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diff --git a/29650.txt b/29650.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..22af1d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/29650.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11837 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Greater Power, by +Harold Bindloss and W. Herbert Dunton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Greater Power + +Author: Harold Bindloss + W. Herbert Dunton + +Release Date: August 9, 2009 [EBook #29650] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREATER POWER *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE GREATER POWER + + + + +BY SAME AUTHOR + + The Cattle Baron's Daughter + Alton Of Somasco + Dust Of Conflict + Winston Of The Prairie + For Jacinta + Delilah Of The Snows + By Right Of Purchase + Lorimer Of The Northwest + + + + +[Illustration: "I AM AFRAID I'M GOING TO LOSE HIM, AFTER ALL." +_Page 174_] + + + + +THE GREATER POWER + +BY HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "The Cattle Baron's Daughter," "By Right of Purchase," +"Lorimer of the Northwest," "Thrice Armed," etc. + +With Frontispiece in Colours by + +W. HERBERT DUNTON + +NEW YORK + +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1909, By + +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +All Rights Reserved + +September, 1909 + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I Overburdened 1 + II The Trail 11 + III Waynefleet's Ranch 22 + IV Laura Waynefleet's Wish 34 + V The Flood 45 + VI The Breaking of the Dam 56 + VII Laura Makes a Dress 66 + VIII By Combat 78 + IX Gordon Speaks His Mind 89 + X The Calling Canon 99 + XI The Great Idea 109 + XII Wisbech Makes Inquiries 118 + XIII On the Trestle 127 + XIV In the Moonlight 138 + XV Martial's Misadventure 149 + XVI Acton's Warning 162 + XVII An Eventful Day 174 + XVIII Tranquillity 186 + XIX Nasmyth Hears the River 195 + XX Nasmyth Goes Away 208 + XXI The Men of the Bush 218 + XXII Nasmyth Sets to Work 228 + XXIII The Derrick 239 + XXIV Realities 251 + XXV Nasmyth Decides 260 + XXVI One Night's Task 269 + XXVII Timber Rights 278 + XXVIII A Painful Duty 287 + XXIX A Futile Scheme 297 + XXX Second Thoughts 309 + XXXI The Last Shot 318 + + + + +THE GREATER POWER + + + + +CHAPTER I + +OVERBURDENED + + +It was winter in the great coniferous forest which rolls about the +rocky hills and shrouds the lonely valleys of British Columbia. A +bitter frost had dried the snow to powder and bound the frothing +rivers; it had laid its icy grip upon the waters suddenly, and the +sound of their turmoil died away in the depths of the rock-walled +canyons, until the rugged land lay wrapped in silence under a sky of +intense, pitiless blueness that seemed frozen too. Man and beast +shrink from the sudden cold snaps, as they call them, in that country, +and the rancher, who has sheep to lose, sits shivering in his log +house through the long forenights with a Marlin rifle handy, while the +famished timber wolves prowl about his clearing. Still, it is the +loggers toiling in the wilderness who feel the cold snaps most, for +the man who labours under an Arctic frost must be generously fed, or +the heat and strength die out of him, and, now and then, it happens +that provisions become scanty when no canoe can be poled up the +rivers, and the trails are blocked with snow. + +There were four loggers at work in a redwood forest, one January +afternoon, rolling a great log with peevies and handspikes out of a +chaos of fallen trunks. The Bush, a wall of sombre green, spangled +here and there with frost, and impressively still, closed in about the +little gap they had made. Not a sound came out of the shadowy avenues +between the tremendous colonnades of towering trunks, and the topmost +sprays of the cedars and Douglas firs cut motionless against the blue +high above. There was no wind, and the men's breath went straight up, +a thin white vapour, into the biting air. Still, they were warm and +comparatively well fed, which was a good deal to be thankful for, and +three of them toiled contentedly, with now and then a glance at their +companion, who realized at length that he was beaten. In fact, it was +only by calling up all the resolution that was in him that this fourth +man, Derrick Nasmyth, had held himself to his task since early +morning, for there is no occupation which demands from man more +muscular effort and physical courage than logging, as it is generally +carried on in the forest of Western Canada. + +Nasmyth was a tall man, apparently under thirty, and leanly muscular, +as were his companions, for those who swing the axe from dawn to dusk +in that wilderness seldom put on flesh. His bronzed face was also +lean, and a trifle worn. Considering his occupation, it was, perhaps, +too finely chiselled, and there was a certain elusive suggestion of +refinement in it. He had clear blue eyes, and the hair beneath his +battered fur cap was brown. For the rest, he wore a black leather +jacket with several rents in it, ragged duck trousers, and long boots. +His companions were the usual Bush choppers--simple, strong-armed men +of kindly nature--and Nasmyth was quite aware that they had undertaken +most of his share in the work during the last few hours. + +"Another heave!" said one of the woodsmen. "Hit her hard, boys, and +away she goes!" + +They strained sinewy backs and splendid arms. The great log rolled a +trifle farther, canted, as one of them slipped a handspike under the +butt of it, and landed on the skids, which were laid like railway +sleepers down the slope of a steep declivity. The snow was ground down +and rammed back about the skids, and the worn-out hollow gleamed a +faint blue-grey in the shadow of the firs. The men made another +strenuous effort as the log started, but in another moment it rushed +away, and, like a toboggan, sped downwards through the forest to the +river-ice below. The skids screamed beneath it, the snow flew up like +smoke, and then there was a thunderous crash and stillness again. +Nasmyth gasped heavily, and dropped his handspike. + +"Boys," he said, "I'm used up. I'll go along to the shanty and get my +time." + +He generally expressed himself much as his comrades did, but now his +clean English intonation was a little more noticeable than usual. One +of the others nodded sympathetically, as he answered: + +"Well, I guess I've seen the trouble trailing you for quite a while. +Got to let up or play out. It's one I've been up against myself." He +made a vague gesture. "A little rough on you." + +Then he and one of his comrades took up a big crosscut saw, while the +other swung a gleaming axe. Nasmyth walked back wearily through the +silent Bush towards the camp. His back ached, his head ached, and he +felt a trifle dazed. The strength seemed to have gone out of him, and +he fancied that he was not very far from a physical collapse. He was +glad when he reached the shanty, where, after he had shaken the snow +from his dilapidated boots, he sat down by the glowing stove, and +smiled wryly as he looked about him. The shed was rudely built of +logs, and a row of bunks packed with swamp-grass and spruce-twigs, +from some of which there hung portions of greasy blankets, ran down +one side of it. It smelt horribly of acrid tobacco and cookery, but at +least, it was warm, which counted for much, and, during the last few +months, Nasmyth had grown to look on it as home. He knew, also, that +it would cost him something to leave it now, especially as he had +nowhere else to go. + +Lying back listlessly in a lounge an ingenious chopper had made out +of a few branches and a couple of sacks, Nasmyth vaguely recalled the +comfort of his London chambers and the great pillared smoking-room of +a certain exclusive club, for he was a man acquainted with the +smoother side of life. He had various gifts which were apparently of +no account in British Columbia, and he had enjoyed an education that +had, it seemed, unfitted him for anything strictly utilitarian. There +are a great many men of his description chopping trees and driving +cattle in Western Canada. Indeed, his story was one which, with slight +variations, may be heard frequently in that country. Financial +disaster had overtaken his family. Friends in high places had regarded +him coldly, and he had been too proud to ask for favours, or to profit +by those that were grudgingly offered him. That was why he had gone +out to Canada and spent several years there earning his board, and, +now and then, a few dollars as well, by bodily labour, until he went +up into the Bush with the loggers. + +For a time he had somehow contrived to hold his own with the other +workers, though logging in heavy timber is one of the tasks one could +almost fancy that man was never meant for, and the logger, whose +overtaxed muscle fails him for a moment, is very likely to have the +life crushed out of him by some ponderous, slipping trunk. Perhaps, +his lack of endurance was due to the excessive strain, or the +ill-cooked food, but during the last few weeks he had been conscious +that a slackness was creeping over him. Once or twice the handspike or +peevie had been torn from his grasp, and the lives of his comrades had +been placed in peril. He had found it more and more difficult to drag +himself out to his work each morning, but he had held on until that +afternoon when his strength had suddenly failed him. + +Nasmyth was half-asleep when the cook and the leader of the gang came +in. The latter, who was a big, gaunt man with grizzled hair, stopped +close by the stove and looked at him. + +"Well," said the gang leader, "what do you figure you're doing here?" + +Nasmyth explained with some difficulty, for in the Bush, men +acquire a certain pride in their physical manhood, and it is never +a pleasant thing to own oneself defeated. The logger, however, nodded +comprehendingly. He was a reticent, grim-faced person from Ontario, +where they breed hard men, though some have, also, kindly hearts in +them. + +"That's quite right. I've noticed it myself," he commented. "In fact, +I've been figuring on asking you to get out the last week or two." + +Nasmyth smiled. Like other men of his description in that country, he +had become accustomed to hearing such remarks addressed to him. + +"I wonder," he answered reflectively, "why you didn't." + +The logger appeared to consider. It was characteristic of him and the +stock he sprang from that he would never have admitted that he had +borne with Nasmyth as long as possible out of kindness. The thing +would have hurt him. + +"Well," he said, "it seemed to me we might start you teaming, if I +could have got a span or two of oxen in, but I'm most afraid I can't +get them at my figure." He changed the subject abruptly. "Where are +you heading for?" + +"I don't quite know, though I shall probably land in Victoria sooner +or later. I might strike something a little easier than logging there. +Still, it would be most of a week's march before I could reach the +railroad, and there's not a ranch anywhere near the trail." + +The logger nodded. "Well," he said, "I'd head West instead. There'll +be nothing going on along the railroad just now, and the mines are +running easy, while you ought to fetch the settlement south of Butte +Lake on the third day. Guess you might pick up a dollar or two in that +neighbourhood, and, any way, there's a steamer running down the West +Coast to Victoria. Seems to me quite likely one of those Bush-ranchers +would take you in a while, even if he didn't exactly want a hired man; +but they don't do that kind of thing in the city." + +Nasmyth smiled. Experience had already taught him that, as a rule, the +stranger who is welcomed in the cities arrives there with money in his +pockets, and that it is the hard-handed men with the axes from whom +the wanderer in that country is most likely to receive a kindness. +Still, though he was naturally not aware of it, a great deal was to +depend upon the fact that he followed the advice of the logger, who +traced out a diagram on the bench upon which they sat. + +"There's an Indian trail up the river for the first four leagues," said +the logger. "Then you strike southwest, across the divide--here--and you +come to the Butte River. She's running in a little canyon, and you can't +get over 'cept where a prospector or somebody has chopped a big fir." + +The log span across a stream is an old device, and was probably +primitive man's first attempt at bridge-building, though it is one +frequently adopted on the Pacific slope, where a giant tree grows +conveniently close to an otherwise impassable river. It was, however, +important that Nasmyth should be able to find the tree. + +"You know exactly where that fir is?" he asked. + +"Southwest of the highest ridge of the divide. Once you're over, +you'll fetch the Butte Lake in a long day's march. When d'you figure +you'll start?" + +"To-night," said Nasmyth, "after supper. If there's sickness of any +kind hanging round me--and I feel like it--you don't want me here, +and I dare say they'd take me into the hospital at Victoria. Walking's +easier than logging, anyway, and it seems wiser to try for that fir in +daylight." + +The logger nodded as if he concurred in this, and, taking a little +book from his pocket, he turned it over, wrinkling his brows while +Nasmyth watched him with a smile. + +"Well," he said at length, "we'll count you full time to-day, but +there's the four days off when you got crushed by that redwood, and +the week when you chopped your leg. Then, counting the amount for your +board, that's thirty-six dollars I'm due to you." + +"Not quite," answered Nasmyth. "There was the day or two after I fell +through the ice and had the shivers. I'd sooner you knocked off the +few dollars." + +The logger was said to be a hard man, and in some respects this was +certainly the case; but a faint flush crept into his grim face. +Perhaps he had noticed the weariness in Nasmyth's voice or the +hollowness of his cheeks. + +"All right," he said awkwardly. "Jake will put you up grub for four +days, and we'll call it square." + +He counted out the money, which Nasmyth slipped into the receptacle +inside his belt. When the logger moved away the weary man crossed over +to his bunk. Nasmyth had brought his few possessions up in a canoe, +and now, knowing that he could not take them all away, he turned them +over with a curious smile. There were one or two ragged pairs of duck +trousers stained with soil, a few old tattered shirts, and a jacket of +much the same description. He remembered that he had once been +fastidious about his tailoring, as he wondered when he would be able +to replace the things that he left behind. Then he rolled up some of +the garments and his two blankets into a pack that could be strapped +upon his shoulders, and, as he did this, his comrades came trooping +in, stamping to shake the snow off their leggings. + +There were about a dozen of them--simple, strenuous, brown-faced +Bush-ranchers for the most part--and they ate in haste, voraciously, +when the abundant but rudely served supper was laid out. Nasmyth had +not much appetite, and the greasy salt pork, grindstone bread, +desiccated apples, flavoured molasses, and flapjacks hot from the pan, +did not tempt him. He preferred to watch his companions, and now and +then his glance was a trifle wistful. He had worked and eaten with +them; they had slept about him, and he knew he had their rude +good-will. When his strength had begun to give way, some of them had +saddled themselves with more than their share of the tasks they were +engaged in, and he knew that it was possible he might not fall in with +comrades of their kind again. Now that the time had come, he, who had +once been welcomed at brilliant London functions, felt that it would +cost him an effort to part with these rough comrades. Perhaps this was +not so astonishing, for, after all, strenuous, valiant manhood and +rude kindliness count for much. + +The shanty was cheerfully lighted and cosily warm. Nasmyth had slept +soundly there on the springy spruce-twigs, and there was at least +abundance when the mealtimes came round. Now he was about to be cast +adrift again to face a three days' march in the open, under the bitter +frost, and what might await him at the end of it he did not know. At +length, the meal was cleared away, and when the pipes were lighted, he +told his comrades that he was going. They were not demonstrative in +their expressions of regret, but they thrust upon him little plugs of +tobacco, which could not well be replaced there, and several of them +told him that, if he struck nothing he liked better, all he had to do +was to present himself at this ranch or the other beside blue lake or +frothing river when they went back in the spring. What was more to the +purpose, they meant it. + +Among those Western pines men are reared who, in point of primitive +vigour, slow endurance, and the dogged courage that leads them to +attempt, and usually to accomplish, the apparently impossible, are a +match for any in the world, and no wanderer who limps up to their +lonely ranches is turned away. Those who have no claim on them are +honoured with their hospitality, and now and then one new to that +country looks with wonder on their handiwork. Down all the long +Pacific coast, from lonely Wrangel, wrapped in the Northern snow, to +Shasta in the South, it is written on hewn-back forest, rent hillside, +and dammed river. The inhabitants are subduing savage Nature; but, as +time will surely show, their greatest achievement is the rearing of +fearless men. + +Though it cost him an effort, Nasmyth contrived to smile as he shook +hands with the loggers. Then he set his lips tight as, with his pack +strapped on his shoulders, he opened the door and looked out at the +dimly shining snow. It was only natural that he hesitated for a +moment. After all, brutal as the toil had been, he at least knew what +he was leaving behind, and his heart sank as he drew the door to. The +cold struck through him to the bone, though there was not a breath of +air astir, and the stillness was almost overwhelming. The frost +cramped his muscles and drove the courage out of him, and, as he +plodded down the trail, he heard Jacques, the French-Canadian cook, +tuning his battered fiddle. A little burst of laughter broke through +the twanging of the strings, and Nasmyth closed one hand hard as he +strode on faster into the darkness. There was as much of the animal in +him as there is in most of us, and he longed for the cheerful light +and the warmth of the stove, while one learns the value of human +companionship when the Frost King lays his grip on that lonely land. +He was once more homeless--an outcast--and it was almost a relief to +him when at length the twanging of the fiddle was lost in the silence +of the pines. + +The trees rose about him, towering high into the soft darkness in +serried ranks, and the snow gleamed a cold blue-grey under them. Not a +twig stirred; the tall spires were black, and motionless, and solemn, +and he felt that their stateliness emphasized his own feebleness and +inconsequence. In the meanwhile, though the snow was loose and +frost-dried, it was not much above his ankles, and the trail was +comparatively good. It seemed to him advisable to push on as fast as +possible, for he had only four days' provisions, and he was not sure +of his strength. There was no doubt as to what the result would be if +it failed him in the wilderness that lay between him and the +settlement. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE TRAIL + + +A half-moon rose above the black tops of the pines, and a faint light, +which the snow flung back, filtered down between the motionless +branches upon the narrow trail that wound sinuously in and out among +fallen trunks and thickets draped with withered fern, for the Siwash +Indians passed that way when the salmon came up the rivers, and the +path an Indian makes is never straight. Over and over again, an Indian +will go around an obstacle through which the Bush-rancher would hew a +passage. This is essentially characteristic of both, for the primitive +peoples patiently fit their lives to their environment, while the +white man grapples with unfavourable conditions, and resolutely +endeavours to alter them. + +Until daylight Nasmyth made a tolerable pace. He had been troubled +with a curious lassitude and an unpleasant dizziness, but walking is +considerably easier than rolling ponderous logs, and he knew that it +was advisable for him to push on as fast as possible. At length, the +dawn broke high up in a dingy grey sky, and he stopped to build a +fire. It did not take long to boil a can of strong green tea, and to +prepare a piece of doughy bread, with a little salt pork, for his +breakfast. Then he wrapped one of his blankets around him and took out +his pipe. He did not remember how long he sat there, but it was clear +daylight when he noticed that the fire was burning out, and, somewhat +to his annoyance, he felt curiously reluctant to get up again. + +Though it cost him an effort, he rose, and stood a minute or two +shivering in the bitter wind, which now set the dark firs sighing. He +could see the trees roll upwards before him in sombre ranks until +their topmost sprays cut in a thin filigree very high up against the +sky, and he knew that he must now leave the easy trail and cross the +big divide. When he set out he was a little annoyed to find that the +pack-straps hurt his shoulders, and that one of his boots galled his +foot. Knee-boots are not adapted for walking long distances, but the +only other ones that Nasmyth possessed were so dilapidated that he had +left them behind. + +He went up for several hours through withered fern and matted +undergrowth, and over horrible tangles of fallen tree-trunks, some of +which were raised high above the snow on giant splintered branches. +The term "virgin forest" probably conveys very little to the average +Englishman, since the woods with which he is acquainted are, for the +most part, cleaned and dressed by foresters; but Nature rules +untrammelled in the pine-bush of the Pacific slope, and her waste +material lies piled in tremendous ruin until it rots away. There are +forests in that country, through which a man accustomed to them can +scarcely make a league in a day. Still, Nasmyth crossed the divide, +struggling against a bitter wind, and then went down the other side, +floundering over fallen branches, and smashing through thickets of +undergrowth and brakes of willows. He wanted to find the river, and, +more especially, the tree that bridged it, as soon as possible. It +was, however, noon when he reached the river, and it frothed and +roared a hundred feet below him in a smooth walled canyon, which had +apparently kept the frost out, for there were only strips of crackling +ice in the eddies. + +It was clearly out of the question for him to get down to the river, +even if he had wished to make the descent, and without stopping to +make another fire, he plodded along the bank until the afternoon was +almost spent. There were a good many fallen trees, as he discovered to +his cost, since each one had to be painfully clambered over, but none +of them spanned the chasm. Then, as his foot was becoming very sore, +he decided to camp where a big cedar lay across a little ravine that +rent the bank. It promised to afford him a partial shelter. He had no +axe, but he tore off an armful or two of the thinner branches, with +the twigs attached to them, to form a bed, and then, crawling down to +the river, filled his smoke-blackened can and came back wearily to +make a fire. Man needs very little in those solitudes, but there are +two things he must have, and those are food to keep the strength in +him, and warmth, though there are times when he finds it singularly +difficult to make the effort to obtain them. The most unpleasant hour +of the long day of persistent toil is often the one when worn-out +muscle and jaded intelligence must be forced to the task of providing +the evening meal and shelter for the night. + +Nasmyth ate his supper, so far as it went, voraciously, but with a +prudent check upon his appetite, for he had set out with only four +days' provisions, and he could not find the tree. When he had eaten, +he took out his pipe, and crouched a while beside the fire, shivering, +in spite of the blankets wrapped about him. The heat dies out of the +man who has marched for twenty hours, as those who have done it know. +In the meanwhile, darkness crept up from the east, and the pines faded +into sombre masses that loomed dimly against a leaden sky. A mournful +wailing came out of the gloom, and the smoke whirled about the +shivering man in the nipping wind, while the sound of the river's +turmoil and the crash of stream-driven ice drifted up out of the +canyon. Nasmyth listened drowsily, while his thoughts wandered back to +the loggers' shanty. He could see the men with bronzed faces sitting +smoking about the snapping stove, two or three of them dancing, while +Jacques coaxed music full of fire from his battered fiddle. + +Then his thoughts went farther back to the chambers that he had once +occupied in London, and he saw himself and Frobisher, who shared them +with him, sitting at a little table daintily furnished with choice +glass and silver covers. There were big candles upon it--Frobisher, +who was a fastidious man, had insisted upon them. After that, the +artistically furnished room faded out of his memory, and he recalled a +larger one in which he had now and then dined. He could picture the +wine, and lights, and costly dresses, the smiling faces of those who +had at that time expected a great deal from him, and he saw the girl +who usually sat at his side. She had a delicate beauty and a dainty +mind, and he had sometimes fancied they might be drawn closer when he +had made his mark, which in those days appeared a very probable thing. +He wondered vaguely what she was doing then, or if she ever thought of +him. After all, as she had not answered the one letter which he wrote, +it scarcely seemed likely that she remembered him. Those who fail, he +reflected, are soon forgotten. + +Then, as he was falling forward into the fire, he roused himself, and +smiled wryly. He was once more an outcast, shivering, half-asleep in +the wilderness, worn out, ragged, and aching, with a foot that was now +distinctly painful. It is, however, fortunate for such men as he, and +others among the heavily burdened, that the exhaustion of the body has +its deadening effect upon the mind. Rolling the blankets round him, he +lay down on the cedar branches and went to sleep. + +He did not hear the timber wolves howling in the blackness of the +night, though several that got wind of him flitted across the ravine +after the fire burned low, and, when at length he awakened, it was +with the fall of a wet flake upon his face, and he saw the dim dawn +breaking through a haze of sliding snow. It seemed a little warmer, +and, as a matter of fact, it was so, for the cold snaps seldom last +very long near the coast; but the raw damp struck through him as he +raked the embers of the fire together. Again he felt singularly +reluctant to start when he had finished breakfast, and he found that +he could hardly place one foot upon the ground; but haste was +imperative now, so he set off limping, with the pack-straps galling +his shoulders cruelly. He also felt a little dizzy, but he pushed on +all that day beside the river through a haze of snow without coming +upon the tree. The dusk was creeping up across the forest when at +length the river emerged from the canyon, and he ventured out upon the +ice in a slacker pool. The ice heaved and crackled under him with the +pulsations of the stream, but he got across, and roused himself with +difficulty for the effort to make another fire. He was an hour +gathering fuel, and then, after a sparing supper, he lay down in his +wet clothing. + +The snow that eddied about him whitened his spongy blankets, but he +got a little sleep, and, awakening, found the fire out. He tried to +light it and failed. His fingers seemed useless. He was cramped and +chilled all through, and there was in one hip-joint the gnawing pain +that those who sleep on wet ground are acquainted with. Sometimes it +goes away when one gets warmed up, but just as often it does not. +Nasmyth, who found it a difficult matter to straighten himself, ate a +little damp bread, and then, strapping his pack upon his shoulders, +stumbled on into the forest. He afterwards fancied it did not snow +very much that day, but he was not sure of anything except that he +fell over many rotten branches, and entangled himself frequently in +labyrinths of matted willows. Night came and he went to sleep without +a fire. He contrived to push on next day, walking during most of it +half asleep. Indeed, now and then he would stagger along for minutes +after consciousness of what he was doing had deserted him, for there +are men in that Bush, at least, who know what it is to stop with +suddenly opened eyes on the verge of a collapse, and find that they +have wandered from the path--only in Nasmyth's case there was no path +at all. + +He was never sure whether it was that day or the next when, +floundering through an undergrowth of willows, he came upon a break in +the forest that was covered with sawn-off stumps. As he made for it, +he fell into a split-rail fence, some of which he knocked down until +he could climb over it. There was a faint smell of burning fir-wood in +the air, and it was evident to him that there was a house somewhere in +the vicinity. The snow was not deep in the clearing, and he plodded +through it, staggering now and then, until he came to a little slope, +and fell down it headlong. This time he did not seem able to get up +again, and it was fortunate that, when he flung the split fence down, +the crash made by the falling rails rang far through the silence of +the woods. + +While Nasmyth lay in the slushy snow, a girl came out from among the +firs across the clearing, and walked down the little trail that led +to a well. She was tall, and there was something in her face and +the way she held herself which suggested that she was not a native of +the Bush, though everything she wore had been made by her own +fingers--that is, except the little fur cap, whose glossy brown +enhanced the lustre of her hair. This was of a slightly lighter +tint, and had gleams of ruddy gold in it. Her eyes were large and +brown, and there was a reposeful quietness in the face, which +suggested strength. It was significant that her hands were a trifle +hard, as well as shapely, and that her wrists were red. + +She came to the top of the slope near the foot of which Nasmyth, who +had now raised himself on one elbow, lay, and though this might well +have startled her, she stood quietly still, looking down on him. +Nasmyth raised himself a trifle further, and blinked at her stupidly, +and she noticed that his face was drawn and grey. + +"I heard the rails fall," she said. "What are you doing there?" + +It did not appear strange to Nasmyth that she should speak in +well-modulated English, for there are probably as many insular English +as Canadians in parts of that country. Besides, he was scarcely in a +condition to notice a point of that kind just then. + +"I think I upset the fence," he answered. "You see, I couldn't get +over. Then I must have fallen down." + +It naturally struck the girl as significant that he did not seem sure +of what had happened, but the explanation that would have suggested +itself to anyone fresh from England did not occur to her. There was +not a saloon or hotel within eight or nine miles of the spot. + +"Can you get up?" she asked. + +"I'll try," said Nasmyth; but the attempt he made was not a complete +success, for, although he staggered to his feet, he reeled when he +stood upon them, and probably would have fallen had she not run down +the slope and taken hold of him. + +"You can rest on me," she said, laying a firm and capable hand upon +his shoulder. + +With her assistance, Nasmyth staggered up the slope, and there were +afterwards times when he remembered the next few minutes with somewhat +mixed feelings. Just then, however, he was only glad to have someone +to lean upon, and her mere human presence was a relief, since Nature +had come very near to crushing the life out of him. + +"This is your ranch?" he inquired, looking at her with half-closed +eyes, when at length she moved away from him, a pace or two, and, +gasping a little, stood still, beneath a colonnade of towering firs. + +"It is," she said simply; and a moment or two later he saw a little +house of logs half hidden among the trees. + +They reached it in another minute, and, staggering in, he sank into +the nearest chair. A stove snapped and crackled in the middle of the +little log-walled room, which in spite of its uncovered, split-boarded +floor, seemed to possess a daintiness very unusual in the Bush. He did +not, however, know what particular objects in it conveyed that +impression, for the whole room seemed to be swinging up and down; but +he was definitely conscious of a comforting smell of coffee and pork, +which came from the stove. He sat still, shivering, and blinking at +the girl, while the water trickled from his tattered clothing. He +fancied from the patter on the shingle roof, that it was raining +outside. + +"I wonder if you would let me camp in the barn to-night," he said. + +The girl's eyes had grown compassionate as she watched him, for there +was a suggestive greyness in his face. It was evident to her that he +was utterly worn-out. + +"Go in there," she said, pointing to a door. "You will find some dry +clothes. Put them on." + +Nasmyth staggered into a very small room, which had a rude wooden bunk +in it, and with considerable difficulty sloughed off his wet things +and put on somebody else's clothing. Then he came back and sank into a +deer-hide lounge at the table. The girl set a cup of coffee, as well +as some pork and potatoes, before him. He drank the coffee, but +finding, somewhat to his astonishment, that he could scarcely eat, he +lay back in his chair and looked at the girl deprecatingly with +half-closed eyes. + +"Sorry I can't do the supper justice. I think I'm ill," he said. + +Then his head fell back against the deer-hide lounge, and, while the +girl watched him with a natural consternation, he sank into sleep or +unconsciousness. She was not sure which it was, but he certainly +looked very ill, and, being a capable young woman, she remembered that +within the next hour, the weekly mail-carrier would strike a trail +which passed within a mile of the ranch. Rising, she touched Nasmyth's +shoulder. + +"Stay there, and don't try to get up until I come back," she commanded +in a kindly tone. + +Nasmyth, as she had half-expected, said nothing, and, slipping into +another room--there were three in the house--she returned, wearing +a jacket of coarse fur, and went quietly out into the rain. It was +dark now, but she had, as it happened, not long to wait for the +mail-carrier. + +"I want you to call at Gordon's ranch, Dave," she told the man. "Tell +him he is to come along as soon as he can. There's a stranger here who +seems very ill." + +The mail-carrier would have asked questions, but she cut him short. + +"How long will it be before you can tell Gordon?" she asked. + +"Well," answered the man reflectively, "I'm heading right back for the +settlement, but it's a league to Gordon's, anyway. He could be here in +two hours, if he starts right off, and, considering what the trail's +like, that's blamed fast travelling." + +He disappeared into the darkness, and the girl went back to the ranch. +It was, perhaps, significant that she should feel sure that the man +she had sent for would obey the summons, but she grew anxious while +the two hours slipped by. At last, a man opened the door and walked +in, with the water dripping from the long outer garment he flung off. +He was a young man, with a bronzed face and keen grey eyes, and he had +swung the axe, as one could see by his lithe carriage and the hardness +of his hands, but there was something professional in his manner as he +stooped down, regarding Nasmyth closely while he gripped the +stranger's wrist. Then he turned to the girl. + +"He's very sick," Gordon said. "Guess you have no objections to my +putting him in your father's bunk. First, we'll warm the blankets." + +The girl rose to help him, and--for she was strong--they stripped off +most of Nasmyth's garments and lifted him into the bunk in the next +room. Then Gordon sent her for the blankets, and, when he had wrapped +them round Nasmyth, he sat down and looked at her. + +"Pneumonia," he said. "Anyway, in the meanwhile, I'll figure on it as +that, though there's what one might call a general physical collapse +as well. Where did he come from?" + +"I don't know," said the girl. + +"Your father won't be back for a week?" + +"It's scarcely likely." + +The man appeared to reflect for a moment or two. Then he made a little +expressive gesture. + +"Well," he said, "it's up to us to do what we can. First thing's a +poultice. I'll show you how to fix it; but while we're here, I guess +we might as well run through his things." + +"Is that needful?" and the girl glanced at Nasmyth compassionately. + +"Well," said the man with an air of reflection, "it might be. This +thing's quick. Leaves you or wipes you out right away. There's very +little strength in him." + +He turned out the pockets of Nasmyth's clothes, which were, however, +empty of anything that might disclose his identity. + +"Not a scrap of paper, not a dollar; but I guess that wasn't always +the case with him--you can see it by his face," he said. Then he +laughed. "He's probably like a good many more of us--not very anxious +to let folks know where he came from." + +The girl, though he did not notice it, winced at this; but next moment +he touched her shoulder. + +"Get some water on," he said. "After we've made the poultice, I'll +take charge of him. We may get Mrs. Custer round in the morning." + +The girl merely smiled and went out with him. She was aware that it +was in some respects an unusual thing which she was doing, but that +did not greatly trouble her. They are not very conventional people in +that country. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WAYNEFLEET'S RANCH + + +Though he afterwards endeavoured to recall them, Nasmyth had never +more than a faint and shadowy recollection of the next few days. +During most of the time, he fancied he was back in England, and the +girl he had left there seemed to be hovering about him. Now and then, +she would lay gentle hands upon him, and her soothing touch would send +him off to sleep again; but there was a puzzling change in her +appearance. He remembered her as slight in figure--sylph-like he had +sometimes called her--fastidious and dainty, and always artistically +dressed. Now, however, she seemed to have grown taller, stronger, more +reserved, and, as he vaguely realized, more capable, while her +garments were of a different and coarser fashion. What was still more +curious, she did not seem to recognize her name, though he addressed +her by it now and then. He pondered over the matter drowsily once or +twice, and then ceased to trouble himself about it. There were several +other things that appeared at least as incomprehensible. + +After a long time, however, his senses came back to him, and one +evening, as he lay languidly looking about him in his rude wooden +bunk, he endeavoured to recall what had passed since he left the +loggers' camp. The little room was comfortably warm, and a plain tin +lamp burned upon what was evidently a home-made table. There was +nothing, except a rifle, upon the rough log walls, and nothing upon +the floor, which was, as usual, rudely laid with split boards, for +dressed lumber is costly in the Bush. Looking through the open door +into the general living-room, which was also lighted, he could see a +red twinkle beneath the register of the stove, beside which a woman +was sitting sewing. She was a hard-featured, homely person in coarsely +fashioned garments, which did not seem to fit her well, and Nasmyth +felt slightly disconcerted when he glanced at her, for she was not the +woman whom he had expected to see. Then his glance rested on a man, +who had also figured in his uncertain memories, and now sat not far +away from him. The man, who was young, was dressed in plain blue duck, +and, though Nasmyth noticed that his hands were hard, and that he had +broken nails, there was something in his bronzed face that suggested +mental capacity. + +"I suppose," the sick man said, "you are the doctor who has evidently +taken care of me?" + +He was not quite himself yet, and he spoke clean colloquial English, +without any trace of the Western accentuation he usually considered it +advisable to adopt, though, as a matter of fact, the accent usually +heard on the Pacific slope is not unduly marked. The other man +naturally noticed it, and laughed somewhat curiously. + +"I have some knowledge of medicine and surgery," Gordon answered. "Now +and then I make use of it, though I don't, as a rule, get a fee." Then +he looked rather hard at Nasmyth. "Quite a few of us find it advisable +to let our professions go when we come to this country." + +Nasmyth nodded, for this was a thing he had discovered already. Many +of the comrades he had made there were outcasts--men outside the +pale--and they were excellent comrades, too. + +"Well," he said, "I have evidently been very sick. How did I get here? +I don't seem to remember." + +"Miss Waynefleet found you lying in the snow in the clearing." + +"Ah!" said Nasmyth--"a tall girl with a quiet voice, big brown eyes, +and splendid hair?" + +Gordon smiled. "Well," he said, "that's quite like her." + +"Where is she now?" asked Nasmyth; and though he was very feeble +still, there was a certain expectancy in his manner. + +"In the barn, I believe. The working oxen have to be fed. It's very +probable that you will see her in the next half-hour. As to your other +question--you were very sick indeed--pneumonia. Once or twice it +seemed a sure thing that you'd slip through our fingers. Where were +you coming from when you struck the clearing?" + +Nasmyth, who had no reason for reticence, and found his mind rapidly +growing clearer, briefly related what had led him to set out on his +journey through the Bush, and his companion nodded. + +"It's very much as I expected," he said. "They paid you off before you +left that logging camp?" + +"They did," said Nasmyth, who was pleased to recall the fact. "I had +thirty-two dollars in my belt." + +His companion looked at him steadily. "When you came here you hadn't a +belt on. There was not a dollar in your pockets, either." + +This was naturally a blow to Nasmyth. He realized that it would +probably be several weeks at least before he was strong enough to work +again, and he had evidently been a charge upon these strangers for +some little time. Still, he did not for a moment connect any of them +with the disappearance of his belt. He was too well acquainted with +the character of the men who are hewing the clearings out of the great +forests of the Pacific slope. As a matter of fact, he never did +discover what became of his belt. + +"Well," he said, "I suppose I forgot to put it on, one of those +mornings on the march. Still, it's not very astonishing that the +thing should worry me. I can't expect to stay on at this ranch. When +do you think I can get up and set out again?" + +"How long have you been out here?" + +"Been out?" + +Gordon laughed. "You're from the Old Country--that's plain enough." + +"Several years." + +"In that case I'm not going to tell you we're not likely to turn you +out until you have some strength in you. I believe I'm speaking for +Miss Waynefleet now." + +Nasmyth lay still and considered this. It was, at least, quite evident +that he could not get up yet, but there were one or two other points +that occurred to him. + +"Does the ranch belong to Miss Waynefleet?" he inquired. "She can't +live here alone." + +"She runs the concern. She has certainly a father, but you'll +understand things more clearly when you see him. He's away in +Victoria, which is partly why Mrs. Custer from the settlement is now +in yonder room. Her husband is at present building a trestle on the +Dunsmore track. I come up here for only an hour every day." + +Nasmyth afterwards discovered that this implied a journey of three or +four miles either way over a very indifferent trail, but at the moment +he was thinking chiefly of Miss Waynefleet, who had given him +shelter. + +"You practise at the settlement?" he asked. + +"Yes," said his companion dryly, "chopping big trees. I've a ranch +there. Still, I don't know that you could exactly call it practising. +By this time, I've acquired a certain proficiency in the thing." + +Nasmyth fancied that he must have gone to sleep soon after this, for +when he opened his eyes again there was no sign of the doctor, and a +girl was quietly moving about the room. She sat down, when she saw +that he was awake, and looked at him with a little smile, and it was +only natural that Nasmyth should also look at her. It struck him once +more that she had wonderful hair. In the lamp-light, it seemed to glow +with curious red-gold gleams. She had also quiet brown eyes, and a +face that was a trifle darkened by sun and wind. He guessed that she +was tall. She looked so as she moved about the room with a supple +gracefulness that had a suggestion of strength in it. That was all he +noticed in detail, for he was chiefly conscious of the air of quiet +composure that characterized her. He was a trifle fanciful that night, +and, while he looked her, he felt as he had sometimes felt when he +stood at sunset in the silence of the shadowy Bush, or gazed down into +the depths of some still river pool. Only her gleaming red-gold hair +and her full red lips slightly counteracted this impression. There was +in them at least a hint of fire and passion. + +"You are much better," she said, and her softly modulated voice fell +pleasantly on his ears. He contrived to raise himself a trifle. + +"I believe I am," he answered, "In any case, I know I owe it to you +that I'm alive at all. Still"--and he hesitated--"I can't help feeling +a bit uncomfortable. You see, I have really no claim on you." + +Laura Waynefleet laughed. "Did you expect me to leave you out in the +snow?" + +"If you had, I couldn't have complained. There wasn't the least +obligation upon you to look after a penniless stranger." + +"Ah!" said the girl, with a little smile which was curiously +expressive, "after all, many of us are in one sense strangers in the +Bush." + +Nasmyth pondered over this, for, in view of what he had noticed in her +voice and manner, he fancied he understood her meaning. + +"Well," he said, "it's evident that I can do nothing in return for all +your kindness, except take myself off your hands as soon as possible. +That's partly why I'm particularly anxious to get better." + +He stopped a moment, with a faint flush in his hollow face. "It sounds +very ungracious, doesn't it? But, after all, it's sense. Besides, I +scarcely feel up to expressing myself very neatly." + +The girl moved across the room, and gently pressed him down again on +the pillow. + +"Go to sleep again at once," she said. + +Nasmyth did as he was bidden, which, since he felt that he wanted to +lie awake and watch her, was in one way significant. As a matter of +fact, what Laura Waynefleet considered advisable was usually done. +Nasmyth's head was clearer next morning, and, during the week that +followed, he grew stronger rapidly, until one night, as he sat beside +the stove, he realized that he could, in all probability, set out +again on his journey in a day or two. While he talked to Laura +Waynefleet, there were footsteps outside, and she ran towards the door +as a man came into the room. Nasmyth fancied the newcomer was her +father, for he was grey-haired and elderly, but he did not look in the +least like a Bush-rancher. Beneath the fur coat, which he flung off +when he had kissed his daughter, he was dressed as one who lived in +the cities, though his garments were evidently far from new. He was +tall, but his spareness suggested fragility, and his face, which +emphasized this impression, had a hint of querulous discontent in it. + +"I didn't expect to get through until to-morrow, but they've altered +the running of the stage," he said. "Wiston drove me up from the +settlement, and said he'd send my things across to-morrow. I was glad +to get out of Victoria. The cooking and accommodation at the hotel I +stayed at were simply disgusting." + +Nasmyth glanced at the speaker in amused astonishment, for the +Bush-ranchers of the Pacific slope are not, as a rule, particular. +They can live on anything, and sleep more or less contentedly among +dripping fern, or even in a pool of water, as, indeed, they not +infrequently have to do, when they go up into the forests surveying, +or undertake a road-making contract. Laura Waynefleet directed her +father's attention to her convalescent guest. + +"This is Mr. Nasmyth," she said. "You will remember I mentioned him in +my letter." + +Waynefleet made the young man a little inclination that was formally +courteous. "I am glad to see you are evidently recovering," he said. +"I hope they have made you at home here." Then he turned to his +daughter. "If you could get me some supper----" + +Laura busied herself about the stove, while Waynefleet sat down and +talked to Nasmyth about generalities. Waynefleet appeared to be a +politician, and he criticized the Government, which, in his opinion, +was neglecting the Bush-ranchers shamefully. It was evident that he +considered it the duty of the Government to contribute indirectly +towards the support of settlers. Then the supper was laid out. As he +ate fastidiously, he made a few faintly sardonic observations about +the cookery, and, after the girl had brought in a pot of coffee, he +frowned at the cup he put down. + +"There is one place in Victoria where you can get coffee, as it ought +to be, but this is merely roasted wheat," he said. "You will excuse me +from drinking any more of it. As you have probably discovered, Mr. +Nasmyth, one has to put up with a good deal in this country. It is in +many respects a barbarous land." + +Nasmyth saw the faint flush in Laura Waynefleet's face, and said +nothing. He fancied that he knew the establishment in Victoria to +which Waynefleet referred, but it was not one which he had ever +visited, or which the smaller Bush-ranchers usually frequented. + +Soon after supper, Nasmyth withdrew to the bed, which he had insisted +on preparing for himself in the loft above the stables, and it was +next day when he spoke to Laura Waynefleet alone. + +"I can't abuse your kindness any longer," he said. "I must go away." + +The girl looked at him quietly. "You are far from strong yet, and--it +must be mentioned--there was not a dollar in your pockets." + +"That is certainly the case;" and Nasmyth flushed a little. "Still, I +can get as far as the settlement, and I dare say somebody, who won't +be too hard on me at first, may want a hand. I am really rather a good +chopper." + +Laura smiled as she glanced at his face, but it was not its hollowness +she was thinking of. Nasmyth had not the appearance of the average +chopper. + +"Well," she said, "perhaps you had better see my father. I think he +has something to say to you." + +She left him, and, half an hour later, Waynefleet came up to Nasmyth, +who was sunning himself outside the ranch-house. Like many other +houses in that country, it stood beneath a few great firs on the edge +of a desolate clearing, round which the primeval forest rose in an +unbroken wall. Behind it, and a little farther back among the trees, +was the rude barn, built of big notched logs, and roofed with cedar +shingles. In front there lay some twenty acres of cleared land, out of +which rose the fir-stumps, girdled with withered fern, for a warm wind +from the Pacific had swept the snow away. Beyond that, in turn, and +outside the split-rail fence, rows of giant trunks lay piled in the +tremendous ruin usually called the "slashing." Some day, these would +be sawn up and burnt, and the clearing driven farther back into the +Bush. The little gap into which the sunlight shone, however, had been +hewn out at the cost of several years of strenuous labour, and +Nasmyth, who was aware of this, felt inclined to smile as the man who +owned it strolled up to him. It was a little difficult to imagine that +he had had any great share in the making of that clearing. + +Waynefleet was dressed in duck, but it was whole and unsoiled, and +Nasmyth made his own deductions from a glance at the delicate hands. +As a rule, Waynefleet's expression was discontented and querulous, but +for the time being his manner was gracious. In fact, he was generally +more or less courteous to Nasmyth. + +"Miss Waynefleet tells me you are thinking of going away," said the +owner of the ranch. + +Nasmyth replied that he intended to leave the ranch, and was +explaining that he felt he had already abused his host's kindness, +when Waynefleet cut him short. + +"We have been glad to have you here," he said; "in fact, I have been +wondering if you might feel disposed to stay. It is probably evident +to you that I cannot do all that is necessary about this place with +one pair of hands." + +Nasmyth knew, from what he had seen on other and larger ranches, that +one man could do the work, though he felt that it was more than one +could reasonably have expected from Waynefleet. It was, however, clear +that somebody did a great deal, and he fancied that it was the +rancher's daughter. + +"Well," continued Waynefleet, "I am disposed to spend a little upon +the ranch. They are talking of building a pulp-mill near the +settlement. That will make land more valuable, and probably lead to a +demand for produce. With that in view, I wish to raise a larger crop, +and I'm open to hire somebody." He made a little gesture. "My strength +scarcely permits me to undertake any severe physical effort, and I +may confess that my faculty is rather that of administration. Now I +will make you an offer." + +Nasmyth considered it gravely. As it happened, he was feeling sorry +for the rancher's daughter, and it was this fact chiefly which led him +to come to terms with the man, since it seemed to him that there were +tasks the girl must shrink from--tasks of which he could relieve her. +Though he was quite aware that when his strength came back, he could +probably earn more than Waynefleet offered him, he accepted the chance +to stay at the ranch. Moreover, the varied work was likely to be much +easier than logging. + +"It's a bargain. I'll make a start now, and haul one or two of those +logs out with the oxen," he said. "Still, I'm afraid you must not +expect too much from me for a week or two." + +Waynefleet made no objections. There was, as a matter of fact, a great +deal to be done, and Nasmyth went back to his new quarters over the +stable almost too weary to hold himself upright that night. He, +however, gathered strength rapidly, and a few days later he was +chopping a great tree, standing on a narrow plank notched into the +trunk of it several feet from the ground as he swung the axe, when the +man who had instructed Miss Waynefleet how to nurse him came up the +trail. Gordon sat down on a log close by, and looked at Nasmyth. + +"I was coming round to make sure I was quite through with your case, +but it's tolerably evident you have no more use for me," he said. +"Stopping here?" + +Nasmyth said he was, and Gordon nodded. + +"Well," he said, "in several ways I'm rather glad. It's going to make +things easier for Miss Waynefleet. Guess you understand what I meant +when I said she ran the ranch?" + +Nasmyth said he thought he did, and then, with a certain diffidence, +he changed the subject. + +"You must have spent a good deal of time looking after +men--professionally," he said. + +Gordon laughed in a somewhat curious fashion. "We'll let that go. In +one sense, I've dropped my profession. I had to, and it's scarcely +likely that I shall take it up again." + +"I wonder," said Nasmyth reflectively, "if it's admissible for me to +mention that I had fancied something of the kind. You see, in the +Bush, I have naturally come across a good many men who have turned +their backs upon the cities." + +Gordon made a little gesture. "It's a sure thing you'll hear a good +deal about me at the settlement, where, though the boys don't cast it +up to me, I'm credited with having killed somebody back East, and as +I've had an idea that I could hit it rather well with you, I'd sooner +tell you the thing myself. Well, I was making my mark in a big city, +several years ago, when I lost my head. When success comes too +quickly, it's a thing you're rather apt to do. The trouble is that you +have usually to face the results of it." + +He broke off for a moment with a little wry smile. "In my case they +were serious. There was a woman of hysterical temperament with a +diseased imagination. I was overworked and a trifle overwrought, and +had a glass of brandy too much at a certain committee lunch. Then +there was a rather delicate operation in a hospital, and though I'm +not sure yet that I blundered, it was suggested that I did, and the +thing was complicated by what the woman said when the committee took +it up. It didn't matter that the patient recovered, for when he took +action against the woman, the thing made a sensation in the Eastern +papers." + +He looked at Nasmyth with a question in his eyes. + +"Now," he said, "you more or less understand my reasons for ranching +here. How's it going to affect you?" + +Nasmyth gazed reflectively towards the East. "I think," he replied, +"there are more of us who have left a good deal behind back yonder. +Perhaps it's fortunate that the thing is possible." + +Then he swung his axe again, and Gordon, who saw Waynefleet +approaching, strolled away towards the ranch-owner. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +LAURA WAYNEFLEET'S WISH + + +It was a hot summer evening, and a drowsy, resinous fragrance stole +out of the shadowy bush when Nasmyth, who had now spent six months at +Waynefleet's ranch, lay among the wineberries by the river-side. +Across the strip of sliding water the sombre firs rose in a great +colonnade from the grey rock's crest, with the fires of sunset blazing +behind their wide-girthed trunks. The river was low and very clear, +and the sound of it seemed to intensify the solemn stillness of the +Bush. Nasmyth had come there to fish, after a long day of tolerably +arduous labour, but he did not expect much success, though the trout +rise freely just after sunset in those rivers. Indeed, he had almost +forgotten that the rod and net lay near his side, for his employer's +daughter sat on a fallen cedar not far away from him. + +She had laid her hat aside, and, as it happened, two humming-birds +that flashed, bejewelled, in a ray of ruddy light hung poised on +invisible wings about the clustered blossoms of an arrow-bush that +drooped above her head. She was, however, not looking at them, but +watching Nasmyth with thoughtful eyes. Everything she wore was the +work of her own fingers, but the light print dress became her +curiously well. + +"You have been here six months now," she said. + +"I have," answered Nasmyth, with a little laugh. "I almost venture to +think I do you credit, in view of the state I was in when I reached +the ranch. If you hadn't taken me in hand, two or three days would +probably have been the length of my stay." + +The girl made no disclaimer. She was one who admitted facts, even +when they did not chime with her wishes, and she still regarded +Nasmyth thoughtfully. He certainly did her credit, so far as his +physical appearance went, for his strength had fully come back to him, +and, as he lay among the wineberries in an easy pose, his thin duck +garments displayed the fine proportions of a figure that had been +trained almost to muscular perfection by strenuous labour. The light +of the paling sunset was on his bronzed face, and it revealed the +elusive delicacy that characterized it. Nasmyth was certainly a +well-favoured man, but there were respects in which his companion was +not altogether satisfied with him. She had, as she admitted, restored +him to bodily health, but, after all, that was only going so far, and +she felt it was possible that she might accomplish a little more, +though there was no very evident reason why she should wish to do so. +Still, she was conscious of the wish. + +"I was wondering," she said, "how long you would be content to stay." + +Nasmyth gazed at her in evident astonishment. "Stay!" he exclaimed. +"Oh, you can call it twenty years, if one must be precise." + +"Ah!" replied Laura, "in one sense, that is an admission I'm not +exactly pleased that you should make." + +The man raised himself slowly, and his face became intent as he strove +to grasp her meaning. He was not in the least astonished that she +should speak to him as she did, for there are few distinctions drawn +between the hired man and those who employ him on the Pacific slope, +and he had discovered already that the girl was at least his equal in +intelligence and education. In fact, he had now and then a suspicion +that her views of life were broader than his. In the meanwhile it was +in one respect gratifying to feel that she could be displeased at +anything he might think or do. + +"I'm not quite sure I see the drift of that," he said. + +"You would be content to continue a ranch-hand indefinitely?" + +"Why not?" Nasmyth asked, with a smile. + +Laura once more looked at him with an almost disconcerting steadiness, +and she had, as he was already aware, very fine eyes. She, however, +noticed the suggestive delicacy of his face, which had, as it +happened, more than once somewhat displeased her, and a certain +languidness of expression, with which she had also grown almost +impatient. This man, she had decided, was too readily acquiescent. + +"That," she continued, "is rather a big question, isn't it?" + +"Ah!" said Nasmyth reflectively. "Now I begin to understand. Well, I +don't mind admitting that I once had ambitions and the means of +gratifying them, as well as an optimistic belief in myself. That, +however, was rudely shattered when the means were withdrawn, and a man +very soon learns of how little account he is in Western Canada. Why +shouldn't I be content to live as the ranch-hands do, especially when +it's tolerably evident that I can't do anything else?" + +"You are forgetting that most of them were born to it. That counts for +a good deal. Have you noticed how far some of the others drift?" A +faint trace of heightened colour crept into her cheeks. "Perhaps one +couldn't blame them when they have once acquired the whisky habit and +a Siwash wife." + +Nasmyth lay very still for a few moments, resting on one elbow among +the wineberries, for she had, after all, only suggested a question +that had once or twice troubled him. It was, however, characteristic +of him that he had temporized, and, though he knew it must be answered +some day, had thrust it aside. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "you want to send me away. Now, I had almost +fancied I had made things easier in various ways for you, and we have +been good comrades, haven't we? One could call it that?" + +"Yes," agreed Laura slowly; "I think one could call it that." + +"Then," returned Nasmyth, "why do you want me to go?" + +It was difficult to answer, and, to begin with, Laura did not exactly +know she desired him to leave the ranch--in fact, she was willing to +admit that there were several reasons why she wished him to stay. +Still, perhaps because she had watched over him in his sickness, and, +so Gordon said, had snatched him back to life again, she had a certain +pride in him, and vaguely felt that. In one sense, he belonged to her. +She would not have him throw away the life she had saved, and she had +recognized, as many of his English friends had not, the perilously +acquiescent side of his character. He was, she feared, one who had an +unfortunate aptitude for drifting. + +"That," she said, "is rather more than I could explain either to +myself or to you, but I will tell you something. They are going to +build the pulp-mill down the valley, and they are now asking for +tenders for the construction of the dam. The thing, I have heard, is +not big enough to interest contractors from the cities, and most of +the men round here have their hands full with their ranches." + +Nasmyth became a trifle more intent. "Still," he remarked, "I have +never built a dam." + +"You told me you were rather a good chopper, and I think you are. You +have made roads, too, and know how to handle giant-powder in the +rock-cutting, and how to use the drill." + +"There are shoals of men in this country who know considerably more +about those things than I do." + +Laura made a little impatient gesture. "Yes," she admitted, "there +are, but they are simple Bushmen for the most part; and does intellect +count for nothing at all? Are a trained understanding and a quick +comprehension of no use when one builds a dam?" + +Nasmyth frowned, though she saw a little glow kindle in his eyes. "I'm +by no means sure that I possess any of those desirable qualities. +Besides, there's a rather serious objection--that of finance." + +Then Laura Waynefleet made it clear that she had considered the +question, and she favoured the man with a glimpse of the practical +side of her character. + +"The stores give long credit, and partial payments are generally made +as a work of that kind goes on. Then it is not a very unusual thing +for workmen to wait for their wages until the contract is carried +through." + +Nasmyth lay still for at least another minute. He had gradually lost +his ambition during the few years he had wandered through the Bush of +British Columbia. The aimless life was often hard, but it had its +compensations, and he had learned to value its freedom from +responsibility and care. When he did not like a task he had +undertaken, he simply left it and went on again. Still, he had had +misgivings now and then when he noticed how far some of his comrades +had drifted. Presently he rose slowly to his feet. + +"Well," he said, "you're right, I think, and, if I'm given an +opportunity, I'll undertake the thing. The credit will be yours if I'm +successful." + +The girl rose. "Then," she admonished, with a faint smile, "don't tell +me that you have failed." + +She turned away and left him somewhat abruptly, but Nasmyth did not +resume his fishing, though he could hear the big trout splashing in +the pool as the sunset light faded off the water. He lay down among +the wineberries, which were scattered among the glossy leaves like +little drops of blood, to think harder than he had thought for a +considerable time. An hour ago, as he had told Laura Waynefleet, he +would have been well content to stay on at the ranch, and, though she +had roused him, he knew that it would cost him an effort to leave it. +He was not, he fancied, in love with her. Indeed, he now and then +admitted that she would probably look for more from the man who won +her favour than there was in him, but the camaraderie--he could think +of no better word for it--that had existed between them had been very +pleasant to him. + +He realized that he was in one sense hers to dispose of. She had, in +all probability, saved his life, and now she was endeavouring to +arouse his moral responsibility. She was sending him out to play a +man's part in the battle of life. He admitted that he had shrunk from +it, of late, or, at least, had been content to sink back among the +rank and file. He had made the most of things, but that, he was +beginning to realize, was, after all, a somewhat perilous habit. Laura +Waynefleet evidently considered that a resolute attempt to alter +conditions was more becoming than to accept them, even though one was +likely to be injured while making it. He heard footsteps, and, looking +up, saw Gordon sit down upon the cedar-log. + +"I came to look at Wiston's hand, and walked across when I heard that +Waynefleet hadn't been about," he explained. "I don't think you need +feel any particular anxiety about your employer." + +Nasmyth grinned at this. Waynefleet had spent part of one day chopping +a big balsam, and was apparently feeling the effects of the very +unusual exertion. Then Gordon took out his pipe. + +"I guess you're fishing?" he observed. + +"I came here to get a trout for breakfast." + +"You look like it." Gordon smiled. "As it happened, I saw Miss +Waynefleet crossing the clearing. It occurs to me that she may have +said something that set you thinking." + +"I wonder," said Nasmyth reflectively, "what made you fancy that?" + +Gordon regarded him with a little twinkle in his eyes. "Well," he +replied, "I have the honour of Miss Waynefleet's acquaintance, and +have some little knowledge of her habits." + +Men make friends with one another quickly in the Western forests, and +Nasmyth had acquired a curious confidence in his companion, in spite +of the story Gordon had told him. As the result of this he related +part, at least, of what the girl had said. Gordon nodded. + +"It's quite likely you'll get that contract if you apply for it. The +folks about the settlement haven't sent an offer in," he said. "The +notion is naturally Miss Waynefleet's. It's the kind of thing that +would appeal to her, and, in a way, it's fortunate you have fallen +into her hands. She's one of the protesters." + +"The protesters?" + +"Yes," answered Gordon; "I can't think of a better name for them, +though it doesn't exactly convey all I mean. To make the thing a +little clearer, we'll take the other kind--in this country they're +best typified by the Indians. The Siwash found it a wilderness, and +made the most of it as such. They took their toll of the salmon, and +fed their ponies on the natural prairie grass. If we'd left it to them +for centuries it would have remained a wilderness. We came, and found +Nature omnipotent, but we challenged her--drove the steel road down +the great canyon to bring us provisions in, dyked the swamp meadows, +ploughed up the forest, and rent the hills. We made our protest, and, +quite often, it was no more than that, for the rivers were too strong +for us, and the Bush crept back upon our little clearings. Still, we +never let go, and it's becoming evident that we have done more than +hold our own." + +He paused, and laughed in a deprecatory fashion before he went on +again. "Now and then I have an outbreak of this kind," he added +lightly. "The thing would make an epic, but, if one could write it, it +wouldn't be worth while. The protest that counts in this land is made +with the axe and drill." + +The outbreak was comprehensible, for it must be remembered that the +average Westerner, either by birth or adoption, is seldom a reticent +man. He is, in fact, usually characterized by a daring optimism, and +not infrequently filled to overflowing with the clean pride of +achievement. One can hear this new-world enthusiasm bubble over on +public platforms and at brilliant functions, as well as in second-rate +saloons, but it is most forcibly expressed where men toil waist-deep +in icy water building dyke and dam, or blast their waggon roads out of +the side of the gloomy canyons. Their handiwork is not always +beautiful, but one wonders to see what they have made of that great +desolation. + +Nasmyth lay still among the wineberries, for a minute or two, and, +though a cold green transparency had replaced the fires of sunset +behind the tall trunks now, and the trout were splashing furiously in +the pool, he forgot all about the rod beside him as he pondered over a +question which had often occurred to him. + +"How is it that Miss Waynefleet is content to stay here?" he asked. + +"You would hardly expect her to leave her father." + +"No," said Nasmyth. "Any way, that is scarcely an answer. What keeps +Waynefleet here? One wouldn't fancy he likes living in the Bush." + +"It's a little curious that you haven't heard. Anyway, somebody is +bound to tell you. Waynefleet had to get out of the Old Country. Some +trouble about trust-money. He came out to Victoria and set up in the +land agency business, but it was his misfortune that he couldn't keep +out of politics. There are folks like that. When they can't handle +their own affairs, they're anxious to manage those of the community. +Somebody found out the story and flung it in his face. The man hadn't +the grit in him to live it down; he struck up into the Bush and bought +the half-cleared ranch." + +For the next minute or two Nasmyth gazed straight in front of him with +a very thoughtful face, for he had now a vague recollection of hearing +or reading of the affair in which his employer had played a +discreditable part. He had already decided that he was not in love +with Laura Waynefleet--in fact, it was perhaps significant that he had +done so more than once, but he had a warm regard for the girl who had +saved his life, and, after all, his ideas were not quite so liberal as +he fancied they had become in the Western forest. It was a trifle +disconcerting to discover that she was the daughter of a swindler. + +"It hurts?" inquired Gordon dryly. + +Nasmyth rose. "To be frank," he admitted, "it does. Still, though the +subject's a rather delicate one, I don't want you to misunderstand me. +After all, Miss Waynefleet is not in the least responsible for +anything her father may have done." + +"That," said Gordon, "is a sure thing. Well, I must be hitting the +trail home. Aren't you going to try for some of those trout in the +pool?" + +"No," answered Nasmyth, and his smile was a trifle grim; "I don't +think I am." + +He watched Gordon stride away through the undergrowth, and then, in +the creeping dusk, went slowly back to the ranch. Waynefleet was out +when he reached it, but Laura was sitting sewing by the lamp, and she +looked at him sharply when he came in. He was unpleasantly conscious +that the light was on his face. Then the girl laid down her sewing and +turned fully towards him. + +"I saw Mr. Gordon cross the clearing. He has told you why we are +living here?" she said. + +"I think," said Nasmyth, with a slowness that was very expressive, "it +was not done out of unkindness." + +"Oh, no," and Laura smiled in a rather curious fashion, "he had +probably quite another motive." Then she leaned forward a little, +looking at him steadily. "I knew that he would tell you." + +Nasmyth stood still, with his forehead deeply furrowed, and an unusual +gravity in his eyes. The girl's courage and serenity appealed to him, +and he was conscious that his heart was beating rapidly. He said +nothing, for a moment or two, and afterwards remembered how still the +little room was, and how the sweet, resinous scent of the firs flowed +in through the open window. Then he made a vague gesture. + +"There is, perhaps, a good deal one could say; but I fancy most of it +would savour of impertinence," he said. "After all, the thing doesn't +affect you in any way." + +Laura glanced down at her hands, and Nasmyth guessed what she was +thinking, for they were hard, and work-roughened. The toil that her +hands showed was, as he realized, only a part of her burden. + +"I think it affects me a very great deal," she declared slowly. + +Then a curious compassion for her troubled the man. She was young and +very comely, and it was, he felt, cruelly hard on her that, bearing +her father's shame, she must lead a life of hard labour at that +desolate ranch. He felt an almost uncontrollable desire to comfort +her, and to take her cares upon himself, but that was out of the +question, since he was merely a ranch-hand, a Bush-chopper, who owed +even the food he ate and the clothes he wore to her. There is, as he +realized then, after all, very little one can do to lighten another's +load, but in that moment the half-formed aspirations that she had +called into existence in his mind expanded suddenly. There was, he +felt, no reason why he should not acquire money and influence, once he +made the effort. + +"Miss Waynefleet," he said haltingly, "I can only offer you my sincere +sympathy. Still"--and perhaps he did not recognize how clear the +connection of ideas was--"I am going down to see about that +dam-building contract to-morrow." + +Then Laura smiled, and took up her sewing again. Her burden, as she +realized, was hers alone, but she knew that this man would no longer +drift. She had called up his latent capacities, and he would prove his +manhood. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FLOOD + + +The autumn afternoon was oppressively hot when Gordon, floundering +among the whitened driftwood piled along the river-bank, came upon +Nasmyth, who lay upon a slope of rock, with his hands, which were +badly bruised, clenched upon a drill. Another man, who stood upon a +plank inserted into a crevice, swung a hammer, and its ponderous head +came ringing down upon the drill, which Nasmyth jerked round at every +stroke, so many times to the minute, with rhythmic regularity. As +Nasmyth was apparently too busily engaged just then to trouble about +him, Gordon sat down on a big log, and taking out his pipe, looked +about him when he had lighted it. + +The river had made a gap for itself in the great forest that filled +the valley, and the sombre firs that rose in serried ranks upon its +farther bank rolled back up the hillside, streaked here and there with +a little thin white mist. A mile or so away, and lower down the +valley, there was an opening in their shadowy masses, out of which +rose the ringing of hammers and a long trail of smoke, for workmen +from the cities were building the new wood-pulp mill there. In the +foreground the river swirled by, frothing at flood level, for a week's +fierce sunshine had succeeded a month of torrential rain, and the snow +high up on a distant peak was melting fast. + +Nobody about the little settlement at the head of the deep inlet had +seen the water quite so high at that season, and Gordon noticed how it +frothed and boiled about the row of stone-backed piles that stretched +out from either bank. As he listened to the hoarse roar of the pent-up +torrent, he understood what that partly completed dam must have cost +Nasmyth. After a little time Nasmyth rose, and, stepping on the plank, +wearily straightened his back. + +"We're down far enough," he announced. "Let me have the two sticks of +giant-powder, and then tell the boys to jump for cover." + +The other man, who sprang down from his perch, handed him what +appeared to be two thick sticks of yellow wax, and Gordon watched him +as he carefully nipped a copper detonator down on a length of snaky +fuse, and embedded it in the plastic material. Then he cautiously +tamped the two yellow rolls down into the drilled-out hole. After that +he lighted the fuse, and, clambering down the slope of rock, saw +Gordon. + +"We'll get out of this. It's a short fuse," he said. + +Gordon, who was acquainted with the action of giant-powder, had no +desire to stay, and they floundered as fast as possible over the +driftwood and masses of shattered rock until Nasmyth drew his +companion behind a towering fir. Then there was a sharp detonation, a +crash, and a shower of flying stones went smashing through the forest +and into the river. One, which Gordon fancied must have weighed about +two hundred pounds, drove close past them, and struck a young cedar, +which snapped off beneath the impact. Then there was a sudden silence, +and Nasmyth stretched out his arms with a suggestive weariness before +he sat down and took out his pipe. + +"No one could have expected that stone to come this way," he remarked, +with a little laugh. "It's an example of how contrary things can be. +In fact, they've been about as contrary as it's possible the last +month or so. As no doubt you have noticed, one very seldom gets much +encouragement when he takes the uphill trail. It's very rarely made +any easier for him." + +Gordon grinned, though he realized that the trail his companion had +set out upon was very steep indeed. He had secured the dam-building +contract, which was not astonishing, since nobody else appeared +anxious to undertake it, and he had already acquired a certain +proficiency with the axe and drill. There is as yet very little +specialization in that land, which is in many respects fortunate for +those who live in it, and the small rancher cheerfully undertakes any +kind of primitive engineering that seems likely to provide him with a +few dollars, from building timber bridges to blasting waggon roads out +of the hardest rock. What is more, he usually makes a success of it. +In Nasmyth's case, however, the rise of water had made his task almost +insuperably difficult, and it had already left a certain mark on him. +Gordon, who was, after all, a doctor, naturally noticed this as he +watched him. + +Nasmyth was very lean now, but he was also hard and muscular, and the +old blue shirt, which hung open at the neck, and torn duck trousers, +which clung about him still wet with river-water, accentuated the wiry +suppleness of his frame; but it was in his face that Gordon noticed +the greatest change. The good-humoured, tolerant indifference he +remembered had melted out of it, the lips seemed set more firmly, and +the eyes were resolute and keen. Nasmyth, so Gordon noticed, had grown +since he first took up his duties as Waynefleet's hired hand. Still, +though it was less apparent, the stamp of refinement and what Gordon +called, for want of a better term, "sensibility," clung to him, and it +seemed to the trained observer that the qualities it suggested might +yet handicap his comrade in a country where the struggle with +primitive forces chiefly demands from man an unreasoning animal +courage. In that land the small contractor and Bush-rancher must bear +the brunt on his body every day, toiling waist-deep in icy waters, or +gripping the drill with bleeding hands, while each fresh misfortune +that follows flood and frost is met with a further strain on weary +muscles and sterner resolution. It is a fight that is usually hardest +for the man who thinks, and in which the one thing that counts is the +brutal, bulldog valour that takes hold and holds on in spite of each +crushing blow. + +"This high water," said Gordon, "has kept you back considerably." + +"It has," Nasmyth replied with emphasis. "It has cost me more money +that I care to figure up the last month, and we're considerably +behind. The dam's still at the mercy of the next big flood." + +"It's a little curious that you seem to stand it better than you did +the logging," said Gordon, with a quick glance at him. + +Nasmyth appeared to consider this. "I do, and that's a fact. For one +thing, I'm fighting for my own hand, and no doubt that counts, though, +perhaps, it doesn't go quite far enough. After all, it's a point you +ought to know more about than I do." + +His companion smiled. "I can describe the mechanical connection +between the thought in a man's brain and the movement of his muscles. +It's comparatively simple; but when you understand that, you're only +beginning. There's much more behind. To particularize, if you had done +what you're doing now when you were logging, it would, in all +probability, have broken you up again." + +Nasmyth fancied that this was correct, though, as he had admitted, he +could give no reason for it. He was only conscious that he was being +constrained by some new influence, and, under the pressure it laid +upon him, he became almost insensible to physical weariness. He had +now a motive for fighting, in place of drifting, that no mere hired +hand can possess. His indolent content had been rudely dissipated, and +something that had lain dormant in the depths of his nature had come +uppermost. It was certainly Laura Waynefleet who had given it the +first impulse, but why he had permitted her to impose her will on him +was a matter that was still incomprehensible to him. Seeing that he +did not answer, Gordon changed the subject. + +"Some of the boys and I have been wondering how you contrived to +finance the thing," he said. + +Nasmyth smiled, though there was just a trace of darker colour in his +face. "Well," he replied, "one can get tolerably long credit from most +of the Bush stores, and Clipton has let me have provisions for the +boys on quite reasonable terms. Besides, as it happens, there is money +in the family. There was a time when one might have considered it +almost the duty of certain relatives of mine to give me a lift, but I +didn't offer them the opportunity. I came out here and set about +driving cows and chopping trees instead." + +"You felt you'd sooner cut your hand off than give them a gentle +hint," remarked Gordon. "It's not an uncommon feeling, but, when you +give way to it, it clears the other people. Won't you go on?" + +"When I undertook this affair, I laid the opportunity before them, and +one--the last I expected anything of that kind from--sent me out a +draft. He kindly pointed out that there appeared to be in me certain +capabilities, which he had never supposed I possessed, and added that, +if I ever really succeeded in building a dam or anything else useful, +he would be pleased to take a share in my next venture. In the +meanwhile, he would charge me interest on the amount of that draft. +Perhaps I may mention that the man in question was naturally the one +the rest of them rather looked down upon." + +Gordon laughed. "Oh, yes," he said, "I like that, naturally. I guess +you would have taken their view of him once. Well, since you can put +your pride in your pocket, you're evidently growing. There's just one +way of putting anything through here, and that's to take hold and hang +right on, no matter what it costs. I guess there's one of the boys +wanting you." + +A man stood knee-deep in the river waving his hand. Nasmyth rose and +stretched himself. + +"They seem to want me all the time from sun-up until it's dark," he +said. "In one way it's a little curious, since there's reason to +believe that most of them know a good deal more about what we're doing +than I do myself. You'll excuse me." + +Gordon smiled as his comrade strode away. He was one who had studied +human nature, and because he was well acquainted with the Bushman's +capabilities, he knew that there were also limitations to them. Even +in such matters as the splitting of hard rock and the driving of +massive piles into the river-bed, the higher intelligence of the man +of intellect had its effect. Gordon smoked his pipe out as he watched +Nasmyth flounder into the stream among the other men, pushing a little +car loaded with broken rock that apparently ran along a submerged +track. Then he strolled back toward the settlement. + +Nasmyth toiled on in the river until the camp-cook hammered upon a +suspended iron sheet as a signal that supper was ready. The summons +was answered without delay. With the water running from their clothing +Nasmyth and his men went back to the little log shanty. One or two +changed their dripping garments, but the rest left their clothes to +dry upon them, as their employer did. When the plentiful, warm supper +had been eaten, Nasmyth went back to the little hut that served him as +store and sleeping quarters. A big, grizzled man from Mattawa, +Ontario, went in with him, and lounged upon the table while he sat in +his bunk, which was filled with fresh spruce twigs. + +"I'm pretty well played out, and if I'm to work to-morrow, I've got to +sleep to-night," said Nasmyth. + +The grizzled axeman nodded. "Well," he volunteered, "I'll stand watch. +I was in the last two nights, and I guess it's up to me to see you +through. We're going to have trouble, if one of those big logs fetches +up across the sluiceway. The river's full of them, and she's risen +'most a foot since sun-up." + +Nasmyth held up one hand, and both heard the deep roar of frothing +water that came in with the smell of the firs through the open door. +The Bush was very still outside, and that hoarse, throbbing note flung +back by the rock slope and climbing pines filled the valley. Nasmyth +smiled grimly, for it was suggestive of the great forces against which +he had pitted his puny strength. Then there was a crash, and, a few +moments later, a curious thud, and both men listened, intent and +strung up, until the turmoil of the river rose alone again. + +"A big log," said the older man. "She has gone through the run. Guess +we'll get one by-and-by long enough to jamb. Now, if you'd run out +those wing-frames I was stuck on, she'd have took them straight +through, every one." + +"The trouble was that I hadn't the money, Mattawa," said Nasmyth +dryly. + +His companion nodded, for this was a trouble he could understand. +"Well," he answered, "when you haven't got it you have to face the +consequences. I'll roust you out if a big log comes along." + +Mattawa went out, and soon afterwards Nasmyth, whose clothes were now +partly dry, lay down, dressed as he was, in his twig-packed bunk, with +his pipe in his hand. It was growing a little colder, and a keen air, +which had in it the properties of an elixir, blew in, but that was a +thing Nasmyth scarcely noticed, and the dominant roar of the river +held his attention. He wondered again why he had been drawn into the +conflict with it, or, rather, why he had permitted Laura Waynefleet to +set him such a task, and the answer that it was because he desired to +hold her good opinion, and, as he had said, to do her credit, did not +seem to go far enough. It merely suggested the further question why he +should wish to keep her friendship. Still, there was no disguising the +fact that, once he had undertaken the thing, it had got hold of him, +and he felt he must go on until his task was successfully accomplished +or he was crushed and beaten. It seemed very likely, then, that utter +defeat would be his fate. While he pondered, the pipe fell from his +hand, and the river's turmoil rang in deep pulsations through his +dreams. He was awakened suddenly by a wet hand on his shoulder, and, +scrambling out of his bunk on the instant, he saw Mattawa with a +lantern in his hand. + +"Log right across the sluice-run," said the watcher. "More coming +along behind it. They'll sure get piling up." + +Nasmyth did not remember that he gave any directions when he sprang, +half asleep, out of the shanty. The roar of water had a different note +in it, and the clangour of the iron sheet one of the men was pounding +rang out harshly. A half-moon hung above the black pines, and +dimly-seen men were flitting like shadows toward the waterside. They +appeared to know what it was advisable to do, but they stopped just a +moment on the edge of the torrent, for which nobody could have blamed +them. The water, streaked with smears of froth and foam, swirled by, +and there was a tumultuous white seething where the flood boiled +across the log in the midst of the stream. The log blocked the gap +left open to let the driftwood through, and, as Nasmyth knew, great +trees torn up in distant valleys were coming down with the flood. It +seemed to him that he could not reasonably have expected to clear that +obstacle with a battalion of log-drivers, and he had only a handful of +weary men. Still the men went in, floundering knee-deep in the flood, +along the submerged pile of stone and clutching at the piles that +bound it to save themselves when the stream threatened to sweep their +feet from under them, until they came to the gap where the great tree, +rolling in the grip of the torrent, thrashed its grinding branches +against the stone. + +Then, though it was difficult to see how a man of them found a +foothold, or kept it on the heaving trunk, the big axes flashed and +fell, while a few shadowy figures ran along the top of the log to +attack the massy butt across the opening. It would have been arduous +labour in daylight and at low-water, but these were men who had faced +the most that flood and frost could do. They set about their task in +the dark, for that land would have been a wilderness still if the men +in it had shown themselves unduly careful of either life or limb. + +The great branches yielded beneath the glinting blades, and went on +down river again, but Nasmyth, who felt the axe-haft slip in his +greasy hands, did not try to lead. It was sufficient if he could keep +pace with the rest of the wood-choppers, which was, after all, a thing +most men, reared as he had been, would certainly not have done. The +lust of conflict was upon him that night, and, balancing himself +ankle-deep in water on the trunk that heaved and dipped beneath him, +he swung the trenchant steel. He felt that he was pitted against great +primeval forces, and, with the gorged veins rising on his forehead and +the perspiration dripping from him, man's primitive pride and passions +urged him to the struggle. + +How long it was before they had stripped the tree to a bare log he did +not know, but twice, as they toiled on, he saw a man splash into the +river, and, rising in the eddy beneath the submerged dam, crawl, +dripping, out again, and at length he found himself beside Mattawa, +whirling his axe above a widening notch, and keeping rhythmic stroke. +He knew he was acquitting himself creditably then, for Mattawa had +swung the axe since he could lift it, and there are men, and +mechanics, too, who cannot learn to use it as the Bushmen do in a +lifetime; but he also knew that he could not keep pace with his +comrade very long. In the meanwhile, he held his aching muscles to +their task, and the gleaming blades whirled high above their shoulders +in the pale light of the moon. As each left the widening gap the other +came shearing down. + +The other men were now plying peevie and handspike at the butt of the +log, and he and Mattawa toiled on alone, two dim and shadowy figures +in the midst of the flood, until at last there was a rending of +fibres, and Mattawa leapt clear. + +"Jump!" he gasped. "She's going." + +Nasmyth jumped. He went down in four or five feet of water, and had +the sense to stay there while the log drove over him. Then he came up, +and clutching it, held on while it swept downstream into a slacker +eddy. There were several other figures apparently clinging to the butt +of it, and when he saw them slip off into the river one by one, he let +go, too. He was swung out of the eddy into a white turmoil, which +hurled him against froth-lapped stones, but at length he found sure +footing, and crawled up the bank, which most of his companions had +reached before him. When the others came up, he found that he was +aching all over, and evidently was badly bruised. He stood still, +shivering a little, and blinked at them. + +"You're all here?" he said. "Where are those axes?" + +It appeared that most of them were in the river, which was not very +astonishing, for a man cannot reasonably be expected to swim through a +flood with a big axe in his hand, and when somebody said so, Nasmyth +made a little gesture of resignation. + +"Well," he said, "the logs will just have to pile up, if another big +one comes along before the morning." + +This was evident. They were all dead weary, and most of them were +badly bruised, as well, and they trooped back to the shanty, while +Nasmyth limped into his hut. Nasmyth sloughed off his dripping +garments, and was asleep in five minutes after he had crawled into his +bunk. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BREAKING OF THE DAM + + +A faint grey light was creeping into the shanty when Nasmyth awoke +again, and lay still for a minute or two, while his senses came slowly +back to him. The first thing of which he was definitely conscious was +a physical discomfort that rendered the least movement painful. He +felt sore all over, and there was a distressful ache in one hip and +shoulder, which he fancied was the result of falling on the log, or +perhaps of having been hurled against the boulders by the rapids +through which he had reached the bank. His physical condition did not +trouble him seriously, for he had grown more or less accustomed to +muscular weariness, and the cramping pains which spring from toiling +long hours in cold water, and, although he made a grimace, as he +raised himself a trifle, it was the sound outside that occupied most +of his attention. + +The door stood open, as he had left it, and a clean, cold air that +stirred his blood came in, with the smell of fir and cedar, but what +he noticed was the deeper tone in the roar of the river that seemed +flung back in sonorous antiphones by the climbing pines. It had +occurred to him on other occasions when he was in a fanciful mood +that they were singing a majestic _Benedicite_, but just then he +was uneasily conscious that there was a new note in the great +reverberating harmonies. Stately pine and towering cedar had raised +their voices, too, and a wild wailing fell through the long waves of +sound from the highest of them on the crest of the hill. It was +evident that a fresh breeze was blowing down the valley, and, as it +must have swept the hollow farther up among the ranges, which was +filled with a deep blue lake, Nasmyth realized that it would drive +at least another foot of water into the river as well as set adrift +the giant logs that lay among the boulders. Even then they were, he +fancied, in all probability driving down upon his half-finished dam. + +Rousing himself with an effort, he clambered out of his bunk, and then +gripped the little table hard, for his hip pained him horribly as his +weight came upon it. Then, as he struggled into his clothing, there +was a heavy thud outside, that was followed by a crashing and +grinding, and a gasping man appeared in the door of the shanty. + +"Big log across the run," he cried, "three or four more of them coming +along." + +Nasmyth, who said nothing, set his lips tight, and was out of the +shanty in another moment or two. A glance at the river showed him that +any effort he could make would, in all probability, be futile; but he +and the others waded out into the flood and recommenced the struggle. +That, at least, was a thing they owed to themselves, and they toiled +for an hour or two very much as they had done in the darkness; only +that fresh logs were now coming down on them every few minutes, and at +last they recognized that they were beaten. Then they went back +dejectedly, and Nasmyth sat down to breakfast, though he had very +little appetite. He felt that all the strength he had would be needed +that day. + +After breakfast he lay among the boulders gnawing his unlighted pipe +and watching the growing mass of driftwood that chafed and ground +against the piles of the dam. Nothing, he recognized, could save the +dam now. It was bound to go, for the piles were only partly backed +with stone, and, in any case, men do not build in that new country as +they do in England. Their needs are constantly varying, and their +works are intended merely to serve the purpose of the hour. It is a +growing country, and the men in it know that the next generation will +not be content with anything that they can do, and, what is more to +the purpose, they themselves will want something bigger and more +efficient in another year or two. Hence the dam was a somewhat frail +and temporary structure of timber as well as stone, but it would +probably have done what was asked of it had it been completed before +the floods set in. As it was, Nasmyth knew that he would see the end +of it before another hour slipped by. + +It came even sooner than he had expected. There was a dull crash; the +piles that rose above the flood collapsed, and the mass of grinding +timber drove on across the ruined dam. Then Nasmyth rose, and, +stretching himself wearily, went back to his shanty. He felt he could +not face the sympathy of his workmen. He was still sitting there in a +state of utter physical weariness and black dejection, when, towards +the middle of the afternoon, the door was quietly opened, and Laura +Waynefleet came in. She looked at him as he remembered she had done +once or twice at the ranch, with compassion in her eyes, and he was a +little astonished to feel that, instead of bringing him consolation, +her pity hurt him. Then he felt the blood rise to his face, and he +looked away from her. + +"You have heard already?" he asked. + +"Yes," said the girl softly. "I was at the settlement, and they told +me there. I am so sorry." + +Nasmyth winced, but he contrived to say, "Thank you," and then glanced +round the untidy shanty, which was strewn with dripping clothes. "Of +course," he added, "it is something to know that I have your sympathy; +but I must not keep you here." + +It was not a tactful speech, but Laura smiled. "I meant to take you +out," she said. "You have been sitting here brooding since the dam +went, and from what Mattawa told me, you haven't had any dinner." + +"No," said Nasmyth; "now I come to think of it, I don't believe I +have. I'm not sure it's very astonishing." + +"Then we'll go away somewhere and make tea among the pines." + +Nasmyth glanced suggestively at his attire. His duck jacket had shrunk +with constant wetting, and would not button across the old blue shirt, +which fell apart at his bronzed neck. The sleeves had also drawn up +from his wrists, and left the backs of his hands unduly prominent. His +hands were scarred, and the fingers were bruised where the hammer-head +had fallen on them in wet weather as it glanced from the drill. The +girl was immaculate in a white hat and a dress of light flowered +print. + +"Do I look like going on a picnic with you?" he said. "The few other +things I possess are in much the same condition." + +Laura had naturally noticed the state of his attire, but it was his +face that troubled her. It was haggard and his eyes were heavy. As she +had decided long before, it was a face of Grecian type, and she would +sooner have had it Roman. This man, she felt, was too sensitive, and +apt to yield to sudden impulses, and just then her heart ached over +him. Still, she contrived to laugh. + +"Pshaw!" she said. "I told Mattawa to get me a few things ready." + +Nasmyth followed her out of the shanty, and when he had picked up the +basket and kettle somebody had left at the door, she turned to him. + +"Where shall we go?" she asked. + +"Anywhere," said Nasmyth, "that is, as long as it's away from the +river." + +Laura saw the shrinking in his eyes as he gazed at the swirling flood, +and though she was sorry for him, it roused in her a momentary spark +of anger. Then she went with him up the hillside beneath the climbing +pines until they reached a shadowy hollow near the crest of it, out of +which a little stream trickled down. + +"Now light a fire, while I see what there is in the basket," she +said. + +She found a splendid trout, a packet of tea, and a little bag of +self-raising flour, among other sundries, and for the next half-hour +she kept Nasmyth busy making flapjacks and frying the trout. Then they +sat down to a simple meal, and when it was over, Nasmyth laughed. + +"It's a little astonishing, in view of how I felt at breakfast, but +there's nothing left," he sighed. "In one way the admission's a little +humiliating, but I almost feel myself again." + +"It's supposed to be a very natural one in the case of a man," said +Laura. "You can smoke if you like. I want to talk to you." + +Nasmyth stretched himself out on the other side of the fire, and +Laura, leaning forward a little, looked at him. Without knowing +exactly why, he felt somewhat uneasy beneath her gaze. + +"Now," she said, "I would like to hear what you are going to do." + +The man made a little rueful gesture. "I don't know. Chop trees again +for some rancher, most probably--in fact, I was wondering whether you +would have me back as a ranch-hand." + +"Ah!" cried the girl sharply, while a trace of hardness crept into her +eyes, "that is very much what I expected. As it happens, I am far from +satisfied with the man we have, but I should not think of replacing +him with you just now." + +Nasmyth winced, and it was characteristic of him that he endeavoured +to beguile her away from the object she evidently had in view. + +"What's the matter with the man?" he asked. + +"A diversity of gifts. Among other things, he appears to possess an +extensive acquaintance with Colonial politics, and he and my father +discuss the regeneration of the Government when they might with +advantage be doing something else." + +Nasmyth frowned. "I understand. That's one reason why I wanted to come +back. After all, there is a good deal I could save you from. In fact, +I get savage now and then when I think of what you are probably being +left to do upon the ranch. I ventured a hint or two to your father, +but he seemed impervious." He hesitated for a moment. "No doubt it's a +delicate subject, but it's a little difficult quietly to contemplate +the fact that, while those men talk politics, you--" + +"I do their work?" suggested Laura with a lifting of her arched +eyebrows. "After all, isn't that or something like it what generally +happens when men turn their backs upon their task?" + +Nasmyth flushed. "I admit that I was trying to break away from mine, +but it seems you have undertaken to head me off and drive me back to +it again." + +"That was more or less what I wished," said Laura quietly. + +"Well," Nasmyth replied, "as I think you're a little hard on me, I'll +try to put my views before you. To begin with, the dam is done for." + +"You are quite sure? You built it so far once. Is it altogether out of +the question for you to do as much again?" + +Nasmyth felt his face grow hot. She was looking at him with quiet +eyes, which had, however, the faintest suggestion of disdain in them. + +"The question is why I should want to do it," he said. + +"Ah!" rejoined Laura, "you have no aspirations at all? Still, I'm not +quite sure that is exactly what I mean--in fact, I think I mean +considerably more. You are quite content to throw away your +birthright, and relinquish all claim to the station you were born +in?" + +The man smiled somewhat bitterly. "I think you understand that it's a +custom of this country not to demand from any man an account of what +he may have done before he came out to it. In my particular case it +was, however, nothing very discreditable, and I once had my +aspirations, or, as you prefer to consider it, I recognized my +obligations. Then the blow fell unexpectedly, and I came out here and +became a hired man--a wandering chopper. After all, one learns to be +content rather easily, which is in several ways fortunate. Then you +instilled fresh aspirations--it's the right word in this case--into +me, and I made another attempt, only to be hurled back again. There +doesn't seem to be much use in attempting the impossible." + +"Then a thing is to be considered impossible after one fails twice? +There are men who fail--and go on again--all their lives long." + +"I'm afraid," Nasmyth declared in a dull tone, "I am not that kind of +man. After all, to be flung down from the station you were born +to--I'm using your own words--and turned suddenly adrift to labour +with one's hands takes a good deal of the courage out of one. I almost +think if you could put yourself in my place you would understand." + +Laura smiled in a suggestive fashion, and looked down at the hands she +laid upon her knee. They were capable, as well as shapely, and, as he +had noticed more than once, the signs of toil were very plain on +them. + +"I never did an hour's useful work before I came out West," she said. + +She had produced the effect she probably desired, for in the midst of +his sudden pity for her Nasmyth was troubled with a sense of shame. +This girl, he realized, had been reared as gently as he had been +himself, and he knew that she now toiled most of every day at what in +the older country would have been considered most unwomanly tasks. +Still, she had borne with it cheerfully, and had courage to spare for +others whose strength was less than hers. + +He sat silent for almost a minute, looking down between the great +pines into the valley, and, as he did so, he vaguely felt the +influence of the wilderness steal over him. The wind had fallen now, +and there was a deep stillness in the climbing forest which the roar +of the river emphasized. Those trees were vast of girth, and they were +very cold. In spite of whirling snow, and gale, and frost, they had +grown slowly to an impressive stateliness. In Nature, as he +recognized, all was conflict, and it was the fine adjustment of +opposing forces that made for the perfection of grace, and strength, +and beauty. Then it seemed to him that his companion was like the +forest--still, and strong, and stately--because she had been through +the stress of conflict too. These were, however, fancies, and he +turned around again to her with a sudden resolution expressed in his +face and attitude. + +"There's an argument you might have used, Miss Waynefleet," he told +her. "I said I would try to do you credit, and it almost seems as if I +had forgotten it. Well, if you will wait a little, I will try again." + +He rose, and, crossing over, stood close beside her, with his hand +laid gently on her shoulder, looking down on her with a quiet smile. +"After all," he added, "there's a good deal you might have said that +you haven't--in fact, it's one of your strong points that, as a rule, +you content yourself with going just far enough. Well, because you +wish it, I am somehow going to build that dam again." + +She looked up at him swiftly with a gleam in her eyes, and Nasmyth +stooped a little, while his hand closed hard upon her shoulder. + +"You saved my life, and you have tried to do almost as much in a +different way since then," he went on. "It is probably easier to bring +a sick man back to health than it is to make him realize his +obligations and to imbue him with the courage to face them when it's +evident that he doesn't possess it. Still, you can't do things of that +kind without results, and I think you ought to know that I belong to +you." + +There was a trace of colour in Laura Waynefleet's face, and she +quivered a little under his grasp, but she looked at him steadily, and +read his mind in his eyes. The man was stirred by sudden, evanescent +passion and exaggerated gratitude, while pity for her had, she +fancied, also its effect on him; but that was the last thing she +desired, and, with a swift movement, she shook off his hand. + +"Ah!" she said; "don't spoil things." + +Her tone was quiet, but it was decisive, and Nasmyth, whose face +flushed darkly, let his hand fall back to his side. Then she rose, and +turned to him. + +"If we are to be friends, this must never happen again," she added. + +Then they went down the hillside and back to the settlement, where +Nasmyth harnessed the team, which the rancher who lived near +occasionally placed at Waynefleet's disposal, to a dilapidated waggon. +When she gathered the reins up, Laura smiled down on him. + +"After all," she reminded him, "you will remember that I expect you to +do me credit." + +She drove away, and Nasmyth walked back to his camp beside the dam, +where the men were awaiting the six o'clock supper. He leaned upon a +pine-stump, looking at them gravely, when he had called them +together. + +"Boys," he said, "the river, as you know, has wiped out most of the +dam. Now, it was a tight fit for me to finance the thing, and I +don't get any further payment until the stone-work's graded to a +certain level. Well, if you leave me now, I've just enough money in +hand to square off with each of you. You see, if you go you're sure of +your pay. If you stay, most of the money will go to settle the +storekeeper's and the powder bills, and should we fail again, you'll +have thrown your time away. I'd like you to understand the thing; +but whether you stay or not, I'm holding on." + +There was silence for half a minute, and then the men, gathering into +little groups, whispered to one another, until Mattawa stood forward. + +"All you have to do is to go straight ahead. We're coming along with +you solid--every blame one of us," he said. + +A red flush crept into Nasmyth's face. + +"Thank you, boys. After that I've got to put this contract through," +he answered. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LAURA MAKES A DRESS + + +The frost had grown keener as darkness crept over the forest, and the +towering pines about the clearing rose in great black spires into the +nipping air, but it was almost unpleasantly hot in the little general +room of Waynefleet's ranch. Waynefleet, who was fond of physical +comfort, had gorged the snapping stove, and the smell of hot iron +filled the log-walled room. There was also a dryness in its atmosphere +which would probably have had an unpleasant effect upon anyone not +used to it. The rancher, however, did not appear to feel it. He lay +drowsily in a big hide chair, and his old velvet jacket and evening +shoes were strangely out of harmony with his surroundings. Waynefleet +made it a rule to dress for the six o'clock meal, which he persisted +in calling dinner. + +He had disposed of a quantity of potatoes and apples at the settlement +of late, and had now a really excellent cigar in his hand, while a +little cup of the Mocha coffee, brought from Victoria for his especial +use, stood on the table beside him. Waynefleet had cultivated tastes, +and invariably gratified them, when it was possible, while it had not +occurred to him that there was anything significant in the fact that +his daughter confined herself to the acrid green tea provided by the +settlement store. He never did notice a point of that kind, and, if +anyone had ventured to call his attention to it, he would probably +have been indignant as well as astonished. As a rule, however, nobody +endeavours to impress unpleasant facts upon men of Waynefleet's +character. In their case it is clearly not worth while. + +"Do you intend to go on with that dressmaking much longer?" he asked +petulantly. "The click of your scissors has an irritating effect on +me, and, as you may have noticed, I cannot spread my paper on the +table. It cramps one's arms to hold it up." + +Laura swept part of the litter of fabric off the table, and it was +only natural that she did it a trifle abruptly. She had been busy with +rough tasks, from most of which her father might have relieved her had +he possessed a less fastidious temperament, until supper, and there +were reasons why she desired an hour or two to herself. + +"I will not be longer than I can help," she said. + +Waynefleet lifted his eyebrows sardonically as he glanced at the +scattered strips of fabric. "This," he said, "is evidently in +preparation for that ridiculous pulp-mill ball. In view of the +primitive manners of the people we shall be compelled to mix with, I +really think I am exercising a good deal of self-denial in consenting +to go at all. Why you should wish to do so is, I confess, altogether +beyond me." + +"I understood that you considered it advisable to keep on good terms +with the manager," said Laura, with a trace of impatience. "He has +bought a good deal of produce from you to feed his workmen with." + +Her father made a gesture of resignation. "One has certainly to put up +with a good deal that is unpleasant in this barbarous land--in fact, +almost everything in it jars upon one," he complained. "You, however, +I have sometimes wondered to notice, appear almost content here." + +Laura looked up with a smile, but said nothing. She, at least, had the +sense and the courage to make the most of what could not be changed. +It was a relief to her when, a minute or two later, the hired man +opened the door. + +"If you've got the embrocation, I guess I'll give that ox's leg a +rub," he said. + +Waynefleet rose and turned to the girl. "I'll put on my rubber +overshoes," he announced. "As I mentioned that I might have to go out, +it's a pity you didn't think of laying out my coat to warm." + +Laura brought the overshoes, and he permitted her to fasten them for +him and to hold his coat while he put it on, after which he went out +grumbling, and she sat down again to her sewing with a strained +expression in her eyes, for there were times when her father tried her +patience severely. She sighed as she contemplated the partly rigged-up +dress stretched out on the table, for she could not help remembering +how she had last worn it at a brilliant English function. Then she had +been flattered and courted, and now she was merely an unpaid toiler on +the lonely ranch. Money was, as a rule, signally scarce there, but +even when there were a few dollars in Waynefleet's possession, it +seldom occurred to him to offer any of them to his daughter. It is +also certain that nobody could have convinced him that it was only +through her efforts he was able to keep the ranch going at all. She +never suggested anything of the kind to him, but she felt now and then +that her burden was almost beyond her strength. + +She quietly went on with her sewing. There was to be a dance at the +new pulp-mill, which had just been roofed, and, after all, she was +young, and could take a certain pleasure in the infrequent festivities +of her adopted country. Besides, the forest ranchers dance well, and +there were men among them who had once followed other occupations; +while she knew that Nasmyth would be there--in fact, having at length +raised his dam to the desired level, he would be to a certain extent +an honoured guest. She was not exactly sure how she regarded him, +though it was not altogether as a comrade, and she felt there was, in +one sense, some justice in his admission that he belonged to her. She +had, in all probability, saved his life, and--what was, perhaps, as +much--had roused him from supine acquiescence, and inspired him with a +sustaining purpose. After the day when she had saved him from abject +despair over his ruined dam, he had acquitted himself valiantly, and +she had a quiet pride in him. Moreover, she was aware of a natural +desire to appear to advantage at the approaching dance. + +There was, however, difficulty to be grappled with. The dress was old, +and when remade in a later style would be unfortunately plain. The few +pairs of gloves she had brought from England were stained and spotted +with damp, and her eyes grew wistful as she turned over the stock list +of a Victoria dry goods store. The thing would be so easy, if she had +only a little more money, but she sighed as she glanced into her +purse. Then she took up the gloves and a strip of trimming, and looked +at them with a little frown, but while she did so there were footsteps +outside, and the door was opened. A man, whom she recognized as a +hired hand from a ranch in the neighbourhood, stood in the entrance +with a packet in his hand. + +"I won't come in," he said. "I met Nasmyth down at the settlement. +He'd just come back from Victoria, and he asked me to bring this +along." + +He went away after he had handed her the packet, and a gleam of +pleasure crept into Laura's eyes when she opened it. There was first +of all a box of gloves of various colours, and then inside another +packet a wonderful piece of lace. The artistic delicacy of the lace +appealed to her, for though she possessed very few dainty things she +was fond of them, and she almost fancied that she had not seen +anything of the kind more beautiful in England. + +As she unfolded it a strip of paper fell out, and the warm blood +swept into her face as she read the message on it. + +"Considering everything, I really don't think you could regard it as a +liberty," it ran. "You have given me a good deal more than this." + +Then for just a moment her eyes grew hazy. In proportion to the man's +means, it was a costly gift, and, except for him, nobody had shown her +much consideration since she had left England. She was a trifle +perplexed, for she did not think there was lace of that kind on sale +often in Victoria, and, in regard to the gloves, it was not evident +how he had known her size. Then she remembered that one of the cotton +ones she sometimes wore had disappeared some little time before, and +once more the flush crept into her cheeks. That almost decided her not +to wear his lace, but she felt that to refrain from doing so would +raise the question as to how they stood with regard to one another, +which was one she did not desire to think out closely then; and, after +all, the lace was exactly what she wanted to complete the dress. She +rolled it together, and put it and the gloves away, but she treasured +the little note. + +It was a week later when her father drove her to the pulp-mill in a +jolting waggon, and arrived there a little earlier than he had +expected. A dance usually begins with a bountiful supper in that +country, but Waynefleet, who was, as a rule, willing to borrow +implements or teams from his Bush neighbours, would seldom eat with +them when he could help it. He was accordingly not quite pleased to +find the supper had not yet been cleared away, but Laura, who +understood what he was feeling, contrived to lead him into a vacant +place at one of the tables. Then she sat down, and looked about her. + +The great room was hung with flags and cedar boughs, and the benches +down the long uncovered tables were crowded. The men's attire was +motley--broadcloth and duck; white shirts, starched or limp, and blue +ones; shoes with the creeper-spikes filed down, and long boots to the +knees. There were women present also, and they wore anything from +light print, put together for the occasion, to treasured garments made +in Montreal or Toronto perhaps a dozen years before, but for all that +the assembly was good to look upon. There was steadfast courage in the +bronzed faces, and most of those who sat about the long tables had +kindly eyes. The stamp of a clean life of effort was upon them, and +there was a certain lithe gracefulness in the unconscious poses of the +straight-limbed men. There was no sign of limp slovenliness about +them. Even in their relaxation they were intent and alert, and, as she +watched them, Laura realized something of their restless activity and +daring optimism. They believe in anything that is good enough in that +country, and are in consequence cheerfully willing to attempt +anything, even if to other men it would appear altogether visionary +and impossible, and simple faith goes a long way when supplemented by +patient labour. Laura suddenly became conscious that the manager of +the pulp-mill, a little wiry man, in white shirt and store clothes, +was speaking at the head of the table. + +"In one way, it's not a very big thing we have done, boys," he said; +and Laura was quick to notice the significance of the fact, which was +also characteristic of the country, that he counted himself as one of +them. "We've chopped a hole in the primeval forest, held back the +river, and set up our mill. That's about all on the face of it, but +there's rather more behind. It's another round with Nature, and we've +got her down again. It's a thing you have to do west of the Rockies, +or she'll crush the life out of you. There are folks in the Eastern +cities who call her beneficent; but they don't quite understand what +was laid on man in Eden long ago. Here he's up against flood and frost +and snow. Well, I guess we've done about all we can, and now that +I've paid my respects to the chopper and carpenter-gang, there's +another man I want to mention. He took hold of the contract to put us +up our dam, and kept hold through the blamedest kind of luck. There's +hard grit in him and the boys he led, and the river couldn't wash it +out of them. Well, when the big turbines are humming and the mill's +grinding out money for all of you, I guess you're going to remember +the boys who built the dam." + +There was a shout which shook the wooden building, and Laura sat very +still when Nasmyth stood up. There was no doubt that he was a +favourite with everybody there, and she knew that she had nerved him +to the fight. He did not appear altogether at ease, and she waited +with a curious expectancy for what he had to say. It was very little, +but she appreciated the tact which made him use the speech his +audience was accustomed to. + +"I had a good crowd," he said. "With the boys I had behind me I +couldn't back down." Then his voice shook a little. "Still, I was +mighty near it once or twice. It was the boys' determination to hold +on--and another thing--that put new grit in me." + +Without being conscious of what he was doing, he swept his glance down +the long table until it rested on Laura Waynefleet's face. She felt +the blood creep into her cheeks, for she knew what he meant, but she +looked at him steadily, and her eyes were shining. Then he spread his +hands out. + +"I felt I daren't shame boys of that kind," he said, and hastily sat +down. + +His observations were certainly somewhat crude, but the little quiver +in his voice got hold of those who heard him, and once more the big +building rang with cheering. As the sound of hearty acclamation died +away there was a great clatter of thrust-back benches through which +the tuning of a fiddle broke. Then out of the tentative twang of +strings rose, clear and silvery, the lament of Flora Macdonald, +thrilling with melancholy, and there were men and women there whose +hearts went back to the other wild and misty land of rock and pine and +frothing river which they had left far away across the sea. It may be +that the musician desired a contrast, or that he was merely feeling +for command of the instrument, for the plaintive melody that ran from +shift to shift into a thin elfin wailing far up the sobbing strings +broke off suddenly, and was followed by the crisp jar of crashing +chords. Then "The Flowers of Edinburgh" rang out with Caledonian verve +in it and a mad seductive swing, and the guests streamed out to the +middle of the floor. That they had just eaten an excellent supper was +a matter of no account with them. + +Nasmyth, in the meanwhile, elbowed his way through the crowd of +dancers until he stood at Laura's side, and as he looked at her, there +was a trace of embarrassment in his manner. She wore his lace, but +until that moment her attire had never suggested the station to which +she had been born. Now she seemed to have stepped, fresh and +immaculate, untouched by toil, out of the world to which he had once +belonged. She was, for that night at least, no longer an impoverished +rancher's daughter, but a lady of station. With a twinkle in his eyes, +he made her a little formal inclination, and she, knowing what he was +thinking, answered with an old-world curtsey, after which a grinning +ox-teamster of habitant extraction turned and clapped Nasmyth's +shoulder approvingly. + +"V'la la belle chose!" he said. "Mamselle Laura is altogether +ravissante. Me, I dance with no one else if she look at me like dat." + +Then Nasmyth and Laura laughed, and glided into the dance, though, in +the case of most of their companions, "plunged" would have been the +better word for it. English reserve is not esteemed in that land, and +the axemen danced with the mingled verve of grey Caledonia and +light-hearted France, while a little man with fiery hair from the +misty Western Isles shrieked encouragement at them, and maddened them +with his fiddle. Even Nasmyth and Laura gave themselves up to the +thrill of it, but as they swung together through the clashing of the +measure, which some of their companions did not know very well, +confused recollections swept through their minds, and they recalled +dances in far different surroundings. Now and then they even fell back +into old tricks of speech, and then, remembering, broke off with a +ringing laughter. They were young still, and the buoyancy of the +country they had adopted was in both of them. + +The dance ended too soon, and, when the music broke off with a crash +of clanging chords, Nasmyth led his partner out of the press into a +little log-walled room where the half-built dynamos stood. It was +lighted, but a sharp cool air and the fret of the river came in +through a black opening in one wall. Laura sat upon a large deal case, +and Nasmyth, looking down upon her, leaned against a dynamo. He smiled +as he recognized that she grasped the significance of the throbbing +roar of water. + +"It was very pleasant while it lasted, but--and it's a pity--the music +has stopped," he said. "What we are now listening to is the turmoil of +a Canadian river." + +Laura laughed, though there was a wistfulness in her eyes. "Oh, I +understand, but couldn't you have let me forget it just for to-night?" +she said. "I suppose that privilege was permitted to Cinderella." + +The man felt curiously sorry for her as he remembered how hard her +life was at the lonely ranch, but he knew she would not be pleased if +he expressed his thoughts. + +"Well," he observed reflectively, "a thing often looks most +attractive when it's forbidden you, or a long way off, and, you see, +there are always compensations. In fact, I'm beginning to come across +quite a few of them." + +He broke off for a moment, and Laura, who noticed that he looked at +her, fancied she understood in what direction his thoughts were +drifting; but he went on again with a laugh. + +"After all," he said, "there are exiles who realize that they are in +various ways better off than in all probability they would have been +had they stayed in the land they were driven out of." + +"Ah," answered Laura, "would you go back if you were given the +opportunity?" + +"No," Nasmyth asserted slowly, "I don't think I should do that--now." + +Again she understood him, the more clearly because she saw by the +slight wrinkling of his forehead, during the significant pause, that +he had grappled with the question. She did not think he was altogether +in love with her, but she knew, at least, that he did not wish to go +away while she was left behind in Canada. It seemed desirable to +change the subject, and she touched the lace. + +"I have to thank you for this," she said. "It has given me pleasure." +Then--and the words were wholly unpremeditated--she added: "I wanted +to look well--just for once--to-night." + +She was sorry, a moment later, when she saw the quick change in the +man's expression, for she remembered that they had always seemed to +understand what the other meant. It was clear that the qualification +just for once had not misled him, but, after all, it seemed to her +that he must presently realize that the admission was not one a +reticent woman really in love with him would have made. + +"Oh," he said, "you are always beautiful." Then his manner became +deprecatory. "I didn't think you'd mind. In one way what I owe you +makes me a privileged person. I felt that I could venture----" + +This, too, was clear to her, and though she considered his attitude +the correct one, it jarred a little upon her. She was content that +they should be merely comrades, or, at least, that was what she had +endeavoured to convince herself, but, after all, there was no reason +why he should emphasize the fact. + +"Yes," she replied quickly, "I think I understand." Then once more she +changed the subject. "I want to compliment you on building the dam." + +Nasmyth laughed, but there was a light in his eyes. "I should never +have built it, if it hadn't been for you. Still"--and he made her a +reverent bow--"I owe you a good deal more than that." + +Laura made no response to this. She had thrilled at his achievement, +when she had heard the manager's speech, and it became still plainer +that there was a certain hazard in dwelling upon his success. She +could also be practical. + +"In one way," she said, "I suppose the result was not quite so +satisfactory?" + +"It certainly wasn't. Of course, the work is not quite completed yet, +but after settling up everything, the interim payment left me with +about fifteen dollars in hand." + +Laura was not astonished at this, but she was more than a little +perplexed, for she fancied that the lace she was wearing must have +cost a good deal more than fifteen dollars. Still, she had no wish to +make it evident that he had been extravagant; and, while she +considered the matter, a man appeared in the doorway. + +"I guess you two have got to come right out," he said. "What d'you +figure you were asked here for?" + +Nasmyth held his arm out, but when Laura would have laid her hand +upon it, the man broke in with a grin. + +"No, sir," he said severely, "Miss Waynefleet's going right round. Now +you're coming along with me, and we'll show them how to waltz." + +Laura smiled good-humouredly, and he swept her into the dance, while +Nasmyth was seized upon by a girl, who drove him through it much as +she did her brother's steers in the Bush. + +"A bump or two don't count for much. What you want to do is to hump +yourself and make things hum," said Nasmyth's partner, when another +couple jostled them. + +Nasmyth expressed his concurrence in a gasp, and contrived to save her +from another crash, but when the dance was over, he felt limp, and was +conscious that his partner was by no means satisfied with him. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "Still, I really think I did what I could." + +The girl regarded him half compassionately. "Well," she said, "it +wasn't very much, but I guess you played yourself out building that +blamed dam." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BY COMBAT + + +Nasmyth's partner condescended, as she said, to give him another show, +but he escaped from that dance with only a few abrasions, and, though +he failed to obtain another with Laura, he contrived to enjoy himself. +All his Bush friends were not primitive. Some of them had once played +their parts in much more brilliant functions. They had cultivated +tastes, and he had learned to recognize the strong points of those who +had not. After all, kindly hearts count for much, and it was not +unnatural that, like other exiles who have plodded up and down that +rugged land, he should think highly of the hard-handed men and patient +women who willingly offer a night's shelter and a share of their dried +apples, salt pork, and grindstone bread to the penniless wanderer. + +What was more to the purpose, a number of the guests at the dance had +swung the axe by his side, and fought the river with him when the +valley was filled with the roar of water. + +They had done their work gallantly, when it seemed out of the question +that they would ever receive the money he had promised them, from +sheer pride in their manhood, and to keep their word, and now they +danced as determinedly. + +There are no cramping conventions and very few shams--and the shams in +those forests, it must be confessed, are as a rule imported ones. In +fact, there was that evening, among all those in the pulp-mill, only +one man who seemed to disassociate himself from the general good-will. +That man was Waynefleet. He wore his old velvet jacket as a cloak of +superciliousness--or, at least, that was how it seemed to the +Bush-ranchers, who recognized and resented an effete pride in the +squeak of his very ancient lacquered shoes. It is possible that he did +not mean to make himself in any way offensive, and merely desired to +indicate that he was graciously willing to patronize their bucolic +festivities. There would have been something almost pathetic in his +carefully preserved dignity had it not been so obtrusively out of +place; and when they stood watching him for a moment or two, Gordon +expressed Nasmyth's thoughts. + +"How a man of that kind ever came to be Laura Waynefleet's father is +more than I can figure out!" he said. "It's a question that worries me +every time I look at him. Guess she owes everything to her mother; and +Mrs. Waynefleet must have been a mighty patient woman." + +Nasmyth smiled, but Gordon went on reflectively: "You folks show your +sense when you dump your freaks into this country," he said. "It never +seems to strike you that it's a little rough on us. What's the matter +with men like Waynefleet is that you can't teach them sense. I'd have +told him what I thought of him once or twice when I saw the girl doing +his work up at the ranch if I'd figured it would have made any +impression." + +"I expect it would have been useless," remarked Nasmyth. "After all, +I'm not sure that it's exactly your business." + +Gordon watched Laura Waynefleet as she swung through a waltz on the +arm of a sinewy rancher, and his eyes softened curiously. + +"Only on the girl's account," he admitted. "I'm sorry for her. Stills +the blamed old image isn't actively unkind." + +Then he saw the sudden contraction of Nasmyth's face, and turned +toward him. "Now," he said, "I want you to understand this thing. If +it would be any comfort to her, I'd let Miss Waynefleet wipe her boots +on me, and in one way that's about all I'm fit for. I know enough to +realize that she'd never waste a moment thinking of a man like me, +even if I hadn't in another way done for myself already." + +"Still," Nasmyth replied quietly, "some women can forgive a good +deal." + +Gordon's face hardened, and he seemed to straighten himself. "Well, +there are men--any way, in this country--who have too much grit in +them to go crawling, broken, to any woman's feet, and to expect her to +pick them up and mend them. Now you have heard me, and I guess you +understand." + +Nasmyth merely made a little gesture of sympathy. After all, he had +the average Englishman's reticence, and the free speech of that +country still jarred upon him now and then. He knew what Gordon had +meant to impress on him, and he was touched by generosity of the +motive, but for all that he felt relieved when Gordon abruptly moved +away. He danced another dance, and then sauntered towards the dynamo +room, where the manager had set up a keg or two of heady Ontario +cider. Several men were refreshing themselves there, but they did not +see him when he approached the door. + +"The only thing that's out of tone about this show is Waynefleet," +said one of them who had once worked for the rancher. "What do we want +that blamed old dead-beat round here for, when he can't speak to +anyone but the Crown land-agent and the mill manager?" + +One of the others laughed, but Nasmyth saw venomous hatred in the big +axeman's face. It was, however, not his business, and Waynefleet was a +man for whom he had no great liking. He was about to turn away when +the chopper went on again. + +"Waynefleet's a blamed old thief, as everybody knows," he said. "Him +being what he is, I guess you couldn't blame his daughter----" + +Nasmyth, whom they had not noticed yet, could not quite hear what +followed; but when somebody flung a sharp, incredulous question at the +speaker, he stood fast in the doorway, with one hand clenched. + +"Well," said the man, with a suggestive grin, "what I mean's quite +plain. Is there any other girl, round this settlement who'd make up to +that dam-builder as she's doing, and slip quietly into his shanty +alone?" + +Nasmyth never learned what grievance against Waynefleet or his +daughter had prompted this virulence, nor did it appear to matter. +There was just sufficient foundation for the man's insinuation to +render it perilous if it was once permitted to pass unchallenged, and +Nasmyth realized that any attempt to handle the affair delicately was +not likely to be successful. He was afterwards greatly astonished that +he could think clearly and impose a certain command upon himself; but +he understood exactly what it was most advisable for him to do, and he +set about it with a curious cold quietness which served his purpose +well. + +There was a gasp of astonishment from one of the group as he stepped +forward into the light and looked with steady eyes at the man who had +spoken. + +"Jake," he said, "you are a d---- liar." + +It was what the others had expected, and they rose and stood back a +little from the pair, watching expectantly; for they recognized that +the affair was serious, and, though Nasmyth had their sympathy, an +impartial attitude was the correct one now. Jake was tall and lean and +muscular; but perhaps the dam-builder's quietness disconcerted him, or +his bitterness had only extended to the rancher. + +"Now," Jake growled, "you light out of this. I don't know that I've +anything against--you." + +Nasmyth had his back to the door, and he did not see the grizzled +Mattawa, who was supposed to be one of the strongest choppers about +the settlement, standing a little behind him, and watching him and +Jake attentively. Still, one of the others did, and made a sign to +Mattawa that any support he might feel disposed to offer his employer +would not be tolerated in the meanwhile. Nasmyth, however, realized +that there was only one course open to him, and he drew back one hand +as he met the uneasy eyes of the man in front of him. + +"You are going to back down on what you said?" he asked, with incisive +quietness. + +"Not a d---- word," the other man assured him. + +"Then," said Nasmyth, "you must take the consequences." + +He swung forward on his left foot, and there was a thud as his scarred +knuckles landed heavily in the middle of the detractor's face. He +struck with an unexpected swiftness and all the force that was in him, +for he had learned that the rules of the trial by combat are by no +means so hard and fast in British Columbia as they are in England. As +a matter of fact, it is not very frequently resorted to there; but +when men do fight, their one object is to disable their opponents as +soon as possible and by any means available. + +Jake reeled backwards a pace or two, and the spectators said +afterwards there was no reason why Nasmyth should have permitted him +to recover himself, as he did. Two axes which the carpenters had been +using stood against the wall, and Jake caught up the nearest of them. +He swung the gleaming blade high, while the blood trickled from his +cut lips and the swollen veins rose on his forehead. This, however, +was going further than the others considered admissible, and there was +a protesting shout, while one sturdy fellow cautiously slid along the +wall to get in behind the man who had the axe. + +Still, for a second or two, which might have proved fatal to him, +Nasmyth had only his own resources to depend upon, and he did the one +thing that was possible. The Canadian axe-haft is long, and he sprang +straight in at the man. As he did so, the big blade came down, and +flashed by a hand's breadth behind his shoulders. He felt a burning +pain on the outside of his thigh, but that did not seem to matter, and +he was clutching at his opponent's throat when he was bodily flung +aside. Then, as he fell against the log wall, he had a momentary +glimpse of Jake bent backwards in Mattawa's arms. There was a brief +floundering scuffle as the two men reeled towards the black opening in +the wall, and after that a splash in the darkness outside, and Mattawa +stepped back into the room alone. + +"The d---- hog is in the flume," he said. + +That did not appear to trouble any of the others. The sluice was not +deep, and, though it was certainly running hard, it was scarcely +likely that a stalwart Bushman would suffer greatly from being washed +along it. + +"Guess it will cool him off," said one of them. "If it doesn't, and he +comes back to make a fuss, we'll heave him in again." + +Then they turned and looked at Nasmyth, who sat down somewhat limply +on a cider keg. The blood, which was running down his leg, made a +little pool at his feet. Mattawa, who crossed over to him, asked for a +knife, and when a man produced one, he slit Nasmyth's trousers up to +the hip. Then he nodded. + +"Boys," he said, "one of you will slip out kind of quiet and bring Mr. +Gordon along. Two more of you will stand in the door there and not let +anybody in." + +They obeyed him, and Mattawa looked down at Nasmyth again. + +"I guess the thing's not serious," he commented. + +"Well," said Nasmyth ruefully, "in one way, I think it is. You see, +store clothes are dear, and this is the only pair of trousers I've +got." + +There was a little laugh from the others, and he knew he had done +wisely, when they clumsily expressed their satisfaction at his escape. +He had, at least, discredited Jake, and it was evident that if the man +made any more assertions of a similar nature, which was very unlikely, +no one would listen to them. + +In the meanwhile, nobody else seemed to be aware that anything unusual +was going on. All had happened in a minute or two, and the clanging of +the fiddle and the patter of the dancers' feet had drowned any sound +that rose from the dynamo-room. Nasmyth had not long to wait before +Gordon stepped in and quietly set about his surgical work, after +someone had dipped up a little water from the sluice. + +"Yes," said Gordon, "it's quite a nice clean slice, and I guess it's +not going to trouble you much, though you won't walk very far for a +week or two. As soon as we can get you to the dam, I'll put a proper +dressing on." Then he looked up sharply. "In the meanwhile, I don't +quite see how you cut yourself like that." + +"As a matter of fact, I didn't," said Nasmyth, with evident +reluctance. "I suppose you will have to be told." He looked round at +the others. "Boys, I particularly don't want this thing to go any +further." + +He related what had happened, and one of the men stood up. "I wouldn't +worry over that," he replied. "We're not going to talk, and if Jake +does, one of us will pound a little sense into him. Now I'll slip out +and get Highton's team." + +After that they gave Nasmyth some cider, and a few minutes later he +limped out through the opening in the wall and across the plank they +laid above the sluice to the waiting waggon. It was not far to the +dam, and before very long Gordon was back again at the mill. It +naturally happened, though he was anxious to avoid her, that Laura +Waynefleet was the first person who accosted him. + +"Have you seen Mr. Nasmyth?" she asked. + +"Oh, yes," said Gordon. "I saw him a little while ago. You are wanting +him?" + +Laura laughed. "I believed I promised him another dance. It's a little +curious he hasn't come for it." + +"In one way it's deplorably bad taste." + +The girl was quick to notice that his gaze was not quite frank, and he +winced when for a moment she laid her hand upon his arm, for he saw +the veiled anxiety in her eyes. + +"Something has been going on," she said. "You don't want to tell me +where Mr. Nasmyth is." + +"He has just gone back to the dam. He got hurt--a trifling cut--nothing +more than that. Still, I insisted on tying it up." + +"Ah," cried Laura sharply, "you evidently don't wish me to know how he +got it!" + +"It is just what I don't mean to do. Any way, it's not worth while +troubling about. Nasmyth's injury isn't in the least serious." + +"It doesn't seem to strike you that I could ask him myself." + +Gordon would have liked to warn her to keep away from the dam, but he +did not see how it could be done unless he offered some reason, and +that was a thing he shrank from. + +"Oh, yes," he said, "you certainly could." Then he glanced down at her +hands. "Those are unusually pretty gloves you have on." + +His answer was, as it happened, almost as injudicious as he could have +rendered it, since it left the girl determined to sift the matter +thoroughly. She, however, only smiled just then. + +"I think there isn't a nicer pair of gloves in Canada than these," she +said. + +Gordon took himself away, wondering what she could have meant by that; +and Laura waited until next day, when, although there was, as usual, a +good deal to be done about the ranch, she went down to find out what +was the matter with Nasmyth. + +The injured man was sitting in his shanty, with his foot upon a chair, +but he rose when she came in, and stood leaning rather hard upon the +table. + +"It is very kind of you to come," he said, taking her hand. He made +shift to limp to the door, whence he called for Mattawa. + +"Bring those two chairs out, Tom, and put them in the sun," he said. + +The old axeman shook his head severely. "You sit right down again. +What in the name of wonder are you on your legs for, any way?" he +asked. Then he saw Laura, and made a little gesture of resignation. +"Well, I guess it will have to be done." + +The sudden change in his attitude was naturally not lost upon the +girl, but she kept her astonishment to herself, and waited until +Mattawa had made Nasmyth as comfortable as possible. Then she turned +to him. + +"I am very sorry you are hurt," she said. "I understand it was an axe +cut. How did it happen?" + +Nasmyth appeared to reflect. "Well," he answered, "I suppose I was a +little careless--in fact, I must have been. You see, some of the +building gang had left their axes in the dynamo-room." + +"That," said Laura dryly, "certainly accounts for the axe being there. +I'm not sure it goes very much further." + +"It really wasn't very much of a cut." Nasmyth's desire to escape +from the topic was a trifle too plain, as he added, "Isn't it nice out +here?" + +It occurred to Laura that it was uncomfortably cold, for there was a +nip of frost in the air, though the sun hung coppery red above the +sombre pines. + +"I almost fancied you were not overjoyed to see me," she remarked. + +Nasmyth appeared momentarily embarrassed, but his expression suddenly +changed, and Laura felt a faint thrill when he laid his hand upon her +arm. + +"That," he said, "is a fancy you must never entertain again." + +In one respect Laura was fully satisfied, and, though there was still +a great deal upon which she meant to be enlightened, she talked about +other matters for almost half an hour, and then rose with a little +shiver. + +"I must get back to the settlement, where I have left the team," she +said, and glanced down at him for a moment with solicitude in her +eyes. "You will be very careful." + +Nasmyth let her go, but he did not know that she signed to Mattawa, +who was then busy hewing out a big redwood log. The axeman strolled +after her into the Bush, and then stopped to look hard at her as he +uttered an inquiring, "Well?" + +"Tom," said the girl, "can't you understand that it would be very much +wiser if somebody told me exactly how Mr. Nasmyth got hurt?" + +The axeman nodded. "Yes," he admitted, with a wink, "that's just how +it strikes me, and I'm going to. The boss has no more arms and legs +than he's a use for anyway." + +Laura gazed at him in bewilderment, but the man's expression was +perfectly grave. "Now," he added, "I guess one can talk straight sense +to you, and the fact is I can't have you coming round here again. Just +listen about two minutes, and I'll try to make the thing clear to +you." + +He did so with a certain graphic force that she had not expected from +him, and the colour crept into her cheeks. Then, to Mattawa's +astonishment, she smiled. + +"Thank you," she said simply. "But the other man?" + +"Well," replied Mattawa, "if he goes round talking, somebody will +'most pound the life out of him." + +Then he swung round abruptly, for he was shrewd, and had his primitive +notions of delicacy; and Laura went on through the stillness of the +Bush, with a curious softness in her eyes. Mattawa had been terse, +and, in some respects, his observations had not been tactful, but +nobody could have impressed her more in Nasmyth's favour. Indeed, at +the moment, she scarcely remembered how the aspersions Jake had made +might affect herself. As it happened, she met Gordon near the +settlement, and he stopped a moment. He had come upon her suddenly, +and had looked at her with a suggestive steadiness, but she smiled. + +"Yes," she said, "I have been to the dam. After the way in which you +made it evident that you didn't want me to go there, it was, perhaps, +no more than you could have expected." + +"Ah!" rejoined Gordon, with a look of anxiety, "you probably got hold +of Mattawa. Well, after all, I guess he has done the wise thing." Then +after a pause he observed, "There is very little the matter with your +courage." + +"I fancy," observed Laura half wistfully, "that is, in several +respects, fortunate." + +Then she went on again, and though Gordon felt exceedingly compassionate, +he frowned and closed one hand. + +"It's a sure thing I'll have to tell Waynefleet what kind of a man he +is," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GORDON SPEAKS HIS MIND + + +It was a nipping morning, and the clearing outside the ranch was +flecked with patches of frozen snow, when Waynefleet sat shivering in +a hide chair beside the stove. The broken viands upon the table in +front of him suggested that he had just made a tolerable breakfast, +but his pose was expressive of limp resignation, and one could have +fancied from the look in his thin face that he was feeling very sorry +for himself. Self-pity, in fact, was rather a habit of his, and, +perhaps, because of it, he had usually very little pity to spare for +anybody else. He looked up when, flushed and gasping, his daughter +came in with two heavy pails of water. She shivered visibly. + +"It would be a favour if you would shut that door as soon as you can," +said Waynefleet. "As I fancy I have mentioned, this cold goes right +through me. It occurred to me that you might have come in a little +earlier to see if I was getting my breakfast properly." + +Laura, who glanced at the table, thought that he had acquitted himself +reasonably well, but she refrained from pointing out the fact, and, +after shutting the door, crossed the room to her store-cupboard, and +took out a can of fruit which she had set aside for another purpose. +Waynefleet watched her open it and made a little sign of impatience. + +"You are very clumsy this morning," he said. + +The girl's hands were wet and stiff with cold, but she quietly laid +another plate upon the table before she answered him. + +"Charly is busy in the slashing, and I don't want to take him away, +but there are those logs in the wet patch that ought to be hauled out +now the ground is hard," she said. "I suppose you don't feel equal to +doing it to-day?" + +"No," said Waynefleet with querulous incisiveness, "it is quite out of +the question. Do I look like a man who could reasonably be expected to +undertake anything of that kind just now?" + +It occurred to Laura that he did not look as if there was very much +the matter with him, and she stood still a minute considering. As +Gordon had said, it was she who managed the ranch, and she recognized +that it was desirable that the trees in question should be dragged out +of the soft ground while the frost lasted. Still, there was the baking +and washing, and it would be late at night before she could accomplish +half she wished to do, if she undertook the task in question. While +she thought over it her father spoke again. + +"I wish you would sit down," he said. "I feel I must have quietness, +and your restless habits jar upon me horribly." + +That decided her, and slipping into her own room, she put on an old +blanket coat, and went out quietly. She walked through the orchard to +the little log stable where the working oxen stood, and, after patting +the patient beasts, shackled a heavy chain to the yoke she laid upon +their brawny necks. Then, picking up a handspike, she led them out, +and for an hour walked beside them, tapping them with a long pointed +stick, while they dragged the big logs out of the swamp. Now and then +it taxed all her strength to lift the thinner end of a log on the +chain-sling with a handspike, but she contrived to do it until at +length one heavier than the others proved too much for her. She could +hear the ringing of the hired man's axe across the clearing, but there +was a great deal for him to do, and, taking up the handspike again, +she strained at it. + +She heard footsteps behind her, and she straightened herself suddenly. +She turned and saw Gordon watching her with a curious smile. Tall and +straight and supple, with a ruddy, half-guilty glow on her face, she +stood near the middle of the little gap in the Bush, the big dappled +oxen close at her side. The wintry sunlight, which struck upon her, +tinted the old blanket dress a shining ochre, and the loose tress of +red-gold hair, which had escaped from beneath her little fur cap, +struck a dominant tone of glowing colour among the pale reds and +russets of the fir-trunks and withered fern. + +Gordon shook his head reproachfully. "Sit down a minute or two, and +I'll heave that log on to the sling," he said. "This is not the kind +of thing you ought to be doing." + +Laura, who was glad of the excuse, sat down on one of the logs, while +the man leaned against a fir and gravely regarded her. + +"The work must be done by somebody, and my father is apparently not +very well again," she explained. "Charly has his hands full in the +slashing. We must get it cleaned up, if it is to be ploughed this +spring." + +"Nasmyth contrived to look after all these things. Why didn't you keep +him? The man didn't want to go away." + +The colour deepened in Laura's face, and Gordon, who saw it, made a +sign of comprehension. "Well," he added, "I suppose that wasn't a +thing one could expect you to tell me, though I don't quite see why +you shouldn't think of yourself now and then. You know it wasn't on +your own account you sent him away." + +"How does this concern you?" she asked. + +Gordon flung one hand out. "Ah," he said, "how does it concern me?" +Then he seemed to lay a restraint upon himself. "Well, it does in one +sense, anyway. After all, I am a doctor, and a friend of yours, and +I'm going to warn you against attempting things women weren't meant +to do. If that doesn't prove efficacious, I'll say a word or two to +Nasmyth, and you'll have him back here again. It's a sure thing your +father would be glad to get him." + +"If you do, I shall never forgive you," warned Laura, with a flash in +her eyes. + +She was sorry she had spoken so plainly when she saw that Gordon +winced. She had guessed more or less correctly what the man felt for +her, and she had no wish to pain him. Except for that, however, the +admission she had made did not greatly matter, since she fancied that +he was quite aware why she had sent Nasmyth away. Gordon changed the +subject abruptly. + +"There are very few of those blanket dresses this side of the +Rockies," he said. "You probably got it back East." + +The girl's eyes had a wistful look as she answered: "We spent our +first winter in Montreal, and we had some friends who were very kind +to us. I like to look back upon those first few months in Canada." + +Gordon nodded. "Oh, yes," he replied. "I know--sleigh-rides, snowshoe +meets, skating-rinks, toboggan-slides. Quite as lively as a London +season, and considerably more invigorating; I guess you've been +through that, too. In one way it's a pity you didn't stay in +Montreal." + +He saw her sudden embarrassment, and fancied that she could have +stayed there, if she had wished to do so, but he felt that he must +speak frankly, and he shook his head severely. + +"Do you never think of your own advantage at all?" he inquired. "Have +you none of the ambitions that most women seem to have?" + +"Aren't you forgetting?" Laura asked with sudden quietness. "My father +found it would not be advisable for him to settle in Montreal--for the +same reason that afterwards led us to leave Victoria--and we went +West. Perhaps he could have faced the trouble and lived it down, but I +could not leave him alone." + +Gordon sat silent a moment or two. He knew, though she very rarely +mentioned it, how heavy was the burden that had been laid upon her, +and he was divided between a great pity for her and anger against her +father. Then he rose slowly to his feet. + +"Miss Waynefleet," he said, "if I have said anything that hurt you, +I'm sorry, but there are times when I must talk. I feel I have to. In +the meanwhile I'll heave those logs up on a skid so that you can slip +the chain round them." + +For the next half-hour he exerted himself savagely, and when at last +he dropped the handspike, his face was damp with perspiration. He +smiled grimly when Laura, who had hauled one or two of the logs away, +came back tapping the plodding oxen. + +"Now," he said, "I'm going in to see your father. Custer happened to +tell me he was feeling low again, and it's going to afford me a good +deal of pleasure to prescribe for him." + +He swung off his wide hat, and, when he turned away, Laura wondered +with a few misgivings what had brought the little snap into his eyes. +Three or four minutes later he entered the house, where Waynefleet lay +beside the stove with a cigar in his hand. + +"I ran across Custer at the settlement, and I came along to see how +you were keeping," said Gordon. + +Waynefleet held out a cigar-box. "Make yourself comfortable," he +answered hospitably. "We'll have dinner a little earlier than usual." + +The sight of the label on the box came near rousing Gordon to an +outbreak of indignation. "I'm not going to stay," he declared. "It +seems to me Miss Waynefleet has about enough to do already." + +He saw Waynefleet raise his eyebrows, and he added: "I guess it's not +worth while troubling to point out that it's not my affair. Now, if +you'll get ahead with your symptoms." + +Waynefleet looked hard at him for a moment. The older man was not +accustomed to being addressed in that brusque fashion, and it jarred +upon him, but, as a matter of fact, he was not feeling well, and, as +he not infrequently pointed out, he had discovered that one had to put +up with many unpleasant things in that barbarous country. He described +his symptoms feelingly, and was rather indignant when Gordon expressed +neither astonishment nor sympathy. + +"That's all right," said Gordon. "The thing's quite plain--especially +the general lassitude you complain of. The trouble is that if you +don't make an effort it's going to become chronic." + +Again Waynefleet looked at him in astonishment, for Gordon's tone was +very suggestive. + +"Yes," added the medical adviser, "it's a complaint a good many men, +who haven't been raised to work, are afflicted with. Well, I'll mix +you up a tonic, and you'll drive down for it yourself. The thing won't +be half as efficacious if you send the hired man. Then you'll set to +every morning soon as breakfast's over, and do a couple of hours' +smart chopping for a week. By that time you'll find it easy, and you +can go on an hour or two in the afternoon. Nobody round here will +recognize you, if you keep it up for the next three months." + +Waynefleet's thin face grew red, but Gordon's imperturbable demeanour +restrained him from betraying his indignation. + +"You don't understand that I couldn't swing an axe for five minutes +together," he objected. + +"The trouble," answered Gordon, "is that you don't want to." + +Waynefleet made an attempt to rise, but his companion laid a hand +upon his arm and pressed him down again. + +"You were anxious for my advice, and now I'm going to prescribe," +Gordon continued. "Two hours' steady chopping every day, to be raised +by degrees to six. Then I'd let up on smoking cigars of that kind, and +practise a little more self-denial in one or two other respects. You +could make things easier for Miss Waynefleet with the money you +save." + +He rose with a laugh. "Well, I'm going. All you have to do is to carry +out my suggestions, and you may still make yourself and your ranch a +credit to the district. In the meanwhile, this place would be +considerably improved by a little ventilation." + +He went out, and left Waynefleet gazing in indignant astonishment at +the door he carefully fixed open. It seemed to Waynefleet almost +incredible that such words should have been spoken to him, and the +suggestion that at the cost of a painful effort he should endeavour to +make himself a credit to that barbarous neighbourhood rankled most of +all. He had felt, hitherto, that he had conferred a favour on the +community by settling there. He lay still until his daughter came in +and glanced at him inquiringly. + +"You have seen Mr. Gordon?" she queried. + +"I have," answered Waynefleet with fine disdain. "You will understand +that if he comes back here, he must be kept away from me. The man is +utterly devoid of refinement or consideration." + +In the meanwhile Gordon was riding, circumspectly, down the rutted +trail, and it was an hour later when he dismounted at the shanty of +Nasmyth's workmen, and shared a meal with the gang employed on the +dam. After that he sat with Nasmyth, who still limped a little, in the +hut, from which, as the door stood open, they could see the men stream +up into the Bush and out along the dam. The dam now stood high above +the water-level, for the frost had bound fast the feeding snow upon +the peaks above, though the stream roared and frothed through the two +big sluice-gates. By-and-by, the ringing of axes and the clink of +drills broke through the sound of the rushing waters. Gordon, who +stretched himself out on a deer-hide lounge, smiled at Nasmyth as he +lighted his pipe. + +"I've been talking a little sense to Waynefleet this morning. I felt I +had to, though I'm afraid it's not going to be any use," he +announced. + +"Whether you were warranted or not is, of course, another matter," +said Nasmyth. "Perhaps you were, if you did it on Miss Waynefleet's +account. Anyway, I don't altogether understand why you should be sure +it will have no effect." + +Gordon looked at him with a grin. "Well," he remarked oracularly, +"it's easy to acquire an inflated notion of one's own importance, +though it's quite often a little difficult to keep it. Something's +very apt to come along and prick you, and you collapse flat when it +lets the inflation out. In some cases one never quite gets one's +self-sufficiency back. The scar the prick made is always there, but +it's different with Waynefleet. He is made of self-closing jelly, and +when you take the knife out the gap shuts up again. It's quite hard to +fancy it was ever there." + +Nasmyth nodded gravely, for there was an elusive something in his +comrade's tone that roused his sympathy. + +"Gordon," he said, "is it quite impossible for you to go back East +again?" + +Gordon leaned back in his chair, and glanced out across the toiling +men upon the dam, at the frothing river and rugged hillside, with a +look of longing in his eyes. + +"In one way it is, but I want you to understand," he replied. "I might +begin again in some desolate little town--but I aimed higher--and was +once very nearly getting there. As it is, if I made my mark, the thing +I did would be remembered against me. We'll let it go. As a surgeon of +any account I'm done for." + +"Still, it's a tolerably big country, and folks forget. You might, at +least, go so far, and that would, after all, give you a good deal--a +competence, the right to marry." + +Gordon laughed, but his voice was harsh. + +"This is one of the days on which I must talk. I feel like that, now +and then," he said. Then he looked at Nasmyth hard. "Well, I've seen +the one woman I could marry, and it's certain that, if I dare make her +the offer, she would never marry me." + +"Ah," said Nasmyth, "you seem quite sure of that?" + +"Quite," declared Gordon, and there was, for a moment or two, an +almost uncomfortable silence in the shanty. + +Then he made a little forceful gesture as he turned to his companion +again. + +"Well," he said, "after all, what does it count for? Is it man's one +and only business to marry somebody? Of course, we have folks back +East, who seem to act on that belief, and in your country half of them +appear to spend their time and energies philandering." + +"I don't think it's half," said Nasmyth dryly. + +"It's not a point of any importance, and we'll let it go. Anyway, it +seems perilously easy for a man who gets the woman he sets his mind +upon to sink into a fireside hog in the civilized world. Now and then, +when things go wrong with folks of that kind, they come out here, and +nobody has any use for them. What can you do with the man who gets +sick the first time he sleeps in the rain, and can't do without his +dinner? Oh, I know all about the preservation of the species, but +west of the Great Lakes we've no room for any species that isn't tough +and fit." + +He broke off for a moment. "After all, this is the single man's +country, and--we--know that it demands from him the best that he was +given, from the grimmest toil of his body to the keenest effort of his +brain. Marriage is a detail--an incident; we're here to fight, to +grapple with the wilderness, and to break it in, and that burden +wasn't laid upon us only for the good of ourselves. When we've flung +our trestles over the rivers, and blown room for the steel track out +of the canyon's side, the oat-fields and the orchards creep up the +valleys, and the men from the cities set up their mills. Prospector, +track-layer, chopper, follow in sequence here, and then we're ready to +hold out our hands to the thousands you've no use or food for back +yonder. I'm not sure it matters that the men who do the work don't +often share the results of it. We bury them beside our bridge trestles +and under tons of shattered rock, and, perhaps, when their time comes, +some of them aren't sorry to have done with it. Anyway, they've stood +up to man's primeval task." + +He rose with another half-deprecatory laugh, but his eyes snapped. +"You don't talk like that in your country--it would hurt some of +you--but if we spread ourselves now and then, you can look round and +see the things we do." Then he touched Nasmyth's shoulder. "Oh, yes, +you understand--for somebody has taught you--and by-and-by, you're +going to feel the thing getting hold of you." + +He moved towards the doorway, but turned as he reached it. "Talking's +cheap, and I have several dozen blamed big firs to saw up, as well as +Waynefleet's tonic to mix. He'll come along for it when that prick I +gave him commences to heal." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CALLING CANON + + +There were four wet and weary men in the Siwash canoe that Nasmyth, +who crouched astern, had just shot across the whirling pool with the +back feathering stroke of his paddle which is so difficult to acquire. +Tom from Mattawa, grasping a dripping pole, stood up in the bow. +Gordon and Wheeler, the pulp-mill manager, knelt in the middle of the +boat. Wheeler's hands were blistered from gripping the paddle-haft, +and his knees were raw, where he had pressed them against the bottom +of the craft to obtain a purchase. It was several years since he had +undertaken any severe manual labour, though he was by no means unused +to it, and he was cramped and aching in every limb. He had plied pole +or paddle for eight hours, during which his companions had painfully +propelled the craft a few miles into the canyon. He gasped with relief +when Mattawa ran the bow of the canoe in upon the shingle, and then +rose and stretched himself wearily. The four men stepped ashore. +Curiously they looked about them, for they had had little opportunity +for observation. Those who undertake to pole a canoe up the rapids of +a river on the Pacific slope usually find it advisable to confine +their attention strictly to the business in hand. + +Immediately in front of them the river roared and seethed amid giant +boulders, which rose out of a tumultuous rush of foam, but while it +was clearly beyond the power of flesh and blood to drive the canoe up +against the current, a strip of shingle, also strewn with boulders and +broken by ledges of dripping rock, divided the water from the wall of +the canyon. The canyon, a tremendous slope of rock with its dark crest +overhanging them, ran up high above their heads; but they could see +the pines clinging to the hillside which rose from the edge of the +other wall across the river, so steep that it appeared impossible to +find a foothold upon it. + +The four men were down in the bottom of a great rift in the hills, +and, though it would be day above for at least two hours, the light +was faint in the hollow and dimmed by drifting mist. It was a spot +from which a man new to that wild country might well have shrunk, and +the roar of water rang through it in tremendous, nerve-taxing +pulsations. Nasmyth and his companions, however, had gone there with +no particular purpose--merely for relaxation--though it had cost them +hours of arduous labour, and the journey had been a more or less +hazardous one. Wheeler, the pulp-mill manager, was waiting for his +machinery, and, Nasmyth had finished the dam. When they planned the +journey for pleasure, Mattawa and Gordon had gone with them ostensibly +on a shooting trip. There are game laws, which set forth when and +where a man may shoot, and how many heads he is entitled to, but it +must be admitted that the Bush-rancher seldom concerns himself greatly +about them. When he fancies a change of diet, he goes out and kills a +deer. Still, though all the party had rifles no one would have cared +very much if they had not come across anything to shoot at. + +Now and then a vague unrest comes upon the Bushman, and he sets off +for the wilderness, and stays there while his provisions hold out. He +usually calls it prospecting, but as a rule he comes back with his +garments rent to tatters, and no record of any mineral claim or timber +rights, but once more contentedly he goes on with his task. It may be +a reawakening of forgotten instincts, half-conscious lust of +adventure, or a mere desire for change, that impels him to make the +journey, but it is at least an impulse with which most men who toil +in those forests are well acquainted. + +Nasmyth and Mattawa pulled the canoe out, and when they sat down and +lighted their pipes, Wheeler grinned as he drew up his duck trousers +and surveyed his knees, which were raw and bleeding. Then he held up +one of his hands that his comrades might notice the blisters upon it. +He was a little, wiry man with dark eyes, which had a snap in them. + +"Well," he observed, "we're here, and I guess any man with sense +enough to prefer whole bones to broken ones would wonder why we are. +It's most twelve years since I used to head off into the Bush this way +in Washington." + +Gordon glanced at him with a twinkle in his eyes. "Now," he observed, +"you've hit the reason the first time. When you've done it once, +you'll do it again. You have to. Perhaps it's Nature's protest against +your axiom that man's chief business is dollar-making. Still, I'm +admitting that this is a blamed curious place for Nasmyth to figure on +killing a wapiti in. Say, are you going to sleep here to-night, +Derrick?" + +It was very evident that none of the big wapiti--elks, as the Bushman +incorrectly calls them--could have reached that spot, but Nasmyth +laughed. + +"I felt I'd like to see the fall--I don't know why," he said. "It's +scarcely another mile, and I've been up almost that far with an Indian +before. There's a ravine with young spruce in it where we could +sleep." + +"Then," announced Wheeler resolutely, "we're starting right now. When +I pole a canoe up a place of this kind I want to see where I'm going. +I once went down a big rapid with the canoe-bottom up in front of me +in the dark, and one journey of that kind is quite enough." + +They dumped out their camp gear, and took hold of the canoe, a +beautifully modelled, fragile thing, hollowed out of a cedar log, and +for the next half-hour hauled it laboriously over some sixty yards of +boulders and pushed it, walking waist-deep, across rock-strewn pools. +Then they went back for their wet tent, axes, rifles, blankets, and a +bag of flour, and when they had reloaded the canoe, they took up the +poles again. It was the hardest kind of work, and demanded strength +and skill, for a very small blunder would have meant wreck upon some +froth-lapped boulder, or an upset into the fierce white rush of the +river, but at length they reached a deep whirling pool, round which +long smears of white froth swung in wild gyrations. The smooth rock +rose out of the pool without even a cranny one could slip a hand into, +and the river fell tumultuously over a ledge into the head of it. The +water swept out of a veil of thin white mist, and the great rift rang +with a bewildering din. One felt that the vast primeval forces were +omnipotent there. As the men looked about them with the spray on their +wet faces and the white mist streaming by, Mattawa, who stood up +forward, dropped suddenly into the bottom of the canoe. + +"In poles," he said. "Paddle! Get a move on her!" Nasmyth, who felt +his pole dip into empty water, flung it in and grabbed his paddle, for +the craft shot forward suddenly with the swing of the eddy towards the +fall. He did not know whether the stream would sweep them under it, +but he was not desirous of affording it the opportunity. For perhaps a +minute they exerted themselves furiously, gasping as they strained +aching arms and backs, and meanwhile, in spite of them, beneath the +towering fall of rock, the canoe slid on toward the fall. It also drew +a little nearer to the middle of the pool, where there was a curious +bevelled hollow, round which the white foam spun. It seemed to Nasmyth +that the stream went bodily down. + +"Paddle," said Mattawa hoarsely. "Heave her clear of it." + +They drove furiously between the white-streaked shoot of the fall and +that horribly suggestive whirling; then, as they went back towards the +outrush from the pool, they made another desperate, gasping effort. +For several moments it seemed that they must be swept back again, and +then they gained a little, and, with a few more strokes, reached the +edge of the rapid. They let the canoe drive down the rapid while the +boulders flashed by them, for there was the same desire in all of +them, and that was to get as far as possible away from that horrible +pool. At last Mattawa, standing up forward, poled the canoe in where a +deep ravine rent the dark rock's side, and the party went ashore, wet +and gasping. Wheeler looked back up the gorge and solemnly shook his +head. + +"If you want to see any more of it, you've got to do it alone. I've +had enough," he declared. "A man who runs a pulp-mill has no use for +paddling under that kind of fall. I'm not going back again." + +Mattawa and Gordon set the tent up in the hollow of the ravine, while +Wheeler hewed off spruce branches with which to make the beds; but +Nasmyth did nothing to assist any of them. Thinking hard, he sat on a +boulder, with his unlighted pipe in his hand. The throbbing roar of +water rang about him; and it was then that the great project crept +into his mind. It was rapidly growing dark in the bottom of the great +rift, but he could still see the dim white flashing of the fall and +the vast wall of rock and rugged hillside that ran up in shadowy +grandeur, high above his head, and as he gazed at it all he felt his +heart throb fast. He was conscious of a curious thrill as he watched +and listened to that clash of stupendous forces. The river had spent +countless ages cutting out that channel, hurling down mighty boulders +and stream-driven shingle upon the living rock; but it was, it seemed +to him, within man's power to alter it in a few arduous months. He +sat very still, astonished at the daring of his own conception, until +Wheeler strolled up to him. + +"How much does the river drop at the fall?" he asked. + +"About eight feet in the fall itself," answered Wheeler. "Seems to me +it falls much more in the rush above. Still, I can't say I noticed it +particularly--I had something else to think about." + +"It's a short rapid," remarked Nasmyth reflectively. "There is, no +doubt, a great deal of the hardest kind of rock under it, which is, in +one or two respects, unfortunate. I suppose you don't know very much +about geology?" + +"I don't," confessed the pulp-miller. "Machines are my specialty." + +"Well," said Nasmyth, "I'm afraid I don't either, and I believe one or +two of these canyons have puzzled wiser folks than I. You see, the +general notion is that the rivers made them, but it doesn't seem quite +reasonable to imagine a river tilting at a solid range and splitting +it through the middle. In fact, it seems to me that some of the canyons +were there already, and the rivers just ran into them. One or two +Indians have come down from the valley close to the fall, and they +told me the river was quite deep there. The rock just holds it up at +the fall. It's a natural dam--a dyke, I think they call it." + +"I don't quite understand what all this is leading to," observed +Wheeler. + +Nasmyth laughed, though there was, as his companion noticed, a curious +look in his eyes. "I'll try to make it clearer when we get into the +valley. We're going there to-morrow." + +It was almost dark now, and they went back together to the little fire +that burned redly among the spruces in the ravine. There Mattawa and +Gordon had a simple supper ready. The others stretched themselves +out, rolled in their blankets, soon after they had eaten, but Nasmyth +lay propped up on one elbow, wide awake, listening to the roar of +water until well into the night. The stream drowned the faint rustling +of the spruces in a great dominant note, and he set his lips as he +recognized its depth of tone and volume. He had once more determined +to pit all his strength of mind and body against the river. Still, he +went to sleep at last, and awakening some time after it was dawn on +the heights above, roused his comrades. When breakfast was over he +started with them up the ravine to cross the range. + +It was afternoon before they accomplished the climb, though the height +was not great and a ravine pierced the crest, and they had rent most +of their clothes to tatters when they scrambled down the slope into +the valley. Those pine-shrouded hillsides are strewn with mighty +fallen trees, amid which the tangled underbrush grows tall and rank, +and, where the pines are less thickly spaced, there are usually matted +groves of willows, if the soil is damp. They pitched camp on the edge +of the valley, and Gordon and Nasmyth prepared supper, while Wheeler +cut firewood and Mattawa went out to prospect for the tracks of +feeding deer. The axeman came back to say there were no signs of any +wapiti, though the little Bush deer were evidently about, and it was +decided to try for one that night with the pitlight, a mode of +shooting now and then adopted when the deer are shy. + +They ate their supper, and afterwards lay down with their blankets +rolled about them, for it grew very cold as darkness crept up the +valley. Like most of the other valleys, this one was walled in by +steep-sided, pine-shrouded hills; but in this case there were no trees +in the bottom of it, which, while very narrow, appeared several miles +long. It was also nearly level, and the river wound through it in +deep, still bends. There are not many valleys in that country in +which heavy timber fails to grow, and those within reach of a market +have been seized upon; for all ranch produce is in excellent demand, +and the clearing of virgin forest is a singularly arduous task. In +fact, there was only one reason why this strip of natural prairie had +not already been claimed. Most of it was swamp. Nasmyth, who was +quieter than usual, watched the filmy mist creep about it as the soft +darkness rolled down the hillsides. + +Gordon rose and hooked a pitlight into his hat. This pitlight +consists simply of a little open miner's-lamp, which has fixed beneath +it a shield cut out of any convenient meat-can. The lamp is filled +with seal oil. Once a man has fastened it upon his head, the light is +cut off from his person, so that he stands invisible, and the little +flame appears unsupported. Deer of any kind are endued with an +inquisitiveness which frequently leads to their destruction, and +when they notice the twinkling light flitting through the air they +approach it to ascertain the reason for such an unusual thing. Then +the rancher shoots, as soon as their shining eyes become visible. + +The party divided. Gordon and Nasmyth, who kept near each other, fell +over several rotting trees, and into what appeared to be crumbling +drains. They floundered knee-deep through withered timothy, which is +not a natural grass. For an hour or two nobody saw any deer. Then +Gordon, who was cautiously skirting another drain, closed in on +Nasmyth until he touched his comrade. Nasmyth heard a crackling rustle +among the withered grass. Gordon made a little abrupt movement. + +"If we both blaze off, we double the odds on our getting it," he +said. + +Nasmyth only just heard him, for his heart was beating with +excitement; but as he stood knee-deep in the grass, with both hands +ready to pitch the heavy rifle up, it seemed to him that Mattawa could +not have been correct when he said that there were only the Bush deer +about. Judging by the noise it was making, the approaching beast, he +thought, must be as big as a wapiti. Then he saw two pale spots of +light, which seemed curiously high above the ground. + +"I'm shooting," he said, and in another moment the butt was into his +shoulder. + +He felt the jar of it, but, as usual in such cases, he heard no +detonation, though the pale flash from Gordon's rifle was almost in +his eyes. He, however, heard the thud of the heavy bullet, and a +moment or two later, a floundering amidst the grass. + +"That can't be a Bush deer!" he cried. + +"It sounds 'way more like an elephant," said Gordon, with a gasp. + +They ran forward until they stopped a few yards short of something +very big and shadowy that was still struggling in the grass. Gordon +cautiously crept up a little nearer. + +"Those aren't deer's horns, anyway," he announced. "Plug it quick. The +blamed thing's getting up." + +Nasmyth flung the rifle up to his shoulder, and twice jerked a fresh +cartridge into the chamber, but this time there was silence when the +crash of the heavy Marlin died away among the woods. They crept +forward a little further circumspectly, until Gordon stopped again +with a gasp of consternation. + +"Well," he said, "I guess it couldn't be either a Bush deer or a +wapiti." + +They were still standing there when their comrades came running up, +and Mattawa, who took down his light, broke into a great hoarse +laugh. + +"A steer!" he said, and pointed to a mark on the hide. "One of +Custer's stock. Guess he'll charge you quite a few dollars for killing +it." + +Nasmyth smiled somewhat ruefully, for he was by no means burdened +with wealth, but he was, after all, not greatly astonished. Few of the +small ranchers can feed their stock entirely on their little patches +of cleared land, and it is not an unusual thing for most of the herd +to run almost wild in the Bush. Now and then, the cattle acquire a +somewhat perilous fondness for wrecking road-makers' and prospectors' +tents, which explains why a steer occasionally fails to be found and +some little community of axemen is provided with more fresh meat than +can well be consumed. + +"I'm afraid it's rather more than likely I'll have to pay a good +price," said Nasmyth. "Do you feel anxious for any more shooting +to-night, Wheeler?" + +"No," said the pulp-miller, with a grin, as he surveyed his bemired +clothes. "Guess it's going to prove expensive, and I've had 'most +enough. I don't feel like poling that canoe any farther up-river, +either. What's the matter with camping right where we are until we eat +the steer?" + +There was, however, as Mattawa pointed out, a good deal to be done +before they could make their first meal off the beast, and none of +them quite relished the task, especially as they had only an axe and a +couple of moderately long knives. Still, it was done, and when they +carried a portion of the meat out of the swamp, and had gone down to +wash in the icy river, they went wearily back to their tent among the +firs. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE GREAT IDEA + + +The night was cold, and a frost-laden wind set the fir branches +sighing as Nasmyth and his comrades sat about a snapping fire. The red +light flickered upon their faces, and then grew dim again, leaving +their blurred figures indistinct amid the smoke that diffused pungent, +aromatic odours as it streamed by and vanished between the towering +tree-trunks. + +The four men were of widely different type and training, though it was +characteristic of the country that they sat and talked together on +terms of perfect equality. Two of them were exiles, by fault and +misfortune, from their natural environment. One had forced himself +upwards by daring and mechanical genius into a station to which, in +one sense, he did not belong, and Mattawa, the chopper, alone, pursued +the occupation which had always been familiar to him. Still, it was as +comrades that they lived together in the wilderness, and, what was +more, had they come across one another afterwards in the cities, they +would have resumed their intercourse on exactly the same footing. +After all, they were, in essentials, very much the same, and, when +that is the case, the barriers men raise between themselves do not +count for much in the West, at least. Wheeler, the pulp-mill builder, +who had once sold oranges on the railroad cars, led up to a +conversation that gave Nasmyth an opportunity for which he had been +waiting. + +"You and Mattawa are about through with that slashing contract," he +said. "You will not net a great pile of money out of it, I suppose?" + +"My share is about thirty," answered Nasmyth, with a little laugh. "My +partner draws a few dollars more. He got in a week when the big log +that rolled on my cut leg lamed me. I seem to have a particularly +unfortunate habit of hurting myself. Are you going back to Ontario +when we get that money, Mattawa?" + +"No," the big axeman replied slowly; "anyway, not yet, though I was +thinking of it. The ticket costs too much. They've been shoving up +their Eastern rates." + +"You ought to have a few dollars in hand," remarked Nasmyth, who was +quite aware that this was not exactly his business. "Are you going to +start a ranch?" + +Mattawa appeared to smile. "I have one half cleared back in Ontario." + +"Then what d'you come out here for?" Gordon broke in. + +"To give the boy a show. He's quite smart, and we were figuring we +might make a doctor or a surveyor of him. That costs money, and wages +are 'way higher here than they are back East." + +It was a simple statement, made very quietly by a simple man, but it +appealed forcibly to those who heard it, for they could understand +what lay behind it. Love of change or adventure, it was evident, had +nothing to do with sending the grizzled Mattawa out to the forests +of the West. He had, as he said, merely come there that his son might +be afforded opportunities that he had never had, and this was +characteristic, for it is not often that the second generation stays +on the land. Though teamsters and choppers to the manner born are busy +here and there, the Canadian prairie is to a large extent broken and +the forest driven back by young men from the Eastern cities and by +exiled Englishmen. Their life is a grim one, and when they marry they +do not desire their children to continue it. Yet, they do not +often marry, since the wilderness, in most cases, would crush the +wives they would choose. The men toil on alone, facing flood, and +drought, and frost, and some hate the silence of the winter nights +during which they sit beside the stove. + +"Then," inquired Wheeler, "who runs the ranch?" + +"The wife and the boy. That is, when the boy's not chopping or +ploughing for somebody." + +There were reasons why Nasmyth was stirred by what he had heard, and +with his pipe he pointed to Mattawa, as the flickering firelight fell +upon the old axeman's face. + +"That," he said, "is the man who didn't want his wages when I offered +them to him, though he knew it was quite likely he would never get +them afterwards unless I built the dam. He'd been working for me two +or three months then, in the flooded river, most of the while. Now, is +there any sense in that kind of man?" + +Mattawa appeared disconcerted, and his hard face flushed. "Well," he +explained, "I felt I had to see you through." He hesitated for a +moment with a gesture which seemed deprecatory of his point of view. +"It seemed up to me." + +"You've heard him," said Gordon dryly. "He's from the desolate Bush +back East, and nobody has taught him to express himself clearly. The +men of that kind are handiest with the axe and drill, but it has +always seemed to me that the nations are going to sit round and listen +when they get up and speak their mind some day." + +He saw the smile in Nasmyth's eyes, and turned to Wheeler, who was +from the State of Washington. "It's a solid fact that you, at least, +can understand. It's not so very long since your folks headed West +across the Ohio, and it's open to anyone to see what you have done." +Then he flung his hand out towards the east. "They fancy back yonder +we're still in the leading-strings, and it doesn't seem to strike them +that we're growing big and strong." + +It was characteristic that Wheeler did not grin, as Nasmyth certainly +did. What Gordon had said was, no doubt, a trifle flamboyant, but it +expressed the views of others in the West, and after all it was more +or less warranted. Mattawa, however, gazed at them both as if such +matters were beyond him, and Wheeler, who turned to Nasmyth, changed +the subject. + +"Well," he said, "what are you going to strike next?" + +Nasmyth took out his pipe, and carefully filled it before he answered, +for he knew that his time had come, and he desired greatly to carry +his comrades along with him. + +"I have," he said quietly, "a notion in my mind, or, anyway, the germ +of one, for the thing will want some worrying out. It's quite a +serious undertaking. To begin with, I'll ask Gordon who cut these +drains we've been falling into, and what he did it for?" + +"An Englishman," Gordon answered. "Nobody knew much about him. He was +probably an exile, too. Anyway, he saw this valley, and it seemed to +strike him that he could make a ranch in it." + +"Why should he fix on this particular valley?" + +"The thing's plain enough. How many years does a man usually spend +chopping a clearing out of the Bush? Isn't there a demand for anything +that you can eat from our miners and the men on our railroads and in +our mills? Why do we bring carloads of provisions in? Can't you get +hold of the fact that a man can start ranching right away on natural +prairie, if he can once get the water out of it?" + +"Oh, yes," assented Nasmyth. "The point is that one has to get the +water out of it. I would like Mattawa and Wheeler to notice it. You +can go on." + +"Well," said Gordon, "that man pitched right in, and spent most of two +years cutting four-foot trenches through and dyking up the swamp. He +went on every day from sun-up to dark, but every time the floods came +they beat him. When he walked over the range to the settlement, the +boys noticed he was getting kind of worn and thin, but there was clean +grit in that man. He'd taken hold of the contract, and he stayed with +it. Then one day a prospector went into the valley after a big freshet +and came across his wrecked shanty. The river had got him." + +Wheeler nodded gravely. "It seems to me this country was made by men +like that," he commented. "They're the kind they ought to put up +monuments to." + +There was silence for a moment or two after that, except for the +sighing of the wind among the firs and the hoarse murmur that came up, +softened by the distance, from the canyon. It was not an unusual story, +but it appealed to those who heard it, for they had fought with rock +and river and physical weariness, and they could understand the grim +patience and unflinching valour of the long struggle that had +resulted, as such struggles sometimes do, only in defeat. Still, the +men who take those tasks in hand seldom capitulate. Gordon glanced at +Nasmyth. + +"Now," he said, "if you have anything to say, you can get it out." + +Nasmyth raised himself on one elbow. "That Englishman put up a good +fight, but he didn't start quite right," he said. "I want to point out +that, in my opinion, the river has evidently just run into the canyon. +It's slow and deep until you reach the fall, where it's merely held up +by the ridge of rock the rapid runs across. Well, we'll call the +change of level twelve to sixteen feet, and, as Gordon has suggested, +a big strip of natural prairie is apt to make a particularly desirable +property, once you run the water out of it. You can get rid of a lot +of water when you have a fall of sixteen feet." + +"How are you going to get it?" asked Wheeler. + +"By cutting the strip of rock that holds the river up at the fall. I +think one could do it with giant-powder." + +Again there was silence for a few moments, and Nasmyth looked at his +comrades quietly, with the firelight on his face and a gleam in his +eyes. They sat still and stared at him, for the daring simplicity of +his conception won their admiration. Mattawa slowly straightened +himself. + +"It's a great idea," he declared. "Seen something quite like it in +Ontario; I guess it can be done." He turned to Nasmyth. "You can count +me in." + +Wheeler made a sign of concurrence. "It seems to me that Mattawa is +right. In a general way, I'm quite open to take a share in the thing, +but there's a point you have to consider. Most of the work could be +done only at low water, and a man might spend several years on it." + +"Well?" said Nasmyth simply. + +Wheeler waved his hand. "Oh," he said, "you're like that other +Englishman, but you want to look at this thing from a business point +of view. Now, as you know, the men who do the toughest work on this +Pacific slope are usually the ones who get the least for it. Well, if +you run the river down, you'll dry out the whole valley, and you'll +have every man with a fancy for ranching jumping in, or some d---- +land agency's dummies grabbing every rod of it. It's Crown land. +Anybody can locate a ranch on it." + +"You have to buy the land," said Nasmyth. "You can't pre-empt it +here." + +"How does that count?" Wheeler persisted. "If you started clearing a +Bush ranch, you'd spend considerably more." + +Nasmyth smiled. "I fancy our views coincide. The point is that the +Crown agents charge the usual figure for land that doesn't require +making, which is not the case in this particular valley. Well, before +I cut the first hole with the drill, they will either have to sell me +all I can take up on special terms, or make me a grant for the work I +do." + +Gordon laughed. "Are you going to hammer your view of the matter into +the Crown authorities? Did you ever hear of anyone who got them to +sanction a proposition that was out of the usual run?" + +"Well," said Nasmyth, "I'm going to try. If they won't hear reason, +I'll start a syndicate round the settlement." + +Wheeler, leaning forward, dropped a hand on his shoulder. "Count on me +for a thousand dollars when you want the money." He turned and looked +at Gordon. "It's your call." + +"I'll raise the same amount," said Gordon, "though I'll have to put a +mortgage on the ranch." + +Mattawa made a little diffident gesture. "A hundred--it's the most I +can do--but there's the boy," he said. + +Nasmyth smiled in a curious way, for he knew this offer was, after +all, a much more liberal one than those the others had made. + +"You," he said severely, "will be on wages. Yet, if we put the thing +through, you will certainly get your share." + +He looked round at the other two, and after they had expressed their +approval, they discussed the project until far into the night, and +finally decided to recross the range, and look at the fall again, +early next morning. It happened, however, that Mattawa, who went down +to the river for water, soon after sunrise, found a Siwash canoe +neatly covered with cedar branches. This was not an astonishing thing, +since the Indians, who come up the rivers in the salmon season, often +hew out a canoe on the spot where they require it, and leave it there +until they have occasion to use it again. After considering the matter +at breakfast, the four men decided to go down the canyon. They knew +that one or two Indians were supposed to have made the hazardous +trip, but that appeared sufficient, for they were all accustomed to +handling a canoe, and an extra hazard or two is not often a great +deterrent to men who have toiled in the Bush. + +They had a few misgivings when the hills closed about them as they +slipped into the shadowy entrance of the canyon. No ray of sunlight +ever streamed down there, and the great hollow was dim and cold and +filled with a thin white mist, though a nipping wind flowed through +it. For a mile or two the hillsides, which rose precipitously above +them, were sprinkled here and there with climbing pines, that on their +far summits cut, faintly green, against a little patch of blue. +By-and-by, however, the canoe left these slopes behind, and drifted +into a narrow rift between stupendous walls of rock, though there was +a narrow strip of shingle strewn with whitened driftwood between the +side of the canyon and the river. Then this disappeared, and there was +only the sliding water and the smooth rock, while the patch of sky +seemed no more than a narrow riband of blue very high above. + +Fortunately, the river flowed smoothly between its barriers of stone, +and, sounding with two poles lashed together, the men got no bottom, +and as the river swept them on, they began to wonder uneasily how they +were to get back upstream. Once, indeed, Wheeler suggested something +of the kind, but none of the others answered him, and he went on with +his paddling. + +At last a deep, pulsating roar that had been steadily growing louder, +swelled suddenly into a bewildering din, and Mattawa shouted as they +shot round a bend. There was a whirling haze of spray into which the +white rush of a rapid led close in front of them, and for the next +minute they paddled circumspectly. Then Mattawa ran the canoe in +between two boulders at the head of the rapid, and they got out and +stood almost knee-deep in the cold water. The whirling haze of spray +which rose and sank was rent now and then as the cold breeze swept +more strongly down the canyon, and it became evident that the rapid was +a very short one. The walls of rock stood further apart at this point, +and there was a strip of thinly-covered shingle and boulders between +the fierce white rush of the flood and the worn stone. Mattawa grinned +as the others looked at him. + +"I'm staying here to hang on to the canoe," he said. "Guess you don't +feel quite like going down that fall." + +They certainly did not, and they hesitated a moment until Nasmyth +suddenly moved forward. + +"We came here to look at the fall, and I'm going on," he said. + +They went with him, stumbling over the shingle, and now and then +floundering among the boulders, with the stream that frothed about +their thighs almost dragging their feet from under them. Each of them +gasped with sincere relief when he scrambled out of the whirling pool. +They reached a strip of uncovered rock that stretched across part of +the wider hollow above the fall, and stood there drenched and +shivering for several minutes, scarcely caring to speak as they gazed +at the channel which the stream had cut through the midst of it. +Wheeler dropped his hand on Nasmyth's shoulder. + +"Well," he said--and Nasmyth could just hear him through the roar of +the fall--"it seems to me the thing could be done if you have nerve +enough. Still, I guess if they let you have the whole valley +afterwards, you'd deserve it." Then he seemed to laugh. "I'll make my +share one thousand five hundred dollars. In the meanwhile, if you have +no objections, we'll get back again." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WISBECH MAKES INQUIRIES + + +A little pale sunshine shone down into the opening between the great +cedar trunks when Laura Waynefleet walked out of the shadowy Bush. The +trail from the settlement dipped into the hollow of a splashing creek, +just in front of her, and a yoke of oxen, which trailed along a rude +jumper-sled, plodded at her side. The sled was loaded with a big sack +of flour and a smaller one of sugar, among other sundries which a +rancher who lived farther back along the trail had brought up from the +settlement in his waggon. Waynefleet's hired man was busy that +morning, and as her stores were running out, Laura had gone for the +goods herself. Other women from the cities have had to accustom +themselves to driving a span of oxen along those forest trails. + +The beasts descended cautiously, for the slope was steep, and Laura +was half-way down it when she saw that a man, who sat on the little +log bridge, was watching her. He was clearly a stranger, and, when she +led the oxen on to the bridge, tapping the brawny neck of one with a +long stick, he turned to her. + +"Can you tell me if Waynefleet's ranch is near here?" he asked. + +Laura glanced at him sharply, for there was no doubt that he was +English, and she wondered, with a faint uneasiness, what his business +was. In the meanwhile the big, slowly-moving beasts had stopped and +stood still, blowing through their nostrils and regarding the stranger +with mild, contemplative eyes. One of them turned its head towards the +girl inquiringly, and the man laughed. + +"One could almost fancy they wondered what I was doing here," he +remarked. + +"The ranch is about a mile in front of you," said Laura in answer to +his question. "You are going there?" + +"I am," said the man. "I want to see Miss Waynefleet. They told me to +ask for her at the store." + +Laura looked at him again with some astonishment. + +He was a little man, apparently about fifty, plainly dressed in what +appeared to be English clothing. Nothing in his appearance suggested +that he was a person of any importance, or, indeed, of much education, +but she liked the way in which he had laughed when the ox had turned +towards her. + +"Then," she replied, "as that is my name, you need not go any +further." + +The man made a little bow. "Mine's Wisbech, and I belong to the +Birmingham district, England," he explained. "I walked over from the +settlement to make a few inquiries about a relative of mine called +Derrick Nasmyth. They told me at the store that you would probably +know where he is, and what he is doing." + +Laura was conscious of a certain resentment against the loquacious +storekeeper. It was disconcerting to feel that it was generally +recognized that she was acquainted with Nasmyth's affairs, especially +as she realized that the fact might appear significant to his English +relative. It would scarcely be advisable, she decided, to ask the +stranger to walk on to dinner at the ranch, since such an invitation +would probably strengthen any misconceptions he might have formed. + +"Mr. Nasmyth is expecting you?" she asked. + +"No," said Wisbech--and a little twinkle, which she found vaguely +reassuring, crept into his eyes--"I don't think he is. In all +probability he thinks I am still in England. Perhaps, I had better +tell you that I am going to Japan and home by India. It's a trip a +good many English people make since the C.P.R. put their new Empress +steamers on, and I merely stopped over at Victoria, thinking I would +see Derrick. He is, as perhaps I mentioned, a nephew of mine." + +There was a certain frankness and something whimsical in his manner +which pleased the girl. + +"You have walked from the settlement?" she asked. + +"I have," answered Wisbech. "It is rather a long time since I have +walked as much, and I found it quite far enough. A man is bringing a +horse up to take me back, but I am by no means at home in the saddle. +That"--and he laughed--"is, I suppose, as great an admission in this +country as I have once or twice found it to be at home." + +Laura fancied she understood exactly what he meant. Most of her own +male friends in England were accustomed to both horses and guns, and +this man certainly did not bear the unmistakable stamp that was upon +his nephew. + +"Then my father and I would be pleased if you will call at the ranch +and have dinner with us," she said, and continued a trifle hastily: +"Anyone who has business at a ranch is always expected to wait until +the next meal is over." + +Wisbech, who declared that it was evidently a hospitable land, and +that he would be very pleased, went on with her; but he asked her +nothing about Nasmyth as they walked beside the plodding oxen. +Instead, he appeared interested in ranching, and Laura, who found +herself talking to him freely and naturally, supplied him with +considerable information, though she imagined once or twice that he +was unobtrusively watching her. He also talked to Waynefleet and the +hired man, when they had dinner together at the ranch, and it was not +until the two men had gone back to their work that he referred to the +object he had in hand. + +"I understand that my nephew spent some time here," he said. + +Laura admitted that this was the case, and when he made further +inquiries, related briefly how Nasmyth had first reached the ranch. +She saw the man's face grow intent, as he listened, and there was a +puzzling look in his eyes, which he fixed upon her. + +"So you took him in and nursed him," he said. "I wonder if I might ask +why you did it? He had no claim on you." + +"Most of our neighbours would have done the same," Laura answered. + +"That hardly affects the case. I presume he was practically +penniless?" + +"I wonder why you should seem so sure of that. As a matter of fact, he +had rather more than thirty dollars in his possession when he set out +from the logging camp, but on the journey he lost the belt he kept the +money in." + +A queer light crept into Wisbech's eyes. "That is just the kind of +thing one would expect Derrick Nasmyth to do. You see, as I pointed +out, he is my nephew." + +"You would not have lost that belt?" + +Wisbech laughed. "No," he said, "I certainly would not. What I meant +to suggest was that I am naturally more or less acquainted with +Derrick Nasmyth's habits. In fact, I may admit I was a little +astonished to hear he had contrived to accumulate those thirty +dollars." + +Laura did not know exactly why she felt impelled to tell him about the +building of the dam, but she did so, and made rather a stirring story +of it. She was, at least, determined that the man should realize that +his nephew had ability, and it is possible that she told him a little +more than she had intended, for Wisbech was shrewd. Then it suddenly +flashed upon her that he had deliberately tricked her into setting +forth his nephew's strong points, and was pleased that she had made +the most of them. + +"The dam seems to have been rather an undertaking, and I am glad he +contrived to carry it through successfully," he commented. Then he +looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "I do not know yet where he +got the idea from." + +The girl flushed. This was, she felt, regrettable, but she could not +help it, for the man's keenness was disconcerting, and she was, also, +a little indignant with him. She had recognized that Derrick Nasmyth's +character had its defects, but she was by no means prepared to admit +it to his relatives. + +"Then it didn't occur to you that an idea of that kind was likely to +appeal to your nephew?" she said. + +"No," declared Wisbech, "to be candid, it didn't." He smiled again. +"After all, I don't think we need trouble about that point, especially +as it seems he has acquitted himself very well. I, however, can't help +feeling it was in some respects fortunate that he fell into your +hands." + +Laura was usually composed, but he saw her face harden, for she was +angry at his insistence. "It is evident," he went on, "that he would +not have had the opportunity of building the dam unless you had nursed +him back to health and taken him into your employment." + +"It was my father who asked him to stay on at the ranch." + +"I am not sure that the correction has any very great significance. +One would feel tempted to believe that your father is, to some extent, +in the habit of doing what you suggest." + +Laura sat still a moment or two. She was certainly angry with the +stranger, and yet, in spite of that fact, she felt that she liked him. +There was a candour in his manner which pleased her, as his +good-humoured shrewdness did, though she would have preferred not to +have the shrewdness exercised upon herself. It may be that he guessed +what she was thinking, for he smiled. + +"Miss Waynefleet," he said, "I almost fancy we should make excellent +friends, but there is a point on which I should like you to enlighten +me. Why did you take the trouble to make me understand that you were +doing nothing unusual when you asked me to dinner?" + +Laura laughed. "Well," she said, "if one must be accurate, I do not +exactly know. I may have been a little unwise in endeavouring to +impress it on you. Why did you consider it worth while to explain you +had very seldom been in the saddle?" + +Wisbech's manner became confidential. "It's a fact that has counted +against me now and then. Besides, I think you noticed my accent--it's +distinctly provincial, and not like yours or Derrick's--as soon as I +told you I was a relative of his. You see, I know my station. In fact, +I'm almost aggressively proud of it." He spread out his hands in a +forceful fashion. "It's a useful one." + +He reached out, and, to the girl's surprise, took up a bowl from the +table, and appeared to weigh it in his hands. It was made of the +indurated fibre which is frequently to be met with in the Bush +ranches. + +"This," he said, "is, I suppose, the kind of thing they are going to +turn out at that wood-pulp mill. You have probably observed the +thickness of it?" + +"I believe it is, though they are going to make paper stock, too." + +"Well," pursued Wisbech; "it may meet the requirements of the country, +but it is a very crude and inartistic production. I may say that it is +my business to make enamelled ware. The Wisbech bowls and cups and +basins are justly celebrated--light and dainty, and turned out to +resemble marble, granite, or the most artistic china. They will +withstand any heat you can subject them to, and practically last for +ever." + +He broke off for a moment with a chuckle. "I can't detach myself from +my business as some people seem to fancy one ought to do. After all, +it is only by marriage that Derrick Nasmyth is my nephew." His manner +became grave again. "I married his mother's sister--very much against +the wishes of the rest of the family. As Derrick has lived some time +here, the latter fact will probably not astonish you." + +Laura said nothing, though she understood exactly what he meant. She +was becoming more sure that she liked the man, but she realized that +she might not have done so had she met him before she came out to +Canada, where she had learned to recognize the essential points in +character. There were certainly respects in which his manner would +once have jarred upon her. + +Her expression was reassuring when he turned to her again. + +"I was a retail chemist in a little pottery town when I discovered the +properties of one or two innocuous fluxes, and how to make a certain +leadless glaze," he said. "Probably you do not know that there were +few more unhealthy occupations than the glazing of certain kinds +of pottery. I was also fortunate enough to make a good deal of money +out of my discovery, and as I extended its use, I eventually +started a big enamelling works of my own. After that I married; but +the Nasmyths never quite forgave me my little idiosyncrasies and +some of my views. They dropped me when my wife died. She"--his face +softened curiously--"was in many ways very different from the rest +of them." + +He broke off, and when he sat silent a moment or two Laura felt a +curious sympathy for him. + +"Won't you go on?" she said. + +"We had no children," said the man. "My own folks were dead, but I +contrived to see Derrick now and then. My wife had been very fond of +him, and I liked the lad. Once or twice when I went up to London he +insisted on making a fuss over me--took me to his chambers and his +club, though I believe I was in several ways not exactly a credit to +him." + +Laura liked the little twinkle that crept back into his eyes. It +suggested the genial toleration of a man with a nature big enough to +overlook many trifles he might have resented. + +"Well," he continued, "his father died suddenly, and, when it became +evident that his estate was deplorably involved, Derrick went out to +Canada. None of his fastidious relatives seemed inclined to hold out a +hand to him. Perhaps this was not very astonishing, but I was a little +hurt that he did not afford me the opportunity. In one way, however, +the lad was right. He was willing to stand on his own feet. There was +pluck in him." + +He made an expressive gesture. "Now I'm anxious to hear where he is +and what he is doing." + +Laura was stirred by what he had said. She had imagination, and could +fill in many of the points Wisbech had only hinted at. Nevertheless, +she was not quite pleased to recognize that he seemed to consider her +as much concerned about his nephew as he was himself. + +"He is"--she tried to speak in an indifferent tone--"He is at present +engaged in building a difficult trestle bridge on a railroad. It is +not the kind of work any man, who shrank from hazardous exertion, +would delight in; but I believe there is a reason why the terms +offered were a special inducement. He has a new project in his mind, +though I do not know a great deal about it." + +"I think you might tell me what you do know." + +Laura did so, though she had never been in the canyon. The man listened +attentively. + +"Well," he said, "I fancy I can promise that he shall, at least, have +an opportunity of putting that project through. You haven't, however, +told me where the railroad bridge is." + +The girl made him understand how he could most easily reach it, and, +while she was explaining the various roads he must follow, there was a +beat of hoofs outside. Wisbech rose and held out his hand. + +"I expect that is the man with my horse, and I'm afraid I have kept +you talking a very long while." He pressed her hand as he half +apologized. "I wonder if you will permit me to come back again some +time?" + +Laura said it would afford her and her father pleasure, and she did +not smile when he went out and scrambled awkwardly into his saddle. +The man who had brought the horse up grinned broadly as he watched +Wisbech jolt across the clearing. + +"I guess that man's not going to make the settlement on that horse. He +rides 'most like a bag of flour," he remarked, with evident enjoyment +of the stranger's poor horsemanship. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ON THE TRESTLE + + +It was with difficulty that Wisbech reached the railroad track upon +which Laura Waynefleet had told him Nasmyth was occupied. From the +winding waggon-road, he was forced to scramble down several hundred +feet through tangled undergrowth, and over great fallen logs. Then he +had to walk along the ties, which were spaced most inconveniently +apart, neither far enough for a long stride nor close enough for a +short one. It is, in fact, unless one is accustomed to it, a +particularly wearying thing to walk any distance along a Western +railroad track; since local ticket rates are usually high on the +Pacific slope, and roads of any other kind are not always available, +the smaller ranchers and other impecunious travellers frequently tramp +miles upon the ties. + +Wisbech, however, had not very far to go, and, though it entailed an +occasional stumble, he endeavoured to look about him. He was +progressing along the side of the wonderful Fraser gorge, which is the +great channel clearly provided by Nature for the commerce of the +mountain province, and he was impressed by the spectacle upon which he +gazed. In front of him rose great rocky ramparts, with here and there +a snow-tipped peak cutting coldly white against the glaring blue. +Beneath these the climbing pines rolled down in battalions to the +brink of a vast hollow, in the black depths of which the river roared +far below. Wisps of gauzy mist clung to the hillside, and out of them +the track came winding down, a sinuous gleaming riband that links the +nations with a band of steel. There were, as he knew, fleet steamers +ready at either end of it, in Vancouver Inlet, and at Montreal, two +thousand four hundred odd miles away, for this was the all-British +route round half the world from London to Yokohama and Hong-Kong. + +That fact had its effect on Wisbech as he plodded painfully along the +ties. He had Democratic notions, but he was an Imperialist, too, which +was, perhaps, after all, not surprising, for he knew something of +England's great dependencies. There are a good many men with similar +views in the Dominion, and they have certainly lived up to them. Men +undoubtedly work for money in Western Canada, but one has only to +listen to their conversation in saloon and shanty to recognize the +clean pride in their manhood, and their faith in the destiny of the +land to which they belong. They have also proved their faith by +pitting their unshrinking courage and splendid physical strength +against savage Nature, and, among their other achievements, that track +blown out of the living rock, flung over roaring rivers, and driven +through eternal snow, supplies a significant hint of what they can +bear and do. They buried mangled men in roaring canyon and by giddy +trestle, but the rails crept always on. + +Wisbech came to the brink of a gorge which rent the steep hillside. He +could not tell how deep it was, but it made him dizzy to look down +upon the streak of frothing water far below. The gorge was spanned by +the usual Western trestle bridge, an openwork fabric of timber just +wide enough to carry the single track rising out of the chasm on +tapering piers that looked ethereally fragile in that wilderness of +towering trees and tremendous slopes of rock. The chunk of axes and +ringing of hammers jarred through the roar of the stream, and he could +see men clinging in mid-air to little stages slung about the piers, +and moving among the pines below. A man in a ragged duck suit strode +by him with an axe on his shoulder, and Wisbech half-diffidently +ventured to inquire if he could tell where Derrick Nasmyth could be +found. The man, who paid no attention to him, stopped close by, and +shouted to some of his comrades below. + +"You ought to get that beam fixed before the fast freight comes +through, boys. There's no sign of her yet," he called in a loud +voice. + +Somebody answered him, and the man turned to Wisbech. + +"Now, sir," he replied tardily, "you were asking for Nasmyth?" + +Wisbech said he wished to see Derrick Nasmyth, and the man nodded. + +"Well," said he, "you'll have to wait a few minutes, I guess he's +busy. There's a log they want to put into the trestle before the train +comes along. It's not his particular business, but we're rather +anxious to get through with our contract." + +"Ah," returned Wisbech, "then I fancy I know who you must be. In fact, +I'm rather glad I came across you. You are evidently the man who +looked after my nephew when he was ill, and from what Miss Waynefleet +told me, Derrick owes you a good deal." + +Gordon looked at Wisbech with a little smile, as he recalled what +Nasmyth had said about the man who had sent him the draft. + +"Well," he remarked, as he pointed to the hillside, "it would be quite +hard to fancy there was very much the matter with him now." + +Wisbech agreed with Gordon when he saw a man, who was running hard, +beside four brawny oxen that were hauling a great dressed fir-log by a +chain. They came from an opening between the pines, and rushed along +the rude trail, which had a few skids across it. The trail led +downhill just there, and man and oxen went down the slope furiously in +the attempt to keep ahead of the big log that jolted over the skids +behind them. Wisbech had never seen cattle of any kind progress in +that fashion before, but he naturally did not know that the Bush-bred +ox can travel at a headlong pace up and down hills and amidst thickets +a man would cautiously climb or painfully crawl through. As they +approached the level at the foot of the slope, the man who drove them +ran back, and slipping his handspike under it, swung the butt of the +log round an obstacle. Wisbech gazed at his nephew with astonishment +when Nasmyth came up with the beasts again. His battered wide hat was +shapeless, his duck trousers were badly rent, and the blue shirt, +which was all he wore above the waist, hung open half-way down his +breast. He was flushed and gasping, but the men upon the trestle were +evidently urging him to fresh exertion. + +"Oh, hit her hard!" shouted one of them; and a comrade clinging to a +beam high above the river broke in: "We're waiting. Get a hump on. +Bring her right along." + +It was evident that Nasmyth was already doing all that reasonably +could have been expected of him, and in another moment or two, four +more men, who ran out of the Bush, fell upon the log with handspikes, +as the beasts came to a long upward slope. They went up it savagely, +and Wisbech was conscious of a growing amazement as he watched the +floundering oxen and gasping men. + +"Do you always work--like this?" he asked. + +Gordon laughed. "Well," he answered, "it isn't the bosses' fault when +we don't. As it happens, however, a good many of us are putting a +contract through, and the boys want to get that beam fixed before the +fast freight comes along. If they don't, it's quite likely she'll +shake it loose or pitch some of them off the bridge. It has stood a +few years, and wants stiffening." + +"A few years!" said Wisbech. "There are bridges in England that have +existed since the first railways were built. I believe they don't +require any great stiffening yet." + +"Oh, yes," said Gordon. "It's quite what one would expect. We do +things differently. We heave our rails down and fill up the +country with miners and farmers while you'd be worrying over your +parliamentary bills. We strengthen our track as we go along, and we'll +have iron bridges over every river just as soon as they're wanted." + +Wisbech smiled. It seemed to him that these men would probably get +exactly what they set their minds upon in spite of every obstacle. + +"Why don't they stop the train while they get the beam into place?" he +inquired. + +"Nothing short of a big landslip is allowed to hold that fast freight +up," Gordon replied. "It's up to every divisional superintendent +between here and Winnipeg to rush her along as fast as possible. Half +the cars are billed through to the Empress liner that goes out +to-morrow." + +In the meanwhile the men and oxen had conveyed the big log up the +slope, and, while Nasmyth drove the beasts back along the skidded +track, it swung out over the chasm at the end of a rope. Men leaning +out from fragile stages clutched at and guided it, and when one of +them shouted, Nasmyth cast the chain to which the rope was fastened +loose from his oxen. Then little lithe figures crawled out along the +beams of the trestle, and there was a ringing of hammers. Gordon, who +gazed up the track, swung his arm up in warning. + +"You've got to hump yourselves, boys," he admonished. + +The faint hoot of a whistle came ringing across the pines, and a +little puff of white smoke broke out far up the track from among their +sombre masses. It grew rapidly larger, and the clang of the hammers +quickened, while Wisbech watched the white trail that swept along the +steep hillside until there was a sudden shouting. Then he turned and +saw his nephew running across the bridge. + +"Somebody has forgotten a bolt or a big spike," said Gordon. + +Wisbech felt inclined to hold his breath as he watched Nasmyth climb +down the face of the trestle, but in another minute or two he was +clambering up again with several other men behind him. There was +another hoot of the whistle, and, as Wisbech glanced up the track, a +great locomotive broke out from among the pines. It was veiled in +whirling dust and flying fragments of ballast, and smoke that was grey +instead of white, for the track led down-grade, and the engineer had +throttled the steam. The engine was a huge one, built for mountain +hauling, and the freight cars that lurched out of the forest behind it +were huger still. Wisbech could see them rock, and the roar which they +made and which the pines flung back grew deafening. Most of the cars +had been coupled up in the yards at Montreal, and were covered thick +with the dust that had whirled about them along two thousand four +hundred miles of track, and they were still speeding on through the +forests of the West, as they had done through those of far-off +Ontario. + +It seemed to Wisbech as he gazed at the cars that they ran pigmy +freight trains in the land he came from, and he was conscious of +something that had a curious stirring effect on him in the clang and +clatter of that giant rolling stock, as the engineer hurled his great +train furiously down-grade. It was man's defiance of the wilderness, a +symbol of his domination over all the great material forces of the +world. The engineer, who glanced out once from his dust-swept cab, +held them bound and subject in the hollow of the grimy hand he +clenched upon the throttle. With a deafening roar, the great train +leapt across the trestle, which seemed to rock and reel under it, and +plunged once more into the forest. A whistle sounded--a greeting to +the men upon the bridge--and then the uproar died away in a long +diminuendo among the sombre pines. + +It was in most respects a fortuitous moment for Wisbech's nephew to +meet him, and the older man smiled as Nasmyth strode along the track +to grasp his outstretched hand. + +"I'm glad to see you, Derrick," said Wisbech, who drew back a pace and +looked at his nephew critically. + +"You have changed since I last shook hands with you in London, my +lad," he continued. "You didn't wear blue duck, and you hadn't hands +of that kind then." + +Nasmyth glanced at his scarred fingers and broken nails. + +"I've been up against it, as they say here, since those days," he +replied. + +"And it has done you a world of good!" + +Nasmyth laughed. "Well," he said, "perhaps it has. Any way, that's not +a point we need worry over just now. Where have you sprung from?" + +Wisbech told him, and added that there were many things he would like +to talk about, whereupon Nasmyth smiled in a deprecatory manner. + +"I'm afraid you'll have to wait an hour or two," he said. "You see, +there are several more big logs ready for hauling down, and I have to +keep the boys supplied. I'll be at liberty after supper, and you can't +get back to-night. In the meanwhile you might like to walk along to +where we're getting the logs out." + +Wisbech went with him and Gordon, and was impressed when he saw how +they and the oxen handled the giant trunks. He, however, kept his +thoughts to himself, and, quietly smoking, sat on a redwood log, a +little, unobtrusive, grey-clad figure, until Gordon, who had +disappeared during the last hour, announced that supper was ready. +Then Wisbech followed Nasmyth and Gordon to their quarters, which they +had fashioned out of canvas, a few sheets of corrugated iron, and +strips of bark, for, as their work was on the hillside, they lived +apart from the regular railroad gang. The little hut was rudely +comfortable, and the meal Gordon set out was creditably cooked. +Wisbech liked the resinous scent of the wood smoke that hung about the +spot, and the faint aromatic odour of the pine-twig beds and +roofing-bark. When the meal was over, they sat a while beneath the +hanging-lamp, smoking and discussing general topics, until Nasmyth +indicated the canvas walls of the hut and the beds of spruce twigs +with a wave of his hand. + +"You will excuse your quarters. They're rather primitive," he said. + +Wisbech's eyes twinkled. "I almost think I shall feel as much at home +as I did when you last entertained me at your club, and I'm not sure +that I don't like your new friends best," he said. "The others were a +trifle patronizing, though, perhaps, they didn't mean to be. In fact, +it was rather a plucky thing you did that day." + +A faint flush crept into Nasmyth's bronzed face, but Wisbech smiled +reassuringly as he glanced about the hut. + +"The question is what all this is leading to," he observed with +inquiry in his tone. + +Gordon rose. "I'll go along and talk to the boys," he announced. "I +won't be back for an hour or two." + +Nasmyth glanced at Wisbech before he turned to his comrade. + +"I would sooner you stayed where you are," he said. Then he answered +Wisbech. "In the first place, if we are reasonably fortunate, it +should lead to the acquisition of about a couple of hundred dollars." + +"Still," said Wisbech, "that will not go very far. What will be the +next thing when you have got the money?" + +"In a general way, I should endeavour to earn a few more dollars by +pulling out fir-stumps for somebody or clearing land." + +Wisbech nodded. "No doubt they're useful occupations, but one would +scarcely fancy them likely to prove very remunerative," he said. "You +have, it seems to me, reached an age when you have to choose. Are you +content to go on as you are doing now?" + +Nasmyth's face flushed as he saw the smile in Gordon's eyes, for it +was evident that Wisbech and Laura Waynefleet held much the same views +concerning him. They appeared to fancy that he required a lot of what +might be termed judicious prodding. This was in one sense not exactly +flattering, but he did not immediately mention his great project for +drying out the valley. He would not hasten to remove a wrong +impression concerning himself. + +"Well," resumed Wisbech, seeing he did not answer, "if you care to go +back and take up your profession in England again, I think I can +contrive to give you a fair start. You needn't be diffident. I can +afford it, and the thing is more or less my duty." + +Nasmyth sat silent. There was no doubt that the comfort and refinement +of the old life appealed to one side of his nature, and there were +respects in which his present surroundings jarred on him. It is also +probable that, had the offer been made him before he had had a certain +talk with Laura Waynefleet, he would have profited by it, but she had +roused something that was latent in him, and at the same time endued +him with a vague distrust of himself, the effect of which was largely +beneficial. He had realized then his perilous propensity for what she +had called drifting, and, after all, men of his kind are likely to +drift fastest when everything is made pleasant for them. It was +characteristic that he looked inquiringly at Gordon, who nodded. + +"I think you ought to go, if it's only for a year or two," said +Gordon. "It's the life you were born to. Give it another trial. You +can come back to the Bush again if you find it fails." + +Nasmyth appeared to consider this, and the two men watched him +intently, Wisbech with a curious expression in his shrewd eyes. Then, +somewhat to their surprise, Nasmyth broke into a little harsh laugh. + +"That there is a possibility of my failing seems sufficient," he said. +"Here I must fight. I am, as we say, up against it." He turned to +Wisbech. "Now if you will listen, I will tell you something." + +For the next few minutes he described his project for running the +water out of the valley, and when he sat silent again there was +satisfaction in Wisbech's face. + +"Well," said Wisbech, "I am going to give you your opportunity. It's a +thing I insist upon, and, as it happens, I'm in a position to do it +more or less effectually. I have letters to folks of some importance +in Victoria--Government men among others--and you'll go down there and +live as you would have done in England just as long as appears +advisable while you try to put the project through. It is quite +evident that you will have to get one of the land exploitation +concerns to back you, and no doubt a charter or concession of some +kind will have to be obtained from the Crown authorities. The time you +spend over the thing in Victoria should make it clear where your +capacities lie--if it's handling matters of this kind in the cities, +or leading your workmen in the Bush. I purpose to take a share in your +venture, and I'm offering you an opportunity of making sure which is +the kind of life you're most fitted for." + +"I guess you ought to go," remarked Gordon quietly. + +Nasmyth smiled. "That," he agreed, "is my own opinion." + +"Then we'll consider it as decided," said Wisbech. "It seems to me I +could spend a month or two in this province very satisfactorily, and +we'll go down to Victoria together, as soon as you have carried out +this timber-cutting contract." + +They talked of other matters, while now and then men from the railroad +gang dropped in and made themselves pleasant to the stranger. It must +be admitted that there are one or two kinds of wandering Englishmen, +who would not have found them particularly friendly, but the little +quiet man with the twinkling eyes was very much at home with them. He +had been endued with the gift of comprehension, and rock-cutter and +axeman opened their minds to him. In fact, he declared his full +satisfaction with the entertainment afforded him before he lay down +upon his bed of springy spruce twigs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN THE MOONLIGHT + + +There was a full moon in the clear blue heavens, and its silvery light +streamed into the pillared veranda where Nasmyth sat, cigar in hand, +on the seaward front of James Acton's house, which stood about an +hour's ride from Victoria on the Dunsmer railroad. Like many other +successful men in that country, Acton had begun life in a three-roomed +shanty, and now, when, at the age of fifty, he was in possession of a +comfortable competence, he would have been well content to retire to +his native settlement in the wilderness. There was, however, the +difficulty that the first suggestion of such a course would have been +vetoed by his wife, who was an ambitious woman, younger than he, and, +as a rule, at least, Acton submitted to her good-humouredly. That was +why he retained his seat on several directorates, and had built +Bonavista on the bluff above the Straits of Georgia, instead of the +ranch-house in the Bush he still hankered for. + +Bonavista had cost him much money, but Mrs. Acton had seen that it was +wisely expended, and the long wooden house, with its colonnades of +slender pillars, daintily sawn scroll-work, shingled roof, and wide +verandas, justified her taste. Acton reserved one simply furnished +room in it for himself, and made no objections when she filled the +rest of it with miscellaneous guests. Wisbech had brought him a letter +from a person of consequence, and he had offered the Englishman and +his nephew the freedom of his house. He would not have done this to +everybody, though they are a hospitable people in the West, but he had +recognized in the unostentatious Wisbech one or two of the +characteristics that were somewhat marked in himself, and his wife, as +it happened, extended her favour to Nasmyth as soon as she saw him. +She had been quick to recognize something she found congenial in his +voice and manner, though none of the points she noticed would in all +probability have appealed to her husband. Acton leaned upon the +veranda balustrade, with a particularly rank cigar in his hand, a +gaunt, big-boned man in badly-fitting clothes. It was characteristic +of him that he had not spoken to Nasmyth since he stepped out from one +of the windows five minutes earlier. + +"It's kind of pretty," he said, indicating the prospect with a little +wave of his hand. + +Nasmyth admitted that it was pretty indeed, and his concurrence was +justified. Sombre pinewoods and rocky heights walled in the wooden +dwelling, but in front of it the ground fell sharply away, and beyond +the shadow of the tall crags a blaze of moonlight stretched eastwards +athwart the sparkling sea. + +"Well," said Acton, "it's 'most as good a place for a house as I could +find anywhere the cars could take me into town, and that's partly why +we raised it here." + +Then he glanced down at the little white steamer lying in the inlet +below. "That's one of my own particular toys. You're coming up the +coast with us next week for the salmon-trolling?" + +Nasmyth said that he did not know what his uncle's intentions were, +but he was almost afraid they had trespassed on their host's kindness +already. Acton laughed. + +"We have folks here for a month quite often--folks that I can't talk +to and who don't seem to think it worth while to talk to me. Now I can +get along with your uncle; I can mostly tell that kind of man when I +see him. You have got to let him stay some weeks yet. It would be in +one way a kindness to me. What makes the thing easier is the fact that +Mrs. Acton has taken to you, and when she gets hold of anyone she +likes, she doesn't let him go." + +Nasmyth was content to stay, and he felt that it would be a kindness +to his host. Acton appeared willing to fall in with the views of his +wife, but Nasmyth fancied that he was now and then a little lonely in +his own house. + +"Both of you have done everything you could to make our stay +pleasant," Nasmyth declared. + +"It was quite easy in your case," and a twinkle crept into his host's +eyes. "Your uncle's the same kind of a man as I am, and one can see +you have been up against it since you came to this country. That's one +of the best things that can happen to any young man. I guess it's not +our fault we don't like all the young men they send us out from the +Old Country." He glanced down at his cigar. "Well, I've pretty well +smoked this thing out. It's the kind of cigar I was raised on, but I'm +not allowed to use that kind anywhere in my house." + +In another moment Acton swung round, and stepped back through an +open window. He generally moved abruptly, and was now and then +painfully direct in conversation, but Nasmyth had been long enough +in that country to understand and to like him. He was a man with a +grip of essential things, but it was evident that he could bear +good-humouredly with the views of others. + +Nasmyth sat still after Acton left him. There were other guests in the +house, and the row of windows behind him blazed with light. One or two +of the big casements were open, and music and odd bursts of laughter +drifted out. Somebody, it seemed, was singing an amusing song, but the +snatches of it that reached Nasmyth struck him as pointless and inane. +He had been at Bonavista a week, but, after his simple, strenuous life +in the Bush, he felt at times overwhelmed by the boisterous vivacity +with which his new companions pursued their diversions. There are not +many men without an occupation in the West, but Mrs. Acton knew where +to lay her hands on them, and her husband sometimes said that it was +the folks who had nothing worth while to do who always made the +greatest fuss. But Nasmyth found it pleasant to pick up again the +threads of the life which he had almost come to the conclusion that he +had done with altogether. It was comforting to feel that he could +sleep as long as he liked, and then rise and dress himself in whole, +dry garments, while there was also a certain satisfaction in sitting +down to a daintily laid and well-spread table when he remembered how +often he had dragged himself back to his tent almost too worn out to +cook his evening meal. On the whole, he was glad that Acton had urged +him to remain another week or two. + +Then he became interested as a girl stepped out of one of the lighted +windows some little distance away, and, without noticing him, leaned +upon the veranda balustrade. The smile in her eyes, he fancied, +suggested a certain satisfaction at the fact that what she had done +had irritated somebody. Why it should do so he did not know, but it +certainly conveyed that impression. In another minute a man appeared +in the portico, and the manner in which he moved forward, after he had +glanced along the veranda, was more suggestive still. The girl who +leaned on the balustrade no doubt saw him, and she walked towards +Nasmyth, whom, apparently, she had now seen for the first time. +Nasmyth thought he understood the reason for this, and, though it was +not exactly flattering to himself, he smiled as he rose and drew +forward another chair. He believed most of Mrs. Acton's guests were +acquainted with the fact that he was an impecunious dam-builder. + +The girl, who sat down in the chair he offered, smiled when he flung +his half-smoked cigar away, and Nasmyth laughed as he saw the twinkle +in her eyes, for he had stopped smoking with a half-conscious +reluctance. + +"It really was a pity, especially as I wouldn't have minded in the +least," she observed. + +Nasmyth glanced along the veranda, and saw that the man, who had +discovered that there was not another chair available, was standing +still, evidently irresolute. Probably he recognized that it would be +difficult to preserve a becoming ease of manner in attempting to force +his company upon two persons who were not anxious for it, and were +sitting down. Nasmyth looked at the girl and prepared to undertake the +part that he supposed she desired him to play. She was attired in what +he would have described as modified evening dress, and her arms and +neck gleamed with an ivory whiteness in the moonlight. She was slight +in form, and curiously dainty as well as pretty. Her hair was black, +and she had eyes that matched it, for they were dark and soft, with +curious lights in them, but, as she settled herself beside him in the +pale moonlight it seemed to him that "dainty" did not describe her +very well. She was rather elusively ethereal. + +"I really don't think you could expect me to make any admission of +that kind about my cigar, Miss Hamilton," he said. "Still, it would +perhaps have been excusable. You see, I have just come out of the +Bush." + +Violet Hamilton smiled. "You are not accustomed to throw anything away +up there?" + +"No," answered Nasmyth, with an air of reflection; "I scarcely think +we are. Certainly not when it's a cigar of the kind Mr. Acton supplies +his guests with." + +He imagined that his companion satisfied herself that the man she +evidently desired to avoid had not gone away yet, before she turned to +him again. + +"Aren't you risking Mrs. Acton's displeasure in sitting out here +alone?" she inquired. "You are probably aware that this is not what +she expects from you?" + +"I almost think the retort is obvious." And Nasmyth wondered whether +he had gone further than he intended, when he saw the momentary +hardness in his companion's eyes. It suggested that the last thing her +hostess had expected her to do was to keep out of the way of the man +who had followed her on to the veranda. He accordingly endeavoured to +divert her attention from that subject. + +"Any way, I find all this rather bewildering now and then," he said, +and indicated the lights and laughter and music in the house behind +him with a little movement of his hand. "This is a very different +world from the one I have been accustomed to, and it takes some time +to adapt oneself to changed conditions." + +He broke off as he saw the other man slowly turn away. He looked at +the girl with a smile. "I can go on a little longer if it appears +worth while." + +Violet Hamilton laughed. "Ah," she said, "one should never put one's +suspicions into words like that. Besides, I almost think one of your +observations was a little misleading. There are reasons for believing +that you are quite familiar with the kind of life you were referring +to." + +It was clear to Nasmyth that she had been observing him, but he did +not realize that she was then watching him with keen, half-covert +curiosity. He was certainly a well-favoured man, and though his +conversation and demeanour did not differ greatly from those of other +young men she was accustomed to; there was also something about him +which she vaguely recognized as setting him apart from the rest. He +was a little more quiet than most of them, and there were a certain +steadiness in his eyes, and a faint hardness in the lines of his face, +which roused her interest. He had been up against it, as they say in +that country, which is a thing that usually leaves its mark upon a +man. It endues him with control, and, above all, with comprehension. + +"Oh," he said, "a man not burdened with money is now and then forced +to wander. He naturally picks up a few impressions here and there. I +wonder if you find it chilly sitting here?" + +The girl rose, with a little laugh. "That," she said, "was evidently +meant to afford me an opportunity. I think I should like to go down to +the Inlet." + +Nasmyth, who understood this as an invitation, went with her, and, +five minutes later, they strolled out upon the crown of the bluff, +down the side of which a little path wound precipitously. Nasmyth held +his hand out at the head of it, and they went down together +cautiously, until they stood on the smooth white shingle close by +where the little steamer lay. The girl looked about her with a smile +of appreciation. + +A lane of dusky water, that heaved languidly upon the pebbles, ran +inland past them under the dark rock's side, and it was very still in +the shadow of the climbing firs. On the further shore a flood of +silvery radiance, against which the dark branches cut black as ebony, +streamed down into the rift, and beyond the rocky gateway there was +brilliant moonlight on the smooth heave of sea. The girl glanced at it +longingly, and then, though she said nothing, her eyes rested on a +little beautifully modelled cedar canoe that lay close by. In another +moment Nasmyth had laid his hands on it, and she noticed how easily he +ran it down the beach, as she had noticed how steady of foot he was +when she held fast to his hand as they came down the bluff. With a +curious little smile that she remembered afterwards, he glanced +towards the shadowy rocks which shut in the entrance to the Inlet. + +"Shall we go and see what there is out yonder beyond those gates?" he +asked. + +"Ah," replied the girl, "what could there be? Aren't you taking an +unfair advantage in appealing to our curiosity?" + +Nasmyth made a whimsical gesture as he answered her, for he saw that +she could be fanciful, too. "Unsubstantial moonlight, glamour, +mystery--perhaps other things as well," he said. "If you are curious, +why shouldn't we go and see?" + +She made no demur, and helping her into the canoe, he thrust the light +craft off, and, with a sturdy stroke of the paddle, drove it out into +the Inlet. It was a thing he was used to, for he had painfully driven +ruder craft of that kind up wildly-frothing rivers, and the girl +noticed the powerful swing of his shoulders and the rhythmic splash of +his paddle, though there were other things that had their effect on +her--the languid lapping of the brine on shingle, and the gurgle round +the canoe, that seemed to be sliding out towards the moonlight through +a world of unsubstantial shadow. She admitted that the man interested +her. He had a quick wit and a whimsical fancy that appealed to her, +but he had also hard, workman's hands, and he managed the canoe as she +imagined one who had undertaken such things professionally would have +done. + +When the shimmering blaze of moonlight lay close in front of them, he +let his paddle trail in the water for a moment or two, and, turning, +glanced back at the house on the bluff. Its lower windows blinked +patches of warm orange light against the dusky pines. + +"That," he said, "in one respect typifies all you are accustomed to. +It stands for the things you know. Aren't you a little afraid of +leaving it behind you?" + +"I think I suggested that you were accustomed to them, too!" + +Nasmyth laughed. "Oh," he said, "I was turned out of that world a long +while ago. We are going to see a different one together." + +"The one you know?" + +"Well," returned the man reflectively, "I'm not quite sure that I do. +It's the one I live in, but that doesn't go very far after all. Now +and then I think one could live in the wilderness a lifetime without +really knowing it. There's an elusive something in or behind it that +evades one--the mystery that hides in all grandeur and beauty. Still, +there's a peril in it. Like the moonlight, it gets hold of you." + +The girl fancied that she understood him, but she wondered how far it +was significant that they should slide out into the flood of radiance +together when he once more drove the light craft ahead. + +The smooth sea shimmered like molten silver about the canoe, and ran +in sparkling drops from the dripping paddle. The bluff hung high above +them, a tremendous shadowy wall, and the sweet scent of the firs came +off from it with the little land breeze. They swung out over the +smooth levels that heaved with a slow, rhythmic pulsation, and Nasmyth +wondered whether he was wise when he glanced at his companion. She sat +still, looking about her dreamily, very dainty--almost ethereal, he +thought--in that silvery light, and it was so long since he had talked +confidentially to a woman of her kind, attired as became her station. +Laura Waynefleet's hands, as he remembered, were hard and sometimes +red, and the stamp of care was plain on her; but it was very different +with Violet Hamilton. She was wholly a product of luxury and +refinement, and the mere artistic beauty of her attire, which seemed a +part of her, appealed to his imagination. + +He did not remember how she set him talking, but he told her +whimsical, and now and then grim, stories of his life in the shadowy +Bush, and she listened with quick comprehension. She seemed to endow +him with that quality, too, since, as he talked, he began to realize, +as he had never quite comprehended before, the something that lay +behind the tense struggle of man with Nature and all the strenuous +endeavour. Perhaps he expressed it in a degree, for now and then the +girl's eyes kindled as he told of some heroic grapple with giant rock +and roaring river, gnawing hunger, and loneliness, and the beaten +man's despair. He found her attention gratifying. It was certainly +pleasant, though he had not consciously adopted the pose, to figure in +the eyes of such a girl as one who had known most of the hardships +that man can bear and played his part in the great epic struggle for +the subjugation of the wilderness. As it happened, she did not know +that those who bear the brunt of that grim strife are for the most +part dumb. Their share is confined to swinging the axe and gripping +the jarring drill. + +It was an hour after they left the Inlet when the land breeze came +down a little fresher, and swinging the canoe round, he drove it back +over a glittering sea that commenced to splash about the polished side +of the light craft. Then both of them ceased talking until, as they +approached the shadowy rift in the rock, the girl looked back with a +laugh. + +"It is almost a pity to leave all that behind," she said softly. + +Nasmyth nodded as he glanced up at the lighted windows of the house. +"In one sense it is. Still, it's rather curious that I think I never +appreciated it quite so much before." He let his paddle trail as he +wondered whether he had gone too far. "I suppose you are going up the +coast with Mrs. Acton in the steamer?" he inquired. + +"Yes," answered Violet Hamilton, with an air of reflection; "I was not +quite sure whether I would or not, but now I almost think I will." + +Nasmyth was sensible of a little thrill of satisfaction, for he knew +it was understood at Bonavista that he was going too. He decided that +he could certainly go. He dipped his paddle strongly, and laughed as +they slid forward into the shadow. + +"Now," he said, "you are safely back in your own realm again." + +"You called it a world a little while ago," said the girl. + +"I did," replied Nasmyth. "Still, I almost think the word I +substituted is justifiable." + +Violet Hamilton said nothing as they climbed the bluff, but she +wondered how far the change he had made was significant. All the men +at Bonavista were her subjects, but until that night, at least, +Nasmyth had in that sense stood apart from them, and it is always more +or less gratifying to extend one's sovereignty. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MARTIAL'S MISADVENTURE + + +There was not a breath of wind, and the night was soft and warm, when +Nasmyth lay stretched upon the _Tillicum's_ deck, with his shoulder +against the saloon skylights and a pipe in his hand. The little +steamer lay with her anchor down under a long forest-shadowed point, +behind which a half-moon hung close above the great black pines. Some +distance astern of her, a schooner lay waiting for a wind with the +loose folds of her big mainsail flapping black athwart the silvery +light, and her blinking anchor-light flung a faint track of brightness +across the sliding tide. There was only the soft lap of the water +along the steamer's side and the splash of the little swell upon the +beach to break the stillness, for the sea was smooth as oil. + +The _Tillicum_ would not have compared favourably with an English +steam-yacht. She had been built for the useful purpose of towing +saw-logs, and was sold cheap when, as the mill she kept supplied grew +larger, she proved too small for it. Acton, however, was by no means a +fastidious person, and when he had fitted her with a little saloon, +and made a few primitive alterations below, he said she was quite good +enough for him. For that matter, anyone fond of it might navigate the +land-locked waters of Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia in an +open whaleboat with satisfaction in summer-time. There are islands +everywhere, wonderful rock-walled inlets that one can sail into, +beaches to which the primeval forest comes rolling down, and always +above the blue waters tower tremendous ramparts of never-melting +snow. + +On the evening in question, Acton was not on board. He had taken his +wife and guests ashore that morning for an excursion to a certain +river where there was excellent trout-fishing, and, as a hotel had +lately been built for the convenience of sportsmen visitors, it was +uncertain whether they would return that night. Nasmyth had not made +one of the party because there was scarcely room for everybody in the +gig, and six miles, which was the distance to the river mouth, was +rather far to row in the dinghy. Another guest called Martial also had +been left behind, and afterwards had been rowed ashore to visit a +ranching property somewhere in the neighbourhood. He was the man who +had followed Miss Hamilton out on to the veranda one night, and +Nasmyth, who did not like him, understood that he was connected with a +big land exploitation agency. + +Nasmyth felt more or less contented with everything, as he lay upon +the _Tillicum's_ deck listening to the faint murmur of the swell upon +the boulder beach. He had made certain propositions to the Crown lands +authorities, which he believed they would look into, and while he +waited he found the customs and luxuries of civilization pleasant. He +found the society of Violet Hamilton more pleasant still, and the +demeanour of the man, Martial, was almost the only thing that ruffled +him. Martial had constituted himself Miss Hamilton's special +attendant, and though Nasmyth fancied Mrs. Acton connived at this, it +was by no means as evident that the girl was pleased with it. Indeed, +he surmised that she liked the man as little as he did. Martial was +brusque in mariner, and, though that is not usually resented in +British Columbia, he now and then went even further than is considered +permissible in that country, and he had gained the sincere dislike of +the red-haired George, who acted as the _Tillicum's_ deck-hand, cook, +and skipper. + +George sat upon the skylights sucking at his pipe, and it presently +became evident that his thoughts and Nasmyth's were very much alike. +There was nobody else on board, for the man who fired and drove the +engines was ashore. + +"I guess you can catch trout?" the skipper remarked. + +"Oh yes," answered Nasmyth indifferently. "As a matter of fact, I've +had to, when there was very little else to eat." + +George, who was big and lank, and truculent in appearance, nodded. + +"Juss so!" he rejoined. "You've been up against it in the Bush. +Anybody could figure on that by the look of you and the way you use +your hands. A city man takes holds of things as if they were going to +hurt him. That's kind of why I froze on to you." + +Nasmyth took this as a compliment, and smiled his acknowledgment, for +George was a privileged person, and most of his recent companions held +democratic views. He, however, said nothing, and George went on +again. + +"Mrs. Acton's a mighty smart woman, but she plays some fool tricks," +he commented. "Where's the blame use in taking a boatload of folks +after trout when none of them but the boss knows how to fish?" Then he +chuckled. "You'd have gone with the rest this morning if she wanted +you to. Guess the gig would have carried another one quite nicely." + +Nasmyth fancied that this was possible, though he naturally would not +admit it to his companion. The fact that his hostess had somewhat +cleverly contrived to leave him behind had its significance, since it +seemed to indicate that she recognized that Miss Hamilton regarded him +with a certain amount of favour. + +"Well," said George reflectively, "the boss is quite smart, too! Mrs. +Acton crowded you out of the gig. The boss says nothing, but he knocks +off that blame Martial. That makes the thing even, and, unless he +does it, none of them gets any fish. Now, it kind of seems to me that +for a girl like Miss Hamilton to look at a man like Martial is a +throwing of herself away. I guess it strikes you like that, too?" + +This was rather too pointed a question for Nasmyth to answer, but, so +far as it went, he could readily have agreed with the skipper. As a +matter of fact it suggested the query why he should object to Miss +Hamilton throwing herself away. + +"Well," he observed, "I'm not quite sure that it's any concern of +mine." + +George's grin was expressive of good-natured toleration. "Oh!" he +replied, "I guess that's plain enough for me. You're not going to talk +about the boss's friends. Still, one man's as good as another in this +country, and, if I wasn't way better than Martial, I'd drown myself. +That's the kind of pernicious insect a decent man has no use for. +What's he come on board for with three bags ram full of clothes, when +many a better man humps his outfit up and down the Bush in an old +blanket same as you have done? It's a sure thing that no man with a +conscience wants to get into the land agency business. It's an +institution for selling greensuckers ranching land that's rock and +gravel and virgin forest. Besides, I heard the blame insect telling +Miss Hamilton that nobody not raised in the hog-pen could drink my +coffee." + +It seemed to Nasmyth that there was a little reason in the skipper's +observations, though he thought that Martial's strictures upon the +coffee accounted for most of them. + +"I guess it might have been wiser if Martial had kept on good terms +with the skipper," he laughingly rejoined. + +George chuckled softly. "Well," he declared, "when anyone up and says +my coffee's only fit for the hog-pen, I'm going to get even with him. +I kind of feel I have to. It's up to me." + +He said nothing further for some little time, and Nasmyth, who fancied +that he would sooner or later carry out his amiable intentions, lay +prone upon the deck smoking placidly. Nasmyth was one who adapted +himself to his environment with readiness, and on board the _Tillicum_ +the environment was particularly comfortable. Through Acton's +hospitality, he was brought into contact with the luxuries of +civilization without the galling restraints. Miss Hamilton had been +gracious to him of late. That was a cause for satisfaction in itself. +The days when he swung the heavy axe, or, drenched with icy water, +stood gripping the drill had slipped far away behind him. For the +time, at least, he could bask in the sunshine with ears stopped +against the shrill trumpet-call to action that he had heard in the +crash of rent trees and the turmoil of the wild flood. + +A faint cry came from the shore out of the stillness of the woods, and +George listened carefully. + +"That can't be the boss. Guess he's stopping at the hotel," he said. +"It's quite likely it's that blame insect Martial coming back. Those +ranchers he has been trying to freeze off their holding have no use +for him." + +The cry rose again, a trifle louder, and George nodded complacently. + +"Oh, yes," he exulted, "it's Martial sure! We'll let him howl. Any +way, he can walk down the beach until he's abreast of us. When anybody +expects me to hear him, he has got to come within half a mile." + +It seemed to Nasmyth that Martial would not have a pleasant walk in +the dark, for most of the beach lay in the black shadow of the pines, +and beneath highwater mark was covered with the roughest kind of +boulders. Above the tide-line, a ragged mass of driftwood interspersed +with undergrowth separated the water from the tangled Bush. Both +George and Nasmyth were aware that one could readily tear one's +clothes to pieces in an attempt to struggle through such a labyrinth. +Judging by the shouts he uttered at intervals, Martial appeared to be +floundering along the beach, and presently Nasmyth laughed. + +"He appears to be getting angry," he said. "After all, it's only +natural that he doesn't want to sleep in the woods all night." + +George filled his pipe, apparently with quiet satisfaction, but, some +time later, he stood up suddenly with an exclamation. + +"The blame contrary insect means swimming off," he announced. + +Nasmyth, glancing shorewards, saw a dim white object crawling on +all-fours towards the water where the moonlight streamed down upon a +jutting point, and it was then that the idea which had results that +neither of them anticipated first dawned on the skipper, who broke +into a hoarse chuckle. + +"I guess he wouldn't want Miss Hamilton to see him like that," he +said. "Some folks look considerably smarter with their clothes on." + +"How's she going to see him when she isn't here?" + +George grinned again. "Her dresses are, so's her hat and her little +mandolin. If you were pulled in tight you'd have quite a figure." + +It was clear to Nasmyth that the scheme was workable, though he was +quite aware that the thing he was expected to do was a trifle +discreditable. Still, he had lived for some time in the Bush, where +his comrades' jests were not particularly delicate, and Martial once +or twice had been aggressively unpleasant to him. What was more to the +purpose, he felt reasonably sure that Miss Hamilton would be by no +means sorry to be free of Martial, and it was probable that their +victim would never relate his discomfiture, if their scheme +succeeded. + +As the result of these reflections he went down with George to the +little saloon. The skipper, who left him there a few minutes, came +hack with an armful of feminine apparel. They had no great difficulty +in tying on the big hat with the veil, but when Nasmyth had stripped +his jacket off there was some trouble over the next proceeding. +Indeed, Derrick did not feel quite comfortable about appropriating +Miss Hamilton's garments, but he had committed himself, and it was +quite clear that his companion would not appreciate his reasons for +drawing back. + +"Hold your breath while I get this blame hook in," said the skipper. + +Nasmyth did so; but he could not continue to hold it indefinitely, and +in a few moments there was a suggestive crack, and George desisted in +evident dismay. + +"Come adrift from the stiffening quite a strip of it," he said. "Well, +I guess I can somehow fix the thing up so as nobody will notice it. It +should be easier than putting a new cloth in a topsail, and I've a +mending outfit in the locker." + +Nasmyth was by no means sure of George's ability to make the damage +good, but he permitted the skipper to tie on the loose skirt, and then +to hang the beribboned mandolin round his neck. When this was done +George surveyed him with a grin of satisfaction. + +"Well," said George, "I guess you'll do. Now you'll keep behind the +skylights, and only get up and bang that mandolin when Martial wants +to come on board. Guess when he sees you he'll feel 'most like jumping +right out of his skin. Miss Hamilton's not going to mind. I've seen +her looking at him as if she'd like to stick a big hatpin into him." + +They went up, and Nasmyth, who felt guilty as he crouched in the +shadow, could see a black head and the flash of a white arm that swung +out into the moonlight and disappeared again. Martial was swimming +pluckily, and the tide was with him, for his head grew larger every +minute, and presently the gleam of his skin became visible through the +pale shining of the brine. His face dipped as his left arm came out at +every stroke, and the water frothed as his feet swung together like a +flail. He paddled easily while the tide swept him on until he reached +the _Tillicum_. Then his voice rose, breathless and cautious. + +"Anchor watch," he called. "Anybody else on board?" + +George, who kept out of sight, did not answer. Martial called again. + +"Don't let anybody out of the companion while I get up," he +commanded. + +The _Tillicum_ had a high sheer forward, and he could not reach her +rail, but as the tide swept him along he raised himself to clutch at +it where it was lower abreast of the skylights. + +"Now," said George softly, "you can play the band." + +Nasmyth rose and swept his knife-haft across the strings of the +mandolin. For a moment he saw something like horror in Martial's wet +face, and then the man, who gasped, went down headforemost into the +water. Martial was nearly a dozen yards astern when his head came out +again, and he slid away with the tide, with his white arm swinging +furiously. George sat down upon the deck, and expressed his +satisfaction by drumming his feet upon the planking while he laughed. + +"He's off," he said. "Might have a high-power engine inside of him. +Guess he's going to scare those schooner men 'most out of their lives. +It's quite likely they won't keep anchor watch when they're lying snug +in a place of this kind." + +Nasmyth managed to control his laughter, and went down to divest +himself of his draperies. When he came up again, George reported that +he had just seen Martial crawling up the schooner's cable, and in +another few moments what appeared to be a howl of terror rose from +the vessel. It was not repeated, and shortly afterwards Nasmyth went +to sleep. + +Martial remained on board the schooner that night, and Nasmyth was not +surprised when he failed to appear next morning. Acton had come back +with his party when a man dropped into the boat astern of the +schooner, and pulled towards the _Tillicum_ leisurely. Everybody was +on deck when he slid alongside, and, standing up in his boat, laid +hold of the rail. + +"I've a message for Mr. Acton," he said, holding up a strip of paper. + +Acton, who took the paper from him, was a trifle perplexed when he +glanced at it. + +"It seems that Martial didn't stay at that ranch last night as I +thought he had done," he remarked. + +Mrs. Acton, who sat next to Miss Hamilton, looked up sharply. She was +a tall woman with an authoritative manner. + +"Where is he?" she inquired. + +"Gone back to Victoria," said her husband, who handed her the note. +"It's kind of sudden, and he doesn't worry about saying why he went. +There's a little remark at the bottom that I don't quite like." + +George naturally had been listening, and Nasmyth saw his subdued +grin, but he saw also Mrs. Acton's quick glance at Miss Hamilton, +which seemed to suggest that she surmised the girl could explain why +Martial had departed so unceremoniously. There was, however, only +astonishment, and, Nasmyth fancied, a trace of relief in Violet +Hamilton's face. Mrs. Acton turned to her husband with a flush of +resentment in her eyes. + +"I should scarcely have believed Mr. Martial would ever write such a +note," she said. "What does he mean when he says that he does not +appreciate being left to sleep in the woods all night?" + +"That," answered Acton, "is what I don't quite understand. If he'd +hailed anchor watch loud enough, George would have gone off for him. +Still, we're lying quite a way out from the beach." + +Then he remembered the man from the schooner, who still gripped the +rail. + +"How did you come to get this note?" he asked. + +"The man who came off last night gave it to the skipper," said the +schooner's deck-hand with a very suggestive grin. + +"How'd he come off?" Acton asked. "Did you go ashore for him?" + +"We didn't!" said the man. "He must have swum off and crawled up the +cable. Any way, when he struck the skipper he hadn't any clothes on +him." + +There was a little murmur of astonishment, and Mrs. Acton straightened +herself suddenly, while Nasmyth saw a gleam of amusement creep into +Acton's eyes. The schooner man evidently felt that he had an +interested audience, for he leaned upon the rail as he began to tell +all he knew about the incident. + +"I was asleep forward, when the skipper howled as if he was most +scared out of his life," he said. "I got up out of the scuttle just as +quick as I could, and there he was crawling round behind the +stern-house with an axe in his hand, and the mate flat up against the +rail. + +"'Shut that slide quick,' says the skipper. 'Shut it. He's crawling up +the ladder.' + +"'I guess you can shut it yourself if you want it shut.' He asked for +whisky. 'Tell him where it is,' says the mate." + +There was no doubt that the listeners were interested, and the man +made an impressive gesture. "It was kind of scaring. There was a soft +flippety-flop going on in the stern-house, and I slipped out a +handspike. Then the skipper sees me. + +"'There's a drowned man crawling round the cabin with water running +off him,' he says. + +"Then a head came out of the scuttle and a wet arm, and a voice that +didn't sound quite like a drowned man's says, 'Oh you----'" + +Acton raised his arm restrainingly, and the narrator made a sign of +comprehension. + +"He called us fools," the man explained, "and for 'most a minute the +skipper was going to take the axe to him. Then he hove it at the mate +for being scared instead, and they all went down together, and I heard +them light the stove. After that I went back and dropped off to sleep, +and the skipper sent me off at sun-up to fetch the stranger's clothes. +We set him ashore as soon as he'd got some breakfast into him." + +The man rowed away in another minute or two, and, as he had evidently +told his story with a relish, Nasmyth wondered whether Martial had +contrived to offend him by endeavouring to purchase his silence. There +are, of course, men one can offer a dollar to on that coast, but such +an act requires a certain amount of circumspection. + +Acton's eyes twinkled, and the men who were his guests looked at one +another meaningly. + +"Well," answered one of them, "I guess there is an explanation, though +I didn't think Martial was that kind of man." + +Nasmyth said nothing, but he saw Mrs. Acton's face flush with anger +and disdain, and surmised that it was most unlikely that she would +forgive the unfortunate Martial. The women in the party evidently felt +that it would not be advisable to say anything further about the +matter, and when George broke out the anchor the _Tillicum_ steamed +away. + +It was after supper that night, and there was nobody except the +helmsman on deck, when Miss Hamilton approached the forward scuttle +where Nasmyth sat with his pipe in his hand. Nasmyth rose and spread +out an old sail for her, and she sat down a little apart from him. The +_Tillicum_ was steaming northwards at a leisurely six knots, with her +mastheads swaying rhythmically through the soft darkness, and a +deep-toned gurgling at her bows. By-and-by Nasmyth became conscious +that Miss Hamilton was looking at him, and, on the whole, he was glad +that it was too dark for her to see him very well. + +"I wonder if you were very much astonished at what you heard about Mr. +Martial?" she asked. + +"Well," said Nasmyth reflectively, "in one way at least, I certainly +was. You see, I did not think Martial was, as our friend observed, +that kind of man. In fact, I may admit that I feel reasonably sure of +it still." + +"I suppose you felt you owed him that?" + +"I didn't want to leave you under a misapprehension." + +There was silence for half a minute, and then Nasmyth turned towards +the girl again. + +"You are still a little curious about the affair?" he suggested. + +"I am. I may mention that I found a certain dress of mine, which I do +not remember tearing, had evidently been repaired by somebody quite +unaccustomed to that kind of thing. Now there were, of course, only +the skipper and yourself on board while we were away." + +Nasmyth felt his face grow hot. "Well," he replied, "if it's any +consolation to you, I am quite prepared, in one respect at least, to +vindicate Martial's character. In any case, I think I shall have an +interview with Mrs. Acton to-morrow." + +His heart beat a little faster, for the girl laughed. + +"It really wouldn't be any consolation at all to me," she admitted. + +"Ah," said Nasmyth, "then, although you may have certain fancies, you +are not dreadfully vexed with me?" + +Violet Hamilton appeared to reflect. "Considering everything, I almost +think you can be forgiven." + +After that, they talked about other matters for at least an hour, +while the _Tillicum_, with engines throbbing softly, crept on through +the darkness, and Acton, who happened to notice them as he lounged +under the companion scuttle with a cigar in his hand, smiled +significantly. Acton had a liking for Nasmyth, and though he was not +sure that Mrs. Acton would have been pleased had she known where Miss +Hamilton was, the matter was, he reflected, after all, no concern of +his. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ACTON'S WARNING + + +It was with somewhat natural misgivings, the next afternoon, that +Nasmyth strolled forward along the _Tillicum's_ deck toward the place +where Mrs. Acton was sitting. Immaculately dressed, as usual, she +reclined in a canvas chair with a book, which she had been reading, +upon her knee. As Nasmyth approached her he became conscious that she +was watching him with a curious expression in her keen, dark eyes. The +steamer had dropped anchor in a little land-locked bay, and Nasmyth +had just come back in the dinghy, after rowing one or two of the party +ashore. Mrs. Acton indicated with a movement of her hand that he might +sit upon the steamer's rail, and then, turning towards him, looked at +him steadily. She was a woman of commanding personality, and +imperiously managed her husband's social affairs. If he had permitted +it, she probably would have undertaken, also, to look after his +commercial interests. + +"I wonder why you decided not to visit the Indian settlement with the +others?" she inquired. + +Nasmyth smiled. "I have been in many places of the kind," he answered. +"Besides, there is something I think I ought to tell you." + +"I almost fancied that was the case." + +"Then I wonder if you have connected me with Martial's disappearance?" + +"I may admit that my husband evidently has." + +"He told you, then?" And Nasmyth realized next moment that the faint +astonishment he had displayed was not altogether tactful. + +"No," said Mrs. Acton, with a smile, "he did not. That was, I think, +what made me more sure of it. James Acton can maintain a judicious +silence when it appears advisable, and there are signs that he rather +likes you." + +Nasmyth bowed. "I should be very pleased to hear that you shared his +views in this respect," he observed. + +"I am, in the meanwhile, somewhat naturally rather uncertain upon the +point," she returned. + +"Well," confessed Nasmyth humbly, "I believe I am largely responsible +for your guest's sudden disappearance. It was, of course, almost +inexcusable, and I could not complain if you were very angry with +me." + +"I should, at least, like to know exactly what you did." + +"That," said Nasmyth, "is a thing I would sooner you did not urge me +to explain. After all, I feel I have done Martial sufficient injury, +and I do not think he would like you to know. There are," he added +somewhat diffidently, "one or two other reasons why I should prefer +not to say anything further, but I would like to assure you that the +explanation one of your friends suggested is not the correct one. I +ventured to make this, at least, clear to Miss Hamilton." + +Mrs. Acton regarded him with a suggestive smile. "Mr. Martial was not +effusively pleasant to you. The affair was premeditated?" + +"My one excuse is that the thing was done on the spur of the moment. I +should never have undertaken it if I had reflected." Nasmyth made a +gesture of submission. "I am in your hands." + +Mrs. Acton sat silent for perhaps a minute gazing at the woods that +swept round three sides of the little bay. Great cedars and pines and +hemlocks rolled down to the water's edge, and the stretch of smooth +green brine between them and the steamer flashed like a mirror. + +"Well," she said, after a long pause, "I must admit that at first I +was angry with you. Now"--and her eyes grew a bit scornful--"I am +angry with Martial, instead. In fact, I think I shall wash my hands of +him. I have no sympathy with a man who allows himself to be placed in +a ludicrously painful position that reflects upon his friends." + +"Especially when he has the privilege of your particular favour," +added Nasmyth. + +Mrs. Acton laughed. "That," she returned, "was a daring observation. +It, at least, laid a certain obligation on Martial to prove it +warranted, which he has signally failed to do. I presume you know why +he took some little pains to make himself unpleasant to you?" + +Nasmyth fancied that she was really angry with Martial, and that he +understood her attitude. She was a capable, strong-willed woman, and +had constituted herself the ally of the unfortunate man who had +brought discredit on her by permitting himself to be shamefully driven +from the field. It was also evident that she resented the fact that a +guest from her husband's yacht should have been concerned in any +proceedings of the nature that the schooner's deck-hand had +described. + +"I think I suspect why he was not cordial to me," Nasmyth admitted. +"Still, the inference is so flattering that one would naturally feel a +little diffident about believing that Martial's suppositions were +correct." + +"That," replied Mrs. Acton, "was tactfully expressed." She looked at +the young man fixedly, and her next remark was characterized by the +disconcerting frankness which is not unusual in the West. "Mr. +Nasmyth," she said, "unless you have considerable means of your own, +it would be wiser of you to put any ideas of the kind you have hinted +at right out of your head." + +"I might, perhaps, ask you for one or two reasons why I should adopt +the course you suggest." + +"You shall have them. Violet Hamilton is a lady with possessions, and +I look upon her as a ward of my own. Any way, her father and mother +are dead, and they were my dearest friends." + +"Ah," agreed Nasmyth, "that naturally renders caution advisable. Well, +I am in possession of three or four hundred dollars, and a project +which I would like to believe may result to my advantage financially. +Still, that is a thing I cannot be very sure about." + +Mrs. Acton gazed at him thoughtfully. "Your uncle is a man of means." + +"I believe he is. He may put three or four thousand dollars into the +venture I mention, if he continues pleased with me. That is, I think, +the most I could expect from him." + +Mrs. Acton sat silent a while, and, though Nasmyth was not aware of +it, favoured him with one or two glances of careful scrutiny. He was, +as she had naturally noticed, a well-favoured man, and the flannels +and straw hat he wore were becoming to him. What was more to the +purpose, there was a certain graceful easiness in his voice and manner +which were not characteristic of most of her husband's friends. +Indeed, well-bred poise was not a characteristic of her own, though +she recognized her lack. The polish that she coveted suggested an +acquaintance with a world that she had not as yet succeeded in +persuading her husband to enter. Acton was, from her point of view, +regrettably contented with his commercial status in the new and +crudely vigorous West. + +"Well," she remarked thoughtfully, "none of us knows what there is in +the future, and there are signs that you have intelligence and grit in +you." Then she dismissed the subject. "I think you might take me for a +row," she said. + +Nasmyth pulled the dinghy alongside, and rowed her up and down the +bay, but his intelligence was, after all, not sufficient for him to +recognize the cleverness with which she led him on to talk about his +uncle and England. He was not aware that he had been particularly +communicative, but when he rowed back to the yacht Mrs. Acton was in +possession of a great deal of information that was more or less +satisfying. + +The _Tillicum_ steamed away again when the remainder of the party +arrived, and she was leisurely swinging over a little froth-flecked +sea that night, with the spray flying at her bows, when Acton came +upon Nasmyth leaning on the rail. + +"I wasn't quite certain what view Mrs. Acton might take of Martial's +disappearance," said Acton. "Just now, however, I think that she is +rather pleased with you." + +"The fact," replied Nasmyth, "is naturally a cause for satisfaction." + +Acton appeared amused. "Well," he said, "to some extent it depends +upon what views she has for you. Mrs. Acton is a capable woman." + +Acton strolled forward, leaving Nasmyth thoughtful. The hint was +reasonably plain, but the younger man was not quite sure that he would +be willing to fall in with the strong-willed woman's views. There was +no doubt that Violet Hamilton attracted him--he admitted that without +hesitation--for she had grace and wit and beauty, but she had, also, +large possessions, which might prove a serious obstacle. Besides, he +was sensible of a tenderness for the woman who had given him shelter +and a great deal more than that in the lonely Bush. Laura, however, +was still in the wilderness, and Miss Hamilton, whose society he found +very pleasant, was then on board the _Tillicum_, facts that had their +significance in the case of a man liable to be swayed by the impulses +of the moment. By-and-by, he started, for while he thought about her, +Miss Hamilton came out of the little companion-way, and stood looking +round her, with her long light dress rustling in the breeze, until +she moved forward as her eyes rested on him. + +Nasmyth fancied that there was a particular significance in the fact +that she appeared just then. He walked to meet her, and, drawing a low +canvas chair into the shelter of the skylights, sat down with his back +against them close at her feet. He did not remember what they talked +about, and it was in all probability nothing very material, but they +had already discovered that they had kindred views and likes, and they +sat close together in the shelter of the skylights with a bright +half-moon above them, while the _Tillicum_ lurched on over a +glittering sea. Both of them were surprised to discover that an hour +had slipped by when their companions came up on deck, and Nasmyth was +once more thoughtful before he went to sleep that night. + +Next day the _Tillicum_ brought up off a little mining town, and +George, who went ashore, came back with several letters. Among the +letters was a note for Nasmyth from a man interested in land +exploitation. This man, with whom Nasmyth had been in communication, +was then in the mining town, and he suggested that Nasmyth should call +upon him at his hotel. Nasmyth showed Acton the letter. + +"I understand these folks are straight?" the younger man remarked with +inquiry in his tone. + +Acton smiled dryly. "Any way," he said, "they're as straight as most. +It's not a business that's conducive to unswerving rectitude. Hutton +has come up here to see you about the thing?" + +"He says he has some other business." + +"Well," replied Acton, "perhaps he has." Then he turned to Wisbech, +who sat close by. "I'll go ashore with Nasmyth. Will you come along?" + +"No," said Wisbech; "I almost think I'll stay where I am. If Derrick +can hold out any reasonable prospect of making interest on the money, +it's quite possible I may put three or four thousand dollars into the +thing, but I go no further. It's his affair. He must handle it +himself." + +Acton nodded. "That's sensible, in one way," he declared, and one +could have fancied there was a certain suggestiveness in the +qualification. + +Wisbech appeared to notice it, for he looked hard at Acton. Then he +made an abrupt gesture. + +"It's my nephew's affair," he said. + +"Oh, yes!" returned Acton, significantly. "Any way, I'll go ashore +with him, as soon as George has the gig ready." + +Acton and Nasmyth were rowed off together half an hour later, and they +walked up through the hot main street of the little colliery town. It +was not an attractive place, with rickety plank sidewalks raised +several feet above the street, towering telegraph-poles, wooden +stores, and square frame houses cracked by the weather, and mostly +destitute of any adornment or paint. Blazing sunshine beat down upon +the rutted street, and an unpleasant gritty dust blew along it. + +There was evidently very little going on in the town that afternoon. +Here and there a man leaned heavy-eyed, as if unaccustomed to the +brightness, on the balustrade in front of a store, and raucous voices +rose from one or two second-rate saloons, but there were few other +signs of life, and Nasmyth was not sorry when they reached the wooden +hotel. Acton stopped a moment in front of the building. + +"Hutton's an acquaintance of mine, and if you have to apply to men of +his kind, he is, perhaps, as reliable as most," he said. "Still, you +want to remember that in this country it's every man for himself, +especially when you undertake a deal in land." He smiled suggestively. +"And now we'll go in and see him." + +They came upon a man who appeared a little older than Nasmyth. He was +sitting on the veranda, which was spacious, and had one or two wooden +pillars with crude scroll-work attached to them in front. Acton nodded +to the stranger. + +"This is Mr. Nasmyth," he said. "He came up with me. Doing much round +here?" + +The question was abrupt, but the man smiled. + +"Oh," he answered, "we endeavour to do a little everywhere." + +"Then I'll leave you to it, and look round again by-and-by. I guess I +may as well mention that Mr. Nasmyth is coming back with me." + +Acton looked hard at Hutton, who smiled again. "Oh, yes," replied +Hutton, "I understand that. It's quite likely we'll have the thing +fixed up in half an hour or so. A cigar, Mr. Nasmyth?" + +Nasmyth took a cigar, and went with Hutton to the little table which +had been set out, on the inner side of the veranda, with a carafe of +ice-water and a couple of bottles. They sat down at it, and Hutton +took out two letters and glanced at them. + +"Now," he said, "we'll get to work. I understand your proposition is +to run the water out of the Cedar Valley. What's the area?" + +"About four thousand acres available for ranching land, though it has +never been surveyed." + +"And you want to take up as many acres beforehand as you can, and +can't quite raise the capital?" + +Nasmyth said that was very much the state of affairs, and Hutton +drummed his fingers on the table. He was a lean-faced man, dressed +quietly and precisely, in city fashion, but he wore a big stone in a +ring on one hand, which for no very evident reason prejudiced his +companion against him. + +"Well," he averred, "we might consider going into the thing and +finding part of the capital. It's our business, but naturally we would +want to be remunerated for the risk. It's rather a big one. You see, +you would have to take up the whole four thousand acres." + +"Then," replied Nasmyth, "what's your proposition?" + +"We'll put up what money you can't raise, and our surveyor will locate +land at present first-class Crown land figure. We'll charge you bank +rate until the land's made marketable when you have run the water out. +In a general way, that's my idea of the thing." + +Nasmyth laid down his cigar and looked at him. "Isn't it a little +exorbitant? You get the land at cost value, and a heavy charge on +that, while I do the work?" + +Hutton laughed. "Well," he said, "it's money we're out for, and unless +you take it all up, your claim's no good. Anybody else could jump +right in and buy a few hundred acres. Then he could locate water +rights and stop you running down the river, unless you bought him +out." + +"The difficulty is that the Crown authorities haven't been selling +land lately, and would sooner lease. They seem inclined to admit that +this is a somewhat exceptional case; in fact, they have granted me one +or two privileges." + +"What you would call a first option?" + +Nasmyth remembered Acton's manner when he had mentioned his +acquaintance with his companion, and one or two things he had said. + +"No," he said, "not exactly that. I merely mentioned certain +privileges." + +"Then, what's to stop me or anybody going right down to Victoria and +buying the whole thing up to-morrow?" + +"I'm inclined to fancy you would discover one or two things that would +make it difficult," answered Nasmyth dryly. "For another thing, I +hardly think you would get any of the regular rock-cutting or +mine-sinking people to undertake the work about the fall at a figure +that wouldn't make the risk too big. It's not a place that lends +itself to modern methods or the use of machinery. Besides, after +approaching you to a certain extent in confidence, it wouldn't be +quite the thing." + +Hutton waved the hand which bore the ring. "Well," he said, "we'll get +back to our original offer. If it isn't good enough, how much more do +you want?" + +Nasmyth explained his views, and they discussed each proposition point +by point, gradually drawing nearer to an agreement. Nasmyth was quite +aware that in a matter of this kind the man who provides the capital +usually takes the lion's share, but, after all, the project was his, +and he naturally wanted something for himself. At length Hutton leaned +forward with both elbows on the table, and a certain intentness in his +lean face. + +"Now," he said, "I've gone just about as far as I can. You have either +got to close with my proposition or let it go." + +Nasmyth said nothing, and there was silence for almost a minute while +he lay back in his chair gazing at the weather-cracked front of the +store across the street, and thinking hard. There was, he was quite +aware, a very arduous task in front of him--one that he shrank from at +times, for it could only be by strenuous toil that he could succeed in +lowering the level of the river, and it was clear that if he accepted +Mutton's offer, his share of the proceeds would not be a large one. +Still, he must have more capital than he could see the means of +raising, and once or twice he was on the point of signifying his +concurrence. His face grew grimmer, and he straightened himself a +trifle, but he did not see that the man who could supply the money was +watching him with a smile. + +Then it seemed to Nasmyth that he heard a footstep in the room behind +him, but it was not particularly noticeable, and Hutton touched his +arm. + +"Well," said the promoter, "I'll just run over our terms again." He +did so rapidly, and added: "If that doesn't take you, we'll call it +off." + +Nasmyth made a gesture which was vaguely expressive of resignation, +and in another moment would have closed the bargain, but the footsteps +grew plainer, and, as he turned round, Acton appeared at the open +window close behind them. He stood still, looking at them with +amusement in his shrewd eyes, and then, stepping out, dropped heavily +into the nearest chair. + +"Not through yet? I want a drink," he said. + +It was probably not often that Hutton was disconcerted, but Nasmyth +saw his fingers close sharply on his cigar, which crumpled under them, +and that appeared significant to him. Acton looked round again as he +filled his glass. + +"When you're ready we'll go along," he suggested. "You can worry out +anything Hutton has put before you to-night. When I've a matter of +consequence on hand, I generally like to sleep on it." + +Nasmyth rose and turned to Hutton. "I don't want to keep Mr. Acton, +and I'm afraid I can't decide just yet," he said. "I'll let you know +when I make up my mind." + +Hutton made a sign of concurrence, but there was a suggestive frown on +his face, when he leaned upon the balustrade, as Nasmyth and Acton +went down the stairway together. When they were half-way down the +street, Acton looked at Nasmyth with a dry smile. + +"Well," he commented, "you have still got most of the wool on you?" + +Nasmyth laughed, but there was relief in his voice. + +"I was very nearly doing what I think would have been an unwise +thing," he said. "It was fortunate you came along when you did." + +Acton waved his hand. "I'm open to admit that Hutton has a voice like +a boring bit. It would go through a door, any way. It's a thing he +ought to remember." + +"There is still a point or two I am not very clear upon;" and Nasmyth +looked at him steadily. + +Acton smiled again. "The fact is, Mrs. Acton gave me some instructions +concerning you. She said I was to see you through." He made an +expressive gesture. "She seemed to figure it might be advisable." + +"Well," said Nasmyth reflectively, "I fancy she was right." + +They said nothing further, but Nasmyth was unusually thoughtful as +they proceeded towards the water-front. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +AN EVENTFUL DAY + + +It was about eleven o'clock on a cloudy, unsettled morning when +Nasmyth stood knee-deep in a swirling river-pool, holding a +landing-net and watching Miss Hamilton, who stood on a neighbouring +bank of shingle with a light trout-rod in her hand. The rod was bent, +and the thin line, which was drawn tense and rigid, ripped through the +surface of the pool, while there was also a suggestion of tension in +the pose of the girl's figure. She was gazing at the moving line, with +a fine crimson in her cheeks and a brightness in her eyes. + +"Oh," she cried, "I'm afraid I'm going to lose it, after all." + +Nasmyth smiled reassuringly. "Keep the butt well down, and your thumb +upon the reel," he continued. "You have only to keep on a steady +strain." + +A big silvery object broke the surface a dozen yards away, and then, +while the reel clinked, went down again; but the line was moving +towards Nasmyth now, and, in another minute or two, he flung a sharp +warning at the girl as he made a sweep with the net. Then he +floundered ashore, dripping, with the gleaming trout, which he laid at +her feet. + +"You ran that fish very well," he told her. "In fact, there were one +or two moments when I never expected you to hold it." + +The colour grew a little plainer in his companion's face, though +whether this was due to his commendation or to elation at her own +success was a question. As she had just caught her first big fish, it +was, perhaps, the latter. + +"Oh," she said complacently, "it isn't so very difficult after all. +But I wonder what can have become of the others of our party?" + +It was at least an hour since Nasmyth had last seen their companions +considerably lower down the river. He and Miss Hamilton had pushed on +ahead of them into the Bush, which was a thing they had fallen into +the habit of doing. The girl sat down on a boulder and seemed to be +listening, but there was nothing to indicate the presence of any of +the party. Except for the murmur of the river and the sighing among +the pine-sprays high overhead, the Bush was very still, but it seemed +to Nasmyth that there was more wind than there had been. + +"I suppose we had better go back to them," observed the girl. The +manner in which she spoke conveyed the impression that she would have +been more or less contented to stay where she was with him; but next +moment she added: "After all, they have the lunch with them, and it +must have been seven o'clock when we breakfasted." + +"Yes," said Nasmyth, "I think it was. Still, until this minute I had +quite forgotten it." + +"I certainly hadn't," said Violet Hamilton. "I don't think I ever had +breakfast at seven o'clock in my life until this morning." + +The fact had its significance to Nasmyth. It was one of the many +little things that emphasized the difference between his life and +hers, but he brushed it out of his mind, and they went back together +down the waterside. Their progress was slow, for there was no trail at +all, and while they laboriously plodded over the shingle, or crept in +and out among the thickets, the wail of the breeze grew louder. Half +an hour had passed when the faint hoot of the _Tillicum's_ whistle +reached them among the trees. + +"What can the skipper be whistling for?" asked the girl. + +"I fancy the wind is setting inshore moderately fresh, and he wants us +to come off before it roughens the water," said Nasmyth. + +They went on as fast as possible after that, though it was remarkably +rough travelling; but they saw no sign of their companions, and the +whistle, which had shrieked again, was silent, which evidently meant +that the gig had already gone off. When they reached the inlet the +river fell into, and found only the _Tillicum's_ dinghy lying on the +shingle, Nasmyth, looking down the lane of smooth green water somewhat +anxiously, noticed that the sea was flecked with white. The +_Tillicum_, as he remembered, was also lying well out from the beach. + +"We had better get off at once," he said. "The breeze is freshening, +and this dinghy isn't very big." + +He helped the girl into the boat, and when he had thrust the little +craft off sent her flying down the riband of sheltered water; but he +set his lips and braced himself for an effort when they slid out past +a point of froth-lapped shingle. There was already a white-topped sea +running, and the spray from the oar-blades and the dinghy's bows blew +aft into his companion's face in stinging wisps as he drove the +plunging craft over it. Now and then an odd bucketful of brine came in +and hit him on the back, while Miss Hamilton, who commenced to get +very wet, shivered and drew her feet up as the water gathered deeper +in the bottom of the boat. + +"I'm afraid I must ask you to throw some of that water out," he said. +"There is a can to scoop it up with." + +The girl made an attempt to do so, but it was not surprising that in a +few minutes, when the dinghy lurched viciously, she let the can slip +from her fingers. Nasmyth set his lips tighter, and his face was +anxious as he glanced over his shoulder. The sea was white-flecked +between him and the _Tillicum_, which lay rolling wildly farther down +the beach, at least half a mile away. It already taxed all Nasmyth's +strength to drive the dinghy off shore, and every sea that broke a +little more sharply than the rest splashed into the boat. He held on +for another few minutes, glancing over his shoulder and pulling +cautiously, for it was evident that he might fill the dinghy up or +roll her over if he failed to swing neatly over the crest of some +tumbling comber. In spite of his efforts, a wave broke on board, and +sitting ankle-deep in water, he waited until there was a slightly +smoother patch in front of him, and then swung the dinghy round. + +"I'm afraid we'll have to make for the beach," he announced. + +He would have preferred to head for the inlet, but that would have +brought the little white seas, which were rapidly getting steeper, +dangerously on her beam, and the thrust of one beneath her side +probably would have been sufficient to turn the diminutive craft over. +He accordingly pulled straight for the beach before the wind, and the +perspiration dripped from his set face as he strove to hold the dinghy +straight, when, with the foam boiling white about her, she swung up on +the crest of a comber. Once or twice Nasmyth glanced at Violet +Hamilton reassuringly, but she sat, half-crouching, against the +transom, gazing forward, white in face, with her wet hair whipping +about her. Nasmyth had not noticed it before, but her hat had +evidently gone over. Speech was out of the question. He wanted all his +breath, and recognized that it was not advisable to divert his +attention for a moment from his task, for it depends very largely upon +the man at the oars whether a diminutive dinghy keeps right side +uppermost in any weight of breeze. Once or twice he risked a glance at +the approaching land. + +Sombre forest rolled down to the water's edge, and he could see that +there was already a broad ribbon of frothy whiteness beneath it, while +so far as he had noticed that beach consisted of rock ledges and very +large boulders. It was about the last place he would have chosen to +make a landing on, in a light and fragile dinghy. + +After that, he looked resolutely astern over his companion's shoulders +as she swung up between him and the sea with the slate-green ridges +and tumbling white tops of the combers behind her. At length a +hazarded glance showed him that they were close inshore, and he +wondered for a moment whether he could swing the dinghy round without +rolling the boat over. He did not think it could be done, and set his +lips as he let her go, careering on a comber's crest, with at least +half her length out of the water. + +Then there was a white upheaval close alongside, and for a moment a +black mass of stone appeared amidst the leaping foam. They swept by +it, and he gasped with relief as he looked at Miss Hamilton. + +"Get hold of me when she strikes," he said. + +The dinghy swung round, twisting broadside-on with the brine pouring +into her in spite of all that he could do; and while he tore at one +oar, another white sea that curled menacingly rose up astern. It broke +right into the boat, and in another moment there was a crash, and +Nasmyth, who let the oars drop, stretched out his arms to the girl. He +jumped when she clutched him, and found himself standing amid the +swirling froth on what seemed to be a ledge of very slippery stone, +with both arms about her, while the crushed-in dinghy swept up among +the foam-lapped boulders. He sprang down from the stone as another sea +came in, and floundered ashore waist-deep with it, after which he set +his dripping companion down upon the beach. + +"I'm afraid you're rather wet," he said, when he got his breath again. +"Still, I really couldn't help it. There was a good deal more sea than +I had expected." + +Miss Hamilton, who sat down on a boulder with the water dripping from +her skirt, looked ruefully at him and the dinghy, which was rolling +over in the surf. + +"How are we going to get off?" she inquired. + +"Not in that dinghy, any way," answered Nasmyth. "She has knocked all +one bilge in. They'll probably send the _Tillicum's_ gig ashore for us +by-and-by." + +"But she's going away!" said the girl, with a gasp of consternation. + +Nasmyth, who turned round, saw that this was certainly the case. A +cloud of steam blew away from beside the yacht's funnel, and in +another moment the shriek of a whistle reached him. + +"I don't think we need worry about that," he remarked. "They evidently +watched us get ashore. You see, with the breeze freshening she +couldn't very well lie where she was. Still, if I remember, there's an +inlet a couple of leagues or so away along the coast where she'd find +shelter." + +"But why didn't they send for us first?" + +"The trouble is that there is really a nasty sea, and they couldn't +very well take us off if they knocked a big hole in the gig. I fancy +the wisest thing would be to walk towards that inlet along the +beach." + +They set off, when Nasmyth had pulled the dinghy out, but the beach +was strewn with driftwood which was difficult to flounder over, as +well as very rough. They made no greater progress when they tried the +Bush. Fallen trees lay across one another, and there were thorny +thickets in between, while, here and there, the undergrowth seemed as +impenetrable as a wall. By-and-by it commenced to rain, and for an +hour or two they plodded on dejectedly through the pitiless deluge. It +rains exceedingly hard in that country. At last the girl sat down on a +fallen tree. She had already lost her hat, and the water soaked out of +Nasmyth's jacket, which he had tied by the arms about her shoulders. +Her drenched skirt clung about her, rent to tatters, and one of her +little shoes was caked with mire. The other gaped open. + +"How far have we gone?" she asked. + +"About a league," answered Nasmyth quietly. "I think we could make the +inlet in another two hours. That is, if the beach isn't very much +rougher." + +The girl leaned against a branch wearily. "I'm afraid I can't go a +step further," she replied with trembling lips. + +The rain beat upon them, and Nasmyth stood still a moment looking at +her. + +"Well," he said, "we really can't stay here. Since there seems no +other way, I think I could carry you." + +His diffidence was evident, and Violet smiled. "Have you ever carried +anybody--a distance--before?" she asked. + +"No," said Nasmyth, "I certainly haven't." + +"Then I don't think there would be much use in trying. You couldn't +carry me for more than four or five minutes. That wouldn't be worth +while, would it?" + +Nasmyth said nothing for a minute or two, for he felt compassionate as +well as a trifle confused. He had, in fact, already discovered that +there are occasions when a young woman is apt to show greater +self-possession and look facts in the face more plainly than a man. +Then he set to work furiously with a branch which he tore from the +fallen tree, ripping off rough slabs of bark, and in the course of +half an hour had constructed a shelter about the base of a cedar. It, +at least, kept the rain off when Violet sat under it. + +"It might be as well if I pushed on for the inlet and brought George +or Acton back with me," he suggested. "We could make something to +carry you in, if there was too much sea for the gig." + +A flush crept into the girl's face, and she looked at him reproachfully. + +"How could I stay here alone?" she asked. "Don't say those foolish +things. Come in out of the rain." + +The bark shelter would just hold the two of them, and Nasmyth, +dripping, sat down close beside her. She looked very forlorn. + +"I'm sorry for you," he said awkwardly. + +The girl showed faint signs of temper. "You have told me that before. +Why don't you do something? You said you had lived in the Bush, and +now you have only been a few hours in it. It was seven o'clock when we +had breakfast. Can't you even make a fire?" + +"I'm afraid I can't," answered Nasmyth deprecatingly. "You see, one +has usually an axe and some matches, as well as a few other odds and +ends, when one lives in the Bush. A man is a wretchedly helpless being +when he has only his hands." + +The fact was borne in upon Violet forcibly as she glanced out at the +wet beach, tumbling sea, and dreary, dripping Bush. The Bush rolled +back, a long succession of straggling pines that rose one behind the +other in sombre ranks, to the rugged hills that cut against the hazy +sky. There was, no doubt, all that man required to provide him with +warmth and food and shelter in that forest, but it was certain that it +was only by continuous and arduous toil that he could render it +available. Indeed, since he could not make himself an axe or a saw or +a rifle, it was also evident that his efforts would be fruitless +unless backed by the toil of others who played their part in the great +scheme of human co-operation. + +It is, however, probable that Violet did not concern herself with this +aspect of the matter, but she had led a sheltered life, and it was +curiously disconcerting to find herself brought suddenly face to face +with primitive realities. She was wet through and worn out, and +although evening was not far away, she had eaten nothing since seven +o'clock that morning. The momentary petulance deserted her. + +"Oh!" she cried, "they mayn't be able to send off for us for perhaps a +day or two." + +"It is quite likely that the breeze will drop at sunset," Nasmyth +replied cheerfully. "These westerly breezes often do. Anyway, the rain +seems to be stopping, and I may be able to dry my matches. In the +meanwhile I might come across something to eat. There are oysters on +some of these beaches." + +Violet glanced at the Bush apprehensively, and once more it was +evident that she did not wish him to leave her. This sent a little +thrill of satisfaction through him, and although he half-consciously +contrasted her with Laura Waynefleet, it was not altogether to her +disadvantage. It is a curious fact that some men, and probably women, +too, feel more drawn to the persons upon whom they confer a benefit +than to those from whom they receive one. Laura Waynefleet, he +realized, would have urged him to make some attempt to reach the +_Tillicum_, and in all probability would have insisted on taking a +share in it, while his companion desired only to lean on him. After +all, Laura's attitude was more pleasant to the subconscious vanity +that was in his nature, and in this respect he probably differed but +little from most of his fellows. + +"You won't be very long away?" she said. + +Nasmyth reassured her upon this point, and floundered down to the +beach, where he carefully laid out to dry the little block of sulphur +matches that he carried. Then he crawled among the boulders near +low-water mark, and, since oysters are tolerably plentiful along those +beaches, succeeded in collecting several dozen of them. After that he +sat down and gazed seaward for a minute or two. There was no sign of +the _Tillicum_, only a strip of dingy, slate-green sea smeared with +streaks of froth, which shone white beneath a heavy, lowering sky. +Close in front of him the sea hove itself up in rows of foam-crested +ridges, which fell upon the boulders and swirled over them and among +them a furious white seething. He fancied that it was near sunset, and +it was clear that the breeze was a little lighter. It seemed to him +just possible that four capable seamen might keep the gig afloat close +enough to the beach for one to wade out to her, though there would be +a certain peril in such a proceeding. Still, there were not four +capable seamen on board the _Tillicum_! + +Gathering up his matches, which had dried, Nasmyth went back to the +bark shelter. He was pleasantly conscious of the relief in Miss +Hamilton's eyes when he reached it, and fancied that she was too +overwrought and anxious to care whether he noticed it or not; but he +set about making a fire, and she helped him to collect brittle +undergrowth and fallen branches. Then they sat down and ate the +oysters that he had laid among the embers. He thought they were not in +season, and they were certainly burnt and shrivelled, as well as +somewhat gritty; but one is glad to eat anything after a long day of +exertion, and Nasmyth watched his companion with quiet appreciation as +she handled the rough shells daintily with little delicate fingers. +Her evident reliance upon him had its effect. + +He carried an armful of branches to the beach, and started another +fire where it could be seen from seawards, after which he went back +and sat outside the shelter near Miss Hamilton, while darkness crept +up from the eastwards across the Bush. It grew dim and solemn, and the +doleful wailing of the pines was curiously impressive. The girl +shivered. + +"The wind is very chilly," she said, with a tremor in her voice. "You +will stay here where I can see you. You won't go away?" + +"Only to keep up the fire on the beach," Nasmyth answered reassuringly. + +She crept into the shelter, and he could see her dimly when the +flickering light blazed up, but he could never remember how many +journeys he made to the fire upon the beach before his eyes grew heavy +as he sat amid the whirling smoke. He endeavoured to keep awake, and +resolutely straightened himself once or twice, but at last his eyes +closed altogether, and he did not hear the shriek of the _Tillicum's_ +whistle ring far across the shadowy Bush. Indeed, he did not waken +when Acton and Wisbech came floundering into the light of the fire; +and the two men looked at each other when they stopped beside it and +saw him lying there, and then discovered the girl inside the shelter. +Acton raised his hand warningly, while a faint twinkle crept into his +eyes. + +"I guess there's no reason why anybody else should hear of this," he +said. "It seems to me that Miss Hamilton would be just as well pleased +if we were not around when she awakens." + +He stooped and shook Nasmyth's shoulder as Wisbech disappeared among +the shadows. + +"Get up," said Acton. "Wait until I get away, and then waken her." + +It was a minute before Nasmyth, who stood up stiffly, quite understood +him, and then the blood rose to his face as he crept into the shelter +and touched the girl. She sprang to her feet with a little cry and +clutched his arm. Then she suddenly let her hand fall back, and her +cheeks flushed crimson. + +"The steamer's close by," said Nasmyth reassuringly. "They have sent +for us at last." + +They went out together, and it was a minute or two later when they +came upon Wisbech and Acton in the Bush. Nasmyth entered into confused +explanations as they proceeded towards the beach. The sky was a little +lighter when they reached it, and standing near the sinking fire, +they could dimly see the gig plunging amidst the froth and spray. Then +George's voice reached them. + +"Can't you let us have them, Mr. Acton? It's most all we can do to +keep her off the beach," he said. + +Acton glanced at the strip of tumbling foam--through which he had +waded waist-deep--between them and the boat, and Nasmyth turned +towards Miss Hamilton, who, to his astonishment, recoiled from him. +Acton, however, made him a sign of command. + +"I guess," he said, "she'd be safer with you." + +Nasmyth said nothing, but he picked the girl up, as unconcernedly as +he could, for the second time that day, and staggered down the rough +beach with her. He contrived to keep his footing when a frothing sea +broke against him, and, floundering through the seething water, +reached the lurching boat. George seized his burden, and gently +deposited it in one of the seats. Scrambling on board, Nasmyth groped +for an oar, and in another minute or two they laboriously drove the +gig out towards the blinking lights of the _Tillicum_. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +TRANQUILLITY + + +The afternoon was very hot when Nasmyth plodded down a steep hillside +through the thick red dust of the waggon trail. A fire had swept the +undergrowth away, and there was no shade among the trees which, +stripped of their branches, towered about him, great charred and +blackened columns. Close ahead the primeval Bush rose in an unbroken +sombre mass, and Nasmyth, who quickened his pace a trifle, sat down +with a gasp of satisfaction when he reached the first of the shadow. +It was fresh and cool there. The Bush was scented with the odours of +pine and cedar, and filled with the soft murmur of falling water, +while he knew that just beyond it Bonavista stood above the sparkling +sea. + +He was on his way from the railroad depot. It was just a fortnight +since he had left the _Tillicum_ at the little mining town, on the day +after the one he and Violet Hamilton had spent on the beach, and he +had not seen her before he went. Now he fancied that a welcome awaited +him, and he felt sincerely pleased to be back again. As he sat beneath +a great cedar filling his pipe, it seemed to him only appropriate that +he should approach Bonavista through that belt of cool, sweet-scented +Bush. It made it easier to feel that he had left behind him all that +associated him with the strife and bustle of the hot and noisy cities. +At Bonavista were leisure, comfort, and tranquillity, which were, +after all, things that made a strong appeal to one side of his nature, +and he had made no progress in the city. There was also no doubt that +both Mr. and Mrs. Acton were glad to entertain him for a time. He sat +still a few minutes, and then went on slowly beneath the towering +redwoods and cedars until he came out of the forest, and saw the +sunlight stream down on the shingled roof of Bonavista close ahead. + +The house appeared to be empty, and he had shed his dusty city clothes +in his room and had dressed again before he came upon Mrs. Acton, +sitting half asleep on a secluded strip of veranda. She roused herself +and smiled when she saw him. + +"So you have come back at last. We have been expecting you all the +past week," she said. + +"That," returned Nasmyth, "was remarkably good of you. In fact, I have +wondered now and then, with some misgivings, whether you have not seen +too much of me already." + +Mrs. Acton laughed. "You needn't worry yourself on that point. We have +all our little hobbies. My husband's is the acquisition of dollars and +the opening of mines and mills. Mine is the amusing of my friends, or, +rather, the permitting them to amuse themselves, which is why I had +Bonavista built. I make only one stipulation--it is that when you stay +with us, you are amused." + +With a little sigh of content, Nasmyth settled himself in a canvas +chair, and glanced out between the slender pillars of the cool veranda +at the wall of dusky forest and the flashing sea. + +"Ah," he replied, "can you doubt it, my dear lady? After logging camp +and mine and city, this is an enchanted land. I think it is always +summer afternoon at Bonavista." + +Mrs. Acton smiled at him graciously. "That," she observed, "was quite +nice of you. Things haven't gone just as you would have liked them to +go, in the city?" + +"They haven't," admitted Nasmyth whimsically. "As a matter of fact, +they very seldom do. Still, I wouldn't like you to think that was the +only reason I am glad to get back." + +Mrs. Acton's eyes twinkled. "I imagine I am acquainted with the other. +You were rather tactful in going away." + +"I went because Mr. Acton handed me a letter which said that a +business man in Victoria would like a talk with me." + +"In any case, Miss Hamilton seems to be under the impression that it +was nice of you." + +"Nice of me to go away?" and Nasmyth's tone was mildly reproachful. + +"One would not resent a desire to save one any little embarrassment." + +"Still," observed Nasmyth, with an air of reflection, "the trouble is +that I couldn't contrive to keep out of her sight continually even if +I wanted to, and"--he lowered his voice confidentially--"as it +happens, I don't." + +Mrs. Acton laughed. "I don't know of any particular reason why you +should do that. Violet has probably quite recovered her equanimity and +decided on her attitude towards you." Then she changed the subject +abruptly. "I wonder if I may point out that there has been a change in +you, since my husband brought you here. For one thing, you are much +more amusing. Even your voice is different." + +Nasmyth bowed. "But not my hands," he said; and as he held up one +hand, she noticed the scars on it and the coarseness of his nails. +"That tells a tale, I think. My dear lady, I scarcely think you quite +realize all that you have given me. You have never seen how we lived +in the lonely logging camps--packed like cattle in a reeking shed--and +you do not know the grim side of our life in the Bush. It would be no +great use to tell you that I have now and then limped for days +together over the ballast of a railroad track, wondering where my next +dollar was to come from. These are the things one could not expect you +to understand." + +Mrs. Acton's face softened a little. "Still, I think my husband does," +she replied. Then she smiled at him. "It almost seems to me that you +need never go back to that life again unless you like it. I mean, of +course, that, for one thing, your uncle has his views concerning you. +He has to some extent taken Mr. Acton into his confidence." + +Nasmyth made no comment, and Mrs. Acton sank down a little further +into her long chair. "The others are down on the beach," she announced +drowsily. "I really think I was going to sleep when you made your +appearance." + +Nasmyth could take a hint, and he strolled away down the veranda +stairway and around the edge of the wide clearing in the shadow of the +Bush, until he stood looking down upon the sea from the crown of the +bluff. Then he felt a little thrill, for some twenty or thirty feet +beneath him was a patch of something white in the shadow of the +shrubbery. He went down quietly until he stopped, and, stooping, +touched Violet Hamilton's shoulder. She looked around with a start, +and a faint trace of embarrassment crept into her face at the sight of +him. + +"Oh," she said, "I thought you were in Victoria." + +Nasmyth stretched himself out upon a ledge of rock near her feet. +"Mrs. Acton was good enough to imply that she had been expecting me +more or less anxiously for several days," he rejoined in a tone of +reproach. "In fact, she used the plural pronoun, which led me to +believe that somebody else must have shared her anxiety. She did not, +however, point out who it was that she meant." + +"Her husband, in all probability. She could, at least, speak for +him." + +Nasmyth appeared to ponder over this, though his heart was beating +faster than usual, for the suggestion of confusion which he had +noticed in the girl's manner had its significance for him. + +"Well," he conceded, "it may have been Acton, but I almost ventured to +believe she meant somebody else. In any case, I shouldn't like to +think you were displeased at my reappearance. If you are, I can, of +course, go away again." + +"I am not the only person at Bonavista. Wouldn't anybody else's wishes +count--Mr. Acton's, for instance?" + +"No," asserted Nasmyth reflectively. "At least, not to anything like +the same extent." + +Violet laughed. "The difficulty is that nobody can tell how much you +really mean. You are so seldom serious." She cast a quick glance at +him. "You were not like that when you first came here." + +"Then," said Nasmyth, "you can blame it on Bonavista. As I have been +trying to explain to Mrs. Acton, who made a similar observation, there +is glamour in this air. It gets hold of one. I was, no doubt, a +tediously solemn person when I left the Bush, but you will remember +that soon after I arrived here, you and I sailed out together into the +realms of moonlight and mystery. I sometimes feel that I must have +brought a little of the latter back with me." + +Violet said nothing for half a minute, during which she lay resting on +one elbow, looking down upon the cool, green flashing of the water a +hundred feet below, and again Nasmyth felt a little thrill run through +him. She was so very dainty in speech and thought and person, a woman +of the world he had once belonged to, and which it now seemed he might +enter again. Her delicately chiselled, half-averted face matched the +slight but finely moulded figure about which the thin white draperies +clung. She turned and looked at him. + +"You certainly can't be serious now," she declared. + +"I assure you that when I mentioned the glamour and mystery, I was +never half so serious in my life. They are, after all, very real +things." + +He was, as a matter of fact, grimly serious for the moment as he +wondered at the change that had come over him. His life in the silent +Bush, the struggle with the icy river, and even Laura Waynefleet, who +had encouraged him in his work of rehabilitation, had by degrees +become no more than a dim, blurred memory. He knew that he could +recall it all, but he had no wish to make the effort, for it was more +pleasant to hear the sighing of the summer wind about the firs of +Bonavista, and wonder languidly what his companion thought. + +"I haven't thanked you for taking care of me the day we were left +behind on the beach," said Violet. + +Nasmyth made a sign of protest. "I don't think you are under any very +great obligation to me. As a matter of fact, my efforts on your behalf +nearly resulted in my drowning you. Besides, you see, there was really +not the slightest cause for uneasiness. Acton certainly would have +sent for us when the wind dropped." + +"But it might have blown for days." + +"Then," said Nasmyth, with a twinkle in his eyes, "we would have lived +on salmon and berries until it stopped. One really can live on them +for a considerable time, though they are not remarkably palatable when +one has anything else to eat; in fact, it's a thing I've done." + +Salmon is not esteemed in that country, except for the purpose of +sending East in cans, and it is seldom that anybody eats it except the +Indians. There is probably no diet that more rapidly grows satiating. + +"Ah," exclaimed the girl, with a shiver, "it would have been +horrible." + +She was evidently not thinking of the salmon, but of the dreary, +dripping Bush, and Nasmyth looked at her with reproach in his eyes. + +"I really don't think it would have been," he said. "In fact, I believe +we could have lived there for a little while very contentedly--that is, +when I had fixed things up a bit. After all, there is a certain +glamour in the Bush when one gets used to it." + +He saw the faint colour creep into her face, and, though it cost him +an effort, laid a restraint upon himself. + +"Well," he said, "I at least would not have felt that I had any cause +to complain, though, no doubt, it would have been different with you. +You see"--and he made an expressive gesture--"I have had a long tough +tussle since I came to Canada, and experiences of that sort have their +effect on one. In fact, they set one apart from those who haven't +undergone them. It seems to have struck you that I was prematurely +solemn and serious when I came to Bonavista." + +He thought he saw sympathy in Violet Hamilton's eyes, and her next +observation made it clear that her mind was busy with the suggestion +that he had conveyed. + +"After all," she said softly, "you cannot be very much older than I +am." + +"Four years, perhaps," returned Nasmyth, with a trace of grimness. +"That is, in one sense. In another, I think I am double your age. You +see, you have never been brought into contact with the realities of +life. If you had been, you would probably not be so ready to take me +for what you think I am, as I believe you have graciously done. After +all, you know so very little about me." + +He felt that he was doing no more than discharging an obligation in +giving her this warning. He desired to afford her every opportunity of +satisfying herself concerning him, for he was not a fool, and he had +seen for a moment or two a suggestive softness in her face. It is +possible that she did not know it had been there, but he felt that if +he roused himself and made the effort, he might sweep away the +barriers between them. + +Violet appeared troubled by his words. She sat silent, while Nasmyth +wondered what she would say. He was aware that a good deal depended +upon her next remark. Then there were footsteps on the slope behind +them, and, turning suddenly, he saw Acton and another man approaching +them. He rose with a little start when he recognized the second man as +Gordon, who was neatly attired in city clothes. Gordon looked down at +Nasmyth with a faint sardonic smile. + +"Mr. Gordon turned up half an hour ago," Acton said. "It appears that +he was going into the city, and got off the cars to talk over things +with you. I believe he had a notion of going on again to-night, but +Mrs. Acton won't hear of it." + +Gordon bowed in the direction of his host. + +"I'd have put up a more vigorous protest against troubling Mrs. Acton +than I did, if I had felt it would have been of any use," he said. + +"Well," replied Acton, smiling, "I guess they'll be getting supper +ready, and we were sent here to bring our friend and Miss Hamilton +in." + +They went back to the house together, where they found the long table +spread. It was characteristic of the owner of Bonavista that he still +called the evening meal supper. There were, besides Nasmyth and +Wisbech, five or six other guests from Victoria and one of the rising +cities on Puget Sound, and Gordon speedily made himself very much at +home. Most of his new acquaintances found what he had to say +entertaining, but Miss Hamilton was, as Nasmyth noticed, somewhat +silent. Nasmyth, on his part, felt slightly restless, for his old +comrade's presence had an unsettling effect on him. It was, however, +not until an hour or two later that he and Gordon were able to discuss +their own affairs. They sat on the veranda looking down upon the sea, +while the dusk slowly crept up from the east. + +"Now," said Gordon, "I should like to hear what you have done." + +"I'm afraid it's not a great deal," replied Nasmyth. "The Crown land +authorities appear disposed to sell the land instead of leasing it, +which of late has been the more usual course; but they insist on +counting a certain proportion of the hillside and big timber in. I may +get one or two concessions, and I'm still keeping the affair before +them. In the meanwhile I've been seeing what can be done to raise +enough capital to take up all the land, but haven't met with any great +success. The folks I've been in communication with, as usual, want all +the profit; in fact, I almost fancy it might be as well to raise what +money we can around the settlement, and content ourselves with +locating a portion of the valley." + +Gordon nodded. "You can't do much about the fall until after the +autumn freshets, anyway, and there's a good deal you can't get at +until the frost sets in," he declared. "In the meanwhile the offers +Wheeler and I made you hold." + +They discussed the matter until Mrs. Acton appeared on the veranda and +shook her head at them. + +"What are you two doing here when there are pretty girls in the house +waiting for a dance?" she inquired. + +"I'm afraid we have been very remiss," apologized Nasmyth, when they +joined her. "Still, we didn't know, and we had some business to talk +about." + +"There will be plenty of time for that to-morrow." + +"The trouble is that I shall be in the city then," said Gordon. + +Mrs. Acton laughed. "Oh, no!" she contradicted. "We are all going for +a sail on the straits to-morrow, and we certainly expect you to join +us. In the meanwhile, I believe there are two young women waiting for +partners." + +She silenced Gordon's objections as they turned back towards the +house. They found the dancing had commenced, and Nasmyth failed to +secure Miss Hamilton as a partner for any time in the evening. He +could not help a fancy that she had taken some little trouble to bring +about this result. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +NASMYTH HEARS THE RIVER + + +Darkness had settled down on Bonavista next evening when Nasmyth lay +in a canvas chair on the veranda, while Gordon leaned against the +balustrade in front of him with a cigar in his hand. A blaze of light +streamed out from one of the long open windows a few yards away, and +somebody was singing in the room behind it, while the splash of the +gentle surf came up from the foot of the promontory in a deep +monotone. Now and then a shadowy figure strolled into the veranda or +crossed it to the terrace below, but for the time being nobody +disturbed the two men. + +"I haven't had a word with you since last night," said Nasmyth. "How +are the boys at the settlement?" + +"Hustling along as usual." Gordon laughed. "Is there anybody else you +feel inclined to ask about?" + +"Yes," said Nasmyth, "there certainly is. How is Miss Waynefleet?" + +Gordon looked down at his cigar. "Well," he said, "I'm a little +worried on her account. She was attempting to do a great deal more +than was good for her when I last saw her. They have no longer a hired +man at the ranch. Waynefleet, I understand, is rather tightly fixed +for money, and, as you know, he isn't the kind of man who would deny +himself. He was talking of selling some stock." + +Nasmyth suddenly straightened himself, and closed one hand rather hard +on the arm of his chair. + +"What right have you and I to be lounging here when that girl is +working late and early on the ranch?" he asked. "Gordon, you will +have to buy two or three head of that stock at double value for me." + +"It's rather a big question;" and Gordon's tone was serious. "In fact, +I fancy it's one that neither you nor I can throw much light upon. +Anyway, I may as well point out that I arrived here only yesterday, +and I'm going on again in the morning. As to the other matter, Laura +Waynefleet has friends who will stand by her." + +"Don't you count me one of them?" Nasmyth demanded. "That girl saved +my life for me." + +Gordon glanced round sharply, for there were light footsteps on the +veranda, and he almost imagined that a white figure in filmy draperies +stopped a moment. It, however, went on again and vanished in the +shadow. + +"I believe she did," he admitted. "Well, if there's anything that can +be done, you may rely on me." He made an abrupt gesture, and as he +turned, the light from the window fell upon his face, showing the +curious smile on it. "What are you doing here?" + +He flung the question at his comrade, and Nasmyth, who knew what he +meant, sat for a moment or two with wrinkled forehead. There was no +reason why he should not stay there so long as Mr. and Mrs. Acton +desired his company, but it did not seem fitting that he should spend +those summer days in luxurious idleness while Laura Waynefleet toiled +late and early at the lonely ranch. Again, he seemed to see her steady +eyes with the quiet courage in them, and the gleam of her red-gold +hair. Even then she was, he reflected, in all probability occupied +with some severe drudgery. It was a thing he did not like to +contemplate, and he almost resented the fact that Gordon should have +brought such thoughts into his mind. His comrade had broken in upon +his contentment like a frosty wind that stung him to action. Still, he +answered quietly. + +"I am within easy reach of the city here," he explained. "Acton, who +has once or twice given me good advice, is acquainted with most of the +folks likely to be of any use to us, and has laid the scheme before +one or two of them. That, at least, is one reason why I am staying at +Bonavista. It's perfectly evident that it wouldn't be any benefit to +Miss Waynefleet if I went back to the Bush." + +"No," agreed Gordon grimly; "if you were likely to be of any use or +consolation to her, you'd go, if I had to drag you." + +Nasmyth smiled. He was too well acquainted with his comrade's manner +to take offence at this remark, and the man's devotion to the girl +who, he knew, would never regard him as more than a friend also had +its effect. + +"Well," he said, "since plain speaking seems admissible, you are +probably aware that Laura Waynefleet has nothing beyond a kindly +interest in me. She is, I needn't point out, a remarkably sensible +young lady." + +He stopped somewhat abruptly, for Wisbech emerged from the shadows +beneath the pillars, and sat down in a chair close by. + +"Yes," said Wisbech, "I heard, and it seems to me Derrick's right in +one respect. Though I don't know how far it accounts for the other +fact he has just impressed on you, Miss Waynefleet certainly possesses +a considerable amount of sense. She is also a young lady I have a high +opinion of. Still, if he had gone back to the Bush merely because you +insisted on it, I think I should have cast him off." + +Gordon appeared to ponder over this, and he then laughed softly. "It's +quite natural, and I guess I sympathize with you," he remarked. "In +one way, however, your nephew's acquitting himself creditably, +considering that there are apparently three people anxious to exert a +beneficent influence upon him. The effect of that kind of thing is apt +to become a trifle bewildering, especially as it's evident their views +can't invariably coincide." + +"Three?" said Wisbech, with a twinkle in his eyes. "If you count me +in, I almost fancy there are four." + +Nasmyth said nothing, though he felt his face grow hot. Gordon +smiled. + +"As a matter of fact," he admitted, "I had a notion that Miss Hamilton +resented my being here. Any way, she didn't take any very noticeable +trouble to be pleasant to me to-day. No doubt she considers any +influence she may choose to exert should be quite sufficient." + +"It should be," said Nasmyth. "That is, to any man who happened to be +a judge of character, and had eyes in his head." + +Gordon waved one hand. "Oh," he averred, "she's very dainty, and I +think there's a little more than prettiness there, which is a very +liberal admission, since I'm troubled with an impression that she +isn't quite pleased with me. Still, when the woods are full of pretty +girls, I guess it's wisest of a man who has anything worth while to do +in front of him to keep his eyes right on the trail, and go steadily +ahead." He turned to Wisbech deprecatingly. "We don't mind you, sir. +We regard you as part of the concern." + +"Thanks," said Wisbech, with a certain dryness. "I believe I am +interested in it--at least, financially." + +"Well," said Gordon, "when I break loose, as I do now and then, I +quite often say a little more than is strictly advisable without +meaning to. It's a habit some folks have. Your observation, however, +switches us off on to a different matter. I've been telling your +nephew we leave him to handle the thing and stand by our offers." + +"That is precisely what I mean to do. The affair is Derrick's. He must +take his own course," declared Wisbech. + +Gordon grinned as he turned to Nasmyth. "There will be no reinforcements. +You have to win your spurs." Then he looked at Wisbech. "If you will +not be offended, sir, I would like to say I'm pleased to notice that +your ideas coincide with mine. He'll be the tougher afterwards if you +let him put up his fight alone." + +"The assurance is naturally satisfactory," said Wisbech with quiet +amusement. Then he held up one hand. "It seems to me the person at the +piano is playing exceptionally well." + +They sat silent while the crashing opening chords rang out from the +lighted room, and then Nasmyth, who was a lover of music, found +himself listening with a strained attention as the theme stole out of +them, for it chimed with his mood. He had been restless and disturbed +in mind before Gordon had flung his veiled hints at him, and the +reality underlying his comrade's badinage had a further unsettling +effect. He did not know what the music was, but it seemed in keeping +with the throb of the sea against the crag and the fitful wailing of +the pines. There was a suggestion of effort and struggle in it, and, +it seemed to him, something that spoke of a great dominant force +steadily pressing on; and, as he listened, the splash of the sea grew +fainter, and he heard instead the roar of the icy flood and the crash +of mighty trees driving down upon his half-built dam. These were +sounds which sometimes haunted him against his will, and once or twice +he had been a little surprised to find that, now that they were past, +he could look back upon the months of tense effort with a curious, +half-regretful pleasure. He was relieved when the music, that swelled +in a sonorous crescendo, stopped, and he saw Gordon glance at +Wisbech. + +"I think that man has understanding and the gift of expressing what he +feels," said Wisbech. "The music suggested something to you?" + +"The fast freight," confessed Gordon.--"When she's coming down the big +canyon under a full head of steam. I don't know if that's quite an +elegant simile, in one way. Still, if you care to think how that +track was built, it's not difficult to fancy there's triumph in the +whistles and the roar of the freight-car wheels." + +Wisbech made a sign of comprehension, and Gordon looked hard at +Nasmyth. "It's your call." + +"I heard the river," said Nasmyth. "In fact, I often hear it, and now +and then wish I didn't. It's unsettling." + +Gordon laughed in a suggestive fashion. "Well," he declared, "most of +us hear something of that kind at times, and no doubt it's just as +well we do. It's apt to have results if you listen. You have been most +of a month in the city one way or another. You took to it kindly?" + +"I didn't," Nasmyth answered, and it was evident that he was serious. +"I came back here feeling that I had had quite enough of it." + +"Bonavista is a good deal more pleasant?" And there was a certain +meaning in Gordon's tone. "You seemed to have achieved some social +success here, too." + +He saw the flush in Nasmyth's face, and his gaze grew insistent. +"Well," he said, "you're not going to let that content you, now you +can hear the river. You'll hear it more and more plainly frothing in +the black canyon where the big trees come down. You have lived with the +exiles, and the wilderness has got its grip on you. What's more, I +guess when it does that it never quite lets go." + +He broke off abruptly, and just then Acton stepped out from the +window. "Mr. Gordon," he said, "it's my wife's wish that you should +come in and sing." + +Gordon said that he was in Mrs. Acton's hands, and then turned to +Nasmyth. + +"I've had my say," he observed. "If there's any meaning in my remarks, +you can worry it out." + +He went away with Acton, and Wisbech looked at his nephew over his +cigar. + +"Mr. Gordon expresses himself in a rather extravagant fashion, but I'm +disposed to fancy there is something in what he says," he commented. + +Nasmyth did not answer him. He was, on the whole, glad that Gordon had +gone, but he still seemed to hear the river, and the restlessness that +had troubled him was becoming stronger. He retired somewhat early, but +he did not sleep quite so soundly as usual that night. As it happened, +Gordon rose before him next morning. Gordon went out of doors, and +presently came upon Miss Hamilton, who was strolling bareheaded where +the early sunshine streamed in among the pines. It struck him that he +was not the person whom she would have been most pleased to see, but +she walked with him to the crown of the promontory, where she stopped +and looked up at him steadily. + +"Mr. Gordon," she inquired, "what is Laura Waynefleet?" + +Gordon started, and the girl smiled. + +"I crossed the veranda last night," she told him, when he hesitated +before answering her. + +The man looked down on her with an unusual gravity. "Well," he said +simply, "Laura Waynefleet is quietness, and sweetness, and courage. In +fact, I sometimes think it was to make these things evident that she +was sent into this world." + +He thought he saw a gleam of comprehension in the girl's eyes, and +made a gesture of protest. "No," he assured her, "I'm not fit to brush +her little shoes. For that matter, though he is my comrade, Nasmyth +isn't either. What is perhaps more to the purpose, I guess he is quite +aware of it." + +A delicate tinge of colour crept into Violet Hamilton's face, and the +man realized that in case his suppositions were correct, what he had +implied could hardly be considered as a compliment. He could also +fancy that there was a certain uneasiness in her eyes. + +"Ah," she said, "perhaps it is a subject I should not have ventured to +inquire into." + +Gordon smiled reassuringly. "I don't know of any reason why you +shouldn't have done so, but I have scarcely told you anything about +her yet. Miss Waynefleet lives at a desolate ranch in the Bush. +Sometimes she drives oxen, and I believe she invariably makes her own +clothes. I don't think Nasmyth would feel any great diffidence in +speaking about her." + +He believed this, or at least he strove to convince himself that he +did, but he was relieved when the appearance of Acton, who strolled +towards them, rendered any further confidential conversation out of +the question. Gordon set out for Victoria that afternoon, and Nasmyth, +who went with him to the railroad, returned to Bonavista in a restless +mood, and almost disposed to be angry with his comrade for having +rudely broken in upon his tranquillity. In fact, he felt disinclined +to face his fellow-guests, which was one reason why he was sauntering +towards the inlet when he came upon Wisbech sitting with a book in the +shadow of the pines. Wisbech looked up at his moody face. + +"You are annoyed because Gordon wouldn't stay?" he suggested. + +"No," said Nasmyth. "In fact, I'm a little relieved that he has gone +away. I naturally like Gordon, but just now he has an unsettling +effect on me." + +Wisbech made a gesture of comprehension. "That man," he said, "is in +some respects fortunate. He has a simple programme, and is evidently +more or less content with it. His work is plain in front of him. You +are not quite sure about yours yet. To some extent, you feel yourself +adrift?" + +"I have felt something of the kind." + +Wisbech thought for a moment. "I suppose," he said, "it hasn't +occurred to you that your classical features--they're Nasmyth +features--might be of some assistance to you in your career?" + +Nasmyth felt the blood rise into his face, but he laughed. "They +certainly haven't proved of any great benefit to me hitherto. It is +scarcely likely that they will do so either in the canyon." + +"Then you are still determined on directing operations in person? I +was commencing to wonder if you had any reason for modifying your +plans." + +The man's tone was dry, but Nasmyth met his gaze, which was now +inquisitive. + +"If it is in my power to do it, I shall certainly run the water out of +the valley," said Nasmyth. + +Then he swung round and strolled away, while Wisbech smiled in a +fashion which suggested that he was pleased. It was some little time +later when Nasmyth, pacing moodily over the white shingle beside the +winding inlet, came upon Violet Hamilton sitting in the shadow of a +great boulder. The girl's light dress matched the rock's pale tinting, +and he did not see her until he was within a yard or two of her. He +stopped abruptly, with a deepened colour in his face. Violet made a +sign, which seemed to invite him to sit down, and he stretched himself +out upon the shingle close in front of her. + +"It is very hot in the house this afternoon, but it is cool and quiet +here," she observed. + +Nasmyth glanced at the still water and the shadow that the pines which +clung in the crevices flung athwart the dark rock's side. + +"Stillness sometimes means stagnation. Miss Hamilton," he said. + +The girl flashed a quick glance at him. "Well," she rejoined, "I +suppose it does; but, after all, that is a question we need not +discuss. What were you thinking of so hard as you came along? You +didn't see me until you almost stepped upon my dress." + +"That," said Nasmyth, with a laugh, "is proof that I was thinking very +hard indeed. It's not a thing I often indulge in, but I was thinking +of the Bush." + +"You sometimes feel you would like to be back there?" + +"No," answered Nasmyth reflectively; "I suppose I ought to feel that, +but I'm not sure that I do." + +"Ah," Violet remarked, "you have told me a good deal at one time or +another about your life and friends there, but I almost fancied now +and then that you were keeping something back. After all"--and she +smiled at him--"I suppose that would have been only natural." + +Nasmyth raised himself on one elbow, and looked hard at her. "Well," +he admitted, "there was one thing I did not tell you, though I had +meant to do so sooner or later. You see, there was nothing to warrant +it in the meanwhile." + +"Ah," queried the girl, "it concerns Miss Waynefleet?" + +Nasmyth's face grew suddenly grave. He did not ask himself how she +came to know. Indeed, for the time being, that did not seem to matter. +There was, it seemed, only one course open to him, and he adopted it. + +"Yes," he answered, "I will tell you about her." + +He had meant to be brief and matter-of-fact in his narrative, but as +he proceeded, the subject carried him away. Indeed, he was scarcely +conscious that Miss Hamilton was intently watching him, for once more +he seemed to feel Laura Waynefleet's eyes fixed upon his face, and +they were clear and brave and still. He spoke with a certain dramatic +force, and it was a somewhat striking picture he drew of the girl. +Violet could realize her personality and the self-denying life that +she led. It is possible that Nasmyth had told her more than he +intended, when he broke off for a moment with a startling abruptness. + +"I believe she saved my life," he added. "She certainly gave me back +my courage, and set me on my feet again." + +Violet looked at him with a strained expression in her eyes. "And +because of that she will have a hold upon you while you live." + +Nasmyth seemed to consider this. "I think I shall always realize what +I owe to her. Still--and how shall I say it?--that recognition is the +most I would venture to offer, or that she would accept from me." + +He stopped for a moment, and then went on a trifle hastily. "Laura +Waynefleet could never have taken more than a half-compassionate +interest in me," he asserted. "There could scarcely be any doubt upon +that point." + +"You said half-compassionate?" + +"Yes," replied Nasmyth; "I almost think that describes it. You see, I +am naturally aware of my own disabilities." + +"Still," persisted Violet, "she nursed you when you were very ill, +and, as you said, set you on your feet again. That would probably +count for a good deal with her." + +Nasmyth made a hasty gesture. "You don't understand. She would no +doubt have taken pity on any dumb creature. She did it because she +could not help it. One could fancy that kind of thing was born in +her." + +Violet did not speak for a moment or two. Although it still remained +uncertain whether the girl in the Bush had any tenderness for the man +she had set upon his feet again, he had spoken of her in a manner +which did not quite please Violet. + +"Well," she ventured, with a little diffident glance at him, "some day +you will go back into the Bush." + +Nasmyth nodded. "Yes," he said, "I think that's certain. In fact, it's +probable that I shall go back very soon. As it happens, I have +undertaken a big and rather difficult thing, which will give me a +considerable lift up if I am successful." + +He lay silent for a minute before he turned to her again. "You see, I +have been some time in this country, and never have done anything +worth mentioning. Chopping trees and driving cattle are no doubt +useful occupations, but they don't lead to anything. I feel that I am, +so to speak, on my probation. I have still to win my spurs." + +"I wonder if that is one of the ideas Miss Waynefleet gave you?" + +Nasmyth smiled. "I really believe it originated with her, but, as a +matter of fact, it might have gone no further, which is an admission. +Still, the desire to win those spurs has been growing so strong of +late that I can't resist it. In one way, I scarcely think that is very +astonishing." + +Violet looked away from him, for she saw the gleam in his eyes, and +fancied she understood what the new motive he had hinted at might be. +Still, he did not appear disposed to mention it. + +"Then you would have to go away?" she asked. + +A flush crept into Nasmyth's face. She was a woman of his own caste, +and probably without intending it, she had shown him in many ways that +she was not averse from him. He felt his heart beat fast when for a +moment she met his gaze. + +"The trouble is that if I do not go I shall never have the right to +come back again," he told her. + +"Then," replied the girl very softly, "you wish to come back?" + +"That is why I am going. There are those spurs to win. I have to make +my mark." + +"But it is sometimes a little difficult to make one's mark, isn't it? +You may be ever so long, and it must be a little hazardous in that +horrible canyon." + +"If it gives me the right to come back, I think it will be very well +worth while." + +"But suppose you don't succeed, after all?" + +"That," admitted Nasmyth, "is a thing I daren't contemplate, because, +if it happened, it is scarcely likely that any of my friends at +Bonavista would ever be troubled with me again." + +Violet looked away from him. "Ah," she said, "don't you think that +would be a little hard on them? Is it very easy for you to go away?" + +The restraint Nasmyth had imposed upon himself suddenly deserted him. +He moved a little nearer to her, and seized one of her hands. She sat +still, and made no effort to draw it away from him. + +"I had never meant to say what I am going to say just now," he +declared. "I had meant to wait until there was something successfully +accomplished to my credit. I am, you see, a thriftless, wandering +adventurer--one who has taken things as they came, and never has been +serious. When I have shown that I can also be something else, I shall +ask you formally if you will marry me. Until then the thing is, of +course, out of the question." + +He broke off for a moment, and held her silent by a gesture until he +went on again. "I have been swept away, and even if you were willing +to make it, I would take no promise from you. Until I have won the +right to come back you must be absolutely free. Now you know this, it +would be very much wiser if I went away as soon as possible." + +"Ah," the girl answered with a thrill in her voice, "whenever you come +back you will find me ready to listen to you." + +Nasmyth let her hand go. "Now," he asserted, "I think I cannot fail. +Still, it must be remembered that you are absolutely free." + +He would have said something more, but there was just then a laugh and +a patter of feet on the path above, and, looking up, he saw two of +Mrs. Acton's guests descending the bluff. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +NASMYTH GOES AWAY + + +Mrs. Acton was sitting on the veranda next morning when Nasmyth, +fresh from a swim in the deep cold water of the inlet, came up +across the clearing. It had brought a clear glow into his bronzed +skin and a brightness to his eyes, and as he flung a word to a man +who greeted him, his laugh had a clean, wholesome ring. He walked +straight toward the veranda, and Mrs. Acton, sitting still, favoured +him with a very keen and careful scrutiny. He was dressed in light +flannels, which, she admitted, became him rather well; but it was +the lithe gracefulness of his movements that she noticed most. His +easy, half-whimsical manner had their effect on her; they won her +favour. He was the kind of guest she had pleasure in welcoming at +Bonavista. + +He went up the veranda stairway, and, stopping near where she was +sitting, looked down at her with a curious little glow in his eyes. +She started, for she had not expected to see it there so soon. + +"You seem unusually satisfied with everything this morning," she +observed. "There is probably some cause for it?" + +Nasmyth laughed. "I believe I am. As I dare say you have noticed, +tranquil contentment is one of my virtues. It is, however, one that is +remarkably easy to exercise at Bonavista." + +"Still, contentment does not, as a rule, carry a young man very far in +this country. In fact, it is now and then a little difficult to +distinguish between it and something else that is less creditable to +the man who possesses it." + +Nasmyth smiled good-humouredly. "Well," he replied, "I have discovered +that if you worry Fortune too much she resents it, and flies away from +you. It seems to me there is something to be said for the quietly +expectant attitude. After all, one is now and then given much more +than one could by any effort possibly deserve." + +Mrs. Acton noticed the faint ring in his voice. "Ah," she said, "then +something of that kind has befallen you? Hadn't you better come to the +point?" + +Nasmyth became grave. "Madam," he said, "I have a confession to make. +I am very much afraid I lost my head yesterday, and I should not be +astonished if you were very angry with me." + +He spoke with a certain diffidence, and Mrs. Acton, who straightened +herself in her chair, watched him steadily while he made his +confession. He paused with a gesture of deprecation. + +"In one sense, it is a preposterous folly, but I am not quite sure +that folly is not now and then better than wisdom," he added. "It has +certainly proved to be so in my case." + +"No doubt." Mrs. Acton's tone was suggestive. "It is, however, Miss +Hamilton I am most interested in." + +Nasmyth spread one hand out forcibly. "I want you to understand that +she is absolutely free. I have only told you because you once +mentioned that you considered her a ward of yours. Nothing will be +said to anybody else, and, if she should change her mind, I will not +complain. In fact, I have decided that it would be most fitting for me +to go away." + +"I think," asserted Mrs. Acton, "you have been either too generous or +not quite generous enough. The trouble with men of your kind is that +when for once they take the trouble to reflect, they become too +cautious." + +"I'm afraid I don't quite grasp the point of that." + +"You should either have said nothing, which is the course you ought to +have adopted, or a little more. I fancy Violet would have been just as +pleased if you had shown yourself determined to make sure of her." + +Nasmyth stood silent, and Mrs. Acton, who surveyed him again with +thoughtful eyes, was not surprised that he should have appealed to the +girl's imagination. The man was of a fine lean symmetry, and straight +of limb. The stamp of a clean life was on him, showing itself in the +brightness of his eyes and his clear bronzed skin, while he had, as +Wisbech had said, the classical Nasmyth features. These things, as +Mrs. Acton admitted, counted for something, while the faint lines upon +his face, and the suggestive hardness that now and then crept into it, +were, she decided, likely to excite a young woman's curiosity. + +"Well," she said, "I feel myself considerably to blame, and I may +admit that I had at first intended to make my husband get rid of you. +I really don't know why I didn't. You can make what you like of +that." + +Nasmyth bowed with a deferential smile, and she laughed. + +"Still," she said, "you must go away. Violet must be free to change +her mind, and, after all, it's consoling to reflect that she has not +seen so very much of you yet. In one way, it would please me if she +did. It would free me of a rather heavy responsibility." + +She stopped a moment, and looked at him with softening eyes. "Go and +run the water out of that valley, or do anything else that will make a +mark," she advised. + +Nasmyth's face was set as he replied: "If the thing is in any way +possible, it shall be done. I think I will go into Victoria again +to-day." + +He turned away and left her, and it was an hour later when she came +upon Violet sitting alone in a shady walk beneath the pines. She +looked at the girl severely. + +"If I had been quite sure of what was going on, I should have sent +that young man away," she remarked. "As it is, I am very glad that he +is going to Victoria." + +Violet slipped an arm about Mrs. Acton's neck and kissed her shyly. +"You would never have been so cruel, and now you are going to be my +friend," she said. "I don't want him to go back to that horrible +canyon." + +Mrs. Acton smiled. "I almost feel that I could shake both of you, but +I suppose I shall have to marshal my forces on your behalf." + +She set about her plans that evening, when she invaded Acton's +smoking-room, and her husband listened to her with a little dry +smile. + +"I guess this is about the first time I have ever known you to do a +real foolish thing," he observed. + +"Well," said Mrs. Acton, "it is, perhaps, to my credit that I have +done one now. Anyway, I like the man." + +Acton nodded. "Oh, yes;" he agreed, "that's quite comprehensible. +There's a good deal of tone about him, but except with women that's +not a thing that counts in this country. It's the bulldog grip and +grit that goes farthest here--anyway, when a man has no money behind +him." + +"You wouldn't consider Nasmyth a weak man?" + +"Not in one way. When he's right up against it, he'll stiffen himself +and fight, but when the strain slackens a little his kind are apt to +let go too easily." + +This, as a matter of fact, was more or less correct, but Mrs. Acton's +intention was not to discuss Nasmyth's character, and she smiled at +her husband. + +"Well," she announced; "I expect you to take a hand in the thing." + +Acton's gesture was expressive of resignation. "I guessed it. However, +it seems to me that young man has quite enough friends to give him a +shove here and there already. To begin with, there's Wisbech." + +"What would Wisbech do?" + +"Not much." And Acton smiled understandingly. "He means to let his +nephew feel his own feet. He's a sensible man. Then there's that man +Gordon from the Bush, and it seems I'm to do my share, too. Guess if I +was Nasmyth, I'd say 'thank you,' and go right ahead without listening +to one among the crowd of us." + +"That," Mrs. Acton said, "isn't quite the question. I think I pointed +out what I expect from you." + +Acton's eyes twinkled. "You did," he assured her. "I'll try to set +things in train the first time I go down to the city." + +This was somewhat vague, but Mrs. Acton was satisfied. Nevertheless, +she said nothing to Nasmyth on the subject, and next afternoon he left +Bonavista for Victoria. A day or two later he called by appointment at +the office of a certain land exploitation agency, and found Hutton +waiting for him. Hutton, who sat with his elbows on the table, pointed +to a chair. + +"You have taken my view of the thing?" he said in a questioning tone. +"If you'll sit down a minute, I'll call my clerk in, and he'll get the +papers ready." + +Nasmyth smiled. "I don't think you need trouble to do that just yet. +You see, I haven't the least intention of closing with your offer." + +It is just possible that Hutton had expected this, but, in any case, +he betrayed no astonishment. He leaned forward, regarding his visitor +with an almost expressionless face. + +"Then," he returned, "I'll hear your proposition." + +"What do you think of the one I had the pleasure of making you some +time ago?" Nasmyth inquired. + +"Quite out of the question." + +Nasmyth smiled. "That," he remarked, "is in one sense a pity, as I +couldn't repeat it to-day. If we are to do business together, I should +have to ask you for a considerably larger share of the profit. In +fact, I was wondering if you could see your way to offer half as much +again." + +Hutton gazed at him with sardonic amusement. "Oh," he replied, "has +somebody left you a fortune, or are they going to run a railroad +through that valley?" + +Nasmyth sat silent a moment or two, and it happened that his easy +indifference served him tolerably well. Had he been a keener man, the +anxiety to get about his work in the canyon, of which he was certainly +sensible, might have led to his undoing; but he was not one who often +erred through undue precipitancy. The waiting fight was, perhaps, the +one for which he was particularly adapted. If anything, he was rather +too much addicted to holding out his hand, and he realized that it +behooves the man without capital to be particularly wary in his +negotiations with the one in possession of money. His recent interview +with Violet Hamilton also had a stirring effect on him, and now he sat +quietly prepared to hold his own. + +"No," he declared, "there has been no particular change in my affairs. +I have only been thinking things over, and it seems to me I ought to +get the terms I mentioned." + +"Then you had better try. It won't be from any of the accredited land +agencies." + +Nasmyth noticed the faint ring in his companion's voice. This, it +seemed to him, was not bluff. The man, he believed, meant what he +said. + +"You seem quite sure of it," he observed. + +As a matter of fact, Hutton was, but he felt annoyed with himself. + +"Well," he said, "I naturally know what they would think of any +proposition like the one you made me. Anyway, as I suggested, all you +have to do is to try them." + +Again Nasmyth, conscious that his companion was unobtrusively +watching him, sat silent a moment or two. He knew that if he broke +with Hutton he might have considerable difficulty in raising the money +he required from any corporation interested in such matters in that +city; but he had also another plan in his mind. He was far from sure +that the scheme would prove successful, and it was at least certain +that it would cost him a good deal of trouble to carry it out. + +"Then I don't think I need keep you any longer," he told Hutton after +a long pause. "I'll leave the thing over for a day or two, and you can +send across to my hotel if you wish to discuss it again." + +He rose and reached out for his hat, and Hutton, who watched him cross +the room, was once or twice on the point of calling him back. Hutton +did not speak, however, since he fancied that Nasmyth would presently +return of his own accord--which was an expectation that proved +unwarranted. + +The office was on the second floor of a big stone building, and, as he +descended the stairway, Nasmyth fancied he caught sight of Martial in +the entrance-hall. Before he could be quite sure, the man turned down +a corridor, and Nasmyth, who did not trouble himself about the matter, +went out into the street. He was not altogether satisfied that he had +done wisely, but he meant, at least, to wait until events should prove +him wrong. + +A few minutes later, Martial strolled into the office where Hutton +sat, and smiled at him suggestively. He was also, as Acton had once +told Nasmyth, interested in the land exploitation business, and it was +evident that Hutton had expected him. + +"Nasmyth has been here," Martial observed; "I saw him on the stairway. +I suppose you got hold of him?" + +Hutton's gesture was forcibly expressive of annoyance. "As a matter of +fact, I didn't," he confessed. "The man's either considerably smarter +than I gave him credit for being, or a thick-headed, obstinate fool. +The one's as hard to handle as the other. I don't know which he is, +and it doesn't greatly matter. The result's the same." + +"I guess it's the latter;" and Martial laughed. "Well, since you can't +come to terms, have you any notion what his programme is?" + +"It's not a sure thing that he has one. Anyway, he didn't mention it. +We'll let him wait a day or two. It's quite likely he'll try the +Charters people." + +Both of them smiled, for it was then not an unusual thing for the men +interested in such affairs to put their heads together and take a +joint hand in any deal that seemed to warrant it, and when they did +so, the results were not, as a rule, encouraging to the outsider. + +Martial looked at his comrade suggestively. + +"I had a talk with Charters yesterday," he said. "He told me that if +there was anything in it, he didn't expect us to let the thing go." + +Hutton thought for a moment. "One could sell quite a few ranches in +the valley; but it's going to cost considerable to run the water out, +and I can't quite put my hand on anybody I'd feel like trusting with +the work in the canyon. It's going to be difficult. Besides, Nasmyth +has what you might call a first option on the land. Nobody else seems +to want it, and the Crown people have evidently given way on a point +or two. It's a sure thing they'd make no concession if we show our +hands." He broke off for a moment, and flung a quick glance at his +visitor. "You don't like the man?" + +"I don't," said Martial--"that's a solid fact. Still, it's not going +to count for much. This"--and he waved his hand--"is a matter of +business." + +He sat still for a moment or two, with a curious look in his face; for +he had called at the hotel Acton's party had visited on the night that +he had endeavoured to crawl unobserved on board the _Tillicum_. He had +no difficulty in discovering that Mrs. Acton and Miss Hamilton had +spent the night there, which made it evident that the girl could not +have been on board the steamer. He had, however, not made the +inquiries until business took him to the hotel several weeks +afterwards, and Acton's manner, when they met in the city, convinced +him that the schooner men had been communicative. On thinking the +matter over, it became clear that Nasmyth and the skipper had played a +trick on him; and, since it had cost him Mrs. Acton's good-will, +without which he could not approach Miss Hamilton, he cherished a +bitter grievance against Nasmyth. + +"Well," he inquired, "in case he tries to raise the money elsewhere, +what do you suggest?" + +"I guess we'll let him try," answered Hutton. "He's not going to raise +much when things are humming and every man with capital is putting it +into mines and mills. Besides, the work in the canyon's evidently a big +undertaking, and it's going to run into a long bill for labour. A +thing of that kind usually costs four times as much as the man who +starts it figures. Well, we'll leave him to it, and when his money +runs out we'll chip in." + +Martial laughed. "That's very much my notion. Let him do the work, and +then jump in and put up our dummies to locate all the land he can't +take hold of. Once we get a ranch or two recorded, there would be a +dozen ways we could get a grip on him. Between us and Charters, we +ought to break him." + +They smiled at each other, but in a moment or two Hutton looked +thoughtful again. + +"You want to understand," he said, "it's not my business to break +Nasmyth. It's the money I'm out for. In fact, if there's an easier way +than the one I suggested, I'm going to take it; and with that in view, +I'll send up a man or two I can rely on to investigate." + +"If they get crawling round that canyon and up and down the valley, it +will set the blame settlers talking. We want the thing run quietly," +Martial cautioned. + +"I guess it can be done," replied Hutton. "They'll go camping out for +pleasure. In fact, to make the thing more like it, I'll send them +fishing." Martial rose. "Anyway," he said, "I'll leave it with you in +the meanwhile." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE MEN OF THE BUSH + + +A cool shadow fell upon the descending trail that wound in among the +towering firs, and Nasmyth checked his jaded horse as he entered on +the last league of his long ride from the railroad. The red dust had +settled thick upon his city clothes, and for the first time he found +the restraint of them irksome. The band of his new hat had tightened +unpleasantly about his forehead, and in scrambling up the side of the +last high ridge which he had crossed, one neatly-fitting boot had +galled his foot, while he smiled with somewhat sinister amusement as +he felt the grip of the tight jacket on his shoulders. These were, as +he recognized, petty troubles, and he was rather astonished that he +should resent them, as he certainly did. He remembered that a little +while before he had made no complaint against the restraints of +civilization, and had, indeed, begun to shrink from the prospect of +going back to the untrammelled life of the wilderness. + +But, as he straightened himself in his saddle and gazed down the deep +valley through which the trail twisted, he felt the shrinking melt +away. After all, there was something in the wilderness that appealed +to him. There was vigour in the clean smell of it, and the little +breeze that fanned his face was laden with the scent of the firs. The +trees rolled away before him in sombre battalions that dwindled far up +the rocky sides of the enfolding hills, and here and there a flood of +sunlight that struck in through the openings fell in streams of +burning gold upon their tremendous trunks. Beyond them the rugged +heights rose, mass on mass, against the western sky. + +He rode into the shadow, and, though he thought of her, it was curious +that Violet Hamilton seemed to become less real to him as he pushed on +down the valley. He vaguely felt that he could not carry her with him +into the wilderness. She was a part of the civilization upon which he +had once more, for a time at least, turned his back, and he could not +fit her into the environment of that wild and rugged land. Indeed, he +remembered with a compassionate tenderness how she had shrunk from it +and clung to him--a forlorn, bedraggled object, in her tattered +dress--the day they floundered through the dripping Bush, and he +subconsciously braced himself for conflict as he thought of it. The +sooner his work was over, the sooner he could go back to her; but +there was, as he remembered, a great deal to be accomplished first. + +Wrapped in thought as he was, he was surprised when he saw a faint +blue cloud of wood-smoke trailing out athwart the sombre firs in the +hollow beneath him. Then two figures became visible, moving upwards +along the strip of trail, and he drove the jaded horse forward as he +recognized them. He lost sight of them for a few minutes as he turned +aside to avoid a swampy spot, but when he had left it behind they were +close ahead in the middle of the trail, and it was with a thrill of +pleasure that he swung himself stiffly from the saddle. + +With a smile on his bronzed face, Gordon stood looking at him. Gordon +was dressed in soil-stained garments of old blue duck, with a patch +cut from a cotton flour-bag on one of them. Laura Waynefleet stood a +little nearer, and there was also a welcome in her eyes. Nasmyth +noticed how curiously at home she seemed amidst that tremendous +colonnade of towering trunks. He shook hands with her, but it was +Gordon who spoke first. + +"You have come back to us. We have been expecting you," he said. +"After all, store clothes and three well-laid meals a day are apt to +pall on one." + +Nasmyth turned to Laura. "I should like to point out that this is the +man who urged me to go," he said. "One can't count on him." + +"Oh, yes," admitted Gordon, "I certainly did urge you, but I guess I +knew what the result would be. It was the surest way of quieting you. +Anyway, you don't seem sorry to be back again?" + +Nasmyth glanced at Laura. + +"No," he said; "in some respects I'm very glad." + +He became suddenly self-conscious as he saw Gordon's significant +smile. It suggested that he had, perhaps, made too great an admission, +and he wondered for the first time, with a certain uneasiness, whether +Gordon had mentioned Miss Hamilton to Laura, and, if that was the +case, what Miss Waynefleet thought about the subject. + +Laura talked to him in her old friendly fashion as they walked on +towards the settlement, until Gordon broke in. + +"I've called the boys together, as you suggested, and fixed up the +meeting for to-night," he said. "They'll be ready to give you a +hearing, after supper, in the hotel." + +Laura left them on the outskirts of the settlement, and Gordon, +stopping a moment, looked hard at Nasmyth. + +"I suppose you pledged yourself to that girl at Bonavista before you +came away?" he said. + +"I did," Nasmyth admitted. + +Gordon was silent for a moment or two. "Of course, I partly expected +it," he observed. "In fact, when I was talking to Miss Waynefleet +about you, I ventured to predict something of the kind." + +The two men looked at each other for a moment, and then Nasmyth +smiled. + +"You haven't anything else to say," he suggested. + +"No," answered Gordon,--"at least, nothing that's very material. +Anyway, until we're through with the business we have on hand, you'll +have to put that girl right out of your mind." + +They went on towards the little wooden hotel, and Nasmyth felt +unusually thoughtful as he walked beside his jaded horse. He +recognized that his comrade's last observation was more or less +warranted, and it was to some extent a relief to him when they reached +the veranda stairway and Gordon led the horse away toward the +stables. + +It was rather more than an hour later when a specially invited company +of men who had, as they said, a stake in the district assembled in the +big general room of the hotel. There was about a dozen of them, men of +different birth and upbringing, though all had the same quiet brown +faces and steadiness of gaze. For the most part, they were dressed in +duck, though Waynefleet and the hotel-keeper wore city clothes. The +room was barely furnished, and panelled roughly with cedar-boards; but +it had wide casements, from which those who sat in it could look out +upon a strip of frothing river and the sombre forest that rolled up +the rocky hills. The windows were wide open, and the smell of +wood-smoke and the resinous odours of the firs flowed in. A look of +expectancy crept into the men's faces, and the murmur of their +conversation suddenly fell away, when Nasmyth sat down at the head of +the long table with Gordon at one side of him. + +"Boys," said Nasmyth, "one or two of you know why Gordon asked you +here to meet me, but I had better roughly explain my project before I +go any further. I'll ask you to give me your close attention for the +next three or four minutes." + +When he stopped speaking there was a very suggestive silence for a +moment. Those who heard him had not the quick temperament of the men +of the Western cities. They lived in the stillness of the Bush, and +thought before they undertook anything, though, when they moved, it +was usually to some purpose. One of the men stood up with a +deprecatory gesture. + +"Well," he declared, "it's a great idea. Boys, wouldn't you call us +blame fools for not thinking of it before?" + +He sat down suddenly, before anybody answered him, and the men were +still again until another of them rose. + +"Nasmyth's not quite through yet," he said. "We'll ask him to go +ahead." + +Gordon leaned forward, and touched his comrade's arm. + +"Pitch it to them strong. You're getting hold," he whispered +encouragingly. + +For another five minutes Nasmyth spoke as he felt that he had never +spoken before. He was intent and strung up, and he knew that a great +deal depended upon the effect he could make. He had failed with the +men of the cities, who wanted all the profit. He felt sure that he +would henceforward have one or two of them against him, and it was +clear that he must either abandon his project or win over these +hard-handed men of the Bush. With them behind him, there was, he felt, +little that he need shrink from attempting. A ring crept into his +voice as he went on, for he knew that he was getting hold as he saw +their lips set and the resolute expression of their eyes. They were +men who, by strenuous toil, wrung a bare living out of the forest, and +now there was laid before them a scheme that in its sheer daring +seized upon their attention. + +"Boys," Nasmyth concluded, "I am in your hands. This thing is too big +for me to go into alone. Still, it's due to you to say that, while I +meant to give you an option of standing in, it seemed to me it would +simplify the thing if I raised most of the money before I came to you. +Money is usually scarce in the Bush." + +"That's a fact," agreed the shrewd-faced hotel-keeper, who also +conducted the store. "Anyway, when you have to trade with folks who +take twelve months to square up their bills in." + +Nobody seemed to heed him, and Nasmyth added: + +"Well, I found I couldn't do it--that is, if I wanted to keep anything +for myself. I want you to come in, and as soon as I hear you're ready +to give it your attention, I'll lay a proposition before you." + +He sat looking at them, in a state of tense anxiety, until one of them +rose to his feet. + +"I guess you can count upon every one of us," he announced. + +A reassuring murmur ran along the double row of men, and Nasmyth felt +a thrill of exultation. + +"Thank you, boys," he said with evident gratitude. "Now, there are +difficulties to be grappled with. To begin with, the Crown authorities +would sooner have leased the valley to me, and it was some time before +they decided that as a special concession they would sell it in six +hundred and forty acre lots at the lowest figure for first-class +lands. The lots are to be laid off in rectangular blocks, and as the +valley is narrow and winding, that takes in a proportion of heavy +timber on the hill bench, and will not include quite a strip of +natural prairie, which remains with the Crown. The cost of the land +alone runs close on twenty thousand dollars, of which, one way or +another, I can raise about eight thousand." + +He looked at Wheeler, who sat near the lower end of the table, and he +nodded. + +"My offer stands," he said. + +"You want another twelve thousand dollars," said the hotel-keeper +dubiously. "It's quite a pile of money." + +There was a little laughter from the men. "Well," said one of them, "I +guess we can raise it somehow among us, but it's going to be a pull." + +"Then," said Nasmyth, "we have provided for the cost of the land, but +before we lower the fall and cut the drainage trenches in the valley +we will run up a big bill--that is, if we hire hands. My notion is +that we undertake the work ourselves, and credit every man with his +share in it to count as a mortgage on the whole land that belongs to +us." + +Waynefleet stood up and waved his hand. "I want to point out that this +is very vague," he objected. "The question will arise where the labour +is to be applied. It would, for instance, be scarcely judicious to +give a man a claim on everybody else for draining his own land." + +He would have said more, but that Tom of Mattawa laid a hard hand on +his shoulder and jerked him back into his chair. + +"Now," Tom admonished, "you just sit down. When Nasmyth takes this +thing in hand he'll put it through quite straight. What you'd do in a +month wouldn't count for five dollars, anyway." + +Everybody laughed, and Wheeler spoke again. "We'll get over that +trouble by cutting so many big trenches only for the general benefit. +In the meanwhile Mr. Nasmyth said something about trustees." + +"I did," said Nasmyth. "The Crown will sell in rectangular six hundred +and forty acre blocks. My proposition is that we take them up in three +separate names. You have to understand that the man who registers in +the Crown deed is legal owner." + +"Then we're sure of two of them," declared the hotel-keeper. "Nasmyth +takes the first block, and Wheeler the other." + +Wheeler laughed. "I guess I stand out. As a United States citizen, I'm +not sure I'm eligible to record Crown lands. Still, since Nasmyth and +I are putting up a good many of the dollars, I'll nominate Gordon." + +As one man they decided on that, but there appeared to be a difficulty +about the third trustee until Nasmyth turned to them. + +"As you don't seem sure about him, I would like to suggest Mr. +Waynefleet, boys," he said. "He is a man who has an extensive +acquaintance with business and legal affairs." + +There was dead silence for several moments, and the men looked at one +another uneasily. It was evident that the suggestion was unwelcome to +most of them, and Nasmyth was quite aware that he was doing an +unpopular thing. In the meanwhile dusk had crept up the valley, and +the room was growing dim. Perhaps Waynefleet could not see his +companions' faces very well, but it is also possible that, had he been +able to do so, he would not have troubled himself about the hesitation +in most of them. There are men of his kind who appear incapable of +recognizing the fact that they are not regarded with general favour. + +Finally one of the men spoke. "Seeing that the scheme is Nasmyth's, I +guess it's only reasonable to fall in with his views as far as we +can," he said. "We'll fix on Waynefleet." + +There was a murmur of very dubious agreement, and Waynefleet, who +stood up, smiled on the assembly patronizingly. His manner suggested +that he was about to confer a favour. + +"Our friend was warranted in mentioning that I have been accustomed to +handling affairs of a somewhat similar nature, but of considerably +greater magnitude," he said. "I have pleasure in placing what +abilities I possess at your disposal, gentlemen." + +Though it was growing dark, Nasmyth saw the amused light in Gordon's +eyes. "I'm with you in this," said Gordon. "Still, I scarcely figured +the boys would have stood him." + +They discussed the scheme at length, and when the assembly broke up, +Waynefleet approached the table where Gordon, Nasmyth and Wheeler sat +under a big lamp. + +"There is a point I did not mention at the time. It seemed to me it +was one that could, perhaps, be arranged," said Waynefleet. "It is, of +course, usual for a director of any kind to hold a certain financial +interest in the scheme." + +He looked at Nasmyth, and made a significant gesture. "Unfortunately +there are not at the moment more than a very few dollars at my +disposal. The fact, you will recognize, is likely to hamper my efforts +in an administrative capacity." + +"Precisely!" said Nasmyth. "It is a matter I have provided for. You +will be placed in possession of a holding of the size the others fixed +upon as convenient when the blocks are divided off." + +"No larger?" + +"No," answered Nasmyth; "I am afraid you will have to be content with +that." + +Waynefleet went out, and Gordon turned to Nasmyth. "It's going to cost +you something," he said. "You can't charge it on the scheme. I'll +divide it with you." + +There was a slight restraint in Nasmyth's manner. "I'm afraid I can't +permit it. It will be charged against my claim. Considering +everything, it was a thing I felt I had to do." + +Then Wheeler, who had been quietly watching them, broke in. + +"What did you put that image up for, anyway?" he asked. + +Gordon smiled in a significant fashion. "It's our friend's affair, and +I guess he's not going to tell you why he did it. Still, in one sense, +I 'most think it was up to him." + +Wheeler let the matter drop, and in a few more minutes they went out, +and Nasmyth and Gordon turned into the trail that led to Gordon's +ranch. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +NASMYTH SETS TO WORK + + +It was a scorching afternoon on the heights above, where rocky slope +and climbing firs ran far up towards the blue heavens under a blazing +sun, but it was dim and cool in the misty depths of the canyon. There +was eternal shadow in that tremendous rift, and a savage desolation +rolled away from it; but on this afternoon the sounds of human +activity rang along its dusky walls. The dull thud of axes fell from a +gully that rent the mountain-side, and now and then a mass of +shattered rock came crashing down, while the sharp clinking of the +drills broke intermittently through the hoarse roar of the fall. Wet +with the spray of the fall, Nasmyth, stripped to blue shirt and old +duck trousers, stood swinging a heavy hammer, which he brought down +upon the head of the steel bar that his companion held so many times a +minute with rhythmic precision. Though they changed round now and +then, he had done much the same thing since early morning, and his +back and arms ached almost intolerably; but still the great hammer +whirled about his head, and while he gasped with the effort, came down +with a heavy jar upon the drill. So intent was he that he did not +notice the three figures scrambling along the narrow log-work staging +pinned against the rocky side above the fall, until his companion +flung a word at him. Turning with a start, he dropped his hammer. + +He saw Gordon hold out a hand to Laura Waynefleet, who sprang down +from the staging upon the strip of smooth-worn stone that stretched +out from the wall of the canyon above the fall. Wheeler was a few +paces behind them. Nasmyth looked around for his jacket, and, +remembering that he had left it in the gully, he moved forward to +shake hands with his visitors. + +"I scarcely expected to see any of you here. You must have had a hard +scramble," he said. + +Gordon waved his hand. "You don't say you're pleased, though after the +trouble we've taken, it's a sure thing that you ought to be," he +declared. "Anyway, I'm not going back up that gully until I've had +supper. Wheeler's held up because his folks haven't sent him some +machines, and I came along to see if I'd forgotten how to hold a +drill. I don't quite know what Miss Waynefleet came for." + +Laura laughed good-humouredly. "Oh," she said, "I have my excuse. My +father is at Victoria, and I have been staying with Mrs. Potter for a +day or two. She lent me a cayuse to ride over to Fenton's ranch, and +the trail there leads close by the head of the gully." + +Mattawa looked up at Gordon with a grin. "If you want to do some +drilling, you can start right now," he remarked. "Guess Nasmyth +doesn't know he has a back on him." + +Gordon took up the hammer, and, when Wheeler went back to the gully to +inquire whether one of the men at work there would undertake some +timber-squaring he wanted done at the mill, Laura Waynefleet and +Nasmyth were left together. It was wetter than was comfortable near +the fall, and, scrambling back across the staging, they sat down among +the boulders near the foot of the rapid that swirled out of the pool. +Nasmyth looked at Laura, who smiled. + +"I am afraid I have taken you away from your work, and I haven't +Gordon's excuse," she said. "He, at least, is able to drill." + +Nasmyth laughed. "I observe that Tom seems very careful of his +hands," he returned. "As to the other matter, I am very glad you did +come. After all, drilling isn't exactly a luxurious occupation; and +while, as Tom remarked, I'm a little uncertain about my back, I'm +quite sure I'm in possession of a pair of arms, because they ache +abominably. Besides"--and his gaze was whimsically reproachful--"do +you really think any excuse is needed for coming to see me?" + +"In any case, I have one; there is something I want to say. You see, I +have not come across you since the meeting at the settlement." + +"I suppose you object to your father taking any share in our crazy +venture?" + +A faint flicker of colour crept into Laura's cheek. "You know I +don't," she replied. "It is the one thing I could have wished for him; +indeed, I shall be thankful if he takes a sustaining interest in the +scheme, as he seems disposed to do. It will be of benefit to him in +many ways. He grows moody and discontented at the ranch." + +She broke off for a moment, and her voice had changed when she went on +again. "There is one point that troubles me--you provided my father +with the money to take his share in the venture." + +"No," explained Nasmyth; "I think I can say that I didn't. I have +merely set apart for him so many acres of swamp and virgin forest. He +will have to earn his title to them by assisting in what we may call +the administration, as well as by physical labour." + +Laura looked at Nasmyth with quiet eyes. "Would you or Gordon consider +it a good bargain to part with a single acre for all the advice he can +offer you?" she asked. + +Nasmyth sat silent a moment, gravely regarding her. There was a little +more colour in her face, but her composure and her fearless honesty +appealed to him. She was attired very plainly in a print dress, made, +as he knew, by her own fingers. The gown had somehow escaped serious +damage in the scramble down the gully. It harmonized with the +pale-tinted stone, and it seemed to him that its wearer fitted +curiously into her surroundings. He had noticed this often before, and +it had occurred to him that she had acquired something of the strength +and unchangeableness of the wilderness. Perhaps she had, though it is +also possible that the quiet steadfastness had been born in her, and +perfected slowly under stress and strain. + +"Well," Nasmyth broke out impulsively, "if it had been you to whom we +made that block over, I could have abdicated with confidence and have +left it all to you." + +Laura smiled, and Nasmyth became sensible that his face had grown a +deeper red. + +"Whatever made you say that?" she asked. + +"I don't quite know." Nasmyth's manner was deprecatory. "After all, +it's hardly fair to hold a man accountable for everything he may +chance to say. Anyway, I think I meant it." + +Something in his voice suggested that he was of the same mind still, +but Laura glanced at him again. + +"Aren't we getting away from the subject?" she queried. "The land you +made over to my father must have cost you something. It is a thing I +rather shrink from mentioning, but have you any expectation of ever +getting the money back?" + +Nasmyth did not exactly understand, until a considerable time +afterwards, why he was so deeply stirred by what she had said, and he +was quite mistaken in fancying that it was merely her courage that +touched his heart. In the meanwhile, he was clearly sensible of at +least a great pity for her. + +"Well," he told her, "we can look at things openly, and not try to +persuade ourselves that they're something else. I think that is one of +the things that you have taught me. Now, suppose I haven't any +expectation of the kind you mention. How does that count? Didn't you +take me in when you found me lying in the snow? Isn't it practically +certain that I owe my life to you? Admitting all that, is there any +reason why you shouldn't permit me to offer you a trifling favour, not +for your own sake, but your father's?" + +He broke off for a moment with a forceful gesture. "I might, no doubt, +have suppressed all this and made some conventional answer, but, you +see, one has to be honest with you. Can you persuade yourself that I +don't know what you have to bear at the ranch, and how your father's +moody discontent must burden you? Isn't it clear that if he takes an +interest in this project and forgets to worry about his little +troubles, it will make life easier for both of you?" + +Laura looked at him curiously. "After all, it is my life. Why should +you be so anxious to make it easier?" + +The question troubled Nasmyth. It seemed to go beyond the reason he +had offered her a moment or two earlier. Indeed, it flashed upon him +that the fact that he certainly owed a good deal to her was not in +itself quite sufficient to account for the anxiety he felt. + +"Well," he answered, "if the grounds I mentioned don't appear to +warrant my doing what I did, I can't at the moment think of anything +more convincing. It's one consolation that you couldn't upset the +little arrangement now, if you wanted to. Your father's going into the +thing headlong." + +Somewhat to his astonishment the girl appeared embarrassed as she +glanced away from him. It was a moment or two before she looked around +again. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, "I don't want to upset it. He has not been so +well and contented for several years. It has lifted him out of his +moodiness." Then she leaned a little toward him. "I dare not refuse +this favour from you." + +Nasmyth was puzzled by a vague something in her manner. + +"I certainly can't see why you should want to; but we'll talk of +something else," he replied. "As you have noticed, I have set to work, +though I expect it will be winter before we make any very great +impression." + +Laura glanced up the gloomy canyon, which was filled with the river's +clammy, drifting mist. "Winter," she said, "will be terrible here. +Then you are not going back to the coast or Victoria for some time?" + +"Certainly not, if I can help it." + +Nasmyth spoke without reflection, but he felt what he said, and it was +a moment before he realized that he might have expressed himself less +decisively. He saw the smile on Laura's lips. + +"So you have heard?" he asked. "There was, of course, no reason why +Gordon shouldn't have told you. It was a thing I had meant to do +myself, only, as it happened, I haven't seen you. After that last +speech of mine, I must explain that I feel there is a certain +obligation on me to stay away. Miss Hamilton, as a matter of fact, is +not engaged to me. Nothing can be settled until I carry out this +project successfully." + +Laura Waynefleet's face was very quiet, and he sat silent a moment or +two, wondering somewhat uneasily what she was thinking. He was also +slightly surprised at himself, for he realized that, after all, he had +found it considerably easier to stay away than he had expected. +Indeed, during the last few weeks, when every moment of his time had +been occupied, he had thought of nothing except the work before him. +It occurred to him for the first time that it was curious that he had +been able to do so. + +"You see," he made haste to explain, "in the meanwhile I must +endeavour to put everything except this scheme out of my mind." + +Again he was troubled by Laura Waynefleet's little smile. + +"Yes," she said; "in one way, no doubt, that would be the wisest +course. I'm not sure, however, that everybody would have sufficient +strength of will." + +Nasmyth said nothing further for a while, but--though he was probably +not aware of this--his face grew thoughtful as he gazed at the river +until his companion spoke again. + +"Was it Miss Hamilton's wish that you should make your mark first?" +she inquired. + +"No," answered Nasmyth decisively; "I want you to understand that it +was mine. She merely concurred in it." + +He changed the subject abruptly. "Tell me about yourself." + +"There is so little to tell. One day is so much like another with me, +only I have been rather busier than usual lately. My father has had to +cut down expenses. We have no hired man." + +Nasmyth set his lips and half-consciously closed one hand. It seemed +to him an almost intolerable thing that this girl should waste her +youth and sweetness dragging out a life of unremitting toil in the +lone Bush. Still, while her father lived, there was nothing else she +could look forward to, and he could imagine how the long colourless +years would roll away with her, while she lost her freshness and grew +hard and worn with petty cares and labour that needed a stronger arm +than hers. She might grow discontented, he fancied, and perhaps a +trifle bitter, though he could not imagine her becoming querulous. + +As yet there was a great patience in her steady eyes. Then it became +evident that she guessed what he was thinking. + +"Sometimes I feel the prospect in front of me is not a very attractive +one," she responded in answer to his thoughts. "Still, one can get +over that by not regarding it as a prospect at all. It simplifies the +thing when one takes it day by day." + +She smiled at him. "Derrick, you have done wisely. I think you need a +sustaining purpose and a woman to work for." + +Nasmyth's face paled. "Yes," he agreed dryly; "it is, perhaps, rather +a significant admission, but I really think I do." + +It was a relief to both of them that Wheeler came floundering along +the shingle just then with a box and a coil of wire in his hand. + +"I've brought you a little present, Nasmyth," he announced. "Firing by +fuse is going to be uncertain when there's so much spray about, and I +sent down for this electric fixing. We can charge it for you at any +time at the mill. Have you put in any giant-powder yet?" + +Nasmyth said they had not fired a heavy charge about the fall, but +that there were several holes ready for filling, and Wheeler's eyes +twinkled. + +"I'm quite anxious to try this little toy," he said. "When I was +young, a rancher gave me an old played-out shot-gun, and I was out at +sun-up next morning to shoot something. That's the kind of being a man +is, Miss Waynefleet. Put any kind of bottled-up power in his hands, +and he feels he must get up and make a bang with it. After all, I +guess it's fortunate that he does." + +"Are all men like that?" Laura asked with a strange undertone in her +voice. + +"Most of them," said Wheeler, with an air of reflection. "Of course, +you do run across one here and there who would put the bottled power +carefully away for fear that, when it went off, it might hurt him or +somebody. The trouble is that when a man of that kind at last makes up +his mind to use it he's quite likely to find that the power has +gradually leaked out of the bottle. Power's a very curious thing. If +you don't use it, it has a way of evaporating." + +Gordon had joined them in the meanwhile, and Laura looked at him. + +"You agree with that?" she asked. + +Gordon's smile was suggestively grim. "Oh, yes," he said. "I guess our +friend now and then says some rather forceful things. Anyway, he has +hit it with this one. For instance, there was that little matter of +the man who was sick at his mill. A surgeon with nerve and hands could +have fixed him up. We"--and he made an expressive gesture--"packed him +out to Victoria." + +He laughed harshly as he went on: "Well, that's partly why we're going +to set our mark on this canyon, if it's only to make it clear that +we're not quite played out yet. You'll ram that hole full of your +strongest powder, Derrick." + +Nasmyth turned and waved his hand to a man at the foot of the gully. + +"Bring me down the magazine!" he ordered. "We're going to split that +rock before supper." + +The man, who disappeared, came back again with an iron box, and for +the next few minutes Nasmyth, who scrambled about the rocks above the +fall, taking a coil of thin wire with him, was busy. When he rejoined +his companions, he led them a little further down the canyon until he +pointed to a shelf of rock from which they had a clear view of the +fall. A handful of men had clambered down the gully, and now they +stood in a cluster upon the strip of shingle. Nasmyth indicated them +with a wave of his hand before he held a little wooden box with brass +pegs projecting from it up to Laura. + +"It's the first big charge we have fired, and they seem to feel it's +something of an event," he said. "In one way, it's a declaration of +war we're making, and there is a good deal against us. You fit this +plug into the socket when you're ready." + +"You mean me to fire the charge?" inquired Laura. + +"Yes," answered Nasmyth quietly. "It's fitting that you should be the +one to set us at our work. If it hadn't been for you, I should +certainly not have taken this thing up, and now I want to feel that +you are anxious for our success." + +A faint flush of colour crept into Laura Waynefleet's face. For one +thing, Nasmyth's marriage to the dark-eyed girl whom Gordon had +described to her depended on the success of this venture, and that was +a fact which had its effect on her. Still, she felt, the scheme would +have greater results than that, and, turning gravely, she glanced at +the men who had gathered upon the shingle. They looked very little and +feeble as they clustered together, in face of that almost overwhelming +manifestation of the great primeval forces against which they had +pitted themselves in the bottom of the tremendous rift. It seemed +curious that they did not shrink from the roar of the river which rang +about them in sonorous tones, and then, as she looked across the mad +rush of the rapid and the spray-shrouded fall to the stupendous walls +of rock that shut them in, the thing they had undertaken seemed almost +impossible. Wheeler appeared to guess her thoughts, for he smiled as +he pointed to the duck-clad figures. + +"Well," he declared, "in one way they're an insignificant crowd. Very +little to look at; and this canyon's big. Still, I guess they're +somehow going through with the thing. It seems to me"--and he nodded +to her with sudden recognition of her part in the project--"it was a +pretty idea of Nasmyth's when he asked you to start them at it." + +Laura remembered that the leader of the men had once said that he +belonged to her. She smiled, and raised the hand that held the firing +key. + +"Boys," she said, "it's a big thing you have undertaken--not the +getting of the money, but the beating of the river, and the raising of +tall oats and orchards where only the sour swamp-grasses grew." She +turned and for a moment looked into Nasmyth's eyes, as she added +simply: "Good luck to you." + +She dropped her hand upon the little box, and in another moment or two +a rent opened in the smooth-worn stretch of rock above the fall. Out +of it there shot a blaze of light that seemed to grow in brilliance +with incredible swiftness, until it spread itself apart in a dazzling +corruscation. Then the roar of the river was drowned in the +detonation, and long clouds of smoke whirled up. Through the smoke +rose showers of stones and masses of leaping rock that smote with a +jarring crash upon the walls of the canyon. After that came a great +splashing that died away suddenly, and there was only the hoarse roar +of the river pouring through the newly opened gap. Laura turned and +handed the box to Nasmyth. + +"Now," she said, "I have done my part, and I am only sorry that it is +such a trifling one." + +Nasmyth looked at her with a gleam in his eyes. + +He answered softly: "You are behind it all. It is due to you that I am +making some attempt to use the little power in my possession, instead +of letting it melt away." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DERRICK + + +A bitter frost had crept down from the snow-clad heights that shut the +canyon in, and the roar of the river had fallen to a lower tone, when +Nasmyth stood one morning shivering close by the door of his rude log +shanty at the foot of the gully. The faint grey light was growing +slightly clearer, and he could see the clustering spruces, in the +hollow, gleam spectrally where their dark masses were streaked with +delicate silver filigree. Across the river there was a dull glimmer +from the wall of rock, which the freezing spray had covered with a +glassy crust. Though it had not been long exposed to the nipping +morning air, Nasmyth felt his damp deer-hide jacket slowly stiffening, +and the edge of the sleeves, which had been wet through the day +before, commenced to rasp his raw and swollen wrists. + +He stood still for a minute or two listening to the river and +stretching himself wearily, for his back and shoulders ached, and +there was a distressful stiffness in most of his joints that had +resulted from exposure, in spray-drenched clothing, to the stinging +frost. This, however, did not greatly trouble him, since he had long +realized that physical discomfort must be disregarded if the work was +to be carried on. Men, for the most part, toil strenuously in that +wild land. Indeed, it is only by the tensest effort of which flesh and +blood are capable that the wilderness is broken to man's domination, +for throughout much of it costly mechanical appliances have not as yet +displaced well-hardened muscle. + +In most cases the Bushman who buys a forest ranch has scarcely any +money left when he has made the purchase. He finds the land covered +with two-hundred-feet firs, which must be felled, and sawn up, and +rolled into piles for burning by his own hand, and only those who have +handled trees of that kind can form any clear conception of the labour +such work entails. It is a long time before the strip of cleared land +will yield a scanty sustenance, and in the meanwhile the Bushman must, +every now and then, hire himself out track-grading on the railroads or +chopping trails to obtain the money that keeps him in tea and pork and +flour. As a rule, he expects nothing else, and there are times when he +does not get quite enough work. Men reared in this fashion grow hard +and tireless, and Nasmyth had been called upon to lead a band of them. +He had contrived to do it, so far, but it was not astonishing that the +toil had left a mark on him. + +He heard the drifting ice-cake crackle, as it leapt the fall, and the +sharp crash of it upon the boulders in the rapid. It jarred on the +duller roar of the river in intermittent detonations as each heavy +mass swept down. There was, however, no other sound, and seizing a +hammer, he struck a suspended iron sheet until a voice fell across the +pines from the shadowy gully. + +"Guess we'll be down soon as it's light enough," it said. + +Then another voice rose from the shanty. + +"The boys won't see to make a start for half an hour," it said. "I +don't know any reason why you shouldn't shut the door and come right +in. Breakfast's ready." + +Nasmyth turned and went into the shanty, conscious that it would cost +him an effort to get out of it again. A stove snapped and crackled in +the one room, which was cosily warm. Gordon and Waynefleet sat before +the two big empty cases that served for table, and Mattawa was ladling +pork on to their plates from a blackened frying-pan, Nasmyth sat down +and ate hastily, while the light from the lamp hanging beneath the +roof-beams fell upon his face, which was gaunt and roughened by the +sting of bitter spray and frost. His hands were raw and cracked. + +"I want to get that rock-dump hove out of the pool before it's dark," +he said. "One can't see to crawl over those ice-crusted rocks by +firelight." + +Gordon glanced at Mattawa, who grinned. "Well," said Mattawa, "it was +only yesterday when I fell in, and I figured Charly was going right +under the fall the day before. Oh, yes, I guess we'd better get the +thing through while it's light." + +"I have felt inclined to wonder if it wouldn't be advisable to suspend +operations if this frost continues," said Waynefleet reflectively. + +"Our charter lays it down that the work is to be carried on +continuously," answered Gordon. "Still, on due notice being given, it +permits a stoppage of not exceeding one month, owing to stress of +weather or insuperable natural difficulties. As a matter of fact, even +with the fire going, it's practically impossible to keep the frost out +of the stone." + +Nasmyth looked up sharply. "The work goes on. There will be no +stoppage of any kind. We can't afford it. The thing already has cost +us two or three times as much as I had anticipated." + +Gordon looked amused, though he said nothing further. Nasmyth was up +against it, with his back to the wall, but that fact had roused all +the resolution there was in him, and he had shown no sign of +flinching. It was evident that he must fight or fail ignominiously, +and he had grown grimmer and more determined as each fresh obstacle +presented itself while the strenuous weeks rolled on. There was +silence for a few minutes, and then Mattawa grinned at Waynefleet. + +"I guess you've got to keep that rock from freezing, and the fire was +kind of low when I last looked out," he remarked. + +With a frown of resignation Waynefleet rose wearily and went out, for +it was his part to keep a great fire going day and night. This was one +of the few things he could do, and, though it entailed a good deal of +sturdy labour with the axe, he had, somewhat to his comrades' +astonishment, accomplished it reasonably well. In another minute or +two Nasmyth followed him, and when the rest of the men came clattering +down from the shanty, higher up the gully, they set to work. + +There was just light enough to see by, and no more, for, though the +frost was bitter, heavy snow-clouds hung about the hills. Shingle and +boulders were covered with frozen spray, and long spears of ice +stretched out into the pool below the fall. Now and then a block of +ice drove athwart them with a detonating crackle. The pool was lower +than it had been in summer, and the stream frothed in angry eddies in +the midst of it, where shattered masses of rock rent by the blasting +charges lay as they had fallen. It was essential that the rock should +be cleared away, and a great redwood log with a rounded foot let into +a socket swung by wire rope guys above the pool. Another wire rope +with a pair of iron claws at the end of it ran over a block at the +head of the log to the winch below, and the primitive derrick and its +fittings had cost Nasmyth a great deal of money, as well as a week's +arduous labour. + +They swung the apparatus over the pile of submerged rock, and, when +the claws fell with a splash, they hove at the winch, two of them at +each handle, until a mass of stone rose from the stream. Then one guy +was slackened, and another hauled upon, until the rock swung over the +shingle across the river, where they let it fall. Part of the growing +pile would be used to build the road by which they brought supplies +down the gully. + +In itself the work was arduous enough, since four men alone could toil +at the winch, and some of the masses they raised were ponderous. +Indeed, there was scarcely room for four persons on the shelf hewn out +above the tail of the pool, and the narrow strip of stone was slippery +with ice. Fine spray that froze on all it touched whirled about the +workers, and every now and then a heavy fragment that slipped from the +claws fell with a great splash. Nasmyth's wrists grew raw from the +rasp of the hide jacket, and wide cracks opened in his fingers. + +"I remember it as cold as this only once before," he said. "It was +during the few days I spent between the logging camp and Waynefleet's +ranch." + +Mattawa, who hove on the same handle, grinned. "Well," he said, "this +is a tolerable sample of blame hard weather while it lasts, but we get +months of it back East. Still, I guess we don't work then. No, sir, +unless we're chopping, we sit tight round the stove." + +Mattawa was right in this. Excepting the loggers and the Northwest +Police, men do not work in the open at that temperature back East, nor +would they attempt it on the Pacific Slope were the cold continuous. +In the western half of British Columbia, however, long periods of +severe weather are rare. It is a variable zone, swept now and then by +damp, warm breezes, and men tell of sheltered valleys where flowers +blow the year round, though very few of those who ramble up and down +the Mountain Province ever chance upon them. But there are times when +the devastating cold of the Polar regions descends upon the lonely +ranges, as it had done upon the frost-bound canyon. + +Those who toiled with Nasmyth were hardened men, and they held on +with cracked hands clenched on the winch-handles, or they splashed +through the icy shallows with the water in their boots, until, a +little before their dinner-hour, when three of them stood straining by +Nasmyth's side beneath the derrick as a mass of rock rose slowly to +the surface of the pool. Mattawa glanced at this weight dubiously, and +then up at the wire guy that gleamed with frozen spray high above his +head. + +"I guess we've dropped on to a big one this time," he said. "She's +going to be heavier when we heave her clear of the river." + +This, of course, was correct, and it was clear to Nasmyth that it was +only by a strenuous effort that his comrades were raising the stone +then. Still, it must be lifted, and he tightened his grasp upon the +handle. + +"Heave! Lift her out!" he said. + +The veins rose swollen on their foreheads, and they gasped as they +obeyed him, but as the stone rose dripping there was an ominous +creaking overhead. + +"Guess she's drawing the anchor-bolts," cried one. "We'll fetch the +whole thing down. Shall I let her run?" + +Nasmyth flung a sharp glance at the big iron holdfast sunk in the rock +above. There would, he knew, be trouble if that or the wire guy gave +way, but it was only at some hazard that anything could be done in the +canyon. + +"Hold on!" he said hoarsely. "Slack that guy, and let her swing." + +There was a clink and jar as the clutch took the weight off them; a +wire rope set up a harsh rasping, and as Gordon jerked a guiding-line +across the river, the great boom swung, trailing the heavy stone just +above the water. Then the ominous creak grew sharper, and one of them +shouted. + +"Jump!" he said. "She's going!" + +Two of them sprang on the instant into the pool, and washed out with +the crackling ice-cake into the rapid at the tail of it. It was +precisely what most men who could swim would have done, but Nasmyth +stayed, and Mattawa stayed with him. Nasmyth did not think very +clearly, but he remembered subconsciously what the construction of +that derrick had cost him. There was a lever which would release the +load and let it run. He had his hand on it when he turned to his +companion. + +"Strip that handle, Tom," he said. + +The iron crank that would have hurled him into the river as its span +fell with a rattle, and that was one peril gone; but the lever he +grasped was difficult to move, and his hands were stiff and numb. +Still he persisted, and Mattawa watched him, because there was only +room for one, until there was a crash above them, and the tilted top +of the great boom came down. Mattawa, flattened against the rock side, +held his breath as the mass of timber rushed towards the pool, and +next moment saw that Nasmyth was no longer standing on the shelf. +Nasmyth lay partly beneath the shattered winch, and his face was grey, +except for a red scar down one side of it. His eyes, however, were +open, and Mattawa gasped with relief when he heard the injured man +speak. + +"It cleared my body. I'm fast by the hand," said Nasmyth. + +Three or four minutes had slipped by before the rest scrambled upon +the ledge with handspikes, and then it cost them a determined effort +before they moved the redwood log an inch or two. Gordon, kneeling by +Nasmyth's side, drew the crushed arm from under it. Nasmyth raised +himself on one elbow, and lifted a red and pulpy hand that hung from +the wrist. With an effort that set his face awry, he straightened it. + +"I can move it," he said. "I don't know how it got under the thing, or +what hit me in the face." + +"It doesn't matter, either," said Gordon quietly. "Can you get up?" + +Nasmyth blinked at him. "Of course," he answered. "As a general thing, +I walk with my legs. They're not hurt." + +Nasmyth staggered to his feet, and, while Gordon grasped his shoulder, +floundered over the log staging laid athwart the fall and back to the +shanty. Gordon was busy with him there for some time. After the +crushed hand had been bound up Gordon flung the door open and spoke to +the men outside. + +"It's only his hand, and there's nothing broken," he announced. "You +can get your dinner. We'll see about heaving the derrick up when +you've eaten." + +He went back and filled Nasmyth's pipe. + +"I expect it hurts," he said. + +Nasmyth nodded. "Yes," he replied, "quite enough." + +"Well," said Gordon, "I don't know that it's any consolation, but if +you expose it at this temperature, it's going to hurt you considerably +more. You can't do anything worth while with one hand, and that the +one you don't generally use, either. There's a rip upon your face that +may give you trouble, too. I'm going to pack you out to-morrow." + +"The difficulty is that I'm not disposed to go." + +"Your wishes are not going to be consulted. If there's no other way, +I'll appeal to the boys. I'd let you stay if you were a reasonable +man, and would lie quiet beside the stove until that hand got better; +but since it's quite clear that nobody could keep you there, you're +starting to-morrow for Waynefleet's ranch." + +Gordon turned to Waynefleet. "We'll lay you off for a week. There's a +little business waiting at the settlement, anyway, and you can see +about getting the new tools and provisions in." + +Waynefleet's face was expressive of a vast relief. The few bitter +weeks spent in the canyon had taken a good deal of the keenness he had +once displayed out of him. + +"I certainly think the arrangement suggested is a very desirable one," +he agreed "I am quite sure that Miss Waynefleet will have much +pleasure in looking after Nasmyth." + +Gordon turned to Nasmyth. "Now," he said, "you can protest just as +much as you like, but still, as you'll start to-morrow if we have to +tie you on to the pack-horse, it's not going to be very much use. You +can nurse your hand for a week, and then go on to Victoria and see if +you can pick up a boring-machine of the kind we want cheap." + +Nasmyth, who was aware that the machine must be purchased before very +long, submitted with the best grace he could, and, though his hand was +painful, he contrived to sleep most of the afternoon. Now that he was +disabled and could not work, he began to feel the strain. He set out +with Waynefleet at sunrise next morning, and they passed the day +scrambling over the divide, and winding in and out among withered fern +and thickets as they descended a rocky valley. Here and there they +found an easier pathway on the snow-sheeted reaches of a frozen +stream, and only left it to plunge once more into the undergrowth when +the ice crackled under them. They had a pack-horse with them, for now +and then one of the men made a laborious journey to the settlement for +provisions, and in places a fallen tree had been chopped through or a +thicket partly hewn away. That, however, did little to relieve the +difficulties of the march, for the trail was rudimentary, and the +first two leagues of it would probably have severely taxed the +strength of a vigorous man unaccustomed to the Bush. + +But they pushed on, Waynefleet riding when it was possible, while +Nasmyth plodded beside the horse's head, until a cloud of whirling +snow broke upon them as they floundered through a belt of thinner +Bush. The snow wrapped them in its filmy folds, gathering thick upon +their garments and filling their eyes, and Nasmyth grew anxious as the +daylight suddenly died out. They were in a valley, out of which they +could not very well wander without knowing it, and they stumbled on, +smashing into thickets and swerving round fallen trees, until they +struck a clearer trail, and it was with relief that Nasmyth saw a tall +split-rail fence close in front of him. He threw a strip of it down, +and then turned to Waynefleet when he dimly made out a blink of light +in the whirling haze of snow. + +"If you will go in and tell Miss Waynefleet, I'll try to put the horse +up," he said. + +Waynefleet swung himself down stiffly and vanished into the snow. He +was half frozen, and it did not occur to him that Nasmyth had only one +hand with which to loose the harness. It is also possible that he +would have made no protest if it had. + +Nasmyth reached the stable, and contrived to find and to light the +lantern, but he discovered that it would be difficult to do anything +more. His sound hand was numbed. His fingers would not bend, and the +buckles of the harness held, in spite of his efforts, but he +persisted. The struggle he was waging in the canyon had stirred him +curiously, and each fresh obstacle roused him to a half-savage +determination. Though the action sent a thrill of pain through him, he +laid his bound-up hand upon the headstall, and set his lips as he tore +at a buckle. He felt that if the thing cost him hours of effort he +would not be beaten. + +He had, however, let his hand fall back into the bandage that hung +from his neck, when the door opened and Laura Waynefleet came in. She +saw him leaning against the side of the stall, with a greyness in his +face, which had an angry red scar down one side of it, and her eyes +shone with compassion. + +"Sit down," she said. "I will do that." + +Nasmyth, who straightened himself, shook his head. "I can manage it if +you will loose the buckles," he said. "One feels a little awkward with +only one hand." + +They did it together, and then Nasmyth sat down, with his face drawn +and lined. Laura stood still a moment or two with the lantern in her +hand. + +"The snow must be deep on the divide, and it is a very rough trail. I +suppose you walked all the way?" she said. + +Nasmyth contrived to smile. "As it happens, I am used to it." + +There was a flash of indignation in the girl's eyes, for she had, +after all, a spice of temper, and she was naturally acquainted with +her father's character. Her anger had, however, disappeared next +moment. + +"You are looking ill," she remarked anxiously. + +Nasmyth glanced down at the bandage. "I've been working rather hard of +late, and this hand is painful." He made a deprecatory gesture. "I +don't know what excuse to offer for troubling you. Gordon insisted on +sending me." + +"You fancy I require one from you?" + +Nasmyth looked at her with heavy eyes. "No," he answered, "it is +evident that you don't. After all, perhaps I shouldn't have wished to +make any excuse. It seems only natural that when I get hurt, or find +myself in any trouble, I should come to you." + +He did not see the colour that crept into her face, for his +perceptions were not clear then; but he rose with an effort, and +together they went back to the house through the snow. There Nasmyth +changed his clothes for the dry garments he had brought in a valise +strapped to the pack-saddle, and an hour after supper he fell quietly +asleep in his chair. Then Laura turned to her father. + +"You let him walk all the way when he is worn-out and hurt!" she said +accusingly. + +Waynefleet waved his hand. "He insisted on it; and I would like to +point out that there is nothing very much the matter with him. We have +all been working very hard at the canyon; in fact, I quite fail to +understand why you should be so much more concerned about him than you +evidently are about me. I am, however, quite aware that there would be +no use in my showing that I resented it." + +Laura said nothing further. She felt that silence was wiser, for, +after all, her patience now and then almost failed her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +REALITIES + + +Though there was bitter frost in the ranges, it had but lightly +touched the sheltered forests that shut in Bonavista. The snow seldom +lay long there, and only a few wisps of it gleamed beneath the +northern edge of the pines. Mrs. Acton, as usual, had gathered a +number of guests about her, and Violet Hamilton sat talking with one +of them in the great drawing-room one evening. The room was +brilliantly lighted, and the soft radiance gleamed upon the polished +parquetry floor, on which rugs of costly skins were scattered. A fire +of snapping pine-logs blazed in the big English hearth, and a faint +aromatic fragrance crept into the room. + +Miss Hamilton leaned back in a softly padded lounge that was obviously +only made for two, and a pleasant-faced, brown-eyed young Englishman, +who had no particular business in that country, but had gone there +merely for amusement, sat at the other end of it, regarding her with a +smile. + +"After all," he said reflectively, "I really don't think I'm very +sorry the snow drove us down from our shooting camp in the ranges." + +Violet laughed. She had met the man before he went into the mountains, +and he had been at Bonavista for a week or two now. + +"It was too cold for you up there?" she queried. + +"It was," answered the man, "at least, it was certainly too cold for +Jardine, who came out with me. He got one of his feet nipped sitting +out one night with the rifle on a high ledge in the snow, and when I +left him in Vancouver the doctor told him it would be a month before +he could wear a boot again." + +He laughed. "I have a shrewd suspicion that one has to get hardened to +that kind of thing, and, surely, this is considerably nicer." + +"This," repeated Violet, who fancied she understood what he meant, "is +very much the same thing as you are accustomed to in London, except +that the houses are, no doubt, more luxuriously furnished, and the +company is more brilliant and entertaining." + +"You would not expect me to make any admission of that kind?" and the +man looked at her reproachfully. "In any case, it wouldn't be +warranted." + +"Then," said Violet, "I must have some very erroneous notions of your +English mansions." + +The man smiled. "Ah!" he said, "I was referring to the company." + +He had expressed himself in a similar fashion once or twice before, +but Violet did not resent it. She admitted that she rather liked him, +and she did not know that, although he had been a week or two at +Bonavista, he had only intended to stay there a few days. It had +naturally occurred to Mrs. Acton that there might be a certain +significance in this, but she was misled by the open manner in which +another young woman had annexed him. + +There were other guests in the room, and among them was a little +bald-headed man, whom Violet had heard had philanthropic tendencies, +and was connected with some emigration scheme. This man was talking to +Acton. He spoke in a didactic manner, tapping one hand with his +gold-rimmed spectacles, and appeared quite content that the rest +should hear him. + +"There is no doubt that this country offers us a great field," he +said. "In fact, I have already made arrangements for settling a number +of deserving families on the land. What I am particularly pleased +with is the manner in which the man who makes his home here is brought +into close contact with Nature. The effect of this cannot fail to be +what one might term recuperative. There is a vitality to be drawn from +the soil, and I have of late been urging the manifold advantages of +the simple life upon those who are interesting themselves in these +subjects with me." + +Violet glanced at her companion, and saw the amusement in his eyes. + +"Do you all talk like that in England?" she inquired. + +The man raised his hand reproachfully. "I'm afraid some of us talk a +good deal of rubbish now and then. Still, as a matter of fact, we +don't round up our sentences in that precise fashion, as he does. Just +now we're rather fragmentary. Of course, he's right to some extent. +I'm fond of the simple life--that is, for a month or so, when I know +that a two days' ride will land me in a civilized hotel. The trouble +is that most of the folks who recommend it would certainly go all to +bits in a few weeks after they tried it personally. Can you fancy our +friend yonder chopping tremendous trees, or walking up to his knees in +snow twelve hours with a flour-bag on his back?" + +Violet certainly could not. The man was full-fleshed, plethoric, and +heavy of foot, and he spoke with a throaty gasp. + +"The tilling of the soil," he went on, apparently addressing anybody +who cared to listen, "is man's natural task, and I think Nature's +beneficent influences are felt to their fullest extent in the primeval +stillness of these wonderful Western woods." + +Violet's companion looked up at her with a smile. + +"The primeval stillness sounds rather nice, only it isn't still except +you go up into the snow upon the peaks," he said. "In most of the +other places my trail led through you can hear the rivers, and they +make noise enough for anything. Now, there's a man yonder I haven't +seen before, who, I fancy, could tell us something about it if he +liked. His face suggests that he knows. I mean the one talking to Mrs. +Acton." + +Violet followed his glance, and saw a man standing beside Mrs. Acton +near the great English hearth; but his face was turned away from her, +and it was a moment or two before he looked round. Then she started, +and the blood crept into her cheeks as she met Nasmyth's gaze. + +He had changed since she last saw him--changed, she felt, in an almost +disconcerting fashion. He wore plain city clothes, and they hung about +him with a suggestive slackness. His face was darkened and roughened +by exposure to the winter winds; it had grown sharp and stern, and +there was a disfiguring red scar down one side of it. His eyes were +keen and intent, and there was a look in them that she did not +remember having noticed before, while he seemed to have lost his +careless gracefulness of manner. Even his step seemed different as he +moved towards her. It was, though neither exactly understood why, a +difficult moment for both of them when he stopped close by her side, +and it was made no easier by the fact that they were not alone. Violet +turned to her companion, who rose. + +"Mr. Carshalton, from the Old Country," she said. "This is Mr. +Nasmyth." + +Carshalton nodded. "Glad to meet you. Won't you sit down?" he said. +"As it happens, I had just pointed you out to Miss Hamilton. We were +talking about the wilderness--or, to be more precise, the great +primeval stillness. I ventured to suggest that you could tell us +something about it." + +Nasmyth smiled significantly. "Well," he replied, "I have certainly +spent a few months in the wilderness. That is one of the results." + +He meant to indicate the hand that hung by his side in a thick, soft +glove by the gesture he made, but it was the other one that Violet and +Carshalton glanced at. It was scarred and battered, and had opened in +raw red cracks under the frost. + +"Ah!" said Carshalton, "I think I was quite warranted in assuring Miss +Hamilton that it was a good deal nicer here. You see, I was up in the +ranges for a week or two. I had to come down with my comrade, who sat +out one night in the snow. The primeval stillness didn't agree with +him." + +He met Violet's eyes, and next moment glanced across the room. + +"I don't think I've spoken to Mr. Acton this evening," he said. "We'll +have a talk about the wilderness by-and-by, Mr. Nasmyth." + +He strolled away, and Nasmyth sat down by Violet's side. + +"I fancied the man meant to stay," he remarked. + +Violet leaned back in the lounge, and looked at him a moment or two +silently. Her thoughts were confused, and she was uneasy. In the first +place, she almost wished it had not been so easy to make Carshalton +understand that she wished him to go away; for the fact that she had +been able to do so by merely looking at him suggested that there was +at least a certain confidence between them, and she was unwilling to +admit that such was the case. That, however, was only a minor point. +While Carshalton had spoken of the simple life, and admitted that a +few weeks of it was quite enough for him, she had thought with a +certain tenderness of the man who had spent months of strenuous toil +in the misty depths of the canyon. She was glad of this, and felt a +slight compunction over the fact that she had seldom thought of him +of late. Still, when she saw him bearing the marks of those months of +effort on his body and in his worn face, she was sensible that she +shrank from him, as she had once done from the dreary, dripping +wilderness. This was disconcerting, but she could not drive out the +feeling. His worn face vaguely troubled her, and she was sorry for +him, but she would not have liked to touch his scarred and roughened +hands. She glanced at the injured hand inquiringly. + +"It is almost well again. It was crushed beneath a mass of timber," he +told her briefly. + +Conscious that the meeting so far left a good deal to be desired, +Violet sat still a moment. It certainly had not afforded her the +pleasure she might reasonably have expected, and she subconsciously +resented the fact. There was also, as she noticed, a suggestion of +uneasiness in the man's scarred face. + +"I have been in Victoria a few days," he explained. "There was a +machine I had to buy, and one or two other matters had to be attended +to. Then I got a letter forwarded from Waynefleet's ranch, from which +it appeared that Mr. Acton wished to see me." + +A faint sparkle crept into Violet Hamilton's eyes. "It is evident," +she observed, "that we both find it a little difficult to say the +right thing." + +"I'm afraid I am now and then a little remiss in that respect. Still, +how have I offended?" + +Violet contrived to smile. "I'm not sure it was particularly judicious +of you to explain so fully what brought you here. Couldn't you have +left me to suggest another reason that would have been a little more +satisfactory?" + +Nasmyth laughed. "My dear, you know I have been longing to see you." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Violet, "I am not altogether sure. Indeed, I could +almost fancy that you have been thinking of nothing beyond what you +are doing in that horrible canyon." + +Nasmyth raised his hand in protest, though Violet was quick to notice +the uneasiness in his face; but now the worn look in it roused her +pity. + +"Well," she said, "you can show how anxious you were by staying here +at least a week. I want you to stay. Besides, you must for another +reason--you are looking almost ill." + +There was, for the first time, a softness in her voice that stirred +the man, but the uneasiness that had troubled him did not disappear. +Indeed, it seemed to grow stronger as he glanced about the room, which +was furnished artistically, and flooded with light. Mrs. Acton's +guests were of the station to which he had belonged, and he would once +have found the sound of their voices and their light laughter +pleasant. These, however, were things that no longer appealed to him, +and he was conscious of a feverish impatience to get back to his work +again in the misty canyon. + +"I'm afraid," he replied gravely, "it will be out of the question for +me to stay just now. There is so much to do at the canyon; and I think +you know why I am so anxious to carry the work through." + +The girl looked at him in a curious fashion, and though she was +probably not aware of it, there was doubt in her eyes. For the moment +she was troubled with a sense of comprehension, and she could not be +quite sure whether it was only on her account that he was so +determined to carry out the project. + +"Well," she told him, "I know that Mr. Acton and your uncle are +anxious to see you. In fact, I believe they have some suggestions to +put before you, and though I do not know exactly what it is, I imagine +that you need not go back to the Bush if you will do what they wish." +She broke off and glanced at him wistfully. "Derrick, you won't decide +rashly. I don't want you to stay away from me." + +Nasmyth smiled reassuringly; but one of Violet's companions +approached them just then, and when she leaned upon the back of the +lounge and spoke to the girl, Nasmyth rose. He crossed the room, and a +few minutes later, in the big cedar hall, came upon a man connected +with the Crown land agency. There was an open fire in the hall, and +the man, who sat down by it, offered Nasmyth a cigar. + +"Mrs. Acton will excuse us for a few minutes," the Stranger remarked. +"You are evidently fresh from the Bush. How are you getting on +there?" + +Nasmyth told him, and the man looked thoughtful. + +"You don't hold all the valley," the man said. "I wonder if you +know that folks are taking an interest in the land that's still +unrecorded?" + +"I don't," said Nasmyth. "It's mostly heavy timber that would cost a +deal to clear. Any way, as we couldn't take up any more than we hold, +it doesn't appear to affect me at all." + +"Well," returned his companion, "that's a point I'm not quite sure +about. You only hold a provisional charter to lower the river. There's +only one unworked holding near the valley, and, as you couldn't injure +anybody's property, we permitted you to go ahead. Still, if any +parties supplied us with a sufficient reason for withdrawing that +permission, we might have to listen to them." He broke off for a +moment and waved his hand. "Of course, I'm not speaking officially. +I'm merely giving you a hint that may be useful. Some persons might +take up that land with the object of putting the screw on you. You +see, it would be possible to get over any difficulty they might raise +by buying them out." + +Nasmyth's lips closed firmly. He was quite aware that, in view of the +state of his finances, the course suggested was not one that he could +adopt. + +"What kind of people are they?" he inquired. + +His companion laughed in an ominous fashion. "Small ranchers, though +it's just possible that there may be some of the big men connected +with the land business behind them. The big promoters occasionally +prefer to act through a dummy. Our object is, of course, to get men +who will cultivate the land, and keep it out of the hands of anyone +who merely wants to hold it. Now, while I'm far from sure my superiors +would be pleased to hear I'd said so much to you, there's one piece of +advice I can offer." He leaned forward and looked at Nasmyth +confidentially. "Get that work through as soon as you can. Once you +lower the level of the river, nobody could compel you to put it back +again. Any man who wanted land would have to buy it as it was." + +"A man who wished to start a ranch would naturally prefer it with the +water run out of it." + +"Precisely!" argued Nasmyth's informant. "That is why you got the +charter. Still, I wasn't contemplating the man who merely wished to +ranch." + +His smile suggested that he intended to say no more upon that subject, +and when he turned and glanced through the doorway into the lighted +room, Nasmyth saw that he was looking at Violet Hamilton. Nasmyth also +noticed that Carshalton was once more seated beside the girl. + +"I rather like that Englishman," declared the stranger. "Acton +apparently gets on with him, too. He seems to have been here some +time. In fact, while it's nobody else's business, I've been inclined +to wonder what Miss Hamilton thinks of him." + +Nasmyth made no reply, but the observation slightly troubled him. A +little later Acton crossed the hall. + +"If you can give us a few minutes, your uncle and I have something to +put before you," he said. "I'll go along with you to my room." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NASMYTH DECIDES + + +A shaded lamp stood on the table of Acton's room, and, as Nasmyth +entered, he saw Wisbech, whom he had not met since his arrival, +sitting just inside the light of it in a lounge-chair. He strode +forward and shook hands with his uncle. + +"Until I got your letter I almost fancied you were in Japan," he +said. + +Wisbech smiled at him. "I shall probably start very shortly. In fact, +I never expected to stay here half so long as I have done, but I found +a good deal to interest me in this country, and it's twenty years +since I have been away from business for more than a week or two. The +works were mine until very recently, but there are times now when I'm +not altogether sorry I'm merely a director of the company." + +Acton laid a handful of cigars on the table, and drew out a chair for +Nasmyth. + +"Well," he replied reflectively, "there is a good deal in this country +that would interest a sensible man, but I'm not sure that's exactly +what has kept Mr. Wisbech so long in Victoria. I've a point or two to +mention later, but I'll let him speak first. It's his affair." + +Nasmyth sat down, and he did not immediately notice that while Acton +had placed his chair where the light struck full upon his face, +Wisbech sat a little farther back in the shadow cast by the shade of +the lamp. After a moment Acton sought the dimmer part of the room. +Wisbech turned to Nasmyth. + +"I understand that you expect to marry Miss Hamilton by-and-by," he +said. "No doubt you have thought over the question of what you're +going to keep a wife on?" + +"I admit that it's one that has caused me a good deal of anxiety;" and +Nasmyth leaned forward, with his elbows on the table. "Still, it +hasn't troubled me quite so much of late. If I succeed with the scheme +I have in hand, it will bring me money enough to make a start with a +larger venture of the kind, or to enable me to undertake ranching on a +reasonably extensive scale. When the land is ready for cultivation, +and you haven't to face the initial cost of getting rid of heavy +timber, the business is a profitable one." + +"It is possible that Miss Hamilton would not care to live at even a +tolerably extensive ranch. She has been accustomed to comfort of every +kind and cheerful society, and there can't be very much of either in +the Bush; while, if you undertake any further work of the kind you +suggest, it would be a few years before you made your mark. Now, I'm +not sure it would be reasonable to expect a young woman like Miss +Hamilton to wait indefinitely." + +Nasmyth flushed a little. "I think," he replied, "that is a question +which concerns Miss Hamilton and me alone." + +Acton leaned forward in his chair. "Mrs. Acton seems to fancy it +concerns her, too. In fact, that's one reason why I wrote to you. +Well, I'm going to lay before you a business proposition. You have +probably heard of the Hecla Mineral Exploitation concern? It's run by +two friends of mine, who have made a great deal of money out of their +claims. They're getting elderly, and are open to take in a younger +man--a man of education, who has some acquaintance with the work +that's done in the Bush. He must take hold now, and hold stock in the +concern. Here's the last letter they wrote me." + +He passed it across to Nasmyth, whose face grew eager, and then +suddenly hardened again. The concern in question was, as he had heard, +one of excellent repute, and supposed to be carrying on a profitable +mining business. + +"It's out of the question that I should raise the capital," he said. + +"The money can be raised," Wisbech broke in quietly. "I'll buy that +stock for you, and, if you insist on it, you can treat it as a loan." + +Nasmyth sat very still for a moment or two, and slowly closed one hard +hand. He had never expected such an offer from Wisbech, and he +recognized that it would free him of all his difficulties if he +accepted it. There was, however, an obstacle in the way. + +"Well," asked Wisbech very dryly, "isn't the Hecla Minerals good +enough for you?" + +Nasmyth looked at Acton. "I must go there--now?" + +"That is one of the conditions. They want to fix the thing before +Kekewich, who hasn't been well lately, starts East on a trip to +Montreal. I promised to wire if you were willing to go down and see +them to-morrow." + +Nasmyth turned to Wisbech, and his voice was strained. + +"I am under many obligations to you already, sir, but I'm sorry I +can't profit by your generosity in this case," he said. + +"Why?" queried Wisbech sharply. + +"It's a little difficult to explain. You see, the idea of lowering the +river was mine. Some of the boys up yonder have mortgaged their +ranches, and put every dollar they could raise in that way into the +scheme. They look to me to put the thing through; so that they may get +their money back again." + +"Is there no one else who could do that?" Acton asked. "It seems to me +there's nothing wrong with that man Gordon. I guess you could leave it +to him." + +Nasmyth felt that Wisbech was watching him with a curious intentness. + +"Gordon," he answered slowly, "is at least as well fitted to lead the +boys as I am. In fact, I might go farther than that. After all, +however, there is a little more to be said." + +He stopped abruptly, and sat silent a moment or two, leaning with one +elbow on the table, and the light full upon his face. There was +trouble in his expressive eyes, but his mouth was tense and grimly +resolute. He remembered the pleasant summer days that he and Violet +Hamilton had spent together, but he also heard the roar of the river +in the misty depths of the canyon, and the crash of stream-driven +pines. The familiar sounds rang in his ears, rousing him to action, +and something in his nature responded. In the meanwhile there was a +heavy silence in the room. His companions watched him closely, and +Acton, who looked round for a moment, noticed the suggestive glint in +Wisbech's eyes. + +Nasmyth straightened himself suddenly. "I know what I am turning my +back upon," he added. "It is very probable that I shall never get +another opportunity of this kind again. Still, I owe the boys +something, and I feel I owe a little to myself. This scheme in the +canyon is the first big thing I have ever undertaken. I can't quite +make the way that I look at it clear to you, but"--and he brought one +hand down on the table in an emphatic fashion--"I feel that I must go +on until it breaks me or I put it through." + +Wisbech noisily thrust his chair back, and Acton laughed--a laugh that +had a faint ring in it. + +"Well, I guess I partly expected this," said Acton. "Mr. Nasmyth, it's +a sure thing that river's not going to break you." + +Nasmyth looked embarrassed, but next moment Wisbech laid a hand upon +his shoulder. + +"Derrick," he said simply, "if you had closed with my offer, I +wouldn't have blamed you, but I'd have felt I had done my duty then, +and I'd never have made you another. As it is, when things are going +wrong, all you have to do is to send a word to me." + +Then, to the relief of his companions, Acton, whose expression changed +suddenly, broke in again. "Well," he commented, "I'm not quite sure +that Miss Hamilton will look at the thing from Nasmyth's point of +view. I guess we'll leave him to explain it to her and Mrs. Acton." + +Nasmyth fancied that the explanation would not be an easy task. In +fact, it was one he shrank from, but it had to be undertaken, and, +leaving the others, he went back to the drawing-room. Violet Hamilton +was surrounded by several companions, and he did not approach her +until she glanced at him as she slipped out into the big cedar hall. +She sat down on a lounge near the fire, and he leaned upon the arm of +it, looking down on her with grave misgivings. He recognized that it +was scarcely reasonable to expect that she would be satisfied with the +decision he had made. + +"You have seen your uncle and Acton?" she asked. + +"Yes," answered Nasmyth; "I have something to tell you." + +The girl turned towards him quickly. "Ah!" she said, "you are not +going to do what they proposed?" + +"I'm sorry the thing they suggested was out of the question. You will +let me tell you what it was?" + +Violet made a sign of assent, and Nasmyth spoke quietly for a minute +or two. Then a faint flush crept into the girl's cheeks and a sparkle +into her eyes. + +"You said no!" she interrupted. + +"I felt I had to. There seemed no other course open to me." + +Violet looked at him in evident bewilderment, and Nasmyth spoke again +deprecatingly. "You see," he explained, "I felt I had to keep faith +with those ranchers." + +"Didn't it occur to you that you had also to keep faith with me?" she +inquired sharply. + +"I think that was the one thing I was trying to do." + +Violet showed no sign of comprehension, and it was borne in upon +Nasmyth then that, in her place, Laura Waynefleet would have +understood the motives that had influenced him, and applauded them. + +"My dear," he said, "can't you understand that you have laid an +obligation on me to play a creditable part? I couldn't turn my back on +my comrades now that they have mortgaged their possessions, and, +though I think Gordon or one of the others could lead them as well as +I could, when I asked them to join me, I tacitly pledged myself to +hold on until we were crushed or had achieved success." + +He looked at her wistfully when he stopped speaking; but she made a +gesture of impatience. + +"The one thing clear to me is that if you had done what Mr. Acton +suggested you could have lived in Victoria, and have seen me almost +whenever you wished," she declared. "Some of those ranchers must know +a good deal more about work of the kind you are doing than you do, +and, if you had explained it all to them, they would have released +you." + +Nasmyth sighed. Apart from the obligation to his comrades, there were +other motives which had influenced him. He vaguely felt that it was +incumbent on him to prove his manhood in this arduous grapple with +Nature, and, after a purposeless life, to vindicate himself. The +wilderness, as Gordon had said, had also gotten hold of him, and that +described what had befallen him reasonably well. There are many men, +and among them men of education, in those Western forests who, having +once taken up the axe and drill, can never wholly let them go again. +These men grow restless and morose in the cities, which seldom hold +them long. The customs of civilization pall on them, and content comes +to them only when they toil knee-deep in some frothing rapid, or hew +the new waggon-road through a stupendous forest. Why this should be +they do not exactly know, and very few of them trouble themselves +about the matter. Perhaps it is a subconscious recognition of the +first great task that was laid on man to subdue the earth and to make +it fruitful. Nasmyth, at least, heard the river. Its hoarse roar rang +insistently in his ears, and he braced himself for the conflict that +must be fought out in the depths of the canyon. These, however, were +feelings that he could not well express, and once more he doubted +Violet's comprehension. + +"My dear," he told her humbly, "I am sorry; but there was, I think, +only one thing I could do." + +Violet, looking up, saw that his face was stern, and became sensible +of a faint and perplexing repulsion from him. His languid gracefulness +had vanished, and he was no longer gay or amusing. A rugged elemental +forcefulness had come uppermost in him, and this was a thing she did +not understand. Involuntarily she shrank from this grave, serious man. +There was a disfiguring newly healed cut on one of his cheeks, and his +hand was raw and horribly scarred. + +"You have changed since you were last here," she said, looking at him +with disapproval. "Perhaps you really are a little sorry to leave me, +but I think that is all. At least, you will not be sorry to get back +to the canyon." + +Nasmyth started a little. It was a thing that he would at one time +certainly not have expected, but he realized now that he was driven by +a fierce impatience to get back to the work he had undertaken. + +"I think that is not astonishing in one respect," he replied. "I told +you why I feel that I must carry the project through. The sooner I am +successful, the sooner I can come back to you." + +The girl laughed somewhat bitterly. "If you would only be sensible, +you need not go away. Are you quite sure it is not the project that +comes first with you?" she questioned. + +Nasmyth felt the blood creep into his face, for it suddenly dawned on +him that the suggestion she had made was to some extent warranted. + +"My dear," he answered quietly, "you must try to bear with me." + +Violet rose. "Well," she said, "when do you go away?" + +"In the morning." + +There was resentment in the girl's expression. "Since you have made up +your mind to go, I will make no protest," she declared. Then, with a +swift change of manner, she turned and laid her hand upon his arm. +"After all, I suppose you must go. Derrick, you won't stay away very +long!" + +They went into the drawing-room together, and half an hour had passed +when Mrs. Acton beckoned to Nasmyth, and he followed her into an +adjoining alcove. She sat down and looked at him reproachfully. + +"I am very angry with you," she asserted; "in fact, I feel distinctly +hurt. You have not come up to my expectations." + +"I'm sorry," replied Nasmyth quietly. "Still, I'm not astonished. Your +indignation is perfectly natural. I felt at the time Mr. Acton made me +the offer that he had been prompted by you. That"--and he made a +deprecatory gesture--"is one reason why I'm especially sorry I +couldn't profit by it." + +Mrs. Acton sat silent a moment or two, regarding him thoughtfully. +"Well," she declared, "from now I am afraid you must depend upon +yourself. I have tried to be your friend, and it seems that I have +failed. Will you be very long at the canyon?" + +"If all goes as I expect it, six months. If not, I may be a year, or +longer. I shall certainly not come back until I am successful." + +"That is, of course, in one sense the kind of decision I should expect +you to make. It does you credit. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that it's +wise." + +Nasmyth looked at her with quick apprehension. "I wonder," he said, +"if you would tell me why it isn't?" + +Mrs. Acton appeared to weigh her words, "My views are, naturally, not +always correct," she answered. "Even if they were, I should scarcely +expect you to be guided by them. Still, I think it would not be wise +of you to stay away very long." + +She rose, and smiled at him. "It is advice that may be worth taking. +Now I must go back to the others." + +Nasmyth pushed aside the portieres for her, and then sauntered into +the hall, where in a very thoughtful mood, he sat down by the fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +ONE NIGHT'S TASK + + +Daylight was dying out in a flurry of whirling snow, when Nasmyth, who +led a jaded horse, floundered down from the steep rock slopes of the +divide into the shelter of the dark pines about the head of the gully. +It was a little warmer there, and he was glad of it, for he was +chilled, in spite of the toilsome climb. The dark boughs wailed above +him, tossing athwart his path a haze of sliding snow, but he caught a +faint and reassuring clink of drills, and straightened himself as he +clambered down between the trees. The sound had a bracing effect on +him, and he felt a curious little thrill as the clamour of the river +came up to him in long pulsations. The sound of the waters was growing +louder when Gordon, with a big axe in his hand, materialized out of +the shadows, and strode forward impulsively at the sight of him. + +"Hand better? We're glad to see you; but you might have stayed another +day or two," he said. + +Nasmyth laughed. "Well," replied he, "perhaps it's a little curious, +considering everything, but I was impatient to get back again. In +fact, I feel more at home each time I scramble down from the divide." + +He glanced round through the sliding snow at the dim white range and +ranks of towering pines, and, as he did so, the roar of the river and +the wail of trees that swayed beneath a fierce wind filled the +rock-walled hollow. Then the persistent clink of drills and thud of +axes broke out again, while here and there the blurred white figure of +a toiling man emerged from the snow. It was a picture that a man +unused to the wilderness might have shrunk from, but Gordon understood +his comrade. They were engaged in a great struggle, with the powers of +savage Nature arrayed against them; but it was with a curious +quickening of all the strength that was in them, mental and physical, +that they braced themselves for the conflict. + +"I have a thing or two to tell you, but we'll get into the shanty and +have supper first. The boys are just quitting work," remarked Gordon. + +They clambered down over a practicable trail, though part of it was +covered deep with snow, crept in and out among the boulders by the +light of a great fire that blazed above the fall, and found Mattawa +laying a meal out when they reached the shanty. Neither Nasmyth nor +Gordon said anything of consequence until after the meal, and then +Nasmyth, who had put on his deer-hide jacket and duck trousers, flung +himself down in an empty packing-case that was stuffed with soft +spruce twigs, and looked about him with a smile of contentment. A lamp +hung above him, and its light gleamed upon axes, drills, iron wedges, +and crosscut saws, and made a chequered pattern of brightness and +shadow on the rude log walls. A glowing stove diffused a cosy warmth, +and the little room was filled with the odours of tobacco and drying +boots and clothes. + +"I suppose you saw Wisbech?" observed Gordon. "Miss Waynefleet told +one of the boys, who was through at the settlement, that she had a +note from him asking if she'd get a letter he or Acton had written +into your hands as soon as possible. He seems to be making quite a +stay in this country." + +"He has stayed several months longer than he intended," replied +Nasmyth. "I believe he did it on my account; but he's going on again +in a week or two. I saw him at Bonavista. Where's Waynefleet?" + +"I guess he's in Victoria." + +"I didn't come across him. What took him there?" + +Gordon laughed. "He said it was business. Wanted to see if we couldn't +get our tools and powder cheaper. As a matter of fact, it would be a +relief if that could be done. Any way, he has been working quite hard, +and has hung on rather longer than I expected. Administration's his +strong point. He doesn't like chopping." Gordon's face grew grave. "In +one way it's rather a pity he's fond of talking. I'm 'most afraid +somebody may start him discoursing on what we're doing over a glass of +wine and a cigar. I like a man of that kind where I can put my hand on +him. He's one of our weak spots." + +Nasmyth nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't know he was in the city," he said. +"How are you getting on?" + +"Satisfactorily, so far as the work goes. We have pushed the blasting +heading well under the fall, but there's a thing that has been +worrying me. I'd gone across the range to see what the boys in the +valley had done, when a man came in. It appears he resented our trying +to lower the river. Mattawa saw him." + +Mattawa looked up with a grin. "He said he'd a claim up at the head of +the valley, and we had got to quit work right away. If we didn't he'd +get the Crown people or the court to stop us. He liked plenty of water +round his ranch. Some of the boys got a little riled with him, and +they took him up the gully and put him on his horse." + +"I never heard of a claim up yonder," declared Nasmyth gravely. + +"Well," said Gordon, "I believe there is one. Somebody recorded it a +long while ago, and did nothing on it, but, as it was bought land, his +title stands. Potter says he understood the man was dead. It may be an +attempt to get some money out of us." + +Nasmyth sat thoughtfully silent a moment or two. + +"One of the Crown people hinted at something of the kind," he said. +"Now I scarcely think any of the boys would go back on us by selling +out his land?" + +"Not one. Any way, I guess they could hardly do it without the consent +of the trustees. You and I are not likely to give ours." He paused for +a moment. "Well," he added, "I guess Waynefleet could be depended +on." + +Nasmyth said nothing for almost a minute, and both recognized that the +silence was significant. Then he rose abruptly. + +"In one shape or other the trouble you suggested is one we will have +to face," he commented. "That's why I'm going to fire a big charge in +the blasting heading to-night. You can bring the giant-powder along, +Tom." + +Mattawa appeared to be amazed, and Gordon stared at his comrade +curiously. + +"If you fire that charge now, you'll naturally make an end of the +heading, and I understood your notion was to drive right under the +fall and blow the whole ledge out at one time," objected Gordon. +"Guess if you just rip the top of the rock off, as far as we have +gone, it will take us quite a while to make another tunnel, and money, +as I needn't remind you, is running out." + +"Exactly!" agreed Nasmyth. "That extra work will have to be faced, but +if I can get a big charge in to-night I can cut down the ridge a foot +or two. Two feet less water will count for something in the valley, +and I'm going to make sure of it. It seems certain that somebody will +try to stop us by-and-by." + +Gordon noticed the hard glint in Nasmyth's eyes, and knew that now +when he was being pushed back to the wall he meant to fight, and would +not shrink from a sacrifice. They had driven that uncompleted heading +at a heavy cost, cutting at first an open gallery in the face of the +rock, drenched with the spray of the fall. Then they had crawled into +the dripping tunnel hewn out by sheer force of muscle, for it was +seldom that powder could be used, and they had only a worn-out +machine, and had toiled crouching with scarcely room to bring a hammer +down on wedge or to hold the drill, while from odd fissures the icy +river poured in on them. Now, it seemed, all that severe effort was to +be practically thrown away, but he recognized that his comrade was +right. It was wiser to make sure of two feet than to wait until +somebody set the law in motion and stopped the work. + +"Yes," he assented simply; "I guess it has to be done." + +Mattawa entered with the magazine, and Nasmyth laid out several sticks +of giant-powder near the stove. There was a certain risk in this, but +giant-powder freezes, and when that happens one must thaw it out. It +is a singularly erratic compound of nitro-glycerine, which requires to +be fired by a powerful detonator, and, if merely ignited, burns +harmlessly. One can warm it at a stove, or even flatten it with a +hammer, without stirring it to undesired activity--that is, as a +rule--but now and then a chance tap with a pick-handle or a little +jolt suffices to loose its tremendous potentialities. In such cases +the men nearest it are usually not shattered, but dissolved into their +component gases. + +Nasmyth was quite aware of this as he sat by the stove kneading the +detonators into the sticks that he held up to warm. His lips were set, +but his scarred hands were steady, for another risk more or less did +not count for very much in the canyon. Once, however, Mattawa ventured +a protest. + +"I guess that stick's quite hot enough," he observed. + +Nasmyth said nothing, but went on with his work, until at length he +laid the sticks and fuses in the magazine, and signalling to the +others, moved towards the door. The snow beat into their faces when +they went outside, and the glare of the fire above the fall +emphasized the obscurity. Now the flames flung an evanescent flash of +radiance across the whirling pool and the dark rock's side, and then +sank again to a dim smear of yellow brightness while a haze of vapour +whirled amidst the snow, for a high wind swept through the canyon. +Sometimes they could see the boulders among which they stumbled, and +the river frothing at their feet, but for the most part they saw +nothing, and groped onward with dazzled eyes, until at last Nasmyth +swung himself up on the narrow staging that overhung the pool beneath +the fall, and Gordon heard the sticks of giant-powder jolt against the +side of the magazine. That alone would have sufficed to indicate the +state of his comrade's temper, for so far as it is possible, men +handle giant-powder very tenderly. + +There was no rail to the narrow staging, which was glazed with frozen +spray, and when Gordon was half-way along it, the fire flung out a +gush of radiance and sank suddenly. Then thick smoke whirled about +him, and for a moment or two he stopped and gasped, feeling for the +rock with a cautious hand. He was aware that the man who slipped from +the staging would be whirled round with the eddy and drawn down +beneath the fall. A harsh voice came out of the darkness. + +"Am I to wait here half the night?" it asked. + +Gordon went on circumspectly, bruising his numbed fingers now and then +upon the stone, until once more a blaze broke out, and he saw Nasmyth +floundering in haste over a pile of shattered rock. The magazine was +slung over his shoulder, and now and then it struck his back or the +side of the rock. While Gordon would have been relieved had his +comrade acted more circumspectly, he was not surprised. There were, he +knew, times when men under strain broke out into an unreasoning fury. +He had seen one hewing savagely on the perilous side of a tremendous +tottering tree, and another grimly driving the bolts that could not +save it into the stringers of a collapsing wooden bridge. It was, as +he recognized, not exactly courage that they had displayed, but the +elemental savagery that in the newer countries, at least, now and then +seizes on hard-driven men ground down by mortgage-holders, or ruined +by flood and frost. With man and Nature against them they would make +their last grim protest before they were crushed. Gordon once or twice +had been conscious of the same fierce desire. He could sympathize with +Nasmyth, but, after all, he wished he would not bang the giant-powder +about in that unceremonious fashion. + +"Leave the magazine yonder, and we'll bring it along," he cried. + +Nasmyth made no answer, but he waited until Gordon and Mattawa joined +him, and they lowered themselves down from a rock shelf on to a pile +of broken rock, about which the eddy swirled. The spray of the fall +beat upon them, and the roar of it was bewildering, but the noise was +softened when they crawled into the entrance of a narrow tunnel. +Mattawa, with considerable difficulty, struck a match, and a pale +light streamed out from the little metal lamp he fastened in his hat. +The light showed the ragged roof of the tunnel and the rivulet of icy +water that flowed in the bottom of it. They crawled forward through +the water for a few yards, vainly trying to avoid the deluge which +broke upon them from the fissures, and finally sat down dripping on a +pile of broken rock. Nasmyth took out his pipe, and was lighting it +when Gordon drew the magazine away from him. + +"You might just as well have done that before you opened the thing," +he remarked. "Anyway, if you merely want to sit down, it would have +been quite as comfortable in the shanty." + +Nasmyth was silent for several moments; then he turned to the other +two men with a wry smile. + +"I don't quite know how we drove this heading with the tools we had, +but I can't think of any means of saving it," he said. "There are men +with money--Martial, and more of them--in the cities waiting to take +away from us what we expect to get, and since we have to fight them, +it seems to me advisable to strike where it's possible." He laughed +harshly. "There'll be two feet less water in the valley before the +morning." + +"But no heading," cried Mattawa. + +"Well," replied Nasmyth simply, "we'll start another one. I notice two +holes yonder. We'll drill a third one, Tom." + +Nasmyth had been in the saddle since sunrise, in bitter frost and +whirling snow, but he picked up a hammer, and Mattawa seized a drill. +There was no room to swing the hammer, and Nasmyth struck half +crouching, while, chilly as the heading was, the perspiration dripped +from him, and the veins rose swollen on his forehead. He was up +against it, and a man strikes hardest when he is pressed back to the +wall. Gordon sat and watched them, but--for the rock rang with each +jarring thud--he wrapped the magazine in his wet jacket, and it was a +relief to him when Nasmyth finally dropped the hammer. + +"Now," said Nasmyth, "we'll fill every hole ram to the top." + +Mattawa placed the giant-powder in the holes, and they crawled back, +trailing a couple of thin wires after them, until they reached the +strip of shingle near the gully, when Nasmyth made the connection with +the firing-plug. + +A streak of vivid flame leapt out of the rock, and the detonation was +followed by the roar of the river pouring through the newly opened +gap. Nasmyth turned without a word and plodded back to the shanty. A +group of men who had scrambled down the gully met him. + +"You were a little astonished to see me, boys?" he said with a +question in his voice. Then he laughed. + +"I've fired a big charge, and I guess you'll have to start another +heading as soon as it's sun-up." + +It was evident that the men were disconcerted, and an expostulatory +murmur rose from them. It ceased, however, when Nasmyth waved his +hand. + +"I had to do it, boys," he declared. + +It had cost them strenuous toil to drive that heading, but one could +have fancied that they were satisfied with the terse assurance he +offered them. He had proved himself fit to lead them, and they had a +steadfast confidence in him. + +"Well," commented one of the men, "in that case, I guess all we have +to do is to start right off at the other one." + +Nasmyth opened the door of the shanty. "I felt you'd look at it that +way, boys," he said. "I'll explain the thing later. I'm a little +played out to-night." + +The men plodded away up the gully, and in another few minutes Nasmyth +was sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +TIMBER RIGHTS + + +They set to work on the new heading at sunrise next morning, but it +was a week or two before they had made much of an opening in the rock +beneath the fall. Though Nasmyth had lowered the level of the river a +little, the smooth-worn stone still rose sheer from the depths of the +whirling pool, and the blasting had obliterated every trace of their +previous operations. They were compelled to make new approaches, and +they toiled, drenched with the icy spray, on frail, slung stages, +cutting sockets for the logs to hold a heavier platform for the little +boring-machine Nasmyth had purchased in Victoria. When the platform +was built, the working face was narrow, and the rock of a kind that +yielded very slowly to the cutting-tool. They had no power but that of +well-hardened muscle, and none of the workers had any particular +knowledge of engineering. + +They pushed the new heading toilsomely beneath the fall, working in +rock fissured by the last explosion, through which the water poured in +on them, while the river rose when the frost broke up and was +succeeded by a week or two of torrential rain. The water swirled high +among the boulders, and had crept almost to the mouth of the heading, +when one evening Wheeler walked into the shanty. He said nothing of +any consequence until supper was over, and he then took a newspaper +out of his pocket. + +"Have you had any strangers round?" he asked. + +"No," answered Nasmyth, with a dry smile. "That is, they didn't get +any farther than the head of the gully. Two of them turned up one wet +day, and when they found they couldn't get down, they explained rather +forcibly what they thought of me." + +Wheeler nodded, and handed the paper across to him. + +"I guess you did quite right," he said. "This should make it clear +that some of the city men with money are on our trail." + +Nasmyth glanced at the paper, and saw a notification that certain +timber rights in the forest belt surrounding the valley had been +applied for. + +"The Charters people!" he declared. "When I was in Victoria I had a +talk with them. I partly expected something of the kind. By the way, I +got a notification from the rancher I mentioned that, if I continued +operations, proceedings would be begun against me." + +"They mean business," commented Wheeler, with a snap in his dark eyes. +"It seems to me there are several of them in the thing, and they +evidently expect to get their hands on the valley one way or another. +In all probability their idea is to let you get most of the work in, +and then scare you into selling out for what they like to offer. Have +you had any big trees coming along lately?" + +"Yes," answered Mattawa, "one or two went over the fall this +afternoon." + +"Drift logs?" + +"Two had the branches chopped off them." + +Wheeler made a sign of comprehension. "Well," he predicted, "you're +going to see a good many more of that kind before very long." He +turned to Nasmyth. "I'm going to stay over to-morrow. The mill's held +up again. We had an awkward break, and I can't get the new fixings in. +You can tell me how you're getting on." + +They talked until late that night, and on awakening next morning found +the river higher and thick with shattered ice. It had also crept into +the heading, and the men who worked in it were knee-deep in water. +They, however, went on as usual, and it was in the afternoon that +several great trees leapt the fall, and, driving down the rapid, +whirled away into the black depths of the canyon. Wheeler, who stood +watching attentively, nodded as the trees drove by. + +"Hemlock. That's not going to count for milling purposes," he +observed. + +Nasmyth, who came up dripping wet, sat down on a boulder and took out +his pipe. + +"Did you expect anything else?" he asked. + +Wheeler laughed. "I'm not sure that I did. It seems to me the men who +want those timber rights don't figure on doing much milling." He +looked up sharply. "This one's red cedar." + +Another great trunk leapt the fall, swept round the pool, and then +brought up with a crash upon the pile of shattered rock which still +lay athwart the head of the rapid. Nasmyth rose and straightened +himself wearily. + +"It's a trifle unfortunate I hadn't hove that rock out with the +derrick. We'll have to take hold if the log won't swing clear," he +said. + +The tree swung a little, and then the thinner head of it drove in +among the boulders and stuck fast. In another moment a shout rose from +a man standing on the ledge above the fall. + +"Quite a batch of big logs coming along!" he called. + +Nasmyth thrust his pipe into his pocket, and Wheeler, who watched him, +nodded. + +"They'll jam and pile up," said Wheeler. "I guess that's what the +other folks wanted. You have got to keep them clear." + +In another few moments Nasmyth was beating a suspended iron sheet, and +while its clangour broke through the roar of the river the men +floundered towards him over the shingle. One or two of them had axes, +and the rest, running into the shanty, brought out saws and +handspikes. In the meanwhile a huge log crashed upon the one held +fast, and there was no need to tell any of the men that those which +followed would rapidly pile up into an inextricable confusion of +interlocked timber. There was only one thing to be done, and that was +to cut away the first log, which would hold them back, as soon as +possible. + +The men set to work, two or three of them running recklessly along the +rounded top of the slippery trunk, which rolled a little as it +hammered upon the rock. Mattawa, with a big crosscut saw, crouched on +the half-submerged pile of stone, and a comrade, who seized its +opposite handle, held himself somehow on the second trunk by his +knees. It was difficult to understand how they could work at all, but +they were accustomed to toiling under embarrassing conditions. The saw +had hardly bitten through the bark when another log drove grinding +against the rest, and Mattawa's companion, who let the handle go, fell +forward on his face. He was up again in a moment, and after that stuck +fast while log after log drove smashing upon the growing mass. +Sometimes the one he clung to rose up under him, and sometimes it sank +until he crouched in the water while another great butt crept up upon +it, and it seemed that he must be crushed between them. Still, the saw +rasped steadily through the heaving, grinding timber. It was perilous +work, but it was clear to all of them that it had to be done. + +In the meanwhile Nasmyth and Gordon stood knee-deep amidst the white +foam of the rapid. The water was icy cold, and it was with difficulty +they kept their feet, while every now and then a shower of spray that +leapt out from among the timber fell upon them. The logs were already +two deep at that spot, and one great top ground steadily forward over +the others as its pressed-down butt was driven on by those behind. +One could almost have fancied it was bent on escaping from the +horrible confusion of piled-up trunks that moved on one another under +the impact of the flood. More were sweeping on, and crash after crash +rang through the hoarse clamour of the fall. + +Nasmyth felt very feeble as he whirled the heavy axe about his head, +for that mass of timber was impressively big. He had torn off his +deer-hide jacket, and his soaked blue shirt gaped open to his waist at +every heave of his shoulders. He stood in icy water, but the +perspiration dripped from him as he swung with every blow. Though some +men with good thews and sinews can never learn to use the axe to any +purpose, he could chop, and the heavy blade he whirled rang with a +rhythmic precision in the widening notch, then flashed about his head, +and fell with a chunk that was sharp as a whip-crack into the gap +again. In between Gordon's axe swept down, and the blades flashed +athwart each other's orbits without a check or clash. It requires +years to acquire that kind of proficiency with the axe, but the result +is a perfecting of the co-operation between will and hardened muscle. + +It was fortunate that both could chop, for the men with the crosscut +appeared in difficulties. The tree bent on the pile of rock, and in +straining closed the cut upon the saw. Another man who had joined them +was endeavouring to hammer a wedge in, but with that crushing weight +against him the attempt seemed futile. He persisted, however, and +stood above the white froth of the rapid, a puny figure dwarfed by the +tremendous rock wall, whirling what appeared to be a wholly +insignificant hammer. His comrades were scattered about the grinding +mass making ineffective efforts to heave a butt or top clear of the +others with their handspikes, but there was clearly only one +vulnerable point of attack, and that was the one Nasmyth and Gordon +were hewing at. Wheeler, who felt the tension, watched them, clutching +hard upon an unlighted pipe. He was aware that if the mass of timber, +which grew rapidly larger, once wedged itself fast, it might be a +month or two before a flood broke it up; but he had also sense enough +to recognize that, since most of the men's efforts were futile, he +might just as well sit still. + +The trunk was partly hewn through when the top of it bent outwards, +and Gordon flashed an anxious glance at it. It was evident that if +none of the others wedged themselves in upon and reinforced it the +weight behind would shortly rend the trunk apart. Then the position +would become a particularly perilous one, for the whole mass would +break away in chaotic ruin, and he and his comrade stood close in +front of it; but he could not tell how much further strain the tree +would bear, and he recognized that it was desirable to hew the notch +as deep as possible before he relinquished chopping. The axes rang for +another two minutes, and then there was a sudden crash, and a cry from +Wheeler that was drowned in the tumult of sound that rose from the +liberated timber. + +Great logs reared their butts or tops out of the heaving mass. Some +rolled round and disappeared beneath those that crept upon them, but +for a moment or two the shattered trunk, jammed down by the weight +upon it, held them back from the plunge into the rapid. It smashed +among the rocks that ground and rent it as it slowly gave way, and +Wheeler ran his hardest towards a strip of shingle that projected a +little into the river. He saw Nasmyth, who had evidently lost his +footing, driving downstream towards it, and knew that in another +moment or two the logs would be upon him. + +Nasmyth was not exactly swimming. In fact, strictly speaking, one +cannot swim in a rapid, nor when there is only three or four feet of +water can one get upon one's feet. He rolled over and over, went down +and came up again, until Wheeler, floundering into the foaming water, +clutched him, and held on desperately, though he felt that his arm was +being drawn out of its socket. He would probably have been swept away, +too, had not somebody grabbed his jacket, and he heard a hoarse voice +behind him. + +"Heave!" it said--"heave!" + +The strain on Wheeler's arm became intolerable, but somehow he held +fast, and just then there was an appalling crash and roar. He felt +himself being dragged backwards, and in another moment fell heavily +upon the shingle with Nasmyth across his feet. Blinking about him half +dazed, he saw the logs drive by, rolling, grinding, smashing, and +falling on one another. Then, as they whirled down the rapid, and the +roar they made began to die away, he looked round, and saw several +gasping men standing close behind him. + +"Guess that was quite a near thing," said one of them. "Any way, in +this kind of contract you can sure figure on trouble." + +This, as a matter of fact, was perfectly correct, for it is only at +considerable peril to life and limb that saw-logs are driven down the +rivers to a Western mill. They must be guided through each awkward +pass and frothing rapid, and the men who undertake it spring with pike +and peevie from one to another while the rolling trunks tumultuously +charge on. + +Nobody, however, troubled himself any further about the matter, and in +a few more minutes the men had set to work again heaving the rocks +that had held up the first log out of the river with the derrick. It +was not until supper was over, and he sat with his companions in the +shanty, that Wheeler referred to the affair again. He looked at +Nasmyth with a smile. + +"I guess it's fortunate you got those logs away," he said. "It's +probably a little more than the men who turned them loose on you +figured you could do." + +"That," agreed Nasmyth, "is very much my own opinion." + +Wheeler filled his pipe. "Now," he said reflectively, "anybody can +apply for timber rights, and bid for them at public auction, but the +man who secures them must cut up so many thousand feet every month. +Since that's the case, it's quite evident that nobody is likely to bid +for timber rights round the valley, except the Charters people, who +have a little mill on the Klatchquot Inlet, and they'd probably get +the timber rights 'most for nothing, though they might have to put in +a new saw or two with the object of satisfying the Legislature." + +"It's rather difficult to see how they expect to make a profit on +hemlock in view of what it would cost them to get the logs there," +Gordon broke in. + +"They don't want to make a profit." Wheeler smiled. "Seems to me it's +their programme to get hold of the rights cheap, and then worry you +because they can't run the logs through this canyon. The Legislature +won't give you land or rights to do nothing with, and it's quite +likely the Charters people will file a notification that your workings +are the obstacle. Still, they'd probably make you an offer first. If +you let them in on the ground-floor--handed them a big slice of the +valley or something of the kind--they'd let up on their timber rights. +I'm not sure they could run good milling fir to that mill at a +profit." + +A grim look crept into Nasmyth's face. Difficulties were crowding +thick upon him, and though he was as determined as ever on proceeding +with the work, he almost felt that it would be only until they crushed +him. + +"It seems to me we are in the hands of the Charters people, unless I +can keep the canyon clear," he commented. + +Wheeler's eyes twinkled. "Well," he returned, "they're smart. I +have, however, come across smart folks who missed a point or two +occasionally. Now, I saw a couple of red cedar logs among that +hemlock." + +He glanced at Mattawa. "Tom, you've been round the head of the valley. +Did you strike any trees of that kind up yonder?" + +"A few," answered Mattawa. "It's quite likely there are more." + +"A sure thing. You and I are going out timber-right prospecting at +sun-up to-morrow. Just now they can't get red cedar shingles fast +enough on to the Eastern markets." + +Nasmyth looked up and Gordon laughed a soft laugh, while Wheeler waved +his hand. + +"Anyone can bid for timber rights," he declared. "Now, our folks are +open for any business, and we have got a mill. It's not going to cost +much to put a shingle-splitting plant in. We have easy water-carriage +to the Inlet, where a schooner can load, and the Charters people would +have to tow their raw material right along to their mill. Besides, +that Inlet's a blame awkward place to get a schooner in. It's quite +clear to me we could cut shingles way cheaper than they could." He +paused for a moment. "Yes," he said, "if there's milling cedar near +the valley, our folks will make their bid. If Charters wants those +rights, he'll have to put up the money, and it's quite likely we'll +take them up in spite of him if I'm satisfied with my prospecting. In +that case, we're not going to worry you about the canyon. In fact, we +would probably make you a proposition at so much the log for running +the trees down for us." + +He filled his pipe again, and Nasmyth looked at him with relief in his +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A PAINFUL DUTY + + +Three months had slipped away since the evening on which Wheeler had +discussed the subject of shingle-splitting with his companions. +Nasmyth stood outside the shanty in the drenching rain. He was very +wet and miry, and his face was lined and worn, for the three months of +unremitting effort had left their mark on him. Wheeler had secured the +timber rights in question, and that was one difficulty overcome, but +Nasmyth had excellent reasons for believing that the men who had cast +covetous eyes upon the valley had by no means abandoned the attempt to +get possession of at least part of it. + +He had had flood and frost against him, and his money was rapidly +running out. A wild flood swept through the canyon. The heading was +filled up, so that no one could even see the mouth of it, and half the +rock he had piled upon the shingle had been swept into the rapid, +where it had formed a dam among the boulders that could be removed +only at a heavy expenditure of time and powder when the water fell. He +was worn out in body, and savage from being foiled by the swollen +river at each attempt he made, but while the odds against him were +rapidly growing heavier he meant to fight. + +A Siwash Indian whom he had hired as messenger between the canyon and +the settlement had just arrived, and Gordon, who stood in the doorway +of the shanty, took a newspaper out of the wet packet he had brought. +Gordon turned to Nasmyth when he opened it. + +"Wheeler's getting ahead," he said. "Here's his announcement that his +concern is turning out a high-grade cedar shingle. That's satisfactory +so far as it goes. I don't quite know how we'd have held out if it +hadn't been for the money we got from him for running the logs down." +Then his voice grew suddenly eager. "Try to get hold of the +significance of this, Derrick: 'We have got it on reliable authority +that certain propositions for the exploitation of the virgin +forest-belt beyond the Butte Divide will shortly be laid before the +Legislature. It is expected that liberal support will be afforded to a +project for the making of new waggon-roads, and we believe that if the +scheme is adopted certain gentlemen in this city will endeavour to +inaugurate a steamboat service with the Western inlets.'" He waved his +hand. "When this particular paper makes an assertion of that kind, +there's something going on," he added. "It's a sure thing that if +those roads are made, it will put another thirty or forty cents on to +every dollar's worth of land we're holding." + +"Exactly," replied Nasmyth, whose tense face did not relax. "That is, +it would, if we had run the water out of the valley; but, as it +happens, we haven't cut down very much of the fall yet, and this thing +is going to make the men we have against us keener than ever. They're +probably plotting how to strike us now. Get those letters open." + +There was anxiety in his voice, and Gordon started when he had ripped +open one or two of the envelopes. + +"This looks like business," he remarked, as he glanced at a letter +from a lawyer who had once or twice handled Nasmyth's affairs in the +city. "It's from Phelps. He says he has been notified that, unless an +agreement can be arrived at, proceedings will be taken by a man called +Hames, who claims to hold one hundred acres on the western side of the +valley, to restrain you from altering the river level. Atterly--he's +the man we've heard from already--it seems, is taking action, too." + +"Hames?" repeated Nasmyth. "I've never heard of him. Any way, he can't +hold land on the western side. We haven't sold an acre." He stopped a +moment, and looked hard at Gordon. "That is, I haven't sanctioned it, +and I believe there's nobody holding a share in the project who would +go back on us." + +Gordon made a gesture indicating his doubt in the subject, and they +looked at each other for half a minute. + +"I'm afraid I can't go quite as far as that," he replied, and laughed +harshly. "As it stands recorded, the land could be transferred to +anyone by Waynefleet. Any way, it seems to be in his block. Phelps +cites the boundary-posts." + +Nasmyth closed one hand tight. Waynefleet, who had found the constant +wetting too much for him, had left the canyon a week or two before this +morning, on which it was evident a crisis of some sort was near. He +had complained of severe pains in his back and joints, and had sent +them no word after his departure. + +"Is there anything from him?" asked Nasmyth. + +Gordon picked out an envelope and opened it. "Here's a note from Miss +Waynefleet. She desires you to ride across at once." + +With a troubled face Nasmyth stood still in the rain another minute. + +"I'll take the pack-horse and start now," he said after a brief +silence. "When I have seen Miss Waynefleet, I'll go right on to +Victoria." He turned and gazed at the river. "If one could get into +the heading by any means, I'd fire every stick of giant-powder in it +first. Unfortunately, the thing is out of the question." + +In a few moments he was scrambling up the gully, and Gordon, who went +into the shanty and lighted his pipe, sat gazing at the letters very +thoughtfully. They had no money to spare for any legal expenses. +Indeed, he was far from sure they had enough to supply them with +powder and provisions until their task was accomplished. During the +long grim fight in the canyon they had borne almost all that could be +expected of flesh and blood, and it was unthinkable that the city man, +who sat snug in his office and plotted, should lay grasping hands upon +the profit. Still, that seemed possible now that somebody had betrayed +them. + +Meantime, Nasmyth had swung himself into the pack-saddle, and, in the +rain, was scrambling up the rocky slopes of the divide. He had not +changed his clothing, and it would have availed him little if he had, +since there was a long day's ride before him. The trail was a little +easier than it had been, for each man who led the pack-horse along it +had hewn through some obstacle, but it was still sufficiently +difficult, and every here and there a frothing torrent swept across +it. There were slopes of wet rock to be scrambled over, several +leagues of dripping forest thick with undergrowth that clung about the +narrow trail to be floundered through, and all the time the great +splashes from the boughs or torrential rain beat upon him. In places +he led the pack-horse, in places he rode, and dusk was closing in when +he saw a blink of light across Waynefleet's clearing. In another few +minutes he had led the jaded horse into the stable, and then, splashed +with mire, and with the water running from his clothes, had limped to +the homestead door. + +Nasmyth opened the door and saw Laura Waynefleet sitting by the stove. +She started as he came in. + +"I have been expecting you," she said. She gave him her hand and her +eyes met his with a look of anxiety. She noticed his appearance of +weariness and the condition of his clothing. "I can get you something +dry to put on," she added. + +"No," said Nasmyth, "you must not trouble. I would be quite as wet +again, soon after I leave here. If I can borrow a horse, I must push +on to the railroad in an hour." + +"To-night?" asked Laura. "After riding in from the canyon, it's out of +the question. Besides, you could never get through the Willow Ford. +Listen to the rain." + +Nasmyth sank wearily into the nearest chair, and heard the deluge lash +the shingled roof. + +"I'm afraid it must be done," he declared. + +Laura laid supper upon the table, and insisted that he should eat +before she made any reference to the object she had in hand. Then, +while he sat beside the stove with his clothes steaming, she looked at +him steadily, and a little colour crept into her face. + +"I wonder if you can guess why I sent for you?" she said. + +"Where is your father?" Nasmyth asked abruptly. + +"In Victoria. He left six days ago. I suppose he sent you no word that +he was going." + +"No," answered Nasmyth very dryly, "he certainly didn't. I don't think +I could have expected it from him." + +He sat silent for almost a minute, looking at her with a troubled air, +and though Laura was very quiet, her manner was vaguely suggestive of +tension. It was Nasmyth who broke the silence. + +"I believe you have something to tell me, Miss Waynefleet," he said. +"Still, I would sooner you didn't, if it will hurt you. After all, +it's rather more than possible that I can arrive at the information by +some other means." + +The tinge of colour grew plainer in Laura's face, but it was evident +that she laid a firm restraint upon herself. "Ah!" she cried, "it has +hurt me horribly already. I can't get over the shame of it. But that +isn't what I meant to speak of. I feel"--and her voice grew tense and +strained--"I must try to save you and the others from a piece of +wicked treachery." + +She straightened herself, and there was a flash in her eyes, but +Nasmyth raised one hand. + +"No," he protested, almost sternly, "I can't let you do this. You +would remember it ever afterwards with regret." + +The girl seemed to nerve herself for an effort, and when she spoke her +voice was impressively quiet. + +"You must listen and try to understand," she said. + +"It is not only because it would hurt me to see you and the others +tricked out of what you have worked so hard for that I feel I must +tell you. If there was nothing more than that, I might, perhaps, never +have told you, after all. I want to save my father from a shameful +thing." Her voice broke away, and the crimson flush on her face +deepened as she went on again. "He has been offering to sell land that +can't belong to him," she asserted accusingly. + +Nasmyth felt sorry for her, and he made an attempt to offer her a +grain of consolation. + +"A few acres are really his," he said. "I made them over to him." + +"To be his only if he did his share, and when the scheme proved +successful," Laura interrupted. "I know, if he has sold them, what an +opportunity of harassing you it will give the men who are plotting +against you. Still, now you know, you can, perhaps, break off the +bargain. I want you to do what you can"--and she glanced at him with a +tense look in her eyes--"if it is only to save him." + +"That," replied Nasmyth quietly, "is, for quite another reason, the +object I have in view. I would like you to understand that I have +guessed that he had failed us already. It may be some little +consolation. Now, perhaps, you had better tell me exactly what you +know." + +Laura did so, and it proved to be no more than Nasmyth had suspected. +Letters had passed between Waynefleet and somebody in Victoria, and +the day after he left for that city two men, who had evidently crossed +him on the way, arrived at the ranch. One said his name was Hames, and +his conversation suggested that he supposed the girl was acquainted +with her father's affairs. In any case, what he said made it clear +that he had either purchased, or was about to purchase from +Waynefleet, certain land in the valley. After staying half an hour, +the men had, Laura understood, set out again for Victoria. + +When she had told him this, Nasmyth sat thoughtfully silent a minute +or two. Her courage and hatred of injustice had stirred him deeply, +for he knew what it must have cost her to discuss the subject of her +father's wrongdoing with him. He was also once more overwhelmingly +sorry for her. There was nobody she could turn to for support or +sympathy, and it was evident that if he succeeded in foiling Hames, it +would alienate her from her father. Waynefleet, he felt, was not +likely to forgive her for the efforts she had made to save him from +being drawn into an act of profitable treachery. + +"Well," he said after a moment's thought, "I am going on to Victoria +to see what can be done, but there is another matter that is troubling +me. I wonder if it has occurred to you that your father will find it +very difficult to stay on at the ranch when the part he has played +becomes apparent. I am almost afraid the boys will be vindictive." + +"I believe he has not expected to carry on the ranch much longer. It +is heavily mortgaged, and he has been continually pressed for money." + +"Has he any plans?" + +Laura smiled wearily. "He has always plans. I believe he intends to go +to one of the towns on Puget Sound, and start a land agency." She +made a dejected gesture. "I don't expect him to succeed in it, but +perhaps I could earn a little." + +Nasmyth set his lips tight, and there was concern in his face. She +looked very forlorn, and he knew that she was friendless. He could +hardly bring himself to contemplate the probability of her being cast +adrift, saddled with a man who, it was evident, would only involve her +in fresh disasters, and, he fancied, reproach her as the cause of +them. A gleam of anger crept into his eyes. + +"If your father had only held on with us, I could have saved you +this," he observed. + +There was a great sadness in Laura's smile. + +"Still," she replied, "he didn't, and perhaps you couldn't have +expected it of him. He sees only the difficulties, and I am afraid +never tries to face them." + +Nasmyth felt his self-control deserting him. He was conscious of an +almost overwhelming desire to save the girl from the results of her +father's dishonesty and folly, and he could see no way in which it +could be done. Then it was borne in upon him that in another moment or +two he would probably say or do something that he would regret +afterwards, and she would resent, and, rising stiffly, he held out his +hand. + +"I must push on to the railroad," he said, and he held the hand she +gave him in a firm clasp. "Miss Waynefleet, you saved my life, and I +believe I owe you quite as much in other ways. It's a fact that +neither of us can attempt to disregard. I want you to promise that you +will, at least, not leave the ranch without telling me." + +Laura flashed a quick glance at him, and perhaps she saw more than he +suspected in his insistent gaze, for she strove to draw her hand away. +He held it fast, however, while his nerves thrilled and his heart +beat furiously. He remembered Violet Hamilton vaguely, but there came +upon him a compelling desire to draw this girl to whom he owed so much +into his arms and comfort her. They both stood very still a moment, +and Nasmyth heard the snapping of the stove with a startling +distinctness. Then--and it cost him a strenuous effort--he let her +hand go. + +"You will promise," he insisted hoarsely. + +"Yes," answered Laura, "before I go away I will tell you." + +Nasmyth went out into the blackness and the rain, while Laura sat +trembling until she heard the beat of his horse's hoofs. Then she sank +lower, a limp huddled figure, in the canvas chair. The stove snapped +noisily, and the pines outside set up a doleful wailing, but, except +for that, it was very still in the desolate ranch. + +Nasmyth rode on until he borrowed a fresh horse from a man who lived a +few miles along the trail. There was a cheerful light from the windows +as he rode into a little settlement, and the trail to the railroad led +through dripping forest and over a towering range, but he did not draw +bridle. He was aching all over, and the water ran from his garments, +but he scarcely seemed to feel his weariness then, and he pushed on +resolutely through the rain up the climbing trail. + +He remembered very little of that ride afterwards, or what he thought +about during it. The strain of the last few minutes he had passed +at Waynefleet's ranch had left him dazed, and part of his numbness, +at least, was due to weariness. Several times he was almost flung +from the saddle as the horse scrambled down a slope of rock. +Willow-branches lashed him as he pushed through the thickets, and in +one place it was only by a grim effort that he drove the frightened +beast to ford a flooded creek. Then there was a strip of hillside to +be skirted, where the slope was almost sheer beneath the edge of the +winding trail, and the rain that drove up the valley beat into his +eyes. Still he held on, and two hours after sunrise rode half asleep +into the little mining town. There was a train in the station, and, +turning the horse over to a man he met, he climbed, dripping as he +was, into a car. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A FUTILE SCHEME + + +There was bright sunshine at Bonavista when Nasmyth, who had been told +at the station that Acton had arrived from Victoria the day before, +limped out from the shadow of the surrounding Bush, and stood still a +moment or two, glancing across the trim lawn and terrace towards the +wooden house. The spacious dwelling, gay with its brightly painted +lattice shutters, dainty scroll-work, and colonnades of wooden +pillars, rose against the sombre woods, and he wondered with some +anxiety whether Mrs. Acton had many guests in it. He had no desire to +fall in with any strangers, for he was worn out and aching, and he +still wore the old duck clothing in which he had left the canyon. It +might, he fancied, be possible to slip into the house and change +before he presented himself to Mrs. Acton, though he was by no means +sure that the garments in the valise he carried in his hand were dry. +He could see nobody on the terrace, and moved forward hastily until he +stopped in consternation as he crossed one of the verandas. The +sunlight streamed in, and Mrs. Acton and Violet Hamilton sat upon the +seat which ran along the back of it. The girl started when she saw +him, and Nasmyth stood looking down on her, worn in face and +heavy-eyed, with his workman's garb clinging, tight and mire-stained, +about his limbs. There was, however, a certain grimness in his smile. +He had seen the girl's start and her momentary shrinking, and it +occurred to him that there was a significance in the fact that it had +not greatly hurt him. + +"I must make my excuses for turning up in this condition," he +apologized. "I had to start for the railroad at a moment's notice, and +it rained all the way, while, when I reached it, the train was in the +depot. You see, my business is rather urgent." + +Mrs. Acton laughed. "Evidently," she said. "I think we were both a +trifle startled when we saw you. I should be sorry to hear that +anything had gone seriously wrong, but you remind one of the man who +brought the news of Flodden." + +Nasmyth made a quick gesture of denial. "Well," he announced bravely, +"our standard is flying yet, and I almost think we can make another +rally or two. Still, I have come for reinforcements. Mr. Acton is +in?" + +"He is. As it happened, he came up from Victoria yesterday. I believe +he is discussing some repairs to the steamer with George just now. +I'll send you out a plate of something and a glass of wine. You can't +have had any lunch." + +Mrs. Acton rose, and Nasmyth, who sat down, looked at Violet with a +smile. She was evidently not quite at ease. + +"You really haven't welcomed me very effusively," he remarked. + +The girl flushed. "I don't think I could be blamed for that," she +returned. "I was startled." + +"And perhaps just a little annoyed?" + +The colour grew plainer in Violet's cheeks. "Well," she averred, "that +isn't so very unnatural. After all, I don't mind admitting that I wish +you hadn't come like this." + +Nasmyth glanced down at his attire, and nodded gravely. "It's +certainly not altogether becoming," he admitted. "I made that hole +drilling, but I fancied I had mended the thing. Still, you see, I had +to start on the moment, and I rode most of twenty-four hours in the +rain. I suppose"--and he hesitated while he studied her face--"I might +have tidied myself at the depot, but, as it happened, I didn't think +of it, which was, no doubt, very wrong of me." + +"It was, at least, a little inconsiderate." + +Nasmyth laughed good-humouredly, though he recognized that neither his +weariness nor the fact that it must manifestly be business of some +consequence that had brought him there in that guise had any weight +with her. He had, after all, a wide toleration, and he acknowledged to +himself that her resentment was not unreasonable. + +"I've no doubt that I was inconsiderate," he said. "Still, you see, I +was worried about our affairs in the canyon." + +"The canyon!" repeated Violet reproachfully. "It is always the canyon. I +wonder if you remember that it is at least a month since you have +written a line to me." + +Nasmyth was disconcerted, for a moment's reflection convinced him that +the accusation was true. + +"Well," he confessed, "I have certainly been shamefully remiss. Of +course, I was busy from dawn to sunset, but, after all, I'm afraid +that is really no excuse." + +The girl frowned. "No," she said, "it isn't." + +It was a slight relief to Nasmyth that a maid appeared just then, and +he took a glass of wine from the tray she laid upon a little table. + +"To the brightest eyes in this Province!" he said, when the servant +had gone, and, emptying the glass, he fell upon the food voraciously. + +It was unfortunate that in such unattractive guise he had come upon +Violet, and the fashion in which he ate also had its effect on her. In +the last thirty hours he had had only one hasty meal, and he showed a +voracity that offended her fastidious taste. He was worn out and +anxious, and since all his thoughts were fixed upon the business that +he had in hand, he could not rouse himself to act according to the +manner expected of a lover who returns after a long absence. It was, +however, once more borne in upon him that this was significant. + +Violet, on her part, felt repelled by him. He was gaunt and lean, and +the state of his garments had shocked her. His hands were hard and +battered. She was very dainty, and in some respects unduly sensitive, +and it did not occur to her that it would have been more natural if, +in place of shrinking, she had been sensible only of a tender pity for +him. Perhaps there were excuses for her attitude. She had never been +brought into contact with the grim realities of life, and it is only +from those whom that befalls that one can expect the wide sympathy +which springs from comprehension. Nasmyth, lounging at Bonavista with +amusing speeches on his lips and his air of easy deference, had been a +somewhat romantic figure, and the glimpses of the struggle in the Bush +that he had given her had appealed to her imagination. She could feel +the thrill of it when she saw it through his eyes with all the +unpleasantly realistic features carefully wiped out, but it was +different now that he had come back to her with the dust and stain of +the conflict fresh upon him. The evidences of his strife were only +repulsive, and she shrank from them. She watched him with a growing +impatience until he rose and laid his empty plate aside. + +"Well," he observed, "you will excuse me. I must see Mr. Acton as soon +as I can." + +It was not in any way a tactful speech, and Violet resented it. The +man, it seemed, had only deferred the business he had on hand for a +meal. She looked at him with her displeasure flashing in her eyes. + +"In that case," she said, "I should, of course, be sorry to keep you +away from him." + +Nasmyth gazed at her curiously, but he did not reply. He went away +from her. A few minutes later when he entered Acton's room he was +attired in conventional fashion. His host shook hands with him, and +then leaned back in a chair, waiting for him to speak, which he did +with a trace of diffidence. + +"My object is to borrow money," he explained frankly. "I couldn't +resent it in the least if you sent me on to somebody else." + +"I'll hear what you have to say in the first case," replied Acton. +"You had better explain exactly how you stand." + +Nasmyth did so as clearly as he could, and Acton looked at him +thoughtfully for a moment or two. + +"I've been partly expecting this," he observed. "It's quite clear that +one or two of the big land exploitation people have a hand in the +thing. I guess I could put my finger right down on them. You said the +man's name was Hames?" + +Nasmyth said it was, and Acton sat thinking for several minutes. + +"It seems to me that the folks I have in my mind haven't been quite +smart enough," he declared at length. "They should have put up a +sounder man. As it happens, I know a little about the one they fixed +upon. Mr. Hames is what you could call a professional claim-jumper, +and it's fortunate that there's a weak spot or two in his career." + +Acton paused, and Nasmyth waited in tense expectancy until the older +man turned to him again, with a twinkle in his eyes. + +"I almost think I can take a hand in this thing, and to commence with, +we'll go down to Victoria this afternoon and call on Mr. Hames," he +added. "If he has bought that land, it will probably be registered in +his name. The men you have against you are rather fond of working in +the dark. Then we come to another point--what it would be wisest to +do with Waynefleet, who went back on you. You said he had a mortgage +on his ranch. You know who holds it?" + +Nasmyth said he did not know, and Acton nodded. "Any way," he +rejoined, "we can ascertain it in the city. Now, I guess you would +like that man run right out of the neighbourhood? It would be safest, +and it might perhaps be done." + +Nasmyth was startled by this suggestion, and with a thoughtful face he +sat wondering what was most advisable. He bore Waynefleet very little +good-will, but it was clear that Laura must share any trouble that +befell her father, and he could not at any cost lay a heavier load +upon her. He was conscious that Acton was watching him intently. + +"No," he objected, "I don't want him driven out. In fact, I should be +satisfied with making it impossible for him to enter into any +arrangement of the kind again." + +"In that case, I guess we'll try to buy up his mortgage," remarked +Acton. "Land's going to be dearer in that district presently." + +Nasmyth looked at him with a little confusion. "It is very kind, but, +after all, I have no claim on you." + +"No," agreed Acton, with a smile, "you haven't in one way. This is, +however, a kind of thing I'm more at home in than you seem to be, and +there was a little promise I made your uncle. For another thing"--and +he waved his hand--"I'm going to take a reasonable profit out of +you." + +Nasmyth made no further objections, and they set out for Victoria that +afternoon. Hames was, however, not readily traced; and when, on the +following morning, they sat in Acton's office waiting his appearance, +Nasmyth was conscious of a painful uncertainty. Acton, with a smile on +his face, leaned back in his chair until Hames was shown in. Hames was +a big, bronze-faced man, plainly dressed in city clothes, but there +was, Nasmyth noticed, a trace of half-furtive uneasiness in his eyes. +Acton looked up at him quietly, and let him stand for several moments. +Then he waved his hand toward a chair. + +"Won't you sit down? We have got to have a talk," said Acton. "I'll +come right to the point. You have have been buying land." + +Hames sat down. "I can't quite figure how that concerns you," he +replied. "I'm not going to worry about it, any way." + +"I want that land--the block you bought from Waynefleet." + +"It's not for sale," asserted Hames. "If you have nothing else to put +before me, I'll get on. I'm busy this morning." + +Acton leaned forward in his chair. "When I'm in the city, I'm usually +busy, too," he said; "in fact, I've just three or four minutes to +spare for you, and I expect to get through in that time. To begin +with, you sent Mr. Hutton a note from your hotel when my clerk came +for you. He never got it. You can have it back unopened. I can guess +what's in the thing." He handed Hames an envelope. "Now," he went on, +"you can make a fuss about it, but I guess it wouldn't be wise. Hutton +doesn't know quite as much about you as I do. I've had a finger in +most of what has been done in this Province the last few years, and +it's not often I forget a man. Well, I guess I could mention one or +two little affairs that were not altogether creditable which you had a +share in." + +Hames laughed. "It's quite likely." + +"Still, what you don't know is that I'm on the inside track of what +was done when the Hobson folks jumped the Black Crag claim. There was +considerable trouble over the matter." + +Nasmyth saw Hames start, but he apparently braced himself with an +effort. + +"Any way," replied Hames, "that was 'most four years ago, and there's +not a man who had a hand in it in this Province now." + +Acton shook his head. "There's one. I can put my hand on your partner +Okanagon Jim just when I want to." + +There was no doubt that Hames was alarmed. + +"Jim was drowned crossing the river the night the water broke into the +Black Crag shaft," he declared. + +"His horse was, and the boys found his hat. That, however, is quite a +played-out trick. If you're not satisfied, I can fix it for you to +meet him here any time you like." + +Hames made a motion of acknowledgment. "I don't want to see +him--that's a sure thing! I guess you know it was fortunate that Jim +and two or three of the other boys got out of the shaft that night. +Well, I guess that takes me. If Jim's around, I'll put down my +cards." + +"It's wisest," advised Acton. "Now, I'm going to buy that land +Waynefleet sold from you--or, rather, he's going to give you your +money back for it. You can arrange the thing with Hutton--who, I +believe, supplied the money--afterwards as best you can." + +Nasmyth fancied Hames was relieved that no more was expected from +him. + +"I guess I'm in your hands," observed Hames. + +"Then," Acton said, "you can wait in my clerk's office until I'm ready +to go over with you to Waynefleet's hotel." + +Hames went out, and Acton turned to Nasmyth. "He was hired with a few +others to jump the claim he mentioned, and there was trouble over it. +As usual, just what happened never quite came out, but that man left +his partner to face the boys, who scarcely managed to escape with +their lives that night. The man who holds Waynefleet's mortgage should +be here at any moment." + +The man arrived in a few minutes. After he had sat down and had taken +the cigar Acton offered him, he was ready to talk business. + +"You have a mortgage on Rancher Waynefleet's holding in the Bush," +said Acton. "I understand you've had some trouble in getting what he +owes you." + +The man nodded. "That's certainly the case," he said. "I bought up +quite a lot of land before I laid down the mill, but after I did that +I let most of it go. In fact, I'm quite willing to let up on +Waynefleet's holding, too. I can't get a dollar out of him." + +"Have you offered to sell the mortgage to anybody?" + +"I saw Martial and the Charters people not long ago. They'd give about +eighty cents on the dollar. Hutton said he'd make me a bid, but he +didn't." + +"Well," said Acton, "my friend here wants that ranch for a particular +purpose. He'd bid you ninety." + +"I can't do it. If the new roads that have been suggested are made, +the ranch ought to bring me a little more. Still, I don't mind letting +you in at what I gave for it." + +Acton looked at Nasmyth. + +"Then," said Acton, "we'll call it a bargain. You can write me a note +to that effect, and I'll send my clerk across with the papers +presently." + +The man went out a few minutes later, and Acton rose. + +"I'll charge you bank interest; but if you care to put the mortgage up +for sale, you'll get your money back 'most any time after they start +those roads," Acton said to Nasmyth. "Now we'll go along and call on +Waynefleet." + +They went out with Hames, and a little while later came upon +Waynefleet sitting on the veranda of a second-rate hotel. He was +dressed immaculately, and with a cigar in his hand, lay in a big +chair. He started when he saw them. Hames grinned, and sat down close +in front of him. + +"I'm going back on my bargain. I want my money and you can keep your +land," he said. "The fact is Mr. Acton has got on my trail, and he's +not the kind of man I have any use for fighting." + +There was consternation in Waynefleet's face, but he straightened +himself with an effort. + +"I suppose you have brought this man, Mr. Nasmyth, and I scarcely +think it is quite what one would have expected from you--at least, +until you had afforded me the opportunity of offering you an +explanation," he blustered. + +"Can you offer me one that any sensible man would listen to?" Nasmyth +asked sharply. + +"He can't," Acton broke in. "We're out on business. You may as well +make it clear that we understand the thing." + +Waynefleet turned and looked at Acton with lifted brows, and had he +been less angry, Nasmyth could have laughed at his attitude. +Waynefleet's air of supercilious resentment was inimitable. + +"You have some interest in this affair?" he inquired. + +"Oh, yes," answered Acton cheerfully. "Still, you needn't worry about +me. All you have to do is to hand this man over the money and record +the new sale. We don't want any unpleasantness, but it has to be +done." + +Waynefleet appeared to recognize that there was no remedy. + +"In that case there is the difficulty that I can't quite raise the +amount paid," he said. "Travelling and my stay in the city have cost +me something." + +"How much are you short?" + +"About a hundred dollars." + +"Then," replied Acton, "I'll take a bill for the money. We'll go along +and record the sale as soon as Mr. Nasmyth's ready. I expect he has +something to say to you." + +Acton went into the hotel with Hames, and there was an awkward silence +when they had disappeared. Nasmyth leaned against a wooden pillar, and +Waynefleet sat still, waiting for him to speak. Nasmyth turned to +him. + +"It would, perhaps, be preferable to regard this affair from a +strictly business point of view," said Nasmyth. "You are, of course, +in our hands, but to save your credit and to protect Miss Waynefleet +from any embarrassment, we shall probably not insist upon your handing +over the land to anybody else. I think we are safe in doing that. Now +that you have signally failed, you will not have nerve enough to +attempt to betray us again." + +Waynefleet waved his hand. "I resent the attitude you have adopted. It +is not by any means what I am accustomed to, or should have expected +from you." + +Nasmyth felt a faint, contemptuous pity for the man, who still +endeavoured to retain his formality of manner. + +"I'm afraid that hasn't any great effect on me, and my attitude is, at +least, a natural one," he said. "I believe that Gordon and I can +arrange that the boys do not hear of your recent action, and though +you will take no further part in our affairs, you will stay on at the +ranch. I may mention that I have just bought up your mortgage." + +A flush of anger showed in Waynefleet's cheeks. + +"Is it in any way your business where I live?" he asked. + +"No," answered Nasmyth, "not in the least--that is, as far as it +affects yourself. Still, I am determined that Miss Waynefleet shall +have no fresh cause for anxiety. I don't mind admitting that I owe a +great deal to her." He paused for a moment, and then turned to +Waynefleet with a forceful gesture. "When you have bought back the +land from Hames, I don't suppose you will have a dollar in your +possession, and the ranch belongs to me. As I said, you will stay--at +least, until you can satisfy me that you can maintain yourself and +Miss Waynefleet in some degree of comfort if you go away. Now I +believe the others are waiting. We will go along and get the sale +recorded." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +SECOND THOUGHTS + + +It was getting dusk when Wheeler swung himself from the saddle near +the head of the gully and, with the bridle of the jaded horse in his +hand, stood still a few moments looking about him. A wonderful green +transparency still shone high up above the peaks, whose jagged edges +cut into it sharply with the cold blue-white gleam of snow, but upon +the lower slopes there was a balmy softness in the air, which was +heavy with the odours of fir and cedar. Summer was breaking suddenly +upon the mountain-land, but Wheeler, who had crossed the divide in +bright sunshine, was sensible of a certain shrinking as he glanced +down into the depths of the canyon. A chilly mist streamed up out of +it, and the great rift looked black and grim and forbidding. + +Wheeler noticed a dusky figure beneath the firs, and, moving towards +it, came upon a man with a pipe in his hand, sitting upon a fallen +tree. In view of the strenuous activity that was the rule in the +canyon, such leisure was unusual. + +"Well," he remarked, "you don't seem busy, any way." + +The man grinned. "I'm looking out," he replied. "Guess I've had my eye +on you for the last few minutes, and a stranger wouldn't have got +quite so far. You haven't got any papers from the courts on you?" + +"No," said Wheeler, who noticed that there was a rifle lying near the +man, "I haven't. Still, if I'd looked like a lawyer or a court +officer----" + +"Then," asserted the man, "it's a sure thing you wouldn't have got in. +The boys have enough giant-powder rammed into the heading to lift the +bottom right out of the canyon two minutes after any suspicious +stranger comes along." + +Wheeler laughed, for it was evident to him that Nasmyth had been +taking precautions, and, turning away, he led his horse down the +gully. It grew colder as he proceeded, and a chilly breeze swept the +white mist about him. The trees, that shook big drops of moisture down +on him, were wailing, but he could hear them only faintly through the +clamour of the fall. He left the horse with a man he came upon lower +down, and, reaching the shingle at the water's edge, saw the great +derrick swing black athwart the glare of a big fire. The smoke whirled +about the dark rock wall, and here and there dusky figures were +toiling knee-deep amid the white froth of the rapid. The figures +emerged from the blackness and vanished into it again, as the +flickering radiance rose and fell. Scrambling to the ledge above the +fall, Wheeler found two men standing near the mouth of the heading, +which was just level with the pool. + +"Where's Nasmyth, boys?" he inquired. + +"Inside," answered one of the men. "Guess he's wedging up the heading. +If you want him, you'd better crawl right in." + +Wheeler glanced down at the black mouth of the tunnel, on which the +streaming radiance fell. He fancied that the river flowed into it, and +the man's suggestion did not appeal to him. + +"Won't you tell him that I'd like a talk with him?" he asked. + +The man laughed. "Guess that's not going to bring him. It will be +daylight, any way, before he lets up. You'll have to go right in." + +Wheeler dropped cautiously upon a slippery staging, across which the +water flowed, and, crawling into the heading, with a blinking light in +his eyes, fell into a sled that was loaded with broken rock. He crept +round the obstruction, and a few moments later found himself knee-deep +in water before a little dam that had been thrown across the heading. +The heading dipped sharply beyond it, which somewhat astonished him, +and when he had climbed over the barricade, he descended cautiously, +groping towards another light. Big drops of water fell upon him, and +here and there a jet of it spurted out. At last he stopped, and saw +Nasmyth lying, partly raised on one elbow, in an inch or two of water, +while he painfully swung a heavy hammer. The heading was lined with +stout pillars, made of sawn-up firs, and Nasmyth appeared to be +driving a wedge under one of them. Two or three other men were putting +heavy masses of timber into place. + +The smoky flame of a little lamp flared upon the rock above, which +trickled with moisture, and the light fell upon Nasmyth's wet face, +which was deeply flushed. Nasmyth gasped heavily, and great splashes +of sand and mire lay thick upon his torn, drenched shirt. He appeared +to see Wheeler, for he looked up, but he did not stop until he had +driven the wedge in. Then he rose to his knees and stretched himself +wearily. + +"The rock's badly fissured. We've got to get double timbers in as soon +as we can," he explained. "I'm going to do some boring. We'll go +along." + +Wheeler crept after him down the inclined heading until they reached +the spot where Gordon sat crouched over a machine. Gordon did not move +until Nasmyth seized his shoulders. + +"You can get back to the wedging, and send two or three boys along to +heave the water out. I'll keep this thing going," he said. + +Gordon, who greeted Wheeler, floundered away, and Wheeler sat down in +the dryest spot he could find, while Nasmyth grasped the handle of the +machine. + +"There's no reason why you shouldn't smoke," he said. + +"That," replied Wheeler, "is a point I'm not quite sure about. How +many sticks of giant-powder have you rammed into this heading? As you +know, it's apt to be a little uncertain." + +Nasmyth laughed as he glanced at the flaring lamp above his head. +"There's a hole with a stick in it just at your elbow. I've been +filling the holes as we made them. In view of what I expect those +folks in the city are arranging, it seemed advisable." + +Wheeler was sensible of a certain uneasiness as he listened to the +crunch of the boring tool and the jarring thud of the hammers. + +"What are you going so far down for?" he asked. + +"To get into sounder rock. It's costing us considerable time that we +can badly spare, but once or twice I fancied the whole river was +coming in on us. Now we're getting almost through, I want to make +quite sure." + +Wheeler nodded. "I guess that's wise. So far, we have come out ahead +of Hutton and the rest of them," he asserted. "Our people hold the +timber rights, and we have got the shingle-splitting plant in. You +headed him off in Waynefleet's case, and there only remains the man +with the old Bush claim. There's, unfortunately, no doubt about his +title to the ranch, and it's a sure thing the folks in the city will +put him up again. Have you heard from him lately?" + +"I have," answered Nasmyth, with a smile. "As you know, I made him +half a dozen different offers to buy him out. He naturally didn't +close with them, but he wrote trying to raise me, and kept the thing +up rather well. Of course, it was evident that his friends were quite +willing to let me get most of the work done before they showed their +hand too visibly. I scarcely fancy they know how near we are to +getting through, though that rancher man's lawyer said something +about taking proceedings a little while ago." + +"Suppose they went to court, and served you with a notice to quit what +you're doing?" + +Nasmyth, turning, pointed with a wet, scarred hand to several holes in +the side of the heading, from which a wire projected. + +"Well," he said, "they'd have to serve it, and while their man was +trying to get down the gully I'd rip most of the bottom out of this +strip of canyon. I'm not sure we haven't gone far enough already to +split up the whole ridge that's holding back the river. Still, I'm +going on a little. I mean to make sure." He bent over the machine. +"You have brought up some letters? The man has, perhaps, been trying +to worry me again." + +"Two or three," replied Wheeler. "I called at the settlement for them. +One is evidently from a lady." + +Nasmyth swung round again and took the little dainty envelope from +him. He smeared it with his wet hands as he opened it, and then his +voice broke sharply through the thud of the hammers. + +"Can't you move? I'm too far from that lamp," he said. + +He scrambled by Wheeler and crouched close beneath the smoky, +flickering flame, dripping, spattered with mire, and very grim in +face. The note was from Violet Hamilton, and it was brief. + +"I should like to see you as soon as you can get away," it read. +"There is something I must say, and since it might spare both of us +pain, I feel almost tempted to try to explain it now. That, however, +would perhaps be weak of me, and I think you will, after all, not +blame me very greatly." + +He flung the note down in the water, and straightened himself +wearily. + +"I am invited to go down to Bonavista, and it's tolerably clear that +I have another trouble to face," he announced in a dull tone. "In the +meanwhile there's this heading to be pushed on, and it seems to me +that the thing that counts most is what I owe the boys." + +Wheeler, who had heard something from Gordon, looked at him with grave +sympathy, but Nasmyth made an expressive gesture as he glanced down at +his attire. + +"Well," he remarked, "I probably look very much what I am--a +played-out borer of headings and builder of dams, who has just now +everything against him. Still, I was fool enough to indulge in some +very alluring fancies a little while ago." He turned to Wheeler with a +sudden flash in his eyes. "You can take those letters to Gordon and +tell him to open them. I've a little trouble to grapple with, and I +don't feel inclined for conversation." + +Wheeler could take a hint, and he crawled away along the heading, +while Nasmyth toiled for the next half-hour strenuously at the +machine. The perspiration dripped from him. He gasped as he ripped the +handle around; then he let it go suddenly, and his face became softer +as he picked up the letter again. + +"Well," he told himself, "I don't think I can blame her, after all, +and with what she has to say it would hurt if I kept her waiting." + +He sat down again at the machine, and the boring tool crunched on +steadily into the rock until after some time, a man took his place, +and, crouching in the narrow heading, swung the heavy hammer as they +wedged the extra timbers fast. A faint grey light was creeping into +the eastern sky when Nasmyth crawled out of the heading and scrambled +back to the shanty. Gordon, who was getting up when he entered, looked +at him curiously. + +"I'm going into Bonavista after breakfast," Nasmyth said. "I don't +want to leave the boys now, but I can't help it." + +Gordon asked no injudicious questions, for Wheeler had mentioned the +letter, and his comrade's voice had its significance for him. + +"Then," he said, "I'll tell Mattawa to have the horse ready." + +Nasmyth slept soundly until the meal was laid out. He rode into the +settlement a little before dark that night. It was the next afternoon +when he reached Bonavista, and he found Violet Hamilton sitting upon +the veranda alone. She appeared embarrassed when she saw him, and he +leaned against one of the pillars, quietly looking down on her. For a +moment or two neither of them said anything, and it was Nasmyth who +broke the awkward silence. + +"I felt very bitter when I got that note," he said. "When I grappled +with the thing, however, I commenced to realize that you might be +right. Of course, I quite realized all you wished to imply." + +"Ah!" answered the girl softly, "then you are not very angry with me." +She leaned forward and met his gaze. "I think we were both very nearly +making a terrible mistake." + +"I scarcely think that is a thing you could expect me to admit--that +is, at least, as far as my part in it goes," said Nasmyth. + +"Still," replied Violet, "you admitted that you felt I might be +right." + +She looked anxious, and Nasmyth realized that, since she might have +written what she had to say, it must have cost her a good deal to +break with him personally. The courage which had prompted her to +summon him appealed to him, and, in place of anger, he was conscious +of a certain sympathy for her. + +"In one sense you were certainly right," he said. "We belong to +different worlds, and I should never have spoken to you as I did. That +is a thing you must try to forgive me, and you have no reason to +blame yourself. As I told you at the time, you were free." + +"Ah!" cried Violet, "you are very generous. After all, I expected that +from you, and I think it will not hurt you very much to give me up." + +"I wonder why?" asked Nasmyth gravely. + +Violet sat silent a moment or two, and then looked up at him quietly. + +"Oh," she said, "you owe so much to that girl in the Bush! She would +always have come between us. I think you made me recognize it when you +told me about her, though it was only by degrees I came to understand +it clearly." + +Nasmyth's face flushed. "That," he queried, "is your reason for +wishing to get rid of me?" + +Violet looked away from him, and there was a telltale self consciousness +in her manner when she turned to him again. Nasmyth, who noticed it, +winced. + +"Well," he hazarded, "it was, perhaps, not the only one." + +"No," confessed Violet very softly, "there was another thing which +influenced me rather more." + +Nasmyth, who understood her, stood silent a moment or two, with one +hand tightly closed. "In that case there is nothing to be said, and I +must try to face it gracefully," he told her. "Reproaches are not +exactly becoming in the case of a discarded man." He took off his wide +hat as he held out his hand. "Miss Hamilton, the thing naturally hurts +me, but perhaps I cannot reasonably blame you. I'm not sure you could +expect me to go any further now." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Violet, "you have made it easy. I would like to assure +you of my good-will." + +He held her hand a moment and swung abruptly away. He met Mrs. Acton +as he went down a corridor. He stopped in front of her, and she +looked at him questioningly when she saw his face. + +"I have not come up to expectations. It is, perhaps, fortunate Miss +Hamilton found it out when she did," he said. + +"Oh!" Mrs. Acton replied, "I told you it would not be well to stay +away very long." + +"I scarcely think the result would have been different in any case," +Nasmyth declared. + +Mrs. Acton was silent for a moment. Then she looked at him sharply. + +"Where are you going now?" she asked. + +"Back to the world I belong to," answered Nasmyth,--"to the railroad, +in the first case. I'm not sure that Miss Hamilton would like to feel +that I was in the house." + +Mrs. Acton made no protest, and ten minutes later he had crossed the +clearing and plunged into the Bush. + +Mrs. Acton, crossing the veranda, laid her hand on the girl's +shoulder. + +"I naturally don't know what he said to you, but I can't help +believing that he acquitted himself rather well," she observed. "After +all, it must have been a little painful to him." + +"Perhaps it was," replied Violet. "Still, I don't think it hurt him +dreadfully." + +She was more or less correct in this surmise, for, as Nasmyth walked +on through the Bush, he became conscious of a faint relief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE LAST SHOT + + +Laura Waynefleet was preparing breakfast, and the door of the ranch +stood open, when she heard the sharp clatter of the flung-down +slip-rails in the fence across the clearing jar upon the stillness of +the surrounding woods. It was early in the morning, and since it was +evident that, if the strangers who were approaching came from the +settlement, they must have set out as soon as it was light, she +decided that their business was probably urgent. Laying down the +frying-pan in which she was making flapjacks, she moved toward the +door, and stood watching two men ride across the clearing in the +direction of the house. They did not belong to the settlement, for she +had never seen either of them before, a fact which made it clear that +they had not ridden in from the canyon. She had quick eyes, and she +noticed that, although they could not have ridden very far that +morning, their horses appeared jaded, which suggested that they had +made a long journey the previous day. The men appeared weary, too, and +she imagined that they were not accustomed to the Bush. + +As she watched them she wondered with a trace of uneasiness what their +business could be, and decided that it was, perhaps, as well that her +father was busy in the stable, where he could not hear them arrive. +Since Gordon usually called at the ranch when he went down to the +settlement, she was more or less acquainted with what was being done +at the canyon and with Nasmyth's affairs, and she was on her guard when +one of the strangers pulled his horse up close in front of her. + +"Can we hire a couple of horses here?" he asked. "Ours are played +out." + +There was then a cayuse pony in Waynefleet's stable, but it belonged +to a neighbouring rancher, and Laura had no intention of handing it +over to the strangers. + +"I'm afraid not," she answered. "The only horse on the ranch does not +belong to us, and I wouldn't care to hire it out unless I had +permission. Besides, I may want it myself. You could have obtained +horses at the settlement hotel." + +"We didn't put up there." + +"But you must have come through the settlement. You have evidently +ridden in from the railroad." + +The man laughed. "Well," he admitted, "we certainly did, but we got +off the trail last night, and they took us in at Bullen's ranch. Soon +after we started out a chopper told us we could save a league by +riding up the valley instead of by the settlement. Does the man you +said the horse belonged to live in the neighbourhood?" + +Laura did not answer immediately. She was quick-witted, and she +recognized that, while the man's explanation was plausible, there were +weak points in it. For one thing, the previous night had not been +dark, and it was difficult to understand how anyone could have +wandered off the wide trail to the settlement into the one which led +through thick undergrowth to Bullen's ranch. She guessed that the +strangers must have had an object in not visiting the settlement. Then +there was, it seemed to her, something suggestive in the fact that +Bullen, who had a share in Nasmyth's project, and owned several +horses, had not seized upon the opportunity to aid the travellers, +for, if he had not been willing to lend his horses, it could only have +been because he was a little dubious about the strangers. + +"The man who owns the horse lives at least an hour's ride away," she +informed the stranger. "You are going on into the Bush?" + +"Yes," answered the man. "Can you tell us the easiest way to reach the +canyon?" + +Laura was glad that he had asked for the easiest route, for soon after +the snow had gone, Nasmyth had broken out a shorter and somewhat +perilous trail over the steepest part of the divide. Only the +pack-horses now went round by the longer way. She thought hard for a +moment or two, and then told the man how to find the old trail. + +He rode away with his companion, and Laura's face was thoughtful when +she sat down again. She made a hasty breakfast, and went out to the +stable. Waynefleet was still busy when she reached it, and she took +down the side-saddle before she turned to him. + +"I have left your breakfast ready, but you must excuse me," she +announced; "I am going to the canyon." + +Waynefleet raised his brows and looked at her with his most +precise air, but, seeing that had no effect, he made a gesture of +resignation. + +"Very well," he said. "I presume you do not, as usual, think it worth +while to acquaint me with your object." + +Laura laughed. "I'm not exactly sure of it myself. I may tell you a +little more when I come back." + +She led the horse out, and, crossing the clearing, rode hard for a +league or so, and then made sure by the prints of their horses' feet +that the strangers had followed her instructions before she struck +into the shorter trail. It was scarcely wide enough to ride along, and +for a while dense thickets of fern and undergrowth closed in on it. +Further on, it skirted a quaggy swamp, and led through several rapid +creeks, while here and there great fallen trees compelled her to turn +aside, and there were groves of willows to be painfully struggled +through. The cayuse she rode was, however, more or less accustomed to +that kind of work, and she made tolerable progress until she reached +the foot of the big divide. There she dismounted, and led the cayuse +up a steep gully through which a torrent poured. They stumbled amidst +big boulders and over slippery shingle until they reached the head of +the gully, and then there were almost precipitous slopes of rock to be +faced. They climbed for a couple of hours, and Laura gasped with +relief when at last she stood upon the crest of the divide. + +The descent was perilous, but already the sun hung low above the +western hills, and she went down in the saddle with the cayuse +slipping and stumbling horribly, until the roar of the river came +faintly up to her. Then she drew bridle, and glanced ruefully at her +attire. Her skirt was rent in places, and one little shoe had burst. A +branch that had torn her hat off had loosened a coil of gleaming hair, +and, anxious as she was, she stopped for several minutes to set these +matters straight as far as it was possible. There was, she felt, after +all, no reason why Nasmyth should see her in that state. Then she rode +on, and a little later a man appeared among the pines at the head of +the gully. She was very weary when she got down beside him. + +"Have two strangers arrived here yet?" she asked. + +"They haven't," answered the man. + +Laura was glad she had undertaken the journey when she saw the sudden +intentness of his face. + +"Two of them are on the trail?" he inquired sharply. + +"Yes," said Laura. "They have gone round by the pack-horse trail. I +rode in by the new one." + +The man was astonished that she had accomplished the trip, and she saw +that he was troubled. + +"Well," he advised, "you had better go right on and tell Nasmyth as +quick as you can. It's my business to see no strangers get in, or I'd +go with you." + +Laura left the horse with him, and, descending the gully, found an +unusual number of men busy beside the river. In fact, she believed +that all those who had been at work in the valley must have crossed +the range to the canyon. It was also evident from their faces that most +of them were in a state of eager expectation. Something out of the +usual course was clearly going on. She asked for Nasmyth, and a few +moments later he came scrambling towards her along the log staging. +There was, she was quick to notice, a strained look in his eyes, but +he shook hands with her, and then, remembering the state of her +attire, she coloured a little. + +"Do you expect two men from the city to-night?" she asked. + +Nasmyth started. "I have, at least, been wondering when they would +turn up," he answered. "There are two men of that kind on the trail?" + +His voice was sharp and insistent, and Laura told him hastily about +the men who had called at the ranch. + +"From what you say, they can't well be here for another hour or two," +he said, and there was a determined glint in his eyes. "I fancy we'll +be through by then." + +He swung around, and raised a hand to the men. "Boys, you'll get the +last holes filled with giant-powder as quick as you can, and couple up +the firing battery. We'll lift that rock right out when you're +ready." + +He turned again to Laura. "I'm not sure you understand all that you +have done," he said. "For one thing, I think, you have saved us from +being beaten when what we have fought for was almost in our hand." + +He paused for a moment, and then his voice became hoarse as he +indicated the clustering men with a little forceful gesture. + +"They have come in to see the last shot fired. We had arranged to put +in a few more sticks of powder, and then lower the river once for all +in another hour or two. Some of the boys are now getting a big supper +ready to celebrate the occasion, but if you hadn't brought us the +warning, it's scarcely likely that any of us would have felt much +inclined for festivity. In all probability, those strangers are +bringing an order to restrain me from going any further. Once it was +in my hands, I could not have fired the shot. All we have done would +have been thrown away." + +"Ah!" cried Laura, "that would be intolerable!" + +Nasmyth laughed significantly. + +"Any way," he declared, "until the papers are served on me, my charter +stands. We'll have scattered the last strip of rock when those men +ride in." + +He made her a grave little bow. "You set us to work," he said. "It is +only fitting that you should once more hold the firing battery." + +He moved away abruptly from her and crawled into the heading. It was +half an hour later when he came back, and almost every man who had a +share in the undertaking gathered upon the strip of shingle. Nobody +spoke, however, and there was tense expectancy in the bronzed faces. +Nasmyth beckoned to Laura and moved forward with Gordon, and Wheeler, +who carried the battery. Nasmyth swung his battered hat off as he held +out his hand, and Laura, clinging to him, climbed to a shelf of rock +where she stood still a moment or two, looking about her. + +In front the white spray of the fall whirled beneath the tremendous +wall of rock, and about her stood groups of hard-handed men, who had +driven the heading with strenuous, insistent toil. She knew what the +work had cost them, and could understand the look in their steady +eyes. They had faced the river in the depths of the tremendous rift, +borne with the icy winter, and patiently grappled with obstacle after +obstacle. Their money had not sufficed to purchase them costly +machines. They had pitted steadfast courage and hardened muscle +against the vast primeval forces of untrammelled Nature. Laura felt +deeply stirred as she glanced at them. They were simple men, but they +had faced and beaten roaring flood and stinging frost, caring little +for the hazard to life or limb as they played their part in that +tremendous struggle with axe and drill. + +Suddenly Laura became conscious that Nasmyth, who held up a little box +from which trailed a couple of wires, was speaking. + +"Our last dollars bought that powder. Wish us good luck," he said. + +Laura stretched out her hands for the box, and standing upon the rock +shelf, with one shoe burst and her skirt badly rent, raised her voice +as she had done in that spot once before. + +"Boys," she said, "you have stood fast against very heavy odds. May +all that you can wish for--orchards, oat-fields, wheat, and cattle--be +yours. The prosperity of this country is founded on such efforts as +you have made." + +With a little smile in her eyes, she fitted in the firing-plug, and in +another moment a streak of flame that seemed to expand into a +bewildering brilliancy flashed through the spray of the fall. The +flash of light was lost in rolling smoke and a tremendous eruption of +flying rock that rang with deafening detonations against the side of +the canyon. The smoke rolled higher, and still great shattered +fragments came whirling out of it, striking boulder and shingle with a +heavy crash, until the roar of the liberated river rose in tumultuous +clamour and drowned all other sound. + +A great foaming wave swept forward, washing high along the bank, and +poured seething down the rapid. Shingle and boulder were lost in it. +It drove on tumultuously, and a mad turgid flood came on behind. Then +it slowly fell away again, and a man, clambering out, in peril of +being swept away, beneath the dripping rock, flung up a hand. His +voice rang harsh and exultant through the sinking roar of the beaten +river. + +"We've cut the last ledge clean away," he said. + +A great shout went up, and Nasmyth held out his hand to Laura. + +"I owe it all to you," he said with a curious gleam in his eyes. + +The men trooped about them both, and, though they were not as a rule +effusive, some of them thumped Nasmyth's shoulder and some wrung his +hand. Half an hour had slipped by before he was free of them. + +He and Laura went slowly back up the climbing gully. It was growing +dark, but a light still streamed down between the pines, and Nasmyth, +who pointed to a tree that had fallen, stood close by, looking down +upon the girl. + +"I will ride back with you presently, but you must rest first; and I +have something to say, though if we had not beaten the river I think I +should never have had courage enough," he said. "When you found me +lying in the snow, you took me in; you nursed me back to life, gave me +a purpose, and set me on my feet again." + +He paused for a moment. A flush dyed his worn face, and his voice was +strained when he went on again. + +"One result was that I went back to the world I once belonged to--it +was really you who sent me--and you know what befell me there," he +said. "I don't think I quite forgot what I owed to you, but I was +carried away. Still, she recognized her folly and discarded me." + +He stopped again, and Laura looked at him steadily with a tinge of +colour in her face. + +"Well," he continued, "that was when I commenced to understand exactly +what you had been all along to me. I don't know what came upon me at +Bonavista; but though the thing must seem preposterous, I believe I +was in love with you then. Now I have nothing to bring you. You know +all my weak points, and I could not complain if you would not listen +to me. But I have come back to you again." + +"Ah!" answered Laura very softly, "after all, it was fortunate that +you went away. I think it was a relief to me when Wisbech took you to +the city." + +Nasmyth looked at her in surprise, and she smiled at him. "Derrick," +she said, "once or twice when you were building the dam you fancied +that you loved me. I, however, didn't want you to fancy. That was only +going far enough to hurt me." + +Nasmyth stooped toward her. "In the height of my folly I had an uneasy +consciousness that I belonged to you. Afterwards I was sure. It was a +very real thing, but I naturally shrank from coming to you. I don't +quite know how I have gathered the courage now." + +Laura sat still, and he laid a hand on her shoulder. Then she turned +and looked up at him. + +"Well," she confessed very simply, "I think I loved you in the days +when you were building the dam." + +He bent down and kissed her, and neither of them ever remembered +exactly what they said. + +A few minutes later there was a clatter in the shadow above them, and +two men came scrambling down, each leading a jaded horse. Nasmyth rose +and turned toward them when they stopped close in front of him. + +"You have some business with me?" he inquired. + +One of them handed him a sealed paper, and he opened it with +deliberation. + +"I may as well tell you that I expected this," he said. He glanced at +Laura. "I am summoned to attend in Victoria and show cause why I +should not be restrained from injuring the holding of a rancher at the +head of the valley. In the meantime I am instructed to carry on the +operations in the canyon no further." + +He turned to the men. "You should have come along an hour or two ago. +I don't propose to do anything further in the canyon; in fact, I have +accomplished the purpose I had in hand." + +As his meaning dawned on them, the men gazed at each other in evident +consternation, until one of them turned to Laura. + +"Well," he commented, "in that case I guess it's quite a pity we +didn't, but I begin to understand the thing. This is the young lady +who told us the trail. She must have taken a shorter way." + +Laura smiled at him. "You," she reminded him, "seemed anxious to go by +the easiest one." + +The other man looked at Nasmyth. "I'm acting for Hutton, and it seems +you have got ahead of him," he observed. "Still, we're both out on +business, and I don't bear you any ill-will. In fact, if you're open +to make any arrangement, I should be glad to talk to you." + +Nasmyth smiled as he answered: "You can at least come and get some +supper. I expect the boys will fix you and your horses for the +night." + +They went down the gully together, and a few minutes later walked into +the flickering light of a great fire, near which a rudely bountiful +supper had been laid out. Nasmyth pointed to the strangers. + +"Boys," he said, "these are the men we expected, but I don't think +they mean to worry us now, and they've had a long ride." He turned to +the strangers. "Won't you sit down?" + +There was a great burst of laughter, and one of the strangers smiled. + +"We're in your hands, but I don't know any reason why you shouldn't be +generous, boys," he said. + +He sat down, but for a moment or two Nasmyth and Laura stood still in +the glare of the fire, and the eyes of everyone were fixed upon them. +Laura's face was flushed, but Nasmyth was calm with a new dignity. + +"We have a little more to do, boys, but we have left the toughest of +our troubles behind," Nasmyth spoke in confident tones. "We'll have +another supper when we're through with it, and I'll expect every one +of you at the biggest event in my life." + +There was a great shout that rang through the roar of the rapid and +far across the climbing pines. Then the men sat down, and it was a +little while later when their leader and the girl quietly slipped away +from them. Those who noticed this said nothing, and the men still sat +round the snapping fire when Nasmyth and Laura crossed the ridge of +the divide. + +There was a moon above them, and the night was soft and clear, while +the Bush rolled away beneath, shadowy and still. Only the turmoil of +the river came faintly up to them. The muffled sound sent a curious +thrill through both of them, but they were silent as they went down +the long slope among the climbing pines. Laura sat in the saddle, +looking out on the silent forest with eyes that shone softly in the +moonlight, and Nasmyth walked beside her, with his hand on the +pack-horse's bridle. They had both borne the stress and strain, but +now as the pack-horse plodded on they were conscious only of a deep +contentment. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Greater Power, by +Harold Bindloss and W. 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