The Mistress of Bonaventure Part 19

he gasped. "Horse fell over me when I tried to turn him loose." The half-articulate words which followed suspiciously suggested that the sufferer was cursing somebody, and I caught the name of Lane before he lapsed into semi-consciousness.

"It's pretty simple," one of the onlookers said. "The way Ormesby fixed that door, it shut itself. He got some bones smashed, and was turned half-silly by the shock. Couldn't make us hear him even if he had sense enough. My place is the nearest, and I'll take him along."

I heard my name called softly, and saw Boone standing apart from the rest. "I want to ask why you spoke as you did a little while ago?" he said.

"I did not stop to reflect just then, but I'll hear your explanation if you care to volunteer one before I apologize," I said.

"I was camped under a bluff with the wagon when I saw the blaze, and as the distance was not great, I came in on foot," was the answer. "That is the simple truth. Do you believe it?"

"Yes," I said, for his manner impressed me. "In turn, you also hinted something."

"I was giving you a warning," said Boone. "You are dealing with a dangerous man, and can't you see that if there is any doubt concerning the fire's origin a charge might be worked up against you? Be careful what you say; but as I see the sergeant yonder, you need not mention my presence unless it is necessary."

I alluded to Haldane's desire to see him, and, when he vanished, followed the rest into the presence of Sergeant Mackay, who, ubiquitous as usual, had mysteriously appeared. He sat motionless in his saddle, with slightly compressed lips, though his keen eyes moved along the encircling faces. It was evident that he was making an official inquiry, and the owner of the homestead was speaking.

"My name is Niven, late of the Brandon district, and I purchased this property recently," he said.

"Any partners?" asked the sergeant; and I noticed a gleam of what appeared malicious satisfaction in the other's face as he answered: "No.

You will find my name recorded as sole owner. All was right when I turned in about ten o'clock, but I didn't notice the time when my hired man Wilkins roused me to say the house was burning. Had too much to think about. Can't suggest any cause for the fire, and it doesn't count much, anyway, for the result is certain. House and stable burned out--and all uninsured."

"Had ye any other hired man than Wilkins?" interposed the sergeant; and Niven answered: "No. Stable didn't seem to be burning when I first got up, but Wilkins said it was swept by sparks and he'd get the horses out.

One of them must have knocked him down, and he was only found at the last minute."

"Who was the first man ye met when ye went out?" asked the sergeant.

"My predecessor--Ormesby," said Niven.

Mackay appeared to meditate before he spoke again: "Where did ye meet him, and what did he say?"

"Slipping around the corner of a shed, and he said he'd see me burnt before he stirred a hand to help," was the prompt answer. Then Mackay questioned several others before he turned to me.

"How did ye happen to come to Gaspard's Trail, Henry Ormesby?"

"I was riding out from Bonaventure to intercept the freighter and saw the blaze," I answered indignantly. "I certainly refused to help Niven at first, for I had little cause for goodwill towards him or the man behind him; but afterwards I saved most of his working beasts."

There was a murmur of a.s.sent from the bystanders, but the sergeant, disregarding it, spoke again: "Did ye meet the freighter?"

"No," I said bluntly.

Mackay smiled. "Ye did not. I pa.s.sed him an hour gone by on the Buffalo trail. What was your business with him?"

"To ask him for a package."

"All that should be easily corroborated," was the answer; and I was glad that the examination was over, for, remembering Boone's warning, it appeared that my answers might give rise to unpleasant suspicions. It also struck me that, in the hurry and confusion, n.o.body had noticed him or remembered it if they had done so, while, somewhat strange to say, after the last brief interview I had full confidence in his statement that he knew nothing about the origin of the fire.

"I'm thinking that will do in the meantime. Chapleau, ye'll ride in to the depot and wire for a surgeon. Now, boys, are any of ye willing to take Niven home?" asked Mackay.

Apparently none of them were willing, though at last two offers were reluctantly made. It was the only time I ever saw the prairie settlers deficient in hospitality; but the man's conduct had confirmed their suspicions as to his connection with Lane, which was sufficient to prejudice the most generous. "Maybe he would be comfortable if I took him along with me," Mackay said dryly.

Thereupon the a.s.sembly broke up, and I rode back to Bonaventure, reaching it with the first of the daylight, blackened and singed, while, as it happened, Lucille Haldane was the first person I met.

"Where have you been? Your clothes are all burned!" she said.

"Gaspard's Trail is burned down and I helped to save some of the horses," I answered wearily; and I never forgot the girl's first startled look. She appeared struck with a sudden consternation. It vanished in a moment, and, though she looked almost guilty, her answer was rea.s.suring.

"Of course; that is just what you would do. But you are tired and must rest before you tell me about it."

I was very tired, and slept until noon, when I told my story to Haldane and his daughter together. The former made very few comments, but presently I came upon Lucille alone, and laid my hand on her shoulder as I said: "Do you know that somebody suggested it was I who burned Gaspard's Trail?"

The girl's color came and went under my gaze; then she lifted her head and met it directly. "I--I was afraid you might be suspected, and for just a moment or two, when you first came in looking like a ghost, I did not know what to think," she said. "But it was only because you startled me so."

"I would not like to think that you could believe evil against me," I said; and Lucille drew herself up a little. "Do not be ungenerous. As soon as I could reason clearly I knew it was quite--quite impossible."

"I hope any work of that kind is," I said; and Lucille Haldane, turning suddenly, left me.

CHAPTER XV

BEAUTY IN DISGUISE

Winter pa.s.sed very monotonously with us in the sod-house at Crane Valley. When the season's work is over and the prairie bound fast by iron frost, the man whom it has prospered spends his well-earned leisure visiting his neighbors or lounging contentedly beside the stove; but those oppressed by anxieties find the compulsory idleness irksome, and I counted the days until we could commence again in the spring. The goodwill of my neighbors made this possible, for one promised seed-wheat, to be paid for when harvest was gathered in; another placed surplus stock under my charge on an agreement to share the resultant profit, while Haldane sent a large draft of young horses and cattle he had hardly hands enough to care for, under a similar arrangement.

I accepted these offers the more readily because, while prompted by kindness, the advantages were tolerably equal to all concerned. So the future looked slightly brighter, and I hoped that better times would come, if we could hold out sufficiently long. The debt I still owed Lane, however, hung as a menace over me, while although--doubtless because it suited him--he did not press me for payment, the extortionate interest was adding to it constantly. Some of my neighbors were in similar circ.u.mstances, and at times we conferred together as to the best means of mutual protection.

In the meantime the fire at Gaspard's Trail was almost forgotten--or so, at least, it seemed. Haldane, much against his wishes, spent most of the winter at Bonaventure; but his elder daughter remained in Montreal.

Boone, the photographer, appeared but once, and spent the night with us.

He looked less like the average Englishman than ever, for frost and snow-blink had darkened his skin to an Indian's color, and when supper was over I watched him languidly as we lounged smoking about the stove.

Sally Steel had managed to render the sod-house not only habitable but comfortable in a homely way, and though she ruled us all in a somewhat tyrannical fas.h.i.+on, she said it was for our good.

"There's a little favor I want to ask of you, Ormesby, but I suppose you are all in one another's confidence?" said Boone.

"Yes," I answered. "We are all, in one sense, partners, with a capital of about ten dollars, and are further united by the fear of a common enemy."

Boone laughed silently, though his face was a trifle sardonic. "That is as it should be, and you may have an opportunity for proving the strength of the combination before very long. I have, as I once told you, a weakness for horses and cattle, and I couldn't resist purchasing some at a bargain a little while ago. I want you to take charge of them for me. Here are particulars, and my idea of an equitable agreement." He laid a paper on the table, and I glanced through it. The conditions were those usual in arrangements of the kind, which were not then uncommon, but though cattle and horses were lamentably cheap, they could not be obtained for nothing, and the total value surprised me.

"We are as honest as most people down this way, and we take one another's word without any use for spilling ink," observed the irrepressible Sally.

"I once heard of a grasping storekeeper being badly beaten over a deal in b.u.t.ter by a clever young lady," said Boone; and Steel laughed, while his sister frowned.

"He deserved it, but you seem to know just everything," she said.

"Some people are born clever, and some handsome; but it is really not my fault," said Boone, with a smile at Sally. "For instance, I know what Ormesby is thinking. He is wondering where I got the money to pay for those beasts."

The laugh was against me, but I answered frankly: "That was in my thoughts; but I also wondered what I had done to merit the trouble you have taken to do me a kindness."

"Don't flatter yourself," said Boone. "It is a matter of business, and equally possible that I wished to do some other person the opposite. You must decide to-night, because I have a new a.s.sortment of beautifiers and cosmetics in my wagon which I must set about vending to-morrow. They would not, of course, be of any use to Miss Sally, but I am going on to the Swedish settlement where the poor people need them."