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The wind shrieked, the billows roared and crashed, and the shadow of death seemed to be lowering on us from the black sky overhead. "How are we going?" Captain Rudstone asked of the first mate, who was at one of the oars. "Badly enough, sir," the man replied. "It's no use trying to keep off the shore, pull as hard as we may." "Is there no hope?" Flora asked of me in a whisper.
I fired three times spare muskets were passed to me and I drew back from the loophole to reload. By the ruddy flashes I recognized friends Baptiste and Captain Rudstone, Griffith Hawke and Andrew Menzies, the excited countenance of Christopher Burley in the rear. "Rake them down," the factor cried shrilly. "Beat them off if you can. Don't let them get a footing inside!"
"None as yet; but I am not discouraged. From here I go southwest. I feel that I shall succeed in the end. I find that the factor is unable to help me, and it is no doubt needless to ask you " "Quite so," I interrupted. "Osmund Maiden is still an unfamiliar name to me." "Captain Rudstone knows the Canadas thoroughly," said Griffith Hawke. "Perhaps he has run across your man in the past."
"It is a last chance," he replied, "and we must cling to it for the sake of the women. Were it not for them I would hold out to the end. Ah, the pity of it! To think that Fort Royal will be lost!" "It will rise again stronger than ever," Captain Rudstone said grimly, "when the Northwest Company has been crushed out of existence." "May I live to see the day!" said Menzies fervently.
Captain Rudstone and I made our way up to him, and saw that further progress was barred by a slab of rock that fitted exactly across the passage. "It will yield with a hard push," said Menzies. "Wait!" said I. "Let us first blow out the lantern." This was done, and the three of us put our weight to the stone. It grated like rusty iron, gave way slowly, and went down with a crunching noise.
And deep under the fallen mass, covered by tons and tons of compact debris, was the crushed body of Hiram Buckhorn. "He could not have a better grave," said Captain Rudstone. "No men or beasts will ever despoil it." "Peace to his bones!" replied Carteret, reverently taking off his cap. "He deserved to live, after what he did." "But the gold!" I cried. "It is buried with him!"
This was pleasing news, but before I could glean any further information, the rest of the party made their appearance from the timber three more voyageurs and three of the company's Indian hunters. And with them, to my great delight, were Captain Rudstone and Baptiste. Both walked with difficulty and were sorely bruised.
"I thought I saw No, I was mistaken." The words were so low that none heard them but myself. I attached no meaning to them at the time, thinking that she was slightly unnerved by the dramatic scene we were witnessing. But Captain Rudstone as I remembered afterward seemed to notice Flora's agitation. At all events he quickly recovered the letter from the law clerk and restored it to the packet.
"Myles Rudstone." There was an exclamation of surprise, and a moment later a rope ladder was thrown down to us. Baptiste and I and the girl preceded the captain, and as he followed us he cast the boat adrift. At the first sight, seeing him on deck by the glare of a lantern, I was favorably impressed by Hiram Bunker. He was a short, thick-set man, with a sandy beard and a shrewd, good natured face.
Captain Rudstone, whose identity was known to but the four of us, told a laughable story of one of his experiences in the States. But I observed, to my discomfiture, that he kept a close watch on Flora. She sat opposite to me, joining in the conversation with a ring of merriment that I detected as false, and as much as possible she avoided meeting my eyes. After dinner she left the room with Mrs.
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