Page:The trail of the golden horn.djvu/61



N a rude log shack in the little mining camp of Big Chance a young man lay on a rough bunk. By his side sat Marion Brisbane. She had done all in her power on his behalf, but she was fully aware that greater skill than she possessed was needed. Only a doctor could probe for the bullet which was lodged in his side. She felt her own helplessness as she sat there with the still form so near.

Marion had several things to worry her this night. She thought of the journey from the patrol-house to the mining camp. She knew that Sergeant North loved her with all the intensity of his strong nature. And she loved him. But was she true to him? She had not told him that the man who had fled from the patrol-house out into the storm was Hugo, the trapper, and her father. He would find it out some day, and what would he then think of her? Should she have told him? she asked herself over and over again. But it was too late now. He had been gone from Big Chance for over an hour, and who could tell what might happen ere his return? Perhaps he would never come back. He had gone in search of a man who would not lightly be captured. And in the struggle which she felt sure would ensue what terrible things might happen. Her father would fight to the last, she was certain, and so would John North. He had never