The Coolidge examiner., 1931-05-22

looked away over the Richelieu to-
ward Champlain and Dieskau.
And they will not harm your
father or your mother or anything
that belongs to the Bulains. but
will reward them for their loyalty
TO murder and outrage Is not
that true?"
Still Jeems did not answer, but
stood listening for sound to come
out of the distance.
She saw the sickness gathering
in bis face and eyes, but pity for
him was as dead in her breast as
her desire 10 live She knew where
he would take her. To his home
"A place left unScathed by the
killers. To his mother. the soft
| and pretty woman in whom her
! father had believed so faithfully.
| To Henri Bulain. the traitor who
had bartered his honor for an Eng
lish woman. Over her fathers hill,
in Forbidden valley, were safety
and mercy at the hands of her
cOuntry's enemies.
Her lips found way to cut him
deeper.
"Your father and mother are
waiting for you" she said. go,
and leave me here. | prefer to
wait for the return OF your Indian
friends. And | am not sorry be-
cause | tried to kill your
He moved away from her to
where Hebert and Juchereau and
the simple minded Raudot lay on
the ground. This time II was the
idiots coat he took, fine coat
made by the idiots mother. The
boy had loved birds and flowers,
and on the lapel of the coat was
a faded geranium bloom. .Jeems
took il off and tucked it between
the dead lads fingers.
Then he went back TO Toinette
and said. 1--WE had better go.'
After that he added. IL am sorry,
but | must go to my mother and
father first"
He staggered as he set out, and
TOnteur hill dipped and wobbled
before his eyes. There was an
ache like splinter twisting in his
head, and as she followed him,
Toinette could see the effect of
her unresisted blows with the iron
gun barrel. For she did follow,
out of the smoke fumes into the
clearer air of the meadows and
across them TO the worn path that
led TO the Indian trail and the
home of Catherine Bulain.
They're down there" said
Jeems, and pointed, speaking to
Odd more than TO her.
He took the hatchet from his
belt and carried it i'm his hand.
They entered the greater stiffness
of the Big forest, and Odd. who
had travelled between them.
dropped back to Toinette's side
and thrust his muzZle against her
hand
She did not snatch it away from
him now.
They came to the slope, and
Jeems forgot that Toinette was
behind him. He walked straight
down like Sll. thin ghost-and
the girl stopped and stood alone,
staring at the place where his
home should have been, a cry
wringing itself at last from her
lips.
Jeems did not hear. He saw
nothing but the clump of rose
bushes and the place where his
mother lay. He went to her first,
oblivious of other presence, uncon-
SciOuS of the sun, of the ruins still
SmOldering. his soul stirring once
more with the faint mad spark of
incredulity. But she was dead.
He saw her with clearer eyes.
though he was sick with hurt. He
knelt beside her calmly for a little
while. He touched her face gent
ly with his hand, and then went
to his father. Odd trailed at his
heels. In the stump field was a
shovel. Under his mothers big
tree he planned to dig.
When he returned, his mother
was not alone Toinette was there,
on the ground, with the English
woman's head in her lap Her eyes
blaZed up at Jeems, and something
like defiance was in them, some
thing that was possessive and
challenging and which hid what
ever pity she might have had for
him, or pleading for his forgive
ness. Her hands were pressing
the cold face of the woman she
had wanted to hate, and she con-
tinued to look at JeemS, so hard,
so terribly, so understandingly
that she seemed almost to be wait
ing for him to punish her with q
blow.
Then she bowed her head over
his mother, and the shining veil
of her hair covered death.
Under the big tree he began to
dig.
1t was late afternoon when they
left the valley, a still. slumbering
hour when the sun was about to
go to its early rest, leaving glOws
and sunset paintings behind that
might have been made of swim
ming metals.
TOinettes hand lay in Jeems' as
they went.
They were like a young god and
goddess ready to face the hazards
of savage world with a strength
wrought out of fire The sickness
had left Jeems. His wounded arm
was cared for by fingers as gentle
as his mothers had been. Hot
tears careSsing his flesh from TOi-