THE LADY OF NORTH STAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12712, 6 August 1919, Page 7

THE LADY OF NORTH STAR.

j By OTTWELL BINNB, CHAPTER XXII. (continued). “ I lashed the dogs and fled, clinging to the gee-pole. The trail was good and I made speed. It was in my mind that the man with the rifle would fir© again,, but lie did not do so,: though twice or thrice- arrows tell near me, .and I knew that I was followed. It j was in my mind that when the pursuit j was over I would go back, and I made | for the woods on the further side of I the river, and when darkness came I j,crept down the trail, and! leaving my ' dogs crossed the river to the creek.” j “Yes? Yes? "What did you find?” j “1 found my father’s body gone, and at the head of the creek opposite a cabin a camp was pitched. and a lire lighted, and whilst I watched a man left the camp and went towards the cabin- I could 1 not see what .he did, ; but it is in ray mind that the men ; in the camp keep watch on the cabin.” “ And your mistress? Did you see anything of her?” “'Nothing, but my mind says she is in the cabin, for it was thither she wentto see the sick white man. I thought once to attack the camp, but- the men there are three, and I am but a stripling and unused to battle. Then I bethought me of Indians who live up the liver. They are not good Indians, but my father was known to them ana I thought that maybe they might give help. I was on my way there, when 1 caught the light of your fire, and I find you. It is very good. lou will go back? You will nclp?” “ Yes—l shall go back. I shall help. We must save your mistress. I know tire cabin on the creek and I know the sick man whom she went to see; and I do not think she will come to harm in that quarter. • But the men in the camp, who. as you think, watch the cabin, are different. There is something there that I do not understand- f But we will find out . • we will 1 rest now. and in four hours we start I I will Teed the dogs again now. for there is a hard journey before us. The wind has changed and the trail will soften in the morning.” “ Yes. It is from the south. The spring is knocking at the door, and in a week the ice will grow rotten, lint before- then We. will find my mistress!” ■ '‘‘Yes,” answered the corporal simply. “ We will find her.” The Indian had disposed his blankets near the fire and within five minutes was sound asleep. ’ A little later Sibou also slept, but Corporal Bracknell made no attempt- to close his eyes, since he knew that for him sleep was impossible. He lit his pipe, and sat staring into the lire, the prey of gnawing anxiety. The mystery’ of the men in The camp who watched Dick Bracknell’s cabin utterly confounded him. Were they men whom his cousin had wronged during his none too scrupulous career in the North? That was just possible. Daily, men in those wild latitudes took the law into their .own hands, enforcing verdicts that not infrequently were more just than those of the law itself. Were these men of that'typo? Then his mind dismissed the suggestion. In' that case whv had_ they killed George, and attacked' his son, the lad who, overborne by his labours, was now sleeping there on the other'side of the fire?. They might be roving Indians. The use of arrows suggested that, but one had a rifle- Suddenly he sat holt upright, his -eyes- staring widely, ns another possibility flashed through hia ‘ ■mind. “Adrian Rayner!”

He was appalled at the thought, nm the more he dwelt upon it, the stronger ills suspicion grew. Adrian Rayner was in the_ North and he had' two Indians with him, “had men,” Chief Louis had said- The corporal was morally certain that Rayner was the man who had made the attempt, on Dick Bracknell at. Nortli Star; and if ho knew that h.e were still alive, what more likely than that he should make a second attempt There was nothing surprising about that, but the attack on Joy Gar grave’s party was something that passed his comprehension altogether. Try as ho would he could find no sufficient explanation for that, the one possibility that presented itself to his mind' being that | Adrian Raynor was for some reason anxious to make Jov dependent upon himself, and so had deliberately set cut to destroy her escort. Then ihe | thought suggested itself to him that after all ho might be building on a fa he assumption. The man responsible for i the death of George, and for the attack on the cabin, might not be Rayner at all. Restlessly his mind groped among the possibilities which the mystery suggested, and not once during the four hoars that he had decreed for rest did his eyes shut. At the end of that time he wakened Sibou, and, impatient to got away himself, helped in the preparation for making a start, allowing the hoy Jim to sleep until the last available moment, and when at last they look the trail he was conscious of relief. It was at least something to feel that he was on his way to the help of Joy. They travelled six hours, and then made a halt for a brief rest end a meal, afterwards resuming their way. As noon approached they found the hard crust of the snow softening, and the going becoming harder, but there was no slackening of effort, and late in the afternoon they arrived at a point opposite the creek on the far ode of the river. There in the shadow -.1 the woods they waited until darkness fell, and then leaving the boy in charge of the dogs, the corporal and Sibou crossed the river, and made a detour that would bring them out at the head of the creek where the cabin was located. (To he continued.)