charley, suddenly clutching Garth's arm, raised himself on his elbow."Garth!" he cried wildly. "Natalie! Where is she?"
"God knows!" groaned Garth.
Terrible recollection returned to the boy's eyes. He sat up dizzy andnauseated. "I remember now!" he stuttered.
"Quick! Quick!" implored Garth.
"It was a little while after you went," Charley continued, getting itout with difficulty. "Natalie came and shook me. She said she heard asound outside.... We waited and listened--a quarter of an hour itseemed.... We heard nothing.... Then suddenly with one big crack, thedoor flew open. They drove a log against it.... I couldn't tell how manycame in--maybe three.... I shoved Natalie behind me in the farthestcorner. I had the Winchester ready in my hands.... They dropped to thefloor when they came in; and scattered. I couldn't tell where theywere--I don't know how long it was.... Suddenly I heard something closeto--somebody breathing. I fired. In the flash I saw them all, Xavier,Mary, and right over me, Nick Grylls, swinging the butt of his gun--thenmy head split in pieces ... and you came!"
"Oh, my God!" cried Garth.
He picked up his rifle, and ran like a madman from the cabin.