The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-12

space in the forest gloom. He could see a man adding fuel to the blaze and beyond him, shrouded in the deep shadows of the trees, an indistinct tangle of dogs and sledge. As he strained his eyes to discover more there was a movement beyond the figure over the fire, and the young engineers heart leaped with a sudden thrill. Croisset's voice sounded in a shrill shout behind him, and at that warning cry in French the second figure sprang back into the gloom. But Rowland had recognized it, and the chilled blood in his veins leaped into warm life again at the knowledge that 1t was Meleese who was trailing be- hind them on the second sledge.
 '.When you yell like that give me a little warning if you please, Jean," he said, speaking as coolly as though he had not recognized the figure that had come for an instant into the 6relight. "It is enough to startle the life out of one"
 Ut is our way of saying goodby, m'seur," replied Croisset, with fierce snap of his whip "Hoo-la, get along therer' he cried to the dogs, and in half a dozen breaths the fire was lost to view.
 Dawn comes at about s o'clock in the northern midwinter. Beyond the fiftieth degree the first ruddy haze of the sun begins to warm the southeast ern skies at 9, and it's glow had already risen above the forests before Croisset stopped his team again. For two hours he had not spoken word to his prisoner, and after several unavailing efforts to break the others taciturnity Rowland lapsed into a silence of his own. When he had brought his tired dogs to a halt Croisset spoke for the first time.
 "We are going to camp here for few hours," he explained. ''If you will pledge me your word of honor that you will make no attempt to escape I will give you the use of your legs until after breakfast, m'seur. What do you say?'
 'Have you a Bible, Croisset?"
 "No, m'seur, but have the cross of our Virgin, given to me by the mis- sioner at York factory"
 'sThen will swear by it. I will swear by all the crosses and all the Bibles in the world that I will make no effort to escape. I am paralyzed, Croisset. couldn't run for a week"
 Croisset was searching in his pock- cts.
 ''Mon Dieu," he cried excitedly, 'I have lost it! An, come to think, sm'seur, l gave the cross to my Mariane before I went into the south. But will take your word"
 And who is Mariane, Jean? Will she also be in at the 'kill?'"
 "Mariane is my wife, m'seur. An, ma belle Mariane, ma cheri, the daugh- ter of an Indian princess and the granddaughter of a chef de batail- lon, m'seurl Could there be better than that? And she is be-e-e-utiful, m'seur, with hair like the top side of a ravens wing with the sun shining on it, and"-
 You love her a great deal, Jean"
 Next to the Virgin-and-it may be a little better
 Croisset had severed the rope about the engineers legs, and as he raised his glowing eyes Rowland reached out and put both hands on his shoulders.
 And in just that way I love Me leese," he said softly. "Jean, won't you be my friend? I don't want to escape. I'm not a coward. Won't you think of what your Mariane might do and be friend to me? You would die for Marianne if it were necessary. And 1 would die for the girl back on that sledge.''
 He had staggered to his feet and pointed into the forests through which they had come.
 "I saw her in the freight, Jean. Why is she following us? Why do they want to kill me? If you would only give me a chance to prove that it is all mistake-that I"-
 Croisset reached out and took his hand
 "M seur, I would like to help you," he interrupted. "I liked you that night we came in together from the fight on the trail. l have liked you since. And yet, if I was in their place, l would kill you even though like you. It is a great duty to kill you. They did not do wrong when they tied you in the coyote. They did not do wrong when they tried to kill you on the trail. But I have taken a solemn oath to tell you nothing, nothing beyond this-that so long as you are with me and that sledge is behind us your life is not in danger. I will tell you nothing more. Are you hungry. m'seur?'
 ''Starved!" said Rowland.
 He stumbled a few steps out into the snow, the numbness in his limbs fore ing him to catch at trees and saplings to save himself from falling. He~was astonished at Croissets words and more confused than ever at the half breeds assurance that his life was no longer in immediate peril. To him this meant that Meleese had not only warned him, but was now playing an active part in preserving his life, and this conclusion added to his perplexity. Who was this girl who a few hours be- fore had deliberately lured him among his enemies and who was now fighting to save him? The question held a deeper significance for him than when