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"Looky," he cried. "Pretty " To his astonishment and joy, Little Mystery put out a hand and placed the tip of her tiny forefinger on the girl's face. Then she looked up into Pelliter's eyes. "Mama," she lisped. Pelliter tried to speak, but something rose like a knot in his throat and choked him. A fire leaped all at once through his body; the joy of that one word blinded him with hot tears.
"My girl 'd love to have you come, an' you know how I'd like it." But Billy could not be moved. "I'll come and see you some day when you've got the kid," he promised, trying to laugh, as he shook hands for the last time with his old comrade. For three days after Pelliter's departure he remained at the post.
"Your obedient servant, " WILLIAM MACVEIGH, Sergeant, "In charge of detachment." He folded the report, placed it with other treasures in the waterproof rubber bag which always went into his pack, and returned to Pelliter's side. "I hate to leave you alone, Pelly," he said. "But I'll make a fast trip of it four hundred and fifty miles over the ice, and I'll do it in ten days or bust.
"So it's you, is it?" he cried, softly; and then he mumbled things which the little girl could not possibly have understood. Suddenly he sprang to his feet and ran to the door with a word to faithful old Kazan, the leader. From far down the snow-ridge there came the rapid firing of Pelliter's rifle.
She was looking at Billy wonderingly, her golden curls tousled about her pretty face, and gripping two or three of Pelliter's old letters in her tiny hand. And then she smiled at Billy and held out the letters to him. In an instant he had dropped Pelliter's hands and caught her up in his arms. "I've got letters for you in my pocket, Pelly," he gasped.
He glanced at Pelliter on the opposite side. His comrade was running with one arm raised at the proper angle to reserve breath and endurance; the other hung straight and limp at his side. A sudden fear shot through him, and he darted ahead of the lead dog to Pelliter's side. He did not speak, but touched the other's arm. "One of the little devil's winged me," gasped Pelliter. "It's not bad."
"But there's no use worrying any more about it. It ain't in reason that she's got any people up here, six hundred miles from the shack of a white man that 'd own a little beauty like her. She's mine. I found her. She's mine to keep." He sat down at the table, and MacVeigh sat down opposite him, smiling sympathetically into Pelliter's eyes. "I know you want her want her bad, Pelly," he said.
This was an unknown word in the Service, and in Pelliter's voice there were both amazement and contempt. "Yes, run," said Billy, quietly. "Run for the kid's sake." It was almost dark in the cabin, and Pelliter came close to his companion. "You mean " "That it's the only way to save the kid.
For the sweetness of the woman's lips and the greater sweetness of her blue eyes told him what life held for him now. A day's journey to the south was an Indian camp. He would take her there, and would hire runners to carry up Pelliter's medicines and his letters.
He took off his heavy coat and tossed it on the table. Then he followed Pelliter's instructions in quest of food, and for ten minutes ate ravenously. Not until he was through and seated opposite him at the table did Pelliter speak. "Who are you, and where in Heaven's name did you come from?" he asked.
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