Part 35 (1/2)
There was a minute's pause while the coht of his own helplessness and the inevitable ruin that faced hiren and hopeless The triu of the old squaw attracted his stunned senses
”Maria,” he said quietly, ”you have it in your power to ruin and disgrace me--andI did soyou, or try to buy you, or humble myself The document you have is a lie, and you know it Neither you nor your son shall ever receive a cent ofme If you want that, take it I have spoken my last word on the subject” He ceased, and sat, a picture ofsound frouis lay
”I can't stand this!” the half-breed cried ”Listen to me, commissioner! All of you listen! That certificate is a lie, and I can prove it I--”
There was a raucous scream, and Maria leaped upon the wounded man, and buried her talons in his throat Rainy and the commissioner seized her, and tore her fro her back across the tent, screeching
”Silence!” roared McTavish ”Or I'll gag you with your own fist”
The woman subsided, but Rainy took his place beside her, and relieved her of two knives that she uis”
”I didn't know, sir,” said the half-breed, ”until the other day, that--what I was Then, Donald McTavish told n, I don't knohich I asked my mother, and she confessed that Donald had spoken the truth So great was her elation at the success of her clained by the hted as she
”Then the next day she told ot it, and since then I have been in hell Oh, sir, you don't knohat an existence like mine can be All s that a ht to wish I have brains, I have intelligence; I want to rise abovebesides a common half-breed rover of the woods I headed the free-traders because it gavefor ht my as clear, and that I had not worked in vain But--but, when she told le started
”I am a McTavish, sir, and I am proud of it; but it is that honorable blood that is thisme back to the life I hate, and the oblivion I loathe I can't lie here, and see you and Captain McTavish ruined The Indian part of me says, 'Yes, take it; no one will ever know' But the McTavish of me rebels, and I can't do it”
”Yes, yes,” cried the commissioner feverishly, ”but about the certificate? What about that?”
”I was getting to it, sir Years ago, I don't knoin a little cabin by a lake during the winter I was ss One night, we heard faint noises in the woods near by, and my mother went out to see what made them She found Burns Riley, the , his features frozen, and almost at the point of starvation He had had a similar adventure to Captain McTavish's this winter
”My ue plan that had been in her mind took shape There, in the snow, she forced the ree to write that certificate, and, as soon as his fingers could hold the pen and dip it in the soot-ink of the chimney, he did it, and before him sat the food that his words would purchase Burns Riley was a square man, but his life was at stake, for my mother would have turned him out into the snow as he was, if he had not done as she wished--and he knew it”
”But why didn't he come and tell me?” demanded McTavish
”Because he was on his way to a ava Bay He didn't come back until shortly before he died, and he never saw you No doubt he was afraid to trust the story of the disgrace of his cloth to a er That, Mr McTavish, is the story of the certificate I'lad I've relinquished lad that I am still as honest as the best blood in me But now,” he added drearily, ”what is there forofhting of that wrong I as that I know I can never attain”
During his words, which were evenly spoken, without excitelas McTavish remained sunk upon his breast He realized now the irreparable injury that his youth had wrought, and in the depths of his heart he admired this heroic half-breed, who, in the exercise of the truest nobility, was a better ratitude for his deliverance was secondary to shauis's sterling character
”Seguis,” he said at last, quietly, ”you are right; I never can undo the wrong I have done you But will say this: I adht to defeat us in honorable corounds, and the skill hich you ed it The position of factor at Fort Severn is open, and I wish you to take it You are one of my most valued men
This appointment will be ratified in the usual form when the time comes”
He rose and walked across the tent: Then, he took the left hand of Seguis and pressed it warmly
”You will accept?” he asked