FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101  
102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   >>   >|  
e. But the damage is done. My lawyer says that there is not a chance to fight this thing in court." "Ah, _oui_. I expec' that much. But Ba'teese, he think, mebbe, of another way. Eh, Golemar?" He shouted to the dog, trotting, as usual, beside the buggy. "Mebbe we have a, what-you-say, punch of luck." Then, silent, he leaned over the reins. Houston too was quiet, striving in vain to find a way out of the difficulties that beset him. At the end of half an hour he looked up in surprise. They no longer were on the way to the mill. The road had become rougher, hillier, and Houston recognized the stream and the aspen groves which fringed the highway leading to Ba'tiste's cabin. But the buggy skirted the cabin, at last to bring into sight a snug, well-built, pretty little cottage which Houston knew, instinctively, to be the home of Medaine Robinette. At the veranda, Ba'tiste pulled on the reins and alighted. "Come," he ordered quietly. "But--" "She have land, and she have a part of the lake and a flume site." Houston hung back. "Isn't it a bad bet, Ba'tiste? Have you talked to her?" "No--I have not seen her since the day--at the flume. She is here--Lost Wing is at the back of the cabin. We will talk to her, you and I. Mebbe, when the spring come, she will lease to you the lake and the flume site. Mebbe--" "Very well." But Houston said it against his will. He felt, in the first place, that he would be presuming to ask it of her,--himself a stranger against whom had come the accusation of murder, hardly denied. Yet, withal, in a way, he welcomed the chance to see her and to seek to explain to her the deadly thrusts which Fred Thayer had sent against him. Then too a sudden hope came; Ba'tiste had said that Agnes Jierdon had become friendly with her; certainly she had told the truth and righted the wrongs of malicious treachery. He joined Ba'tiste with a bound. A moment more and the door had opened, to reveal Medaine, repressed excitement in her eyes, her features a trifle pale, her hand trembling slightly as she extended it to Ba'tiste. Houston she received with a bow,--forced, he thought. They went within, and Ba'tiste pulled his queer little cap from his head, to crush it in the grasp of his massive hands. "We have come for business, Medaine," he announced, with a slight show of embarrassment. "M'sieu Houston, he have need for a flume site." "But I don't see where I could be of an
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101  
102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Houston

 

Medaine

 

pulled

 
chance
 
thrusts
 

Thayer

 
deadly
 

withal

 

welcomed

 

explain


righted
 

damage

 

friendly

 

Jierdon

 

sudden

 
denied
 

lawyer

 

spring

 

accusation

 
murder

wrongs

 
stranger
 

presuming

 

joined

 

massive

 

business

 

announced

 
slight
 

embarrassment

 

thought


forced

 

opened

 

reveal

 

repressed

 

moment

 

treachery

 

excitement

 

slightly

 

extended

 

received


trembling

 

features

 

trifle

 

malicious

 

rougher

 

hillier

 
recognized
 

stream

 

groves

 

shouted