Graham guardian., 1922-06-20
SYNOPSIS


CHAPTER I--Looking over Big Mus
Neg, a seemingly impossible swamp in
the path of the Mlssatibi railroad, Joe
Bostogk, builder of the line, and Wilton
Cerruthers, chief Of engineers, are con.
siderlng the dt. cultiGs. rifle shot in
stantly Kills BostOck and breaks Car
ruthers' arm Handicapped as he is, Car
rutners determines TO carry the body to
station of the Hudson's Bay company.
where one Mcdonald is the factor.
CHAPTER -MeDonald's daughter,
Molly sees Carruthers struggling in the
muskeg and drHgs him from the swamp
with his burden. Unaccountably, her
father objects 60 her saving Carruthers
CHAPTER Iu.-Weakened by his wound
and eXertions. Carruthers is disturbed by
the appearance of Tom Bowyer. Bostock' s
business rival and personal enemy. Bow
yer insults Molly, and Carruthers strikes
him, After Bowyer leaves. Carruthers
declares his love for Molly. She prom
ises to be his wife
The danger from the frOstbite was
the more immediate. Molly took snow
from the threshold and began TO rub
his face, his feet and his fingers. For
nearly an hour the girl persisted, never
ceasing her efforts, in spite of her
WEAKNESS, and the thawing,. dripping
clothes about her. And at last the
white skin began TO be suffused with
an angry red.
Then she washed away the clOtted
blood from the arm and nerved her.
self 20 the task that must he per
formed. At the Moose Lake mission
she had nursed an Indian with frac-
tured leg, set by the superintendent,
and this experience was all she had to
go by. But the break was simple
one. She brought the edges of the
bone together, made spllnts from
pieces of packing-case and wound the
whole tightly with cloth smeared with
bears fat. Then she heated some
broth and poured it, drop by drop,
down Wilton's throat.
When she could do no more she took
her clothes out of the room and changed
in another, kept for travellers, separat-
ed by a thin partition of pine planks.
She had just finished when she
heard her father shuffling down the
stairs 1t was the first time he had
left his bed. The girl ran to the door
in fear.
His eyes were sutfused with red and
his face twisted with passion. 1t was
evident that he had seen the rescue
from his window above and had known
what Molly was doing.
He dragged himself past her with
out word and looked in at Wilton,
lying unconscious on the bed
Il saw We bring him In. Molly" he
mumbled thickly. "Ye can't fool me
with tricks like that It's trick that
we've thocht of between We. Yen cast
him out again, aye"-his voice vi
brated with fury-"ye'll cast him out
into the snaw, or ye're no longer daugh-
ter of mine"
Molly caught at her fathers arm.
You don't know what you are say
ingl" she cried "He has been shot.
And Joe BostOck is dead He's lying
dead without. There's blood on his
breast. There has been a dreadful ac-
cident--"
He grasped her fiercely by the wrist.
Joe Bostock deadi" he shouted.
who killed him?"
II don't know. Mr.. Carruthers was
carrying his body and got trapped In
the muslleg. ] saved him"
AYE, one can see that" answered
~ xfvfth
brought more trouble on me. The
body shall not lie in this house, nor
Will Carruthers' neither. Mark me,
lass! Yen put him out In the snaw
to keep Joe Bostock company, or ye're
no daughter of mine"
you're madl" flashed Molly indlg-
nantly. With swift impulse she ran
to the door and opened it. A gust of
wind blew whirl of snow into the
store. To MOlly's excited brain it
seemed TO assume the momentary
form Of a fantasmal figure as 1t
wreatlted itself about the factor. He
uttered cry and staggered back,
at the edge Of the counter.
"Will you let dead man lie there,
nut In the snow?" cried Molly tiercely,
out her hand toward JOe's
frozen body. do you think win Car
ruthers shall be flung out there to
freeze to death beside him? Why, il
would be murder-aud on your head y
Perhaps it was the remembrance of
he past that checked the factor in his
Jury and brought back sanity to his
mind. For moment he stared at
Ioe's dead face, then raised his eyes
% Molly's, And then, mumbling and
at the counter edge, he
urned and began to drag himself up
stairs.