A Gentleman of Courage
r beyond the evergreens. Then he knew his father was gone. He continued in the direction of Five Fingers, recalling his promises. Tonight or tomorrow his father would return. He hoped it wo
ng to Simon McQuarrie. Probably it told about the wickedness of the police, and Simon would help in some way. O
eason of the year. There were robins and thrushes and dozens of little warblers and brush sparrows, and the cutting down of trees seemed to have brought all the sapsuckers and woodpeckers and gaudily colored blue jays in the woods. The sun was delightfully warm, too, though in another hour it would be settling behind the tree to
d admiration. He thought she had seen him, and his first vision was of her face and a pair of beautiful dark eyes, laughing up at a red squirrel, chattering in a tree top a few paces away. The
reparing[70] for the next when an unexpected interruption rooted him to the spot. The wild and agonized yelping of a dog came from the thick brush bey
he half-grown pup was all legs and head and tail, and that from the sounds he made he must be mortally hurt. Whimpering and crying, he cringed at the girl's fe
he came. "Any person who will strike a dog should never have been born," his father had taught him from the beginning; and this boy with his thick red face and hulking body had been beating the pup. He was panting triumph w
7
at his face and for a moment the bully was caught at a disadvantage. He dropped his stick and caught her in his arms. His hands buried themselves
assailant by the throat. Then, when the girl was freed, he struck. That was another thing his father had taught him, to fight when it wa
ground, and blood streamed from the bully's nose and mouth. Once Peter saw the girl. She was standing very near, her lips parted, her wonderful eyes sh
ng. He went down, and the bully flung himself upon him. It was then Peter caught a second glimpse of the girl. She had caught up the stick and was standing over them. He could hear the stick as it struck blow after blow, and his enemy ro
uch wonder and gladness in her eyes that he wished he was back in the timber again. Then she came to him and began nursing his face with a soft handk
ly little goddess of the woods, with her soft handkerchief dabbing at his face. Now his old cheer returned. He wa
7
"He'd got me if you hadn'
to be infinitely older in these first minutes of their acquaintance. It bothered him to meet her eyes squarely, they w
hate him. He belongs with the tug from Fort Wi
man-hitter,"
e stamped her foot and shook her stick in the direction the bully had
cious pride. "I wasn't in good shape, and I've been traveling pretty hard,
in her swift intuition. Her
m Mona Guyon, and I live with Josette
said the boy.
7
rom?" was he
father had not told him how to a
brought me until we could hear the axes, and then
mother
's d
his hand, and in all his life he had never felt such a w
my father. They were drowned-out there six years ago.
soiled, tightened about Mona's hand as they both looked off over the cuttings to the wall of the vast for
e said. "I hope you're goi
," sai
If you were that hateful Aleck
e him," inter
7
tried to do what he did, I w
ered in a futile ef
im tomorrow,"
s and he found it easier to look into her eyes. His heart beat fast and he was strangely happy. He forgot his swelling eye and a stiffening lip, but he d
ought of h
on McQuarrie," he said. "Da
ou're
t, something so sweetly glad and friendly that a great wave of comradeship swept through Peter. He wa
ittle paradise hidden away in the heart of a great wilderness, a paradise of green meadows, of water shimmering like silver in the s
ve Fingers,
d the way with Peter, sti
ellow dunes of sawdust about the mill, and in the mill itself, which had only a roof and no sides, the huge steel saw that was silent for the day blazed like a mirror in the sun. The lowing of cattle came up from the green meadows, and he saw horses grazing, and then his heart gave another j
f our hands and eat our hay with the cattle in winter. Only--" Her lovely face clouded, and Peter saw a glow of distress in her eyes. "The men kill[77] porcupines bec
I," sai
them. All the birds and deer and bears and wild things for as far as you can see belong to me, and none of them are afraid of me. Uncle Pierre gave them to me, a
ave them alone," offered Peter.
eezed h
or five times each spring and summer to take the lumber away. Aleck's father owns
oul and under his eyes. As they came near to the first of
mon McQuarrie
bins with the rows of white stones around them. Uncle Pierre and Aunt Josette live there, and Marie Antoinette and Joe in t
con," sugge
irl s
she announced, a little disappointed. "W
ersisted Peter. "My father
releasing her proprietary hold on the boy's hand: "This is Peter McRae. His father is out in the woods, and he's coming tonight or tomorrow. Peter
pened which would have amazed all the people in Five Fingers could they have seen it, for Simon McQuarrie, with his honest[79] heart and hard face, had never revealed himself a man of emoti
self. "Helen's boy-and Donald's. It's been a long
puzzled Peter. "You look like your mother, boy
fishing in
to you," he said, giv
the paper very deliberately a second time, and burned it. He cut more bread, brought out a pie, and while he added finishing touches to a feast that made Peter's eyes shine, he talked-but not about the paper in the bottle. When supper was ready he ate little himself, but watched the boy. Peter was starved. When he was done Simo
nderstands, and has forgiven me. It may be I am a coward because I do not tell him myself. But I cannot. I am afraid. I want to think of him always as he
s arm about the boy's shoulders. He tried to begin, and something rose in
nd you fought Aleck C
ter. "But I was empty. I can
ng fingers touched the boy's
s,
ted. Then
ter-a story[81] about another girl like
n would then tell him something abou
and-most people thought-an emotionless man. But hi
other two, so that when the girl came to young womanhood he was really almost old enough to be her father. And these three all loved her, every one of them, but one of the three was very much like this
name," said P
she married was Donald, just like your father's. That'
was
e him happy, and he was the best friend they ever had. At least, I think he was. But the black-hearted one of the three was different, and one day when Donald and the older
ody had s
k Curry-I'd-I'd have
in a deep,
made a murderer of Donald, and they hang murderers. So the older man cared for the woman and the baby for three years, while Donald hid himself in the forests. Then-Helen died. And Donald
ost whispering the last words, "Peter, I know it's all true, because the[83] older
the thickening in his throat. It seemed a long time to him that Peter did not move or sp
s strained voice. "At least not for a long time, Peter. And he wants you to
taring through the door, and it was
od care of you
Peter
e back tonight
N
r e
me, but it will
they were back there in the w
ravel faster without you and is safe right now. But we must tell no
t he no longer took notice of the sunset glow or the twitter of birds or wondered at the molten gleam of the Middle Finger. He entered into the shadowing twilight of the forest and for the first time a sob broke from his dry lips. Then he called his father's name aloud, and the silence that followed emptied hi
t him. And then a little hand,
et
im, and he choked back his sobs, struggling to hide his grief and his tears from her. And then Buddy the pup snuggled under his arm and kissed his che
8
orest, with Mona close beside him, he told what it was in his heart to tell-all abo
sobbed at the end. "I even lost my dog. I ha
romise. And you can have Buddy, and all my pets-everything I've got. And-he will come back. Your father, I mean. All we got to do is wait." Her eyes were gl
note of something which had come from Mona's lips, a woman of the future whispering to him, chivalry calli
to his feet, and Mona stood beside hi
ery long. And I-I'm sorry about your father and mother, Mon
ive Fingers, and this time it was Peter who