The Cryptogram Part 35

"I'm sorry he escaped!" exclaimed Flora, with flas.h.i.+ng eyes. "But tell me, Mr. Macdonald, is there any word of Mr. Menzies and his party?"

"They are all right," replied the factor. "They reached Fort Elk in safety, and then went on to Fort York. So you see that the North is quiet again."

"But that won't avenge the burning of Fort Royal," I said bitterly, "or the death of so many brave men."

"The work of retribution will come later," declared Macdonald; "be a.s.sured of that. The governor will leave no stone unturned to seek out and punish the murderers. I wish Lord Selkirk were here; he is the very bones and sinews of the company. I understand that he contemplates an early visit to the Canadas, and this outrage may hasten his arrival. And now I must be going, Carew. When you have finished your breakfast--"

"One moment, sir," I interrupted. "I suppose there is no news of Captain Rudstone? It is foolish to ask--"

"Oh, but there is! Bless me, I quite forgot to speak of it. Let me see; there was a reference to the matter in the dispatch from Fort Charter.

What did he say? Wait--I have it!"

Running his finger down the page of thick yellow paper, covered with scrawly writing, he read as follows:

"... and tell Mr. Carew that we made a further search the next week for his friend Captain Myles Rudstone. A party set out under Tom Arnold and were gone three days. But they found no trace of the unfortunate man, and there can be no doubt that he perished in the storm, and is buried deep under a drift."

"Poor fellow!" said I. "I hoped he might turn up, but there is no chance of it now."

"It is a strange case," replied Macdonald. "I was familiar with Captain Rudstone's name, but I can't recall every having met him."

With that the factor looked at his watch, gathered up his papers, and hurried from the room. Left to ourselves, Flora and I discussed the welcome tidings we had just heard, as well as some matters of a more personal nature. Then, breakfast finished, I reluctantly departed to my day's work, and a few moments later I was seated at a desk in the clerk's quarters, with ink, quill, and paper before me; for I was writing a detailed account of the siege and capture of Fort Royal, which to be forwarded to the officials of the company at Quebec.

The breakfast room again; the time nine o'clock that same night. After laborious toil with brain and hand, I was enjoying a well-earned rest.

Supper was over long since, and the ladies had retired a few minutes before. A snugger, more cozy place could scarcely have been found in Quebec itself. Two lamps shed a soft light, and a mighty fire roared in the huge stove.

Macdonald and I sat in easy-chairs at opposite sides of a table that was littered with books and papers, gla.s.ses, a bottle of whiskey, and a canister of tobacco. He was smoking a long churchwarden, I a stubby and blackened short one. At a small table at the other end of the room three officers of the fort were playing cards with the silence and attention of old-world gamesters.

"Nearly done with your report?" asked the factor.

"I think another day will finish it," said I.

"It's a trying task, no doubt."

"I would rather be fighting Indians," I replied. "The work is better fitted for Mr. Burley."

"Quite so," a.s.sented Macdonald. "By the bye, where is your legal friend to-night?"

"I'll warrant he's in the men's quarters, as usual," I answered, "on the hunt for information."

"He's a queer chap, but sound-headed," said the factor. "He spoke to me of the matter that brought him to the Canadas, but I couldn't give him any a.s.sistance; I never heard the name of Osmund Maiden."

I'm afraid it's a useless search--so many years have pa.s.sed since the man disappeared.

"I agree with you," I replied. "But he is a plucky fellow, and sticks on in spite of failure. He deserves to win. I don't suppose he told you what he wants with the man?"

"No; he was close-mouthed about that, Carew. Fill up your gla.s.s again.

That rare old Scotch I get straight from Edinburgh, and the tobacco is the best crop of the Virginias. You see, we try to live up to the mark here in the wilderness."

"Royally," said I. "I have tasted no such tobacco or whisky since I was in Quebec last."

We smoked for awhile in silence, and then Macdonald suddenly blurted out:

"If the Northwest people make trouble, my supplies will be cut off."

"Any news to-day?" I asked.

"A little," he replied. "It may mean nothing--or much. Certainly our enemies are growing bolder. Last night a lot of half-breeds marched through our colony, making murderous threats and singing war songs."

"And a week ago two swivel guns and a howitzer were stolen," said I; "and a week before that there was a brawl up at Isle-a-la-Crosse, in which a man was killed on either side. Mr. Macdonald, the situation is becoming intolerable. How will it end?"

The factor brought his fist heavily down on the table. "In a general fight--perhaps in a war spread over the whole territory," he declared.

"By Heaven! sir, if I had authority from Governor Semple, I would take stern measures at once--I would make the Northwest people show their hand, and then attack and crush them. We have borne insults and affronts too long."

"I hoped that I was done with fighting," I replied.

"Ay, you have had more than your share of it. I am sorry for you, Carew.

I will hurry on your marriage--I sent for the priest this morning--and then I would advise you to send your wife to Quebec. We shall win in the end, and uphold the supremacy of the company, but not without a struggle, I fear."

The thought of parting from Flora--of sending her hundreds of miles away from me--made me feel very blue; and the factor's keen eyes observed this:

"Cheer up," he said. "We are discussing events that may never occur.

Come, what do you say to a little diversion--to a hand at cards?"

"With all my heart," I a.s.sented gladly.

But just then the door slowly opened, and Mr. Christopher Burley slowly entered the room. He was neatly attired in black, and after looking about him he made a low bow.

"I trust I am not intruding," he said in a dry, precise voice. "I desire to see you particularly, Mr. Macdonald. I have been conversing with some of the older employees of the fort, and I find that through ignorance I overlooked a most important matter during the interview you granted me several days ago."

"Indeed!" replied Macdonald. "And to what do you refer? Go on; you may speak freely in front of Mr. Carew."

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

A MESSAGE.

I think Mr. Burley would have preferred a private audience with the factor, but he made no verbal objection to my presence. He looked rather glum, however, as he came near and seated himself. He first took a pinch of snuff from an enameled box, and blew his nose vigorously; then, stretching his long legs under the table and resting an elbow on each arm of the chair, he interlocked his lean fingers.

"If I remember rightly, Mr. Macdonald," he began, "you informed me that you had been a resident of this fort, in various capacities, for the s.p.a.ce of thirty-two years?"

"That is quite true, sir."

"And during that period--indeed for some years prior to it," continued the law clerk, "I understand that travelers stopping at Fort Garry on their way to the far north were in the habit of leaving their trunks and other luggage behind them here for safe keeping."