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Possibly it was because his affections were centred upon but one creature in the world, his sister Davia, that he felt strongly in her cause. He knew that, at last, he held Victor in a powerful grip, and he did not intend to relax it. Jean was as good as his word and took up his abode in Victor's store.
He is armed, as Davia had said, this strange horrific figure, and at intervals his head is thrown back to give tongue to his wolfish cry. It almost seems as if the Spirit of the Forest has claimed him. He journeys on through the twilit gloom. The horror of the life gathered about him is no more grim than is the condition of his witless brain.
But Jean did not answer; he was listening to a strange sound which came to him through the open door. Suddenly he stooped again and began to readjust the rope that held his prisoner. He secured hands and feet together in a manner from which Victor was not likely to free himself easily; and yet from which it was possible for him to get loose. Davia followed his movements keenly.
An' the Peace River's nigh to a garden. I 'lows Father Lefleur's a straight man, an'll set you on the right trail, Davi'. Yes, I guess we'll be gettin' on." Still there was no answer. Suddenly the giant swung round and looked at the spot where Davia had been standing. She had vanished. And Jean, solemn-eyed as any moose, stared stupidly at the place where her feet had rested.
And her mouth was dry with her terror. They found Victor as Jean had left him. The prisoner looked up when the door opened. His eyes brightened at the sight of the woman. No word was spoken for some moments. In that silence a drama was swiftly working itself out. Victor was calculating his chances. Davia was thinking in a loving woman's unreasoning fashion. And Jean was watching both.
He might have slain Victor a hundred times over, but he had refrained, vainly hoping to see his sister righted. Besides, he knew that Davia had loved Victor, and women are peculiar. Who might say but that she would have fled from the murderer of her lover? Jean felt well satisfied on the whole. So he stood thinking and waiting with a calm mind.
"Smarter?" said Victor contemptuously, ignoring the latter part of the other's remark. "That's what I said," went on the giant, in dispassionate tones. "Davia reckoned as it wa'n't jest safe to light right out lest them fellers found they'd been robbed o' their wad. She's stayin' around to put 'em off'n the trail.
Davia watched him while she listened to the din of the forest world. At length the staff had beaten its way to the water below. "What are ye doin'?" she asked, quite suddenly. And Jean's retort was a repetition of her own words. "It's cursed it's blood-money!" She took his meaning, and her cupidity cried out in revolt. But her protest was useless. "You're not goin' " she began.
The glance of Victor's eyes as they turned upon Jean was like the edge of a super-sharpened knife. The trader knew that a crisis had arrived. Which was the stronger of these two, the brother or the sister? He waited. "What are you goin' to do with him?" Davia asked. She could scarcely withhold the anger which had risen within her.
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