THE SHOT IN THE NIGHT
Pleasant though it was at Siwash Creek, Keith was anxious to return to Klassan as soon as possible. He was uneasy about the state of his dusky flock, and especially Yukon Jennie. Amos he knew could be trusted to do all in his power to keep the girl from her terrible design. But she was shrewd and hard to manage, so it was uncertain to tell what she would do. The desire to return, however, was tinged with apprehension. He knew that Pritchen and Perdue, with their followers, would use every effort in their power to hound him out of Klassan. There were others, he felt sure, who were more honourable. If the confidence of these could be won, he might be able to overcome the opposition.
Before starting, Keith visited his patient. He found the arm doing as well as could be expected, but the racking cough still continued the same.
"Miss Radhurst," he said, as he bent over her father. "I leave for Klassan this morning."
Constance looked up in surprise. "What! going away so soon?" she queried.
"Yes, duty calls me back to my flock. They are in danger from the miners down there, and I have been absent too long already."
"We shall miss you very much, Mr. Steadman. You have been the means of brightening us up, and helping my poor father. Life to me here is almost unbearable, and I wonder how you can stay in the North year after year. How lonely you must find it."
Keith turned and looked into her eyes. "Miss Radhurst," he replied, "they have been the happiest years of my life. Until the miners arrived at Klassan my work was one of continual joy and peace, even when I was struggling with the medicine men at the beginning of my ministry there."
"But I cannot understand," Constance rejoined, "how an educated man can be satisfied to remain in such a wilderness, away from all congenial surroundings. Does not the mind become——"
"Stagnant?" assisted Keith, noticing her hesitate over the word, and a flush cross her face.