Northern Lights

NORTHERN LIGHTS

GILBERT PARKER

ILLUSTRATED

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

MCMIX

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

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Published September, 1909.

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
“AS PURTY A WOMAN, TOO—AS PURTY AND AS STRAIGHT BEWHILES”	256
“IF YOU KILL ME, YOU WILL NEVER GET AWAY FROM KOWATIN ALIVE”	312
FOR MINUTES THE STRUGGLE CONTINUED	332
“OH, ISN’T IT ALL WORTH LIVING?” SHE SAID	342

NORTHERN LIGHTS

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