XXIII
THE SOLITARY PURSUER
Sometime during the course of the night the snow ceased to fall; andmorning broke clear and cold. Garth had turned in, intending to rise atfour; but Nature exacted her due, and it was seven before he awoke. Thesky was a bowl of palest, fleckless azure; the sun shone gloriously onthe field of snow; and the air stung the nostrils like the heady fumesof wine. But he was in no temper to take any delight in morningbeauties; he ached in every bone and muscle as if he had been beatenwith a club; and at the sight of the mounting sun, he bitterlyreproached himself--and Rina, for the lost hours.
As for Charley, a glance at the boy showed that he was quite incapableof further travelling for the present. He suffered as much from the blowon the head as from the exposure in the snow. His mind was hopelesslyconfused and wandering. In any case they had but a single horse left;and only the one course of action was open to Garth. He instructed Rinato remain where she was and care for the boy, while he pushed ahead.
Even Rina betrayed some surprise. "What you do?" she said. "Three men toshoot, and Mary to watch _her_. You got no chance!"
"I'll find a way!" he said desperately. "This Death River, tell me aboutit!"
Rina pointed northwest. "Big river, moch water," she said. "Come frommountains. Ver' moch high falls; mak' lak thunder! Above falls, ver'rough rapids, no can cross. Below falls, deep black hole; breeds say badspirits go there. Only one place to cross, half-mile below falls."
Garth caught the horse, who had fed himself as best he could by pawingthe snow off the grass, and packed his blankets and a supply of food,including what was left of the little carcass Rina roasted. He learnedit was a lynx; but the flesh was sweet, and he was too thankful forfresh meat to quarrel with the nature of it. He left Rina and Charleywith a better will, knowing she could doubtless get others, as she hadsnared the first.
There was about ten inches of snow on the flat, with deep encumberingdrifts in the hollows; and his advance was very slow. The ill-nourishedhorse wearied immediately; and any pace beyond a walk was out of thequestion. Had Garth only possessed snow-shoes he could have made muchbetter time on foot. The vast expanse was as empty as a clean sheet ofpaper; nevertheless, he saw the prairie was not without its busypopulation, as evidenced by the number of tracks of little furry pawsthat had crossed his course already since the snow finished falling.
At noon, having made about eleven miles (he figured), he came to thebrink of a coulee wider and deeper than any they had crossed hitherto;and which contained a stream in the bottom, running blackly aroundsnow-capped stones. As he refreshed himself, and allowed his horse todrink, he reflected that Grylls would have reached this stream the daybefore about the time the snow commenced; and that it was likely theoutfit had camped on its bank until the storm passed. He determined tosearch up and down before pushing ahead.
Sure enough, no more than two hundred yards down-stream he began to comeupon the tracks of horses and saw the bare patches they had pawed toreach the grass; and a little farther he ran plump upon the freshremains of the camp; two bare spots where tents had been pitched, theashes of a fire, and innumerable tracks of men and horses--the wholestartlingly conspicuous in the sweep of unbroken snow.
Garth's heart swelled with rage and mortification to think what a littledistance had separated them during the night; and how by rising onlythree hours earlier, he might perhaps have caught them. But presentlycooler counsels came to his aid; and when he considered the well-beatentrack that led over the hill beyond, he was thankful for so much luck.He knew that at least until more snow should fall, they could nevershake him off again; and he rode after with a renewed courage. Hishorse, too, freed of the entangling drifts, and sensing the other horsesahead, seemed to overcome his weakness for a while; and loped over thebeaten trail with a good will.
Beyond this coulee the character of the country began to change.Crossing a height, Garth saw a range of gleaming mountains off to thewest at no great distance; his course was heading him obliquely into thefoothills. The prairie gradually broke up; the mounds became hills; andthe hollows deepened into valleys. With every mile, almost, the hillsbecame higher and more conical; outcroppings of rock began to appear;and the little streams ran in gorges now, instead of coulees.
In the rougher country the horse's access of courage soon failed. Hiswind was gone, he sobbed for breath; and Garth was presently reduced tothe necessity of leading him up every incline. On a wide flat betweentwo ranges, he mounted after a long walk, and urged him into a run overthis easy piece. The slack-twisted animal was not equal to the effort;halfway across, his heart broke; and he collapsed in a heap, ploughingup the snow, and flinging his rider over his head. When Garth returnedto him, he was stone dead. In the midst of his chagrin the man couldspare a glance of pity for the shaggy, misshapen beast. One of thevulgar equine tribe, at his best neither beautiful nor courageous, hehad nevertheless given his life to the journey.
Beside the stony watercourse that traversed this little plain, he made acache of saddle, bridle and what food he could not carry on his back.Over the spot he piled a cairn of stones to mark it, and protect thelittle store from marauding animals. In addition to blankets, rifle andammunition, he carried with him food sufficient for about five days. Inan hour he was on his way again.
During the rest of the day, and the following day, the character of thecountry changed only in degree. The trail never carried him directly intothe mountains, but skirted among the foothills, which raised strange,abrupt, detached cones on either hand--steep, naked, unreasonable shapesof earth, like nightmare forms. Each day Garth plodded to the limit of hisstrength, reckless of what lay before him, regarding only the beaten trailwhich led the way. From various signs it was clear those ahead ever gainedon him; but he kept himself up with the thought that they must sooner orlater make an extended stop to recuperate their horses. Each night he madehis tea with snow-water; and, rolling up in his blankets beside the fire,slept under the stars; and at dawn he was astir again. Hard work was hisbeneficent sedative.
On the second night as he lay down he heard, or fancied he heard in thestillness, the breath of a far-off, heavy sound. He ascribed it to theroar of the great falls Rina had told him of; and the thought lent newvigour to his limbs next morning. He had another reason to hurry hissteps; for each day had waxed a little warmer; and to-day the snowmelted fast, threatening at last to obliterate the track he followed.
In the afternoon the going became harder, for the mountains reached downlong spurs athwart his path, over which he had to toil. Like the conicalhills they were bare of all timber; only the valleys and gulches werewooded. On the first of these ascents, burdened as he was, over-exertionand insufficient sleep began to tell on Garth; and he became conscious,for the first, of a terrible weariness in his back. He crushed it down;he could _not_ fail; he _had_ to keep on. But the next ascent was harderstill; and the shape of fear grew in his breast.
The third long climb was nearly his finish. He would not allow himselfto pause on the way up, though his heart knocked sickeningly against hisribs, while flames danced in front of his eyes, and there was a roaringin his ears. Gaining the summit at last, he flung himself down, afraidfor the moment to look at the obstacles beyond. As he slowly recovered,a real booming disassociated itself from the noises in his head; and heeagerly raised his head. His eyes swept over a far and wide expanse ofsnow, a dish-like plateau among the hills. His heart leaped; for throughthe centre of the plateau ran a black fissure, like a crack in the dish;and off to the left a fleecy cloud rose lazily from the gorge, blushingpinkly in the light of the setting sun. This must mark the falls; theDeath River lay at his feet.
The excitement of this discovery was immediately superseded by a fargreater. In a direct line with him, on the plain beyond the gorge, hepresently distinguished a few scattering, black objects like insects onthe snow--but insects of the shape of horses. From the gorge itself,perfectly distinct in the crystalline air, rose a thin, blue column ofsmoke!
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The haggard furrows in Garth's face smoothed out; his weary eyes shotforth a quiet glint; and he slowly and grimly smiled. He arose; andinstinctively unslinging his gun, examined the mechanism. A goodlywarmth diffused itself throughout his veins; and he felt strong again.The end of his journey was in sight.
Darkness had fallen before he reached the lip of the canyon. With batedbreath he crawled to the edge and looked over--there was a chance theyhad escaped him again--but in the bottom of the pit, on the other sideof the river, a fire was flickering redly in the darkness; and there wasa hint of figures sitting around it. His heart beat strongly at thereassuring sight.
The tracks in the snow led him to the top of the path, which descendedinto the gorge. This path was steep, narrow, tortuous and slippery; andhe knew not what conditions awaited him at the bottom. Prudencecounselled him to wait for daylight to reconnoitre; but it was notpossible to contain his impatience the night through, with Natalie sonear, and he not knowing if she was safe. He started down instantly,feeling his way foot by foot; and ever careful to dislodge no stone thatmight betray him. Within the gorge the boom of the falls was largelydeadened by a bend in the walls above; and lighter sounds becameaudible: the lapping of the river on the stones; and, as he came nearer,someone breaking sticks for the fire below.
Between him and the fire rolled the river with a deep, swift current.There was no more than a scant fifty yards between wall and wall of thegorge at the bottom. Coming still closer, he saw by the light of thefire that their camp was pitched on a triangle of flat ground, formedwhere a steep watercourse had made a perpendicular fissure in theopposite wall of the gorge. On one side of the fire was pitched a small"outside" tent--the same tent Garth had watched so long when it stoodoutside Mabyn's shack--and on the other side stood a tepee. A smallraft, half drawn out of the water, explained their means of crossing theriver.
The descending path finally landed Garth on a precipitous incline ofbroken rock at the water's edge; and there, across the stream, so closehe could have tossed a pebble into their midst, sat those he had trackedso far, all unsuspicious of his nearness. They were having their eveningmeal. Natalie was among them, facing him, the firelight strong on her.Her face was set and sad--but still unhumbled; and from this and theobsequious poise of Grylls's head, when he turned to her, Garth knew shewas so far safe from him. His heart breathed a still hymn of thankfulness.
Grylls sat on the other side of the fire, with his back against a rock.He still wore the bewrinkled suit of store clothes which had become sohateful in Garth's sight; and the broad-brimmed hat was set at a rakishangle. He was in a jovial humour, judging from the thick unction of hisspeech; doubtless, though he seldom looked at her, in his own way he wasseeking to charm his cold and silent prisoner.
Mabyn's back was turned to Garth; his attitude was furtive; andapparently he spoke little. Garth did not trouble about him; for he knewinstinctively that so long as the stronger man was by, Natalie stood inno danger from Mabyn. Mary Co-que-wasa, serving the food, hovered behindthe fire, which threw a strange, exaggerated shadow of her hag-like formon the cliff. Nearer Garth, at a little distance from the others, Xaviersat on the ground, busy with his cup and plate.
Garth watched Natalie with a swelling heart. How brave she was! hownoble and befitting the air with which she faced her terrible situation!The proud sadness of her face was infinitely more affecting than anyextreme of distress could have been. Garth bled inwardly, to think ofthe torments of mind she must have endured. He yearned mightily to lether know he was near. He crouched at the edge of the water, willing amessage of cheer to her; and heartened himself with the assurance thatshe could not but feel it.
She ate little; and, presently arising, disappeared within the tent.Grylls drew out the inevitable cigars, and, carelessly tossing oneto Mabyn, lit his own. Mary went about collecting the dishes. Xaviercarried his plate to the river side to wash it. Garth handled hisrifle with fingers itching for the trigger. There were the four ofthem, all unconscious, delivered into his hands, it seemed.
But he spared them for a while. It was not that he shrank from sheddingblood now; taking their lives troubled him no more than killing so muchvermin. But, close as they were, he could not be sure of nailing themall; a dive outside the firelight, and they were safe. And Natalie wasin their hands; and he had no way of crossing the river. He must rescueher first.
Mary went into the tent, which she apparently shared with Natalie; andpresently reappeared with a dishtowel. Lifting a pail of hot water fromthe fire, she prepared to wash the dishes. The fire was dying down, andgathering an armful of brush, she heaped it on to make a light.
Too late Garth appreciated the significance of this act. He turned toescape up the path again; and in his hurry dislodged a heavy stone,which rolled into the water with a splash. He faced about with his rifleready. Only Xavier, at the water's edge, heard the sound, and looked up.At the same instant the fire sprang into a blaze, filling the canyonwith light; and plainly revealing Garth and his shadow behind him on therock. The breed sprang to his feet with a cry of warning. It was thelast sound, save one, that he ever made. The sharp, light bark ofGarth's rifle reverberated in the gorge; the breed spun around with athroaty, quenched cry, toppled over backward into deep water, and wasswept away.
Before Garth could aim again, Mary Co-que-wasa seized her pail of water,and flung it hissing on the fire. Absolute darkness filled the canyon.