I owe you my regrets,--not for what I did, mark you,--but for
the way and the time and place. Had I waited and proceeded as a
gentleman, we should not be in this devilish plight, nor that fine old
chief a victim to our blunder."
"Tish!" said De Courtenay lightly; "'tis all in a day's march. And,
besides, I have,--memories,--to shorten the way."
The pacing guard came back and the two men fell silent.
At that moment a stentorian call pealed above the dismantled camp, and
there began a vast surge of the mass of Nakonkirhirinons toward the
waiting canoes, a dragging of goods and chattels, a hurry of crying
children, a scurrying of squaws. In the midst of it the flaps of the
big lodge were opened and, amid redoubled wailing, a stark wedge of the
length of a tall man came headforemost out, carried on the shoulders of
six gigantic warriors; and walking beside it, bareheaded in the new
day, was Edmonton Ridgar, his face pale and downcast. He paid no heed
to the two men on the ground, though one was his factor and his friend.
CHAPTER XV LONG TRAIL
The women changed their wail as the procession started for the waiting
canoes, and from all the long camp there drew in a horde of savages,
their eagle feathers slanting in the light, bare shoulders shining
under unhidden paint, skin garments and gaudy shirts alike cast to the
winds.
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