Jack Chanty

“ There was no reason why any one of them should not have put a bullet through Jack's breast, sitting on his horse before them empty-handed—no reason, that is, except the terrible blue eyes, travelling among them like scorching fires. Many a little man's soul was sick with rage, and his fingers itching for the trigger, but before he could raise his gun the eyes would fall on him, withering his breast. It was the white man's scorn that emasculated them. How could one fire at a being who held himself so high?
"Go through the tepees as quickly as you can," Jack said to Mary. ”

“ Jack could only hang his head again.
"I will not be friends with you secretly," Mary went on. "Nor can I lay myself open to her abuse. So we must not see each other any more."
"I need you!" Jack blurted out. His pride was hauled down. It was the first appeal for help that had passed his lips.
"I—I'm sorry," she faltered, but without relenting. "Watch Jean Paul well," she went on. "He can't keep the man hypnotized always. Get Garrod away from him if you can."
Jack scarcely heard. "I'm under arrest," he said. "You're leaving me without a friend in camp." ”

“ We'll have no peace or security until I get him, Mary. I'll have to leave Garrod to you and Davy. You know how much finding him means to me!"
"But you," she faltered, her eyes wide with terror for him, "you can't go back alone to the Sapis. They shot at you!"
Jack's uncertainty was gone. He raised a face, transfigured.
"Pshaw! That mongrel crew!" he cried. "They're the least of my difficulties. I'll drop on them before Jean Paul can work them up to mischief. I've got to get that breed! No murder can be done in my camp, and the murderer get away! ”

“ Vassall turned pale at the sound of the familiar name on her lips.
Garrod stood motionless, apparently neither seeing nor hearing.
"He's quiet enough now," said Jack rubbing his chin; "but you can't tell when he may break out again. A tent is no place to keep a madman. We'll have to tie him up, Vassall."
"Oh, we can't do that," murmured the other man. He all but wrung his hands. "This is too dreadful! Miss Linda, I beg of you! What will Sir Bryson say?"
Linda's eyes passed contemptuously over him. "What is there I can do?" she asked Jack.
"Find Jean Paul," he said. ”

“ It was enough for Jack that Mary did not despise him, and it was enough for Mary that he did not hate her. They were together, and the sun was shining on a sea of green grass. Their spirits soared. Troubles and heartaches vanished like steam in the sunshine. Breakfast became a feast of laughter, and Davy was enraptured.
"Blest if I can understand you two," the boy said with an unconscious imitation of his hero's casual manner that made Mary laugh again. "One minute you're as dumb as owls in the daytime, and the next you're laughing like a pair of loons at nothing at all." ”

“ The pegs that held down the back of Jack's lean-to were drawn, showing how Jean Paul had entered, and how he had removed his prey.
"Etzeeah—" said Mary tremblingly, "do you suppose Jean Paul has—
"He would hardly take him alive," said Jack grimly, "without a sound."
"But he had no weapon, we know that."
"His hands!"
They were silent.
"But if he did," faltered Mary, "why would he take—take the body away?"
Jack shook his head. "They are always mysterious," he said.
"He may be near," whispered Mary. "What's to be done?" ”

“ Under the circumstances one's pet affectation of unconcern is difficult to maintain.
It was indeed Mary. She broke into the clearing, pale and breathless, and looked at Jack as if she was all ready to turn and fly back again. Jack smiled and nodded as if this were the most ordinary of visits. The smile stiffened in his face, for another followed her into the clearing—Davy, the oldest of her brothers. For an instant Jack was nonplussed, but he had laid it down as a rule that in his dealings with the sex, whatever betide, a man must smile and keep his temper. ”

“ The half-breed watched Jack, watched Garrod, and drew his own conclusions.
Jean Paul on the face of things was turning out an admirable servant, capable, industrious, and respectful. The white men, including Jack, would have been greatly astonished could they have heard the substance of his low-voiced talk to the Indian lads around their own fire.
"I held my hand," he said in Cree, "because the time is not come to strike. One must suffer much and be patient for the cause. But I have not forgotten. Before I am through with him, Jack shall be kicked out of camp, and then he shall die. ”

“ He's a queer one. They'll have trouble with him later. Women with them, too. Hell of an outfit to come up here, anyway."
Jack's meditations were interrupted by Frank Garrod, who came threading his way through the poplar saplings. Jack sprang up with a gladness only a little less hearty than upon their first meeting the night before.
"Hello, old fel'!" he cried. "Glad you looked me up! We can talk off here by ourselves."
But it appeared that Frank had come only for the purpose of carrying Jack back with him. Sir Bryson had expressed a wish to thank him for his assistance that morning. ”

“ Jean Paul puffed at it defiantly. Jack fastened the tent flaps back, affording a clear view of the interior.
"I'll have to leave him to you while we're gone, Davy. Keep away from him. Don't listen to anything he says. Above all, don't touch him. I don't see how he can work loose, but if he should"—Jack raised his voice so it would carry into the tent—"shoot him like a coyote. I order you to do it. I take the consequences."
Jean Paul lay without stirring. His face was hidden.
"God knows what poisonous mess is stewing inside his skull," Jack said to Mary, as they rode away. ”

“ Nothing else matters. You must be able to go wherever you choose. You must be able to look any man in the face. I couldn't bear anything else."
Jack scowled, very much hurt—and a little ashamed perhaps. "I didn't think you were so anxious to send me outside," he muttered.
She threw him the look of pity and despair that women have for the men they love who will not understand them, and, springing up, went to look at her patient again.
By and by Davy arrived. His greeting to Jack supplied the warmth that Mary's had lacked. Jack hugged the boy with a sidelong look at his sister. ”

“ Jack's face was obstinate. "I'll see Linda and put it straight to her," he conceded.
Kate's eyebrows went up. "These men!" she said helplessly. "You ought to know her a little by this time. That will do no good. Much better go without. It's a thing that ought to be broken off. What matter who does it, or how it's done? The result will be good."
"I couldn't go unless she releases me," Jack said.
Kate got up smiling. "We must go back," she said. "A man must do as he will. You are an awfully nice boy, Jack. I believe I love you for your very mulishness. ”

“ A dreadful silence in the tent succeeded this outburst, broken only by Linda's tempestuous sobs. She hid her face on Jack's shoulder. His arm was around her; a man could do no less. Vassall and Ferrie turned away their heads, shamed and sick at heart to see the lady of their dreams so abase herself. Mrs. Worsley sank back in her chair, and covered her face with her hands.
Mary Cranston, just now all alive, and warm and eager, turned to ice where she stood. ”

“ A good deal less than this would have reached Jack's sense of generosity. He hid his face again, and hated himself, but pride still maintained the ascendency. He could not let the other man see.
"It is that that makes you hold her so lightly," Cranston went on. "If she had a white mother, my girl, aye, wi' half her beauty and her goodness, would have put the fear of God into ye. Well, the consequences of my mistake shall not be visited on her head if I can prevent it. What does an idle lad like you know of the worth of women? You measure them by their beauty, which is nothing. ”

“ So I let them call me what they liked."
"Of course," said Garrod.
"Knock around," cried Jack. "That's just what I do! A little river work, a little prospecting, a little hunting and trapping, and one hell of a good time! It beats me how young fellows of blood and muscle can stew their lives away in cities when this is open to them! New country to explore, and game to bring down, and gold to look for. The fun of it, whether you find any or not! This is freedom, Frank, working with your own hands for all you get, and beholden to no man! ”

“ Jack swore at him gratefully. "This is my fight," he said. "I couldn't let you give up your time to it."
"I suppose you'll take some of the men out of Sir Bryson's party back with you," said Cranston.
Jack shook his head. "Humpy Jull's all right, but he can't ride, and I have to ride like sin. Vassall's a square head too, in his way, but either one of them would only weaken me. They don't know the people. They couldn't face them down. They couldn't walk into their tepees and tell the beggars to go to hell." ”

“ I'll bring father around! Only come! I can't live unless you come! When I think of your failing me, I am ready to do anything! I have no one but you. They all look at me coldly. I am disgraced. Only you can save me. I love you! I love you! I love you! ...
And so on for many pages. Older heads can afford to smile, but to the inexperienced Jack it was terrible.
The police hearing was concluded two days later. At evening that day Jack, declining a lift down the river in Plaskett's canoe, pushed off alone on the same little raft that had brought him to Fort Cheever a month before. ”

“ Jack was more moved than he cared to show. "Damn decent of you, Cranston," he growled. "I won't do it," he added aloud. "It's too much of a responsibility. Jean Paul is clever enough to see that he could always get at me through the boy."
"What's the alternative then?" asked Cranston.
"I'm going it alone," said Jack doggedly.
Cranston struck the counter with his fist. "No, by Gad!" he cried. "I'm the boss around here. You know as well as I that it's foolhardy for a man to ride alone at any time—the police don't do it—let alone into a village of redskins in an ugly mood. ”

“ It was nothing to them what high words were passed, and what tears were shed in the big tent. They were making the most of such a time of plenty as had never come their way before, and was not likely to be repeated.
By the cook-fire Humpy Jull exerted himself to tempt his hero's appetite—not wholly without success, it must be said; for what had happened could not check the coursing of the blood through Jack's veins. Twenty-five years old must be fed though the heavens fall. Gabriel's trumpet had better not be sounded for the young until after dinner. Jack ate silently and scowlingly. ”

“ Jack persisted.
Garrod's fingers pulled at his hanging lip, and the vacant eyes remained turned toward the door.
"Garrod, can't you hear me?" demanded Sir Bryson sharply.
"I must go," muttered Garrod.
It was a painful exhibition. The beholders were a little sickened, and none of them wished to prolong it. Baldwin Ferrie went to the opening to call Vassall and Jean Paul back.
"Are you satisfied?" asked Mary of Sir Bryson.
"Satisfied of nothing!" he snapped. "The man is out of his wits. I knew that before. We are just where we started!" ”

“ Mary said quietly.
Jack frowned. "You are not a savage," he said.
"We are one fourth Indian," Mary said with a kind of relentless pride. "It is silly to make-believe that we're not."
Jack went on to tell them in detail what had happened during the day, suppressing, however, all that related to Linda. One thing led to another; he could hardly have explained how it came about, but Mary's eyes drew out what he had believed was locked deep in his heart, the story of his early days, and of Garrod's treachery that he had just found out. ”

“ The hobbles had been removed."
"Well, well," stammered Sir Bryson, "what are we to do?"
"Let me take ten days' grub from the store," said Jack. "I'll undertake to bring Garrod back, and at least some of the horses."
"You'd follow on foot?" Linda burst out.
Jack answered to Sir Bryson. "They can't travel fast with their families and baggage."
It was not Jack's safety that Sir Bryson was concerned about. "But—but, leave us here without horses?" he faltered.
Jack smiled a little. "What good am I to you? I'm under arrest. Jean Paul has your ear. Why won't he do?" ”

“ Two hours later Jack rode into the Sapi village for the second time, and flung himself off his tired and dripping mount. The horse stood with hanging head, and feet planted wide apart, fighting for breath. This time Jack's arrival created little visible sensation. The people were otherwise and terribly preoccupied. A strange silence prevailed, extending even to the children and the dogs. Many of the people were gathered around the entrance to Etzeeah's lodge. They merely turned their heads with a scowl, and the men drew on the walled look they affect in the presence of whites. ”

“ Jack would not out of sheer obstinacy make the polite and obvious reply. He looked at the elder lady. He liked her looks. She reminded him of an outspoken cousin of his boyhood. She was plain of feature and humorous-looking, very well dressed, and with an air of high tolerance for human failings.
"In pleasing Miss Trangmar you put us all under heavy obligations," said Baldwin Ferrie with a simper. He was a well-meaning little man.
"By Jove! yes," added Vassall; "when she's overcast we're all in shadow." ”