Part 20 (1/2)

Fitzpatrick smiled evilly beneath his mustache

”And, if you do,” he asked, ”how about--Jean?”

Trapped by his own vindictiveness, Donald could only groan aloud

”Jean, Jean!” he muttered in desolation of spirit, ”I wish she were here now” Then, to Fitzpatrick: ”You said there was a certificate

Where is it? Who has it? Who is the woman?”

”That I won't tell you”

In one bound, Donald had leaped to the side of the bunk He seized the factor by his wounded shoulder, and shook savagely, growling between his teeth: ”You won't, eh, you won't tell ony, strove to writhe out of the iron clutch He tried to call for help, but the pain was too great for words Finally, a bellow like that of a wounded bull escaped fro teeth

”Ye-es, stop--I'll tell--oh, my God--_stop!_”

Donald released his hold, and the factor, with closed eyes, dropped back, half-fainting, upon the bunk, where he lay breathing stertorously

”Speak! Who is the woman?” Donald co reply

”Has she the certificate?”

”Yes, I think so; I'm not sure She had it last summer”

”And this--this son you speak of, is--?” Donald could not say the naht, blinded, Donald turned on his heel, and, groping for support, staggered from the cabin

CHAPTER XVII

THE COMPANION OF MANY TRAILS

Into the minds and hearts of the folk who live their lives in the wild, there are bred certain aniood trapper learns that, like rabbit or bob-cat, he must be able to freeze into statuesque ier Nature, who does her best to protect her children, sees to it that the trapper's costu so much as a hoary tree-trunk And the radually assient forest folk The wounded caribou drags hiain back strength or die unobserved and alone Sickness and feebleness are the only inexcusable faults of wild anier is fierce Unconsciously, Donald McTavish had absorbed the trait of s from his years in the heart of nature Not only had he absorbed it, but it had been handed down to hi McTavishes; it was part of his blood, just as the hatred of wolves as destroyers of fur-bearing game was part of it

So, noith this burden upon his heart alh the cas of friends who had not spoken to him before

At his tent, he mechanically fastened on his snowshoes, and strode away into the depths of the forest with his hurt, like a wounded anier reached hih the surface of the snow For a long while, he did not reason: reason was beyond hi had been done to his brain that rendered it stunned and helpless Even yet, he did not fully realize the thing that had come to him

”That fiend lies, curse him; he lies, I say!” he muttered, presently

”But yet, if it wasn't true, he wouldn't dare,” was the unanswerable reply

He knew Angus Fitzpatrick well enough to realize that the oldsure it would bear his weight He had always been so It was not likely that he would change now, particularly when there was so much at stake

And yet, what had he, Donald hi! If this accusation were true, it only reflected on his father and his father's past The son winced at that, for he and the commissioner had always been the best of couished gentleman of his boyhood tottered thus on the brink of ruin If so, that father's ideals, his training, his life, had been one long hypocrisy

Personally speaking, this sin on the part of his father see, it was probable enough, for men in the wilds were stillin the fellows in distant, lonely posts to hters of chieftains

In fact, there was not a post in all the Hudson Bay's territory of which he had ever heard but what had a sieneration the practise had fallen off greatly, yet in those before, it had been considered nothing out of the ordinary