<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">CHAPTER III</h2>
<p class="pch">THE CORPORAL FINDS A LETTER</p>
<p class="drop-cap06"><span class="beg">“DISAPPEARED!</span>” As he echoed the corporal’s
word in a hoarse voice, Rayner
looked hastily and fearfully into the
shadows, and then added, “Are you sure?”</p>
<p>“Quite sure,” answered Corporal Bracknell
tersely. “This is the place where he lay. That
is his blood in the snow there; and you can, see the
print of his body if you look.”</p>
<p>“Then—then he was not dead after all?” asked
Rayner in a strange voice.</p>
<p>“I would not say that. I would have taken my
oath that there was no life in him. I even felt
his heart!”</p>
<p>“But in that case, how has he got away?”
inquired Rayner quickly. “Dead men do not walk
away from the place where they die.”</p>
<p>“No,” answered the corporal quietly. “But they
may be carried. It seems to me that there are
more footmarks here than there were when I came
on Koona Dick lying in the track; but I cannot be
quite sure of that, as I did not look about very
carefully.”</p>
<p>“Why not?” asked the other a trifle critically.
“I should have thought that would have been the
very first thing that you would have done.”</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>“In ordinary circumstances it would,” was the
reply, “but I had left my team in the main track,
and to do that overlong is not wise. One might
get separated from it, you know. Also I had already
guessed that there was a homestead not very
far away, and it seemed the sensible thing to go
there first, and learn anything that I could that
would help in the elucidation of the mystery of the
dead man.”</p>
<p>“Um! And did you learn anything?”</p>
<p>“More than I expected.”</p>
<p>“Indeed!” answered Rayner sharply. There
was a new note in his voice, and the corporal felt
rather than saw that the other was staring at him
in the darkness. “May I ask what that was?”</p>
<p>“It was that you were acquainted with Koona
Dick.”</p>
<p>“I have never spoken to him in my life,” replied
Rayner quickly.</p>
<p>“But you knew him or you had heard of him.
I saw you start when I mentioned his name at
table.”</p>
<p>His companion laughed uneasily. “You have
sharper eyes than I gave you credit for, Corporal
Bracknell. It is quite true that I had heard of
Koona Dick. I heard of him in my journey up,
and what I heard was not to his credit. Your presence
here implied that he was in this district, and
one had no hankering for such an unpleasant neighbour.”</p>
<p>“And Miss Gargrave, had she only heard of
him also?”</p>
<p>As he asked the question the aurora flashed<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</SPAN></span>
suddenly in the Northern sky, and in its light reflected
from the snow the corporal saw that Rayner’s
face was white and troubled. The light
faded almost as suddenly as it flamed, and with
that look in his mind the policeman waited for the
answer to his question. It seemed to be an intolerable
time before Rayner spoke in a hoarse and
shaking voice.</p>
<p>“How can I tell you? If you feel that it is
absolutely necessary to obtain an answer to that
question, I can only suggest that you should approach
Miss Gargrave herself.”</p>
<p>In his heart Bracknell knew that this answer was
a mere evasion. Rayner knew more than he was
willing to confess, and the policeman wondered
what it was, and what link there was between him
and Miss Gargrave and Koona Dick. He considered
a moment, and then deliberately forced the
pace.</p>
<p>“I have not told you everything, Mr. Rayner. I
do not know what relation you stand to Miss Gargrave,
but—”</p>
<p>“I am her cousin,” interrupted Rayner, “and my
father is her guardian and lawyer.”</p>
<p>“Is that so?” answered the corporal. “Then
there is more reason why I should tell you what
I intended to do. I have not told you yet how I
came to find Koona Dick. I had turned in from
the river because I smelt burning wood. I thought
that maybe the man I was after had encamped
somewhere in this immediate neighbourhood. I
found the avenue leading to North Star Lodge and
began to follow it. I turned from the main road<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</SPAN></span>
into the wood on a fresh sled-trail which I imagined
and still imagine was Koona Dick’s. I had gone
only a little way, when, as I have already told you,
I heard two rifle shots and a woman’s cry in quick
succession to each other. I ran back to the road,
and after waiting a moment I began to follow it.
I had reached the point where this path cuts into
it, when happening to glance across I saw a woman
coming towards me across the snow. I halted in
the shadows, meaning to speak to her, but I caught
sight of her face, and she did not see either my team
or myself.”</p>
<p>“You saw her face—plainly?” interrupted his
listener quickly.</p>
<p>“Quite plainly.”</p>
<p>“And would you recognize it again?”</p>
<p>“I have already done so,” answered the corporal
quietly.</p>
<p>“Indeed?”</p>
<p>“Yes, the woman was your cousin, Miss Gargrave.”</p>
<p>“My dear fellow,” cried Rayner, breaking into
discordant laughter. “You surely are not going
to charge Joy with shooting Koona Dick?”</p>
<p>The corporal was not disturbed by the laughter.
To his ears it sounded forced, and the contemptuous
protest in his companion’s words left him unmoved.</p>
<p>“There is one little thing that I have not told you,
Mr. Rayner, and to me it seems to be significant.
Miss Gargrave carried a rifle.”</p>
<p>“There is nothing strange or even significant
in that,” replied the other quickly. “My cousin is
an ardent sportswoman, and had probably been<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</SPAN></span>
after game. Besides, as I told you, I think, there
are timber wolves about. They are dangerous
beasts in hard weather, and one does not go far
unarmed in this district.”</p>
<p>Corporal Bracknell answered these suggestions
by some of his own. “Miss Gargrave was running
down the path which led to this spot. To my
eyes she was plainly distraught, and I may remind
you that she fainted when I told you that Koona
Dick was dead.”</p>
<p>Rayner laughed again hardly. “You are persistent,
Corporal, but there is nothing in a girl
fainting when she is told rather dramatically that
a man has been shot dead almost at her own door.
Aren’t you a little imaginative? Indeed,” he
laughed again, “having heard a rifle shot have you
not imagined all the rest? I am told that a lonely
trail plays the deuce with a man’s nerves. You
say that you saw Koona Dick lying here, dead; but
he is not here—now, and he can’t—”</p>
<p>“I haven’t imagined that anyhow,” interrupted
Bracknell, pointing to the dark stain on the snow,
“and I haven’t imagined any of the other things
I have told you, either. Believe me, Mr. Rayner,
my nerves are in perfect order.”</p>
<p>Rayner stamped his feet in the snow. “Possibly!
But there is no need that we should freeze, whilst
we discuss the point, is there? I do not understand
police procedure, but if you have quite finished
here, I think we might return to the house. I
have no desire to lose my toes through frost-bite.”</p>
<p>“I can do nothing here, tonight,” replied<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</SPAN></span>
Bracknell quickly. “I shall have to wait until
morning. I am quite ready to return.”</p>
<p>Rayner did not reply. Swinging on his heel, he
began to move in the direction of the lodge. The
corporal followed him in silence, and they had almost
reached the main-road when something light
caught his moccasined foot. He looked down and
discerned what looked like a piece of paper. Stooping
quickly, he picked it up, and crushed it in his
mitten, as his companion turned round, as if to wait
for him. At first he thought Rayner must have
seen him make the find; but as the other spoke, was
reassured.</p>
<p>“I hope you will not disturb my cousin unnecessarily
tonight, Corporal Bracknell.”</p>
<p>“I shall not trouble her at all, Mr Rayner.
There is no need that I should—yet.”</p>
<p>“Nor at any other time, I hope.”</p>
<p>“I share that hope, most fervently,” answered
Bracknell, with an earnestness that the other
evidently found convincing, for he did not speak
again until they were seated in the front of the
stove in the room where they had dined. Then
he tried to make light of the situation. “Corporal,”
he laughed, “the laws of hospitality are sacred
in the North. Even though you feel you must
drag us all down as your prisoners, they must be
honoured. We have some very old brandy here,
indeed it is incredibly old, and its quality is equal
to its age. You will take a glass with me, and another
cigar?”</p>
<p>“I shall be delighted, thank you, Mr. Rayner.”</p>
<p>Rayner produced a decanter and glasses, and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</SPAN></span>
poured out the brandy, and whilst the officer was
lighting his cigar, Miss La Farge entered the room.</p>
<p>“How is Joy?” asked Rayner quickly.</p>
<p>“Better, thank you. She sent me to make her
excuses for tonight; and to ask how you had
sped.”</p>
<p>“Only fairly,” answered Rayner, with a smiling
glance at the corporal. “We did not find the dead
man whom Mr. Bracknell averred he saw.”</p>
<p>“That is very strange,” said the girl wonderingly.</p>
<p>“Yes,” was the reply, “very strange, so strange
indeed that I have tried to persuade the corporal
that all that he has told us is just a snow-dream.”</p>
<p>“But you have not persuaded him?” asked
Miss La Farge, with a quick glance at the corporal’s
face.</p>
<p>It was Bracknell himself who answered. “No,
I have not, as yet, been persuaded, Miss La
Farge.”</p>
<p>“My eloquence was wasted, Babette,” laughed
Rayner easily. “Corporal Bracknell has that
British stubbornness which is a nuisance to our
friends and a terror to our enemies.”</p>
<p>Miss La Farge laughed as she replied, “That is
a characteristic of the male persuasion.”</p>
<p>With a smiling nod she withdrew, closing the door
behind her, and Rayner rose from his chair and
drew a curtain of moose-hide over the door.</p>
<p>“Miss La Farge is a good companion for my
cousin.”</p>
<p>“From French Canada, I suppose?” queried the
corporal.</p>
<p>“Father was of that stock, but her mother was<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</SPAN></span>
partly of Scotch descent, partly native. Joy’s
mother died young, and Babette’s brought them up
together. They are foster-sisters and inseparables.”</p>
<p>Bracknell nodded, and sipped the brandy thoughtfully,
and the other continued, “I do not know what
will happen when Joy gets married.”</p>
<p>“Is that an early possibility?” asked the corporal,
with a sudden quickening of interest.</p>
<p>“I hope so,” replied Rayner, with a bland smile.</p>
<p>The corporal made the inference that he was
meant to make. “Then you—”</p>
<p>“It is not quite settled yet, but I hope it will
be very shortly. The wilderness years necessitated
by her father’s will are nearly over, and I am to
take her ‘out’ from here. I hope then that we shall
be married, and live in England.”</p>
<p>For a moment the corporal did not reply. He
looked at the bland, mask-like face before him,
saw, as he had already noted, that the steel-like
blue eyes were too close together, that the lips were
sensual; and as he did so, the beautiful face of Joy
Gargrave, as he had seen it at table, rose before
him, and somehow he found Rayner’s suggestion
of coming wedlock utterly distasteful. The man,
as he felt instinctively, was not a man to be trusted
with a girl’s happiness. Why he should have that
feeling he could not tell; but it was there, and it
was only by an effort that he was able to reply
affably.</p>
<p>“For Miss Gargrave, England, no doubt, is much
to be preferred.”</p>
<p>“Much!” agreed Rayner, then added, “Having<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</SPAN></span>
told you so much, you can understand that I feel
rather inclined to resent your suggestion that Joy
has anything to do with the mysterious affair out
in the wood there. She may have heard the name
of Koona Dick as I myself have, but that she knew
him, that she shot him, is the very wildest thing
for any one to imagine. I really cannot think how
you can entertain it for a moment in face of the
utter absence of motive.”</p>
<p>“That is a strong point certainly,” conceded
Bracknell.</p>
<p>“That she happened to be in the neighbourhood
is nothing. I was in the neighbourhood, you were
in the neighbourhood—”</p>
<p>“Yes,” interrupted the corporal with a smile,
“that is true. But there is no reason why I should
shoot Koona Dick, and there was every reason why
I should take him prisoner.”</p>
<p>“You are not suggesting that there was any reason
why Joy or I should have done such a thing, I
hope?”</p>
<p>“Far from it. I know of none, but of course
in an area where crime is committed every one is
suspect until the criminal is found.”</p>
<p>Rayner laughed easily, and to the corporal’s
quick ear there was a note of relief in his tones as
he replied, “In that case there is no need why we
should worry, however one may resent the personal
implication of such a general suspicion.”</p>
<p>He pushed the decanter towards the corporal,
who shook his head, and rose from his chair.</p>
<p>“Thank you, no more tonight, Mr. Rayner.
If you will excuse me, I will go to my sleeping<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</SPAN></span>
quarters. I have had a very hard day, and must
be up betimes in the morning.”</p>
<p>“As you will,” answered Rayner, and a moment
later led the way to the bedroom which the policeman
was to occupy. For the North it was a luxurious
one, but the corporal scarcely noticed it. The
moment the door had closed behind Rayner, he
thrust a hand into his tunic pocket and drew forth
a crumpled piece of paper. It was the paper he
had picked up in the snow. He opened it out, and
as he caught a word or two of the writing it contained,
a swift light of interest came into his eyes.</p>
<p>Setting a chair in front of the stove, he seated
himself, and very carefully smoothed the paper on
his knee. Then he took it up and began to read.</p>
<div class="pbq">
<p class="pn1">“<span class="smcap">My dear Joy</span>,—</p>
<p>“This note will no doubt be something of a
shock to you; as I imagine you must think I am
no longer in the land of the living; at any rate I
have not heard from you for a very long time,
and so can only presume that such must have been
your idea. But here I am and in a sweat to see
you.</p>
<p>“An accident gave me the knowledge of your
whereabouts, and now I learn that you are not
alone. Therefore I shall not visit the house, in the
first instance, without your invitation, but I must
see you, and in an hour’s time after your receipt
of this I shall look for you in the little path that
goes towards the hill. It is a long time since that
day at Alcombe, which I am sure you will not have
forgotten, and you and I, my dear, should have<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</SPAN></span>
much to say to each other. Do not fail to come.</p>
<p class="pr4">“Dick....”</p>
</div>
<p class="p1">When he reached the end, the corporal sat staring
at the letter like a man hypnotized. It was in
pencil, written on a page torn out of a memorandum
book, and the writer had evidently been about to
sign his full name, and then had changed his mind,
for the beginning of the surname had been crossed
out, and the more intimate “Dick” left to stand
alone.</p>
<p>“Then she did know him!” he whispered to
himself. “She went out to meet him. She—”</p>
<p>He did not finish his utterance, but lifted the
paper the more carefully to examine the signature.
He was interested in the unfinished surname, and
spelled out the letters carefully, “B-r-a.” He
repeated them to himself several times, trying to
guess the sequence that should follow, then suddenly
he started to his feet, and a startled look came into
his eyes.</p>
<p>“Good God!” he whispered. “If it should be
so?” He stood for quite a long time, his face the
index of profound thought and concern, then he
bestowed the incriminating letter in a place of
safety, and prepared for bed. But it was long
before he slept. From somewhere in the forest
came the long-drawn howl of a wolf, and in response
the dogs outside bayed in chorus, but it was his
own silent thoughts, and not these noises of the
wilderness, that kept sleep from his tired eyes.</p>
<hr class="chap" /></div>
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