Part 14

At sunrise he dropped on the edge of the post clearing, and looked with half-opened eyes that but vaguely saw the habitations before them.

“Leetle furdaire,” he articulated, and dragged himself ahead.

The post was awake; smoke curled from the chimneys and floated off on the light morning breeze; figures moved about at the gates.

“Qu’est-ça?” a trapper asked as he saw the low crooked shape creeping in the clearing.

A shrill cry, and a woman leaped past him into the open.

“Jules! Jules!” she screamed in ecstasy, and ran to the form that had fallen helpless.

“Marie—oh, Marie, dat toi h’at las’?” Verbaux whispered as he felt warm arms about his neck and saw the longed-for face, as in a dream, looking into his.

“Mon Jules!” the woman sobbed, and pillowed the weary head in her lap.

The others that had come out from the post disappeared quietly, and the two were alone.

The sun rose glorious and bright, gilding everything and casting warm lights over all; the air was still, the silence was absolute. Verbaux opened his eyes.

“C’est b’en toi, Marie?” He groped for her hand.

The woman kissed his bleeding lips for answer.

“Tu loove me encore?”

She sank her face against his and her tears trickled over his shoulders.

“Ah attend so long pour toi!” she murmured softly.

Jules sighed.

“Le Grand, v’ere ees he?” Marie asked.

“Mort!” he answered huskily.

“An’ dat Annaotaha?” she asked again.

“Keel!” and his voice thrilled with anger.

“An’—an’ toi, Jules?” Her voice trembled, and she gazed steadily into the deep gray eyes.

Verbaux smiled, and kissed the thin hand that caressed his forehead.

“Moi? Je suis content!”

THE END

RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).

End of Project Gutenberg's Jules of the Great Heart, by Lawrence Mott