Snow Burner

“ Do you come to us for gold? Do you think we would sit here without meat if we had gold? No, Snow-Burner. What we have you can have. Your will with the tribe from the oldest to the youngest is our law. We owe you our lives. The strength of our young men is yours; the wisdom of our old heads is yours. But gold we have not. Do not turn your frown upon us, Snow-Burner; you must know it is the truth.”
“Since when,” said Reivers sternly, “has my friend, old Little Bear, dared say that the Snow-Burner has the foolishness of a woman in his head? Do you think I come seeking gold from you? ”

“ Tillie, spilled from the sledge in the first mad rush of the team, came waddling up to Reivers and bowed down before him humbly.
“Snow-Burner, I know you are only a man, because I alone of my people have seen you among other white men,” she said. “Yet you are more than other men. Snow-Burner, I have lived among white people and know that the talk of spirits is only for children. But how knew you that the caribou were here?”
“The meat is there,” said Reivers, pointing at his kill. “Your work is to take care of it. The axe is on the sledge. ”

“ Tillie smiled strangely.
“Has the Snow-Burner become afraid of Iron Hair?” she asked.
“So little afraid that I no longer need you to help me in this matter,” retorted Reivers.
The shrewd squaw shook her head.
“How will the Snow-Burner find Iron Hair’s gold how? Iron Hair will not take the Snow-Burner to his camp alone. It is not the Snow-Burner that Iron Hair wants. It is a woman. Has the Snow-Burner given up the fight to get the gold which he wants so much? He knows he can not reach Iron Hair’s camp—alone.” ”

“ At night the road-crews, repairing with pick and shovel and sprinkling-tanks the wear and tear of the day’s hauling, worked under Reivers’ compelling eyes. All night long the sprinkling-tanks went up and down the ice-coated roads, and the drivers, freezing on the seats, were afraid to stop or nod, not knowing when the Snow-Burner might step out from the shadows and catch them in the act. ”

“ Yet he hesitated.
“Is there more gold here than Iron Hair wears in his belt?” asked Tillie.
Reivers shook his head.
“Then why wait?” Her whisper was full of amazement. “It is not like the Snow-Burner. Was there ever a man who could make him do his will? And yet now the Snow-Burner labours for Iron Hair like a woman.”
“Like a woman?” He repeated her bold words in surprise, while she sat humbly awaiting the careless, back-hand blow which knocked her rolling on the sand. ”

“ But there is no Nawa waiting for Tillie. Tillie is tired of her tepee with no man in it. Iron Hair has smiled upon me, Snow-Burner. I will smile upon him. His smile will answer mine as the dry pine lights up when the match is touched to it. I have looked in his eyes and know. He will forget Neopa. Tillie will help the Snow-Burner rob Iron Hair. Is it well?”
“Get back to your blankets,” commanded Reivers. “If you wish it, we will let it be so. Sleep long. Do not stir until you hear that Iron Hair has awakened.” ”

“ It had to be so, for if word went back that the Snow-Burner was still alive the men of Cameron-Dam Camp would come clamouring to the hunt. To die, and yet to live; to slough one life, as an old coat, and to take up another, not having the slightest notion of what it might hold—that was the great 181 adventure, that was something so interesting that the humiliation of defeat never so much as reached beneath Reivers’ skin. ”

“ Everybody knew that the new straw-boss, though fully as big and strong as the Snow-Burner himself, was a man who considered the men under him as something more than cattle and treated them accordingly. True, he drove men hard; but they went willingly for him, whereas under the Snow-Burner they hurried merely because of the chill fear that his eyes drove into their hearts. In short, Toppy was just such a boss as all men wished to work under—strong but just, firm but not inhuman. ”

“ And do you not think yon lass would come back to her right mind gi’n the Snow-Burner loses his power o’er her? You’re no’ so blind as not to see she’s no liking for him, but the de’il has in a way mesmerised her.”
“Then you mean——”
“That when you and the Snow-Burner put up your mitts ye’ll be fighting for more than just to see who’s best man. Now think that over, lad, while I go and complain to Reivers that I can not stand you an hour longer, and arrange for him to give you your taming.” ”

“ That night in the camp at the river bend the Indians feasted ravenously, and Reivers, sitting in Tillie’s place as new-made chief, looked on without smiling.
“Oh, Snow-Burner!” said the oldest man at last. “What is it you want with us? Our furs? Speak. We obey your will.”
“Furs are good,” replied Reivers, “when a man has nothing else, but gold is better, and the gold that another man has is best of all.” ”

“ But what can man do when the gods are against him? The gods are against you. They are not against me. To-morrow I slay you your fill of caribou.”
“Snow-Burner,” whispered one of the hunters in the awe-stricken silence that followed this announcement, “there are no caribou here. Are you greater than the gods?”
Reivers looked at him, and at the light in his eyes the young man drew back in fright.
“To-morrow I give you your fill of meat,” he said slowly. “Not only enough for one day, but enough for all Winter. Each tepee shall be piled high with meat. ”

“ On the sunny side of the yard a group of probably a dozen men were huddled against the log wall. Two things struck Toppy as he looked at them—their similarity to the group of Slavs he had seen back in Rail Head, and the complete terror in their faces as they cringed tightly against the log wall. Perhaps ten feet in front of them, and facing them, stood a man alone. And Toppy, as he beheld the terror with which the dozen shrank back from the one, and as he looked at the man, knew that he was looking upon Hell-Camp Reivers, the man who was called The Snow-Burner. ”

“ No expression betrayed what was going on behind those wood-like masks, but Reivers knew Indians and sensed that they were all waiting excitedly for his answer.
“That is the man,” he said, and by the complete silence that followed he knew that his reply had caused a sensation that would have made white men swear. “What know you of Iron Hair, Nawa?”
“Oh, Snow-Burner,” said Nawa dolefully, “our tribe knows of Iron Hair to its sorrow. Two moons ago the big man with the hair like a porcupine was at Fifty Mile for whisky and food. ”

“ What are your plans, lad?”
“Nothing,” said Toppy. “I will go and find him, and we’ll have it out.”
“Not so,” said Campbell swiftly. “Gi’n you did that ‘twould cost you your life did you chance to win o’er him. Do you think those devils with the guns would not murder to win favour of the Snow-Burner, him holding the lives and liberty of all of them in his hands as he does? Nay, lad! Fight ye must; you’re both too big and spirited to meet without coming to grips; but you have aye the need of an old head on your side if you’re to stand up with Reivers on even terms. ”

“ Reivers sat in the big tepee alone with MacGregor and fed him soft food which the old squaws had prepared. In the evening he again tied the old man and the belt of gold to the sledge and hitched up the dogs. Tillie had read her doom in his eyes, but nevertheless she came out to the sledge prepared to follow.
“You do not come any farther,” said Reivers as he picked up the dog-whip.
Tillie nodded.
“I know. With gold the Snow-Burner can be a great man among the white women. Will the Snow-Burner come back—some time?” ”

“ Pleasant little name.”
“An’ pleasant little place,” supplemented the man mockingly. “Ain’t you never heard ‘bout Hell Camp? ‘Bout its boss—Reivers—the ‘Snow-Burner’? Huh! Perhaps you want hire out there for job?”
“Perhaps,” agreed Toppy. “What is it?”
“Oh, it ain’t nothing so much. Just big log-camp run by man named Reivers—that’s all. Indians call him Snow-Burner. Twenty-five, thirty miles out in 14 the bush, at Cameron Dam. That’s all. Very big camp. Everybody who comes to this town is going out there to work, or else hiding out.” ”

“ For it’s certain neither temptations nor luxuries will be found in Hell Camp while the Snow-Burner’s boss.”
“Now you interest me,” said Toppy grimly. “The Snow-Burner—Hell-Camp Reivers—Mr. Reivers—the boss. What kind of a human being is he, if he is human?” ”

“ A maddened yell came from the men who were after Reivers. But Toppy and the girl might have been a thousand miles away for all the attention they paid. One end of the stockade fell in with a great roar and a shower of flame and sparks; but the twain did not hear.
“Aye, aye!” Old Campbell moved swiftly away. “He’s a grown man now, and so he’s a right to have his woman.—Aye. A real man he had to be to take her away from the Snow-Burner.” ”

“ To his surprise Reivers rose without demur, thrust Neopa out before him, and dropped the flap. 258
“Listen,” whispered Moir swiftly in her own tongue to Tillie, “we will put his man out of the way. It is easily done. Then you will go with me, you and the young one, and you will be first in my tepee and the young one your slave. Speak quickly. We will be on the trail in an hour.”
Still smiling invitingly, Tillie shook her head.
“The Snow-Burner is the master,” she said seriously. “I will slay the man who does him harm. I can not do what he does not wish. I can not go away from him.” ”

“ As Toppy concluded he shook his head sorrowfully.
“Poor lass, she’s got a hard path before her then,” he said. “If, as you say, she does not wish to care for Reivers.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” said Campbell slowly, “ye’ll be understanding by this time that the Snow-Burner is no ordinar’ man?”
“He’s a fiend—a savage with an Oxford education!” exploded Toppy.
“He is—the Snow-Burner,” said Campbell with finality. “You know what he is toward men. Toward women—he’s worse!” ”

“ For it was Reivers, and his strength and dominance, that was responsible. Toppy already was sorry for the swift judgment that he had passed on the girl on Sunday, and for the rudeness which, in his anger, he had displayed toward her. He knew now the power that lay in Reivers’ will, the calm, compelling fire that lurked in his eyes.
Men quailed before those eyes and did their bidding. And a girl, a little girl who must naturally feel grateful toward him for her position, could hardly be expected to resist the Snow-Burner’s undeniable fascinations. Why should she? ”

“ That was why these cruel-fierce “white men,” though they admired and applauded him for his dominance and his ruthlessness toward the Slavs, hated Reivers with a hatred that sprang from the Northern man’s instinctive liking for fair play in a fight. They began naturally to compare him with Toppy, who had played fair and yet won. And, naturally, because such were the standards they lived and died by, they began to predict that some day the Snow-Burner and Toppy must fight, and they hoped that they might be there to see the battle. ”

“ Reivers and he were too nearly a pair to give him 122 the slightest chance for success if he essayed defiance at even the slightest disadvantage.
Choking back as well as he could the anger that welled up within him, he made his way swiftly to the blacksmith-shop. Campbell, bending over the anvil, greeted Toppy cheerily as he heard the heavy tread behind him.
“The Snow-Burner promised he’d send you here, and——Losh, mon!” he gasped as he turned around and saw Toppy’s face. “What’s come o’er ye? You look like you’re ripe for murder.” ”

“ Tillie smiled but did not move.
“The Snow-Burner at last has become like other white men. He wishes to do what is right.” She pointed at the snoring Moir. “He would not be so weak.”
While Reivers looked at her in amazement the squaw stepped forward, straightened out the dogs, kicked them viciously and sent the sledge, bearing Neopa alone, flying up the river-bed.
“To send Neopa back to Nawa is well and good,” she said, returning to Reivers. “She would weep for 269 Nawa all day and night, and would grow sick and die on our hands. ”

“ Even force.—Hold still wi’ your chin.—You licked him fair, lad. ’Twas a great fight. You’re best man. But I’m glad I have my shooting-utensil handy, for if I’m any judge Hell Camp will aye deserve its name to-night.”
“What do you think will happen?”
“’Tis hard to say. But ’tis sure Reivers means to do something desperate, and as I know the man ’tis something that concerns the lass. Then there are the men. They have tasted blood. They have seen the Snow-Burner beaten. His grip has been torn off them. They’re no longer afraid. ”

“ We sought to follow the trail of Iron Hair out of Fifty Mile——”
“How ran the trail?” interrupted Reivers.
“Between the north and the west. We went to hunt our brothers. But a storm had blotted out the 236 trail. Iron Hair had gone out in the storm. Who can follow when there is no trail to see?”
“Once,” resumed Reivers in the tone of contempt, “there were strong dog-drivers and sharp eyes here. They would have found the camp of Iron Hair in those days.”
“Our dogs still are strong, our young men drive well, our eyes are sharp even now, Snow-Burner,” came Nawa’s weary reply. “We searched. ”

“ Campbell carefully mixed his whisky with hot water.
“You saw him manhandle Rosky?” he asked, seating himself opposite Toppy.
“Yes; but it wasn’t manhandling; it was brute-handling, beast-handling.”
“Aye,” said the Scot, sipping his drink. “So think I, too. But do you know what Reivers calls it? An 55 enlightened man showing a human clod the error of his ways. Oh, aye; the Indians were smart when they named him the Snow-Burner. He does things that aren’t natural.”
“But who is he, or what is he? He’s an educated man, obviously—’way above what a logging-boss ought to be. ”