A Mating in the Wilds | Page 2

river, but it did not bring
with it the throb of a steamer's screw which he half expected to hear.
He nodded to himself.
"Time enough!"
Then he became aware of sounds for which he had not listened--the
voices of men somewhere in the post's enclosure, and, nearer at hand,
that of some one singing in some soft Indian dialect. He turned swiftly,
and coming along a half-defined path between the willows, caught
sight of the singer--a native girl of amazing beauty.
She wore a tunic of beaded caribou-skin, which fitting closely revealed
rather than concealed the lines of her lithe young figure. Her face was
light-bronze in colour, every feature clearly cut as a cameo, the
forehead smooth and high, the nose delicately aquiline, the lips a
perfect cupid's bow, the eyebrows high and arched. The eyes
themselves were soft and dark and had the wildness of the
wilderness-born, whilst the hair, black and luminous as the raven's
wing, crisped in curls instead of hanging in the straight plaits of the
ordinary native woman. She moved forward slowly with graceful stride
of one whose feet had never known the cramping of civilized foot-gear,
tall and straight and as royal-looking as Eve must have been when she
left the hand of God.
To the man, as he stood there, she seemed like an incarnate spirit of the
wilds, like the soft breath of the Northland spring, like----
Similes failed him of the suddenest, for in that instant the girl grew
aware of him and checked her stride and song at the same moment. For
a fraction of time they stood there looking at each other, the man of the
white dominant race, the girl of a vanishing people, whose origin is

shrouded in the grey mists of time. There was wonder on the man's face,
for never had he seen such beauty in a native, and on the girl's face
there was a startled look such as the forest doe shows when the wind
brings the breath of a presence that it does not see. Then the delicate
nostrils quivered, the soft dark eyes kindled with sudden flame, and the
rich blood surged in the bronze face from chin to brow. Almost
unconsciously the man took a step forward. But at that the girl, turning
suddenly, fled between the willows like the creature of the wild she was,
and the man checked himself and stood watching until she was lost to
view.
There was a thoughtful look in his blue eyes which suddenly gave way
as he smiled.
"A tinted Venus!" he murmured to himself. "I wonder where she
belongs."
Looking round, away across the willows, planted on the meadow above
the marshy banks, he caught sight of the tops of a couple of moose-hide
tepees, and nodded to himself.
"Come with the family to barter the winter's fur-catch."
For a moment he stood there with his eyes fixed on the skin-tents.
There was a reflective look upon his face, and at the end of the moment
he made a movement towards the path along which the girl had fled.
Then he stopped, laughed harshly at himself, and with the old look
back on his face, turned again to his canoe, unloaded it, and began to
pitch camp.
At the end of half an hour, having lit a pipe, he strolled towards the
trading-post. Entering the Square of the enclosure he looked
nonchalantly about him. Two men, half-breeds, were sitting on a
roughly-made bench outside the store, smoking and talking. Inside the
store a tall Indian was bartering with a white man, whom he easily
guessed to be the factor, and as he looked round from the open door of
the factor's house, emerged a white woman whom he divined was the
factor's wife. She was followed by a rather dapper young man of

medium height, and who, most incongruously in that wild Northland,
sported a single eyeglass. The man fell into step by the woman's side,
and together they began to walk across the Square in the direction of
the store.
The man from the river watched them idly, waiting where he was,
puffing slowly at his pipe, until they drew almost level with him. Then
he stiffened suddenly, and an alert look came in his eyes.
At the same moment the other man, apparently becoming aware of his
presence for the first time, stared at him calmly, almost insolently.
Then he started. The monocle dropped from his eye, and his face went
suddenly white. He half-paused in his stride, then averting his gaze
from the other man hurried forward a little. The factor's wife, who had
observed the incident, looked at him inquiringly.
"Do you know that man, Mr. Ainley?"
The dapper young man laughed a short, discordant laugh.
"He