The words of Baptiste came
to him faintly:-
"Very good. See that this man go free, and that no harm befall him. Let
him depart in peace. Give him a canoe and food. Set his face toward the
Russians, that he may tell their priests of Baptiste the Red, in whose
country there is no god."
They led him to the edge of the steep, where they paused to witness the
final tragedy. The half-breed turned to Hay Stockard.
"There is no god," he prompted.
The man laughed in reply. One of the young men poised a war-spear for
the cast.
"Hast thou a god?"
"Ay, the God of my fathers."
He shifted the axe for a better grip. Baptiste the Red gave the sign,
and the spear hurtled full against his breast. Sturges Owen saw the
ivory head stand out beyond his back, saw the man sway, laughing, and
snap the shaft short as he fell upon it. Then he went down to the river,
that he might carry to the Russians the message of Baptiste the Red, in
whose country there was no god.
THE GREAT INTERROGATION
I
To say the least, Mrs. Sayther's career in Dawson was meteoric. She
arrived in the spring, with dog sleds and French-Canadian _voyageurs_,
blazed gloriously for a brief month, and departed up the river as soon as
it was free of ice.
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