by Clair Blank
Chapter XV
LOST
Gale, when Brent had left the cottage, took Toto and went to her room.There she put the dog on the floor and flung herself down on the bed.Propping her chin in cupped hands she could see out the window to thesnowy fields in the distance and the blue, cloudless sky. But her eyeswere fixed on something outside her vision. She did not watch Brent'sfigure as he trudged away out of sight. Rather, she was again trying tobring to the fore some knowledge, the memory that lay dormant, of whoshe was.
Antoinette entered softly and gazed compassionately down at Gale. Shesat down beside her and put a friendly arm across the other's shoulders.
"Do not worry, Gale," she murmured.
Gale smiled a trifle. "I'll try not to," she whispered. "But suppose hedoes know who I am? I--I should have gone with him!" Her eyes were darkwith shadows, her lips trembled.
Antoinette hugged her affectionately. "I am glad you did not. It wouldbe lonesome here without you. And if you did not like him----"
"Oh, but I did," Gale said hastily. "He seemed nice but--it was just--Ididn't know where he was going to take me."
"I understand," Antoinette nodded. "Now you must rest. Come, Toto!"
The French girl rose and went to the door. The dog obediently trottedafter her. Gale lay back and closed her eyes, but she could not sleep.Vividly she remembered the young man who had wanted her to go away withhim. If only she could recall him from the past! If only his face andname would mean something to her! Warm tears slipped down her cheeksbefore she sat up and in annoyance brushed them away.
Gale got up and donned her coat. With a word to Antoinette she wentoutside, her customary bodyguard, Toto, at her heels. She tramped intothe woods and kept on walking. She knew if she would tire herself outshe would be able to sleep tonight and not keep tantalizing herself withquestions she could not answer.
She walked along breathing deeply of the cold, crisp air, Totoscampering ahead of her or lingering behind to dig out a half buriedroot and shake it vigorously in his firm white teeth. The sun movedslowly to the western horizon. Its rays became less and less warm, thesky began to be overcast with night clouds and a strong northern windsprang up. With a start Gale realized that it would soon be night andunless she turned back now she could easily become lost. Whistling toToto who was deeply engrossed in a bit of bark he had unearthed andwhich he was trying to shake into some semblance of life, she turned herback on the sunset to go back to the cottage. At her whistle Totopricked up his ears and started on a run for her. She ran too. Togetherthey romped until both had to stop for lack of breath.
Finally Gale put aside her thoughts of pleasure and concentrated on thelandmarks about her. None of them were familiar. She subdued a sense ofpanic that gripped her. She must find the way back to the cottage. Theycould not stay in the open all night. Let's see--she must have come thatway, it looked like the tree around which she had chased Toto.Resolutely she started off in that direction. But it was not long beforeshe discovered she was wrong. She came to a tiny stream of water, frozenover now with the ice of winter. She stood and looked at the mirror-likecrust on the water. Toto, too, regarded his own reflection withinterest. Turning her back upon the water Gale stared intently first tothe north then to the south. She had not come upon this stream when shecame from the cottage; therefore, all this time she must have been goingaway from, instead of toward, her home. Toto sat in the snow andregarded his friend with dancing eyes.
"You know, Toto," she said speaking slowly to the dog who had his headcocked as if understanding every word, "I believe we are lost."
At that the dog merely yawned.
"What will we do?"
Toto stood up and shook himself, trotted a few paces away and came backto look at her.
"Do you suppose you could find the way home?" she asked with a halfsmile. "You're too much of a puppy to have much sense of direction yet,but we'll try it. Which way do you want to go, Toto?"
The dog immediately trotted a few paces toward the north and stoodwaiting for her to follow him.
"All right," she agreed. "We'll go that way and I hope you are right!"
Gale walked along swiftly to keep the dog in sight. But soon she had toslacken her pace. She was tired, they had come far, and now she found italmost impossible to keep up a fast gait. Too, it was getting darker.The Canadian night was closing in upon them rapidly. She thought ofAntoinette and Francois waiting, watching for her and scolded herselffor ever coming so far. She thought of the warm supper awaiting them, ofthe warm bed which would feel so good now, and lashed herself on to arenewed pace. But it was hopeless. When it was so dark she could not seeToto ahead of her she halted and called the dog to her. She picked himup in her arms, she didn't intend to lose her one companion in thewilderness. His rough, red tongue licked her chin affectionately and shealmost dropped him.
"Toto, you are even a worse direction-picker than I am," she declared,squeezing him. "We are really lost this time!"
Toto didn't seem to mind. He snuggled down in her arms, even trying toget his head into her jacket pocket.
Gale grasped him more firmly and started to walk again. She didn't knowwhere or in what direction she was walking, she only knew she must keepin motion to keep the biting cold air from freezing her limbs. Then,too, sooner or later she must come to some house! She had a faint ideashe was walking in the direction of the little village to whichAntoinette had taken her. From there certainly she could find her wayhome.
The dog in her arms became heavier and heavier as Gale became more andmore tired. It seemed almost impossible to carry him a step farther. Sheleaned against a tree and deposited him in the snow at its base. Totoprotested with a grunt at being roused from his warm nap and hoveredabout her feet shivering.
"This is a nice mess," Gale said in disgust. "Why did you let me come sofar, Toto?"
When Gale had regained her breath and felt in a measure rested shesettled Toto comfortably in the crook of her arm and started out again.Nearly all night she trudged slowly through the snow and moonlight. Onlythe knowledge that she must keep moving kept her on her feet at all. Shewanted to lie down and rest and sleep. Her eyelids felt weighted down.She was almost asleep on her feet. At last she submitted, as she musthave in time, and sat down, her back against a sheet of rock to rest.The rest stretched into a sound sleep. Her head fell forward on herknees and Toto, too, slept peacefully by her side.
The sun was high when she awoke and started to her feet only to abruptlysit down again. Her muscles were stiff and arms and legs cramped andnumb. Toto yawned, shook himself and ran a few paces and back to herside. Gale rubbed her arms and legs vigorously and stood up to surveytheir position.
Away to her right rose a cliff of rock and ice. Gale remembered she hadbeen able to see this cliff with the peculiar formation of a man's headfrom her window on clear days. Antoinette had laughingly referred to itas the Lonesome Man. It was the only jutting rise in their immediatehorizon and the ice and rock had formed to make a perfect man's head.Gale started in the direction of the Lonesome Man. It was her opinionthat if she could climb upon the rocks she might be able to see thecottage in the spread of world at her feet. Then it would be a simplematter to steer a straight course for home.
But the Lonesome Man was farther away than it had at first appeared. Itsvery largeness gave it a sense of being close when in reality it was amile away. Gale stubbornly clung to her first idea to climb upon it.Otherwise she would have absolutely no course of action and she wouldnot be able to see the cottage from where she was on the ground. Tototrotted obediently by her side, looking up from time to time to observethe expressions on her face.
"Hungry, Toto?" she asked once and he barked in response. "So am I," shedeclared laughingly. "But don't worry, it won't be long now. Once we areon Lonesome Man and can see the cottage--we shall be home soon then."
Toto seemed to understand for he cavorted gaily, falling over himself inhis
exuberance.
It was the middle of the day when they came to Lonesome Man and Galefelt a gnawing hunger. The sun was directly overhead and she was keenlyanxious to get back home. Antoinette and Francois would be anxious, thatshe knew.
The first step on Lonesome Man was a huge rock which must be gotten upon before one could continue up to a point of vantage where the groundwould lay revealed openly. Every tree, every stream, every cottage formiles could be seen from the top of Lonesome Man's head.
Gale, after some difficulty, managed to mount the huge rock which wasthe first step in her ascent. She stopped to rest and waved at Toto onthe ground below. The dog set up a howl. He looked so plaintive andlonesome and howled so indiscreetly as to awaken a hundred echoes thatGale had no course but to come down after him. It took quite a whileuntil both she and Toto had again negotiated the first step.
"See all the time we've wasted," she complained to the dog, sittingbeside him and letting her legs dangle over the rock, "just because youwouldn't be good and stay on the ground."
The dog showed his appreciation of her return for him by kissing herlavishly with his rough, red tongue, so lavishly that Gale had toscramble away.
She took the next rock to a point higher and hauled Toto up after her.The dog, after once sticking his nose over the edge and finding theground quite a distance below him, cowered against the wall, his hairstanding on edge.
Gale laughed. "Don't be nervous, Toto; if you're good you won't falloff."
The dog turned earnest brown eyes to her, his tail wagging faintly.
"You wouldn't stay on the ground," she reminded him. "Now you can justwait here for me."
Gale climbed a little higher, the dog watching her, wanting to followbut afraid to move. The puppy was used to the good firm earth beneathhim and was not at all sure that he should even let his friend out ofhis sight. Gale meantime was slowly finding foothold to reach thesummit, the top of Lonesome Man's head. Once when her foot slipped ashower of loosened rock and bits of ice rattled to the ground below.Gale held her breath and dug her fingers into the niches of the greyrock, holding on for dear life. When her panic subsided she found shewas in no immediate danger of falling and could proceed with a maximumof caution.
Lonesome Man hadn't seemed as high as he really was. When Gale reachedthe top she sat down and looked over the side. She shut her eyesquickly. It made her dizzy to think that she might have slipped withthose pebbles. Of course even then it wouldn't have been as far a fallas if she should slip now!
She wondered how Toto was but could not see him from her presentposition.
When her breath was coming naturally and she was feeling a little restedfrom her climb Gale could stir up enough interest to view hersurroundings. Far to her right she could see a brown cottage which atfirst looked like the Bouchards'. But after a careful scrutiny shedecided it wasn't and turned in the opposite direction. Carefully hereyes wandered over the scene spread out before her. Trees, stripped oftheir summer splendor, stood revealed black and forlorn. Winter windswayed their stripped branches. She beheld a moving object which atfirst she thought was a man, but later decided it was a bear. Sheshivered. Suppose she had met him in the dark last night!
Finally she saw another house, smoke rising from the chimney. This onestood in the center of a triangular clearing exactly like the Bouchardcottage. It must be home! She was surprised at its nearness. She hadbeen searching the far horizon for it and had at first overlooked theobjects nearer at hand. She sighed with relief and was about to climbdown in order to waste no time in returning when she stopped, herattention caught by a small group of figures which had suddenly appearedin the clearing. She could not determine the identity of the people fromwhere she was, but nevertheless she watched with interest. Only one shewas sure of, Francois, hobbling with the aid of his crutch. There couldbe no mistaking him even at a distance.
She watched closely, noting every movement, while two men and a girlstarted off parallel to her, in the direction she had at first takenyesterday when she started out for her walk. Another man and a girlstarted directly toward her, while a last feminine figure remainedstanding beside Francois. Gale could not at first understand it. Thenshe concluded it was Antoinette and friends searching for her. It mustbe Antoinette and a friend who was coming toward her now.
Gale stood up on Lonesome Man's head, the better to watch theirprogress. The wind whipped her dress about her and its piercing coldwent right through her coat. At the same time she saw the two stop andsuddenly the man pointed to her. The girl, Gale supposed her to beAntoinette, waved. She responded with an upraised arm. She could seethey redoubled their efforts and were running toward her. It would notbe so very long before they reached Lonesome Man.
Without wasting more time Gale started the downward climb. It was evenmore precarious picking her way down than it had been climbing up. Theice had frozen over spots that had been fairly easy to negotiate on theway up, but now she was afraid of skidding at every step. Twice sheslipped and would have fallen had she not grasped the rocks on each sidewith all her strength. When she finally reached the spot where she hadleft Toto she breathed freely for the first time. It would be simple nowto reach the broad rock at the base and from there jump to the ground.By that time Antoinette should be there. She looked away across the treetops. She could make out the man and girl still coming toward her.
Gale swung her legs over the edge when she remembered Toto. She lookedaround. The dog was no longer crouching in safety by the solid rockwall. He had gone adventuring and now Gale gasped as she saw hisdangerous position.
Unable to reach the high point his friend had obtained Toto hadcontented himself with snooping his way out onto the ledge of rock whichmade the Lonesome Man's nose. It was a narrow ledge jutting out in astraight line for about five feet with nothing but the ground twentyfeet below. There Toto had decided to await the return of Gale and shenow found him interestedly watching her, his eyes dancing, red tonguedangling from white teeth.
"Come, Toto, we're going home," she urged.
His tail beat a tattoo on the rock ledge but he did not move.
"Come, Toto, come," Gale coaxed.
She whistled, called, did everything to coax Toto from his position onthe narrow ledge but he did not budge.
"I declare you're laughing at me!" she scolded. "Now come, Toto! Oh, ifI get my hands on you!"
Gale considered leaving Toto there upon the ledge and running to meetAntoinette. Perhaps she could coax the dog off. But just as she decidedthis, Toto decided to be good and started toward Gale. He had taken butone step when he looked from Gale to the ground below. He looked at thenarrow span of rock which he must cross to reach her. Then he backed upand sat on the very edge of the ledge. His eyes pleaded with her tounderstand. He was frightened. He did not know how he had gotten hereand was afraid to cover the distance to Gale where he would be safe. Heshivered in the cold wind, a suddenly forlorn little figure.
Gale felt all her impatience with Toto fade away. The little thing wastoo frightened to come when she called him. She couldn't go away andleave him there. Suppose he fell off! She looked at the ground. Snow haddrifted in a huge pile against this side of Lonesome Man. The dog wouldbe plunged straight down into the snow and perhaps onto rocks beneath.
She sighed and moved forward. She would have to get him. For a momentshe considered the narrow ledge. It didn't look as though it would holdmuch weight. At a little whimper from Toto, Gale crept forward. She putone foot on the ledge. Nothing happened. The surface was icy and she wasin imminent danger of slipping at every inch she traversed. Toto,watching, contemplated her progress with sad brown eyes. He seemed torealize the peril of their position and did not once move.
Slowly and with the utmost care Gale moved out farther and farther ontothe ledge. She held her breath every minute lest Lonesome Man's noseshould crack and plunge them both down to the ground. After secondswhich seemed like hours Gale was in a position to grasp Toto and startthe return journey.
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