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Then Jeanne, who was in the bow, turned her face to Philip, and the glow of the rock itself suffused her
cheeks as she pointed over the barren.
"M'sieur Philip," she said, "there is Fort o' God!"
XVI
There was a low tremble in Jeanne's voice. The canoe swung broadside to the slow current, and Philip looked
in astonishment at the change in Pierre. The tired half-breed had uncovered his head, and knelt with his face
turned to that last crimson glow in the sky, like one in prayer. But his eyes were open, there was a smile on his
lips, and he was breathing quickly. Pride and joy came where there had been the lines of grief and exhaustion.
His shoulders were thrown back, his head erect, and the fire of the distant rock reflected itself in his eyes.
From him Philip turned, so that he could look into Jeanne's face. The girl, too, had changed. Again these two
were the Pierre and Jeanne whom he had seen that first night on the moonlit cliff. Pierre seemed no longer the
half-breed, but the prince of the rapier and broad cuffs; and Jeanne, smiling proudly at Philip, made him an
exquisite little courtesy from her cramped seat in the bow, and said:
"M'sieur Philip, welcome to Fort o' God!"
"Thank you," he said, and stared toward the sun-capped rock.
He could see nothing but the rock, the black forests, and the desolate barren stretching between. Fort o' God,
unless it was the rock itself, was still a mystery hidden in the gathering gloom. The canoe began moving
slowly onward, and Jeanne turned so that her eyes searched the stream ahead. A thick wall of stunted forest
shut out the barren from their view; the stream grew narrower, and on the opposite side a barren ridge,
threatening them with torn and upheaved masses of rock, flung the heavy shadows of evening down upon
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Flower of the North
them. No one spoke. Philip could hear Pierre breathing behind him: something in the intense quiet--in the
awesome effect which their approach to Fort o' God had upon these two--sent strange little thrills shooting
through his body. He listened, and heard nothing, not even the howl of a dog. The stillness was oppressive,
and the darkness thickened about them. For half an hour they continued, and then Pierre headed the canoe into
a narrow creek, thrusting it through a thick growth of wild rice and reeds,
Balsam and cedar and swamp hazel shut them in. Overhead the tall cedars interlaced, and hid the pale light of
the sky. Philip could just make out Jeanne ahead of him.
And then, suddenly, there came a wonderful change. They shot out of the darkness, as if from a tunnel, but so
quietly that one a dozen feet away could not have heard the ripple of Pierre's paddle. Almost in their faces
rose a huge black bulk, and in that blackness three or four yellow lights gleamed like mellow stars. The canoe
touched noiselessly upon sand. Pierre sprang out, still without sound. Jeanne followed, with a whispered
word. Philip was last.
Pierre pulled the canoe up, and Jeanne came to Philip. She held out her two hands. Her face shone white in the
gloom, and there was a look in her beautiful eyes, as she stood for a moment almost touching him, that set his
heart jumping. She let her hands lie in his while she spoke.
"We have not even alarmed the dogs, M'sieur Philip," she whispered. "Is not that splendid? I am going to
surprise father, and you will go with Pierre. I will see you a little later, and--"
She rose on tiptoe, and her face was dangerously close to his own.
"And you are very, very welcome to Fort o' God, M'sieur."
She slipped away into the darkness, and Pierre stood beside Philip. His white teeth were gleaming strangely,
and he said in a soft voice:
"M'sieur, that is the first time that I have ever heard those words spoken at Fort o' God. We welcome no man
here who has your blood and your civilization in his veins. You are greater than a king!"
With a sudden exclamation Philip turned upon Pierre.
"And that is the reason for Jeanne's surprise?" he said. "She wishes to pave a way for me. I begin to
understand!"
"It is true that you might not have received that welcome which you are certain to receive now from the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]