The La Chance Mine Mystery

that drew scr

hat slash

that cried o

o struck

ight

unds nor cats on the Caraquet road. I felt Paulette stiffen through all her supple body. She whispered to herself sharply, as

rses, remembering that spliced pole. Paulette remembered

ill on the pole. "They're not after us,

ce. "How far are we

ay. But I said,

ick, like life, or death, or anything else sudden as lightning-she had no need to listen; nor had I. A burst of ravening yells, gatherin

k's Misery stuff that had started them, as it had drawn the wolf that had taken my clothes. I could hear t

ulette exclaimed, as if she ca

in it! I could not honestly visualize myself filling it up the night before, but I was sure I had filled it, just as I was sure I had never troubled to look at it since. B

ves. I thought they were cowards, but-they don't sou

quet road I had never thought of them. I cursed inside while I said disjointedly, "Quiet, Bob, will you?-There's nothing to be afraid of; you'll laugh over this to-night!" Because I suddenly hope

e nous to get hold of the Skunk's Misery wolf dope, he or Dunn could easily have stowed it in my wagon in the night, and been caught by

urprise. "Oh, I haven't done you a bit of good by coming, Mr. Stret

"D'ye mean you ca

-I mean I hated your going alone with all tha

Once over the crest of it we should have done two miles since we heard the first wolf howl; which meant we were nearer to Billy Jones's than I had remembered. If the pole held to get us down the other side of the long hill ther

nough! I couldn't have held the horses and patched the wagon too." I omitted to say I could hav

ght she laughe

ses loose and ride th

e, as we were m--" I knew she cut

nt to, the sinister flurry behind us had decided me his career was closed. "However, it would be wasting troubl

d out, a black blot on the hilltop against the night sky, they broke out in chorus just behind us, for all

ge in my gun! Yours is so little I'm afraid o

uld have got her on Danny's back and let her run clear five minutes ag

h the brutes would stop that yelling; th

quick! I can shoot; and I've cartridges. You couldn't do any good with it: it throws low-and it'

ofs and wheels over a road I had all I could do to see; with that crazy pole I dared not check the horses to put an ounce on. I stood up and drove for all I was worth, and the girl beside me shot,-and hit! For a yell an

e this. But I've got to do it. I"-her voice rose in sudden d

-and one leapt out of the dark by the

n one side of it, I would have been more ashamed than I was of being fought for by a girl. "You're a wonder-just a marvellous wonder," I got out thickly. "We're clear-and it's t

lize it then. I thought, "We're done! They've headed us!" I said, "Look out ahead fo

were on a dancing floor and shed Dudley Wilbraham's coat. She leaned toward me, and I felt rather than saw that she was in shirt and knickerbockers lik

ing to do she was past me, out over the dashboard, and runni

as after. She had not slipped; she was astride Danny-ducking under his rein neatly, for I had not felt the sign of a jerk-but only God knew what might happen to her if he fell. And suddenly I knew what she had run out there to do. She was shooting ahead of the horses, down the road; then t

d that led straight to the Halfway stable. It was light, too, after the dead blackness of the narrow swamp road. I saw the girl turn on Danny carelessly, as if she were in a saddle, and wave her hand forward for me to keep going. But the only thought I had was to get her back into the wagon. Not because I was afraid of

pull up the horses, before I even guessed what she meant to do, I saw her st

e wanted to kill herself. She said no, quite coolly. Only that that pole would not bear any m

ble gold," I said angrily. "Sit down this minute and wrap that coat round you." I had cea

know that it was altogether to save you, Mr. Stretton, or your gold either, that

our own mine. I had realized already that they had been missing from La Chance quite early enough for me to thank them for the boulder on my good road, and Collins--But I hastily revised my conviction that it was Collins I had heard the wolves chop in the bush as hounds chop a fox: Collins had too muc

e, a wolf had scented me and howled; had followed me to the shack and howled again while I was talking to Marcia about Paulette Brown; and another had carried off those very clothes under my own eyes where I stood by my window, as if the smell on them had been s

g it around a fish and game club, and endangering people's lives. That same wolf bait had been put in my wagon by somebody,-and the human cry out of the swamp at Paulette's shot suddenly repeated itself in my ears. I was biting my lip, or I would have grinned. Paulette had hit the m

u know you shot a

wolves,-and instantly saw what I was after. "That's nonsense, though! There c

got by you," I

lders. "They'd have s

osed of my horses and me. Even then I did not see why he had held his fire, unless he had no gun. But the whole thing was a snarl it was no good thinking about till the girl beside me owned how

't you tell me all the trouble, ins

there might be trouble to-night, but I imagined it would happen before you started. That wa

cause, unless he were dead, as I hoped, she couldn't. But Paulette stared at me, ope

him secretly in the dark. "I don't know anything about any Collins, nor a

tter who did anything," I exclaimed suddenly, "so long as there's trust between you and me!" Because I forgot Dudley and everything but my dream girl who had fought for me, and I su

ey," she said quietly, and slipped out of the wagon before I cou

niffing at my fore wheel. "Have