Conviction had never been stronger in him. Tavish, if he had
guessed correctly, was a fiend. He would soon know. And if he was right,
if Tavish had done that, if up in those mountains....
His eyes blazed and his hands were clenched as he looked down at Father
Roland. After a moment, without taking his eyes from the Missioner's
recumbent form, he reached to the pocket of his coat which he had flung
on the bunk and drew out the picture of the Girl. He looked at it a long
time, his heart growing warm, and the tense lines softening in his face.
"It can't be," he whispered. "She is alive!"
As if the wind had heard him, and was answering, there came more
distinctly the sound close behind him.
_Thud! Thud! Thud!_
There was a silence, in which David closed his fingers tightly about the
picture. And then, more insistently:
_Thud! Thud! Thud!_
He put the picture back into his pocket, and rose to his feet.
Mechanically he slipped on his coat. He went to the door, opened it
softly, and passed out into the night. The moon was above him, like a
great, white disc. The sky burned with stars. He could see now to the
foot of the ridge over which Mukoki had gone, and the clearing about the
cabin lay in a cold and luminous glory.
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