Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-11
CHAPTER XIV.
A Long Waiting.

A Long Waiting.
The next morning Jan struck out over
his old trail TO the Iiasabala. Theories
were gone. He spent day swinging
east and west. and found old trails lead
ing into the north.
"They have gone up among the Eski-
mos" he said to himself. .'Ah. kaZan.
what in the name of the saints is that
The leading dog dropped upon his
launches with a menacing growl as "A
lone figure staggered across the snow to-
ward them. 1t was Croisset. With a
groan he dropped upon the sledge.
Il am sick and starving he walled.
THE fiend himself has got into my cabin,
and for three days I've had nothing but
snow and a raw whisky jack,
Sick cried Jan, drawing a step away
from him.
Yes. sick from an empty belly, and
this and this" He showed forearm
done up in a bloody rag. and pointed to
his neck. from which the skin was peel
ing 81 was gone ten days with that red
cloth you gave me; and when i came
back, if there wasn't the horror itself
grinning at me from the top of my own
shanty. L tried to get in, but. my wife
barred the door, and said that she would
shoot me If didn't get back into the
woods. / tried to steal in at night
through window and she drenched me
in hot water. / built wigwam at the
edge of the forest and stayed there for
five days. Hon-gree. Blessed saints, j
had no matches, no grub: and when I
got close enough to yell these things TO
her. she kept her word and plunked me
through a crack in the door. so that
lost a pint of blood from this arm
I'm give you something to eat" laughed
Jan, undoing his pack. How long has
the red flag been up?'
I've lost all count Of time. but it's
twelve days. If an hour, and / swear it $
going to take all winter to get it down.
Its not the plague. Go back and tell
your wife So
And get shot for my palms, groaned
Croisset, digging into meat and biscuit.
I'm bound for Lac Balm il you'll give
me a dozen matches. That whisky-jac k
1 ate him / forgot to take out his in
Sides
you're a lucky man. Croisset. It's
good proof that she loves you
If bullets and hot water and an empty
belly are proofs. she loves me a great
deal, Jan Thoreau. Though 1 don't be-
lieve she meant to hit me. 1t was
woman's bad aim.
Jan left him beside a good fire, and
turned into the southwest TO burn Ian
glois and his cabin. The red flag still
fioated where he had seen il weeks be-
fore. The windows We're thicker with
frost He shouted. beat upon the door
with the butt of his rifle and broke ia the
windows. The silence of death quickened
the beating of his heart when he stopped
to listen. There was no doubt that Lam
glois lay dead in his littls home.
Jan brought dry brushwood from the
forest and piled it high against the logs.
Upon his sledge he sat and watched the
fire until the cabin was furnace of leap
ing flame.
He continued westward. At the head
Of the Porcupine he found the remains
of three burned wigwams. and from one
of them he dug out charred bones Down
the Porcupine he went slowly, doubling
to the east and west. until at its juno
ton with Gray Otter creek. he met "a
Cree who told him that twenty miles
farther on there was an abandoned vii
lage OF six teepees. Toward these he
boldly set forth, praying as he went that
the angels were guarding Melissa at Post
Lac Balm.
Croisser reached the post fOrty-eight
hours after he had encountered Jan
The red flag is everywhere. he cried.
catching sight of the signal over Mukee's
cabin. 1T is to the east and west of the
Hasabala as thick as JAYS in spring
time
The Cree from the Gray otter drove in
OH his way north
six wigwams with dead in them. he
reported in his own language to Williams
"A company man, with one-eyed leader
and four trailerS. left the Gray outer 10
burn them.
Williams took down his birch-bark
moose horn and beloved weird signal
to Cummins. who opened crack of his
door TO listen, with Melissa close beside
him.
"Thoreau is in the thick of ii TO the
south " he called There's too much of
it for him and I'm going down with the
dogs Croisset will stay i'm the store for
a few days.
were big with fear when her father turned
from closing and boiling the door In
more than childish way, she knew that
Jan had gone forth to face a great dan
ger The grim laws of the savage world
In which she lived had already begun to
fix their influence upon her, quickening
her instinct and reason. just as they has
tened the lives of Indian children into the
of men and women before
they had reached fifteen
She knew what the red flag over Mu-
KEGS cabin meant. She knew that the air
of this world of hers had become filled
with peril to those who breathed 1t, and
that people were dying out in the forests;
that all about them there was a terrible.
unseen thing which her father called the
plague, and that Jan had gone forth to
fight it, to breathe it. and, perhaps. to die
I'm il. Their own door was locked and |
bolted against il. She dared not even
thrust her head from the window which
was opened for short time each day; |
and until Cummns assured her that there
was no danger in the sunshine. she shun-
ned the few pale rays that shot through
the cabin window at midday.
Unconsciously, Cummins added to her
fears in more ways than one, and as he
answered her questions truthfully. her
knowledge increased day by day. She |
thought more and more or Jan. She |
watched for him through the two windows |
Of her home. Every sound from outside |
brought her TO them with eager hope; and !
always her heart sank with disappoint- |
nent, and the tears would come very near |
% her ewes when she saw nothing but the 7
terrible red flag clinging to the pole over /
Mukee's cabin.
In the little Bible which her mother had |
eft there was written, on the ragged fly |
eaf a simple prayer Each night. as she /
knelt beside her cot and repeated this |
prayer, she paused at the end and added:
Dear Father in heaven, please take
care of JAM