But he had been supported by his half civilized handful of creatures who well enough knew what mercy to expect from the enemy. And, anyway, they had been bred of a stock with a fighting history second to no race in the world. To a man, the defenders were prepared to sell their lives at a heavy price. And they would die rifle in hand and facing the enemy.
The man inside called to the watcher on the roof.
"Anything doing, Keewin?"
"Him quiet. Him see no man. Maybe him make heap pow-wow."
"No sign, eh?"
"Not nothin', boss."
Allan Mowbray turned again to the sheet of paper spread out on the lid of an ammunition box which was laid across his knees. He was sitting on a sack of flour. All about him the stores they had contrived to bring away were lying on the ground. It was small enough supply. But they had not dared to overload in the night rush to their present quarters.
He read over what he had written. Then he turned appraisingly to the stores. His blue eyes were steady and calculating. There was no other expression in them.
There was a suggestion of the Viking of old about this northern trader. His fair hair, quite untouched with the gray due to his years, his fair, curling beard, and whiskers, and moustache, his blue eyes and strong aquiline nose. These things, combined with a massive physique, without an ounce of spare flesh, left an impression in the mind of fearless courage and capacity. He was a fighting man to his fingers' tips—when need demanded.
He turned back to his writing. It was a labored effort, not for want of skill, but for the reason he had no desire to fret the heart of the wife to whom it was addressed.
At last the letter was completed. He signed it, and read it carefully through, considering each sentence as to effect.
"Bell River.
"MY DEAREST WIFE:
"I've had a more than usually successful trip, till I came here. Now things are not so good."
He glanced up out of the doorway, and a shadowy smile lurked in the depths of his eyes. Then he turned again to the letter:
"I've already written Murray for help, but I guess the letter's kind of miscarried. He hasn't sent the help. Star-man took the letter. So now I'm writing you, and sending it by Keewin. If anybody can get through it's Keewin. The Bell River Indians have turned on me. I can't think why. Anyway, I need help. If it's to do any good it's got to come along right away. I needn't say more to you. Tell Murray. Give my love to Jessie and Alec. I'd like to see them again. Guess I shall, if the help gets through—in time. God bless you, Ailsa, dear. I shall make the biggest fight for it I know. It's five hundred or so to ten. It'll be a tough scrap before we're through.
"Your loving
"ALLAN."
He folded the sheet of paper in an abstracted fashion. For some seconds he held it in his fingers as though weighing the advisability of sending it. Then his abstraction passed, and he summoned the man on the roof.
A moment or two later Keewin appeared in the doorway, tall, wiry, his broad, impassive face without a sign.
"Say, Keewin," the white chief began, "we need to get word through to the Fort. Guess Star-man's dead, hey?"
"Star-man plenty good scout. Boss Murray him no come. Maybe Star-man all kill dead. So."
"That's how I figger."
Allan Mowbray paused and glanced back at the trifling stores.
"No much food, hey? No much ammunition. One week—two weeks—maybe."
"Maybe."
The Indian looked squarely into his chief's eyes. The latter held up his letter.
"Who's going? Indians kill him—sure. Who goes?"
"Keewin."
The reply came without a sign. Not a movement of a muscle, or the flicker of an eyelid.
The white man breathed deeply. It was a sign of emotion which he was powerless to deny. His eyes regarded the dusky face for some moments. Then he spoke with profound conviction.
"You haven't a dog's chance—gettin' through," he said.
The information did not seem to require a reply, so far as the Indian was concerned. The white man went on:
"It's mad—crazy—but it's our only chance."
The persistence of his chief forced the Indian to reiterate his determination.
"Keewin—him go."
The tone of the reply was almost one of indifference. It suggested that the white man was making quite an unnecessary fuss.
Allan Mowbray nodded. There was a look in his eyes that said far more than words. He held out his letter. The Indian took it. He turned it over. Then from his shirt pocket he withdrew a piece of buckskin. He carefully wrapped it about the paper, and bestowed it somewhere within his shirt.
The white man watched him in silence. When the operation was complete he abruptly thrust out one powerful hand. Just for an instant a gleam of pleasure lit the Indian's dark eyes. He gingerly responded. Then, as the two men gripped, the "spat" of rifle-fire began again. There was a moment in which the two men stood listening. Then their hands fell apart.
"Great feller—Keewin!" said Mowbray kindly.
Nor was the white man speaking for the benefit of a lesser intelligence, nor in the manner of the patronage of a faithful servant. He meant his words literally. He meant more—much more than he said.
The rifle fire rattled up from below. The bullets whistled in every direction. The firing was wild, as is most Indian firing. A bullet struck the lintel of the door, and embedded itself deeply in the woodwork just above Keewin's head.
Keewin glanced up. He pointed with a long, brown finger.
"Neche damn fool. No shoot. Keewin go. Keewin laugh. Bell River Indian all damn fool. So."
It was the white man who had replaced the Indian at the lookout on the roof. He was squatting behind a roughly constructed shelter. His rifle was beside him and a belt full of ammunition was strapped about his waist.
The wintry sky was steely in the waning daylight. Snow had fallen. Only a slight fall for the region, but it had covered everything to the depth of nearly a foot. The whole aspect of the world had changed. The dark, forbidding gorge of the Bell River no longer frowned up at the defenders of the plateau. It was glistening, gleaming white, and the dreary pine trees bowed their tousled heads under a burden of snow. The murmur of the river no longer came up to them. Already three inches of ice had imprisoned it, stifling its droning voice under its merciless grip.
Attack on attack had been hurled against the white man and his little band of Indians. For days there had been no respite. The attacks had come from below, from the slopes of the hill above, from the approach on either side. Each attack had been beaten off. Each attack had taken its heavy toll of the enemy. But there had been toll taken from the defenders, a toll they could ill afford. There were only eight souls all told in the log fortress now. Eight half-starved creatures whose bones were beginning to thrust at the fleshless skin.
Allan Mowbray's hollow eyes scanned the distant reaches of the gorge where it opened out southward upon low banks. His straining gaze was searching for a sign—one faint glimmer of hope. All his plans were laid. Nothing had been left to the chances of his position. His calculations had been deliberate and careful. He had known from the beginning, from the moment