<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">CHAPTER XV</h2>
<p class="pch">AN ENCOUNTER AT THE LODGE</p>
<p class="drop-cap05"><span class="beg">IT WAS MID-DAY</span>, and as they marched between
the high banks on a hard trail, Joy Gargrave’s
heart grew light.</p>
<p>“Another hour, Babette, and we shall be home.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” was the reply, “home! That is what
North Star is to us, and I wonder you ever left it,
Joy.”</p>
<p>“I was afraid,” answered Joy. “Dick Bracknell’s
letter startled me. He plainly meant to assert
himself and I was glad of Sir Joseph’s summons
to England, because it helped me to get away from
the complications here.”</p>
<p>“It does not matter much where one goes,”
answered Babette philosophically, “one carries
one’s real complications with her. Here or there—what
matters? The heart is ever the same.”</p>
<p>“Yes, that is true,” answered Joy, thinking of the
complications of her own life. “We are the victims
of our emotions quite as much as of circumstances.”</p>
<p>“Of our inexperience more than our emotions, I
should say,” answered Babette— “of our inexperience
and the ruthlessness of those who are prepared
to take advantage of them. But here, better than
in most places, we can live our own life, untrammelled,
and for the most part free from the worser<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</SPAN></span>
cares. This lodge of ours is like a sanctuary in the
wilderness, and the serenity, the woods, the snow
and the silences have their own healing for the
troubles of life.”</p>
<p>“Yes, but there is something to be said for companionship
with one’s own kind. I notice we are
always a little excited when we have callers at the
Lodge. We——”</p>
<p>A rifle shot cracked in on her words, and before
either of them could speak again, a moose broke
suddenly from the woods, and plunged down the
steep bank not five hundred yards ahead of them.
The wolf-dogs in the sleds gave tongue, and notwithstanding
the burden behind them, leaped forward.
Joy laughed gaily.</p>
<p>“There’s an end of philosophic reflection. The
moose is hit. I wonder who——”</p>
<p>A man emerged from the woods, dropped on one
knee, and sighted the wide-horned beast. Then his
shot rang, and the moose toppled over in the snow.
The hunter stood up and caught sight of the oncoming
party. He scrutinized it carefully for a
moment and then waved his hand.</p>
<p>“It is George,” cried Babette, naming an Indian
servant. “See, he recognizes us.”</p>
<p>The hunter descended the bank, and instead of
going to inspect his kill waited for them to come up.
As they did so a smile crumpled his grave copper-coloured
face.</p>
<p>“How!” he said. “Very glad to see you, Miss
Joy and Miss Babette. My words are not as my
heart, for my tongue is not easy of speech. But
glad am I to behold you, glad as if your coming<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</SPAN></span>
were the breath of the south spring wind upon the
cheek.”</p>
<p>Joy laughed with pleasure. “Not more glad
than are we, George. And you must not belittle
that tongue of yours. If you only knew it you talk
poetry. But tell me, how are things at the Lodge?
All right, I hope, and Nanette and the papoose,
they are well?”</p>
<p>“They are well,” answered the Indian. “But
we dwell not alone. With us are Rayner and two
men of the Kwikpak tribe. They are bad men.”</p>
<p>“Rayner!” as she echoed the name Joy’s eyes
flashed fire.</p>
<p>“Yes, with two bad men of the Kwikpak tribe.”</p>
<p>“When did they arrive?” asked Joy quickly.</p>
<p>“At nightfall five days ago. They were very
weary, having followed the trail hard and long.
Rayner brought word from you that he stay to look
for some man, but he brought no word of your coming.”</p>
<p>“No, I dare say not,” answered Joy sharply.
“He would not expect us so soon. We also have
pushed the trail hard. What has Mr. Rayner been
doing since he arrived, George?”</p>
<p>“The first day he rest and smoke and ask many
questions.”</p>
<p>“Questions? About what?”</p>
<p>“He asked if Nanette or I have beheld two men,
one of whom is Corporal Bracknell, who took the
Northward trail when you went southward. He
ask if we have seen him since that time, and I
answer no, for it is the truth, and Rayner he smile<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</SPAN></span>
to himself as is the way of a man with a hidden
thought.”</p>
<p>“And the second man of whom he asked?”</p>
<p>“I know him not!” answered the Indian, “neither
him nor the name of Dick which he bore.”</p>
<p>“Dick!” Joy swung round to her companion.
“You hear, Babette. He asks after Dick, whose
body, as he told me, he had thrust into an ice-hole.
I thought when he told me that he lied and now I
know.”</p>
<p>She turned to the Indian again. “And the other
days?”</p>
<p>“The other days,” answered the Indian gravely,
“he drink much brandy and a little coffee, and the
two bad men they go on a journey and return yesterday.
They bring news I think, for at dawn tomorrow
they depart with Rayner.”</p>
<p>“No! Not tomorrow,” cried Joy, “but this
very day.”</p>
<p>“That will be as you desire, mistress. When we
return——”</p>
<p>“Where are they going? Do you know,
George?”</p>
<p>“They take the Northward trail. Rayner tell
me that when he have drunk much brandy. ‘From
North Star to the North Star we go,’ he say, ‘you
old graven image, and when we come back the girl
shall be ours!’ I do not understand such words,
for there is no girl there, but such are the words
that Rayner speak.”</p>
<p>Joy looked at Babette. “He knows something,”
she said.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>“Yes,” answered her foster-sister, “but there is
one thing he does not know, and that is a woman’s
heart. He surely cannot hope——”</p>
<p>“I do not know what he may hope. I know what
I shall do. My cousin Adrian is intolerable in his
pretensions.”</p>
<p>“What will you do, Joy? I begin to fancy that
away from the restraints of civilization Adrian
Rayner is possibly a dangerous man. And we are
‘North of fifty-three!’”</p>
<p>“I do not care. I am not afraid. There is, as
you once hinted, the law of the wilderness, and at
least I will be mistress in my own house.” She
turned to her servant. “We will leave you one of
the sleds, George. You will then be able to bring
some of the meat home. I will talk with you
again when you arrive.”</p>
<p>She gave orders for one team to push on and one
to remain, then as she and her foster-sister recommenced
their march she spoke again.</p>
<p>“I wonder why Adrian Rayner has lingered so
long at North Star?”</p>
<p>“He has evidently been using the Lodge as his
headquarters whilst he made the necessary inquiries.
Also there is another possibility,” answered
Babette.</p>
<p>“And what is that?”</p>
<p>“I have a thought that he may be desirous of
assuring himself that you have arrived here. It is
only a possibility, but it is there.”</p>
<p>“I do not see why——”</p>
<p>“Why do you suppose he wished to marry you?”
asked Babette quickly. “Because he loved you?<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</SPAN></span>
Possibly! But you are a rich woman, and I think
that may have more to do with the question than
you have yet thought. It may have more to do
with his journey here than anything else. Have
you made a will, Joy?”</p>
<p>“No!” answered Joy quickly. “I have never
thought of it. My uncle never suggested it to
me.”</p>
<p>“That is not surprising,” was the answer.
“After Dick Bracknell, your uncle is your next of
kin. He and your cousin are your only blood relatives.
Without a will, your marriage being unknown,
your estate would fall to them if you were
to die.”</p>
<p>Joy’s face showed a dawning horror. “Oh, but
my uncle——”</p>
<p>“Your uncle is human, Joy, and what is more he
has his difficulties. Whilst we were at Claridge’s I
overheard two men talking. I said nothing to you
at the time, regarding it as mere gossip, but they
were discussing Sir Joseph, and one of them said
that he had gathered some confounded bad eggs
during the last year or two, and that he must be
very rich to stand it. Supposing he is not very rich.
Supposing the bad eggs are more than he can stand.
Then your money——”</p>
<p>“But I cannot think that of my uncle, Babette; it
is monstrous.”</p>
<p>“Of your uncle. No! Perhaps not! But your
cousin is another matter. Let us suppose that he
knows of Sir Joseph’s losses. We know he is not
scrupulous. Knowing of your marriage to Dick
Bracknell, he paid you attention. He asked you to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</SPAN></span>
marry him. He even stooped to threats, as you
told me. Why? Because he wanted to be able to
control your fortune, to keep the money, some of
which was badly needed. You may shake your
head, Joy, but that is at least a possibility; and
that is why I suggest that it is possible that Adrian
Rayner may be desirous of assuring himself of your
arrival here. You are beginning to know him; do
you think that after his attempt to lure you into a
bigamous marriage, and after his threats, that he
will be at all chary of using any means that circumstances
may offer of putting him in possession of
your fortune? I do not! And he has been drinking,
if what George says is true; and drink makes a
tempted man dangerous. You must be careful,
Joy, even diplomatic if necessary.”</p>
<p>“I shall order him to leave North Star the moment
we arrive there!” answered Joy stubbornly.
“If there is a shadow of truth in your surmises,
there is all the more reason why I should do so.”</p>
<p>“You will do as you please, Joy,” replied her
foster-sister, breaking into a smile, “and at any rate
we have the big battalions on our side. With the
drivers and George, and George’s son, Jim, we
shall be able to enforce your will.”</p>
<p>“And I shall do so,” answered Joy. “Here I
am strong enough to disregard his threats.”</p>
<p>As it happened, the first person they encountered
when they left the river trail and swung into the
clearing which led to the Lodge, was Adrian Rayner.
He was walking towards the river, with a
rifle in the crook of his arm, and as he saw them
swinging towards him, he halted suddenly, and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</SPAN></span>
remained quite still, until Joy reached him. The
look on his face betrayed his surprise, and to Joy it
was clear that he had not expected to encounter her
before his departure from the lodge. He stood
there a little nonplussed and it was Joy who spoke
first.</p>
<p>“You have not wasted time, Cousin Adrian,” she
said, and there was an unmistakable edge to her
tones.</p>
<p>“No,” he answered with an awkward laugh. “I
promised you I would find that man who was in the
wood when you shot your hus——”</p>
<p>“No!” she interrupted sharply, “not when I did,
but when you shot my husband!”</p>
<p>There was accusation in her eyes, her voice, and
Rayner visibly quailed before it. Then he cried—</p>
<p>“What confounded nonsense is this?”</p>
<p>“It is not nonsense,” she answered. “It is at
least a possibility. You were in the wood that
night, and you had a rifle with you. There were
two shots, and one of them hit Dick Bracknell.
One of those shots came from my rifle, but from
whose rifle did the second come? Yours! I say.”</p>
<p>“Mine!” he cried harshly. “You must be mad.
You cannot have thought over what you are saying.”</p>
<p>“No,” she countered, “I am not mad, I am quite
sane, and I have thought a great deal over the
matter.”</p>
<p>“But why should I shoot Dick Bracknell masquerading
as Koona Dick? He was not my husband?”</p>
<p>“No,” replied Joy coolly, “but he was mine, and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</SPAN></span>
you had somehow become aware of the fact. If I
am not mistaken, you yourself aspired to marry
me——”</p>
<p>“Men <i>are</i> sometimes smitten with madness,” he
interposed sneeringly. “But there is another possibility
that I can suggest to you, of which you do
not seem to have thought. That precious corporal
who was here; he had a gun! Also, I fancy
that he would find the death of Dick Bracknell no
heartbreaking business, as it would bring him
within a step of the succession to Harrow Fell; and
as Jeff Bracknell is now dead, it puts him absolutely
on the doorstep. Have you thought of that?”</p>
<p>“There is no need that I should,” answered Joy
promptly. “Roger Bracknell had no knowledge
that the man whom he knew as Koona Dick was
his cousin, until he picked up a note which Dick had
written to me, which was some time after the firing
had taken place. I know that, and your suggestion
is merely preposterous.”</p>
<p>“You think so,” he laughed. “I wonder why?”
Something in his tones brought the blood flaming
to Joy Gargrave’s face. Her eyes flashed indignantly.
Rayner laughed again brutally.</p>
<p>“Not that there is any need for wonder,” he said
maliciously. “You seem to be in great vogue with
the Bracknells. It must be a family weakness for——”</p>
<p>“How dare you?” She took a step forward,
and suddenly raised the dog whip in her hand.
Rayner backed quickly, and instinctively raised his
hand. But the long lash smote him on the face,
and he gave vent to a savage oath.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>“You—virago! Would you?”</p>
<p>He had lost complete control of himself, and
what would have happened is only to be conjectured,
but at that moment the Indian George stepped
quietly from behind some tall bushes. He still
carried his rifle, and though there was an impassive
look on his brown face, his eyes were blazing.
The white man saw him, and as he met those eyes,
the wrath in him was checked. The Indian spoke
no word, but very deliberately opened the breech
of his rifle, as if to assure himself that it was
loaded. Then he closed it and looked at Rayner
again, and at that second look the white man shivered,
for in it he saw something threatening and
ominous, which unsealed the springs of fear within
him. Joy was the first to speak.</p>
<p>“George,” she said, addressing her henchman,
“Mr. Rayner takes the trail in an hour. Anything
he needs for his journey he is to have; but he
goes within the hour, and never again is he to visit
North Star. Do you understand?”</p>
<p>The Indian nodded his head in grave assent, and
without another look at Adrian Rayner, Joy
turned and went up the road towards the house.</p>
<hr class="chap" /></div>
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