CHAPTER XXVIII.
"SOME TERRIBLE PRESENTIMENT IS WARNING ME THAT MY DARLING IS IN DANGER."
There never was a night so long that another day did not dawn--atlast--and when the morrow's light broke, Halloran was slowly but surelycollapsing--giving himself up to the horrible doom that awaited him--forthe bear had not quitted his position under the tree, nor had he takenhis eyes off his intended victim for a single moment.
As the sun rose, Halloran watched it with dazed, bloodshot eyes,exclaiming:
"Good-by, golden sun, I shall never see you set, nor witness you riseagain upon another day. I--" the sentence was never finished, for overthe snowy waste rang a voice like a bugle blast:
"Keep quiet, take heart, help is at hand; I am going to shoot the animaland deliver you," and simultaneously with the voice four shots in rapidsuccession rang out upon the early morning air.
There was a wild howl of pain, a terrible roaring bellow, a sudden dashtoward a dark figure hurriedly approaching, two more shots, and the bearrolled over dying beyond power to harm, his red blood dyeing the whitesnow in great pools. Halloran knew no more. His strength and enduranceseemed suddenly to leave him, darkness closed in about him, his holdloosened and he fell backward down, down through space.
He did not know that a pair of strong arms caught him, thus saving himfrom a broken neck. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, to hisintense surprise he found Lester Armstrong bending over him, and thesight rendered him fairly dumb with amazement.
Before he could ask questions that sprang to his lips, Lester explainedto him that owing to the dampness of the place, the fire Halloran hadkindled had quickly gone out, thus saving the young man from beingburned to death. He told him, too, why death had not come to him throughstarvation, as had been intended, and that it had taken him all thattime to force apart the links of the chain, when he found that there wasno one to hear or prevent, no matter how much noise he made in so doing.
He had seen the revolver, which had been forgotten, and little imaginingit would be of such vital use, had thrust it in his pocket and startedforth to make his way back to New York, when he unexpectedly came uponthe scene of the bear under the tree, and a fellow-being in deadlyperil.
"You saved me--me," cried Halloran, huskily, "your deadly foe, whotried to rob you of your life."
"It was my duty, 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,'" quoted Lester,quietly.
Halloran fell on his knees, covering the other's hands with passionatekisses, tears falling like rain from his eyes.
"From this hour the life that you have saved shall be devoted toyou--and God!" he cried brokenly. "Oh, will Heaven ever forgive me forthe past? There are two bullets left in the revolver; you ought to shootme dead at your feet, Lester Armstrong. I deserve it."
Lester shook his head.
"Do better with your life than you have done in the past," he said.
Halloran tried to rise to his feet, but fell back exhausted on the snow.
"I cannot walk," he gasped. "I--I am sure my limbs are frozen."
With a humane kindness that won him Halloran's gratitude to his dyingday, Lester helped him to the railway station, and to board the incomingtrain, taking him to a hospital when they reached New York City.
Halloran had lapsed into unconsciousness, but Lester was too kind ofheart to desert him in his hour of need.
The clock was striking five as Lester left the hospital.
On the pavement he paused, asking himself if he could go to a hotelpresenting that soiled, unkempt appearance. Then like an inspiration itoccurred to him that the best place in the world to go to was Mr.Conway's; and he put the thought into execution at once, reaching therenearly an hour later.
Mr. Conway and Margery were just sitting down to breakfast as he rangthe bell of the humble little cottage.
Mr. Conway answered the summons.
The scene which followed can better be imagined than described.
It was hard to convince father and daughter, at first, that in tellinghis story he was not attempting to play some practical joke upon them.
That he had a cousin who so cleverly resembled him that even those whohad known Lester intimately for long years should be so cleverlydeceived by him seemed almost incredible. Margery hid her face in hertrembling hands while her father gave Lester a full account of what hadtranspired, while the latter's emotion was great; and his distressintense, upon learning that Kendale had dared betroth himself to Margeryin his name, and that the gentle-hearted girl had learned to care forthe scamp, despite her repugnance to him at first.
Lester thought it best, under the circumstances, to confide in full toMargery and her father concerning his own love affair, lest they mightexpect him to carry out the contract his cousin had made in regard tomarrying his old friend's pretty daughter.
Margery's next words, however, set his troubled heart at rest in thatrespect.
She looked up at him suddenly through her tears, saying shyly:
"There is another who cares for me, not knowing of this affair, one whomI once thought I could love. Yesterday he wrote me a letter, asking formy heart and hand.
"Last night I wrote him a reply, saying 'No,' and telling him why. Ishall destroy that letter to-night, thankful enough that I did not havetime to send it. And my answer will then be 'Yes.'"
"You have my best wishes for your happiness, little Margery," saidLester, adding smilingly: "And when; the wedding occurs, which I hopewill be soon, you may, expect a very handsome present from me."
Long after Mr. Conway and his unexpected visitor had finished theirsimple breakfast, they talked over the strange situation of affairs, andwhat was best to be done to avoid great publicity.
"The bogus Lester Armstrong went to Beechwood last night," said the oldcashier. "He probably will remain there, as is his custom, until to-daynoon. You had better confront him there; meanwhile I will break theamazing story to those of the establishment whom it is absolutelynecessary to tell. The rest of the employees and the public at largeneed never know of the glaring fraud that was so cleverly practisedunder their very eyes."
Lester had sprung to his feet trembling with excitement, at theinformation that Kendale had gone to the home of Faynie, despite thefact that Mr. Conway had assured him that Kendale was not married.
"Only yesterday he told me he contemplated marriage with a littleheiress out at Beechwood, and if his wooing went on smoothly he would bea benedict in a few days' time--those were his exact words!" declaredMr. Conway.
"Thank Heaven the mischief has not yet been done," cried Lester,fervently.
He would have started for Beechwood at once, had it not been for Mr.Conway, who induced him to lie down for a few hours and take a littlemuch-needed rest, explaining that he could not go in that apparel, andit would take some little time to secure suitable raiment, and renovatehis appearance.
Lester yielded to his judgment.
Neither Mr. Conway nor Margery had the heart to awaken him, as hourafter hour rolled by; he seemed so thoroughly exhausted and his deepsleep was doing him such a world of good, although the complete outfitwhich Mr. Conway had sent for had long since arrived.
It was night when Lester opened his eyes--imagining his surroundings forthe moment but the idle vagaries of a dream.
Mr. Conway's kindly, solicitous face bending over him soon brought himto his senses, and a remembrance of all that had occurred.
"Oh, Mr. Conway! You should not have let me sleep," he cried. "I oughtto have been at Beechwood hours ago; something in my heart--someterrible presentiment is warning me that my darling is in danger!"
"You are only fanciful," returned his old friend. "Anxiety makes youimagine that."
"I hope it may prove as you say," replied Lester, huskily, and in anhour's time he was on his way to Beechwood and Faynie.
Mischievous Maid Faynie Page 28
