A Gentleman of Courage

life. All the sweetness of spring was in the air. The delicious morning song of the

taught Peter. "God made that song to begin the day with, and only those buried in the darkness of cities can

en a real city, but here, with the rose-flush of the rising sun painting the eastern sky beyond the forests, wa

ack tug owned by Aleck Curry's father-the tug which came up from Fort William three or four times a year to carry the lumber away. It was the one ugly thing he could see, and he was glad it did not belong at Fi

e boiler with wood. The cloud of smoke that rose out of the tall stack was white and clean, and Peter knew how sweetly it smelled. He sniffed, trying to catch it. And then a wriggling creature came under his wi

, as he called down to him. "

was unusual, and he paused to thrust in a curious face at the door, smiling good morning. Simon was getting breakfast

I've adopted him. He's the son of an old friend of mine, and he

a hand affectionately on Peter's shoulder and told him how glad the people in Five Fingers would be to have him among them. Peter liked Poleon's round,

ilk, but he must get plenty of it now for you. Ther

he was helping Simon wash the breakfast dishes. It came from a voi

she announced. "So I have come to get

amed in the doorway. Her beautiful dark eyes were shining, and looking at him, and her wonderful[103] black hair was p

e chuckled softly as he told Peter to wipe his hands and go with Mona. Then he went to her, and tilted up her pretty chin, and ran his hand over her smooth hair that was like silk to his work-hardened pa

cal Aleck Curry, did you?" he asked with

le and cast a swif

ed when I went in,"

oing to mess me up in proper shape when you hit

at him. Then she loo

one of my

as eating my axe. Peter will take

1

d porcupine. Buddy was sniffing suspiciously at the corpse

heard you call to him to let the white o

heard

ntil it went out. Then I sat at the window i

beating strangely. "I-I was wondering i

ays he

to a high little meadow at the foot of a green knoll. Here, Peter observed, were many scores of green little mounds, and many others over which the grass had not gro

pines like cabin doors and windowsills and axes and table l

1

nything somebody has handled. Once, when we were away

d almost everything alive except the birds. Uncle Pierre has the tug bring me a barrel of salt every time

ick him today,"

nt you to fight him, not unless you have to, Peter. He isn't worth it. You have

ith a suddenness that start

she in

d Peter bravely. "I never seen-I

looked away from her. Mona blushed, and if Peter

ight hair, too-like

r is-prettier than your eyes. When I fir

1

hink?" she aske

dunno what

d companionable about the sound of a sawmill at work in the heart of a forest country. It is friendly even to a stranger and makes one feel at home, and when Mona and Peter came to the mill the half-dozen men

moment the man had turned and had her up off the ground, tight in his arms. Mona kissed him, and Peter thought he had never seen t

Pierre. Come and

od had put a passionate love for all children, kissed Peter. In thus welcoming the boy he drew him so close that for an[107] instant Peter's f

e which was still dark, and his lip which was swollen: "So you are the young man w

alone. I was tired and empty as a drum. He was

a shadow followed it. The gentleness in

will not have him troubling you, Mona

er quickly. "I'll take care of her.

boys like you." He ran his hand over Mona's silken hair, just as Simon McQuarrie had done. "I gu

leck," declared Mona. "If

oward[108] the Gourdon cabin, Peter asked,

water when my mother and father were drowned," explaine

t," said Peter. "W

ng

as what I must have been thinking when I saw you first yesterday, there in the sun,

one," agreed Mona depreciatively. "But I lik

What's that building down there, with the box

tiful, Peter. Uncle Pierre says she is as lovely as Aunt Josette was when she was

so

ou tal

lessons, even when we were on the trail.[109] My dad was--"

e back, and he will. Uncle Pierre says it was prayer that brought me

says tha

, Peter. I'm going to pray for you

ive Fingers. "If he comes back they may catch him," he said. "And if they do that--" She saw a queer, twisted look lik

cle Pierre. He always brings things out right. And

turned away, and his heart beat fast. In a vague and unanalytical way the thought was in his mind that God could not help answering Mona's prayers. If He did not, there could be no

many prayers answ

for something to happen to Aleck Curry, too. And it's

ha

wish the crows would

. "There he is now-down there on the Fin

," said Peter,

you fight. Aunt Josette and Marie Antoinette are

faintly from Aleck. And then out of the door of one of the cabins came a tall, slim woman with a face so swee

tier, Peter thought, and who said she would have a place for[111] him in school next Monday morning. From one cabin to another Mona made him go with her,

found in it was like a doll, too. At first Peter thought she was a playmate of Mona's, for she was only a littl

ged him to the side of a crib and Peter looked down upon the round, cheerful face of young Telesphore Clamart, eight months old. Telesphore eyed Peter speculatively for a moment

enly he forgot the two girls and his embarrassment as he felt a soft little mouth touching his cheek. He laughed back at[112] Telesphore, and when the baby freed his hair and he stood up straigh

he said, speaking d

a told us what happened yesterday in the woods, Peter, and Jame and I love you for

"It isn't true. I didn't lick Alec

Mona with an obstinate

rst of it when you ca

tting him with the stick-that's all." And then she added: "Why is it y

ht of his position at that moment,[113] flat on his back with his legs in the air and his arms helpless under Aleck's weight, and Aleck himself just on the point of annihilating him! Surely Mona could not have been blind in thos

me a grim and insistent one, for if Mona really thought he had whipped Aleck, he must do it in fact to save his own self-respect; and if she was shielding him from embarrassment and shame

h he had never seen before, though he loved all wild things. At Mona's soft little calls the big-eyed moose birds which Peter called whisky jacks fluttered about her and ate crumbs out of her hands. Down on the white sand of the Middle Finger the gul

d-crumbs which she offered him. "And this is Dominique. I call him that to tease Dominique Beauvais, who is so fat and round. I don't know how he