PAGE 21
She Of The Triple Chevron
by
She turned from the window and stood beside his bed. She took his outstretched hand. “You are better, Sergeant Tom”? she said, gently.
“Yes, I’m better; but it’s not Sergeant Tom I am any longer, Jen.”
“I forgot that.”
“I owed you a great debt, Jen. I couldn’t remain one of the Riders of the Plains and try to pay it. I left them. Then I tried to save Val, and I did. I knew how to do it without getting anyone else into trouble. It is well to know the trick of a lock and the hour that guard is changed. I had left, but I relieved guard that night just the same. It was a new man on watch. It’s only a minute I had; for the regular relief watch was almost at my heels. I got Val out just in time. They discovered us, and we had a run for it. Pretty Pierre has told you. That’s right. Val is safe now–“
In a low strained voice, interrupting him, she said, “Did Val leave you wounded so on the prairie?”
“Don’t let that ate at your heart. No, he didn’t. I hurried him off, and he didn’t know how bad I was hit. But I–I’ve paid my debt, haven’t I, Jen?” With eyes that could not see for tears, she touched pityingly, lovingly, the wounds on his head and shoulder, and said: “These pay a greater debt than you ever owed me. You risked your life for me–yes, for me. You have given up everything to do it. I can’t pay you the great difference. No, never!”
“Yes–yes, you can, if you will, Jen. It’s as aisy! If you’ll say what I say, I’ll give you quit of that difference, as you call it, forever and ever.”
“First, tell me. Is Val quite, quite safe?”
“Yes, he’s safe over the border by this time; and to tell you the truth, the Riders of the Plains wouldn’t be dyin’ to arrest him again if he was in Canada, which he isn’t. It’s little they wanted to fire at us, I know, when we were crossin’ the river, but it had to be done, you see, and us within sight. Will you say what I ask you, Jen?”
She did not speak, but pressed his hand ever so slightly.
“Tom Gellatly, I promise,” he said.
“Tom Gellatly, I promise–“
“To give you as much–“
“To give you as much–“
“Love–“
There was a pause, and then she falteringly said, “Love–“
“As you give to me-“
“As you give to me–“
“And I’ll take you poor as you are–“
“And I’ll take you poor as you are–“
“To be my husband as long as you live–“
“To be my husband as long as you live–“
“So help me, God.”
“So help me, God.”
She stooped with dropping tears, and he kissed her once. Then what was girl in her timidly drew back, while what was woman in her, and therefore maternal, yearned over the sufferer.
They had not seen the figure of an old man at the door. They did not hear him enter. They only knew of Peter Galbraith’s presence when he said: “Mebbe–mebbe I might say Amen!”