is, worth minding, till I came home – ”
“Like a ghost out of the lake. She was not even dead, not she. And she was singin’ fit to burst her throat while you were – well, maybe, not dead, yourself.”
At this juncture, Tom, the inquisitive, thrust his white head forward into the midst of the group and, in her relief from her first fear, Margot laughed aloud.
“Don’t, Tom! You’re one of the family, of course, and since none of the rest of us will die to please that broken mirror, you may have to! Especially, if there’s a new brood out – ”
But here Angelique threw up her free hand with such a gesture of despair that Margot said no more, and her face sobered again, remembering that, even though they were all still alive, there might be suffering untold among her humbler woodland friends. Then, as Mr. Dutton rose, almost unaided, a fresh regret came:
“That there should be a cyclone, right here at home, and I not to see it! See! Look, uncle, look! You can trace its very path, just as we read. Away to the south there is no sign of it, nor on the northeast. It must have swept up to us out of the southeast and taken our island in its track. Oh! I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”
The man rested his hand upon her shoulder and turned her gently homeward. His weakness had left him as it had come upon him, with a suddenness like that of the recent tempest. It was not the first seizure of the kind, which he had had, though neither of these others knew it; and the fact added a deeper gravity to his always thoughtful manner.
“I am most thankful that you were not here; but where could you have been to escape it?”
“All day in the long cave. To the very end of it I believe, and see! I found these. They are like the specimens you brought the other day. They must be some rich metal.”
“In the long cave, you? Alone? All day? Margot, Margot, is not the glass enough? but you must tempt worse luck by goin’ there!” cried Angelique, who had preceded the others on the path, but now faced about, trembling indignantly. What foolish creature was this who would pass a whole day in that haunted spot, in spite of the dreadful tales that had been told of it. “Pouf! But I wear out my poor brain, everlastin’ to study the charms will save you from evil, me. And yet – ”
“You would do well to use some of your charms on Tom, yonder. He’s found an overturned coop and looks too happy to be out of mischief.”
The woman wheeled again and was off up the slope like a flash, where presently the king of birds was treated to the indignity of a sound boxing, which he resented with squawks and screeches, but not with talons, since under each foot he held the plump body of a fat chicken.
“Tom thinks a bird in the hand is worth a score of cuffs! and Angelique’s so determined to have somebody die – I hope it won’t be Tom. A pity, though, that harm should have happened to her own pets. Hark! What is that?”
“Some poor woodland creature in distress. The storm – ”
“That’s no sound belonging to the forest. But it is – distress!”
CHAPTER III
AN ESTRAY FROM CIVILIZATION
They paused by the cabin door, left open by Angelique, and listened intently. She, too, had caught the alien sound, the faint, appealing halloo of a human voice – the rarest of all cries in that wilderness. Even the eagle’s screeches could not drown it, but she had had enough of anxieties for one day. Let other people look out for themselves; her precious ones should not stir afield again, no, not for anything. Let the evil bird devour the dead chickens, if he must, her place was in the cabin, and she rushed back down the slope, fairly forcing the others inward from the threshold where they hesitated.
“’Tis a loon. You should know that, I think, and that they’re always cryin’ fit to scare the dead. Come. The supper’s waited this long time.”
With a smile that disarmed offense Margot caught the woman’s shoulder and lightly swung her aside out of the way.
“Eat then, hungry one! I, too, am hungry, but – Hark!”
The cry came again, prolonged, entreating, not to be confounded with that of any forest wilding.
“It’s from the north end of our own island!”
The master’s ear was not less keen than the girl’s, and both had the acuteness of an Indian’s, but his judgment was better.
“From the mainland, across the narrows.”
Neither delayed, as a mutual impulse sent them toward the shore, but again Angelique interposed.
“Thoughtless child, have you no sense? With the master just out of a faint that was nigh death itself! With nothin’ in his poor stomach since the mornin’ and your own as empty. Wait. Eat. Then chase loons, if you will.”
Mr. Dutton laughed, though he also frowned and cast a swift, anxious glance toward Margot. But she was intent upon nothing save answering that far-off cry.
“Which canoe, uncle?”
“Mine.”
The devoted servant made a last protest, and caught the girl’s arm as it pushed the light craft downward into the water.
“My child, he is not fit. Believe me. Best leave others to their fate than he should over-tax himself again, so soon.”
Margot was astonished. In all her life she had never before associated thought of physical weakness with her stalwart guardian, and a sharp fear of some unknown trouble shot through her heart.
“What do you mean?”
The master had reached them and now laid his own hand upon Angelique’s detaining one.
“There, woman, that’s enough. The storm has shaken your nerves. If you’re afraid to stay alone, Margot shall stop with you. But let’s have no more nonsense.”
Mother Ricord stepped back, away. She had done her best. Let come what might, her conscience was clear.
A few seconds later the canoe pushed off over the now darkening water and its inmates made all speed toward that point from which the cry had been heard, but was heard no more. However, the steersman followed a perfectly direct course and, if he were still weak from his seizure, his movement showed no signs of it, so that Margot’s fear for him was lost in the interest of their present adventure. She rhymed her own stroke to her uncle’s and when he rested her paddle instantly stopped.
“Halloo! Hal-l-oo!” he shouted, but as no answer came, said: “Now – both together!”
The girl’s shriller treble may have had further carrying power than the man’s voice, for there was promptly returned to them an echoing halloo, coming apparently from a great distance. But it was repeated at close intervals and each time with more distinctness.
“We’ll beach the boat just yonder, under that tamarack. Whoever it is has heard and is coming back.”
Margot’s impatience broke bounds and she darted forward among the trees, shouting: “This way! this way! here we are – here!” Her peculiar life and training had made her absolutely fearless, and she would have been surprised by her guardian’s command to “Wait!” had she heard it, which she
