XIV
LIGHT OF THE EVENING
Onawguishin (Light of the Evening) jumped to her feet, ran swiftly to the gate, and watched him go. The finely chiselled face quivered, then she turned and went to the store. Silently pushing her way through the Indians gathered there, she found the factor. “Wa-ymit-te-go-osh, Weer-baux [Frenchman gone, Verbaux],” she told him abruptly, and went quickly as she had come. The black eyes gleamed fiercely, as she went back to the tepee and sat down to the sewing of the moccasins. Everything was turmoil in the yard; the Indians and voyageurs ran about shouting, the factor yelled furious orders from the store; then a dozen men on snow-shoes sped out of the post, took Verbaux’s trail swiftly, and disappeared on it. Evening Star sewed on quietly. Steps approached the tepee and Cuchoise came, threw down his load of fur, and looked around the interior. “Verbaux ta-nin-dai? [Where is Verbaux?]” The girl looked up at him steadily. “Ma-tche-ma-ni-tou [Evil Spirit],” she answered. He stared at her without understanding.
“Here, girl, where did this mon Verbaux ye told me of go?” The factor’s loud voice at the entrance startled them both. Cuchoise’s face was blank in amazement.
“Sa-gai-egan wa-bu-no-ng [Lake to the East],” she answered.
“Hurry up there, he’s gang over Bear Lake to the island; take the quick road,” Nelson shouted to some one in the yard, and went back to the store.
Jean Cuchoise’s eyes were ugly; he stepped toward the girl, who stitched on silently.
“Oo-kut-ta-aw koo-me-cha-n! [You betrayed my friend!]” he said in a low voice. Evening Light nodded. The voyageur’s face grew black with rage at the thought of Jules, who confided in him, having been betrayed by his wife. He lunged forward, and his big hands closed round the girl’s brown throat. Her head fell back and the black eyes looked up into his, but she did not make the slightest struggle. “Serpent!” he snarled, flung her from him, rushed from the tepee, picking up his snow-shoes as he went. In the yard he stopped and listened. All the men had gone on the chase, and the place was deserted. He stole out of the post and hurried away toward Bear Lake, that showed flat and dreary in front of him. He could see many specks straggling over the surface, heading for an island whose timber showed black in the distance.