Adventure, November 1915 — page 114: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ii2 hand? The Arctic Fur? Masita—” he = paused to gage the distance of Betarde and the waiting packers, then lowered his voice to a mere whisper—“put Ivan Trevor in place of Hillaire Helbaud, then you have my allegiance. I am the Chimo Factor’s brigade leader, and I am here as a spy. Of all his men the Factor chose me because none of Helbaud’s company had set eyes on me before. You see it was only last Winter I was transferred to Fort Chimo from the Hudson’s Bay post on the Great Whale!” CHAPTER VIII THE SHADOW OF IVAN TREVOR ON DIEU!” gasped Masita. Then joy rushed over her, such joy as might have been caused by the admis- sion that he belonged to her own band of free-traders. “Thank God, Francois! Thank——” © “Hush, not so loud,” he warned, catching her by the arm. ‘“‘Betarde has wonderful ears, and the packers are getting curious. I had better make a show of putting you back from the waterline. Rock that near- est canoe with your foot, and I shall put you back.” | With a sweep of her toe Masita set the canoe rocking, and at the same time she pointed riverward with a harsh laugh. Lavergne echoed her laugh, and shook his head good-naturedly. He put out a hand gently and calculatingly upon her arm and moved her beyond reach of the craft lying on the beach. Betarde and the packers saw in the move- ment nothing but a natural precaution, but the simple touch of Frangois’s fingers on her bare forearm bridged the gap of the years, and the magic of the old days envel- oped them both. For a second Lavergne lost and forgot himself in the glamour of her dark eyes, then he straightened up with a jerk of recollection. “T have to guard against false moves,”’ he rapidly observed, “against the natural moves. I play a part, and most of all I must not be unmasked now.” “Yes, yes, go on,” she urged excitedly. “Tam so glad, Francois, that I might have been careless and endangered you. But you understand? Though you are an en- emy, you are an honorable enemy, and it is the joy of that knowledge that sings Adventure through and through me. But explain. You are here on a mission, a dangerous mis- sion?” “Dangerous?” Lavergne shrugged his enormous shoulders. “I don’t know. But I do know it is a necessary mission. Hel- baud thinks that we sleep on Ungava Bay, but if he stayed awake as much as Ivan Trevor he might feel less secure. ‘Go you,’ the Factor said to me in the Spring, ‘and get on with Helbaud asa voyageur. Perhaps he will make you his head voyageur, what of your strength and skill. And you will -mark what he does and report to me at the cd appointed place.’ That was in Seven Is- lands Post, Masita. You know it—over on the St. Marguerite River, not so far away. And in telling you this remember I am giv- ing away a company secret, but you may know since the plan is not formed against you.” “He is at Seven Islands?” whispered Ma- sita in an awed voice. “Ivan Trevor is at Seven Islands Post?” “Nearer than that,’’ Lavergne informed. “You may know, I repeat, because this plan is not formed against you. Helbaud thinks he works unnoticed like a beaver, but the Hudson’s Bay Company marks every move he makes. The Factor knew of his activity gulfward, knew that he had some tremen- dous project under way, knew what your father did not know, Masita, For, listen, the stoppage of your father’s-right of way and the seizure of his furs is only the first blow in a mighty battle. When he has made his base on Manikuagan Portage se- cure, he goes North to Cambrian Lake. If the free-traders stand not with him, they stand against them, and he proposes to wipe them off the district. Plans are drawn and material, tools and men gathered to build a fort to mask Dubawni Post, and it is there, should your father oppose him to the end, that the real battle will be fought.” “He will oppose him to the end,” de- clared Masita grimly. “He will give in to no one, not even—begging your forgive- ness, Francois—the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany.” “T know it,” admitted Francois. ‘For Ivan Trevor has told me something of Bri- and Dubawni, and I can read a man at first sight. I know he will fight to the end, and the knowledge saddens me, Masita. For the Hudson’s Bay must take a hand in the struggle. *Helbaud moves not against DOO EGOMIGE SS