CHAPTER X
Until he felt the warm thrill of the girl's arm under his hand Philipdid not realize the hazard he had taken. He turned suddenly to confrontBram. He would not have known then that the wolf-man was mad, andimpulsively he reached out a hand.
"Bram, she's starving," he cried. "I know now why you wanted thatstuff! But why didn't you tell me! Why don't you talk, and let me knowwho she is, and why she is here, and what you want me to do?"
He waited, and Bram stared at him without a sound.
"I tell you I'm a friend," he went on. "I--"
He got no farther than that, for suddenly the cabin was filled with themadness of Bram's laugh. It was more terrible than out on the openBarren, or in the forest, and he felt the shudder of the girl at hisside. Her face was close to his shoulder, and looking down he saw thatit was white as death, but that even then she was trying to smile atBram. And Bram continued to laugh--and as he laughed, his eyes blazinga greenish fire, he turned to the stove and began putting fuel into thefire. It was horrible. Bram's laugh--the girl's dead white face, ANDHER SMILE! He no longer asked himself who she was, and why she wasthere. He was overwhelmed by the one appalling fact that she WAS here,and that the stricken soul crying out to him from the depths of thoseeyes that were like wonderful blue amethysts told him that Bram hadmade her pay the price. His muscles hardened as he looked at the hugeform bending over the stove. It was a splendid opportunity. A singleleap and he would be at the outlaw's throat. With that advantage, inopen combat, the struggle would at least be equal.
The girl must have guessed what was in his mind, for suddenly herfingers were clutching at his arm and she was pulling him away from thewolf-man, speaking to him in the language which he could notunderstand. And then Bram turned from the stove, picked up a pail, andwithout looking at them left the cabin. They could hear his laugh as hejoined the wolves.
Again Philip's conclusions toppled down about him like a thing made ofblocks. During the next few moments he knew that the girl was tellinghim that Bram had not harmed her. She seemed almost hystericallyanxious to make him understand this, and at last, seizing him by thehand, she drew him into the room beyond the curtained door. Her meaningwas quite as plain as words. She was showing him what Bram had done forher. He had made her this separate room by running a partition acrossthe cabin, and in addition to this he had built a small lean-to outsidethe main wall entered through a narrow door made of saplings that werestill green. He noticed that the partition was also made of freshtimber. Except for the bunk built against the wall, a crude chair, asapling table and half a dozen bear skins that carpeted the floor theroom was empty. A few garments hung on the wall--a hood made of fur, athick mackinaw coat belted at the waist with a red scarf, and somethingdone up in a small bundle.
"I guess--I begin to get your meaning," he said, looking straight intoher shining blue eyes. "You want to impress on me that I'm not to wringBram Johnson's neck when his back is turned, or at any other time, andyou want me to believe that he hasn't done you any harm. And yet you'reafraid to the bottom of your soul. I know it. A little while ago yourface was as white as chalk, and now--now--it's the prettiest face I'veever seen. Now, see here, little girl--"
It gave him a pleasant thrill to see the glow in her eyes and the eagerpoise of her slim, beautiful body as she listened to him.
"I'm licked," he went on, smiling frankly at her. "At least for thepresent. Maybe I've gone loony, like Bram, and don't realize it yet. Iset out for a couple of Indians, and find a madman; and at the madman'scabin I find YOU, looking at first as though you were facing straightup against the door of-of-well, seeing that you can't understand Imight as well say it--OF HELL! Now, if you weren't afraid of Bram, andif he hasn't hurt you, why did you look like that? I'm stumped. Irepeat it--dead stumped. I'd give a million dollars if I could makeBram talk. I saw what was in his eyes. YOU saw it--and that pretty pinkwent out of your face so quick it seemed as though your heart must havestopped beating. And yet you're trying to tell me he hasn't harmed you.My God--I wish I could believe it!"
In her face he saw the reflection of the change that must have comesuddenly into his own.
"You're a good fifteen hundred miles from any other human being withhair and eyes and color like yours," he continued, as though inspeaking his thoughts aloud to her some ray of light might throw itselfon the situation. "If you had something black about you. But youhaven't. You're all gold--pink and white and gold. If Bram has anotherfit of talking he may tell me you came from the moon--that achasse-galere crew brought you down out of space to keep house for him.Great Scott, can't you give me some sort of an idea of who you are andwhere you same from?"
He paused for an answer--and she smiled at him. There was somethingpathetically sweet in that smile. It brought a queer lump into histhroat, and for a space he forgot Bram.
"You don't understand a cussed word of it, do you?" he said, taking herhand in both his own and holding it closely for a moment. "Not a word.But we're getting the drift of things--slowly. I know you've been herequite a while, and that morning, noon and night since the chasse-galerebrought you down from the moon you've had nothing to put your littleteeth into but meat. Probably without salt, too. I saw how you wantedto throw yourself down on that pile of stuff on the floor. Let's havebreakfast!"
He led her into the outer room, and eagerly she set to work helping himgather the things from the floor. He felt that an overwhelming load hadbeen lifted from his heart, and he continued to tell her about it whilehe hurried the preparation of the breakfast for which he knew she washungering. He did not look at her too closely. All at once it haddawned upon him that her situation must be tremendously moreembarrassing than his own. He felt, too, the tingle of a new excitementin his veins. It was a pleasurable sensation, something which he didnot pause to analyze just at present. Only he knew that it was becauseshe had told him as plainly as she could that Bram had not harmed her.
"And if he HAD I guess you'd have let me smash his brains out when hewas bending over the stove, wouldn't you?" he said, stirring the messof desiccated potato he was warming in one of his kit-pans. He lookedup to see her eyes shining at him, and her lips parted. She wasdelightfully pretty. He knew that every nerve in her body was strainingto understand him. Her braid had slipped over her shoulder. It was asthick as his wrist, and partly undone. He had never dreamed that awoman's hair could hold such soft warm fires of velvety gold. Suddenlyhe straightened himself and tapped his chest, an inspiring thoughtleaping into his head.
"I am Philip Raine," he said. "Philip Raine--Philip Raine--PhilipRaine--"
He repeated the name over and over again, pointing each time tohimself. Instantly light flashed into her face. It was as if all atonce they had broken through the barrier that had separated them. Sherepeated his name, slowly, clearly, smiling at him, and then with bothhands at her breast, she said:
"Celie Armin."
He wanted to jump over the stove and shake hands with her, but thepotatoes were sizzling. Celie Armin! He repeated the name as he stirredthe potatoes, and each time he spoke it she nodded. It was decidedly aFrench name--but half a minute's experiment with a few simple sentencesof Pierre Breault's language convinced him that the girl understood noword of it.
Then he said again:
"Celie!"
Almost in the same breath she answered:
"Philip!"
Sounds outside the cabin announced the return of Bram. Following thesnarl and whine of the pack came heavy footsteps, and the wolf-manentered. Philip did not turn his head toward the door. He did not lookat first to see what effect Bram's return had on Celie Armin. He wenton casually with his work. He even began to whistle; and then, after afinal stir or two at the potatoes, he pointed to the pail in which thecoffee was bubbling, and said:
"Turn the coffee, Celie. We're ready!"
He caught a glimpse of her face then. The excitement and color hadpartly died out of it. She took the pail of coffee and went with it tothe table.
The wolf-man was standing with his back to the door. He had not movedsince entering, and he was staring at the scene before him in a dull,stupid sort of way. In one hand he carried a pail filled with water; inthe other a frozen fish.
"Too late with the fish, Bram," said Philip. "We couldn't make thelittle lady wait. Besides, I think you've fed her on fish and meatuntil she is just about ready to die. Come to breakfast!"
He loaded a tin plate with hot potatoes, bannock-bread and rice that hehad cooked before setting out on the Barren, and placed it before thegirl. A second plate he prepared for Bram, and a third for himself.Bram had not moved. He still held the pail and the fish in his hands.Suddenly he lowered both to the floor with a growl that seemed to comefrom the bottom of his great chest, and came to the table. With onehuge hand he seized Philip's arm. It was not a man's grip. There wasapparently no effort in it, and yet it was a vise-like clutch thatthreatened to snap the bone. And all the time Bram's eyes were on thegirl. He drew Philip back, released the terrible grip on his arm, andshoved the two extra plates of food to the girl. Then he faced Philip.
"We eat ze meat, m'sieu!"
Quietly and sanely he uttered the words. In his eyes and face there wasno trace of madness. And then, even as Philip stared, the change came.The giant flung back his head and his wild, mad laugh rocked the cabin.Out in the corral the snarl and cry of the wolves gave a savageresponse to it.
It took a tremendous effort for Philip to keep a grip on himself. Inthat momentary flash of sanity Bram had shown a chivalry which musthave struck deep home in the heart of the girl. There was a sort oftriumph in her eyes when he looked at her. She knew now that he mustunderstand fully what she had been trying to tell him. Bram, in hismadness, had been good to her. Philip did not hesitate in the impulseof the moment. He caught Bram's hand and shook it. And Bram, his laughdying away in a mumbling sound, seemed not to notice it. As Philipbegan preparing the fish the wolf-man took up a position against thefarther wall, squatted Indian-fashion on his heels. He did not take hiseyes from the girl until she had finished, and Philip brought him ahalf of the fried fish. He might as well have offered the fish to awooden sphinx. Bram rose to his feet, mumbling softly, and taking whatwas left of one of the two caribou quarters he again left the cabin.
His mad laugh and the snarling outcry of the wolves came to them amoment later.
The Golden Snare Page 10