Part 26 (1/2)

He protested by signs that she should follow Mookoorasped her arers, in an attempt to compel her to do so; but she stubbornly shook her head, and, forced to sublad that he should not be left alone, he reached over and pressed her hand as an indication of his appreciation of her self-sacrifice

Then she dipped from a kettle by the fire a cup of liquid, which she handed hi that it was a weak broth, drank it He looked at her inquiringly

Turning again to the pail, she drew forth half a boiled ptaran, which she passed him

”Let the friend of White Brother of the Snow eat It is little, and it will not drive away the Spirit of Hunger, but it will help to keep away the evil Spirit of Starvation until White Brother of the Snow brings food to his friend”

He accepted it and ate, not ravenously, for his hunger noas not consu, but with delicious relish Manikawan did not eat, but he presumed that she had already had a like portion

Shad was able to hobble, though with considerable pain, in and out of the lodge, and to assist in getting wood for the fire, and so far as she would permit hi s the cup of broth and the portion of ptaran awaited him when he awoke It was evident Manikawan had killed them with bow and arrow

He never saw her eat It was quite natural that she should have done so before he awoke of

But he noted with alarered woefully at times when she walked, like one intoxicated She eaker than he, but this he ascribed to his stronger mentality

By sheer force of will he put aside the insistent weakness, which he kneould get the better of hin himself to it By the saree of physical energy But he was a white man, she only an Indian, and this could not be expected of her

Then there caone, and no broth or ptare, and empty-handed laid her bow and arrow aside

The nextprone, and the fire was nearly out, for the as gone

”Poor girl,” he said, ”she is tired and has overslept;” and stealthily, that he ht not disturb her, he stole out for the needed wood

She hen he returned, and she tried to rise, but fell helplessly back upon her bed of boughs

”Manikawan is weak like a little child,” she said, in a low, uncertain voice ”But White Brother of the Snoill soon co He will soon coe”

Shad brewed her so She drank it, and the hot stith

But Shad was not deceived Manikawan's words had sounded to hi end Her voice and her rapidly failing strength told hier--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--was conquering; that the spirit most dreaded of all the spirits, Death, stood at last at the portal of the lodge, waiting to enter

XXIII

TUMBLED AIR CASTLES

With the strengthening cold that came with January and continued into February, the animals ceased to venture far from their lairs in search of food, and the harvest of the trails was therefore light With the disappearance of rabbits, the fox and lynx had also disappeared The rabbit is the chief prey of these aniht midwinter months, and as the wolf follows the caribou, so the fox follows the rabbit

With the going of the fox the field of operations was not only narrowed, but the as robbed of much of its zest When foxes are fairly numerous the trapper is always buoyed with the hope that a black or silver fox, theanimals, may wander into his traps; and this hope renders less irkso of the trails at seasons when the returns ht otherwise seem too small a recompense for the hardshi+ps and isolation suffered

The two preceding years had yielded rich harvests to dick Blake, and had more than fulfilled his h certainly disappointed, far froed with the present outlook, and very cheerfully accepted the few marten and mink pelts that fell to his lot as a half loaf by no ava Bob had looked forward to a successful winter's trapping, his chief object in co so far into the wilderness had been the establish operations; and more particularly, therefore, with a view to the future than to the immediate present Neither was he, for this reason, in any wise discouraged His youthfulthe castles he was to build tomorrow, had no room for the disappointiven Bob the assurance that the Nascaupees would bring him their furs to barter He was satisfied, also, that he could secure a large share of the trade of the Eastern, or Bay, Mountaineer Indians, for he would pay a fair and reasonable price for their furs, and they would quickly recognise the advantage of trading with hie over the coast traders: he would establish a trading station in the very heart of the wilderness, in thecountry

Previous to his co into his little fortune his father had, as far back as Bob could re under a load of debt At tied into the very utter dread stole upon Bob as he recalled soh which they had passed when the factor at the post had refused them further credit, and the flour barrel at home was empty, and they could scarcely have survived had it not been for the bounty of Douglas Campbell