The Lady of North Star

“And knowing what you now know, you would still arrest me?”

As he asked the question, Dick Bracknell leaned forward a little, and the hand that held the pistol hung loosely over the edge of the bunk. The corporal noticed it, and shifted his grip on the heavy fur cap in his hand.

“I should be compelled to. Duty is duty – you know.”

“But, man, I’m your cousin!” came the protest.

“Yes! more’s the pity.”

As he replied, the corporal’s arm moved suddenly, and the fur cap was jerked across the room right into the sick man’s face. The corporal himself followed it like lightening, and, as he reached the bunk, gripped his cousin’s pistol-hand. The weapon went off, once, twice, and the bullets plugged the logs of the cabin, whilst Dick Bracknell shouted imprecations. The policeman caught the barrel of the pistol, and turned it away from himself, whilst with the other hand he caught his cousin’s wrist, and dug his thumb into the sinews of it, in order to force him to release his hold. In the midst of the struggle there was a sudden clamour of dogs outside, but neither of the men noticed it. The pistol cracked again, and at that moment the door opened, and an Indian rushed in. Apparently, he took in the situation in a glance. There was a heavy dog-whip in his hand, and in an instant he had swung it, and brought the loaded stock down on the corporal’s head. The latter did not even cry out. He doubled up like a doll out of which the stuffing had been ripped, and lay in a crumpled heap upon the hard mud floor.

CHAPTER IX

THE HUSKS OF THE PRODIGAL

WHEN Roger Bracknell came to himself, he had a splitting head, and no exact recollection of recent events. His head ached so much that he felt moved to press his temples with his hands, but found that it was impossible to do so, owing to his arms being bound to his side. On making that discovery, he lay quite still, with his eyes closed, thinking over the situation. Little by little memory came back to him, and he remembered what had befallen, but his remembrance of events ceased with the moment when his cousin’s pistol had cracked for the third time. Had the bullet struck him? He did not know, but at that moment through the drums throbbing in his head, a voice sounded in his ears, a voice that had external reality, and the tones of which he recognized.

“Do you think he’s dead, Joe? He lies still enough.”

A guttural voice grunted some reply, and there was a sound of movement near him. He opened his eyes, to find himself looking into a dark, frost-scarred face, from which a single eye gleamed malevolently. As that eye encountered his, the dark face was lifted and turned from him, and he caught the reply given over the speaker’s shoulder.

“Him eyes open. He alright!”

“That’s good hearing. I don’t want him to die on our hands, at least not until I have had a little more conversation with him.”

The man Joe gave a careless reply, and moved away. Corporal Bracknell craned his neck a little and looked round.

The slush lamp was still burning, but through the parchment window the grey light of the Northland day penetrated, from which fact he deduced that he had lain where he was many hours. In front of the stove, the man of the evil face, whom he had seen on opening his eyes, was busy preparing a meal, and the odour of frying moose-steak and bacon filled the cabin. In the bunk, propped up among the furs, with his left arm in an improvised sling, he descried his cousin, puffing at a pipe, and regarding him with thoughtful gaze. Their eyes met, and Dick Bracknell smiled.

“Morning, Cousin Roger. I hope that head of yours is not very bad.”

“It is only middling,” answered the corporal truthfully.

“Um! I suspected so! Joe there,” he indicated the Indian bending over the stove, “doesn’t know his strength, and he’s a holy terror with a whipstock. You should see him tackle a big wolf dog that’s turned savage. It’s a sight for gods and men!”

Roger Bracknell did not reply. He had not been aware of the Indian’s entrance on the previous night, but in a flash he divined what had happened to him, and why his head ached so intolerably. His cousin continued with mocking affability.

“He hit you rather hard, I am afraid, but we Bracknells are all a little thick in the skull, and I hope no real harm will follow on Joe’s forceful intervention. In any case you must own that his arrival was a most opportune one.”

“I can well believe you found it so,” answered the corporal.

“I did, Roger my boy, I did. You surprised me last night. I didn’t think you would have gone for a wounded and disabled man. It was scarcely chivalrous, you know.”

“You were armed,” was the reply. “I wasn’t.”

Dick Bracknell waved his pipe airily. “We will let it pass. What is done is done, and the past is always to be reckoned as irrevocable, as I know better than most of the parsons. The present and the future are my immediate concern, and the question is what am I to do with you?”

“That,” answered the corporal quietly, “is scarcely for me to decide.”

“No,” replied his cousin with a little laugh, “but it is a question in which you should be interested.”

Roger Bracknell was interested, intensely interested, but he strove his best to appear unconcerned, and after a moment his cousin continued —

“Joe there has a very simply solution. He suggests another knock on the head, and sepulchre in the river through an ice-hole. It is a course that would be advantageous to me, since your body would not be found before the ice breaks up in the spring, if then, and in the interval we should have time to clear out of the Territories.”

The corporal knew that what he said was true, and shivered a little as he contemplated the suggested way of getting rid of him, but his voice was firm as he asked casually, “Why don’t you accept that solution?”

“Why don’t I accept – ” began the other, and then broke off, glowering at the man who though in his power was apparently undismayed. Then a sneer came on his face. “Blood is thicker than water,” he remarked. “Though you’re willing to forget that we are cousins, and regardless of family ties are prepared to follow your d – d sense of duty, I can’t forget it; and I’m inclined to spare you, and even to cut those bonds of yours on conditions.”

“On conditions! What are they?” asked the corporal.

“That you give me your word of honour that you will not attempt to escape or to attack Joe or myself whilst you are with us.”

The corporal wondered what was in his cousin’s mind and what was behind the offer, but he was careful not to probe into the matter openly.

“You will accept my word of honour?” he asked with a faint touch of surprise in his voice.

“Yes,” answered his cousin sneeringly. “You see, I know you of old. The Bracknell strain runs true in you, whilst it has a twist in me. I know you won’t break your parole – if you give it. And of course, you will give it. It’s your word or your life. Ha! Ha! Quite a Dick Turpin touch there, hey?”

Roger Bracknell considered the matter swiftly. So far as he could see there was nothing to gain by rejecting the offer, since he was completely in the other’s hands, and though his cousin sneered he was clearly quite in earnest.

“I might be disposed to give my word, if – ”

“Man,” broke in the other savagely, “you had better. There are no ifs and buts about it. Look at Joe there. He doesn’t strike you as one who will be over delicate, does he? If I let him loose you’ll be running down the Elkhorn under the ice inside ten minutes. You’d better agree – and quickly. No!” he lifted his pipe to check the words on the corporal’s lips. “Hear me out. There’s another condition yet, and it is this. As soon as I am able to travel you will accompany me without demur for four days. On the fifth day, I’ll release you and you can do your worst.”

The corporal hesitated. There was something here that he did not understand, and again he wondered what lay behind the proposal. His cousin watched him, and as he did not speak, addressed him again.

“I may remind you what the situation is. You are in my power. If you can’t give me your word, if I don’t fall in with Joe’s more primitive suggestion, I can keep you tied up here, and I can leave you tied up when we move on; or I can lash you on to a sledge, and, willy nilly, take you along with us. That must be quite plain to you. But I prefer an amicable arrangement… You will give me your word?”

Corporal Bracknell recognized the truth of his cousin’s utterances. There was little choice in the matter, and after a little more reflection he agreed.

“Yes, Dick, I give you my word of honour.”

“I thought you would!” Dick Bracknell laughed shortly as he spoke, and then turned to his Indian companion. “Just take your knife, Joe, and cut those thongs.”

The Indian turned from the stove and growled something in a dialect which the corporal did not understand. He guessed, however, that the Indian was demurring, and with mingled feelings waited to see what would happen. His cousin spoke again, and this time there was a peremptory note in his voice.

“Cut those thongs, I tell you; and don’t stand there growling at things you don’t understand.”

He added something in his native tongue, and watching the Indian’s scowling face, the corporal saw the frown lift, and a flicker of evil laughter leap into the single eye. A moment later the Indian stepped up to him, and with a hunting knife cut the hide thongs which bound him, and then returned to the stove.

The corporal stretched his arms, then his whole body, and after that rose slowly to his feet. His cousin watched him with eyes that smiled inscrutably.

“Feels better, hey? You’re a sensible man, Cousin Roger, and now I guess we shall get along famously. A pity, though, that I shan’t be able to sit down to breakfast with you.”

“What I can’t understand is how you come to be here at all,” blurted the corporal.

“Oh,” laughed the other, “that’s as simple as you please. When I was plugged down by North Star, I must have lapsed into unconsciousness – for the first time on any stage. Whilst I was lying there in the snow – ”