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Updated: May 11, 2025
Shon broke the silence, by a whisper to Lawless: "Jo was a quiet man, as patient as a priest; but when his blood came up, there was trouble in the land. Do you remimber whin " Lawless interrupted him and motioned towards Pourcette. The old man, after a few puffs, held the pipe on his knee, disregarding it. Lawless silently offered him some more whisky, but he shook his head.
But not Shon nor anyone else could tell aught of him; he had wandered north to outlying goldfields, and then had disappeared completely. But there, as it would seem, his coat and cap hung, and his rifle, dust-covered, kept guard over the fire. Shon went over to the coat, did as Pourcette had done, and said: "Is it gone y'are, Jo, wid your slow tongue and your big heart?
He suddenly became silent; and shook his head, and spoke under his breath. "Yes," said Lawless quietly, "you went away. What then?" He looked up quickly, as though just aware of their presence, and continued: "Well, the other followed, as I said, and " "No, Pourcette," interposed Lawless, "you didn't say. Who was the other that followed?"
When they reached Clear Mountain, bringing with them the skin which was to hang above the fireplace, Pourcette prepared to go to Fort St. John, as he had said he would, to sell all the skins and give the proceeds to the girl. "When that's done," said Lawless, "you will have no reason for staying here. If you will come with us after, we will go to the Fort with you.
Pourcette took no notice. Shon went over to get it, but Pourcette laid a hand on his arm: "Not that." "For ornamint!" said Shon, laughing, and then his eyes were arrested by a suit of buckskin and a cap of beaver, hanging on the wall. He turned them over, and then suddenly drew back his hand, for he saw in the back of the jacket a knife-slit. There was blood also on the buckskin.
Lawless noticed that Pourcette seemed scarcely to take any aim at all, so swift and decisive was his handling of the gun. They skinned the deer and cached them, and took up the journey again. For four days they travelled and hunted alternately. Pourcette had shot two mountain lions, but they had seen no pumas. On the morning of the fifth day they came upon the valley where the gold was.
"Holy Mary!" he said, and retreated. Lawless had not noticed; he was pouring out the liquor. He had handed the cup first to Pourcette, who raised it towards a gun hung above the fireplace, and said something under his breath. "A dramatic little fellow," thought Lawless; "the spirit of his forefathers a good deal of heart, a little of the poseur." Then hearing Shon's exclamation, he turned.
He would have killed him from behind; but it was known in the camp that he was no friend of Gordineer, and it was not safe." Again Pourcette was silent. Lawless put on his knee a new pipe, filled with tobacco. The little man took it, lighted it, and smoked on in silence for a time undisturbed.
The man rose to his feet with a cry, and his hands stretched above his head, as it were in a kind of ecstasy. Shon forgot his gold and ran; Lawless hurried also. When the two men got to the spot they found Pourcette binding up his wounds. He came to his feet, heedless of his hurts, and grasped their hands. "Come, come, my friends, and see," he cried.
They were very comfortable, for their host, Pourcette, the French Canadian, had fire and meat in plenty, and, if silent, was attentive to their comfort a little, black-bearded, grey-headed man, with heavy brows over small vigilant eyes, deft with his fingers, and an excellent sportsman, as could be told from the skins heaped in all the corners of the large hut.
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