The Whelps of the Wolf
Page 31
CHAPTER XXX
CREE JUSTICE
Deep in the night a long, mournful howl, repeated again and again,roused the sleeping post. Straightway the dogs of the factor and theCrees, followed by the Esquimos' huskies on the beach, were pointingtheir noses at the moon in dismal chorus. With muttered curse andprotest from tepee, shack and factor's quarters, the wakened people ofthe post, covering their ears, sought sleep, for no hour is sacred tothe moon-baying husky and no one may suppress him. One wakes, andlifting his nose, pours out his canine soul in sleep-shattering lament,when, promptly, every husky within hearing takes up the wail.
The post dogs, having alternately and in chorus, to their hearts'content and according to the custom of their fathers, transformed thecalm July night into a horror of sound, with noses buried in bushy tailsagain sought sleep. Once more the mellow light of the moon bathed thesleeping fur-post, when from the stockade behind the Mission rose a longdrawn note of grief.
The dark brows of Pere Breton, watching beside the delirious Marcel,contracted.
"Could it be?" he queried aloud. Curious, the priest glanced at hispatient, then went outside to the stockade. There, with gray nose thrustbetween the pickets, stood Fleur. As he approached, the dog growled,then sniffing, recognized a friend of the master, who sometimes fed her,and whined.
"What is the matter, Fleur? Do you miss Jean Marcel?"
At the mention of the loved name, the dog lifted her massive head andthe deep throat again vibrated with the utterance of her grief for onewho had not returned.
"She has waked to find the blanket of Jean Marcel empty," mused thepriest, "and mourns for him." Pere Breton returned to his vigil besidethe wounded man.
When the early dawn flushed the east, the grieving Fleur was still ather post at the stockade gate awaiting the return of Jean Marcel. Andnot until the sun lifted above the blue hills of the valley of theWhale, did she cease her lament to seek her complaining puppies.
At daylight McCain and Jules coming to relieve the weary priest foundJulie sitting with him. The wound was a long slashing one, but the lungsof Marcel seemed to have escaped. The fever would run its course. Therewas little to do but wait, and hope against infection.
Greeting Julie, whose dark eyes betrayed a lack of sleep, whose facereflected an agony of anxiety, the men called Pere Breton outside theMission.
"The Lelacs will not go south for trial, Father," said McCain, drily.
"What do you mean? Won't go south; why not?" demanded the astonishedpriest.
"Well, because there's no need of it now," went on McCain mysteriously.
"No need of it! I don't understand. They have done enough harm here. Ifthey don't go, the Crees will do something----"
"The Crees _have_ done something," interrupted McCain.
"You don't mean----" queried the priest, light slowly dawning upon him.
"Yes, just that. They overpowered and bound the guard, last night,and--well, they made a good job of it!"
"Killed the prisoners?" the priest slowly shook his head.
McCain nodded. "We found them both knifed in the heart. On the old manwas a piece of birch-bark, with the words: 'This work done by friends ofJean Marcel.'"
The priest raised his hands. "It would have been better to send themsouth. Still, they were evil men, and deserved their fate. Tell nothingof it to Julie. She has taken this thing very hard."