To Win or to Die Part 32

And then, it seemed to Abel, in his waking dream, they shudderingly gathered together what they saw to cast into the ready-dug grave--the shaft in which he and Dallas had so laboriously but hopefully delved, in search of the magnet which had drawn them there--the gold.

He made a wild effort to drive away the horrible fancy, and at last with a weary sigh sank upon his bed, his last thought being:

"Would those at home ever know the whole truth?"

"How long have I been awake?"

It must have been one long stupor of many, many hours, for the fire was very low, shedding merely a soft warm glow through the place.

He was stupefied, and felt unable to move, but the fancy upon which he had fallen asleep was there still in a strange confused way, and he felt that the dog was not in the spot where he had left it.

He lay with his eyes half-closed, conscious now of some sound which had awakened him. For there beyond the glowing embers, where all was made indistinct and strange, the dog was hard at work tearing a way out of the hut. The wood snapped and grated as it was torn away; then there was silence, and he was half disposed as he lay there helpless to think it was all a dream.

But as this fancy came the noise began once more, and at last he caught sight of the great dog, strong and st.u.r.dy now, crawling through a hole it had made into the hut--what for he could not make out in his feverish state. Why should it have done this to get at him when already there?

He knew it was all wrong, and that his brain was touched; but one thing was plain reality: There was the great beast, magnified by the light of the fire, creeping forward while he lay paralysed and unable to stir.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

DAL'S WELCOME BACK.

And yet it was strange, for just then the embers fell together, a soft, lambent, bluish flame flickered up, making the interior of the hut light, and he saw that the dog still lay in its old place, fast asleep.

What was it then--bear, wolf--which had torn a way through or half under the wall of the place?

A bear, for it suddenly raised itself up on its hind-legs, and as he lay stupefied with horror, Abel could make out its s.h.a.ggy hide.

Still, he could not move to reach for the rifle which stood ready loaded in the corner close by, but lay half paralysed in the strange dazed state into which he had fallen, till the object which reared up, looking huge, moved a little, and seemed listening.

Just then there was a bright gleam.

Eyes--teeth? Impossible, for it was low down, and Abel shook off his lethargy and uttered a low, hoa.r.s.e cry, as he made an effort to spring up and reach a weapon.

But he was tight in the skin-lined sleeping-bag, and this fettered him so that he fell back, and the next moment his nocturnal visitant sprang forward, coming down heavily upon him, at the same moment making a deadly blow at him.

The strange feeling of helplessness was gone. Something to call forth the young man's flagging energies had been needed, and it had come. He had lain down as one who had given up all hope, who had lost all that bound him to life; but that was but the dream of weakness, the stagnation of his nature, brought on by suffering, loneliness, and despair.

Face to face now with this danger, confronted by a cowardly ruffian, Nature made her call, and it was answered. The strong desire for life returned, and with another hoa.r.s.e cry he flung himself aside, and thus avoided the blow aimed at him.

The next moment he had thrown himself upon his a.s.sailant. In an instant his hands were upon his throat. And now a terrible struggle ensued, in which a strange sense of strength came back to Abel; and he kept his hold, as, failing to extricate himself, his a.s.sailant retaliated by seizing him in the same way, and kept on raising and beating the fettered man's head against the floor.

For in their struggle they had writhed and twisted till they were approaching the fire; and as they strove on in their fight for the mastery, Abel was conscious of hearing a loud yelp. Then his breath grew shorter, there was a horrible sensation of the blood rushing to his eyes, as he gasped for breath--a terrible swimming of the brain--lights bright as flashes of lightning danced before his eyes, and then with his senses reeling he was conscious of a tremendous weight, and then all was black--all was silent as the grave.

"Two days late," said Dallas, as he paused for a few moments to rest and gain his breath, before shooting into collar again, when the trace tightened, the sledge creaked and ground over the blocks of ice, and glided over the obstruction which had checked him for the moment, and the runners of the heavily loaded frame rushed down the slope, nearly knocking him off his feet. The young man growled savagely, for the blow was a hard one.

"If you could only keep on like that I'd give you an open course," he said; "but you will not. Never mind; every foot's a foot gained.

Wonder how old Abel is getting on?"

He shot into the collar once more, the trace tightened, and he went on for another hundred yards over the ice and snow.

The young man's collar was a band of leather, his trace a rope, but no horse ever worked harder or perspired more freely than he, who was self-harnessed to the loaded sledge.

"I don't mind," he had said over and over again. "I'd have brought twice as much if I could have moved it. As it is, there's enough to pay off one's debts and to keep up, with economy, till the thaw comes; and now we are not going to be so pressed I daresay I shall manage to shoot a moose."

That journey back from the settlement had been a terrible one, for he had loaded himself far more heavily than was wise, and this had necessitated his sleeping two nights in the snow instead of one. But snow can be warm as well as cold, and he found that a deep furrow with the bright crystals well banked up to keep off the wind, blankets, and a sleeping-bag, made no bad lair for a tired man who was not hungry. He took care of that, for, as he said to himself, "If it is only a donkey who draws he must be well fed."

With his sledge at his head, tilted on one side to make a sort of canopy, and a couple of blankets stretched over, tent fashion, upon some stout sticks close down to his face, the air was soon warmed by his breath, and thanks to the skin-lined bag he slept soundly each night, and by means of a little pot and a spirit-lamp contrived to obtain a cup of hot tea before starting on his journey in the morning. But it was the lamp of life, heated by the brave spirit within him, that helped him on with his load, so that after being disappointed in not covering the last eight miles over-night, he dragged the sledge up towards their hut just at dawn of the day which succeeded the attack made upon his companion.

By dawn must be understood about ten o'clock, and as he drew near, Dallas could see a fire blazing here, and another there, at different shafts; but there was no sign of glow or smoke from the fire in their own hut; and in the joy that was within him at the successful termination of his expedition, Dallas laughed.

"The lazy beggar!" he said. "Not stirring yet, and no fire. Why, I must have been tugging at this precious load over four hours. He ought to have been up and had a good fire, and the billy boiling. He's taking it out in sleep and no mistake. Wonder whether the dog's dead? Poor brute! I don't suppose he can have held out till now."

As he drew near he gave vent to a signal whistle familiar to his cousin.

But there was no reply, and he tugged away till he was nearer, and then gave vent to a cheery "Ahoy!"

There was still no response, and he hailed again, without result.

"Well, he is sleeping," said Dallas, and he hailed again as he dragged away at the load. "At last!" he cried, as he reached the door and cast off the leathern loop from across his breast. "Here, Bel, ahoy! ahoy!

ahoy! Hot rolls and _coffee_! Breakfast, bacon, and tinned tongue!

Banquets and tuck out! Wake up, you lazy beggar! you dog! you--"

He was going to say "bear," but a horrible chill of dread attacked him, and he turned faint and staggered back, nearly falling over his loaded sledge.

"Bah! coward! fool!" he cried angrily, and he looked sharply round, to see shaft fires in the distance; but there was no hut within half a mile. "What nonsense!" he muttered. "There can't be anything wrong.

Got short of food, and gone to one of the neighbours."

Nerving himself, he tried to open the door.

But it was fast, and, as he could see from a means contrived by themselves for fastening the door from outside when they went away hunting or shooting, it had not been secured by one who had left the place.

In an instant, realising this, he grew frantic, and without stopping to think more, he ran round to the side by the shaft, caught up a piece of fir-trunk some six or seven feet long, and ran back, poised it for a few moments over his head, and then dashed it, battering-ram fashion, with all his might against the rough fir-wood door, just where the bar went across, loosening it so that he was able to insert one end of the piece of timber, using it now as a lever; and with one wrench he forced the door right open.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

TREGELLY'S IDEA OF A GOLD TRAP.

Dropping the piece of wood, he dashed into the dark hut, to find that the rush of wind from the suddenly opened door had started the embers in the middle of the floor flickering in a dim lambent flame, just enough to show him that the barrel table had been knocked over, the boxes used for seats driven here and there, the bed occupied by his cousin dragged away, the boards lifted, and the earth underneath it torn up, while Abel was lying face downward close up to the remains of their store of wood.

It was all in one comprehensive glance that he had seen this, and it seemed still to be pa.s.sing panorama-like across the retina of his eyes, when the faint flame died out and he dropped upon his knees beside the prostrate man.

"Oh, Bel, lad," he groaned; "what have I done? I oughtn't to have left you. Bel, old man, speak to me. G.o.d help me! He can't be dead!"

His hands were at his cousin's breast to tear open the clothes, and feel if the heart was beating, but for the moment he shrank back in horror, half paralysed with the dread of learning the truth.