Part 17 (1/2)
The otter-trap worked successfully, but required repairing after each catch, so that it was scarcely worth the trouble of setting, since rabbits and fish continued plentiful One night, however, after a series of sharp sniffs at the door while the rabbit was broiling, and the discovery of padded prints in the snow next day, Donald worked er gas, too, were busy, for the rabbit skins e-shaped slab of cedar This he spliced
Then into a pelt, with the fur side turned in, he shoved this slab, forcing into the splicing a ser block widened, and thus stretched the skin When the proper tautness was obtained, he fixed the pelt to another board with pegs of wood, and hung it to dry
Now, there were a nu for privacy A tiny rabbit-bone, whittled to a point, and rabbit sinehite and tough and secured with great difficulty, supplied the ether, and at last hung before her bed of boughs a heavy curtain
Teeks passed, and the ht Their supplies were piling up fast, and they bade fair to be coht, when there was no work to do, Donald pulled coirl on the opposite side of the rude fireplace, busy with her rabbit-bone needle Where she had seeentle before, now, after their enforced inti the wonder of which he had never dreaelizing journey to the Eskimo! He would , or her father, came Since their perfect relationshi+p it seemed utterly impossible for him to exist without her
Suddenly, with a shake, Donald jerked hiain, very sadly The announcement he was about to make appeared all the harder
”Jean,” he said at last, ”in about two days, we start back for Fort Severn”
The girl raised her head, and showed a face of pouting disappointment
”Why?” she queried ”Here, we are comfortable and safe; we are in bad shape to travel without a sledge, and the dangers are un Let's stay here until somebody finds us It's been a wonderfully happy time for me You're the dearest, bravest, most chivalrous man alive, Donald”
The lover flushed with pleasure, but his brows dren nevertheless, and his jaw set, for the te upon him
”I've been very happy, too, princess,” he rejoined; ”but we er Before the world, neither of us would have a valid excuse We have provisions enough now for a week in the woods, and public opinion would deo”
And, with a little sigh, the girl meekly accepted the ultimatum
CHAPTER XV
PREY OF THE PACK
All the next day, the two prepared for their departure Donald strengthened the little sledge, and oods into a solid pack, convenient for him to carry when Jean should become tired and need to ride She disaws that had been a part of her happy housekeeping, and kissed the
Neither was insensible of the fact that this departure id idyl Both realized that McTavish was deliberately going back to ih no ue notion that, ten ht leave her, and retire into the woods without having been seen The idea had also occurred to Donald, but he had put it aside unhesitatingly as the act of a coward It littleas he knew that Jean was safe, and was near hi, the one before their departure, they held mournful obsequies over the happy teeks that could never be repeated in their lives They had just sat down to a dinner of rabbit (of which they were getting heartily tired by this time), when the sound of bells came to them, and they rushed to the door With shout and crack of whip, a dog-train roared up frolow of their hearth
After the first excite her position, had shrunk back into the farthest corner of the cabin, her face scarlet and her heart beating Donald, to spare her as much as possible, lad cries of recognition
”Well, McTavish, how the deuce do I see you here? You ought to be up at the fort But, say, old lad you broke out That thirty-day terave it Good for you!”
”And you, Braithwaite?” cried Donald, delightedly; for the man was an old friend--a store-keeper at the fort ”What are you doing up this way, and who are the boys with you?”
Donald was greatly surprised that the twotrouble at Sturgeon Lake--pretty rough stuff, too,” was the explanation; ”and these boys got shot up a little
Probably, you know 'em--Planchette and Napoleon Sky, the Indian”