The Come Back
What a death! Helpless; unable even to meet it standing, he must lie there, and let the snow bury him alive!
He could maintain a half-sitting posture, – but what use? Why not lie down flat and get it over quickly? Yet he must hold on as long as possible, for the men might come back, – he began to think what they would do – but, he was sure they would not miss him until too late to do anything. If the snow would only let up. It was such a pity to have his whereabouts hidden by a foolish fall of snow! As Peter grew colder he grew calmer. His senses mercifully became numbed at last, and as the actual moment of his freezing to death came nearer and nearer, he cared less and less. A state of coma is a blessing to many dying men, and into this state Peter gently drifted, even as the snow drifted over and covered his stiff, silent form.
And his friends trudged on; not that it could be called trudging, – rather, they plodded, stumbled, pitched, fought and merely achieved progress by blindly plunging ahead.
It was nearly a half hour after Peter's fall that Blair, accidentally turned round by a gust of wind, called out an exasperated "Halloo!" which gained no response.
"Halloo!" he repeated, "Peter! how goes it?"
Still no return call, and Blair called to those ahead.
They turned, and, huddling together in the storm, they looked at one another with scared faces.
"I warned you to keep close together," began Joshua, but forbore to chide, as he saw the dumb agony in the eyes of the other two men.
"Turn back," said Shelby, "and quickly. How long do you suppose he has been gone? Has he missed the track? What happened, Joshua?"
"He must have fallen," the guide replied. "Or maybe just strayed off, blinded by the snow, and he's wandering around yet. He has a compass and he knows where to head for. Small use our trying to turn back and find him. He's 'way off by this time, – or, maybe, he ain't. Maybe he's close behind, – we couldn't see him ten yards off in this snow."
"I never saw such a thickness of white!" exclaimed Blair. "I've heard that when snow is so white and feathery, it doesn't last long."
"This snow does," returned Joshua, "and I tell you, Mr. Shelby, there's no use turning back. We'd just waste our time, – maybe our lives – "
"But, man, we can't go without Crane!" Shelby cried. "I won't go on and leave him to his fate!"
"'Tain't likely he's in any real danger," said Joshua, almost believing his own statement. "If it was one of you two, now, I'd feel more alarmed. But Mr. Crane, – he's got a head on him, and a compass, and he knows the route we're taking, – he went over it with me before we started. Lord knows I'd be the first one to go to his rescue, if it was rescue he needed, but I don't think it is."
"Rescue or not," said Blair, "I will not go on without Peter. You two do what you like. I'm going to turn back and hunt for him."
"So am I," declared Shelby, and the two turned to face the backward trail.
"All foolishness," muttered Joshua, "but of course, I'll go along."
It was all foolishness, there was no doubt of that. The snow had covered all signs of their own tracks, there was no road to follow, no landmarks to go by. Though Joshua had pursued his route by compass, he could not retrace it surely enough to find a lost man.
However, they persisted; they dashed at snow-covered mounds only to find them hummocks or rocks. They hallooed and shouted; they stared into the snowy distance, hoping to discern smoke; but though their big, strong Peter was less than half a mile away from them, they could get no hint of his presence.
Night came on. They built their camp fire of enormous dimensions, hoping against hope that it might attract the lost man.
None slept, save for a few fitful dozes from sheer exhaustion and grief. Joshua stolidly insisted that Peter was undoubtedly all right, and though they could scarcely believe it, this comforted the other two.
Next morning they held council. Joshua was all for going on and giving up the search for Crane.
Blair, too, felt it a useless waste of time to remain, but Shelby begged for a few hours.
"If the storm abates just a little – " he began.
"It won't," declared Joshua. "It's a little mite less windy but this snowfall's only just begun. It won't quit for days, – lessen it turns to rain, – and then the goin''ll be a heap worse."
It didn't seem as if the going could be much worse. Already the men had difficulty in moving because of their wet, half-frozen clothing. Available wood was buried under the snow, their strength was becoming impaired, and all things pointed to even worse weather conditions.
Reluctantly Shelby and Blair agreed to Joshua's plans, realizing that Peter might be all right and on his homeward journey, and further delay might result in their own loss of life. For the outlook was menacing, and Joshua's knowledge and advice were sincere and authoritative.
And still it snowed. Steadily, persistently, uninterruptedly. There seemed a permanency about that soft, downward moving mass that foreboded danger and defeat to any one who remained to dare it further.
And so they started again, half glad to go, half unwilling to leave. It was the terrible uncertainty that told on them. They shrank from facing the thought of what it would mean if they didn't find Peter, and forced themselves to believe that they would meet him.
Their objective point was a trapper's log house on the shore of the lake.
They reached it, tired, footsore, but full of hope for good news. A quick glance round the tiny interior, consisting of but two rooms, showed no smiling-faced Peter.
A few words from Joshua to the trappers gave no cause for rejoicing, and further conversation and explanation revealed the fact that the experienced trappers had no doubt as to Peter's fate.
Nor did they blame Joshua in any way. Had he stayed for a longer search, they averred, there would have been four dead men instead of one.
And then both Shelby and Blair realized that Joshua's expressed hopefulness of finding Peter safe at the end of their journey was merely by way of urging them to move on, knowing the result if they did not.
They also realized that he was right. The opinions and assertions of the experienced trappers could not be gainsaid. The two came to know that there was but one fate that could have overtaken their comrade and that there was no hope possible.
If Shelby had a slight feeling that Blair ought to have looked back oftener, he gave it no voice, for he knew he himself had never looked back with any idea of watching over Blair. To be sure the last one of the four was in the most dangerous position, but Peter had come last by mere chance, and no one had given that point a thought.
They surmised something must have disabled him. Perhaps a cramp or a fainting spell of exhaustion. But it was necessarily only surmise, and one theory was as tenable as another.
Long parleys were held by Blair and Shelby as to what was best to be done. It proved to be impossible to persuade any one to start on a search for the body of Crane. The winter had set in and it was a hopeless task to undertake in the snows of the wild. No, they were told, not until March at the earliest, could a search be undertaken, and there was small chance of finding the body until later spring melted the snow. It was to be an especially bad winter, all agreed, and no pleas, bribes or threats of the men could move the natives from their decision.
Then, they debated, should they go home, or wait till spring?
The latter plan seemed foolish, for it was now nearly November and to wait there idly for five or six months was appalling. Moreover, it seemed their duty to go home and report Peter's loss to his father, even if they returned in the spring to search for the body of their chum.
The last boat left for Newfoundland the middle of November, and they concluded that if there was no news of Peter by that time they would sail on it. "I feel cowardly to go," said Shelby, whose brain was weary, working out the problem of duty. "Yet, why stay?"
"It's right to go," Blair said, gravely. "You see, Mr. Crane must be told, – not written to."
"One of us might go, – and one stay," Shelby suggested.
"No use in that," Blair said, after a moment's consideration; "the remaining one couldn't do anything."
"You men talk foolishness," said Joshua, gravely. "Mr. Peter Crane is by this time buried under eight feet of snow. You can do nothing. You'd both better go home."
So they went.
CHAPTER IV
The Prophecy Recalled
The steamer from Newfoundland that brought Shelby and Blair to New York arrived during Christmas week.
The two men, however, were far from feeling holiday cheer as they reached the wharf and faced the hard trial of telling Mr. and Mrs. Crane of their son's death.
But it had to be done, and they felt it their duty to lose no time in performing the sad errand.
No one met them at the steamer, for its hour of arrival was uncertain and they had discouraged their friends from the attempt.
Indeed only telegrams from Newfoundland had apprised any one of their arrival, for letters would have come by the same boat they came themselves.
"Let's go straight to the Cranes' and get it over," said Blair; with a sigh. "I dread the ordeal."
"So do I," Shelby confessed. "I wish we could see Mr. Crane alone, first."
"We must do that, of course. It's only eight o'clock, and we're ready to start now. Come ahead."
They sent their luggage to their homes and took a taxi for the Crane town house, on upper Park Avenue.
By good fortune, Mr. Crane was at home and received them in his library. They had asked to see him alone, giving no names.
"My stars, if it isn't the wanderers returned!" exclaimed their host, as he entered and saw the two. "Where's my boy? Hiding behind the window curtain?"
But the expression on his visitors' faces suddenly checked his speech, and turning pale, Benjamin Crane dropped into the nearest chair.
"What is it?" he whispered, in a shaking voice. "I know it's bad news. Is Peter – "
"Yes," said Shelby, gently, but feeling that the shortest statement was most merciful. "The Labrador got him."
By a strange locution, Labrador, as we call it, is spoken of up there as The Labrador, and the phrase gives a sinister sound to the name. It personifies it, and makes it seem like a living menace, a sentient danger.
"Tell me about it," said Benjamin Crane, and his tense, strained voice told more of his grief than any outburst could have done.
"Lost in the snow! My little Peter Boots – " he said, after he had listened in silence to their broken recital. "Tell me more," he urged, and eagerly drank in any details they could give him of the tragedy and also of the doings of the party before that last, fatal day.
Blair looked at him in secret amazement. How could the man take it so calmly? But Shelby, a deeper student of human character, understood how the fearful shock of tragedy had stunned the loving father-heart. Slowly and quietly, Shelby related many incidents of the trip, drew word pictures of Peter in his gayest moods, told tales of his courage, bravery and unfailing good spirits.
But, though these things interested Crane and held his attention, there was no way to lessen the poignant sorrow of the last story, – the account of the terrible storm and the awful fate of Peter.
Shelby broke down, and Blair finished, with a few broken sentences.
The deep grief of the two, the sincere love of Peter and sorrow at his death proved better than protestations that they had done all mortal effort could do.
"I am not sure, sir," Shelby said, finally, "that we acted wisely, but it seemed the only course to take. We could not persuade any one to go for us or with us in search of Peter's body, until March at the earliest. To go alone, was mere suicide, and though I was tempted to do even that, rather than to return without him, it would not have been allowed."
"Oh, I understand perfectly," Crane said, quickly, "I wouldn't have had you do otherwise than just as you did. There was no use trying the impossible."
"But we will return in March – " began Blair.
"Perhaps," said Crane, a little preoccupied in manner, "or I will send a search party myself. There's no reason you boys should go."
This was a real relief, for though more than willing, the two men were far from anxious to undertake the gruesome errand.
"And now," their host went on, "if you agree, I'll send for Mrs. Crane. At first, I thought I'd rather tell her the news when we were by ourselves, – but, I know there are questions she will want to ask you, things that I might not think of, – and I know you'll be willing to answer her."
All unconscious of the scene awaiting her, Mrs. Crane came into the room.
A bewildered look on her sweet, placid face showed her inability to grasp the situation quickly.
Then, "Why, boys," she cried, "when did you come home? Where's Peter?"
To the others' relief Benjamin Crane told his wife of their mutual loss. Very gently he told her, very lovingly he held her hand and comforted her crushed and breaking heart. Shelby and Blair instinctively turned aside from the pitiful scene and waited to be again addressed.
At length Mrs. Crane turned her tear-stained face to them. Not so calm as her husband, she begged for details, then she wept and sobbed so hysterically she could scarcely hear them. Her thoughts flew back to the years when Peter was a lad, a child, a baby, – and her talk of him became almost incoherent.
"There, there, dear," Benjamin Crane said, smoothing her hair, "try to be quieter, – you will make yourself ill. Perhaps, boys, you'd better go now, and come round again to-morrow evening."
"No, no!" cried Mrs. Crane; "stay longer, – tell me more. Tell me everything he said or did, – all the time you were gone. Did he know he was going to die?"
"Oh, no, Mrs. Crane," Shelby assured her. "It was an accident, you see. The storm was beyond anything you can imagine. The wind was not only icy and cutting, but of a sharp viciousness that made it impossible to hear or to see. Almost impossible to walk. We merely struggled blindly against it, —against it, you understand, so that if Peter, who was behind, had called out, we could not have heard him."
"Why was he last?" demanded Mrs. Crane.
"It happened so," replied Shelby. "I've tried hard to think if we were to blame for that, – but I cannot see that we were. Whenever we walked single file, we fell into line in any order. The subject never was mentioned or thought of. And so, that day, Peter was the last one. If Blair or I had fallen or been overcome by the cold, – which is what we know must have happened, – we would have been seen by Peter, of course. But when he gave out, no one looked backward."
"You had been trudging like that long?" asked Crane.
"Oh, yes, for hours. We were all pretty nearly all in, but Joshua wouldn't let us stop, – dared not, in fact, for he knew the danger of that storm far better than we did. No, Mr. Crane, on the part of Blair and myself, I want to say that we had no thought other than our individual progress. That was all any one could think of, as Peter himself would say if he could speak."
"He has spoken," returned Crane, quietly; "he did say it."
"What!" exclaimed the two men together.
"Yes," the older man went on; "I think I will tell you, though I had half decided not to: What do you say, Mother?"
Mrs. Crane looked up. Her expression of dumb despair gave way to a look of quiet peace as she said, slowly: "Yes, dear, tell them. But let it be held confidential."
"You'll promise that, boys, won't you?" asked Crane, and only half understanding Blair and Shelby promised.
"Well, it was this way," Crane began, "You know we couldn't get letters from you chaps all the time you were away, – except the few early ones. Of course we knew that before you went, but we didn't realize how lonely we would be without Peter Boots. Whenever he has been away before we could hear from him frequently. Julie is a dear girl, but she is a busy little butterfly, and many a time my wife and I are alone of an evening."
"And we're happy enough together," Mrs. Crane put in, gently; "but being alone, we naturally talked a great deal of Peter, and – and we couldn't help remembering the Gypsy's warning."
"Oh, I'd forgotten that!" exclaimed Blair. "What was it, now?"
"A prophecy that Peter would go on a long journey, and would meet with a terrible death. Now, the prophecy is fulfilled." Mrs. Crane's face, as she gazed upward, her eyes filled with tears, was like that of a seeress or prophetess. She appeared exalted, and unconscious of her grief for the moment.
"And there was further prophecy," Benjamin Crane continued, "that after his death, Peter would return. And when I say he has done so, I expect you to respect my story and not to doubt its truth."
"We shall most certainly respect your story, and no one could doubt your veracity, Mr. Crane," said Shelby, sincerely, though with a mental reservation that believing in Benjamin Crane's veracity did not necessarily mean subscribing to his hallucinations.
Blair's face showed his interest and curiosity, and Benjamin Crane went on with the tale to a breathlessly absorbed audience.
"It did come about, I've no doubt, because of our talks of Peter; and also, because we chanced to hear of some neighbors who had wonderful success with a Ouija Board."
A sudden, involuntary exclamation on the part of Blair was immediately suppressed by a warning glance from Shelby. It would never do to show scorn of the Ouija Board and all its works in the presence of this afflicted couple. If any comfort from its use had reached them or could reach them, it must be a blessing indeed.
"Yes," Crane said, catching the meaning of the look on Blair's face, "I know how you feel about such things, but just reserve judgment until you hear our experiences. We bought a Board, and mother and I tried to use it alone. We had no success at all. It would spell nothing coherent, – only meaningless jumbles of letters, – or simply refuse to move. Of course, you understand, we had no thought that our boy was – was in any danger, – but we had been told that sometimes living persons communicated by such means. So we persevered, but we never got a message."
"Then what happened?" asked Blair, eagerly, seeing from the faces of the older people that something had.
"Why then," Mrs. Crane spoke now, – "we found somebody to help us. I'd rather not tell the name, – it was a lady – "
"A medium?" asked Shelby.
"Oh, no! I mean, not a professional medium, – a lady we've known for years. She had had some experience with the Board, and she tried it with us. And then, – you tell it, father."
"Then," said Mr. Crane, speaking very seriously, "then we got a message from Peter. The message said that he had died in the snow."
"What!" cried Shelby, "incredible! When was this?"
"In November."
"Peter died the seventeenth of October."
"Yes, and it was the tenth of November that we had the message."
"Just what did it say?" asked Blair, his eyes wide with amazement.
"It was a little stammering and uncertain, as if hard to get it through. But the Ouija spelled out Peter's name, and when she – Miss – when the lady with us asked if it had a message from Peter, it pointed to 'yes.' Then she tried to get the message. But the words were a little mixed up. There was snow and ice and storm and at last the word dead. When we asked if Peter had died in a snowstorm the Board said yes. So, we knew the prophecy was fulfilled at last. The news you brought us was corroboration, not a surprise."
Shelby restrained himself by an effort. His sharp glance at Blair made him keep quiet also. Neither was at all impressed at the story Crane told them, except to be moved to ridicule. Well they knew how a Ouija Board will make glib statements as startling as they are untrue.
But this one happened to be true. Even so, the fact of its relation by such means was unbelievable to both the hearers.
Yet, they could not disturb the faith of the parents of their lost chum.
"I am glad, for your sakes, that you had a premonitory warning," said Shelby, in all sincerity. "Such things are indeed beyond our ken. Did you get any further details?"
"No," said Crane; "but, I learn, you have no further details yourselves. My boy perished in the snowstorm, alone and helpless. What more is there to know?"
"Nothing that we could tell," spoke up Blair, a little excitedly, "but surely, the spirit of Peter, – if it was he speaking to you, – could have told more!"
"It is clear you have had no experience in these matters," Crane said, mildly; "the messages are not easy to get, nor are they concise and clear, like a telegram. Only occasionally does one get through, and then if it is informative we are duly grateful, – and not dissatisfied and clamoring for more."
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Crane; I am inexperienced, but I assure you I am not a scoffer. And of course, I believe your statements."
"Of course!" exclaimed Mrs. Crane, a little crisply. "Surely we would not invent such a story!"
"No, indeed," said Shelby. "It is strange, you must admit. Have you had any further communications from Peter?"
"A few," Mr. Crane spoke a bit reluctantly, for he could see that the men were receptive from a motive of politeness, and not with sympathetic interest. "He has sent other messages, but they would not, I fear, convince you."
"Now, don't blame us, Mr. Crane," Blair broke out, impetuously; "remember, we're just from the place where we left Peter, – remember, we love him, too, – and remember, if we could be convinced that he had spoken we would be as interested as you are."
"Well put, my boy," and Crane seemed greatly mollified. "Now, merely as an admission of facts, do you believe that the Ouija Board gave the messages exactly as I have detailed the proceedings to you?"
"I do," said Blair, "that is, I believe you have told the exact truth of what you observed."
"Then, can you refuse to believe that the message came from the spirit of my dead boy? Who else knew of his death? How could any one know of it?"
"True enough," and Blair shook his head, noncommittally.
Crane sighed. "You don't believe," he said, but without annoyance. "Yet, remember, greater minds and wiser brains than yours believe. Are not you a little presumptuous to set your opinion against theirs?"
"I don't mean to be presumptuous, Mr. Crane," Blair spoke decidedly, "but I do think my opinion on this subject as good as any man's."
"Then you are condemning the matter, unheard, which you will allow is not strictly just."
"Come, come, Blair," said Shelby, distressed at his attitude, "don't discuss things of which you know nothing. Mr. Crane has gone deeply into the subject and must know more about it than we do." He gave Blair a positive glance of reproof, and tried to make him see that he must stop combating their host's theories, if only for reasons of common politeness.
"But I'm interested," persisted Blair. "If Peter came here and told his father he was dead, – I want to look into these things. You see, it's the first time I've ever been up against a real case of this sort. Own up, Shelby, it's all mighty queer."
Benjamin Crane looked kindly at Blair. "That's the talk, my boy. If you're really interested, come round some night, and with you here, Peter may talk through, all the better."
"Rubbish!" Shelby thought, silently, but aloud, he only said:
"Yes, Blair, do that. And drop the subject for the present. Is Julie at home, Mrs. Crane?"
"No; she's away for a few days. Poor child, she will be heartbroken. She adored Peter Boots," and Mrs. Crane again gave way to tears.
"What does Julie think about the messages?" asked Blair, thoughtfully.
"We didn't tell her," said Crane. "She's so emotional, and – well, of course, we couldn't help hoping that it mightn't be true. And, too, Julie hates all talk of spiritism."
"Sensible girl!" thought Shelby, as Mrs. Crane was saying:
"But Julie went to Sir Rowland's lectures and she was deeply interested."
"Lectures?" asked Blair.
"Yes; there have been a great many this season. I'm sorry you had to miss them. They're over now. But I can't see how any one could listen to that delightful man talk on such subjects in his beautiful way and not be convinced of the truth of it all."