Riders of the Silences

Riders of the Silences, by John Frederick,

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Title: Riders of the Silences
Author: John Frederick

Release Date: December 7, 2006 [eBook #20044]
Language: English
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RIDERS OF THE SILENCES
by
JOHN FREDERICK
With Frontispiece by Frank Tenney Johnson

[Frontispiece: Each one of them should have ridden alone to be properly appreciated. To see them together was like watching a flock of eagles.]

A. L. Burt Company Publishers -------- New York Published by arrangement with The H. K. Fly Company Copyright, 1920, by The H. K. Fly Company Copyright, 1920, The Munsey Co.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
The Thunderbolt II. Irene III. The Launching of The Bolt IV. The Corner Plot V. Hurley VI. Fear VII. The Voice in The Storm VIII. Belief IX. Riders of The Silences X. The Guard XI. Jack Grows Up XII. The Burial XIII. A Tale of The Sledge XIV. McGurk XV. Gold Hair XVI. Ennui XVII. Black Gandil XVIII. Five Minutes' Silence XIX. Partners XX. Full Dress XXI. The Dance XXII. The Overtone XXIII. The Fear of The Living XXIV. The Luck of The Shipwrecked XXV. Jacqueline Waits XXVI. A Game of Suppose XXVII. The Trail XXVIII. A Hint of White XXIX. Jack XXX. The Whisper of The Knife XXXI. Laughter XXXII. A Tale of A Careless Man XXXIII. A Count To Ten XXXIV. Tiger-Heart XXXV. Jack Hears a Small Voice XXXVI. A Voice in The Night XXXVII. A Man's Death XXXVIII. The Waiting XXXIX. The Cross Goes On

RIDERS OF THE SILENCES
CHAPTER I
THE THUNDERBOLT
It seemed that Father Anthony gathered all the warmth of the short northern summer and kept it for winter use, for his good nature was an actual physical force. From his ruddy face beamed such an ardent kindliness that people literally reached out towards him as they might extend their hands toward a comfortable fire.
All the labors of his work as an Inspector of Jesuit institutions across the length and breadth of Canada could not lessen the flame of the good father's enthusiasm; his smile was as indefatigable as his critical eyes. The one looked sharply into every corner of a room and every nook and hidden cranny of thoughts and deeds; the other veiled the criticism and soothed the wounds of vanity.
On this day, however, the sharp eyes grew a little less keen and somewhat wider, while that smile was fixed rather by habit than inclination. In fact, his expression might be called a frozen kindliness as he looked across the table to Father Victor.
It required a most indomitable geniality, indeed, to outface the rigid piety of Jean Paul Victor. His missionary work had carried him far north, where the cold burns men thin. The eternal frost of the Arctics lay on his hair, and his starved eyes looked out from hollows shadowed with blue. He might have posed for a painting of one of those damned souls whom Dante placed in the frozen circle of the "Inferno."
It was his own spirit which tortured him--the zeal which drove him north and north and north over untracked regions, drove him until his body failed, drove him even now, though his body was crippled.
A mighty yearning, and a still mightier self-contempt whipped him on, and the school over which he was master groaned and suffered under his r��gime, and the disciples caught his spirit and went out like warriors in the name of God to spread the faith.
He despised them as he despised himself, for he said continually in his heart: "How great is the purpose and how little is our labor!"
Some such thought as that curled his thin lip as he stared across at Father Anthony like a wolf that has not eaten for a fortnight. The good father sustained the gaze, but he shivered a little and sighed. There was awe, and pity, and even a touch of horror in his eyes.
He said gently: "Are there none among all your lads, dear Father Victor, whom you find something more than imperfect machines?"
The man of the north drew from a pocket of his robe a letter. His marvelously lean fingers touched it almost with a caress, and when he spoke the softening which could not appear in the rigid features came into his voice and made it lower and deeper.
"One."
Father Anthony started in astonishment, as one might start to hear a divine