CHAPTER XLI.
BACK FROM THE DEAD.
Lieutenant Boyd was silent for an instant, and I saw that he was alittle staggered by the bold daring of the accusation. Then, lookingRuthven straight in the eyes, he said, in a curt and significant tone ofvoice:
"I am glad to have found some one who can give information concerningCuthbert Mackenzie, and I will remember you when certain investigationsnow pending are taken up by the Hudson Bay Company. Shall I make mymeaning clearer?"
"As you please," muttered Ruthven, with an air of forced calmness.
"It is needless; I think we understand each other," the lieutenantcontinued. "As for the prisoner, and the charge you have made againsthim, I won't enter into that matter at present. Did you arrest him witha warrant?"
"No."
"Then you can't hold him. Set him at liberty, and I will guarantee thatyou will find him at Fort Garry when you are ready to serve the properpapers on him."
"It's likely I'll believe that," sneered Ruthven. "I tell you the man isguilty. I have witnesses--proofs of the murder."
"I don't care what you have," cried the lieutenant. "I want the man atonce--I've parleyed with you far too long. If you don't produce him I'llsearch the house."
Ruthven sat glowering like a tiger at bay. He scanned our resolutelittle party, and looked helplessly at the sullen, scowling faces of hisown men. "I yield to force of arms," he said hoarsely; "but I protestagainst this unjustifiable outrage. Lagarde, bring the fellow out!"
The storekeeper had meanwhile returned to the room, and now, atRuthven's bidding, he entered an apartment in the rear and partly closedthe door behind him. For a brief interval we waited in silence, hearingonly an indistinct murmur of voices. Then Lagarde reappeared, followedby the prisoner.
At sight of the man my heart gave a wild throb, and a cry of amazementwas forced to my lips, for there before me, as dashing-looking as ever,but with cheeks slightly sunken and blanched from illness, stood CaptainMyles Rudstone.
"You!" I gasped. "Back from the dead!"
"It's the captain, sure enough!" shouted Carteret.
I half expected to see him vanish in thin air, but my doubts weredispelled when he came quickly forward and clasped my hand.
"Don't stare at me as though I was a ghost," he said laughingly. "Yousee I am real flesh and blood, my dear Carew. I have turned up again,like a bad penny."
"I never dreamed that the prisoner could be you!" I exclaimed. "Webelieved you dead--buried under the snow."
"It was a natural supposition," the captain replied, as he shook handswith Carteret and Lieutenant Boyd.
"My good fellows, I am greatly indebted to you for this service--foryour timely rescue. I was awake when you arrived, and overheard thelittle discussion, but as I was both gagged and bound, I could donothing in my own behalf."
With that his face darkened, and striding to the table, he struck it ablow with his fist that set the bottles and cups rattling, and causedRuthven and his evil crew to shrink back in their seats.
"You and I will have a reckoning at a later time," he cried, addressingRuthven. "Be assured that it will come!"
"A word with you, Captain Rudstone," said Boyd. "I must warn you thatyou are charged with a grave crime, and that I have given a pledge foryour safe keeping at Fort Garry."
"What is the accusation?"
"The murder of Cuthbert Mackenzie!" Ruthven blurted out savagely.
The captain shrugged his shoulders, laughed insolently, and gave me ameaning and reassuring glance.
"I reserve my defense," he said. "I will say nothing at present as tothe truth or falsity of this charge. Certainly I have done nothing thatI would willingly undo--quite the contrary."
"I am sure of that," I said warmly.
"As for your pledge Lieutenant Boyd," the captain continued. "I give youmy word I shall wait Mr. Ruthven's pleasure at Port Garry, and I defyhim to bring his witnesses before a competent tribunal. Indeed, I courtand desire a full investigation of the act with which I stand charged."As he spoke he glared at Ruthven, and the latter's eyes fell.
"Well said!" exclaimed the lieutenant. "I perceive you have grasped thedelicate nature of this affair, Captain Rudstone. By the way, Iunderstand you are the bearer of dispatches. Do you still retain them?"
"That is a misapprehension, sir," was the reply. "I have no dispatches;nor did I stop at any of the company's forts on my journey from thenorth. I am bound for Fort Garry on a private and personal matter."
"You shall accompany us there at once," said Boyd. "I think we havefinished here." Turning to Ruthven, he added: "We are going now, sir.Let me warn you to keep your men under control--to see that no shots arefired treacherously."
"When we want to shoot it will not be behind your backs," Ruthvenreplied significantly, and in a voice that trembled with suppressedpassion. "You will be sorry for this night's work!"
Without further words we left the house, gathered up our men outside,and crossed the clearing to the woods. We pushed on more rapidly to thehorses, and one of the men gave his steed to Captain Rudstone andmounted behind a companion. As we rode on a trot toward the fort, thecaptain, who was in front, between Boyd and myself, related to us inconfidence the thrilling story of his adventures. He spoke in low tones,for it was not advisable that the rest should hear a narrative whichought properly to have come to the factor's ear first.
"I shall spin the yarn briefly and without going into details," hebegan. "My disappearance on that night when we encamped near FortCharter was a very simple thing. I was on duty, you will remember, and Ieither heard--or imagined I heard--the report of a musket within half amile. Hoping to learn what it meant, I ventured too far from camp. Theresult was that I lost my bearings, and for several hours wandered aboutin the blinding storm. I shouted at intervals, and fired a couple ofshots. At, last, when I was nearly exhausted I came across a recessunder a mass of rocks. I crawled into it--it was warm and tight--andthere I slept as I have never slept in my life before. I wakened to findthat I was snowed up--many hours must have passed--and with tremendoustoil I dug myself out of the huge drift. It was then late in theafternoon of the next day. I had no idea of my bearings, and aftertramping aimlessly until twilight I stumbled upon a small camp in thewilderness, and found myself Cuthbert Mackenzie's prisoner."
"And did you really kill the scoundrel?" I asked.
"Wait; I am coming to that," replied the captain. "Mackenzie had half adozen Indians with him, and was on the way south. He knew me, of course,and he swore that he would shoot me at daybreak. We held someconversation, during which he virtually admitted that he had instigatedand led the attack on Fort Royal. He meant to kill me--I saw thatclearly--and I felt pretty blue when I was bound fast to a tree."
"You worked your bonds loose, I suppose?" inquired Boyd.
"No; I was saved in another way," said the captain--"by your old friendGray Moose, Carew. It seems that he and a dozen redskins had beenfollowing Mackenzie up on account of some old grudge--some act of falsedealing--and that night they surprised and attacked the camp. They cutme loose first, seeing that I was a prisoner, and I took part in thescrimmage. I grappled with Mackenzie and overpowered him, and to save myown life I had to stab him to the heart--"
"He deserved it," said I. "It was a just retribution. And how did thefight turn out?"
"Two of Mackenzie's party escaped, and the rest were killed," CaptainRudstone answered. "I knew little of it at the time, for I was shotthrough the shoulder and fainted from loss of blood. Gray Moose and hisbraves carried me to an Indian village some miles to the west, tended meuntil I was recovered, and then supplied me with a sledge and food forthe long journey South. And it ended, as you know, in my falling intothe hands of those Northwest Company ruffians a few miles from mydestination."
"But how do you suppose Ruthven knew of the affair?" asked Boyd.
"From the two Indians who escaped," replied the captain; "they must hav
epushed right on down country. I'll tell you more of my story at anothertime. Yonder, if I am not mistaken, are the lights of Fort Garry."