Part 1

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NORTHERN LIGHTS

BY GILBERT PARKER

ILLUSTRATED

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON MCMIX

Books by GILBERT PARKER

Northern Lights. Illustrated Post 8vo $1.50 The Weavers. Illustrated Post 8vo 1.50 The Right of Way. Illustrated Post 8vo 1.50 A Ladder of Swords. Illustrated Post 8vo 1.50

Pierre and His People. Mrs. Falchion. The Trespasser. The Translation of a Savage. The Trail of the Sword. When Valmond Came to Pontiac. An Adventurer of the North. The Seats of the Mighty. The Pomp of the Lavilettes. The Battle of the Strong. The Lane that Had No Turning. Donovan Pasha. Old Quebec (In collaboration with C. G. Bryan). Round the Compass in Australia. A Lover's Diary. Embers (Private Publication only).

Copyright, 1909, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All rights reserved. Published September, 1909.

TO ISHBEL, COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN A TRUE FRIEND OF THE GREAT DOMINION

NOTE

The tales in this book belong to two different epochs in the life of the Far West. The first five are reminiscent of "border days and deeds"--of days before the great railway was built which changed a waste into a fertile field of civilization. The remaining stories cover the period passed since the Royal Northwest Mounted Police and the Pullman Car first startled the early pioneer, and sent him into the land of the farther North or drew him into the quiet circle of civic routine and humdrum occupation.

G. P.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE A Lodge in the Wilderness 1 Once at Red Man's River 21 The Stroke of the Hour 38 Buckmaster's Boy 57 To-Morrow 72 Qu'appelle 94 The Stake and the Plumb-Line 118 When the Swallows Homeward Fly 160 George's Wife 174 Marcile 196 A Man, a Famine, and a Heathen Boy 216 The Healing Springs and the Pioneers 234 The Little Widow of Jansen 253 Watching The Rise of Orion 272 The Error of the Day 295 The Whisperer 314 As Deep as the Sea 334

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

BUT NOW HE HEARD A VOICE ABOVE HIM. IT WAS HER VOICE Frontispiece

THE BIRD SHE HEARD IN THE NIGHT WAS CALLING IN HIS EARS NOW 14

THE START ON THE NORTH TRAIL 36

SHE SWAYED AND FELL FAINTING AT THE FEET OF BA'TISTE 56

LITTLE BY LITTLE THEY DREW TO THE EDGE OF THE ROCK 70

"THEY SHOT ME AN' HURT ME" 74

"PAULINE," HE SAID, FEEBLY, AND FAINTED IN HER ARMS 114

THE OLD MAN SHOOK HIS HEAD. THOUGH NOT WITH UNDERSTANDING 166

GEORGE'S WIFE 184

THEN HAD HAPPENED THE REAL EVENT OF HIS LIFE 198

THE FAITH HEALER 236