Philip Steele of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. James Oliver Curwood

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СКАЧАТЬ encountered those of the colonel's wife across the table. He saw a sudden, quick catch of breath in her throat; even as he looked the flush faded from her face, and she rose from her seat, her gaze still upon him.

      “I—I am not feeling well,” she said. “Will you please excuse me?”

      In an instant Nome was at her side, but she turned quickly from him to the colonel, who had risen from his chair.

      “Please take me to my room,” she begged. “Then—then you can come back.”

      Once more her face turned to Steele. There was a pallor in it now that startled him. For a few moments he stood alone, as Breed and Nome left the table. He listened, and heard the opening and closing of a second door.

      Then a footstep, and Nome reappeared.

      “By Heaven, but she's a beauty!” he exclaimed. “I tell you, Steele—”

      Something in his companion's eyes stopped him. Two red spots burned in Steele's cheeks as he advanced and gripped the other fiercely by the arm.

      “Yes, she is pretty—very pretty,” he said quietly, his fingers sinking deeper into Nome's arm. “Get your hat and coat, Nome. I want to see you in the cabin.”

      Behind them the door opened and closed again, and Steele shoved past his associate to meet Breed.

      “Buck and I have a little matter to attend to over at the cabin,” he explained. “When they—when the colonel returns tell him we'll be over to smoke an after-supper pipe with him a little later, will you? And give our compliments to—her.” With a half-sneer on his lips he rejoined Nome, who stared hard at him, and followed him through the outer door.

      “Now, what the devil does this mean?” Nome demanded when they were outside. “If you have anything on your mind, Steele—”

      “I have,” interrupted Philip, “and I'm going to relieve myself of it. Pretty? She's as beautiful as an angel, Buck—the colonel's wife, I mean. And you—” He laughed harshly. “You're always the lucky dog, Buck Nome. You think she's half in love with you now. Too bad she was taken ill just at the psychological moment, as you might say, Buck. Wonder what was the matter?”

      “Don't know,” growled Nome, conscious of something in the other's voice which darkness concealed in his face.

      “Of course, you don't,” replied Steele.

      “That's why I am bringing you over to the cabin. I am going to tell you just what happened when Mrs. Becker was taken ill, and when she turned a trifle pale, if you noticed sharply. Buck. It's a good joke, a mighty good joke, and I know you will thoroughly appreciate it.”

      He drew a step back when they came near the cabin, and Nome entered first. Very coolly Philip turned and bolted the door. Then, throwing off his coat, he pointed to the white skull dangling under the lamp.

      “Allow me to introduce an old friend of mine, Buck—M'sieur Janette, of Nelson House.”

      With a sudden curse Nome leaped toward his companion, his face flaming, his hands clenched to strike—only to look into the shining muzzle of Steele's revolver, with Steele's cold gray eyes glittering dangerously behind it.

      “Sit down, Nome—right there, under the man you killed!” he commanded. “Sit down, or by the gods I'll blow your head off where you stand! There—and I'll sit here, like this, so that the cur's heart within you is a bull's-eye for this gun. It's M'sieur Janette's turn tonight,” he went on, leaning over the little table, the red spots in his cheeks growing redder and brighter as Nome cringed before his revolver. “M'sieur Janette's—and the colonel's; but mostly Janette's. Remember that, Nome. It's for Janette. I'm not thinking much about Mrs. Becker—just now.”

      Steele's breath came quickly and his lips were almost snarling in his hatred of the man before him.

      “It's a lie!” gasped Nome chokingly, his face ashen white. “You lie when you say I killed—Janette.”

      The fingers of Steele's pistol hand twitched.

      “How I'd like to kill you!” he breathed. “You won his wife, Nome; you broke his heart—and after that he killed himself. You sent a report into headquarters that he killed himself by accident. You lied. It was you who killed him—by taking his wife. I got his skull because I thought I might need it against you to show that it was a pistol instead of a rifle that killed him. And this isn't the first man you've sent to hell, Nome, and is isn't the first woman. But your next won't be Mrs. Becker!”

      He thrust his revolver almost into the other man's face as Nome opened his lips to speak.

      “Shut up!” he cried. “If you open your dirty mouth again I'll be tempted to kill you where you sit! Don't you know what happened to-night? Don't you know that Mrs. Becker forgot herself, and remembered again, just in time, and that you've taken a little blood from the colonel's heart as you took all of it from—his?” He reached up and broke the string that held the skull, turning the empty face of the thing toward Nome. “Look at it, you scoundrel! That's the man you killed, as you would kill the colonel if you could. That's Janette!”

      His voice fell to a hissing whisper as he shoved the skull slowly across the table, so close that a sudden movement would have sent it against the other's breast.

      “We've been fixing this thing up between us, Bucky—M'sieur Janette and I,” he went on, “and we've come to the conclusion that we won't kill you, but that you don't belong to the service. Understand?”

      “You mean—to drive me out—” One of Nome's hands had stolen to his side, and Steele's pistol arm grew tense.

      “On the table with your hands, Bucky! There, that's better,” he laughed softly.

      “Yes, we're going to drive you out. You're going to pack up a few things right away, Bucky, and you're going to run like the devil away from this place. I'd advise you to go straight back to headquarters and resign from the Northwest Mounted. MacGregor knows you pretty well, Bucky, and knows one or two things you've done, even though your whole record is not an open book to him. I don't believe he'll put any obstacles in the way of your discharge although your enlistment hasn't expired. Disability is an easy plea, you know. But if the inspector should think so much of you that he is loath to let you go, then M'sieur Janette and I will have to fix up the story for headquarters, and I don't mind telling you we'll add just a little for interest, and that the woman and the people at Nelson House will swear to it. You've the making of a good outlaw, Bucky,” he smiled tauntingly, “and if you follow your natural bent you'll have some of your old friends after you, good and hard. You'd better steer clear of that though, and try your hand at being honest for once. M'sieur Janette wants to give you this chance, and you'd better make good time. So get a move on, Bucky. You'll need a blanket and a little grub, that's all.”

      “Steele, you don't mean this! Good God, man—” Nome had half risen to his feet. “You don't mean this!”

      With his free hand Philip took out his watch.

      “I mean that if you are not gone within fifteen minutes I'll march you over to Breed and the colonel, tell them the story of M'sieur Janette, here, and hold you until we hear from headquarters,” he said quickly. “Which will it be, Nome?”

      Like one stunned by a blow Nome rose СКАЧАТЬ