Chapter 60

“The woman had heard, and, with a little scream, sprang to her feet and quickly came up behind me, put her hand upon me, and cried: 'He has come! It is my brother who has come!'

“And, as in the Bible, where Monsieur Moses spoke to the rock and the water gushed from it, so the woman cried into the dark and an answering voice sprang from it—a voice as from the dead.

“I stood trembling, too weak to move.

“'You made a fine signal,' the voice said. 'Thank God for it!'

“'Yes, thankle bon Dieu, for it was His pillar of fire,' I said. 'Who are you?'

“'The rescued come to rescue,' he replied; 'her brother.'

“His sister had sunk upon the snow. As he bent to pick her up, I saw the extra pairs of snow-shoes on his back, I noticed my toboggan that he was pulling, and the stores of food upon it.

“'You are strong again,' I said, wishing to pinch him to see whether he was he, or a trick of some werewolf who was deceiving me.

“'Thanks to your food,' “'But you have been long coming, brother,' said she, weakly. 'Why so long?'

“'All the bays are much alike,' he explained; 'and when the Smoky Pool was frozen, I lost my only clue. I was getting always farther away on my hunt, when the Lord turned and led me here by His pillar of fire.'

“And the three of us, standing there in the dark of earliest dawn beneath the Great Bear, we keep still and say three—four prayers from ourselves to that same Jehovah who had guided Monsieur Moses, for the making of us safe.”

Prunier ceased abruptly and knocked out his pipe upon the hearth-side, then gazed reminiscently out into the falling snow.

I was busy with the picture in my brain of that blackened hulk, the frail woman and her almost helpless companionstanding there in the midst of that gray waste of coming dawn. But the Lad's mind had already gone scouting on before.

“And were you made safe, Prunier?” he asked.

“Oh,certainement!” said the guide, almost drolly. “Voyez, I am here.”

“Then tell us—” commanded the insatiable youth.

“Mais, cette une longue histoire,” was all we heard.

1. Prunier's Return11. Prunier's First Moose2. The Brother's Adventures12. Why Prunier Lived in the North3. The Story of the Shipwreck13. The Sister's Return to Civilization4. The Mutiny of the Crew14. In Prunier's Hut5. Prunier's Boyhood15. The Strange Visitor6. How Prunier Obtained Pierre16. The End of the Wolves7. Prunier's Longest Journey17. Prunier Tells Another Story8. Why Prunier Was Superstitious18. The Sister Tells a Story9. The Rescue of Pierre19. The Fate of the Deserters10. How Prunier Lost a Companion20. Prunier's Last Day

In the introduction of your romance use familiar scenes, events or characters that will lead naturally to a narrative of startling events. Say enough to indicate the setting of your story and to make it a vital factor in producing effect but do not write any long-drawn descriptions or explanations. Let your characters tell the story and present its setting.

Make all the action hinge on worthy effort, and contribute to awakening respect for the characters. Tell a series of most unusual events. In telling every incident make full use of suspense and of climax. Tell the incidents in such a way that one will lead naturally to another.

Your story will produce the most startling effect if you show your hero apparently defeated but able, at the last moment, to find a means of escape from danger.

Keep your story true to human nature, and to the best ideals of human nature.

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